Justice Alan Page toaddress ’04 graduates atCommencement

IN THEWORKS

Keough Instituteturns 10

...pages 4-5

Leaving Haiti, butbriefly

...page 3

Indiana fundshapes researchdirections

...page 2

The many facesof outreach

...page 8

By Dennis Brown

Justice Alan C. Page, ajustice on the MinnesotaSupreme Court and 1967Notre Dame graduate, willbe the principal speaker andthe recipient of an honorarydoctor of humane lettersdegree at Commencementexercises May 16.

Page will be the rare recipientof a second honorary doctoratefrom Notre Dame; he received a

doctor of laws degree from the University in 1993.

“We speak in our mission statement of Notre Dame creating anenvironment that ‘fosters the development in its students of thosedisciplined habits of mind, body and spirit which characterize educated,skilled and free human beings,’ ” said the University’s president, Rev.Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C. “Few of our graduates better epitomize theseideals than Alan Page.

“It is testimony to the tremendous respect we have for Alan that wewould invite him to accept a second honorary degree and, this time,speak to our graduating class. We’re delighted that he has accepted andwill honor us with his presence.”

The 159th Commencement will begin at 2 p.m. and will take placein the Joyce Center.

With his election in 1993, Page became the first African-Americanto sit on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He had previously served as anassistant attorney general for the state and, prior to that, practiced lawwith the Minneapolis firm of Lindquist & Vennum.

Page attended the University of Minnesota Law School whilecontinuing a long and distinguished career in the National Football

Graduate School to offerhealth insurance subsidy

achieving a competitive positionto attract the best graduatestudents,” said Jeffrey Kantor,vice president for graduatestudies and research.

Supporting graduate studenthealth insurance needs isconsidered key in highereducation, where major researchuniversities often underwrite aportion of health care costs. Theissue also has been a priority forthe Graduate Student Union for atleast five years, Powell said.

For eligible students, thesubsidy program will cover $300of health insurance costs in the

By Gail Hinchion ManciniSubsidized health insurance will become part of the

Graduate School’s support package for many studentsbeginning in fall.

coming academic year, $350 oftotal costs in 2005-2006 and $400in 2006-2007.

Currently, graduate studentsseeking health insurance cansubscribe to the Mega Life policyfor themselves and their families,but family coverage addsconsiderable cost to the policy.For almost a decade, the GraduateSchool has supported familyhealth care needs through itsFamily Medical AssistanceProgram. The program providesaccess to St. Joseph MedicalCenter’s family practicephysicians and other providers forbasic diagnostic care on a limitedbasis.

The goal to providesubsidized family coverage wasconsidered and remains a priority,Powell said. For the coming year,

League, and earned his degree in1978.

A three-year starter atdefensive end for Notre Dame,Page was a consensus All-American and led the FightingIrish to the 1966 nationalchampionship as a senior. Aftergraduating in May 1967 with abachelor’s degree in pre-law, hewas selected by the MinnesotaVikings in the first round of theNFL draft. He played for 111/2years in Minnesota as one of thefamed “Purple People Eaters” andfor 31/2 years with the ChicagoBears.

A four-time defensive playerof the year, Page became in 1971the first defensive tackle in NFLhistory to earn the league’s MostValuable Player Award. He playedin four Super Bowls and eight ProBowls and in 1988 was elected tothe NFL Hall of Fame. Hiscollegiate career was similarlyrecognized in 1993 with inductioninto the College Football Hall ofFame.

In addition to his manyprofessional accomplishments,Page and his wife, Diane,established the Page EducationFoundation in 1988 to provideeducational grants to students of

color to attend colleges anduniversities in Minnesota. As acondition of receiving the funds,Page Scholars serve as rolemodels and mentors for youngerchildren. To date, the foundationhas awarded some 4,000 grants to1,885 students totaling more than$2.5 million.

Among the many honorsbestowed on Page are six otherhonorary degrees; the 2004Theodore Roosevelt Award fromthe NCAA; the organization’shighest honor, and the NCAA’sSilver Anniversary Award in1992. He was inducted into theInternational Scholar-Athlete Hallof Fame in 2002 and received theDick Enberg Award from theAcademic All-America Hall ofFame in 2001.

In addition to his previoushonorary degree from theUniversity, Page received the Rev.Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C., Awardin 1992 from the Notre DameAlumni Association fordistinguished service to theUniversity. He was a member ofthe Notre Dame Law SchoolAdvisory Council from 1993 to1999.

Graduate students with fullstipends who enroll in theUniversity-sponsored healthinsurance policy from Mega Lifeand Health Insurance Companywill have more than one-third ofthe almost $1,000 cost of thatpolicy covered by the GraduateSchool.

Some 950 graduate studentsare enrolled in the Mega Lifepolicy this year. At least thatmany are anticipated when thesubsidy is offered, according toJames Powell, associate dean ofthe Graduate School.

“This is a critical step toward

the expense of a family subsidyhad to be weighed against theabsence of clear data on what thenew program will cost andconcern that some facultyresearch grants supportingstipends might not be able to bearthe subsidy cost.

“We have not lost sight of theimportance of the family issueand hope to be able to address itin the future,” Kantor said.

Graduate student healthinsurance is negotiated byUniversity Health Services. Thesubsidy program grew fromongoing efforts by members of theGraduate Student Union and fromthe work of an ad hoc committeeof the Graduate Councilconsisting of Laura Carlson,associate professor of psychology;Seth Brown, associate professorof chemistry; Lionel Jensen, chairof East Asian Languages andLiterature; Ed Maginn, associateprofessor of engineering, andMartiqua Post, president of theGraduate Student Union.

Employeeadvisory councilschange leadership

...page 6

Vol. 1, No. 5March 17, 2004

Page

Forum

Page 2

Notre Dame is distinguishedin many ways, with oneimportant area being the qualityand prominence of a number ofcenters and institutes that havebeen established over the years.The Medieval Institute, the KrocInstitute for International PeaceStudies and the Kellogg Institutefor International Studies areamong the institutes with longand distinguished histories.

