Dear Bellarmine Community Members,
Bellarmine awarded more than 400 undergraduate and
graduate degrees at its 54th annual commencement exercises on Saturday,
May 12. The university also awarded honorary degrees to Archbishop
Thomas C. Kelly, William P. (Billy) Bradford, teacher and theater
director at Trinity High School and the Youth Performing Arts School;
and Wendell Berry, celebrated American writer, farmer and
conservationist. Berry also delivered the commencement address.
A special moment during the awarding of degrees was the
presentation of a special medal to "Alice," the guide dog of student
Abigail Cocanougher, who graduated summa cum laude with a degree in
music. Alice attended every one of Cocanougher's Bellarmine classes.
Among the awards handed out were the Archbishop's Medal
of Scholastic Excellence, presented to Raymond Burns, who had the
highest grade point average in the class; the Wilson W. Wyatt
Fellowship, presented to Laura Ward; and the In Veritatis Amore Award,
given to Burns and Sarah L. Todd.
A Wyatt Fellowship also is awarded to faculty. This
year two faculty members were awarded: Tony O'Keeffe, from the English
department; and Mark Wiegand, from the physical therapy department.
Wendell Berry's commencement address, my remarks to the class, a complete list of the award winners, and a photo gallery of the event are available on our web
site.
Dr. Tegart's new post
After a national search that engaged the advice and
representation of every campus constituency, I am delighted to
announce the appointment of Dr. Doris Tegart as Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs at Bellarmine University. In this new post, Dr.
Tegart will work closely with the deans and the faculty leadership to
help us build the academic life of this institution.
Dr. Tegart is dynamic, entrepreneurial, and a strong
academic leader. She has served Bellarmine faithfully and well for
more than a decade in critical leadership roles that have placed her
at the busy intersection of intellectual rigor and real-world
performance. She has developed a solid academic and administrative
foundation of creative thinking and problem solving. She is a
thoughtful, inclusive, action-oriented leader who values people,
respects process and knows that results matter.
With the unique spirit of authentic hospitality that is
a hallmark of the Bellarmine University Community, please join me in
welcoming Dr. Tegart to her new position of leadership among us.
Thornton School Leadership
I have accepted the recommendation of Dr. Tegart and
the faculty of the Thornton School of Education that we continue our
search for a new education dean, and develop a structure to guide the
school in the interim. It is my pleasure to announce the appointment
of Dr. Cindy Gnadinger as Acting Dean of the Annsley Frazier Thornton
School of Education and the appointment of Dr. Anne Bucalos as the
Acting Associate Dean. These appointments are for the 2007-2008
academic year.
The team of Dr. Gnadinger and Dr. Bucalos is a
leadership partnership that also reflects an administrative and
budgetary realignment of the school’s structure and resources. In this
innovative arrangement, the former positions of undergraduate and
graduate chairs within the Frazier Thornton School have been
eliminated. Please join me in welcoming Drs. Cindy Gnadinger and Anne
Bucalos to their new positions.
Thornton School Accreditation
Congratulations to the entire education department on
recently securing the continuing accreditation of the National Council
for Accreditation of Teacher Education. In his letter of
acknowledgement, NCATE president Arthur E. Wise wrote, "Special
congratulations are in order because the Unit Accreditation Board has
cited no official areas for improvement." What a wonderful testament
to the excellence and dedication to quality of all our education
faculty.
Allison Louise Patrick
Please join me in welcoming our newest Bellarmine family
member - Allison Louise Patrick, daughter of Dr. Ian Patrick and his
wife Deb. Both mother and daughter are doing fine and Ian is sleeping
like a baby (waking up crying every couple of hours).
A Meditation on the Poetry of Thomas Merton
Frederick Smock’s new book, Pax Intrantibus: A
Meditation on the Poetry of Thomas Merton, has been published by
Broadstone Books. He will give a read from his new book at
Carmichael’s Bookstore on Frankfort Avenue on Saturday, June 23, at 4
p.m.
Institute for Media, Culture and Ethics
On May 23, we launched our new Institute for Media, Culture and Ethics. The new
institute will create an educational environment for research, study
and discussion of media and culture. It will teach skills in existing
and emerging communications media technologies, teach students to be
critical consumers of popular culture as promulgated by mass media,
and examine and promote ethics in media. The institute also will serve
as an incubator for a planned new School of Communication: Media,
Culture and Ethics.
Fr. Crews' New Post
With great joy and appreciation, I am delighted to
appoint Rev. Clyde F. Crews, Ph.D., to the new position of Bellarmine
University Historian and Archival Coordinator. Those of you who know
Fr. Crews know there could be no better person for this exciting new
post. A Bellarmine alumnus, professor and historian-in-residence, Fr.
Crews has been a beloved member of the Bellarmine family since 1962
and is uniquely qualified to document and celebrate the university's
history.
This appointment will follow Fr. Crews' retirement from
teaching, a 34-year tenure that is the stuff of legend. Thousands of
Bellarmine students and hundreds of faculty, administrators, alumni
and staff have had the pleasure of knowing, living, learning, and
growing with him. Through the years, he has served in numerous roles
at Bellarmine, including historian-in-residence, director of the
Merton Center, chairman of the Theology department, and academic dean.
Thanks to his perspective as both a Bellarmine
University student and faculty member, his tenure as a theology
professor, his history-writing, his gentle grace, charm and wit, and
his profound love for the university and its city, Bellarmine and I
are proud and grateful to welcome Fr. Crews to his new position.
Please join me in congratulating Fr. Crews on his new appointment.
2007 Jazz Guitar Clinic and Concert
The 21st Annual Bellarmine Jazz Guitar Clinic and
Concert will be held June 4 and 5. The clinic and concert will feature
instruction and performances by director of Jazz Studies Jeff Sherman
and special guests Jack Wilkins and John Stowell.
The concert will take place Monday, June 4 in the Wyatt
Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the concert are
available in advance at Music-Go-Round on Hurstbourne Lane for $7.
Tickets also will be available at the door for $10.
The clinic will be held June 4 and 5 in the Music
Building on campus. It will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days
and feature instruction on fingerboard theory, be-bop, ensemble, ear
training, and more. Tuition is $100 and includes a ticket to the
concert. For more information, please see the BU news page.
Kickboxing Champ Lindsay Scheer
Congratulations to BU Physical Therapy student Lindsay
Scheer upon winning the United States Kickboxing Association super
lightweight national title on April 28. Next up for Lindsay: the Thai
Boxing Association national championship in Des Moines, Iowa, on June
15-16. After that: PT midterms the following week!
Welcome new faculty
Please join me in welcoming the following new full time
faculty to Bellarmine for the fall semester:
- Julien Carriere – Foreign Languages
- Constance Cooper – Nursing
- David Goguen – Communications
- Laura Hartford – Art
- Mark Kaelin – Biology
- Akhtar Mahmood – Physics
- Adam Molnar – Mathematics
- David Overbey – English
New Information
If you have a suggestion for an item for the
President's Update, please send it to Jim Welp in the
Office of Communications and Public Affairs.