Saint Mary's Magazine: Winter 2012

T H E

M A G A Z I N E

O F

S A I N T

M A R Y ’S

C O L L E G E

O F

6 / , 5 - % s . 5 - " % 2 s 7 ) . 4 % 2

C A L I F O R N I A

SAINT MARY’S

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

J. Elizabeth Smith EDITOR

Jo Shroyer ASSISTANT EDITOR

Teresa Castle CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Bob Ciano ART DIRECTOR

Karen Kemp GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Beth Brann POETRY EDITOR

Graham Foust CONTRIBUTORS

Kristin Bender Kathryn Geraghty ’12 Ginny Prior Liset Puentes ’15

The Saint Mary’s College of California experience inspires learning that lasts a lifetime. The College’s rigorous education engages intellect and spirit while awakening the desire to transform society. We are all learners here — together, working to understand and shape the world.

For more information, see stmarys-ca.edu.

Saint Mary’s magazine is published three times a year.

Please send comments to news@stmarys-ca.edu or call (925) 631-4278.

Please submit name and address changes to Donna Foster at dkf2@stmarys-ca.edu or write Saint Mary’s College, P.O. Box 4300, Moraga, CA 94575-4300.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

PUBLISHER

Michael Beseda ’79

INTERSECTING WORLDS Every day we bump against other worlds we barely understand and sometimes fail to notice. There are the obvious things that divide us as people — gender, age, ethnicity, upbringing, ideology and the many other factors that frame individual lives. One with which we all have first-hand experience is the gap between generations.

For example, I am the youngest child of a youngest child. My father, past middle age when I was born, grew up in a strikingly different world, shaped by war, sacrifice and stern frugality. The son of parents who came of age in the late 19th century, Dad had one foot in a world where need and want, duty and entitlement, opportunity and gender roles were all strictly defined. As I grew up, we struggled mightily to understand each other.

Later, when I had children of my own, I was determined to do it differently, only to discover that the borders surrounding childhood, adolescence and adult life are surprisingly universal. My children and I lived in parallel worlds, intersecting out of necessity and love, but largely clueless about each other’s experience. Now, as adults, when they talk about the things they did, what happened to them and how they felt, I am torn between peeking into that world and just holding on to my own vision of that reality. (I feel certain that there are at least a few things we don’t need to know about each other.)

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus encourages Scout to climb inside the other person’s skin and walk around in it. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” That’s a neat trick. Much easier said than done, but, as it turns out, critically important to a successful, rewarding life.

With the benefit of time and experience, I eventually was able to see things from my parents’ perspective and understand what I derived from the intersection of our frustratingly different worlds. More given to demonstrating rather than describing what he’d learned from life, Dad nevertheless tried to explain the difference between his childhood and mine. “Kids grew up hard in those days,” he said. “You just don’t realize how lucky you are.” I do now.

My parents’ lifelong habits of frugality, kindness, citizenship and faith have informed my life and sustained me through my own hard times. And, while my children and I are still working on understanding each other, I am comforted by the thought that they are connected across generations and wildly different worlds by this precious common thread.

Next year, as Saint Mary’s celebrates its sesquicentennial — 150 years since its founding in 1863 — we will focus particularly on the generations of Gaels who began their adult lives learning at this college. Just as my grandfather, who was born not long after Saint Mary’s was established, would barely recognize the world in which my children and I live today, those first Gaels would be stunned by the lives of their 2012 counterparts.

As we dig deeper into the history of Saint Mary’s in preparation for the upcoming anniversary, it’s not only interesting to contemplate how much things have changed over 150 years, but also entirely satisfying to discover the common threads that unite generations of Gaels. Among them are the fruits of an exceptional education — the ability to overcome the differences that separate us as people, see things through someone else’s eyes, and intersect wisely with the many different worlds around us.

JO SHROY ER EDITOR

A Life of Faith and Adventure | Student Speaks Up for SMC Veterans | Saint Mary’s Adds Its Voice to Concerns About Economic Inequality | Mass Honors First Responders | Senior Forward Rob Jones Steps into the Spotlight | Soccer and Rugby Shine | Faculty Books | Faculty Profile: Carla Bossard

25

A Field Guide to Student Life Characteristics and behaviors of today’s Gael student captured in their natural habitat.

Cover: Damon Tighe ‘01, a biologist who worked on the Human Genome Project. Photo by Toby Burditt.

SAINT MARY’S

34

the quad

36 44 45

in memoriam

Carlo Beckman’s Second Life | 2007 Brother Timothy Cabernet Supports Scholarships

gael glimpses endnote

30

Wild Saint Mary’s The campus is home not only to the College community, but also to cheeky denizens of the natural world.

s

.5-"%2

s

7 ) . 4 % 2

feedback | events the arcade

BILL SULLIVAN

2 4

19

New Watershed for River of Words A successful national program that inspires children’s art and literature about the natural world moves to Saint Mary’s College.

6/,5-%

12

Science with a Twist Science education at Saint Mary’s is entwined with the other liberal arts.

For alumni in science careers, that made all the difference.

F E E D B A C K

Memories Are Made of This Thanks for such a great story. It rekindled so many stories from when I was in the Christian Brothers at Saint Mary’s from 1971–73 with Brother Donald Mansir FSC, Brother Hugh Kennedy FSC, Brother Andrew Steel FSC and Brother Michael Quinn FSC. I still think about the Christian Brothers all the time, from my grandparents being at the August 5, 1928, dedication of the Saint Mary’s Chapel on campus to my uncle, who was also

Professor Emeritus Chester Aaron taught literature, writing and Collegiate Seminar at Saint Mary’s.

up at Mont La Salle in the juniorate. (He died at 42, twelve years after serving in the D-Day invasion in WWII).

Edward Hayes, Sparks, Nev.

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H M A RC H 2 5

The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art Thirty-six works of art consider the many manifestations of the veil. Curator Jennifer Heath, author of The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, will speak on February 12 at 2 p.m. in the Soda Center.

Saint Mary’s Magazine is a very entertaining magazine. I love reading every issue. I have a BA degree from Saint Mary’s in English/Philosophy.

Now that I have taken early retirement from my day job, I have the rest of my life to work in pop music and the creative arts, which has always been my greatest passion. I am in the music business as a songwriter, executive producer, music supervisor, publishing company owner, record label owner and entrepreneur.

Dan Orth ’71, Lounge Renown Records, Oakland, Calif.

2

Dinners with Brother Mel

10 Tenth Annual MFA Scholarship Fund Benefit

Never Give Up I served as professor at Saint Mary’s for 25 years and have been professor emeritus for more than 15 years.

After receiving a recent issue of the magazine and reading about the publishing activities of current faculty, I decided to send information about my newest and 26th published book. It is a novel that went on the market July 1, 2011.

I continue to farm and to write and to publish. Due out this year: a collection of war stories. Just republished: a young adult novel first published in 1973 by Harcourt Brace. One of my novels was a film for ABC-TV Weekend Special and two titles have recently been optioned for film.

I share this with you to urge soon-to-beretired faculty, staff and also students, that they should not give up.

Chester Aaron, Occidental, Calif.

[From the editor: About Them is Aaron’s autobiographical novel about growing up in 1930s Butler, a Pennsylvania mining village, and about the immigrant families making a life there.

It’s a story about friendship, making do and falling in love.]

WINTER 2012

12

A Second Life

Hi, I get the magazine and love catching up and seeing what’s going on with the college. One of my fondest memories from Saint Mary’s: a few dinners with Brother Mel in his sweet dorm/pad.

He had great stories and was a super host!

Mike Wise ‘83, San Rafael, Calif.

2

F E B RUA RY

M A RC H SMC Guild Saint Patrick’s Dinner 5–10 p.m. Soda Center Celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day with a traditional Irish dinner and Irish music by the Kevin Roche band, along with a piper and step dancers. Silent auction from 6–7 p.m. $40. RSVP by February 29 to Pat Wiegmann, 39 Carr Drive, Moraga, CA 94556 or (925) 376-6088.

5–8 p.m. Dolby Chadwick Gallery 210 Post Street, Suite 205 San Francisco, CA 94108 The Language of Film: A Conversation with Robert Hass and David Thomson. An Evening of wine and hors d’oeuvres. $100 per person or $50 for Saint Mary’s MFA graduates. All proceeds benefit the MFA Scholarship Fund.

Buy tickets at www.stmarys-ca.edu/mfabenefit.

14 Creative Writing Reading Series — Shane Book 7:30 p.m.

Soda Center

Shane Book’s first collection, Ceiling of Sticks, won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. See End Note, p. 45.

15 Sacramento Saint Patrick’s Lunch 11:30 a.m. Dante Club 2330 Fair Oaks Blvd., Sacramento The tradition — and the rivalry — continues! Join Sacramento-area alumni along with SCU Broncos and USF Dons. No-host bar followed by luncheon of corned beef and cabbage or chicken. $25. RSVP online

by March 9.

APRIL 11 Creative Writing Reading Series — Samina Ali 7:30 p.m. Soda Center Samina Ali was born in Hyderabad, India. Her debut novel, Madras on Rainy Days, was awarded the Prix Premier Roman Étranger 2005 Award.

13 Songs for a New World: The Voice of Broadway 7:30 p.m. Soda Center SMC voice students perform popular songs and beloved chestnuts from Broadway.

E V E N T S

15

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H J U N E 10

Winning Artwork from the 2012 River of Words Contest Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art An exhibit of children’s art from around the world, drawn from winners of the annual River of Words contest.

15

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H J U N E 17

Master Artist Tribute VIII: Richard McLean Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art The exhibition will present several of McLean’s major equine oils and watercolors, landscapes, still lifes and a series of watercolor portraits.

21 SMC Guild Fashion Show 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Soda Center

Samba Swing Into Spring as you preview spring fashions from Chico’s in Walnut Creek while enjoying mariachi music and a luncheon. $50. RSVP by April 18 to Libby Townsend at libbytownsend@comcast.net or (925) 825-5853.

18

“Incident in Turlock” by Richard McLean; 1997, oil on canvas; from the collection of Caitlin Sliver.

For more information, contact the Alumni Office at (925) 631-8744 or stmarys-ca.edu/alumni-events.

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H A PRI L 2 2

The Imaginary Invalid, LeFevre Theatre

9

SMC Performing Arts Department presents the famous play by Molière at 8 p.m. on April 18–21 and 2 p.m. on April 21–22.

6 p.m.

Moraga Country Club

We honor fellow Gaels and friends with six awards for outstanding service to SMC and the community.

For more information: (800) 800-ALUM.

2012 Awards Ceremony (West Coast) 2–7 p.m.

A N D M AY 8

SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE

YEARS OF YEARNING

20 Graduate and Professional Programs Commencement 4 p.m.

SMC Stadium

JUNE 24

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H J U LY 5

150th Anniversary Cruise Join Brother President Ronald Gallagher and fellow Gaels for a unique Mediterranean cruise to launch our 2012–13 celebration of Saint Mary’s 150th anniversary.

Learn more at stmarys-ca.edu/cruise.

J U LY 20

Spring Concert Soda Center

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H 2 2

Reunion Weekend

The SMC Glee Club and Chamber Singers perform at 4 p.m. on May 6 and 8 p.m. on May 8.

1220_BrotherMel_Cover_Final.indd 1

COVER 4

7

9:30 a.m.

SMC Stadium

A MEMOIR BY BROTHER MEL ANDERSON, FSC PRESIDENT OF SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE 1969 –1997

BROTHER MEL ANDERSON, FSC

6

19 Undergraduate Commencement

t

M AY

YEARS OF YEARNING

Join the California winners and finalists of the 2012 River of Words Youth Environmental Poetry & Art Contest for a grand celebration of poetry and art of the natural world. For information, see stmarysca.edu/row.

Saint Mary’s Chamber Musicians perform at 1 p.m. on May 9 and 8 p.m. on May 10.