These have been joined inrecent years by a number ofnewer centers and institutesreflecting Notre Dame’sexpanding academic vision: theKeck Center for TransgeneResearch, the Keough Institutefor Irish Studies, the Institute forLatino Studies, the Center forTropical Disease Research andTraining, the Erasmus Institute,the Center for Nano Science andTechnology, the Institute forEducational Initiatives and theNanovic Center for EuropeanStudies. All contribute to theinterdisciplinary explosion ofimportant intellectual issues.

That being said, the backboneof any top university is greatdepartments and stellar faculty.Without departmental strengthone cannot expect to attract andretain talented, world-classfaculty whose research interestscontribute to the establishment ofcenters and institutes. Thestrength of certain departments atNotre Dame, combined with thepresence of centers and institutesthat focus on complimentaryfields of study, have allowed usto attract stellar faculty, andcontributed to the building ofcore concentrations in certainfields.

Today, new knowledge isincreasingly the result ofinterdisciplinary connections.

This is particularly true inscience and engineering. TheCenter for MolecularlyEngineered Materials within theCollege of Engineering is anexample, with research andfaculty encompassing a mix ofdisciplines from ChemicalEngineering and Aerospace andMechanical Engineering toChemistry, Biochemistry andPhysics. Integration ofenvironmental science andengineering is essential to solvingmany of the major environmentalissues confronting society fromglobal warming to contaminatedwater to exotic species. NotreDame’s Environmental ResearchCenter and the Center forEnvironmental Science andTechnology integrate and connectresearch and researchers focusedon contemporary environmentalissues.

The Center for TropicalDisease Research and Training isa wonderful example of NotreDame’s mission intersecting withcutting-edge research on a vexinghuman need: tropical infectiousdiseases like malaria, yellowfever and West Nile virus. Thework done by this world-renowned research group is anexample of the role that NotreDame can play in bringing bothresearch and resources togetherto address an important globalhealth concern. Notre Dame’scenters and institutes are greatcatalysts for intellectual life,whose work enhances not onlytheir own mission, but that ofdepartments and the Universityas well.

Centerscontinue

tradition ofdepartmentalexcellence

Nathan O. HatchProvost

Hatch by Gail Hinchion Mancini

An Indiana-based research fundestablished to spur industries and jobshas created new directions for the workof Notre Dame researchers, and researchand job opportunities for their students.

Called the 21st Century Research andTechnology Fund, the organization hasdistributed some $14 million to Notre Damesince it was initiated five years ago by then Lt.Gov. Joseph Kernan, who now is governor.

“This grant motivates you to take a risk youwouldn’t normally have done,” said JoanBrennecke, Keating-Crawford Professor ofChemical Engineering and two-time recipient of21st Century fund grants. The program, shenotes, has encouraged Notre Dame faculty todelve into Indiana in ways they might not havedone. “That’s a good thing.”

Brennecke’s project with Reilly Industries ofIndianapolis illustrates, in a serendipitous way,the relationships 21st Century funds intend toforge.

Reilly specializes in health, agriculture andperformance chemicals and is a player in the fieldof specialty chemicals markets includingpyridinium-based ionic liquids. Understandingthat her research in solvents might be useful tochemical manufacturers, and that a partnershipwould be attractive to the fund, Brenneckeinitiated a relationship with a cold call to Reilly’sswitchboard. That step lead to a $1.36 milliongrant from the fund, and opened doors for anundergraduate to spend last summer as a Reillyintern.

Creating highly skilled jobs is another goal ofthe fund. Two Notre Dame graduate studentsearned jobs as design engineers at Warsaw’sZimmer Inc., as a result of a 21st Century grantinvolving orthopedic implant research directed bySteven Schmid and James Mason, associateprofessors of aerospace and mechanicalengineering and members of the Biomechanicsand Biomaterials in Orthopaedics Group. Theproject works to fashion minimally invasiveimplants that will revolutionize such surgeries aship replacements and spinal corrections.

The fund has turned a spotlight oninnovations made by Indiana’s orthopedicindustry, said to employ some 4,000 Hoosiers.Arvind Varma, professor of chemical engineering,also holds a 21st Century grant for a project withZimmer to examine the materials from whichorthopedic devices are made.

A project directed by DePuy OrthopaedicsInc. of Warsaw brings Purdue and Notre Dameresearchers together to merge the traditions ofprosthesis development with new tissueengineering. The latter field is concerned withnonmetal orthopedic solutions and regeneratingmusculoskeletal structures such as tendons,ligaments and cartilage.

These partnerships may seem obvious, givenNotre Dame’s strength and Warsaw’s proximity.

But as Brenneckehas noted, theexistence of thefund has spurredNotre Dameresearchers toexamine Indiana’sresearch resources in ways they might not haveconsidered.

Generally, Notre Dame researchers involvedin 21st Century grants are successful researcherswith a myriad of grants, many from federalagencies. Frank Collins, Clark Professor ofBiology and director of the Center for TropicalDisease Research and Training, is a nationallyknown expert on vector biology and thetransmission of malaria by mosquitoes. Hisresearch was attractive to the 21st Century fund,which helped him establish the Indiana Center forInsect Genomics, one of the “centers forexcellence” created by the fund.

Paul McGinn of the College of Engineeringand a two-time 21st Century fund recipient, islead researcher on a $1.85 million grant toestablish the Center for Advanced Fuel CellTechnology. The center will bring researchersfrom Notre Dame and Indiana UniversityNorthwest to the table with representatives ofbusinesses such as New Energy Corp., NiMetIndustries, Inc., and Crane Naval Surface WarfareCenter to develop microfuel cells for portableelectronics. The center is to be a state resourcefor information about new fuel cell technologies,as well as an originator of those technologies.

