MAY 17, 2013

VAY-KAY FOR THE Q-N

With summer underway at the college, QNs is instituting its customary schedule of issues published every two weeks. We’ll return at the end of May for previews of June and July excitement, but for now enjoy the post-mortem on last week’s grand finale for the 2012-2013 regular academic year.

TIME TO DISROBE

Graduation came and went on May 11, with fun, fanfare and fabulous headline news for our new graduates, who remained photogenic despite the frumpy fashion outrage known as caps and gowns (which look even worse when you don’t iron them . . .). To feast your eyes on a graduation feature with terrific photos, head to the Helena Independent Record: http://helenair.com/news/local/education/life-commences-for-carroll-s-new-graduates/article_d58cc152-bac2-11e2-a372-001a4bcf887a.html 

The entire ceremony, including the memorable speeches (such as the Class of 2013 "response" delivered by Jon Lenz--photo left, looming tall at center), is also posted on the Carroll website at: http://www.carroll.edu/academics/commencement.

AND THE WINNER IS . . .

As promised in last week’s QNs, “top secret” winners who were announced at commencement will now be revealed. First off, the Michael Murphy Award for Outstanding Collegiate Citizenship went to Megan Ann Olszewski (right), a community health major from Kalispell, Mont. Olszewski has been active on campus as a student leader for the annual IMPACT and Grateful Saints fundraising efforts to support student scholarships. She served two years as the community assistant in Borromeo Hall, as a leader for the freshman and sophomore retreats, a student worker in the Campus Ministry offices, and as manager for the Saints Football team. She also served on the presidential selection committee that ended the search with Dr. Tom Evans, and she later played an important part on last year's Inauguration Committee, which hosted the college’s first Founder’s Day Flurry.

Two annual faculty awards were also conferred: The Outstanding Teaching Award recipient was historian, author and long-serving Carroll history professor and department chair Dr. Robert R. Swartout Jr. The Distinguished Scholar Award went to Dr. Brian Matz of Carroll’s Theology Department,a professor noted for his academic accomplishments as well as his vigor in providing community and campus educational outreach regarding faith issues, ethics and healthcare access.

Another beloved professor honored during graduation was retiring faculty member Father Dan Shea (left), named a professor emeritus. Rev. Shea has served the college over 35 years as a professor of languages and literature, notably Latin, Greek and classical studies, and as an administrator. His diverse career in teaching has seen him instructing psychology, education and English as a second language. He is a past vice president of student affairs and dean of students. Fr. Shea has also played a pivotal role in campus faith and spiritual formation and in leading efforts to enhance academic resources for students. An avid historian, he has presented talks on the college’s past and Catholic traditions. He is also pastor of Our Lady of the Valley in Helena.

TROPHY HUNTERS

Finally in graduation award news, the Bishop Gilmore Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Scholarship, awarded to seniors who have attained the highest grade-point average after four years at Carroll, was awarded to 10 graduates: Daniel Eric Galipeau, a health science major from Willimantic, Conn.; Jaclyn Anne Gebhardt, a health science major from Cascade, Mont.; Elizabeth Joy Henderson, a nursing major from Billings, Mont.; Kayla Lynn McMahon, a biology major from Helena, Mont.; Galen John Mills, a biology major from Powell, Wyo.; Karen Theresa O'Byrne, a nursing major from Idaho Falls, Idaho; Kirsten Elizabeth Rotz, a communication studies and public relations major from Rathdrum, Idaho; Heather Thomas, a psychology and anthrozoology major from Salmon, Idaho; Mark Warren Wallingford, an accounting and business administration major from Bozeman, Mont.; and Will Michael Wright, a history, social studies for secondary education and history and political science for secondary education major from Fruitland, Idaho.

OLD SCHOOL: STILL COOL

Graduation wasn’t just for the kids: from the class of 1963, 21 Golden Grads took the stage to be recognized for their 50th anniversary of receiving their Carroll degrees: William G. “Jerry” Berberet, Dennis Chenovick, Marijeanne Connolly, Earl Craighill, Patricia McCauley Cunningham, William A Gallagher, Roger Grotbo, Bardella Mosbrucker Guthrie, Michael Kelly, Jim Longin, Ed Moriarity, Sue Crowley O’Leary, Jim Olson, Margaret Stallard Pike, Cora Lou Berland Remus, Barbara McGlynn Savage, John Craig Savage, Tom Tursich, Ihor “Yogi” Voyevidka, Barbara McLeod Warren and J. Kirwin Werner.

