May 2008 77th Commencement Exercises Held Last Sunday Elms College held its 77th commencement exercises on Sunday, May 18 in the Keating Quadrangle. A total of 301 students received degrees: 251 bachelor’s degrees, 9 associate’s degrees, and 47 graduate degrees. Two-thirds of the undergraduates received degrees in these three majors: nursing, business, and social work. Sister Catherine Pinkerton, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Cleveland, was commencement speaker, and received an honorary degree. She has been a lobbyist with NETWORK, a National Catholic social justice lobby, for 23 years. She is also vice-president of the Churches Center on Theology and Public Policy, and secretary of the executive committee of the newly formed Resource Center for Faith and Public Policy. Sister Pinkerton told the graduates to use the values and spirit they learned at Elms College to work to better the world. “From what Dr. Mullen tells me, you are that quality of people this broken world needs,” she said. “Never doubt your own capacity for making a profound difference. Try with all your might to help shape the future so that all people will have access to that which not only sustains them, but empowers them toward their full human potential. And enter into avenues of action directed to enhancing the health of the globe on which we are privileged to share life with each other.” Also addressing the Class of 2008 was graduating senior Melanie Joy, who spoke of the students’ passion and vision. “Regardless of our future direction, we will all move on to do great things for our community and the greater good of humanity,” Melanie said. “It is our individual and collective passion and vision that will assist us in living out the mission of Elms College; for we are reflective, principled, and creative learners whose contributions to society will change the world for better.” Honorary degrees were also awarded to John H. Davis, senior trustee to the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, and Russell J. Omer, senior vice president, Chicopee Savings Bank and chairman of the Elms College board of trustees. Additionally, the Via Veritatis medals, which are presented to outstanding Catholic women who exemplify Catholic womanhood and culture at their best and who have made significant contributions to society, were presented to longtime Elms College volunteer Helen A. D’Amour, and Michele D’Amour, the educational partnership administrator for Big Y Foods Inc. Via Veritatis, which means “way of truth,” comes from the college’s motto, Viam Veritatis Elegi – “I have chosen the way of truth.” The Distinguished Alumna Award was presented to Margaret R. Scanlon, Elms College classes of ’52 and ’66, who was a kindergarten teacher in the Springfield public schools for 40 years and an adjunct professor at Springfield College for 10 years. View photos from commencement at: Commencement: http://www.elms.edu/Commencement2008/index.html Paralegal ceremony: http://www.elms.edu/Paralegal2008/index.html RN to BS ceremony: http://www.elms.edu/RN_to_BS_2008/index.html Graduate student reception: http://www.elms.edu/GradStudentReception/index.html Part time student reception: http://www.elms.edu/ParttimeReception/index.html Nursing Student Shannon Donnelly Returns From Deployment in Iraq Elms College nursing student Shannon L. Donnelly returned home yesterday after a four-month deployment in Iraq. An Air Force reservist from the 439th Areomedical Staging Squadron, Shannon had been working at Balad Air Base in Iraq, where her squadron ran a staging facility next to a hospital. There, they cared for nearly 200 injured military members, typically for three or four days, and prepared for them for flights to Germany and eventually the United States. Patients were stable but needed care such as medications and dressing changes. Shannon said she and fellow members tried to make the patients feel at home so they could relax and heal, and that she was confident they made a difference. Balad Air Base is safer than many in Iraq, but it is dangerous, she said. Step Forward Program Celebrates 15th Anniversary The Step Forward program will celebrate its 15th anniversary next Thursday, May 29 at 6 p.m. in the Mary Dooley College Center. The program will include a buffet dinner and cash bar, performances by Step Forward scholars, a keynote speech by program founder Carla Oleska, and a silent auction of donated items including Red Sox tickets, a massage, gift baskets, art work, museum passes, and restaurant gift cards. Tickets are $35, and can be reserved by calling the Office of Special Programs at 413-265-2315. President Mullen One of Three Honored by Berkshire Health Group Berkshire Area Health Education Center (AHEC), Inc. at its 28th Annual Meeting on Friday, May 23, honored James H. Mullen, Jr., president of Elms College, Paul E. Raverta, president of Berkshire Community College, and David E. Phelps, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems as recipients of its 2007 Annual Achievement Award. They were honored by Berkshire AHEC for finding solutions that will have a significant impact on the Berkshire community’s nursing shortage. These presidents brought their institutions together and found creative ways to add more nursing professors, produce more LPNs and associate degree RNs, and provide access to a bachelor’s degree RN program in Pittsfield. They have also found the resources to develop Simulated Instructional Manikin (SIMS) laboratories that will greatly enhance the nursing clinical experience. Presidents Phelps, Raverta, and Mullen provided the leadership to make the puzzle pieces fit for the health of the community.Class of 2008 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees Announced Three Elms College alumni have been named as Elms College’s Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2008 inductees: Tanya St. Germain ’91, Damien Bradley ’02, and Tenielle Hill ’03. The three will be formally inducted as the college’s sixth Hall of Fame class during Homecoming on October 24. Tanya St. Germain ’91 was a four-year member of the field hockey program, a three-year player on the softball team, and a two-year member of the basketball team. In field hockey, she ranks second all-time in both goals (36) and points (88), and was a member of Elms’ first-ever