Health technologies are a key interest of thefund. A $1.67 million grant to Gary Bernstein,professor of electrical engineering, is supporting

his efforts to develop and lead to manufacture awireless “lab-on-a-chip” that could performmultiple medical tests on a single diagnostic chip.

“To me, the relationships we’ve built inIndiana through the 21st Century fund haveallowed Notre Dame to grow as a resource to thestate as its economy shifts from manufacturingand agriculture to technology,” said JeffreyKantor, vice president for graduate studies andresearch, who is a member of the fund’s board ofdirectors.

“This goal of supporting economicrevitalization, at the local level as well as thestate level, gives purpose to the work we aredoing in encouraging the transfer of Notre Dame-initiated research and technology into themarketplace. Furthermore, real world problemsand applications are important stimuli for thebasic research that has been the hallmark ofscience and engineering at Notre Dame.”

ND Works is published for the facultyand staff of the University of NotreDame. It is produced by the Office ofPublic Affairs and Communication inconjunction with the offices of HumanResources and Business Operationsand the Provost’s Office. ND Works isproduced semimonthly during the falland spring semesters when classesare in session and once duringsummer session.

PUBLISHERRoberto GutiérrezEXECUTIVE EDITORMatthew StorinEDITOR IN CHIEFGail Hinchion ManciniLAYOUT EDITORWai Mun LIew-SpilgerPHOTO EDITORBryce Richter

Comments should be forwarded to:ndworks@nd.edu or to NDWorks, 405 Main, Notre Dame, IN 46556.

Steven Schmid meets with College of Engineeringstudents. Photo by Matt Cashore.

21st Century fund spursUniversity-industrycollaboration,innovation

Brennecke

Riding the storm:Streit awaits his return to Haiti, where conflict

doesn’t stop patients’ needs

By Bill Gilroy

When the recent political turmoiland violence swept over Haiti,American eyes looked once again at ahemispheric neighbor they oftenoverlook. The pictures they sawseemed disturbing and depressing:abject poverty; a failed government; acorrupt bureaucracy; gangs and thugsterrorizing ordinary citizens, and theworst mortality rate in the WesternHemisphere.

The natural tendency would be to turnaway from such sights. But Rev. Thomas C.Streit, C.S.C., a Notre Dame biologist who isdirector of the University’s Haiti Program,urges one to resist that inclination and embracea different vision. “Now is not the time to turn awayfrom Haiti,” he said. “Now, more than ever, there is anopportunity and a need to build a bridge from what theUniversity stands for to what Haiti needs.”

The Notre Dame Haiti Program has as its goal theelimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF). LF causes thegrotesque swelling of the body known as elephantiasis.LF is aggravated by dangerous skin infections whoseheat can become so intense it causes second-degreeburns. More than 2 million of Haiti’s 8.3 million peopleare infected with the mosquito-borne parasitic wormsthat cause LF.

The microscopic filarial worm that causes LF istransmitted by the Culex mosquito. The worm can liveup to six years inside the body before the first symptomsof LF appear.

Haitians afflicted with LF suffer social, spiritual andeconomic isolation due to their terrible disfigurement. Apopular belief among Haitians is that LF sufferers havebeen struck with a voodoo curse.

Streit first became interested in LF a decade agowhen he was finishing his doctoral studies under theguidance of the late George B. Craig Jr., Notre Dame’sworld-renowned expert on mosquito-borne diseases. Afterpostdoctoral studies at the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), he turned his attention to the problem of LF.“The Holy Cross Order already had a strong presence in Haiti andI decided to turn from pure scientific research to public healthresearch,” he said. In 1997, the World Health Council declared LFto be one of only six infectious diseases that can be eliminated.The Notre Dame initiative is part of the Global Alliance toEliminate LF, an international effort to reach more than 120 millionpeople in 81 countries who are affected by the disease.

Streit started mapping the disease in 1993 to identify areas ofconcentration. Three years ago, the Notro Dame Haiti Programbegan distributing Diethylcarbamazine (DEC), a drug that wipesout immature filarial worms in the bloodstream and prevents adultworms from multiplying. To date nearly 800,000 Haitians havereceived the drug. The prevention program has been greatlyenhanced by a $5.2 million grant from the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation.

Despite these considerable gains, the treatment must berepeated every year for the six-year life span of the worms, andadditional high-risk Haitians must begin treatment. The enormouscost of such treatments has led Streit and his World Health partnersto seek a less expensive system of medicine distribution. The NotreDame program and the CDC have proposed fortifying the Haitian

Of NotePROFILE

Page 3

salt supply with DEC and iodine, which would dramatically increasethe number of people who receive treatment.

The current unrest in Haiti disrupted the Notre Dame program insome areas under rebel control, but Streit hopes it will soon resumefunctioning at normal capacity. He left Haiti on Feb. 24 at the heightof the unrest for a regularly scheduled trip to the United States andhoped to return on March 2. At the time ND Works went to press, hehad been unable to return but is confident that commercial airservice will resume shortly and he can reenter the country.

When he does, he will continue his practice of working closelywith the government in power to attack LF. “When we started thiseffort, some other humanitarian organizations told us they refused towork with the government because it was so corrupt,” he said.“However, I think we have a moral obligation to work to build aninfrastructure of clinics and hospitals that will remain in placeregardless of who’s governing.”

Haitians working in the Notre Dame program tell Streit that therecent unrest has been like a “storm.”

“It’s as if the thunder and heavy rain have passed and, whilesome rain might still be coming, it will be clearing soon,” he said.He’s anxious to be there for the clearing. “Our ultimate goal is towork ourselves out of a job,” he said.

NCA meetings open tostaff and faculty

Staff and faculty members areinvited to participate in openmeetings with the visiting teamfrom the Higher LearningCommission’s North CentralAssociation of Colleges andSchools (NCA).

