QUICKNOTES SPECIAL EDITION
2012: A YEAR TO REMEMBER
In this final edition of QNs before the New Year, we look back on the triumphs of 2012—and readily admit that we’ve had such a bumper 12 months of good news there is simply no succinct way of publishing it while including all. So, below we give a sketch of just some of the year’s high points and heroes. But, before we launch in, we invite you to enjoy a short video Christmas greeting from your favorite Catholic diocesan college in Montana, featuring a surprise musical appearance by someone very special: http://youtu.be/8hmvZhqcdK4
EVANS IN THE HOUSE
After being selected in a national search concluding almost concurrently with Christmas 2012, Dr. Thomas M. Evans began work as Carroll’s 16th president last summer. He was formally inaugurated during Founder’s Week in early November. The inaugural also included the Carroll Literary Festival (featuring keynote author Dr. Paula Marks, an award-winning author/historian of the American West), an Academic Symposium, the adventuresome Founder’s Day Flurry (photo right) hosted by Carroll Student Activities, and numerous meet, greet and eat festivities to welcome our new leader and his family to the Carroll family. For a recent interview with Dr. Evans on Saints and Scholars, head to YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKIq2DDzjAE&feature=youtu.be
And, for photos and videos of the inauguration fun (and lots of other great Carroll stuff), check the Carroll Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/carrollcollege
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
In what he calls “a Christmas gift” for Carroll, Dr. Earl Heller (photo right), class of 1958, donated $1 million to Carroll, with the intent of establishing a lovely new chapel on campus to accommodate our vibrant and growing faith community. The gift, one of the largest in our history, has been received with joy and prayers of thanks. It is the founding stone upon which a future chapel will arise on campus, in keeping with our master plan and Catholic mission. There may be more news soon building on this most generous gift honoring our Catholic identity—stay posted in future 2013 editions of QNs! For now, get all the details from our online press release at: http://www.carroll.edu/about/pressreleases.cc?pid=3492
COOL MILLION FOR HOT RESEARCH
As last summer was barely getting started, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) awarded the college $1 million under its Undergraduate Science Education Program for Baccalaureate and Master’s Colleges and Universities. Carroll Professors Grant Hokit, Jennifer Geiger and Sam Alvey (in photo right to left) are using this award over the next four years to conduct student research into infectious disease ecology, in collaboration with a consortium of three Montana tribal colleges and Montana State University. The award is one of the largest single private donations in our history. For Carroll, the award builds on existing grant-funded research into West Nile Virus that has been ongoing over the past three years, thanks to funding by the National Institutes of Health through the Montana INBRE program.
GIVING US THE BUSINESS
Last summer, Blackfoot Telecommunications of Missoula, Mont., established a new endowed professorship in Carroll’s Business Department in honor of the late Joan Mandeville (class of 1980), former Blackfoot Telecommunications CEO, and her father, longtime Carroll professor and financial officer Charlie Mandeville. In addition to creating a business ethics lecture series, the professorship will foster student internships, provide accounting software for students, and help defray student costs of taking the CPA examination. A full story on the gift appeared in the last edition of Carroll Magazine, online at: http://www.carroll.edu/alumni/resources/magazine/ (Photo right: Joan and her daughter Ally)
IT DOESN’T GET BETTER THAN THIS
This past year, the Carroll Nursing Department reported a 100% pass rate for its graduates taking the NCLEX-RN mandatory professional entrance exam.
Meanwhile, Nursing Department Chair Dr. Jennifer Elison was an expert featured in a New York Times article on nursing education and the technology influencing the profession.
PULLING RANK
In U.S.News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2013 rankings (from the Best Colleges 2013 guidebook), Carroll College is ranked as the top Regional College in the West. Last summer, Forbesreleased its America’s 650 Top Colleges, and Carroll comes in at #152—far and away the highest ranked in Montana and one of the region’s leading private colleges and universities, of any size.
WITH A NAME LIKE THIS, IT’S GOT TO BE GOOD
In January 2012, Carroll’s Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice unveiled the Cornerstone, a space in Borromeo Hall dedicated to our Catholic identity and incorporating Carroll’s call to faith through service. The center is named in honor of past Carroll president and 1943 alum, Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen (photo left), who attended the dedication of the new faith space with members of his loving, extended family.
And, on August 30, 2012, Archbishop Hunthausen and about 75 members of that big family of his were on campus to witness the dedication of the newly named Hunthausen Avenue, entering campus from Benton Avenue near Guadalupe Hall.