Get Your Copy of Brother Mel Anderson’s Memoir

28 16th Annual River of Words

CON T I N U E S T H ROUG H M AY 10

Spring Chamber Music Concert Soda Center

Creative Writing Reading Series — Wesley Gibson and Tina Parsons 7:30 p.m. Soda Center Wesley Gibson is the author of You Are Here: A Memoir of Arrival and the novels Shelter and Personal Saviors. Tina Parsons’ blog, China Ate My Jeans, is about her year seeking and buying products made in the U.S.

28 Annual Alumni Awards Celebration

9

33rd Annual Gael Golf Classic Blackhawk Country Club, Danville Registration is at 9:30 a.m., shotgun start at 11 a.m. and awards dinner and auction at 5 p.m.

12/20/11 7:22 PM

COVER 1

Read about the societal, academic and financial complexities of 1967–97 at Saint Mary’s in former SMC President Brother Mel Anderson’s memoir Years of Yearning.

Order a copy today: http://tinyurl.com/6umvs2t

Come back to the campus for the biggest and best alumni event of the year. Celebrate old times with friends and family and see what’s new.

SEE AND RSVP TO ALL ALUMNI EVENTS AT

stmarys-ca.edu/alumni-events

STMARYS-CA.EDU 3

A R C A D E

A Life of Faith and Adventure: 1949–2011 BROTHER

Brother Donald Mansir, who was internationally recognized for his MANSIR work in renovating the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in the 1990s, died of cancer on October 8, 2011, at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. The much-loved Christian Brother and longtime professor at Saint Mary’s and Bethlehem University in the Palestinian territories was 62.

We offer here, in memory of Brother Donald, some photos taken during his lifetime and excerpts from eulogies delivered by Brother President Ronald Gallagher and Brother Richard Lemberg at a Mass of Christian Burial in the Saint Mary’s College Chapel on October 14.

for abandoned infants in Bethlehem. Donald procured funding for the Creche and delighted in taking visitors to see this orphanage, meet the sisters and especially the abandoned infants, who were the most helpless and greatest in need.”

DONALD

CARE

“Brother Donald was an extraordinary man who as a COMPASSION humble Brother lived a life filled with faith, and more adventures than any of us here might imagine.

We come today to pray for Donald because we have all in some way or other been a part of those adventures: whether it be as a classmate, student, friend, colleague, fellow traveler or, as James Joyce might put it, ‘a victim of Donald’s hospitality.’ This latter usually involving dinner, song, conversation, deep thought and hearty laughter.”

“Perhaps the best example I can think of regarding his response to those in need is the Creche. One of his great friends was Sister Sophie, a Lebanese nun who runs an orphanage AND

4

WINTER 2012

DEEP THOUGHT

“As Director of the Saint Mary’s College Brothers LAUGHTER Community, Donald was responsible for arranging our annual meeting before the semester began. For a number of years he arranged for us to go to San Diego, his territory. We would always go out to dinner at a restaurant of his choice and usually end up in lively conversation and singing. On one occasion, here we are, a dozen men, not in our clerical garb, at table in a nice restaurant, and Donald gets us singing. All heads turn to us, and we sang away (although some Brothers were trying to look AND HEARTY

invisible). Word gets back to us that people in the restaurant were curious about exactly who were these men and had decided that we must be a reunion of officers from the Naval Academy. We let them think that. But just at the end of the meal a young man comes to the table and asks Donald if we could come to his table and sing, because he is proposing to his fiancé. So some of us did. We don’t know to this day whether she said yes; but she looked shocked and a little confused. A pure Brother Donald event.

We have all had these events with Donald and I hope that you all take the opportunity to share them with each other. He has been a blessing, a friend, a teacher to us all.”

– BROTHER RONALD GALL AGHER

TEACHING AND

“I grew to admire and respect Brother Donald’s way with people; he was a brilliant teacher and scholar with a sharp and ready wit, yet he was also a tremendously compassionate person. I was personally cognizant of his many kindnesses to his Brothers, his fellow faculty and SCHOLARSHIP

staff members, and especially, to his current and former students.”

“There were some areas where Brother Donald and I did not exactly see eye-to-eye. I enjoy fly-fishing and camping and I remember an occasion on which I suggested to Brother Donald that he might like to go on a camping/fishing trip with me. He looked at me and replied with a deadpan expression: ‘Will there be dirt?’”

MUSIC

Brother Donald was a fine musician and a lover of all music, FRIENDSHIP from Bach to Bo Diddley, with Cole Porter, Edith Piaf, Joan Baez and Gilbert and Sullivan thrown in. I like to think of Brother Donald’s whole life as a kind of music, a song to the God he loved and to the many people he touched with his care and concern.”

FOTO FELICI, ROMA

AND

– BROTHER RICHA RD LEMBERG

SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM BROTHER DONALD’S LIFE

stmarys-ca.edu/magazine

STMARYS-CA.EDU 5

KAREN KEMP

A R C A D E

Student Speaks Up for SMC Veterans

F

ifteen years ago, if you had told Shomari Carter that he would be sitting in a classroom at Saint Mary’s College, he would have laughed.

Like every teenager, he thought he knew everything, and he hungered for that first taste of independence. He decided he could find it in the Army.

“I was anti-college since high school,” he said. “I knew if I went to college that I would be a broke college student.”

During his time in the Army from 1998 until 2003, he was stationed in Hawaii, Bosnia and Japan. After his tour of duty, he returned to civilian life and eventually found himself thinking about college.

“I always knew education was the key to happiness, but it had not become apparent until I suffered through a few dead-end jobs,” he said.

He chose Saint Mary’s College because of its close-knit community.

When he arrived, he found quite a few other veterans among the students on campus. He knew some of them were struggling with the transition from military to student life, so he created a Veterans Club on campus as a way for vets to share their experiences and offer advice on resources. He also organized the College’s first Veterans Mass as a way to honor veterans and increase awareness of their growing numbers on campus.

Since Saint Mary’s adopted the federal Yellow Ribbon Program in 2009, the veteran population has increased from 12 to 34 students.

6

WINTER 2012

“Many colleges and universities were hesitant to participate for fear of unknown expenses, but Saint Mary’s took the lead in participating from the start,” said Assistant Registrar Lyone Conner. “The program allows veterans to attend with their tuition fully paid, a housing allowance and with a stipend for books and supplies.”

The Yellow Ribbon Program covers 50 percent of the expenses, while Saint Mary’s College and the Veterans Administration pick up the remaining 50 percent. In order to qualify, veterans must have served at least 36 months of active duty after September 11, 2001.

Carter doesn’t qualify under the program because he only served 18 months after 9/11. Instead he receives assistance through other GI Bills and scholarships. However, senior Tom Dale, who spent eight years as a counterintelligence agent in the army said, “There is no way I could have gone to Saint Mary’s if I didn’t qualify for the Yellow Ribbon Program.”

The increase in veterans at SMC is indicative of a larger trend nationwide in which vets are returning from combat and enrolling in college.

Support from both the College and peers is important, said Carter, because veterans are instilled with a code of self-reliance, which often keeps them from asking for help.

Carter said the high school version of himself would be surprised by how much he enjoys education today. “I was talking to one of my professors the other day and I told him that I really wanted to read all the textbooks but that I didn’t actually have the time to read every page,” he said. “I never thought I would want to read a textbook.”

– K ATHRY N GER AGHT Y ’12

Saint Mary’s Adds Its Voice to Concerns About Economic Inequality

– TERESA CASTLE

Mass Honors First Responders Hundreds of police officers and firefighters from Alameda and Contra Costa counties came to Saint Mary’s last fall for a special Blue Mass hosted by the College. The event, held in the Chapel in honor of the Feast of the Guardian Angels, is a traditional Catholic religious service for those engaged in public safety.

In his homily, Father Salvatore Ragusa noted that little children often look up to police officers and firefighters “because beneath the uniform they see in you the awesome responsibilities to protect, to give of yourselves in public service, and to comfort the afflicted who you encounter in your work.” He added: “We commend you as peacemakers, as ambassadors of justice, and as brothers and sisters in Christ.”

An interfaith service of commemoration for those who had fallen in the line of duty followed the Mass, and then all the first responders were treated to a barbeque on the Chapel lawn.

MAX CROWELL

As Americans struggled with a stubborn jobs crisis, fretted over the prospect of a double-dip recession and marched on Wall Street to protest corporate greed, more and more were asking: Whatever happened to the American Dream? That question was on the minds of students and faculty at Saint Mary’s, too, as they grappled with the changing economic landscape in this country.

With the whole nation focused on the issue of income inequality and Occupy encampments sprouting in Oakland, San Francisco, UC Berkeley and UC Davis, it’s not surprising that Saint Mary’s students and faculty members also took up the issue. As part of a nationwide “Occupy College” teach-in last fall, more than 100 members of the SMC community took part in a teach-in on campus in November.

“We wanted to educate people so they can evaluate and make their own decisions about whether or not they should participate,” said Frank Martinez, one of the students who helped to organize the event. For Martinez, the Occupy protests against economic disparity have a personal relevance. “I work three jobs to go to Saint Mary’s,” he said. “Once I graduate, I don’t want to work three jobs. I want to work one job at something I’m passionate about.”

Hisham Ahmed, a politics professor and expert on the Middle East, compared the importance of the Occupy movement to the Arab Spring protests and advised students to follow the nonviolent spirit of that movement. “You are the vanguard of the future,” he told the students. “You are writing a most important chapter in the history of the country.”

The ever-growing income gap in the United States was also the focus of a panel entitled “Poor and Poorer: The Demise of the American Middle Class.” The speakers, including SMC faculty and community members, held different views on the cause of the income gap, but all agreed that the phenomenon was real — and alarming.

Jack Rasmus, author of “Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression” and a lecturer in SMC’s politics and economics departments, noted that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans now command 24 percent of all income in the United States, compared to 8 percent in 1979.

Kara Boatman, a professor in the School of Economics and Business Administration, suggested that the American dream is “becoming a nightmare” for too many people in the United States. “We need to start voting our consciences and not our wallets,” she said.

Solomon Belette, executive director of Catholic Charities of the East Bay, urged the next generation to take a new approach.

“Show solidarity with the poor. Become engaged in a socially responsible way,” he urged the nearly 100 SMC students at the event. “It’s important to have values aligned with the kind of society we want to create.”

STMARYS-CA.EDU 7

A R C A D E

When West Coast Conference Player of the Year Mickey McConnell graduated last spring, several college basketball experts predicted a decline in the Saint Mary’s men’s basketball program.

After all, in addition to the departed McConnell, the Gaels have lost such great players as Patrick Mills, Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson over the last few years — players who have helped build the Gaels into one of the West Coast’s top college basketball programs.

However, it isn’t as though Randy Bennett’s cupboard was bare. There were still some very talented players in the Gaels program who read those predictions and were determined to prove the doubters wrong.

One such player is six-foot-six senior forward Rob Jones, one of the most dynamic players on the West Coast, who drew attention early in the season as one of the top rebounders in the nation.

A native of San Francisco who attended Archbishop Riordan High School, Jones played his first two seasons of college basketball at WCC rival San Diego and, while a Torero, earned a spot on the conference’s allfreshman team. After his sophomore season at USD, Jones was drawn back to the Bay Area due to family health issues. He spent some time at a local community college to earn his associate’s degree and then transferred to Saint Mary’s.

After sitting out the 2009–10 season and watching his teammates record the greatest NCAA Tournament run in school history, Jones was itching to get back onto the court and make his mark on the Gael program.

“Watching that Sweet 16 run from the bench was definitely difficult,” said Jones, who was named WCC Player of the Week after he soared to a career-high 31-point effort earlier this season against his former alma mater, San Diego. “But, I feel like I learned a lot and matured during that season. It was great being around that team, getting to know everyone and becoming more acclimated to the Saint Mary’s culture. Coach (Randy) Bennett has built a special program here, and it’s one that attracts not only great players but great people as well.”

