Bellarmine University News

Bellarmine University Will Honor Leonard M. Spalding in a Knighting Ceremony

webmaster@bellarmine.edu — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2009) – Bellarmine University will "knight" Leonard M. Spalding ('59) at the university's annual Knight of Knights black-tie dinner and dance celebration on Saturday, Oct. 17. The university has bestowed the honor upon outstanding individuals since 1998 in recognition of support and service to Bellarmine University. At this year’s ceremony, Bellarmine President Joseph J. McGowan will knight Spalding using a sword called Excalibur, gifted to Bellarmine by Owsley B. Frazier.

Bellarmine selected Spalding as the next Bellarmine Knight to celebrate his community leadership, as well as his professional and personal success. Spalding earned a bachelor's degree from Bellarmine in 1959 and an MBA from Indiana University. Spalding is past president and chief executive officer of Chase Global Mutual Funds Corporation in New York City, now known as the J.P. Morgan Global Mutual Funds.

Spalding returned to his childhood home of Springfield, Ky., following his retirement in 1998. He currently serves on the boards of J.P. Morgan Funds and the Glenview Trust Company. He also owns several Snappy Tomato Pizza franchises in Kentucky. Previously, he served on the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute and as a member of the investment advisory committee of the American Bankers Association.

His philanthropic causes include the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees. He has served as chair of the fundraising, investment and audit committees and is currently chair of the finance committee and a member of the executive committee. Additionally, he is a member of the board of trustees for the Catholic Education Foundation of the Archdiocese of Louisville, St. Catharine College, the Marion-Washington County Airport Board and the Springfield-Washington County Economic Development Authority. He also has served on the boards of the Chicago Leukemia Society and Children’s Memorial Hospital, also in Chicago.

Past Bellarmine Knights include: Owsley Brown Frazier (1998), the late Monsignor Alfred F. Horrigan (1999), Nolen Allen (2001), James A. Patterson (2002), Bill Samuels (2003), Dr. Allan Lansing (2004), C. Edward Glasscock (2005), Joseph P. Clayton (2006), Stephen A. Williams (2007), and Victor Staffieri (2008). A “knighting” was not held in 2000 so that Bellarmine could celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes.com and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America’s best institutions for higher learning, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.

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The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University Welcomes Author Bonnie B. Thurston

webmaster@bellarmine.edu — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 19, 2009) - The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University will host a talk by scholar and author Bonnie B. Thurston, one of the founding members of the International Thomas Merton Society, on Oct. 26, 7 p.m., Hilary's in Horrigan Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Thurston's lecture will focus on the talks Merton gave between his departure from Gethsemani Abbey on Sept. 11, 1968, and his departure for Asia on Oct. 11, 1968. The talks contained Merton's last extended public remarks on prayer and have been called a sort of spiritual farewell and a grand synthesis of a life of reading, reflection and prayer. After first sketching Merton's itinerary, the talk will attend to Merton's spiritual farewell, his West Coast teachings on prayer and the practical conclusions and help that people might draw from them. Most of these talks were given to communities of religious women, including the Sisters of the Monastery of the Precious Blood, in Eagle River, north of Anchorage, Alaska; for the Sisters of the Diocese at Providence Hospital in Anchorage; and at the Cistercian Abbey, Our Lady of the Redwoods, Whitethorn, Calif.

Thurston lives in solitude near Wheeling, W.V. She previously held the William F. Orr Professorship in New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She served as the third president of the International Thomas Merton Society and has written more than 20 scholarly articles on Merton, given retreats and lectured on Merton widely in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She edited "Thomas Merton and Buddhism" and has written eleven theological books. She also has authored more than 100 articles and has contributed to reference works in New Testament, including most recently, "For God Alone: A Primer on Prayer" (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009).

Ordained in 1984, Thurston has served as co-pastor, pastor, or interim of five churches and twice in overseas ministries. Her poetry frequently appears in religious periodicals, and she has authored two volumes of verse.

For more information about the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, visit:

The Thomas Merton Center

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Bellarmine Residence Life Welcomes Little Ghosts and Goblins to Ninth Annual Hall-O-Treats

webmaster@bellarmine.edu — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 19, 2009) - Bellarmine University residence halls will host community trick-or-treating Oct. 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. The event is open to parents and costumed children of all ages. Students will provide games, food, prizes, candy and haunted halls for a not-too-spooky thrill.