ALL TALK AND ALL ACTION
Last January, the Carroll Talking Saints forensics team won the Pacific University regional championship tournament, giving the team a share of the Northwest Forensics Conference title and making 2012 the 22nd straight year that the Talking Saints have won or shared the conference crown. In March, the team finished its 2011-2012 season with four national awards, including the team placing 19th in the US during tournament sweepstakes at the National Parliamentary Debate Association debate championships. A few weeks later, Carroll senior Sarah Brown was named to the All American National Individual Events team at the championships held in Texas. Meanwhile, Carroll seniors Ryan Lorenz and Forrest Laskowski won two national debate awards, becoming the first Carroll team to win awards at both the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence and at the National Parliamentary Debate Association national tournament.
CHEERIO, MATES!
Forensics news continued this fall with a new development: the Talking Saints now compete in a new style called World Debate. The results look fabulous so far: team members Megan Towles and Chris Axtman (in photo left) did so well in this fall’s competition that they wereaccepted to two prestigious debate tournaments held at Oxford University and Cambridge University in London. Their top 30 finish in the elite 124-team London competition earned them an invitation to the America’s Cup World Debate Tournament in Los Angeles, making them one of only 16 American teams selected. Meanwhile, four other members of the Talking Saints team were chosen to debate four university students from Afghanistan via Internet in a special international exhibition debate: Carroll freshman Mark Schmutzler, senior Haleigh Thrall, junior Conor Summers and freshman Ryden Meyer (in photo right, standing left to right).
ORDER IN THE COURT
In January 2012, Carroll’s Moot Court Team returned from national competition with team member Kari Rice (in photo left, standing center) placing in the US top 10 in her second nationals appearance.
Presenting mock appellate legal arguments with her at nationals were Laramy Ayers, Amy Dixon, Michael Yamoah and Sabrina Nystrom (in photo left, standing left to right, with Rice in center).
PUTTING THE LOGICAL IN BIOLOGICAL
Carroll students taking the year’s Senior Comprehensive Exam for Biology carried forward our stellar college tradition, finishing as a group in the 96th percentile of the 281 institutions administering the exam. For the past 16 years (since Carroll began administering the exam in 1996) our biology majors have performed in the 90th percentile or above, and in 9 of the past 10 years, Carroll students finished in the 95th percentile or higher. According to Biology Professor Grant Hokit, our students do particularly well in the categories of genetics, cell biology and molecular biology.
In other science news, concurrently with last April’s biennial Manion Symposium, the inaugural Student Undergraduate Research Festival occurred on campus, giving Carroll students a forum to present their research findings, including new revelations about West Nile Virus, chromosomal speciation in black flies and other original discoveries.
EVEN IN CAMO, WE STAND OUT
Carroll’s ROTC program saw seven cadets receive Carroll diplomas last May: our largest ROTC class to gradate yet in the program’s 11-year history. The seven cadets accepted commissions as US Army second lieutenants during the spring 2012 Commissioning Ceremony.
Last summer, Carroll ROTC cadet and senior Zach Wagner (photo left) logged a record-setting physical fitness score during a Leadership Development Assessment Course at Fort Lewis, Wash., with 6,000 cadets participating. Wagner went on this fall to be selected as number 33 out of 5,592 cadets nationwide on the National Order of Merit List (OML) for the Army ROTC and also ranked number 3 out of 2,434 cadets on the National Reserve Duty OML.
WITH THE COLORS
Our veteran student population is growing, thanks to Carroll’s special classes and financial support for vets and their dependents under our Yellow Ribbon Program, which provides the very best in Catholic higher education free of charge or deeply discounted to veterans and their family members. Carroll is a Military Friendly School, and it shows: for Veterans Day, Nov. 12, 85 service members ventured to campus for our first-ever Bring a Vet to Lunch celebration.
SPEAKERS SHAKING IT UP
A number of prominent speakers presented their experiences on campus this past year. Here is a brief sampling:
For Martin Luther King Day 2012, speaker Juan Meléndez (photo left) presented “Amazing Grace,” a riveting talk about his 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.
On September 11, Carroll’s new Anthrozoology professor,Dr. Marie Suthers, presented “Remembering 9/11: The Human-Animal Bond at Ground Zero,” recalling her experiences as an early 9/11 first-responder.
In October, the Carroll College Nursing Department brought national touring, award-winning performer Pippa White (photo right) to campus for her one-woman show, < em>Into Possession of Myself, a dramatic interpretation of legendary nurses Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton and Dorthea Dix.