Jones and Matthew Dellavedova — who played with the Australian National Team last summer — are the unquestioned leaders of this year’s team. During the summer, the duo led off season workouts and pickup

Soccer Team Makes NCAA Elite Eight, SMC Rugby Goes to Nationals Saint Mary’s men’s soccer team had a record-breaking season in 2011, taking the WCC title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.

Senior defender Tom Mohoric was among the team’s standouts during the postseason. In November alone, he scored three goals and

games, provided direction to the younger players and served as leaders to a program that expects success, both on and off the court.

“Saint Mary’s is a wonderful place,” said Jones. “I wouldn’t trade my previous experiences for anything. But I love my teammates and my coaches here. I know I’ve created some lifelong relationships, and I’ll always be a Gael.”

– COURTESY SMCGAELS.COM

FOR MORE ON SAINT MARY’S ATHLETICS:

SMCGaels.com

North Carolina Tar Heels ended the Gaels’ run for the national title.

But by then the team had racked up the most successful postseason run in the history of Saint Mary’s athletics program.

Saint Mary’s men’s rugby team also had a stellar year. The team claimed the California 7s title on October 30, 2011, with victories over Santa Clara, San Diego, UC-Berkeley, Cal Poly and San Diego State.

With the California title in hand, the Gaels qualified for an automatic

contributed to three SMC shutouts, including two during the final WCC

bid to Nationals at Texas A & M on December 16-17. Although Life

weekend to clinch the title. Coach Adam Cooper was named the WCC

University won the National Collegiate 7s Championship, the never-

Coach of the Year for the second time in three years.

quit Gaels took the Plate Final and finished with a 5-1 tournament

In the Sweet Sixteen, the team won a thrilling 3-2 overtime match at Brown, advancing to the Elite Eight. A 2-0 loss to the No. 1-ranked

8

TOD FIERNER

Senior Forward Rob Jones Steps Into the Spotlight

WINTER 2012

record, placing 5th in the 24-team tourney.

– COURTESY SMC GAELS AND KORY HAYDEN

Saint Mary’s faculty enrich their teaching and contribute to the community of scholars through research and publishing activities.

The Bodies, 2011

Christopher Sindt, School of Liberal Arts (SOLA) The Bodies is a collection of eco poetry, in free verse elegiac form, inspired by the imagery and history of the American West Coast.

Play of Lines: Anton Azbe’s Art Academy and the Education of East European Female Painters, 2011

Anna Novakov, SOLA Anna Novakov’s Play of Lines is the first study of Slovenianborn Anton Azbe’s co-educational art school in Munich, where he influenced four East European female painters from 1891 until 1905.

Instances, 2010

Jeongrye Choi, (Co-Translated by Brenda Hillman, SOLA)

FACULTY BOOKS

Literacy Leadership for Reading Improvement: Intervention Programs and Balanced Instruction, 2011

Mary Kay Moskal, KSOE Moskal offers specific ways literacy leaders and teachers can work together on effective instruction and interventions to help struggling readers succeed.

Personal Saviors, 2011

Wesley Gibson, SOLA Gibson offers a humorous and sometimes dark exploration of the unfolding life of an 11-year-old boy trapped between his fundamentalist faith and his sexuality.

Monstress, 2012

Lysley Tenorio, SOLA

Instances is a collection of poetry by Korean author Jeongrye Choi, whose work has been recognized for its powerful metaphors, lyrical beauty and fearless imagination.

A collection of short stories that reveal, through voices, conflicts and relationships, what it is like to be Filipino and a citizen of the world, and the line between expectations and reality in shaping identity and a concept of the world.

Slant, 2011

Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression, 2010

Nicholas Leither and Barry Horwitz, SOLA

Jack Rasmus, School of Economics and Business Administration (SEBA)

This writing textbook, with a new approach on essay structure, was created to guide students through the writing process. Used and edited by Saint Mary’s Seminar and English composition professors.

Rasmus describes how epic recessions like the recent one are different from normal recessions and depressions.

He examines financial and non-financial variables and their contribution to economic system fragility.

The Pope’s Soldiers, 2011

Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Women and Men in the World Religions, Ninth Edition, 2009

David Alvarez, SOLA Alvarez, an expert in government intelligence agencies and the history of Vatican espionage, writes about the military history of the papal authority in this analysis of armed forces and the Catholic Church.

The Co-Teaching Book of Lists, 2012

Katherine D. Perez, Kalmanovitz School of Education (KSOE)

Robert S. Ellwood and Barbara A. McGraw, SEBA The 10th edition of this prestigious and widely adopted world religions text is in production.

MORE SMC FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

stmarys-ca.edu/magazine

A list of practical teaching strategies, including hands-on techniques, suggestions and classroom tested management ideas for teachers who share classroom-teaching responsibilities.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 9

A R C A D E

20 Years of Faraway Places: Carla Bossard

W

hen Carla Bossard was growing up, she had a favorite song that she played every day as she practiced the piano. It went: Faraway places with strange sounding names, Far away over the sea.

Those faraway places with strange sounding names, Are calling, calling to me.

10

WINTER 2012

Since she joined the Saint FACULTY Mary’s faculty as a biology PROFILE professor in 1991, she has led 20 January Term travel courses to faraway places with strange sounding names, and under her enthusiastic guidance, generations of students have been introduced to the wider world.

Bossard’s students have snorkeled in the Cook Islands and Fiji to examine the ecology of

coral reefs, hiked through the montane forests of Nepal and Tibet and the tropical forests of Sumatra, photographed the cultures of Morocco and Indochina, and learned about conservation and culture in Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Bali and Java. And those are just a few of the classes.

“I go to places that are really different.

I don’t go to London. I don’t go to Paris,” said Bossard, who is now chair of the Biology Department. “We’re in the backside of no place. And

almost always, as part of it, we do a home stay.

So students are really in contact with the locals.”

The resulting experience is often lifechanging for her students.

Bineydeep Mushiana, a senior who took two of Bossard’s Jan Term courses, said, “It’s the best experience I’ve had so far in my life. She doesn’t just teach through one lens but through the environmental lens and the cultural experience, too. My eyes were opened to the way people live their lives, that there’s much more than just America.”

Bossard loves travel — she has visited 104 different countries so far — and she is fascinated by scientific research, especially in her specialty of montane forest ecosystems. But that’s not the heart of why she leads Jan Term classes. The real reason, she said, is the way the trips open students’ minds.

“It knocks the legs out from under them.

It makes them think about: What actually is important in life?” she said. “And that’s what I love about Jan Term. It makes them think about what makes a life worthwhile? What makes a life valuable?”

A memorable trip to study coral reef ecology in the Cook Islands in 2001 is a case in point.

It wasn’t easy getting Professor Carla there. The plane to the Bossard, astride tiny island of Atiu held a yak and bundled just five people and in layers of clothing against the cold, the pilot, so it took on a summer day five trips to shuttle at Namtso Lake in the students and in Tibet. At their campsite at 15,400 their gear. But once feet elevation, there, they were welBossard and her comed with open students awoke in snow-covered tents. arms. In fact, on their They had traveled to last day, the villagers Namtso Lake, held held a festival in their sacred by Tibetan Buddhists, to meet honor, Bossard reTibetan nomads called. “We spent a who gather there couple of days helpevery year from April through June. ing them collect things, weave things and dye things to honor us!”

In the process, the students learned about a culture very different from their own — one in which people don’t invest in nice houses or furnishings, they invest in friendship.

In Morocco, students learned that hospitality is king. “If someone wanders in off the desert, you take care of them,” she said. “We had a lame camel in Morocco, and the local villagers took the stone out of its foot — and then fed us dates and sweets.”

After 20 years, Bossard has the Jan Term experience down to a science. Two recent Jan Term travel courses — one to Indonesia and one to Thailand, Laos and Singapore — were among her favorites because they came off without a single hitch. But it hasn’t always been that way.

Last year, during a “Summer Jan Term” trip to Tibet, she had to rescue her class from a Wild West-style brawl between Chinese and Tibetans in a local restaurant. And in 1994, on a trip to study the ecology of the Baja Peninsula, all five bridges along Mexico’s Highway 1 were washed out by unexpected torrential rains, and her soggy group had to take an arduous route along the Sea of Cortez to reach their destination.

“We still have reunions of that class,” she said. “It wasn’t easy, so it created a really strong bond between all of us. It was like, ‘Wooooo!

We survived.’ ” It seems that nothing can stop Bossard from guiding her students to remote corners of the globe. In 1995, on the last day of a trip to study the tropical forests of Sumatra, she slipped and fell off a cliff into a riverbed, nearly severing her spine. She was airlifted to Singapore Hospital in Thailand, where doctors said she might never walk again. But she proved them wrong. Despite lingering effects from the injury, she hiked above 12,000 feet altitude in Tibet last year, and this January, she led her students on a threeday trek at 10,000 feet to Simien National Park in Ethiopia.

Bossard loves teaching Jan Term classes because the lessons learned in the field — whether they’re about biology or photography or culture — seem to stick with students better than lessons learned in the classroom or even the lab.

“If you’re diving on a coral reef when you’re studying coral reef ecology, you’re immersed in it. You can smell it and taste it,” she said. “They don’t forget it. Ever. It goes straight into the hypothalamus. Zap!” Another reason she keeps going, she admitted, is that she hopes that by teaching students to value and respect other people and other cultures, she will help them to become more open-minded and less susceptible to the kind of cultural stereotyping that leads to conflict and war.

“If people have a homestay with someone in Fez or Yap or Fiji, it’s highly unlikely they’re going to want something bad to happen to these people later,” she said.

“I joke to my husband that this is my effort toward world peace — 15 students at a time.”

– BY TERESA CASTLE

STMARYS-CA.EDU 11

SCIENCE WITH A

BY KRISTIN

J. BENDER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOBY BURDITT

12

WINTER 2012

one hand. When it came to choosing where he wanted to go to college, he realized the answer wasn’t a huge university with classes twice the size of his own hometown.

That led him to Saint Mary’s College, where he majored in physics.

Now in Boulder, Colo., where he is a senior manager in a division of PerkinElmer that builds imaging systems for small animal medical research, Whittemore grew up in Cantwell, Alaska (population 150). He shared a log cabin with his parents and 17 sled dogs. That’s a lot of dogs, but then, his father ran the famed 1,150-mile Iditarod sled race across the extreme Alaska terrain nine times. Whittemore, now 32, followed in his father’s footsteps, winning the race twice as a teenager.

But more than an athlete, Whittemore is really a scientist at heart. He graduated at the top of his high school class and was able to choose among six colleges that had accepted him.

But he wanted the same thing in a university that he had experienced in his small Alaskan village — a place where everyone knew and cared about each other.

“My first choice was the University of Oregon,” he said. “But when we walked into a medium-sized lecture, there were 300 people in the room — double the size of my entire town.”

By contrast, he felt at home at Saint Mary’s as he walked the leafy campus, observed people collaborating on projects and sharing ideas, and heard professors talking with their students instead of lecturing at them.

And he appreciated Saint Mary’s deliberate and unwavering focus on integrating science with the rest of the liberal arts, something that is increasingly important in today’s world. This approach is exemplified in Collegiate Seminar, where all Saint Mary’s students explore the great books and the big ideas of human culture.

LUCA VENTER

Dusty Whittemore ’01 was born and raised in a town so small that he could count the classmates in his graduating class on the fingers of

Dusty Whittemore ’01 majored in physics and is a senior manager in a company that makes imaging systems for small animal research.

“It’s really educating people to become learners for life.” said Roy Wensley, dean of the School of Science. It is critically important for scientists to learn how to clearly communicate with the public about their work, he noted. “Our science students have to learn how to write,” he explained. “And they do a lot of writing. Math students write a senior essay, delving into some area of their discipline.”

