April 2007

Hoop dreams

A national basketball champion might be returning to Dayton by the time finals start next week. UD Diplomats (left), an intramural basketball team, earned a spot in the 2007 Pontiac ACIS National Championships when it won the ACIS regional tournament at the end of March. This weekend, they're in Chapel Hill, N.C., competing at Carmichael Auditorium, where Michael Jordan and James Worthy once played.
UD had a strong showing in regionals, which were held at RecPlex and three other sites around the country. Though teams from Ohio State, University of Virginia, University of Louisville and Indiana State and others competed here, three of the four finals teams were from UD.
In the women's finals, UD's Team Rain (left) fell to a squad from Miami University. UD was a guaranteed winner on the men's side, as both finals teams -- Diplomats and Run-n-Gun -- were homegrown.
UD Diplomats' road to the finals also included the always tough UD intramural championships March 7 and 8. This year's UD championships were complete with national anthems, game announcers, net cuttings and Wheaties boxes. Click here for highlights from that night. (Requires Flash; watch for the Brian Gregory look-alike on the sidelines.)

(Editor's note: The team photos above were taken by student Andy Carpenter, who tells us he gets extra credit for his sports media class if someone uses his photos. Congratulations, Andy, and just in time for finals week.)

by Matthew Dewald 4-27-07

Floating feat

While they didn’t win, at least their boat didn’t sink like those of many other schools.
Weighing in at nearly 400 pounds, holding four team members and named the “Beast Light,” the American Society of Civil Engineers UD chapter's concrete canoe completed a swamp test and four races earlier this month. To pass the swamp test, the team submerged the canoe and waited for it to return to the surface. After passing that test, the canoe went on to race in three sprints and one endurance race, testing the rowers more than the canoe.
ASCE members competed in other events at the annual Ohio Valley Regional Competition, including a steel bridge competition.
Holding just greater than 1,650 vertical pounds and surviving a 50-pound lateral load test, the bridge was constructed the morning of the competition in only 26 minutes before a panel of judges. While the team was loading the vertical weight test, the weld connecting the side plate to the hanger snapped, ending the bridge competition for the team. Its failure did not define the experience, though, said team member Kelly Kaufman. “Seeing the bridge come to life from the plans and witnessing the giant improvements from the previous year’s design and was very satisfying and uplifting,” she said.

by Anna Gebrosky ’09 4-26-07

Wonder Woman

As the daughter of a U.S. Coast Guard officer, Pat Meyers, dean of the School of Business Administration, grew up moving from place to place around the world. During her itinerant childhood, Wonder Woman comics and the spontaneous communities formed by military families sustained her.
She continued to rely upon strong heroes and supportive communities as she raised her children as a single mother and completed her Ph.D., she said at the Marianist Educational Associates prayer commitment service April 24 in Immaculate Conception Chapel.
Reflecting on her exploration of the Marianist charism the past year during her formation as a Marianist Educational Associate, she said, "I discovered a real wonder woman, Mary of Galilee. I revisited my childhood memories of Mary to begin building a grown-up perspective." Meyers discovered, she said, a renewed appreciation for a heroine who promotes the flourishing of women and lifts up community.
Marianist Educational Associates are members of a community intentionally committed to strengthening the Catholic and Marianist mission of Marianist universities. At UD, 18 members of the faculty and staff have made commitments as MEAs since 2005. During 2007, another nine UD colleagues will begin formation: Deb Bickford, Una Cadegan, Nick Cardilino, Corinne Daprano, Maura Donahue, Tom Eggemeier, Susan Ferguson, Regis Lekan and Beth Schwartz.

By Deborah McCarty Smith 04-25-07

Sock puppets have glass ceilings, too

The Puppet Liberation Theatre's Wednesday performance opened up with the rise and fall of the Soviet Union — to break the ice.
The UD student sock puppeteers told the audience that they did the puppet show because it was something ridiculous for the Stander Symposium and because the puppets take some of the edge off issues not easy to talk about. The performance was similar to a Monty Python movie and offered social commentary about ironic things in society.
Scenes dealt with issues such as stereotypes, globalization and gender roles, but remained light-hearted. One female puppet in corporate America displayed a personal glass ceiling — clear Tupperware. Enforced gender roles were discussed as the puppets were shown getting ready for a high school dance; the boys had locker room talk after lifting weights while the girls fussed over every inch of their sock at the beauty salon. Although the performance was light-hearted, audience members stayed to talk about topics it raised.