A record 11 alumni celebrating their 60th anniversary of graduating from Carroll were also on hand representing the class of 1953: Terrance W. Baker, Nancy Chen Cheng, Stephen F. Keim, Patricia Vap Manning, Charles McCarthy, Patricia Flynn McCarthy, Fr. Francis McInnis, Mario Micone, Msgr. James Ribble, Raymond Sanders and Kimberly Holdgafer Simkins.

Though they were unable to attend graduation, a very special group of Carroll alumni, our 70-year jubilarians from the venerable class of 1943, were recognized last weekend. Among this select group is Father Joe Oblinger (waving in photo right), who celebrated Baccalaureate Mass at the Cathedral of St. Helena before commencement, and Carroll legend Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, former president of the college, former bishop of Helena and retired archbishop of Seattle.

DOUBLE SCOOP

Prior to commencement day, two graduating seniors were feature stories as emblems of the Class of 2013—math and biology major Emily Speranza (left), who is breaking into the male-dominated field of bioinformatics through a full-ride scholarship to Boston U., and med-school-bound Galen Mills (right), a veteran Fighting Saint scholar-athlete with a zest for service work abroad.

Catch the inside scoop on their Carroll experiences and post-graduation plans at http://helenair.com/news/local/education/carroll-graduate-shares-passion-for-science/article_1dd584b4-b9bd-11e2-bc01-001a4bcf887a.html and at http://helenair.com/news/local/education/for-carroll-graduate-faith-family-and-others-come-first/article_3d687932-b9b1-11e2-9693-001a4bcf887a.html.

Meanwhile, 2013 magna cum laude math for secondary education grad Ryan Swenson of Helena made news, along with his Capital High teacher-mentor John Chart, for their dual honor at the Helena Education Foundation’s Celebration of Excellence banquet last Monday, May 13. Truly following Chart’s footsteps, Swenson will begin a career teaching math this fall in Rigby, Idaho. (Photo left: Swenson, standing, with Chart) To follow both of their footsteps, go to: http://helenair.com/news/local/education/celebration-of-excellence-graduate-of-capital-carroll-follows-in-math/article_dae3e918-bb5e-11e2-9cec-0019bb2963f4.html?comment_form=true

GET ALL THE DIRT HERE

Last Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony for our new residence hall occurred under pristine bluebird skies with everyone in a jolly mood catching up on some long-overdue vitamin D. Pro photographer Gary Marshall’s photos of the event, where about 100 students, faculty and staff gathered to witness history in the making, are online at: https://www.carroll.edu/campus-life/housing-dining

A feature story on the new residence hall is online at: http://helenair.com/news/local/education/new-student-housing-units-will-offer-apartment-style-living-on/article_98e58d74-b9ff-11e2-8bb8-001a4bcf887a.html

Artist renderings of the new buildings are in a photo album posted on the Carroll Facebook site at:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151907906529466.1073741835.136391504465&type=3

STUDENT NEWS

Last Friday, May 10, two Carroll class of 2013 nursing grads were the stars of the Carroll ROTC Spring 2013 Commissioning Ceremony: Second Lieutenant Melissa “Mo” Burkett and Master Sergeant Amanda Sell (left to right in photo right).

Photos from our recent American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) students in competition at the Northwest Student Conference in Corvallis, Ore., are online now for everyone’s enjoyment: catch the concrete canoe (and other action) here: https://www.carroll.edu/academic-programs/engineering.

ALUMNI NEWS

Travel

Registration is now open for three fabulous Carroll alumni, parents and friends 2013 travel opportunities:  

Glacier Park Weekend: On July 26-27, explore one of Montana’s great outdoor treasures, with options of river rafting, boating, hiking, scenic tour, outdoor Mass, campfire, BBQ and more. Camping and lodging accommodations available.  Make it a family adventure and travel by train from the east or the west using Amtrak’s special Carroll fare code X37N-966.  Walla Walla Wine Tour: This October 11-14, enjoy Washington wine country at harvest time, with limousine transportation to the wineries, exceptional food and wine pairing, and accommodations at the historic Marcus Whitman Hotel. Christmas In Bethlehem: On December 20-30, tour the Holy Land with Carroll history professor Dr. Jeanette Fregulia. Tour destinations will include the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of Olives, Jericho, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Nativity. Hotel accommodations are right in Bethlehem for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

For more information on these and other Carroll alumni events visit www.carroll.edu/alumni.