Too often, science programs at other universities are narrowly focused, exposing students only to courses within their particular fields, Wensley explained. That may produce excellent scientists, but it doesn’t always produce excellent thinkers.

“I like to think of the Saint Mary’s approach as the students getting a great science education but also grappling with a lot of the ‘big questions’ of humanity, meaning and purpose,” he said.

and learning how to collaborate and communicate with teammates and coaches helped me to develop the skills needed to effectively communicate with other health care team members as well as my patients.’’

The experience also taught her discipline and how to prioritize her time for studies, extracurricular activities and time with friends and family.

And, in addition to basic scieducation at Saint ence knowledge, Elliott also took Mary’s College.” A fuller background in liberal arts made her a better scien- with her an increased ability to show compassion and empathy tist by exposing her to other viewpoints and ways of thinking.

“Science is a team pursuit and the progression of science depends on other because of Saint Mary’s focus on people’s work and collaboration with other people,” said Peralta, who earned human reason, ethics and justice. a chemistry degree at Saint Mary’s and is working toward her doctorate at UC “The college essentially teaches in a Davis. “It is crucial to be able to interact with other scientists, and the ability to very humanistic way with the ultimate goal of making life better for know how to do that is not something a lot of people know how to do.”

Psychology major Angelina Elliott ’05 pointed to another experience all people,” she said.

And now Elliott — who finthat helped to prepare her for medical school at UC Davis.

“My answer has never wavered over the last six years: playing Division ishes medical school this May and is I soccer at Saint Mary’s College,” Elliott said . “Participating in a team sport waiting to hear where she will serve her pediatric residency — is paying Roy Wensley, it forward.

“I have always felt supported in my endeavors by Saint Mary’s College, professor of physics and astronomy and specifically my mentor Dr. Hoang Vu and health science advisor Karen Cowman. The dean of the School of school’s steadfast encouragement has motivated me to give back to the school and be Science, in the lobby a mentor for any Saint Mary’s College student interested in medicine as a career.” of the Brousseau Hall science building.

The opportunity for science students to interact closely with their professors has proven valuable. “It is really easy to see superiors in science as very threatening and intimidating since they know so much more science then the starting scientist,” Peralta said. “But because of the small feel of the science department, I had constant interaction with all of the chemistry professors and it was that interaction that lessened the intimidation factor for me both when I was working in the semiconductor industry and now in graduate school.”

Whittemore particularly enjoyed the intimate atmosphere. “The physics program was 6 or 10 people and we were the biggest group they had had. We were kind of a little family all on our own. Because we were such a small group, we were all in it together.”

His wife, who went to Texas A&M, had a different experience. “She is always blown away that I call my physics professors by their first names and that I keep in touch with them and go visit them.’’

A common misperception about scientists is that they are not social creatures but rather are lone figures, toiling away in the laboratory. But much of the work is collaborative in nature and done in groups of people who may be from different backgrounds, countries and experiences. That makes interacting with others and collaborating cooperatively an imperative skill, said Ken Brown ’77, who has been teaching at Saint Mary’s since 1984.

To drive that lesson home, Brown provides students with a set of experimental results (different spectra) that provide various clues to the identity of an unknown compound. Students must identify the compound and show how the experimental evidence supports their conclusion, he said.

Alumna Maria Peralta ‘08 agrees and said Collegiate Seminar was, “one of the top things I took away from my

14

WINTER 2012

Maria Peralta ’08 is pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry at UC Davis.

Damon Tighe ‘01, who spent several years working on the Human Genome Project, is also an avid outdoorsman who keeps “scientific journals” about his many travels.

“As one student proposes a specific structural feature of the unknown compound, others can agree or point out contradictory evidence. If any of the students has been struggling with how to begin this sort of problem, they have this opportunity to learn strategies from their classmates,’’ Brown said.

The lessons go beyond the laboratory to the field, where students gain real-world experience during January Term. They go all over the world to study things like reef ecology on the Cook Islands or food justice in Nicaragua. But even then, there’s more to it than science.

“The January Term is an opportunity to take them to China or the South Pacific to study culture, art and science,’’ said Wensley, who co-led a trip to the Cook Islands with Professor Carla Bossard several years ago.

Take John Macken, for example. The 70-year-old graduated from Saint Mary’s Col-

lege with a physics degree in 1962. He has, by any measure, been a successful physicist.

He holds roughly three dozen patents, developed over a 40-year career.

His success in science and business life science technology company Bio-Rad, went along on that Jan Term trip to the Cook started the year he graduated from college, Islands to study reef ecology, anthropology and astronomy. “That was an when he began working at North American Aviation, an aerospace company that was opportunity you can only get at Saint Mary’s.”

While in the Cook Islands, Tighe made necklaces from urchin spines later renamed Rockwell International. He for Wensley and Bossard to show his appreciation for the effort they put into made inventions in what was the new field organizing the trip. “I wanted to give them a token of my gratitude,’’ he said. of lasers. With about seven years of work on his record, he began working at night Wensley still has the necklace in his office.

Tighe believes his experiences in Jan Term opened his eyes to different in his garage developing commercial prodcultures and prepared him for the working world, beginning with his first job ucts that were instruments for use in the — teaching at De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, where he laser field. In 1971 Macken and his brother lived with three Christian Brothers. “Being there was a way to experience a incorporated a company named Optical Engineering Inc. to manufacture and sell scidifferent culture and the mechanisms that make that culture work,” he said.

Saint Mary’s emphasis on providing science majors with a solid foun- entific instruments that Macken developed. dation in liberal arts and mind stretching experiences is nothing new and He also developed the process and equipment to make laser engraved decorations has served generations of students well. in wood products and make intricate laser cut paper products. The company changed its name to Lasercraft, Inc. and by 1991 it had grown to about 230 employees.

He later developed a new type of high-power CO2 laser and an innovative optical design that allowed sheet metal to be used for welding automobiles and then sold the company to an automotive-related company in 1997.

Macken’s background in physics was instrumental in his success, of course, but so too were the skills he honed in one of the last places you might expect to find a physics major: the Debate Society. But the skills he learned debating his classmates transformed him from a shy and introverted young man into a bold and confident businessman.

“When I was president of my own company, the ability to communicate with employees was critical. I had to be able to influence them to adopt my vision or plan,” he said. “I was always using skills that I developed in speech and debate.”

Other students have experienced the same transition.

“When I came into Saint Mary’s College I was painfully shy,’’ said Michelle Nenzel ’10, who earned a degree in chemistry in 2010 and is now working on a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno. Honing her debating and public speaking skills through liberal arts courses sharpened her ability to communicate with peers. That skill served her well the first time she had to deliver a talk, on depleted uranium and its impact on the environment. “If I hadn’t had Seminar I don’t think I would have gotten through it.’’

Damon Tighe, a 2001 biology major who now lives in Oakland and works in the education division of Bay Area-based

John Macken ’62 started in the aerospace industry, formed his own laser instrument company in the early 1970s and holds some three dozen patents.

Kristin J. Bender is a longtime reporter at the Oakland Tribune.

18

WINTER 2012

JASHUA LIU, AGE 5, LILBURN, GA., SHIJUN ART STUDIO. I SWIM WITH FISH, 2010 FINALIST. ALL ART AND POETRY COPYRIGHT RIVER OF WORDS.

A

NEW

WATERSHED

FOR

RIVER

WORDS OF

BY TERESA CASTLE

STMARYS-CA.EDU 19

Robert Hass remembers the exact moment when his poetic imagination and love of nature came together and Before my granddad caught fire. It was 1959 and Hass, died, he told me about who would go on to become Poet Laureate of the United States, was a heaven and why it existed. sophomore in the Integral Program He said the night sky at Saint Mary’s. One day, his profeswas a huge black sor sent him and his classmates to Lake La Salle to observe birds. blanket, that every “One of the first things I did soul could peek was to go out to the lake, lift a pair through and watch over us. of binoculars and see a Caspian tern, this immense white bird, great He believed the stars were smiling fisher of the bird species, sail over faces of those passed, who the lake, open its wings like a parawatched me every day. clete and plunge into the lake and come up with a fish. It was just a My granddad said moment of heart-stopping beauty.” he would be He felt he’d been given “a new one of those pair of eyes with which to see things,” he said. “It passed, and would was a gift that I tried to give back.”

In his books of poetry, from Field Guide to watch over the the Pulitzer Prize-winning Time and Materials world he loved. and beyond, Hass has returned that gift many I’ve looked at times over. But one of the most far-reaching ways the stars in the he has passed it along is through River of Words, sky, trying to a program he and writer Pamela Michael cofind that new founded in 1995 that encourages children to find their own inspiration — and their inner artist — smiling face so in the natural world.

I can smile back.

Last fall, with a little help from Vice Provost DiAnna Rowe, for Graduate and Professional Studies Chris Sindt, age 11 River of Words found a new home at Saint Mary’s Greeley, Colo. as the first project of the College’s new Center for 2010 Grand Prize, Environmental Literacy, a program based in the Category II School of Education that explores ways to inte(Grades 3–6) grate nature and the arts in the classroom.

The heart of River of Words is an annual international contest that inspires children in kindergarten through 12th grade to go out into their local watersheds and create poetry and art that captures their unique surroundings.

“The world’s children are perhaps its most truthful and sensitive observers,” said Michael, who is the director of the Center for Environmental Literacy, the editor of The Gift of Rivers and a former member of Wild Writing Women, a Bay Area travel writers’ group.

Around 20,000 contest entries pour in to River of Words each year.

The most promising are reviewed by a panel of judges, including Michael, Hass and children’s book illustrator Thacher Hurd, who select about 100 poems and artworks as finalists. A dozen grand prize winners and a teacher of the year are honored at an annual ceremony at the Library of Congress Center for the Book in Washington, D.C., and the children’s work is published in an anthology sent to thousands of classrooms across the nation, so their creations can inspire other youngsters.

“We have to do this for the sake of our children, for the sake of our land, for our imagination and our future,” said Hass, who taught 20

WINTER 2012

MOK TSUN HO, AGE 14, HONG KONG, CHINA, SCHOOL OF CREATIVITY. EXPLORING THE SPECTACULAR UNDERWATER WORLD, 2010 FINALIST.

HEAVEN

at Saint Mary’s for 18 years.

He sees watersheds as a lens through which we can understand our environment and, ultimately, become better stewards of our world. “We can’t take care of something that we don’t understand, and we’re not going to get interested in understanding it unless we come to love it,” he said.

In order to fire young imaginations and carve out a new vision of how to live on the land, Hass believes, we need to bring together science, literature and art. “This generation is going to have to deal with a whole series of environmental problems,” he said. “They need to have a language for what they care about.”

The project grew out of a germ of an idea and a stroke of synchronicity.

“I woke up one morning with the phrase ‘river of words’ in my head,” said Michael, who was then working as a consultant for International Rivers. She conceived an idea for a poetry contest about rivers to coincide with the first National Poetry Month in April 1996. Around the same time, a friend introduced her to the new Poet Laureate. Coincidentally, Hass was

HIRUNI RAJAKARUNA, AGE 10, MAWANELLA, SRI LANKA. UNTITLED, 2010 FINALIST

DEER PRINT A soft indentation — two toes — marks the ground, a blank reminder of what has been here before me.

I try to feel amazed, to marvel at this muddy imprint, to feel lucky at my chance notice — but I want to see the deer, steam streaming from her nostrils as she stares at me,

thin legs threatening to give way, small brown head trembling in the cold.

I want to see her bound away, her tail high in the air, her two-toed hooves marking the ground.