by Sarah Barnidge ’07 04-24-07

Path to learning through Glen Helen

Graduating photography majors gathered in the library on Wednesday to discuss their work and their path of learning.
"Beyond Exposure," part of the Stander Symposium, features six seniors' work ranging from photos of nature to images of light and shadows to shots of individuals.
Senior Ryan Dugan's work showcases the nature he's found around Dayton. The photo of the bridge is one of Dugan's favorite digital pieces. It was taken in Glen Helen where the retreat Metanoia takes place, something very special to him. Each of his photos is accompanied by a favorite quote, such as this one by Howard Thurman: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who come alive."
"Beyond Exposure," located on the first two floors of Roesch Library, runs through May 2.

by Sarah Barnidge ’07 04-24-07

Facebook friends of Father Chaminade

Presenters of the Stander Symposium group forum on social networking sites (SNS) posed the question, “Would Father Chaminade have a Facebook Profile?”
Students and staff of all ages and experience with such sites read an informational booklet and pondered their function as virtual communities in the Marianist tradition.
They discussed how Internet-powered technologies that provide virtual, public space mesh with Catholic social teaching on common good, dignity of each person and community as essential learning experience. In small groups, participants discussed forming relationships, generation gaps and possible alienation.
“I’ve at least come to realize the ways that it can be educational,” said Carol Cummins-Collier, assistant vice president of residence education who learned of one student who became active with the aide of Darfur through conversation and posts on Facebook.
Others felt room for change. “I’m going to go back to Facebook and see if I need to take anything off,” said one student.
“Facebook isn’t going to go away,” commented another. The group wanted to learn how to better deal with it.
Professor Jason Pierce told the group that Father Chaminade would be getting a Facebook profile, created by the student planning team for the forum. Participants on Facebook might even be added as a new friend from the information gathered from the sign-in, he said. At the time of writing, I had not been friended, but found his profile. The friendship requested, I hope to be the Blessed Father William J. Chaminade's friend No. 83.

by Johnnie C. Kling ’09 04-20-07

VT in our hearts

A full Humanities Plaza gave tribute to those killed and injured in the Virginia Tech tragedies with a student-initiated vigil on Tuesday. Students had just the day before searched through their Facebook friends lists to find any who might have fallen victim.
Yet, not knowing victims did not leave students immune. A line at a banner formed of those wishing to leave their name and support. The banner was left in Kennedy Union throughout the week to allow even more to sign. Some attendees gathered with smiles at first when seeing fellow friends, but soon fell into somber tones when the event began.
The show of support brought a mix of young and old, students and staff. “This doesn’t surprise me,” said William Schuerman, vice president of student development. “I can tell you, this will mean a lot to that campus, the fact that people come.”
J unior Amy Reaman said she knew several friends from high school who are now students in Blacksburg, Va. “Everyone is fine physically, just touched and recovering emotionally and mentally,” she said. Attending the vigil helped her cope with the issue. “I think that there is truly power in prayer. I think that this truly reaches all people in some way, especially other college students like us.”
Candles were lighted and raised and “Amazing Grace” was sung. Father Joseph Tedesco, S.M., led the group in prayer addressing the level of grief they may have. He described Virginia Tech as “a place that was once a name, that now is a place in our hearts.”

by Johnnie C. Kling ’09 04-20-07

The duty to intervene

Bernard Kouchner co-founded Doctors Without Borders to bring medical care to victims during emergencies and in the developing world. On campus yesterday during the Stander Symposium to accept the Monsignor Oscar Romero Award for Leadership in Service to Human Rights, he talked of patients without borders and health care without borders, his vision for a world in which basic health care is available to all.
"If you want to be a hero, you wait for victims to come to you," he said. "If you want to help them, you prevent them from becoming victims."
A former Red Cross doctor, he was among the first to publicly challenge the Red Cross's neutrality stance. He described weighing 14-pound 6-year-olds in Biafra during Nigeria's civil war and creating a floating hospital to treat Vietnamese boat people, who were refused UN help until they landed on foreign shores. In such cases, there is a duty to intervene, he argued.

by Matthew Dewald 4-19-07

Party time

Despite rumors to the contrary, UD administrators are not against a good party. And last Sunday’s retirement celebration for Father Norbert Burns, S.M., was a good party.
Father Burns himself made sure the speeches were short, not shying away from having the president, provost and rector move along briskly. Even the remarks of former College of Arts and Sciences’ Dean Paul Morman — known for being able to elaborate a story — were brief. An amazing feat, considering he summarized the movement of the Catholic church from a pre-Vatican II culture of rote memory and rules to an emphasis on the law of love, an emphasis in which Father Burns played a major role for UD. (Nearly one-third of UD alumni have taken his Christian Marriage class.)
Rector Paul Marshall, S.M., raised his glass to Burns and led the singing of the Marianist toast of hospitality, "Sie leben hoch," (May you live well).
President Dan Curran relayed the comments of a student who said that students were honest in talking with Burns because they know he will always stand by them.
And Burns talked, giving advice on relationships, advice from a man whom everyone there wished to live well.

