Around Campus $1 MILLION DONATION FROM JAMES J. HILL CENTER PAVES WAY FOR DATA SCIENCE The James J. Hill Center (left) made a $1 million gift to St. Catherine University, honoring the memory of the nonprofit’s first board trustee and philanthropic leader, Mary T. Hill. The Hill family and St. Kate’s have held a connection of service since very early on, when Mary T. Hill and Sr. Seraphine Ireland were schoolmates in St. Paul. The donation will support a new director position in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences that will lead the data science program at the University. Monica Brown, assistant professor and department chair of the mathematics department, has been named to the role. As the Mary T. Hill Director of Data Analysis, she’ll lead a program that includes data-related research conducted by faculty and students in collaboration with community partners and businesses. PHOTO/JAMES J. HILL CENTER/GRADDY PHOTOGRAPHY
PHI KAPPA PHI 12
ST. CATHERINE UNIVERSITY • SPRING 2020
NEW PHI KAPPA PHI CHAPTER INDUCTS FIRST MEMBERS St. Kate’s new Phi Kappa Phi chapter welcomed 32 current students and 51 alumni at its first ceremony this fall. Phi Kappa Phi is one of the first honor societies established in the United States, and is the oldest U.S. honor society to welcome members from all disciplines. Membership is invite-only and is granted to students within the top 10 percent of their class. “I’m grateful to be here today to recognize the academic excellence of people throughout our community,” said chapter president Rafael Cervantes, PhD, associate professor and department chair for honors, at the event. “That is, at its heart, the purpose of Phi Kappa Phi — to recognize the academic achievement and excellence happening throughout our University [and] to bring those people together to form a community.” St. Kate’s has more than 24 honor society chapters, including Phi Beta Kappa (PBK). The PBK chapter was established in 1938, and St. Kate’s was the first Catholic institution of higher education to earn this honor.