Benjamin F. Williams, age 12 Westport Island, Maine 2004 Finalist

STMARYS-CA.EDU 21

22

WINTER 2012

GEOFFREY CHUNG CHEUK HIN, AGE 6, HONG KONG, CHINA, SIMPLY ART. HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR, 2010 FINALIST.

working on a large gathering of environmental writers at the Library of Congress called “Watershed: Writers, Nature and Community.” The two visions coalesced into River of Words, which now oversees the largest youth poetry competition in the world.

“Its true genius is its simplicity,” Michael said. “We believe that the joy of discovery and investigation excites children and that learning should be fun.”

Along with the annual contest, River of Words publishes a detailed “Watershed Explorer” curriculum, which encourages teachers to draw on many disciplines, including history, math, science, social studies, geography and the arts, to help children understand the natural world.

Michael believes River of Words will be a catalyst for collaboration at Saint Mary’s, too, bringing together students and faculty from the schools

of science, education and the arts. Already, the center is sponsoring four publishing internships for MFA students and working on an orientation app for iPhones and iPads on the cultural and natural history of the College.

Together with Education Professor Raina Leon, Michael is also planning a weeklong summer camp for Bay Area eighth-graders that will be called the Saint Mary’s Explorers Club. The youngsters will explore SMC’s 400 acres, including the Legacy Garden, the observatory, the swamp and the Redwood Grove, and create an online guide to all the trees on campus.

River of Words nourishes imaginations — young and old — in many ways. Some of the young writers and artists even find their calling through the contest. Rebecca Givens Rolland, a 1998 Grand Prize winner, has continued to develop her passion for poetry while earning degrees in English

THIS PLACE

VICTORIA TU, AGE 12, NORTHBROOK, ILL. I LOVE YOU, BUTTERFLY! 2010 FINALIST.

The creek runs past a fallen grandmother bay tree Over stones smoothed by the centuries The ripples seem to be everlasting A buckeye leaf floats down the creek While the wrentit sings and the sword fern stands guard Five-finger ferns peek over the edge The love of this place is like a child’s heart.

Tobi Earnheart-Gold, age 9 Bolinas, Calif.

1997 Grand Prize

MISUNDERSTOOD In a sacred place, a creek is alive, Shallow, murky, moving water.

A water-strider walks along the water.

“Look closely, follow our movements,” the green water whispers.

A misplaced turtle bobs up and down, swimming gracefully.

Its striped shell and red head floats near the surface and then disappears.

Ripples spread over and over again, like a never-ending secret.

A wilted tulip drifts by.

Water springs out creating unforgettable ripples.

And if you look closely, you can see the copper glow of pennies, the creek hopelessly misunderstood for a fountain.

Dead leaves drift upon the water.

The turtle observes this silently.

While the only spectator in the creek is Abe Lincoln’s copper face.

Caroline María Woods-Mejía, age 12 Berkeley, Calif.

2009 Creek Seeker Grand Prize

STMARYS-CA.EDU 23

STREAM OF WORDS slowly the words find their way down the trickling stream to the river.

Abe Hoffman, age 8 Denver, Colo.

2010 Monkey’s Raincoat Prize (honoring a short poem in the Japanese haiku tradition)

24

WINTER 2012

which begins “In a sacred place, a creek is alive…”

“It’s wonderful how this connects poets like Robert Hass and writers like me and these young poets,” he said. “It really is like a river of words that keeps flowing through time.”

The 16th Annual River of Words Youth Creativity Awards Ceremony will be held at the Library of Congress on April 23, 2012. Saint Mary’s will host a California ceremony in the Soda Center on April 28.

In addition, to celebrate the new program, the SMC Museum of Art will display artwork by the 2012 contest winners from April 15 to June 10, the College library will feature River of Words artwork throughout April, and a Words Into Music Symposium will be held in Hagerty Lounge on April 27.

To learn more about River of Words and the Center for Environmental Literacy, see stmarys-ca.edu/row. To donate to the Center for Environmental Literacy, contact Robert Smriga at (925) 631-4787 or donate online at stmarys-ca.edu/giving/make-a-gift-now by designating the center, listed under the Kalmanovitz School of Education, as the beneficiary.

ROHULLAH HASSANI, AGE 14, QUETTA, PAKISTAN, GHOLGHOLA ART SOCIETY. FORBEARANCE AND SEEKING A REMEDY, 2010 FINALIST

from Yale and Boston University. Her work has won a number of awards and her first book of poems, The Wreck of Birds, will be published next year.

Givens Rolland, now a doctoral student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, said the award “gave me confidence at a young age in the power of poetry to express emotions and thoughts, and made me feel connected to a broader community of writers and to environmental issues.”

At the College’s reception last fall for River of Words, Tobi EarnheartGold, a former finalist who recently graduated from Stanford, spoke to the audience about the moment when “poetry found him.”

“River of Words instilled in me a sense of place and a relationship to art that later became a refuge,” he said.

The audience listened with delight as two teenage contest winners read their poems. In each work, a sense of place, closely observed, gave rise to a delicious sense of discovery of the world — and of the child’s own nature.

Standing at the back of the room, Bryn Garrehy, a student in Saint Mary’s MFA program listened, enraptured, as Caroline María WoodsMejía, a 2009 Grand Prize winner, recited her poem, “Misunderstood,”

}

GAELS IN THEIR HABITAT

Turkeys are the unofficial campus alarm clock.

(See Wild Saint Mary’s, p. 30)

}

ROOMMATE OBSERVATION TIPS

U STUDENT LIFE TE S

BY

’15

AF

G D L IE

O T E ID

K

AT HR EN U YN TP GE SE I RAG L HTY ‘12 AND

There are certain experiences every college student goes through — moving away from home, the first taste of independence, pulling all-nighters in a desperate attempt to finish that term paper you put off all semester. ¶ But there are also aspects of college life unique to Saint Mary’s.

In this field guide to campus life, students share insider information about their secret haunts and their onlyat-Saint-Mary’s experiences.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFFREY BRAVERMAN ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAGGIE OLSON

STMARYS-CA.EDU 25

Stress reliever 1: Sneaking into the Chapel to listen to Brother Martin practice on the 3,649-pipe organ.

The Party Animal Late nights are what party animals are all about. They always have an entourage, ready to party wherever they go. Unfortunately for you, it will be in your dorm.

Earplugs and an authoritative RA may help you get through the year with a party animal. But, on the plus side, meeting people is made easy because new friends are brought to you.

Places you will find them: On the floor On a roof In bed until noon Not in class

The Athlete Like the smell of sweat?

Well, you will after living with an athlete. Soccer, baseball, water polo, lacrosse, basketball and everything in between, you will have all kinds of players in your room complaining about 6 a.m. practice, team bonding events (yoga), or trouble with the coach. Practice will take up most of their time so you will have to seek out other friends.

Or you may decide to join in on the action and be part the team.

Places you might find them: Madigan Gym Turf Power Plant

Stress reliever 2: Meditating with Brother Camillus: “I promise it will raise your GPA.”

The Activist There is a fine line between being a mere animal lover or recycler and the roommate who is really serious about social issues. They will take dedication to a whole other level. They will cover the walls with bright posters, speak endlessly about their issues, and do anything and everything on campus to make sure their voices are being heard. These roommates may actually get you interested in issues you didn’t know about and most importantly, get you active.

Places you will find them: Intercultural Center Women’s Resource Center CILSA Mission and Ministry

Stress reliever 3: Chilling out in the secret rose garden near Oliver Hall.

(Then look for the 12 secret entrances to the catacombs.)

The Musician Singing in the shower shouldn’t be a concern when you have a musician roommate. They will play their hearts out in the lawn, in the room, or wherever they can find an audience.

Get ready to enjoy the thrill of hearing all kinds of new music genres. Earplugs are your best investment, unless, on the rare occasion that they do possess some talent, you can collect mounds of artifacts to sell on eBay once they reach notable fame.

Places you might find them: Syufy Chapel Lawn De La Salle Lawn Practice Rooms

Mind expander: Stargazing with Professor Ron Olowin.

The Super Scholar These roommates rarely see the light of day. They spend their time studying, studying and then studying some more.

While they will not go to events with you or acknowledge your presence behind their mounds of work, their dedication may inspire you to drop the game room ping-pong paddle and hit the books.

Places you will find them Library In their dorm CafĂŠ Louie Writing Center Tutoring

STMARYS-CA.EDU 27

“Useless for texting.”

The Video Gamer If you love the sound of combat, zombie death and non-stop action, then you’ve hit the jackpot with a video game geek roommate. They will keep you up all night with the glare of their computer or TV monitors flashing war scenes or the bright green turf of FIFA or Madden games.

Video gamers are serious about their virtual worlds; so serious you might enjoy having the room to yourself in the real world.

Places you might find them: In their dorm Next to a videogame console

Small classes: you can’t hide and it’s harder to text and check Facebook.

The No Show (Not pictured) These roommates are always MIA, either cozy back at home or nowhere to be found. You are in for some quiet weekends and lonely nights but do not worry; there are always plenty of out-of-state students on campus.

Places you might find them: Catacombs?

Facebook

Surrounded by beauty every day.

Swag: confidence in whatever you’re wearing, even if it’s a pink tutu. You just rock it.

Best running trails: Up to the cross and then down to the Redwood Grove; the campus loop; at Lafayette Reservoir.

Food tip 2: A taco truck shows up in the library parking lot late on Friday nights.

28

WINTER 2012

Energy tip: Hunker down with coffee at Café Louis first thing in the morning.

Food tip 1: Imagine you’re in a Harry Potter movie while dining at Oliver Hall.

It looks like the Hogwarts School Great Hall, without the ghosts.

We think.

Mind blowing: helping rebuild a country during Jan Term.

Freshmen give up on looking fabulous first thing in the morning and go to class in their pajamas.

Place to nap: the library — in the beanbag chairs or in a cubicle.

Wild about sports: fierce competition and a habit of winning.

Freshman socialization tip: open door policy in the dorms.

Body painting SMC style: Your body is your brush when you paint the letters on the hillside.

Redwood Grove: commune with the spirit of naturalist John Muir in an island of solitude on a busy campus.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 29

WILD SAINT MARY’S

BY GINNY PRIOR

30

WINTER 2012

BILL SULLIVAN

STU SELLAND

e n t ion wildlife and college in the same breath and it conjures up visions of the 1970s movie Animal House. But in a setting as serene as the Moraga Valley, the wildlife most talked about at Saint Mary’s College is the four-legged or feathered kind.

Consider the words of ornithologist Brother John James O’Neill, who noted 100 avian species on campus in 1981: “It is my hope that this list will give guidance to Integral Biology students and pleasure to visiting birdwatchers. May it also serve as a reminder of the beauty that surrounds us if we only take the time to look, and wonder.”

While the incursion of wildlife into populated areas is increasing around the nation, for a number of reasons, the Saint Mary’s campus, with its park-like setting on 420 acres, has always shared space with the wild animals of the Moraga hills. And it still inspires wonder, along with a host of other emotions. Barbara Smith, administrative assistant to the president, remembers the time, 20 years ago, when a wild turkey decided to invite himself to a fancy luncheon in Brother Jerome West Hall. “There was a whole flock outside and this one bird decided this would be a good adventure,” she said. He jumped on the table where the dishes were set up and Public Safety had to haul the bird out in a tablecloth.

Meanwhile, student Craig Phillips remembers a turkey causing quite a kerfuffle when he strutted through the propped-open doors of a classroom in Sichel Hall last year.

Several years ago Bill Sullivan, director of scheduling and promotions, took photos of two young barn owls nesting in a broken downspout on the roof of Augustine Hall. It was during the summer when students weren’t around, so he was able to lean out of a third story window and snap away at the owlets peeking over the edge of the downspout. “They were old enough to be more curious than afraid,” Sullivan said. “But they were almost ready to leave the nest and not long after that they were gone.”