In the News

At tonight’s Downtown Spring Art Walk in Helena from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., two Carroll grads will have a tandem showing at the Placer Condo Association on the Walking Mall at 21 N. Last Chance Gulch, Suite 105: Donna Wise, class of 1972, will exhibit a variety of still life, figurative and floral oil paintings in a semi-impressionistic style, while ceramic artist Page Kelly Piccolo (right), class of 2007, will present her latest “happy art from the heart.” Along with them will be Upper Missouri Breaks Audubon Society president Larry Copenhaver of WildArts LTD, presenting pen-and-ink illustrations of owls and other birds. More on the walk is at: http://helenair.com/entertainment/yourtime/downtown-to-transform-into-gallery-tonight/article_902f7be6-be77-11e2-a88e-001a4bcf887a.html

In Memoriam

Frederick Arthur DeWolf Jr. (left), class of 1949, a retired longtime Helena merchant, died May 8, 2013, at the Big Sky Care Center in Helena. Along with his brothers, William and George, he ran the Union Market Grocery Store and Butcher Shop until he retired in 1986. The store was a Helena icon, and the three brothers had a can-do attitude that allowed them to prosper despite chain-store competitors. Back in 1943, Fred was drafted into World War II and ended up in Africa firing anti-aircraft guns. Six months later, he joined the Signal Corps, where he was assigned to coding and deciphering top-secret messages. The job was in Italy, and while there Fred was granted an audience with Pope Pius XII. With the end of the war, Fred returned to Helena, married Shirley Lou Kelsey, graduated from Carroll, then went to work at the Union Market, which was then owned by his father.  For more on his life, read: http://helenair.com/news/local/obituaries/frederick-arthur-dewolf-jr/article_7c12411e-bac8-11e2-9db7-0019bb2963f4.html

Eileen Margaret Murray (right), nursing class of 1955, died on May 8, 2013. She spent most of her career at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Wash., giving selflessly to newborns and their moms. She also raised a large family of her own. For more on her life, read: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/may/11/obituary-murray-eileen-margaret/

Catherine E. Connell (left), class of 1961, died May 10, 2013, in Bismarck, N.D. She earned her Carroll degree in math then went on to teach. She retired from the school system in Butte, where she lived most of her life except the last three years, which she spent in Bismarck to be near her brother. For more on her life, read: http://mtstandard.com/news/local/obituaries/catherine-e-connell/article_88cfa388-bc67-11e2-baf4-001a4bcf887a.html

Sharon Robinson (right), class of 1974, died on May 8, 2013, following a four-year struggle with ALS. After earning her degree in medical records management, she enjoyed a long career in her field, first at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Wash. She returned to Helena as resident director of Carroll’s Guadalupe Hall and as a Carroll instructor of medical records management. Sharon continued in the medical records field, serving at the state of Montana Vital Records and Statistics Tumor Registry, the Disability Determination Bureau and the Boulder River School and Hospital. She also administered medical records for St. Luke’s Hospital in Ronan, the Montana-Wyoming Foundation for Medical Care and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. She left her position as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield senior director of integrated health care management in April 2011 due to the effects of ALS. For more on her life, read: http://helenair.com/news/local/obituaries/sharon-robinson/article_be849b50-bac8-11e2-9253-0019bb2963f4.html

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

In Memoriam

The Rev. Oliver Lee Hightower (left), class of 1957, died on May 7, 2013. While attending Carroll, he enrolled in a pre-seminary program to become a Catholic priest. After graduating with a philosophy degree, he went on to earn his master’s degree in languages from the University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium. He studied foreign languages at the Goethe Institute in Munich, Germany, and the Sorbonne in Paris. He was ordained a Catholic priest June 25, 1961, in Brussels, and then returned to Carroll College and taught French and German before attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he received a master’s degree in linguistics. He again returned to Carroll to teach languages, including Greek and Italian. He next traveled to the University of Washington to earn his doctoral degree in philosophy before once again returning to Carroll to teach philosophy and theology, eventually becoming the dean of students.