The team will be on campusMarch 22 to 24 for theUniversity’s periodicaccreditation evaluation.

Faculty who wish to giveinput can participate in a sessionat 2 p.m. March 23. Staffmembers may participate in asession the same day at 3 p.m.The back-to-back sessions are inthe McKenna Hall auditorium.

Gender RelationsCenter to open in fall

Acting on a student-ledinitiative, the Office of StudentAffairs will launch a GenderRelations Center this fall inLafortune Student Center.

Heather Rakoczy, rector ofPangborn Hall, has been nameddirector. Rakoczy earned hermaster of divinity degree in 1997from Vanderbilt University andpreviously served as programcoordinator for PEACE, Inc.(Project to End Abuse throughCounseling and Education). Sheis a 1993 Notre Dame graduate.In addition to offering campusprograms, the new center willcoordinate and support studentclubs and organizationsconcerned with gender issues,and provide training for staffmembers who work withstudents.

American Studiesprofessor winsnational book award

Thomas A. Guglielmo,assistant professor of AmericanStudies, has been awarded the2004 Frederick Jackson TurnerAward by the Organization ofAmerican Historians for hisrecent book “White on Arrival:Italians, Race, Color and Powerin Chicago, 1890-1945.”

Tracking the mass Italianimmigration of the late 19thcentury through the first half ofthe 20th century, “White onArrival” explores the profoundimplications that perceptions ofItalians’ race and color had forChicago’s racial hierarchy, andthe impact of racial classificationon immigrants’ abilities to gainopportunities in America. It ispublished by Oxford UniversityPress.

A Notre Dame facultymember since 2002, Guglielmospecializes in race and ethnicityin America and the World War IIAmerican home front.

The Frederick Jackson TurnerAward, named in honor of therenowned frontier historian, isgiven annually by theorganization for an author’s firstbook on some significant phaseof American history.

Biologist Rev. Tom Streit, C.S.C., meets with Brian Bagnall, whose company,GlaxoSmithKline, contributes the drug albendazole to the University's HaitiProgram. Albendazole is used to combat lymphatic filariasis, a swelling of thebody known as elephantiasis./Photos provided by the Haiti Program.

SAVING IRISH, CHE

Page 4 ND

By Michael O. Garvey It may safely be assumed that everyone at Notre Dame

knows the old saying, “Dá gcaillfí an Ghaeilge, chaillfíÉire” (“Should Irish be lost, Ireland would be lost.”), butsurprisingly few people know that it was coined by the Irishnationalist and poet Patrick Pearse not long before he wasexecuted for leading the uprising against British rule in1916. The lamenting of such deficiency in culturalknowledge is commonplace among Irish Americans on St.Patrick’s Day, and the University’s Keough Institute forIrish Studies has spent the last 10 years doing somethingabout it.

Study of Irishlanguage flourishes

If Pearse were still attentingto the plight of Ireland and itslanguage, he would have a lot toworry about: In the last centuryand a half, Ireland has become asort of motherland with some 75million offspring. These once-Irish-speaking people, scatteredby starvation, oppression, andlust for adventure, are nowstrewn through nearly all thecountries, cultures and languagesof the world. There remain some5.5 million people in Ireland, ofwhom, according to recentcensus figures and conventionalexpertise, at least 10,000 and atmost 21,000 people use Irish as aprimary language. Most of thesepeople live in the remote“Gaeltacht” or Irish-speakingregions in the west of thecountry, which is widely agreedupon as the best place to go tostudy and learn Irish.

While not exactly aGaeltacht, Notre Dame runs aclose second. There are 86undergraduate students enrolledin the four introductory and

intermediate Irish languagecourses taught by faculty of theKeough Institute. All studentswho wish to complete therequirements for the increasinglypopular Irish Studies minor mustdemonstrate proficiency in Irish.Among the reasons so manyNotre Dame students are drawnto this challenging study is agrowing awareness that it isimpossible to understand Irishculture, literature, politics andreligion while ignoring thelanguage spoken by the vastmajority of the Irish people forthe vast majority of their history.It may seem little was lost asIrish disappeared, since mostsentient English-speaking humanbeings agree that the finestfiction, drama, poetry, wit andwisecrack available in theEnglish language are Irishproducts. Nevertheless, asSeamus Deane, Notre Dame’sKeough Professor of IrishStudies, argues, language is soimportant to the Irish becausethey’ve lost theirs.

The Keough faculty membersteaching (and retrieving) Irish includeSarah McKibben, assistant professorof the classics; Peter McQuillan,associate professor of the classics; andBreandán Ó Buachalla, Thomas J. andKathleen O’Donnell Professor of IrishLanguage and Literature. But thelion’s share of beginning Irish is taughtby Traolach O’Riordain, visitingprofessor of Irish, who teaches 41students basic principles of modernIrish grammar and sentence structureas well as rudimentary Irishvocabulary.

In addition to learning how toparticipate in simple conversationsabout oneself, others, family, home,weather, work, and the remarkableaspects of everyday life, many ofO’Riordain’s students gather in theKeenan/Stanford Chapel everyevening at 5:30 p.m. to pray theRosary in Irish. Notwithstanding thetemporary absence of Rev. ErnanMcMullin, O’Hara Professor emeritusof philosophy and possibly NotreDame’s only Irish-speaking priest,students also are planning a SaintPatrick’s Day Mass that will includeprayers in Irish.

Whether or not Ireland is ever lost,if Irish is ever lost, it won’t be NotreDame’s fault.

Deane

Left: Among theHesburgh Library’sextraordinaryresources is anantique map bearingthe date 1572. It wasdrawn before thenortherndirection wasuniformlyoriented atthe top of thepage.

Irish language instructor Peter McQuillan takes members of hissecond-semester Beginning Irish class through the paces of grammarand conversation. Photos by Bryce Richter.