JAYCEE CASALNUOVO ’14

Barn owls (far left) once made the Chapel steeple their home, but these two were found nesting in a dormitory downspout.

Deer, a constant wild presence on campus, wander the Quad, munch on bushes and peer through windows, curious perhaps about our human world. Meanwhile, neighborhood cattle with wanderlust make appearances on campus from time to time.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 31

Courtney Carmignani ’05, associate director of alumni and volunteer engagement, remembers when she was a student there was a famous family of albino raccoons that was actually featured in a cover photo in the Collegian. But it was an encounter with a cow that topped her list of animal tales. It was during preparation for the annual Barbecue in the Grove. “I headed out to the Redwood Grove to set up and found a huge black and white cow in the grove, eating the grass. I could not get her to move!

32

WINTER 2012

Even my golf cart zooming around her didn’t get her out of there.”

In the 83 years that Saint Mary’s College has been in Moraga, some stories have been told so many times, they’ve achieved folklore status. The brothers cutting their hair for the birds to use making nests, the students coaxing the cow up the stairs of Augustine Hall — these stories are all told with great embellishment.

But where cows were once plentiful, it’s the flocks of wild turkeys that rule the roost these days,

and when they mingle with any of the estimated 100 feral cats at Saint Mary’s, the results can be comical. Collegiate Seminar professor Jim Smith once observed a cat descend from the cradle of a Cork Oak to check out a flock of hen turkeys.

“This cat came down — playing the leopard — stalking them,” he said. What proceeded to unfold was a curious dance where the cat would advance on the birds, and they’d move as a unit to push him back. “They were huge birds,” said Smith. “There was no way the cat was going to do anything.”

Controlling the cat population has been a

STU SELLAND

labor of love for several professors, staff and students, who are following a plan used at a number of other campuses. “When Stanford started their project 10 years ago, they had 1,500 cats and now they’re down to 200,” said Felicidad Oberholzer, professor of religion and theological studies, who along with Integral professor Alexis Doval, runs SMC Ferals. It’s been proven that the most effective and humane way to handle the cats is to trap, neuter and release them back to their colonies on campus, Oberholzer explained.

As for claims that they’re threatening the bird population, she said, “Yes, cat’s kill birds.

ALEXIS DOVAL, STU SELLAND

Wild turkeys serve as ad hoc campus alarm clocks, waking students early in the morning, most noticeably on weekends, unfortunately.

Feral cats living on campus are tracked on a web site (see More Online).

But it’s unlikely to happen when they’re in a colony and fed.” SMC Ferals makes sure the campus cats eat regularly and tracks them online (See “more online” below).

Meanwhile, Doval has created a Google bird map for the species he and his students have identified during freshman lab. They include sapsuckers, finches, towhees and a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks they captured on camera in the process of mating. Most prolific, perhaps, are the Cliff Swallows who seem to have chosen the eaves under Brousseau Hall as their own personal maternity ward. (See photos and a Google map of birds on campus at “more online”) Brother Charles Hilken remembers other winged creatures leaving their mark on campus over the years, including the owl that lived in the Chapel tower some 20 years ago. “It would occasionally drop its stomach contents (bones and fur) on the chapel steps.”

Relative newcomers to SMC’s bird “sanctuary” are the crows, which biology professor Larry Cory calls “free wheeling” creatures that can be found from the branches of the tallest trees to the open lawn. “They first appeared on the campus in the year of the great Oakland fire and have been residents here ever since.”

Among the best songbirds, he noted, are the House Finches, Warbling Vireo and Blackheaded Grosbeaks.

Day after day, the show goes on at Saint Mary’s. It’s like watching Wild Kingdom on a loop. For most of us, that’s a whole lot better than watching Animal House.

MORE ONLINE

stmarys-ca.edu/magazine

Q U A D

Carlo Beckman’s “Second Life”

ALEN MACWEENEY

I

t seems only fitting that Carlo Beckman ’05 MA ’10 works at Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, a popular online site that allows users to bring their dreams to life by creating alternate worlds in virtual reality. Beckman has reinvented himself many times in his quest to follow his dreams, and Saint Mary’s has been a key player in several of those transformations.

At Linden Lab, where he took over as director of customer support last May, his team of 75 employees is responsible for making the Second Life experience as seamless as possible for the nearly 1 million visitors, or “residents,” who live out their fantasies in the online game every month.

His new position at Linden Lab is the culmination of a circuitous route to success. Growing up in the Central Valley, his family was very poor, he said, and “sometimes lived on food stamps.”

So after graduating from Madera High School in 1995, he went into a field where money is never in short supply — banking. Rising fast, he became a bank officer by the age of 20. But because of his age and lack of higher education, he noted, he “got no respect.”

“There was a lot of ‘Hey, kid,’ ” he remembers.

So he set his sights on getting a degree. His goal was a career in medicine, which he pursued through science courses at the College of San Mateo and San Francisco State University. After his first attempt at dissecting a cadaver, however, he realized that medicine wasn’t for him.

Around that time, he took a risk on the booming technology sector and found his new

2007 Brother Timothy Cabernet Supports Scholarships With a deep luminous core and a bright cherry/

quality offering of just 294 cases made from

plum nose, the 2007 Brother Timothy Cabernet

grapes grown in the soil where he toiled.

Sauvignon is ready to debut. “It’s the vintage of

Now leased by the Hess Collection, the small

the decade,” said celebrated winemaker Dave

two-acre vineyard at Mont La Salle yields

Guffy of the Hess Collection, who handcrafts

world-class wines.

a cabernet annually to benefit the Lasallian Education Fund.

The wine, available to Saint Mary’s alumni

34

WINTER 2012

Even more significant is the fact that the proceeds go to provide scholarships for legacy families, who might otherwise be unable to afford

for $60 a bottle (a $94 value) is a fitting tribute

an education at Saint Mary’s. It is part of the De La

to Brother Timothy Diener, the man who was

Salle Christian Brothers’ ongoing mission to serve

cellar master at the Christian Brothers Winery

the poor, and it was one of Brother Timothy’s

in Napa for more than 50 years. It’s a reserve-

passionate goals in life.

“Basically, Brother Timothy approved the

calling. He left banking, dropped out of college and went to work for VeriSign, an early player in the field of online payments.

Though he loved the work, it was a struggle to get ahead. A mentor at the company offered some sage advice: “If you want to go further, you should get a degree.” So in 2003, encouraged by his wife, Angelica (Garcia) Beckman, a 1997 Saint Mary’s accounting graduate, he enrolled in SMC’s School of Extended Education (SEED) program, a former degree completion program for working adults, and earned a B.A. in management in 2005.

Over the next five years, he climbed the career ladder in a succession of management positions at Quicken Health, BOKU and Cryptic Studios. He also enrolled in the M.A. in Leadership program at Saint Mary’s, earning his second SMC degree in 2010 while continuing to work full-time.

Recently, Beckman returned to Saint Mary’s once again — this time to deliver the keynote address at Dine With Alums, an annual event at which alumni share their hard-earned wisdom about the world of work with SMC students preparing to launch their careers.

His top career tips for the students were: Find a mentor and decide what you value most. His own values have changed over time, he said. “Five years ago, my goal was to be a C-level executive rolling around in a Mercedes-Benz,” he said. Now, with two young sons and more experience in the world of management, he said he values “work/life balance, a chance to be challenged and to make change.”

The most crucial thing he has learned in his career, he said, is the importance of feedback — both positive and negative — although accepting negative feedback didn’t come easy.

“At first, it was difficult for me to hear criticism,” he admitted. “I had never failed at

anything. But over time, I learned to embrace constructive criticism. Now I seek it out.”

When it comes to positive feedback, he practices what he preaches. At an earlier job, he adopted a regular discipline to make sure he remembered to hand out large helpings of praise: As he left for work each morning, he’d put four small stones in his left pocket. Every time he gave someone positive feedback, he’d transfer one of the stones to his right pocket. And he wouldn’t go home until all four stones were in his right pocket.

The discipline Beckman brings to his management duties may be rooted in two practices he follows outside of work: martial arts and meditation.

Beckman has studied martial arts, including karate, kung fu and tae kwon do, throughout his life and is now an avid practitioner of Samurai sword fighting. Meditation is a skill he learned at the feet of Brother Camillus Chavez, Saint Mary’s meditation master. His new goal is to become proficient enough in meditation to “teach other people the skill so they can improve their lives.”

Beckman already helps improve the lives of others through his volunteer work and service to the College. He’s a mentor in Year Up, an intensive training program for young urban adults, and a member of the SMC Latino Alumni Chapter. In May, he became a member of Saint Mary’s Alumni Board of Directors. He looks forward to giving back to the College because, “I loved my courses and I loved my teachers. And it was at Saint Mary’s that I learned to inspire people to achieve a greater good.”

– TERESA CASTLE

If you would like to be involved in next year’s Dine With Alums event, contact Courtney Carmignani at ccarmign@stmarys-ca.edu or (925) 631-4577.

With his impressive stature, big hands and strong

The fund — the West Coast Educational Foun-

project and the legacy,” said SMC Alumni Board

understanding of science, Brother Timothy proved

dation of the De La Salle Christian Brothers

member Michael Mulcahy ‘74, noting that too

to be a quick study in the field of viticulture. It

— provides scholarships to help disadvantaged

many young people face the double threat of

wasn’t long before he’d established the Christian

students gain access to Lasallian Schools and

poverty and exclusion. He called the scholarships a

Brothers as one of the leading producers of wine in

educational programs.

great way to keep the Christian Brothers’ mission

California’s budding wine industry. Indeed, it was

and legacy alive through a bottle of wine.

his smiling image on advertisements nationwide.

The legend of Brother Timothy is well known

But as famous as he became for his wine,

The Brother Timothy 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is a tribute to his memory, and to the Christian Brothers’ contributions to California wine. But

in Napa — and throughout the California wine

Brother Timothy considered himself a Brother

for Mulcahy, it’s also a way for underprivileged

industry. He was a high school chemistry teacher

first and a winemaker second. He loved tending to

youth to transform their lives and the lives of their

when he was assigned to Mont La Salle in 1935

his vineyards and had an impressive collection of

families and communities. “To me, this is a mes-

— just five years after the Christian Brothers

orchids but he never lost his focus on educating

sage in a bottle,” he said. “It’s a message of hope.”

purchased 340 acres on Mt. Veeder in the fertile

children and helping the poor.

– GINNY PRIOR

Napa Valley. The property included vineyards and

Near the end of his life, (he passed away

an old stone winery where the Brothers made

in 2004 at the age of 94) Brother Timothy

altar wine and some early offerings of table wine.

helped establish the Lasallian Education Fund.

TO ORDER WINE:

stmarys-ca.edu/for-alumni/ brother-timothy-wine STMARYS-CA.EDU 35

DANIEL BUNN

Q U A D

2010

3

Chris Stevens ML retired as a lieutenant and division commander from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office last July and has formed Summit Solutions Consulting LLC. Chris is combining his 23 years of law enforcement and management experience with the knowledge gained through the SMC graduate Leadership program to offer services in HR, strategic planning, organizational change and workplace violence mitigation and other areas. www.summitsolutionsconsulting.com

2009 [1] After graduating from the Teachers for Tomorrow program at Saint Mary’s, Cassidy Gunter joined the Peace Corps. She lived in a small Kriol village of about 150 people in Belize and worked as a primary school teacher trainer and English teacher. Gunter (shown with students) is now back in the States and living in Walnut Creek, continuing her work as an educator.

Kathryn Morgan EMBA. Kathryn Morgan has been appointed sales and marketing manager at ASL Pharmacy.

Kathryn’s most recent experience was at Clipper Windpower, Inc., where she was a communication specialist and project manager, and Medtronic, where she was in franchise marketing.