After ROTC students asked him to say Mass for their unit, the 396th Hospital Reserve Unit, the Rev. Hightower joined the Army Reserves. He eventually joined the active-duty Army and attended Chaplain School at Fort Bliss in Texas and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was assigned to Belgium and later to Korea, where he celebrated Mass on the hood of a Jeep in the field. His following deployment was to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, a gentler venue where he could celebrate Mass on Waikiki Beach while the congregation sat in lawn chairs. The Rev. Hightower attended Command and Staff School and was promoted to major. His last assignment was at Fort Lewis, Wash. He was discharged in 2002 after 15 years as a U.S. Army chaplain on active duty and seven years as a reservist at the rank of lieutenant colonel. During his military career, he received six Army commendations and four Meritorious Medals.

Following his military retirement, the Rev. Hightower was assigned as pastor of St. John Bosco Parish in Lakewood, Wash., and Immaculate Conception in Steilacoom, Wash. He also served the residents of Anderson Island and ministered to the inmates of McNeill Island. The Rev. Hightower led several pilgrimages to Italy, Spain, Ireland and France. He celebrated his golden anniversary as a Catholic priest in 2011 and retired from the priesthood later that same year. For more on his life, read: http://helenair.com/news/local/obituaries/the-rev-oliver-lee-hightower/article_2be70214-b939-11e2-a71f-001a4bcf887a.html

CAMPUS MINISTRY

As our Campus Ministry Headlights students visit the Diocese of Helena mission in Guatemala, you can follow their blog of reflections and see this distant world through their eyes at:http://carrollheadlights.org/

Leading the Guatemala journey is Campus Ministry Headlights Director Colleen Dunne (left), class of 1994, who is embarking on an exciting adventure of her own next year.  After a long discernment, she is leaving Carroll to join the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (SCL). After returning from Guatemala, Colleen will be at Carroll until the end of June and will depart for Kansas City on August 3. The SCL have a long history of service in Montana and in the Diocese of Helena in particular: They have been teachers, parish administrators, healthcare providers and advocates for the poor. SCL core values are to love the poor, to love one another, to live simply and to unite the whole of our lives in serving the poor and loving Christ. As Carroll Chaplain and Campus Ministry Director Marc Lenneman says, “When looking at those values, it's clear that Colleen is already living them, and that this step is not so much something ‘new’ as it is a deepening of what God has already been doing in her life. Colleen has been a wonderful gift to literally thousands of Carroll students, faculty and staff during her time here at the college. Her simple way of being with people and her heart for those on the margins make her a beautiful witness of the Gospel.  She has taught many of us how to live for others in a more committed way.  I know that working with her closely over these last six years has made me both a better Christian and a better priest.  For those of you who know her even just marginally, you know that she will be greatly missed.”

ATHLETICS

Carroll’s track and field team heads off to NAIA Outdoor Nationals next week, May 24-26, in Marion, Ind.

COMING EVENTS

June 14-30: Carroll Summer Theatre presents “Fox on the Fairway,” at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays through Sundays for three successive weeks, in the Carroll College Theatre. Directed by Chuck Driscoll. A tribute from Ken Ludwig (“Lend Me a Tenor,” “Moon Over Buffalo,” “Shakespeare in Hollywood”) to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s, The Fox On the Fairway takes audiences on a hilarious romp which pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy denizens of a private country club. This is a fast-paced and high-energy evening filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors, and over-the-top romantic shenanigans; it's a furiously paced comedy that recalls the Marx Brothers' classics. A charmingly madcap adventure about love, life, and mankind's eternal love affair with golf. A total of nine performances are scheduled for June 14, 15 & 16; 21, 22 & 23; 28, 29 & 30. Doors open 30 minutes before curtain time; all seats first-come, first-served. Tickets are $15 for all seating.

July 10-12: Carroll presents its third annual Mountain Moodle Moot conference on campus. This event has become one of premiere Moodle conferences in the US. This session will see over 120 attending from all over the US and the abroad.  Already confirmed are speakers from New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Indiana, North Dakota, England, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. This year features two main tracks focusing on Moodle, both in the K-12 environment and in higher ed. For oodles on Moodle, go to http://www.mountainmoot.com or follow through Twitter @mtmoot.

July 14-20: The 30th annual Carroll College Gifted Institute, an in-residence program for gifted students entering 5th through 9th grades. 

July 20: The annual Symphony Under the Stars on Carroll’s campus.