Right: Thecover of anIrish musicpractice book

Page 5

ERISHING IRELAND

orks

By Michael O. GarveyChristopher B. Fox, professor of English and director of the Keough Institute for Irish

Studies, has been blessed with many gifts, but contentment is not conspicuous among them. Hisscholarship in 18th century Irish and English literature is universally celebrated, his reputationamong his colleagues on Notre Dame’s faculty is sterling, and the institute he directs isincreasingly acknowledged as indispensable to any serious study of Irish culture and life.

IrishInstitute at10: Thebest, but notgood enough

“When we consider that theprogram in Irish Studies didn’t existon this campus 10 years ago, it isastonishing to think about how far wehave come,” Fox admits.

Astonishing gets it about right.Established by a gift from Donald R.Keough, chairman emeritus of NotreDame’s board of trustees, andenlivened by the initial leadership ofSeamus Deane, the renowned Irishintellectual and general editor of thelandmark “Field Day Anthology ofIrish Writing,” the Keough Institutequickly attracted a team of exceptionalscholars and teachers from Ireland andthe international Irish diaspora.

Today some 776 undergraduatesare enrolled in Irish Studies courses,and more than 40 of them are IrishStudies minors. The Institute’sgraduate program, directed by Luke

Gibbons, Keough FamilyProfessor of Irish Studies, earnsconsideration as the best in theUnited States for its faculty, theplacement of its graduates inteaching positions and its rapidlygrowing research resources.

With the 1998 opening of theKeough Centre in Dublin’shistoric Newman House, NotreDame has established a uniqueacademic presence in Ireland aspart of a cooperative agreementwith that country’s two foremostinstitutions of higher learning,University College Dublin andTrinity College.

But Fox is far from satisfiedwith these and the Institute’sother accomplishments. “It isamazing to consider how far we

still have to go,” he says.“Despite their continuing interestin the Northern Ireland crisis,Notre Dame students still can’ttake courses in Irish politics.They can’t take courses in Irishmusic despite the fact that theHesburgh Library contains thelargest collection of Irish musicin the world. They can’t study thehistory of the Irish in America onany advanced level, which, giventhe history of this university isparticularly ironic.

“Seeing how far we havecome, however, I haveconfidence that these and otherlacks will be addressed in thenext few years and that we willsolidify our position as the topprogram in the world.”

From the “Book ofKells” to a new

republic’s postagestamps–

library measuresamong best

for Irish Studiesresources

All facets of Ireland’s cultural history can beexperienced through the collections of theUniversity Libraries.

A crucial resource for the Keough Institute faculty andstudents is the Smurfit Collection in Irish Literature.Established by a gift from Michael J. Smurfit, chairman andformer CEO of the Dublin-based Jefferson Smurfit Group,the collection, almost as much as the Institute’sinternationally respected faculty, has played a significant rolein establishing Notre Dame as a major center of Irish Studies.

The reputation of the Smurfit Collection recently enabledthe University Libraries to expand their Irish Studies holdingsthrough the acquisition of the Loeber Collection of IrishFiction.

This incomparable repository of 18th through 21st centuryworks by the best and least-known Irish novelists and shortstory writers includes some 1,900 titles and 500 reprints. Itwas assembled over several decades by two members of theUniversity of Pittsburgh’s medical faculty, Rolf and MagdaLoeber, who have done pathbreaking psychiatric research onjuvenile delinquency. This collection has served as the basisof their cherished project, a detailed bibliography of Irishfiction.

The Loeber Collection is now housed in the recentlyrenovated Rare Books and Special Collections Department inthe Hesburgh Library.

Rare book lovers and admirers of things Irish also canview “The Book of Kells” in colorful facsimile. The original

of this most renowned and mostbeautifully annotated 9th centurybook of gospels remains in TrinityCollege, Ireland.

Books aside, University Librarieshouses maps, postage stamps andpamphlets. The David J. ButlerCollection of Maps of Irelandincludes 80 early printed maps fromthe 16th to the 18th centuries, andthe Thomas C. and Helen G.McGrath Collection of Sea Charts ofIreland, includes 11 charts printedduring the same era.

The O’Neill Irish Music Collection is made up of morethan 1,000 volumes relating to Irish studies, most whichrelate to Irish music. The collection includes first editions ofO’Neill’s own works, notably “Music of Ireland,” now aclassic in the field.

The Wolf Collection of Irish Postal Stamps housesexamples of most postage stamps used in the Republic ofIreland since its independence in 1922 as well as overprints,commemoratives, coils, errors, booklets, postcards, and first-day envelopes.

A complete list of Irish Studies resources in the library isavailable online athttp://www.nd.edu/~colldev/subjects/irish/irish_studies_resources.shtml.

Fox

Left: A sketch of a Druid rock formation is one of thefeatured “ruins, curiosities and ancient dwellings inthe county of Louth” in Thomas Wright’s “Louthiana:An introduction to the antiquities of Ireland” from1758. Wright’s book is part of the Capt. FrancisO’Neill Collection of Traditional Irish Music in theHesburgh Library. O’Neill was a Chicago policecaptain whose collection includes music and worksrelated to Irish culture.

Images provided by Sara Weber, SpecialCollections.

Above: From the Library’s Wolf Collection ofIrish Postage Stamps, the cross is commonlyknown as the “Celtic Cross.” The femaleimage is commonly known as “Hibernia andWolfhound.” Both are examples of“forerunners,” a group of stamp-like items ofpolitical interest printed before or just after theestablishment of the modern independentIrish state in 1922. The Wolf collection isonline as part of the library's digital project athttp://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/stamp.

Page 6

COUNCILS CHANGE MEMBERSHIP

WHAT THEYWERE DOING

Some 60 Notre Dame employees areenrolled in area colleges and universitiesthis academic year under a tuitionreimbursement program brought to thetable by the eight-year-old StaffAdvisory Council.