Parking for the event will be at the Bellarmine Office Building, 2120 Newburg Rd., with a shuttle carrying trick-or-treaters to the residence halls.

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Bellarmine University Welcomes Award-winning Author Dava Sobel for Guarnaschelli Lecture

webmaster@bellarmine.edu — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 21, 2009) – Author Dava Sobel will present the 2009 Guarnaschelli Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m. in Frazier Hall at Bellarmine University. The lecture is free and open to the public. In her book "Galileo's Daughter," Sobel explores the life of the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei through letters he exchanged with his eldest daughter, the cloistered nun Suor Maria Celeste.

Bellarmine University invited Sobel to speak in recognition of the International Year of Astronomy and the relationship between Galileo and the university namesake St. Robert Bellarmine, both men of faith and reason. Seventeen years before the Vatican sentenced Galileo to house arrest for teaching the Copernican Theory, Bellarmine had warned him against defending the theory on the orders of Pope Paul V. By the time the church sentenced Galileo, Bellarmine had been dead for several years.

Sobel, a former New York Times science reporter, also is author of "Longitude" and "The Planets" and has co-authored five books, including "Is Anyone Out There?" with astronomer Frank Drake.

Sobel received the 2001 Individual Public Service Award from the National Science Board "for fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the general public." Also in 2001, the Boston Museum of Science gave her its prestigious Bradford Washburn Award for her "outstanding contribution toward public understanding of science, appreciation of its fascination, and the vital role it plays in all our lives."

The Guarnaschelli Lecture Series brings leading arts and humanities speakers to the Louisville community. It is made possible by a grant from Dr. John and Marty Guarnaschelli of Louisville. Past lecturers include: Isabel Allende, U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, James Dickey, William L. Shirer, Gwendolyn Brooks, Harold Wilson, George McGovern, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, Ken Burns, Richard Rodriguez, Seamus Heaney, Wendell Berry, Leslie Marmon Silko, Wendy Whelan (with Nilas Martins), Peter Matthiessen, William Styron, Kathleen Norris, Allen D. Glenn, John Dunne, Jared Diamond and Salman Rushdie.

Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes.com and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America's best institutions for higher education, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.

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Bellarmine Physics Department Wins NASA Grant to Join the Search for Earth-like Planets

webmaster@bellarmine.edu — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Nov. 3, 2009) – What is the possibility of finding another Earth? To date, scientists have discovered more than 400 extrasolar planets -- planets that orbit a star outside of our solar system. But finding a rocky, potentially habitable, Earth-like planet is a key goal that has so far eluded even the most advanced space-based telescopes. NASA, via the Kentucky Space Grant Consortium, has awarded Bellarmine University Physics Professor Akhtar Mahmood and his students a $25,000 grant to assist scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., on a new space-based mission that will search nearby stars for Earth-sized planets.

The project, known as the SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory (formerly the Space Interferometry Mission), is currently in development. Dr. Mahmood and two students, Ben Draper and Richard Jelsma, will join the JPL team working on the Spectral Calibration Development Unit, a platform for testing the very precise calibration necessary to produce instruments capable of identifying extrasolar planets.

"The partnership with JPL provides a tremendous opportunity for students participating in this project," said Dr. Mahmood. "They will be able to interact and work alongside some of the leading NASA scientists and play a scientific role in this future frontier SIM Lite space mission. This is simply fascinating. It almost sounds like a science fiction project!"

Draper and Jelsma will spend several weeks at JPL, analyzing the resolution and error of the test unit's interferometer measurements. An interferometer combines the light from multiple telescopes to produce the effect of one, much larger telescope. Students also will conduct some of the data analyses at Bellarmine University using a cluster computer.

In its selection of the Bellarmine team and decision to award the grant, the review panel wrote, "The committee felt that this was an impressive proposal and provided an incredible opportunity for students to work on the SIM Lite project."

JPL is developing the SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory under contract with NASA in collaboration with Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, Calif. The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about SIM Lite, visit:

Planet Quest

Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes.com and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America’s best institutions for higher education, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.

For more information about the Bellarmine University Physics Department, visit:

Bellarmine University Physics

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