2008 [2] Molly Bergeson met her husband, Patrick O’Bryant, in 2004 while attending Bradley University. Molly transferred to SMC in 2006 and graduated in 2008 with a degree in Kinesiology. The couple were married on July 29, 2011, on Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island. Megan Galloway ’08 was a bridesmaid in the wedding. Patrick and Molly currently call Las Vegas their home but continue to travel for Patrick’s job. Molly owns an eyelash extension company in Las Vegas.

[3] Nathan Garcia was married on Oct. 29, 2011, in historic San Antonio, Texas. It was a wonderful day for many blessed reasons, but especially so because his closest friends and fellow Gaels traveled from both ends of the country to witness him exchange vows and to take part in the ceremony. They shared love, laughter and tears of joy. It was a testament

36

WINTER 2012

1

7

5

10 Miric, Lindsay Short ECR ’09 ME ’10, Marc Kaiser, PJ Hainley ME ECR ’09 and Steve Wackowski ‘05!

2007

2 6

9

4

[6] Jeff Karlton (shown with SF Giants player Barry Zito) has been a proud uncle for almost two years now. He received his commission as an Army Reserve second lieutenant on Nov. 29,2010, and is attending training in San Antonio, Texas.

[7] Jonathan Danzl were married on Sept. 24 to his longtime girlfriend, Sarah Noe. The couple lives in Boulder, Colo.

Jon is a business intelligence analyst in Broomfield, Colo.

2006 [8] Jessica (Fajardo) married Benjamin W. Griswold on Aug. 6, 2011, at Saint Mary’s Chapel. They were surrounded by family and friends. Shown are Jessica Fajardo, Fabiola Martinez ‘06, Kassie Zipay ‘06, Adriana Martinez ‘06, Jasmine Fajardo and Julia Fajardo (sisters of the bride).

Jake Murray joins HFS Consultants as a consultant in reimbursement practice.

Murray joins the company from Toyon Associates, where he held a similar role. After receiving a B.S. in Business Administration from Saint Mary’s, he earned an MBA with a concentration in finance from California State University, East Bay. Nicole Ward and Keith Nielsen were married on Dec. 3, 2011, in Sacramento. The ceremony took place at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, with a reception following at Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills.

Nicole sells advertising for a travel magazine and Keith is an officer with the California Highway Patrol. The couple lives in Silicon Valley. Jessica Larson ’05 served as the maid of honor.

8 to the wonder of their alma mater! (Left to right: Robert Unzueta ’07, Michael Antonopoulos ’09, Theresa Garcia (beautiful bride), Laura Ayala ’08 (best friend), Francesca Parodi (graduating in 2012) and Scott Cullinane ’09.)

[4] Megan (McAlpin) Sanchez was married on Oct. 1, 2011, in a vineyard in Paso Robles, Calif. Numerous Gaels were in attendance, including maid of honor Melissa MacDonald, Jessica McDonald ME ’10, groomsman Jarod Handel ‘07 and Dan Anderson’07. Megan is already discussing Saint Mary’s with her 9-year-old stepdaughter as a top choice for college. They reside in Morro Bay, Calif.

[5] Katie (Wackowski) and Ryan Gummow were married on July 9, 2011.

The party wouldn’t stop because along with them were their closest Gaels, including Alex Oetken ME ’09 ECR ’09, Christy

2005 Denny Bulcao has worked in Austin, Texas, as a senior web writer for PayPal/eBay and now works for MetLife in Warwick, R.I. He anxiously awaits another season of SMC basketball. Shameless plug: He also freelances via his website, www.DennyWrites.com.

Snoopy says hi and Go Gaels!

[9] Kelli (Cook) and Ryan Mahoney ’06 were blessed with their second daughter, Emily Faye Mahoney, on May 29, 2011. Now her sister McKayla, who is 2 1/2 years old, has a playmate!

[10] Jennifer Merlo is engaged to Byran Schleicher. The two reside in Arizona, where Jennifer continues to pursue her insurance career with Travelers Insurance.

Byran is a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Jen and Byran will be married in Southern California in August 2012.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 37

Q U A D

[11] Jessica Porras married Katie Walrod of Richmond, Va., on May 15, 2011, in Washington, D.C. Her maid of honor was fellow SMC grad Jennifer Merlo. The couple honeymooned in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Jessica is working at Georgetown Law School in the Dean of Students office, and Katie works at George Washington University in Student Affairs. They happily reside in Arlington, Va. [12] Stephanie Sandbergen MS, along with husband Mark, daughter Lulu and son Alek, spent half of July on a cruise to Alaska and Victoria, sailing from San Francisco. Highlights included learning about the Tlingit clan in Juneau, the lumberjack show in Ketchikan (the salmon capital of the world), riding on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, and walking on the Mendelhall Glacier.

Professionally, Stephanie ended an internship at Hope Hospice in Dublin but continues to volunteer at this wonderful nonprofit.

2003 [13] Katie (Bannister) MA ’08 and Neal McSherry ’02 welcomed Reece William McSherry on Oct. 26, 2011! Katie continues to teach first grade in Lafayette, and Neal began a new job at Stub Hub in San Francisco this summer.

2002 [14] Joseph Morstad completed his first sprint triathlon on September 11 at TriRock San Diego. For 16 weeks, he trained and helped mentor with the San Diego chapter of Team Challenge, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s endurance training and fundraising program, which helps to find a cure for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Joseph was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 2008. Since then, he has started his own training business and website, Strength and Nutrition, providing fitness and nutritional coaching to fitness enthusiasts and those living with IBD. He enjoys living a healthy and happy lifestyle in San Diego and is looking forward to his next triathlon.

[15] Lesley (McPherson) Luppino and husband Nick Luppino ’02 announced the birth of their second child, Nickolas, in May 2011. Older sister Sophia, 2, is thrilled to have a baby brother.

2001

18

[16] Clara (Hagemann) Elliott and her husband, Kevin, just adopted a son, Elijah. Clara is already reading him the classics, getting him ready for Seminar classes. Elijah is a Gael in the making!

Jason Murray announces that he has been promoted to sports editor at the Syracuse Post-Standard, where he has worked since 2003.

He served previously as an assistant sports editor and copy editor. After SMC, he earned a master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in 2003. He lives in Camillus, N.Y. with his wife, Candace, and their 8-year-old daughter.

2000 [17] Christine (Lander) married Mark Ventrella on July 16, 2011 in at the George Key Ranch in Placentia, Calif. Gaels in attendance were Ravi Kolla, Josie (Trujillo) Elliott, and Jennifer (Portier) Wolf.

The couple lives in Yorba Linda, Calif. and is expecting a son in April 2012.

[18] Lauren Lovett announces her engagement to Brendan Illingworth. She works at Berkeley High School as an inclusion specialist. Brendan graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2002 with a major in mathematics and works as an electrical engineer at SCI in Livermore, Calif. The wedding will be in Monterey, Calif., on Aug. 10, 2012. The couple plans to reside in Livermore.

14

16

MFA PROGRAM IN CREATIVE WRITING RAFFLE WINNING PRIZE: ONE WEEK STAY IN A VILLA IN UMBRIA, ITALY

June 15 – 22, 2012

umbriatuscany.com Includes 2 first class or 4 economy airline tickets to London on Virgin Airlines. $50 per ticket

Drawing at MFA Scholarship Fund Benefit Saturday, March 10, 2012

5–8 p.m.

Dolby Chadwick Gallery 210 Post Street, Suite 205, San Francisco, CA 94108 Need not be present to win. More information: Sara Mumolo, Program Assistant Sm13@stmarys-ca.edu OR stmarys-ca.edu/mfaraffle

38

WINTER 2012

11 19

21 12

15

13

1999 17

20

[19] Amy (Bell) Archer and husband, Ted, and big brother Nathan welcomed Eli Theodore on July 30, 2011. Eli was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 20.5 inches long.

1998 [20] Joe and Candace (O’Connell) Halsell have had an exciting year. Joe has been busy opening a new division of his construction company, Re+New Restoration, which specializes in fire and flood restoration service, while Candace is holding down the fort at home with their four kids: Nathan, 11: Rylie, 7; Logan, 6; and their newest addition, Eli, 18 months. They would love to hear from any Gaels who live near the Central Coast.

[21] Kate (Leary) and Drew Wheatley welcomed their second daughter, Alice Margaret Wheatley, on April 7, 2011.

Julie (Schick) and Andrew Costantino welcomed their third son, Marco James, on May 27. He is adored by big brothers Anthony, 5, and Dominic, 2. Andrew has been working at Lockheed Martin since graduating from SMC, and Julie will be taking this school year off from her teaching job to stay home with the boys. The Costantinos live in San Mateo, Calif.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 39

Q U A D

29 26

40

WINTER 2012

25

1997

1995

[22] Mechelle (McCarthy) Zorio and her husband, Andrew, welcomed their second child, Ethan James Zorio, on June 20, 2011. Ethan was 10 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches long. Big brother Nicholas is very excited and enjoying getting to help in the care of his brother.

[23] Michael Scammon married Susan Dituri in front of family and friends on Sept. 11, 2011 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The couple, shown with son Dallas, recently purchased and moved into a new home in Lincoln, Calif. Michael is the collections manager at JPMorgan Chase in Roseville, Calif., where he has been since 2004.

[24] Kathryne (Maffey) Gillett and her husband, Troy, had their sixth child in December 2010. They keep busy with family, their construction business and community activities. Their 15th reunion last summer was fun but they missed seeing a lot of classmates!

Las Vegas treats them well and they get to see fellow classmates quite often!

Aaron Nelson’s original graphic novel, “Marlow,” is set to be published in February through Arcana Studio and will be available through Amazon.com and comic book shops everywhere.

1994 [25] Kara (Sevey) Burrell celebrated

her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary with siblings Jim Sevey ’91, Jeff Sevey ’87, Jack Sevey ’84 and Kristin Sevey ’89.

John Coleman ML ’08 just graduated from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with a Global Executive MBA. His studies took him to England, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, India, China and Singapore. John is director of sales operations for a publicly held healthcare company and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Chaun, and three kids, Jailyn, Joshua and Jakob.

1993 [26] On Aug. 30, 2011, Joshua Martin and his wife, Christy, introduced their second

23

27 28

22

daughter, Sloane Harper, to the world. Fouryear-old big sister Cricket (Morgan) is very excited to have a real sister instead of a doll to play with!

1992 [27] Lisa DeBartolo and her husband, Don, had another baby boy. Jasper George DeBartolo Miggs was born on May 5, 2011.

He was 5 pounds, 1 ounce and 18 inches long.

1991 After receiving his MBA, Kevin Boldt spent the next 15 years building a successful career in real estate investment and development.

During this time he facilitated the sale of over $125 million in properties, built over 400 homes and developed a number of commercial sites.

In 2005 Kevin became a widowed father of his 2- and 5-year-old children. He has focused his attention since then as primary caregiver to Isabella and Christian and is in the preliminary stages of career resurgence.

1989 [28] Allen Hamilton EE has settled down with his perfect lady, Peggy Jane, in Palm Desert, Calif. She is his dream and guess how they met? On the Internet.

He works as an energy consultant, saving

24

businesses from 11 to 47 percent off current usage and costs. He has traveled all over the U.S. and some countries abroad.

He now conducts his business from Indian Palms Country Club and Community in Indio, Calif. From this location he can do business all over the U.S. and even in a few Countries overseas. He has so many friends in Northern and Southern California and Kansas City and maintains contact with them all by Internet, telephone and an occasional visit. He will never forget his experiences at Saint Mary’s and has always appreciated his relationships and schooling received at this fine institution.