Reviewing accomplishments achieved during her four years on thecouncil, former president Melodie Wise points to the tuition reimbursementbenefit as a SAC idea that ultimately benefits all University employees.Another is the right of all employees to buy season football tickets. SACmade the request at a timely juncture–the opening of the expanded stadiumin 1997. Before that, only administration and faculty were invited to buyseason tickets, says Stephanie Maenhout, current council president.

The Staff Advisory Council is the official voice of non-administrativestaff. The job of its roughly 30 members, representing districts from acrossthe campus, is to advise the administration on all matters affecting the staff.Staff includes hourly wage earners and employees who are salaried butreceive overtime after 40 hours.

The council tackles issues some of us may never consider. One ongoingdebate concerns how to reward those who must work during snowdays–security, landscaping, and food service crews–while most others get aday off.

Wise says it’s productive to view SAC concerns as those of “a smallcity.”

“This is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week university. There’s alwayssomeone working: in food service, in athletics, in security. You can’t havesolutions that just fit an 8-to-5 organization.”

Wise, who is marketing coordinator for the National Institute for TrialAdvocacy, stepped down as president in January, passing the mantle toMaenhout, who works in the Registrar’s office.

Staff Advisory Council tacklesissues large andsmall

Maenhout’s agenda will looksimilar to Wise’s. Havingsuccessfully gained improvedlong-term disability benefits in2004, SAC will continue to callfor short-term disability for allemployees. The Other Colleges &Universities Tuition Benefit forChildren currently extends to four-year accredited institutions.Maenhout would like it to alsoinclude two-year accreditedinstitutions such as Ivy Tech.

Former Executive VicePresident Rev. William Beauchamp,C.S.C., established SAC in 1996during a period when staff memberswere unhappy that they had little sayin their benefits and compensationpackages. Shortly thereafter, theadministration undertook a marketsurvey on area salaries andintroduced the concept of levelingNotre Dame salaries with similarpositions in the community.

Maenhout believes some ofSAC’s most significant input occurswhen its members are assigned toUniversity-wide committees totackle complex issues affecting allemployees. A committee to reviewthe University’s policy on drugtesting was one such instance.Though the topic was multifaceted,some aspects of SAC’srecommendations became part ofthe current policy.

Maenhout said she wouldhappily volunteer to study theequally complex problem of howposition descriptions are written andassociated with the promotionprocess. Although the process willalways be somewhat subjective,SAC members believe it can bemore equitable and less arbitrary,she says.

The SAC committee also haswhat Maenhout calls its dream list:issues she doesn’t expect to seetackled soon, but are always worthmentioning. Among them,Maenhout suggests staff be able tocarry over sick and vacation daysfrom year to year, or to contributethose days to a bank to be used byothers in need.

Although now relieved of SACduties, Wise would like theUniversity to revisit the marketreferences for jobs. “Since we’vehad such small raises over the lastfew years, it would be useful toknow if we've fallen behind.”

What if the study shows that,given a soft local economy, salariesactually remain even or better thanothers in the area?

“Then we’ll just tout the factthat we’re paying better thaneverybody else.”

Stephanie Maenhout, president of the Staff Advisory Council,foreground, and Melodie Wise, recent past president, discuss SAC’sagenda. Photo by Bryce Richter

New memberssought for

Faculty SenateThe Faculty Senate does not have a single election

day. It’s more like election month, and Faculty Senateelection month is now.

The almost 50-member advisory group officially representsthe faculty as the University updates or develops new policy, andit is the vehicle through which faculty can influence Universitygovernance. A revision of the bylaws in 2002 createdinterrelationships between the senate and the Academic Council,the body of administrators, faculty and students that recommendsUniversity academic policy to the president.

One-third of its seats turn over every year, according to SethBrown, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry andchair of the senate.

Seats are held by representatives of every department, by at-large representatives from engineering and sciences, and by theemeriti faculty, professional specialists and librarians. This year,the senate has been discussing adding a seat for research faculty,who represent a small but nonetheless excluded part of the senate.

Members of the departments whose seats are turning overknow who they are, Brown says, and they have been asked tohold departmental elections by early April. New members assumetheir seats in May.

One of the ongoing issues under study is whether torecommend that Teacher Course Evaluations be published. Theseevaluations are requested from every student in every class at theend of each semester. Students have requested that TCEs be madeavailable to help them in their course selection. Both the FacultySenate and the Academic Council are examining the issue.

John Haynes, right, and Kevin Dreyer, settle a point on thelocation of lighting in the Concert Hall of the new Marie P.DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. The project is onschedule for Haynes, director of the center, and his staff to movein by May and Film, Television and Theatre faculty such as Dreyerto move in during the summer. Performances begin in September.Photo by Lou Sabo.

Staff Advisory Council2004

In addition to Stephanie Maenhout, Staff Advisory Council officersfor 2004 are Susan McGonigal, athletics, vice president, and LisaYates of the American Studies program, secretary, treasurer.

District representatives are Don Anglin, Warren Golf Course;Karen Casey, Mendoza College of Business; Julann Bauer, St.Michael’s Laundry; Jennifer Ihns, Law School; Angela MillerMcGraw, Center for Social Concerns; Bobbi McMahon, mediaresource library-DeBartolo Hall; Joy Schosker, University Libraries;Jane Nielson, landscape services; Jim Gloster, Morris Inn; AnnetteKlimek, development; Sharon Konopka, Nanovic Institute; LisaBuckland, utilities; Dawn Bell and Kathy Stopczynski, buildingservices; Troy Webb, preventive maintenance; Terrell Ward-Thomas,North Dining Hall; Holly Webb, Food Service Support Facility;Barbara Klowetter, National Institute for Trial Advocacy; Irene Stines,student activities; Bettye Bielejewski, Kellogg Institute; TerryOxender, security; Becky deBruyn, biology; Maryellen Fetherolf,Student Health Center, and Sharon Harwell, campus ministry.