by Thomas M. Columbus 04-18-07

Pizza with Parker Palmer

Students did the teaching March 29 when educational activist Parker Palmer led a roundtable discussion in the Marianist Hall Learning Space. Palmer was in town for the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education's 40th anniversary celebration at Sinclair Community College, where he was the featured speaker.  
"Despite my mother's advice, I'm glad to talk with my mouth full of food," the conversational Palmer said as he encouraged about 25 students and staff to share their opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of higher education. Responses to topics such as more funding for education, diversity in schools and the student-teacher relationship fueled the discussion.  
Students told Palmer about the learning environment at UD, noting the passion of the professors and the opportunity to become acquainted with other cultures. Both students and Palmer agreed education majors should have a foreign language requirement, and Palmer stressed the importance of taking education majors out of their comfort zone and exposing them to their vulnerabilities in order to learn how to improve their relationships with students.   He also told the audience that diversity should not and cannot be based on appearance alone.
"There is no such thing as a homogenous white group," said Palmer, who holds a doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley. "Diversity is not just about looking different; it is also about your inner complexities and inner teachings."
Palmer is a senior associate of the American Association for Higher Education whose books include To Know As We Are Known and The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life. He has won numerous awards for his work and has served as an inspiration to educational and community leaders, although his mother is not fully convinced yet.  
"I've worked independently for 25 years with no job title," he said.   "My mother still doesn't understand how I make a living.   She says, 'I don't mind talking to you, Parker, but I certainly wouldn't pay for it.'"

By Anna Sexton '07 04-11-07

Humbling

If Louisiana were a country, it would hold the world record for percentage of its population incarcerated. An Innocence Project paralegal spoke those words to UD law students, who took an alternative spring break last week to help in New Orleans, where the flood's recession revealed a deluge of legal problems. Students chronicled their experiences in the blog Road Scholars, including this entry by second-year law student Lauria Lynch-German.

The 9th Ward continues to amaze. Molly Buckman, our fearless leader and graduating 3L, played Mother Hen to a three-vehicle caravan of Dayton law students and friends for a … well, now I’m stuck for the right word. “Touring” seems like something one does in France or through bucolic fields. “Gazing” makes one thing of celestial bodies. “Gawking” or “rubbernecking” is what people do when they get to that spot in the freeway that backed up traffic. Ah, there’s the word. Humbling. Molly took for us a humbling.
Let's face it. We are the privileged few. We made it to law school, some us are within sniffing distance of the finish line. Some of us come from money; some of us have worked hard to overcome the curve balls thrown at us our whole lives. But today, we were reminded how easily it can come to an end. Some of the hardiest of the group walked through some of the houses. “I couldn't do it. I was already crying, just looking at the damage. They said there were clothes still hanging in closets, stuff people couldn't take with them when it happened. And the clothes are still hanging there, ruined for sure, but still there,” said [law student] Ashley Russell.

by Lauria Lynch-German 4-10-07

Flip-flops and Frisbees

It's spring on a college campus. What could be better?
But ask students in my ENG 272 class how things are going and they'll talk of getting up at 6 a.m. to study for an exam and too little time for projects piling on top of each other.
"All of my professors have everything due at the same time," one of my students complained yesterday. To her, it looked like a conspiracy.
These are tough weeks on campus -- after spring break but just a few weeks before finals -- but years from now, it isn't some project from my class they'll remember. It's the partner they did it with. And the way the sun warmed their eyelids when they turned up their faces for a quick mental break from an over-highlighted textbook. And the Stuart Field football game they managed to squeeze in, despite the due dates on my syllabus.

by Matthew Dewald 4-6-07

High art at Horvath

Family and friends of artists crowded the opening session of Horvath Thursday in the small gallery located in Rike Center for what was described as "one of the best nights of the academic year" by art professors and students alike.
Senior Catherine Brody entered a piece that spanned her college career. "Recycled Emotion" seems to be just that. "It's just been sitting in my portfolio," she said of the base for her entry, a deep hued background from four years ago. It was soon embellished with new swirls and designs of other colors.
Emily Aherns, a sophomore, submitted works in charcoal and the installation "Hangmen." "It's trying to talk about suicide because it's always hush, hush," she said. Aherns spoke of a group suicide that included her cousin. "I'm trying to realize the depth that people go, when they were in that moment."
Winning the Horvath Realism Award, Aherns proudly stood by a third piece of a young girl she was commissioned to draw from a photograph. The girl's name is also Emily, for which the piece is named. The drawing (pictured left) features the child in a casual pose captured in pencil.
The 66 pieces presented by more than 50 artists are on display in Rike through April 25.

by Johnnie C. Kling 04-03-07