CLASS ACT
Spring semester launches today, January 9. Already, plenty is planned, with the big event of the next few weeks our annual Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday, January 16, featuring an outstanding special guest speaker. Read on:
AMAZING GRACE
On January 16, our Martin Luther King Day keynote speaker Juan Meléndez (photo right) will present a free, public talk, “Amazing Grace,” in the lower level of the Campus Center at 7 p.m. Melendez spent nearly 18 years on Florida’s death row for a crime he did not commit. Upon his 2002 release, he became the ninety-ninth death row inmate in the country to be exonerated and released because of innocence since 1973.
The crime in the Meléndez case was particularly brutal, involving the 1983 shooting and knifing of a white victim, Delbert Baker, of Polk County, Fla. Meléndez, a Puerto Rican migrant farm worker unable to read and write in English, was convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. At the time, he did not know crucial evidence was being withheld by prosecutors, including a confession by the true killer and further evidence questioning the credibility of the state’s two key witnesses against him. The Florida Supreme Court upheld his conviction and Meléndez remained on death row until 2001, when Circuit Judge Barbara Fleischer overturned Melendez's murder conviction and ruled that prosecutors had to retry him if they wanted to keep him in prison. Her opinion noted that new evidence had seriously damaged the state's case. Prosecutors did not pursue a retrial but remained unapologetic about the way they had handled the case.
Since his release from death row on January 3, 2002, Meléndez has moved to Albuquerque, NM, and travelled the world to share his story of supreme injustice, survival and hope. He has spoken to tens of thousands in the United States, Canada and Europe. As an activist, he also has testified before various legislative bodies in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and New Mexico, where he was intensively involved in the New Mexico death penalty repeal campaign. Governor Bill Richardson signed the bill abolishing New Mexico’s death penalty in 2009, making the state the 15th to abandon capital punishment at the time. Melendez’s story is featured in the acclaimed documentary film Juan Meléndez 6446.
BOTTLE BOXING DAY
The next SAVE Foundation Community Plastics Recycling Drive in Helena is this week, January 13-16, at the usual location in the YMCA parking lot, 1100 N. Last Chance Gulch. Hours for collection of type 1 and 2 plastic containers are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
STUDENT NEWS
The annual Student Art Exhibit opens today and runs through February 17. Included are over 90 works in painting, drawing and ceramics created by 30 students in recent Carroll art classes taught by Prof. Ralph Esposito. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, closed on weekends and holidays.
At the December 16, Fall Carroll ROTC Commissioning Ceremony in the Montana state capitol rotunda, Captain Diane Carlson Evans, U.S. Army Nurse Corps, R.N., the founder of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation (photo left, standing center) welcomed into the US Army Nurse Corps two Carroll cadets: Second Lieutenants Natasha Aberth (right) and Kristina Christensen (left).
Michael Elliott has been named a new consultant at Elliott Auto Brokers in Helena, Mont. Elliott is working toward his bachelor’s in sociology at Carroll.
ALUMNI NEWS
In the News
Tammy Sperry, class of 1992, recently joined the American Federal Savings Bank team in Helena as its controller. She has 15 years of banking experience, most recently as the controller for Mountain West Bank.
Steven F. Upton, class of 1996, has recently joined Helena Community Credit Union’s mortgage department as a loan originator. He was previously with All West Capital Mortgage for 15 years.
The University of South Dakota has hired Jason Petrino, class of 2002, as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach. Petrino was hired at University of Nebraska-Omaha in February of 2011, prior to the program being cut from the school. He then spent this past fall at Central Oklahoma where he was the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. In 2010, he served as co-defensive coordinator at Winona State. He had two stints at the University of Wyoming as director of Football Operations in 2008 and 2009 and was a graduate assistant in 2003 and 2004. Prior to his second stint in Laramie, Petrino spent three seasons at the defensive coordinator at the University of Mary, a Division II school located in Bismarck, N.D. More details are at: http://www.yankton.net/articles/2011/12/20/sports/doc4ef013ae4cff4707325930.txt
Casey FitzSimmons (photo right), class of 2004 and All-American Carroll Fighting Saint, played seven seasons in the NFL’s Detroit Lions, ending in his 2010 retirement. This season, he was a volunteer assistant coach for the Carroll football team. He lives on a ranch with his wife Alison and daughter Maddison, who will be 2 in February, and a recent interview details more on his life’s achievements: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20111218/SPORTS/112180319
Jeff Shirley, class of 2006 and a four-time national-championship-winning Carroll Fighting Saint, joined St Peter's Physical Therapy at Capital City Health Club in Helena, Mont., this November. He specializes in orthopedic and sports rehabilitation, spine rehabilitation and post-surgical rehabilitation. Shirley earned a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of Montana in 2009. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist.