SINGULAR THOUGHTS

FFYYII

Page 7

“You might like to know that nearly 400 actors haveplayed Jesus in movies,” says Peter Holland, chair of theDepartment of Film, Television and Theatre, in the wake ofthe release of Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ.”

Films about Jesus’ life are plentiful, and many of them, likeGibson's, have been very personal works. Some, in their day, faced asmuch controversy as “The Passion of the Christ.” A few were decriedas blasphemous. Asked which films they would select for a film festivalof great movies on Jesus, the FTT faculty choose these:

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Gospel According to St.Matthew” (1964)

The Italian, Marxist filmmaker used amateur actors in thisstraightforward, unsentimental depiction of the first book of the NewTestament. Remarkable for its “anti-epic” qualities, the movie presentsthe life of Christ as seen through the eyes of a believer of the day,depicting Jesus as a crusader against social injustice and repression andhis followers as radicals struggling against Roman oppression. Criticshave praised Pasolini's close-ups of Jesus dispensing occasionalmiracles or preaching against the backdrop of storms as particularlyeffective in challenging our conventional images of Jesus. Thecrucifixion is treated in a matter-of-fact tone as a painful, but common,event, an effect which seems to magnify its tragedy. This is a curiouscombination: a deeply religious film, made by an atheist and praised bythe Catholic Church.

Ready, Set, Change! Managers whose workplaces

need a spring tune-up to run moreefficiently should considerattending one of the workshopsoffered by Human Resources thismonth. Transition Dynamics(March 18, based on WilliamBridges’ book “ManagingTransitions,”) will diagnose whereand how your organization ischanging and help you implementa transition plan. Impact ofEffective Change (March 24)will introduce strategies forimproving interpersonal skills andsetting a tone of stability andconfidence in times ofuncertainty. Helping OthersResolve Conflict (March 31) willexplore boss-employee andemployee-employee conflictdynamics and will help asses yourpersonal approach to resolvingconflict. Register athttp://iLearn.nd.edu or call 631-5777.

Programs from HR’sWork Life program

Families who want to preparefor all types of weather-relatedand man-made disasters, arewelcome to an emergencyplanning seminar at 6:30 p.m.March 30. Disaster Planning forFamilies will teach you to designemergency communication plans,make mock-ups of disastersupplies kits, and determineevacuation routes for fire safety.Children over six may participate.Register at http://iLearn.nd.eduor call 631-5777.

Need to spend less timenumber-crunching and more timeabdominal crunching? LifeWorks’health calculators can help youfigure out your waistline’s bottomline. Calculators for Activity,

Waist-to-Hip Ratio and TargetHeart Rate can be accessed atwww.lifeworks.com (User Name:notredame; password: gond).

Summer School DaysThink of it as a mini

scholarship—employees and theirspouses and children are eligiblefor tuition remission for onethree-credit course during summersemester. Children must be 26years of age or younger, meetregular summer sessionrequirements, and must not havereceived a bachelor’s degree.Registration begins March 17 andclasses begin June 21. Coursedescriptions are available atwww.nd.edu/~sumsess/; call JudyKloc in the Summer SessionOffice at 631-7282 with questions.Forms can be found online atwww.nd.edu/~hr/forms or fromTeresa Dockery atdockery.4@nd.edu or 631-5619.

Splash, Dash, and Yell“Fore!”

RecSports has organizedseveral special events for spring.March 19, the wee ones areinvited to Family Swim atRockne Memorial from 7 to 9p.m. Open swim will be followedby games, prizes, andrefreshments. No registration isrequired. On March 24, WarrenGolf Course General ManagerJohn Foster will lead a free GolfEtiquette Clinic at 5:15 p.m. atthe Warren Clubhouse. And April3, take the scenic route aroundcampus and lakes during theRecSports Rebuilding TogetherRun. 5K and 10K runs and a 2-mile walk begin at 11 a.m., withall proceeds benefiting Christmasin April. Seewww.recsports.nd.edu for detailson all RecSports events.

Five Jesus films thatchallenged the genre

Denis Arcand’s “Jesusof Montreal” (1989)

A modern allegory of the lifeof Christ, with Canadian actors.The plot: A priest tries to spruceup his parish’s annual PassionPlay by hiring a young actor andhis friends. Their interpretationincludes numerous conjecturesincluding a suggestion that Christmay have been the illegitimateson of a Roman soldier. Itbecomes a hip hit, but alsoembroils the parish priest and theyoung actors in a series oftroubles. As they cope withsecular success and Churchcondemnation, their lives reflectbiblical struggles ranging fromgreed to persecution. Powerfuland moving, “Jesus of Montreal”asks about the meaning of Christ’ssuffering in a modern world.

Martin Scorsese’s“The Last Temptationof Christ” (1988)

An adaptation of Nikos

Kazantzakis’ novel of the samename, with performances byWillem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel,David Bowie and BarbaraHershey. The film imagines aChrist who on the cross seesanother future of quiet domesticnormality before he chooses hisdestiny. Very controversial whenreleased, it looks much less sonow. Scorsese makes use of hisgift for presenting souls in tormentto depict a Jesus in doubt abouthis destiny, though still acharismatic, fervent leader. TheWashington Post described thefilm as stripping away “thefamiliar epic trappings toconcentrate on (Christ’s) humandimension.” The view of first-century Palestine with its warringreligious factions seems realistic;the performances of the cast ofmethod actors seems less so.

Gareth Davies’s “Sonof Man” (1969)

The real inspiration behindthis film is not director-producerDavies but Dennis Potter, one ofBritain's most accomplished andoften controversial televisiondramatists. Potter’s scriptdeliberately challenged then-common portraits of Christ byportraying him as a hippie

confused about his faith yetdetermined to preach a Gospel oflove. Shortly before his death in1994, Potter described hischaracter as “a model of whathuman behavior can be like.” Theaction spans the Gospel accountsfrom the temptation in thewilderness up to and including thecrucifixion.