1988 [29] Catherine (Esnard) Owens and her husband, Mark, with five of their six children, have moved from Austin, Texas, to Whitefish, Montana, on a temporary job assignment with Mark’s employer, Applied Materials. They enjoy living on the lake in Whitefish with all the lake activities. The winter holds lots of fun for the family, like snowboarding and skiing, as they live eight minutes from the Big Mountain Ski Resort. Their oldest, Paul, is a proud member of the fighting Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, class of 2015.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 41

Q U A D

34

33

30

32

35

[30] Gene Smith announces that he just released a CD entitled “You Were Born To Shine.� It combines spiritual lyrics with country music. All the songs were written by Gene, and the project was recorded in Nashville, Tenn. Go to www.genesmith-youwereborntoshine.com to check it out.

42

WINTER 2012

Mike and Cindy have been married for 29 years and have two children, Alex, 23, and Molly, 20.

Mike and Cindy live in Overland Park, Kan.

1971 [34] James Murphy, a founding member of Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney PC, has been recognized by the California State Bar of Legal Specialization as a certified specialist in legal malpractice law.

Murphy’s practice emphasizes professional liability, including representation of lawyers in malpractice cases nationwide and judges in disciplinary proceedings before the California Commission on Judicial Performance, as well as general products liability litigation. He is a certified specialist in legal malpractice by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys and chair of the State Bar of California Board of Specialization Legal Malpractice Consulting Group. Murphy is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, American Board of Trial Advocates and National Board of Trial Advocates. He earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis (1974), and his B.S. from Saint Mary’s.

31

1984 Colleen (Condon) Marquez found her dream job in January 2011 at Bethany Christian Services as director of Outreach & Development for the Bay Area. (bethany.org, impregnant.org). Bethany offers personalized pregnancy counseling, help with parenting plans, a maternal home and, if desired, help to develop an adoption plan. Colleen recently helped to open Bethany’s new SF Bay Area satellite office in Pleasant Hill and is involved in raising awareness and capital to serve the Bay Area, from Santa Rosa to Monterey. As a grateful mom of two beautiful children that she and her husband adopted from birth, 16 and 8 years ago, Colleen passionately believes every child should have the chance for life and a loving family. Prior to Bethany, Colleen ran her own successful executive search services company, Marquez TeleSearch, for more than 20 years, She and Mickey Marquez ’79 also serve as property managers and fourth-generation family partners for The Ranch House at Garzas Creek — Carmel Valley’s “Little Ahwahnee” — offering rustic luxury vacation rental. (www. carmelvalleyranchhouse.com) They have been married for 22 years.

Margaret (Dempsey) Nelson taught for the last 14 years at Title 1 (inner-city) schools in Fresno, Calif. Once, a colleague asked her about her teaching techniques, and she was able to reply that SMC Seminar-style education definitely had some impact. Now living in Boise, she enjoys riding her bike on the Oregon Trail with her family and other outdoor activities in Idaho.

1983 [31] Geordie Hawkins, Dennis Tiernan, Tom Calloway, Mike Scully and Mark Murray took the trip of a lifetime, spending three weeks in New Zealand, celebrating their 50th birthdays, attending the Rugby World Cup and enjoying the sights of the homeland of their beloved rugby coach at Saint Mary’s, the late Pat Vincent. In the photo

1967 (left to right) are, Dennis Tiernan, Geordie Hawkins, Tom Calloway, Mike Scully and Mark Murray, all class of 1983, in front of the newly opened Otago Stadium in Dunedin prior to the England vs. Argentina Rugby World Cup game.

1976 [32] Stephen Drisdale (shown with Jim Plunkett, who won two Super Bowl championships) is living in the Hayward hills, Bay Area. Lauren Drisdale recently graduated from LSU with a B.S. in Business and Mass Communications, and is working for Wells Fargo as a business analysis in our middlemarket business lending department.

1973 [33] Michael Faltermeier CPA retired July 1 after a 35-year career with the Federal Aviation Administration. Mike served in several managerial capacities during his career, including manager of the Midwest Accounting Division and more recently manager of Central Regions Airport Planning and Development.

George Watters writes: It would be great to fill you in on much of what has happened with me in the last 44 years. Suffice it to say that I have a wonderful wife, great children throughout the world and many long-standing friends. I have been an inventor for over 40 years. I have a few inventions used internationally and a few U.S. patents and another one pending. I learned part of the skills for that while at SMC. Now I occasionally speak at schools about innovation and the ability to think outside the box. I encourage children to learn the basics but innovate and defend. It is fulfilling to me to remember and cherish my liberal arts education at SMC.

the local community. Clark has also been awarded the Bronze Star in Vietnam and the Signum Fidei Award by Saint Mary’s College in 2006.

Vincent De Vargas was recently elected vice chairman of the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Vince was appointed to the commission by Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors Bill Campbell in 2008. The commission is charged with creating safe and inclusive communities, developing diverse leaders, mediating conflict and building understanding and respect in Orange County.

Vince is a retired insurance broker.

1957 Dr. Don Puppione has discovered a gene thought to have been inactive for 40 million years. Interested scientists among the alumni may want to go online to check his recent seminar entitled “How comparative proteogenomic studies resulted in the discovery of a gene.” http://ch39.saddleback.edu/Cablecast/ Public/Show.aspx?ChannelID=1&ShowID=771 (The lecture begins at the five-minute mark in this video.)

DEGREE KEY

1966

ECR EdD EE EMBA HON MBA MC ME MFA ML MLS MS N P

Education Credential Doctor of Education Extended Education Executive MBA Honorary Graduate Business Counseling Graduate Education Fine Arts Leadership Liberal Studies Science Nursing Paralegal Certificate

[35] George Clark received the Salesian Award at graduation ceremonies in June at Saint Mary’s High School in Stockton, Calif.

The award, named after Saint Francis de Sales, is given annually to an individual in Stockton who has been of service to the Church and

Saint Mary’s magazine will publish two Glimpse per year for any graduate of the College.

Please post more frequent updates at stmarys-ca.edu/glimpses.

JOIN

BROTHER RONALD GALLAGHER

and FELLOW GAELS on a

Mediterranean Cruise June 24 – July 5, 2012 to launch Saint Mary’s

150th Anniversary Celebration 11 Nights in Italy and Croatia sailing on the Celebrity Silhouette from Venice

For more information: www.stmarys-ca.edu/for-alumni/150th-anniversary-cruise

STMARYS-CA.EDU 43

I N

M E M O R I A M

ALUMNI Edward J. Barulich ’46 Clyde Baysinger ’49 Janice M Becker-Montgomery ECR Michael J. Blagrove ’96 William A. Burns ’84 Ignatius Busalacchi ’62 Leonard W. Butler Jr. ’53 Harold C. Caulfield ’53 Cindy A. Collins ’96 Constance Donion ’78 James L. Ettaro ’89 Daniel V. Freitas ’90 Francis B. Gillen ’37 James R. Harper ’90 Robert F. Hayes ’50 Richard G. Henika ’77 Sharon A. Joseph ’78 Thomas A. Kasovich, Jr. ’54 Sandra Mobley Keith ’83 Stanley H. Kelly ’51 Thomas Gerald “Gerry” Kennedy ’34 Karen L. Kjobech ’90 Jane Lovelady ’92 John G. Maher ’78 Brother Donald F. Mansir ’71 Thomas J. McAneney ’52 Kenneth W. McLaughlin ’51 Reverend William F. Moore ’62 Silvio S. Morando ’49 Karl Moll ’80 Nancy L. Patten ’97 Patricia N. Powell ’95 John D. Rarig ’49 Rem P. Roberti ’66 Doug Rosales ’2001 Donald Sabatini ’52 Frank S. Tallerico ’77 Don Von Stull ’55 Edward Waffen ’61 Lawrence J. Webber ’38 Katharine C. Williams, ECR Steven D. Woodson ’74

FRIENDS Flora Buscovich Michael J. Coons C. Lee Emerson, Jr. Rene J. Guiral Virginia T. Hadsell Diana Hagerstrand John K. Hansen Betty Lou Jackson Ugo Jacuzzi Kathryn T. Jan Francis M. Joanes, former faculty Pio Lommori Margo M. Metzger

Doug Rosales (right), with Carlos Guzman (left) and Jaime Villanueva (middle).

Jeanine Miller

SAINT MARY’S FOOTBALL PLAYER JOSE DOUGLAS ROSALES

Richard G. Shouse

Jose Douglas Rosales ’01 passed away on October 5, 2011, after a

Richard G. Spry Marjorie Stolley Donald L. Truax Frank K. Vance Rita Vear

six-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 31.

Doug graduated with honors from South El Monte High School and went on to major in international business at Saint Mary’s College, where he played football for four years.

“Doug was a special person. He inspired many of us to do our best, to be better people, and to not make failure an option,” said Doug’s brother, Manuel Rosales, who described the difficult beginnings the Rosales children had in their Los Angeles County town.

“We thought South El Monte was no different than any other city.

We were welfare kids. Wasn’t everyone? Our limited perspective could have handicapped Doug. He could have let the song of failure lure him into temptation, like it does to many kids in the city. Doug did not listen; instead, he created his own tune.”

The Rosales family had fled civil war strife in El Salvador, determined to succeed in the United States. But it was tough going, Manuel explained. There were times when they had little to eat, when he and his brother pushed a shopping cart to collect cans to help their mother pay bills.

“Most students viewed classrooms as dungeons and boredom.

We peered through each door and saw opportunity. We knew that our mother, who worked three jobs at times, would not have it any other way. Our mother is the driving force that guided us to success.”

Doug received moral support from Gaels football alumni and close

Saint Mary’s magazine prints the names of recently deceased alumni, Christian Brothers, and friends who have given to Saint Mary’s.

Names of other friends of the College, as well as family members of alumni, faculty and staff, appear in the online version of the magazine.

44

WINTER 2012

SMC friends, who hosted a special event on campus for him a few years ago. It reunited generations of Gaels, according to close friend and teammate Jaime Villanueva, who, with other SMC buddies — Angel Cardenas, Carlos Guzman and David Taylor — visited Doug and formed a strong circle of support.

“My brother fought courageously, even though he knew he was fighting a futile war,” said Doug’s brother, Manuel. “I thank him for making me a better man.”

E N D N O T E

N I G H T B I R T H S Fear of the wicks. Fear of the sacred creamy air.

Fear of the debriefings on precisely which sweet know-nothings were blown into him. Which is a question he swells within. Which, he holds the dark lantern to, and thus. Thus reveals the sung-dread of the receding trail. Dread of the breach of the sign warning of snowberries.

Dread of the sliding place. Awe of the night disease. Awe of the waste-part remaining.

Awe of the dog child’s heavings. A dog child’s stitching gait. His dark red hog, his brindled hog tongue. An earless dog of the earless ones.

A dog an offering for the hammer mechanism.

Palatable is the sacrifice for the pitted tusk.

Pitiful in the redness without cover. Pitiful in his muskgarment. “I go naked on the way to Bolga.” Where the adobe weapons end in septums. From the hooks and the searing.

From the splaying and the quiet. The tunneling wind through his wet cage. Younger brother of the earless ones, those Afrogothic. Out from a giant growth come a noise. Out from a pustular growth come a hanging. Out from

Poet and filmmaker Shane Book — a graduate of New York University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop — is a Distinguished Visiting Writer at Saint Mary’s this spring. A former

a jaundiced growth come the tail swinging its

Stegner Fellow at Stanford, Book

length. Out from a pulsing growth come

has received a New York Times

the ash-smudged necks. Born in the time when clay pots dotted his carrion farms.

“I bind the glowing worm in the forehead.”

SHANE BOOK

Fellowship, an Academy of American Poets Prize, a National Magazine Award and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize.

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID OAKLAND, CA PERMIT NO. 1788

P.O. Box 4300 Moraga, CA 94575-4300 www.stmarys-ca.edu Address Service Requested

YOUR CLASS REUNION COMMITTEES INVITE YOU TO

come back home ALUMNI REUNION JULY 20–22 2012

together IN CELEBRATION

stmarys-ca/reunion12

WE MAKE SAINT MARY’S STRONGER