In fall 2012, the Theology Department and the Sister Annette Moran Center launched a yearlong lecture series “Be(com)ing Church Between Past and Future,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening for Vatican II, featuring an outstanding slate of Carroll professors and international guest experts, including Dr. Mathijs Lamberigts of the Centre for the Study of Vatican II at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven-Belgium. The series continues in spring 2013.
In spring 2012, a slate of national speakers, a Talmud art show and a Passover Seder were part of the Not One without the Other: Religious Harmony and Political Civility series on campus. Among the offerings was a free guest lecture, “America, Islam, and the Holocaust,” by Professor Michael Sells of the University of Chicago Divinity School. A Holocaust Remembrance Evening and a Pakistani music performance, Caravanserai: A Place Where Cultures Meet (photo right), rounded out the month-long event.
FRIENDS FROM AFAR
Entering Carroll this fall were two students from distant lands: Lhamo Tseji (photo left), believed to be our first student from Tibet, came to Carroll after growing up in a family in a remote region where she was dissuaded from even attending grammar school and overcame countless obstacles to enter Carroll.
And, fall semester gave the college once again the honor of welcoming a US State Department Global Undergraduate Exchange Program Pakistani student on campus: Kanza Nadeem (photo right) from Faisalabad, Pakistan.
IT WAS STAGED
This was a monumental year for the performing arts at the college. Last February, Carroll Theatre produced Broadway sensation < em>Lend me a Tenor, followed in spring 2012 with the drama < strong>The Mound Builders and the children’s classic < em>The Commedia Puss in Boots. October 2012 brought to the Carroll stage the world premiere of the uproarious and touching new musical, < em>George and the Dragon, written and composed by award-winning TV actor Doug Sheehan. The fall season wrapped up this December with the heartwarming < strong>A Christmas Pudding. An exciting full slate of spring 2013 theatre is in the offing.
ONE SMOKIN’ SUMMER
The Carroll summer arts scene was hot in 2012, as the old tradition of Summer Theatre returned to the college in July with the world premiere of a new opera, < em>The Collar – A Musical! Then came the July 21 Symphony Under the Stars, followed by the end of July Ballet Montana 17th summer season performances of “Voices in Hand” at the Myrna Loy Center. Formerly Artisan Dance, Ballet Montana is in residence at Carroll, led by its founding Artistic Director Sallyann Mulcahy.
And, it was art with a heart: during Symphony Under the Stars, the 10,000 concertgoers flocking to Guadalupe lawn donated 11,845 pounds of food for Helena Food Share (a 1.5 ton increase from last year’s symphony food drive).
SCORING POINTES
Last April, a collaboration between Carroll Choirs Director Robert Psurny andBallet Montana Director/Carroll artist in residence Sallyann Mulcahy created a unique choir-ballet production, “A Time to Dance,” performed at St. Mary Catholic Community.
This November, the Carroll Choirs went on tour in Seattle, Wash., where they offered five concerts plus a guest appearance at St. James Cathedral in Seattle. And, in December, the Choir, Chamber Choir and Women’s Choir filled the Cathedral of St. Helena with angelic voices during their Advent and Christmas concert, “A Marian Christmas,” in honor of Christ’s mother.
HONORING HANK
Last March, the Carroll community held a reception to celebrate the completion of the Henry (Hank) Burgess Professorship in English, inspired by Professor Hank Burgess (photo left), class of 1951 and a beloved English Department faculty member for nearly 40 years, in addition to serving as founding head coach of the Carroll Smoker boxing program for a quarter of a century. For a full feature on the history of the Smokers and Hank's colorful career as one of our legendary alumni, read the story in the summer 2011 edition of Carroll Magazine: http://www.carroll.edu/alumni/resources/magazine/summer2011/index.html
The joyful moment of honoring Hank came just in time: on August 28, 2012, the college mourned his deathafter a long and courageous struggle with health problems and bid him a prayerful farewell.
EYE ON THE SKY
In April 2012, Carroll’s Neuman Observatory, Montana’s oldest operating astronomical observatory, marked its 75th anniversary during Carroll’s 13th annual Astronomy Weekend. This observatory is named after longtime Carroll chemistry and math professor Dr. Edward "Doc" Neuman (at Carroll 1933-1955), who created the building out of fallen stones from St. Charles Hall after the 1935 Helena earthquakes. The telescope within is a modern computerized model used by Carroll's Neuman Astronomical Society on weekly public viewing nights and by Carroll's resident astronomer/math professor, Dr. Kelly Cline, in his astronomy courses.