Franco Zeffirelli’s“Jesus of Nazareth”(1977)

An NBC miniseries directedby Franco Zeffirelli, it featuresRobert Powell, Anne Bancroft,Ernest Borgnine, James EarlJones, Laurence Olivier,Christopher Plummer, AnthonyQuinn, and Rod Steiger. Widelyregarded as a sensitive andreverential treatment, this six-hourfilm begins with Jesus’ birth andfollows the Gospel story throughthe Resurrection, attendingcarefully to the correspondingstory of the birth of Christianityduring a period of intense politicaland religious conflict. Itoccasioned some controversybecause Zeffirelli depicted Jesus ashuman rather than a living icon. Itis still frequently aired ontelevision during Holy Week.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

During the Civil War, soldiers carried flags unique to their regiments. The Irish Brigade, the familiar nameof a New York regiment whose chaplain was Rev. William Corby, C.S.C., carried this bright green design.The brigade’s brave wartime accomplishments were said to have done much to assimilate the Irish anddispel the prejudice they had been facing. A copy of the flag was presented to Corby, who becamepresident after the war, by Brigade Col. James D. Brady. The flag was restored by University Archives andrests in Snite Museum storage. Photo provided by Charles Lamb, University Archives.

The University offers its thanks andcongratulations to those celebrating employmentanniversaries in March. They include Sharon A.Clancy Orban, Mendoza College of Business, andLyle E. Comegys, utilities, with 35 years of service.

David L. Kil, registrar, is observing 30 years ofservice. Giovanna Edwards of informationtechnologies is marking her 25th anniversary.

Celebrating 20 years are Dennis L. Meyers,Campus Ministry; Judy A. Spiro, psychology, andLadonna R. Weeks, University Libraries.

Thomas M. Blicher, Joyce Center, has been withNotre Dame for 15 years, as have Judith A. Conner,

DISTINCTIONSUniversity Libraries; Margarito Ramirez, MorrisInn, and James M. Sholty, building services.

Marking their 10-year anniversaries are Sara N.Battles and Patricia A. Skibins, Freimann Center;Jeffrey L. Gainey and Diane M. Schaut, UniversityPress; Michael D. Standiford, maintenance, andTerry G. Tubicsak, building services.

Jeffrey C. Kantor, vice president for graduatestudies and research and dean of the Graduate School,has been elected an at-large director of the IndianaHealth Industry Forum. The forum is a nonprofit,private sector initiative devoted to enhancing theeconomic growth and development of the state'shealth industry in Indiana.

BACK STORY

ND in the community:Where? Everywhere.In a one-week period in late February and

early March, members of the Notre Dame faculty,staff and student body established their presencein the local community in a variety of venues.

The recently-released report on Notre Dame’seconomic impact in the community noted thatUniversity representatives contribute some455,000 volunteer hours per year.

Determining how and where each of thosehours is spent–or measuring the University’simpact as the underwriter of a table at a fund-raising luncheon or as a donor to a non-profitagency–is a difficult task.

Jackie Rucker, director of CommunityRelations and Notre Dame’s chief administratorin ND Downtown, knows the frustration of notknowing.

Rucker’s job is to proliferate university-community involvement. Each month “Learnwith Us” youth seminars will bring members ofthe area Boys and Girls Clubs to the Eck Centerto learn about paleontology.

Carnaval 2004

Benito and Berta Salazar, left, lead St. Adalbert’s Coro Celestial inpractice using equipment purchased through a donation from theOffices of Public Affairs and Communication and Finance. The giftmade it possible for the choir to own its own keyboards, drums,music stands and other equipment instead of borrowing them.

Jackie Rucker welcomes members of the Boys and Girls Clubs to the Eck Center for a program “Learnwith Us.” Monthly, youth groups are invited to learn about paleontology.

Accounting students, from right, Kevin Koscil and Mike Lund dotaxes for Pat Mitchell as members of the Notre Dame-Saint Mary’sTax Assistance Program visit the River Park branch of the St.Joseph County Public Library. Alumnus Larry Lackner, a local CPA,lends support.

Dawn Carr shares a story with Muessel School kindergarten studentJada Reed through the MBA program’s School, Inc. Besidestutoring, MBA international students visit the school for “Meet theWorld,” in which they teach the elementary school students abouttheir home countries. Photos by Lou Sabo

Far left: Greg Downey Jr., Kellogg InstituteFaculty Fellow and assistant professor ofanthropology, knows how to do Carnaval upright as a researcher whose focus is Brazil.He is pictured here with Laurie Frederik,anthropology department research assistant.

Above: The room is packed atCarnaval in the Palais Royale.The annual event is sponsoredby the Kellogg Institute andseveral community partners, asa means of sharing authenticBrazilian culture with thecommunity.

Left: Chicago Samba performedwhile dancers rallied theCarnaval crowd to rock with thebeat. Photos by Lou Sabo

On March 22, Rucker and her staff launch“Lunch and Learn,” a new venture in ND Dowtownfor senior citizens. The first luncheon topic is“Living Wills and Advanced Directives.” The LawSchool will provide speakers, fulfilling the school’sgoal to identify creative new means of communityparticipation.

But as these photographs show, the universes ofcommunity involvement are many and varied.

“Every time I turn around, I’m hearing aboutsomething else I didn’t know about,” Rucker said.“But I need to know, so that as people in thecommunity turn to me for help, I know where todirect them.”

In the coming months, Rucker will work inconjunction with the Office of the President todevise a way of capturing the needed information.Then, the next time she hears, “Did you know thebiology department was working with students atMarian High School,” or “Did you know the MBAstudents tutor in South Bend Schools?”, she canreply, “Yes. And that’s not all we do.”