Phil Lenoue, class of 2007 and All-American Fighting Saint, is in his fourth year of medical school at Pacific Northwest University in Yakima, Wash., and is currently doing his rotation in an orthopedic surgery unit in the Tri-Cities. Find out more on his life after Carroll at: http://helenair.com/where-are-they-now-phil-lenoue/article_abc640d2-287e-11e1-a952-0019bb2963f4.html
Andrew Stone Cifala, class of 2009, earned his master's degree in electrical engineering, with a focus on alternative energy, from Montana State University. During the past two summers, he worked in an internship developing wind farms, and his graduate research project focused on solar energy. He also taught several undergraduate and graduate level courses at MSU while earning his degree.
Jolene Fuzesy, class of 2009 and one of the most celebrated basketball players in Carroll history, has been living and working in Lewistown, Mont., for the last three years but recently moved back to Helena to establish Lift for Life Fitness, a personal training group. More info is at: http://helenair.com/business/local/down-to-business-new-business-owners-return-just-in-time/article_6cf54adc-2e06-11e1-b933-001871e3ce6c.html
Sarsfield Dougherty, class of 2010, joined Advanced Technology Group's Missoula (Mont.) Solution Center in September. He currently is working on a series of competitive assessment projects for one of ATG's clients.
2011 graduates Stephanie Lincoln and Ben Kolar (photo left) are engaged to marry on June 30, 2012, in Kalispell, Mont. Stephanie is a second-grade teacher at Peterson Elementary School in Kalispell. Ben is a software developer at CDM in Helena and serving in the Air National Guard.
In Memoriam
John J. McCarvel, class of 1965, of Topeka, Kan., died on December 21, 2011. An Anaconda, Mont., native, he earned his economics degree from Carroll and went on to work for Victory Life Insurance and then own Capital Marketing. He most recently worked for the State of Kansas Insurance Commissioner’s Office. For more, read: http://helenair.com/news/local/obituaries/john-j-mccarvel/article_54c4916a-2dfd-11e1-8c6d-0019bb2963f4.html
JoAnne (Yelich) Nauman, class of 1955, of Billings, Mont., died December 21, 2011. She was an early graduate of Carroll’s nursing education program and went on to further that education at Seattle University. She spent her career at St. Vincent Hospital, Valley Nursing Home and as a private duty nurse. For more, read: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/joanne-yelich-nauman/article_b426fd1e-064f-5094-91f0-0e0b10e8e56d.html#ixzz1icdJIDlX
FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS
Carroll Director of Admission and Enrollment Operations Cynthia Thornquist was in the news with her whole family during the Christmas holiday, with the announcement that her daughter McLain was declared cancer-free after a brutal and lengthy struggle with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer (both in photo right). McLain Thornquist is a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Hawthorne Elementary School in Helena. See the whole story on this very special gift at: http://helenair.com/news/local/mclain-thornquist-cancer-free-for-christmas/article_53008a9e-2ea9-11e1-a7c8-0019bb2963f4.html
Carroll History Dept. Chair and respected author Dr. Bob Swartout (photo left) was the guest expert on Beartooth NBC’s Dunwell Report a few days ago, with the topic: North Korea's new power shift in the wake of Kim Jong Il’s death. Dr. Swartout’s connection with Korea began more than four decades ago when he spent three years serving as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Since then, much of his academic work has focused on Korea. From 1998 to 2008, he served as an Honorary Consul for the Republic of Korea in the state of Montana. Four of the eight books that he has published to date have been in the field of Korean history. He has taught at four different Korean Universities, and was twice named a Senior Fulbright Scholar for Korea. Check the interview at: http://www.beartoothnbc.com/features/dunwellreport/index.1.html
ATHLETICS
On December 16, 2011, Carroll sophomore running back Chance Demarais was named 2011 Rawlings-NAIA National Football Player of the Year. Read more at: http://billingsgazette.com/sports/college/frontier-conference/carroll-college/demarais-is-naia-s-top-player/article_d62a3a01-f9b1-5d28-9163-a796374cb7fb.html#ixzz1icUgqNZi
For upcoming games and all the latest, check out www.carroll.edu/athletics
COMING EVENTS
January 14: Ballet Montana Academy, in residence at Carroll, presents a winter showcase performance in the Carroll Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
February 16-26: Lend me a Tenor, a comedy by the Carroll Theatre Dept. directed Carroll alumnus and thespian John Rausch. A sensation on Broadway and in London's West End, Lend Me a Tenor is guaranteed to leave you teary eyed with laughter. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees at 3. In the Carroll Theatre, Old North, St. Charles Hall.
March 15-25: The Mound Builders, directed by Carroll Theatre Director Chuck Driscoll. This is the final play by the great American playwright, Lanford Wilson. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees at 3. In the Carroll Theatre, Old North, St. Charles Hall.
April 13-14 and 20-21: The Commedia Puss in Boots by Lane Riosley, a Carroll children’s theatre production, at 7 p.m. in the Carroll Theatre, Old North, St. Charles Hall.