TALES FROM THE KRYPTOS
Also last spring, Carroll students Jennings Anderson, Forrest Laskowski and Nate Woods placed third in the Kryptos cryptanalysis contest and were one of only four teams to correctly solve all three challenges. It was Carroll’s first time entering the competition, which saw 60 students on 30 teams from across the Northwest. (Photo left, standing left to right: Anderson, Laskowski and Woods)
And in more math news, in last February’s Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) and Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), with thousands of entries by the world’s top math minds, the Carroll student team of Grant Williams, Jennings Anderson, and Bryan Hurtle came in at the top 20% in the ICM. (Photo right, standing left to right: Williams, Hurtle and Anderson)
KEEPING SCORE
In April, Carroll Athletics won the Frontier Conference Bandy Memorial All-Sports Award for the third straight year, making this our 10th Bandy, the most by any school. By spring 2012, the Saints had claimed conference titles in football, women's cross country and tied for the conference championship in women's soccer. Then, for the first time since becoming a full Frontier Conference member in 1998, Carroll’s Golf Team captured the conference championship this past fall. Carroll’s second year with a track and field program ended last spring at Track and Field Indoor Nationals, where 12 Saint students competed and 11 of them earned All-American status.
Speaking of All-Americans, just a few days ago, Carroll offensive lineman Connor Goudreau (photo right), a four-year Saints starter, was named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team. Carroll has had at least one athlete named to the All-America team since 2005, the longest streak in the NAIA—Fighting Saint senior Chance Demarais was honored last year. At this season’s final football game, Demarais became Carroll football’s all-time career rushing leader. Meanwhile, 10 Fighting Saints were recently named 2012 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Athletics also saw a few historic firsts this fall: In November, Carroll hosted its inaugural Frontier Conference Cross Country Championships, where the Saints swept the Frontier Conference team titles and earned automatic berths in NAIA national championships. At NAIA nationals in Vancouver, Wash., the Carroll women runners dashed to a fifth-place finish in their third straight appearance at nationals, while the men finished 24th in their debut on the big course.
Meanwhile, in November, the Carroll volleyball team hosted its first-ever opening-round game of the NAIA National Championship, which catapulted the team to the second round of nationals in Sioux City, Iowa.
SAINTS IN SHINING ARMOUR
Last June, Carroll College athletic director Bruce Parker (photo left) was named the NAIA West Region Under Armour Athletic Director (AD) of the Year for the second time since 2009.
Fighting Saints Head Coach Mike Van Diest (photo right) became Carroll’s all-time leader in career coaching victories, achieving thismilestone during the Saints’ season finale victory at Nelson Stadium.
COVERBOYS
The Carroll Fighting Saints’ mud-caked celebration following the 2007 NAIA national championship captured by AP photographer John Russell once graced the cover of < em>Sports Illustrated and now has been recognized as one of SI’s 100 greatest photos of all time. This fall, the magazine ranked the image of Carroll’s Brandon Day sliding to his knees at Jim Carroll Stadium in Savannah, Tenn., as the 48th greatest, ahead of iconic photos such as Brandi Chastain’s shirtless celebration at the 1999 Women’s World Cup soccer final and the victorious image of the US hockey team’s 1980 Miracle on Ice.
WHAT GRADS WE HAD
Commencement 2012 in May saw nearly 300 Carroll students receiving their degrees, with the college conferringthe Borromeo Award on the Sisters of St. Joseph Volunteer Corps of Rochester, NY (photo left), for their service to the poor and inspiration to our students. Our graduation speaker and honorary doctorate recipient was the Reverend Charles L. Currie of the Society of Jesus, the former president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. At commencement, a record number of Golden Grads (photo right) returned to campus tocelebrate their 50- and 60-year commencement anniversaries: 21 from the class of 1962 and 14 of the 42 then-living members of the class of ’52.
TO PROTECT AND TO SERVE
The Carroll Engineers Without Borders-USA student chapter headed to Guatemala last May to build reinforcing walls at Diocese of Helena’s mission school, which would protect it from collapse in an earthquake. (Photo left) This fall, an earthquake did hit the area, and the building held firm, with no injuries at the school.
This autumn, another Carroll EWB crew journeyed to the Santa Maria del Mexicano orphanage near the town of Colón, Mexico, to continue EWB-Carroll projects that have been ongoing since 2006. On this trip, the EWB irrigation pipeline (photo right), which brings water from a dam to the farm fields nearly one mile away from the orphanage, became fully operational, allowing Santa Maria to begin growing spice crops for income and send more of its residents to college. The aquatic farm EWB-Carroll previously established on the site is producing 2,000 fish for food annually at the orphanage, plus 12,000 fingerlings to sell to local fish farm operations.
Also on the trip, Professor Jack Oberweiser delivered $1,000 that he raised in Helena to buy new guitars for the Santa Maria residents, many of whom are fabulous musicians but lack instruments.
WHO NEEDS SLEEP?
Carroll’s Up ’Til Dawn student fundraising club for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital wrapped up its official tally for the 2011-2012 year with the glorious announcement that its $25,000 goal had been exceeded by 12 percent. In all, a total of $28,038 was raised last year to pay for children’s lifesaving cancer treatment and research to find a cure. The fundraising continued this fall and will march forward this spring in hopes of reaching a new record. Now in its seventh year, Carroll’s Up ’Til Dawn program has raised more than $172,000 for St. Jude.
CANDLE IN THE DARKNESS
For spring break 2012, Carroll Campus Ministry Headlights students served the poor and lived in solidarity with the needy in three US urban areas: Kansas City, Cincinnati and Rochester (NY). In May, a group of Carroll Headlights students and young alumni journeyed to East Los Angeles, Calif., where they worked for social and economic justice and witnessed the work of Fr. Greg Boyle, who makes peace among former gang members and offers economic justice to the poor at Homeboy Industries.
Looking ahead, this January 12 Headlights students will spend a week helping the children at the De La Salle Blackfeet School in Browning, Mont., and over spring break 2013 a record number of Headlights students are signed on to serve in schools, shelters and food pantries in Rochester, Kansas City and Denver. Right after graduation 2013 this May, 13 more students will go on a repeat journey to the Diocese of Helena Mission school and clinic, where they will heed the call to love through compassionate service and prayer.
THE INVISIBLE HELPING HAND
Carroll’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team (now known as Enactus) won regionals and took rookie of the year honors in its inaugural year at the SIFE USA Regional Competition in Seattle, Wash., last spring. The award was based on SIFE’s successful Let’s Can Hunger food drive, a partnership with Campbell’s Soup, which brought in 5,000 pounds of groceries for Helena Food Share. SIFE also held outreach events to educate and empower small local businesses. (Photo left, standing left to right: Conor Summers, Blake DeShaw, Allie Winkler, Professor and faculty mentor Annette Ryerson, Megan Gretch, Claire Miller, Nikole Drummond and Michael Yamoah)
HAIR-RAISING EXPERIENCE
During last April’s fund drive for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and Locks of Love, over $5,500 was raised by Carroll students, faculty and staff to help children battling cancer, and plenty of Carroll heads of hair were shorn to provide wigs to kids who are coiffure-challenged due to medical conditions.
O TANNENBAUM . . . AND OTHER GREEN THINGS
Last spring, Carroll College was again recognized as a Tree Campus USA. Launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota Motor North America, Inc., Tree Campus USA is a national program honoring colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation.
In other green news, for Earth Day 2012, our dining services partner Sodexo sponsored another highly successful Clean Up Helena Day, with a total of 41 Carroll students, alumni and employees collecting 3,600 gallons of litter and rusty old junk from six different Helena locations. (Sodexo student Earth Day crew in photo right)
Campus got back to its Montana roots this past summer when Carroll’s Green Team, with generous support from the Kelsey Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society and the Last Chance Audubon Society, installed a new Native Plant Garden outside the front entrance of the Corette Library. Watch this wild garden grow in abundance as winter lifts and spring rears its cheerful head in a few months!
WALKING IT OFF
During Homecoming 2012, 174 members of Carroll’s Saints for Hope team participated in the annual NAMI-Montana Walk to raise funds and awareness in support of those battling mental illness. Between the walk and myriad other fundraising, the Saints helped bring in around $3,000 and stood out as one of the biggest NAMI Walk teams anywhere.
FRESHMEN: WE GET IT
Just a few weeks into their careers at Carroll, our new students already were absorbing the responsibility of being a Saint. This past October, four of Carroll's freshman-class Alpha Seminar sections, about 70 students in all, participated in a food drive encompassing neighborhoods near the college and the Helena Mansion District. In all, the students gathered 1,150 pounds of nonperishable items, according to a tally provided by Helena Food Share, just when this worthy local organization, dedicated to a hunger-free community, needed it most. The freshmen embarked on the campaign to put their Alpha social justice teachings into action, and more random acts of goodness are expected from this promising new Carroll class.