Massachusetts Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) championship team. In softball, she posted a career batting average of .370 - good for 13th all-time. And in basketball, she averaged 4.6 points per game. Damien Bradley ’02, a four-year member of the men’s basketball program, will become the first male in school-history inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. He finished his career with 1,158 points and is still one of only four players in the men’s program 10-year history to score more than 1,000 points. He also ranks among the top five all-time in several statistical categories, including points in a season (460) and career steals (149). Tenielle Hill ’03 was a four-year member of the women's basketball team, and ranks as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,612 points. She is one of only six players in women’s program history to score 1,000 points. As a junior, she helped lead the Blazers to a 15-win season and North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship. The 2008 class will join previous inductees Susan Langlois (2000), Patricia McGrath ’74 (2001), Guerdline Curran ’57 (2001), Elms College's 1989 field hockey team (2002), Nancy Gleason ’89 (2006), Kristin Hughes ’91 (2006), Linda Kieras ’96 (2006), Bishop Emeritus Joseph Maguire (2006), Angel Esposito Chaffee ’95 (2007) and Emily Halkett Bourgeois ’90 (2007).Four Elms Students Receive Grinspoon Spirit Awards Four Elms students were recognized as “Spirit Award” recipients at the annual Grinspoon Entrepreneurial Initiative Banquet on April 15 at the Log Cabin, and won monetary awards ranging from $500 to $1,000 in support of their business ideas. Amber Deshaies ’08 and Karisa Rogers ’08 received an award for “Rogers and Amberstein,” a partnership which combines their musical and literary talents to create original pieces, with which they will produce a demonstration CD. Guillermo Robles ’08 received an award for his import business concept, “Alpaca Gold,” bringing hand-woven alpaca clothing and accessories to the New England market, which he plans to launch after graduation. In addition, he received an award for his compelling 90-second “elevator pitch” on selling macca, a Peruvian vegetable-based food supplement. Nicole Denette ’10 won a Spirit Award for launching “Third Floor,” an eBay vintage clothing business that has already gained customer loyalty. After college, she plans to open a vintage boutique in Northampton. Almost 400 students from 14 Pioneer Valley colleges and universities participated in the Grinspoon initiative.Four Biology Majors Attend Eastern Colleges Science Conference Four biology majors attended the 2008 Eastern Colleges Science Conference held at Niagara University, New York on April 12, and presented research results there. Melanie Joy ’08 gave a platform presentation entitled “The effect of gut removal on plasma melatonin levels in Rana catesbeiana,” Lisa Zajaczkowski ’08 and Elizabeth Nelligan ’09 presented a poster entitled “Determining the secretion of melatonin from the intestine in vitro;” and Jill Bigos ’09 spoke on “The effect of exogenous T4 on Rana catesbeiana fat bodies in vivo.” The Eastern Colleges Science Conference attracts students from 20 to 25 colleges and universities, who present their research results in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and related fields.Laerdal SimMan Patient Simulator Awarded to Elms College The Elms College Division of Nursing has received a $45,000 grant to buy a Laerdal SimMan Patient Simulator used to teach, reinforce, and test student skills in the nursing skills lab. The grant is funded through the Department of Higher Education’s Nursing and Allied Health Education Initiative. The Nursing Initiative seeks to increase the number and quality of nurses graduating from the higher education system in the Commonwealth. The SimMan is a portable anatomically realistic manikin that is used to teach clinical and decision-making skills to nursing students during realistic patient care scenarios. Learning through patient care simulation provides a dynamic hands-on learning experience for students without risk to patients. The manikins simulate real human patients, with functioning airways, cardiac and circulation systems, physiological responses, and voice capabilities. Students can practice a wide variety of medical procedures including difficult airway management scenarios and intubation, chest tube insertion, IV placement, catheterization, bronchoscopy, defibrillation, CPR, and bleeding control. It also has preprogrammed pharmacological responses for more than 108 drugs, automatically simulating a person’s physiological response to administered drugs. The manikin provides immediate feedback to actions performed by students, allowing them to correct their techniques. Instructors can design their own patient cases to teach specific skills, or repeatedly run pre-programmed scenarios. The Division of Nursing will use the SimMan to teach nursing skills, critical thinking, communication, and other nursing competencies throughout its curriculum. It will also be used in an academic partnership with Mercy Medical Center to provide simulation education for students and staff nurses in the unique care requirements of older adults in acute care settings.Elms College Forms Academic Partnership With Northampton VA Hospital The Elms College Division of Nursing has joined with the Northampton Veteran’s Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in an innovative academic affiliation designed to enhance the use of clinical learning experiences and education opportunities at the Northampton campus. A key element of the academic partnership is the appointment of a clinical nurse educator who will serve as both nurse educator for the Northampton VAMC and adjunct faculty at Elms College. The Northampton VAMC has been funded by VA New England Healthcare System as a pilot site to implement the program.Alumni Telethon Finishes Year With Impressive Results The Elms College Fund Telethon for 2007-2008 is complete, and reported a large increase in pledges over last year, according to the Institutional Advancement Department. “Students call our alumni for 10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the spring,” said Alicia Germain, alumni and annual fund coordinator. “By the time they finished making calls in early May, they had achieved the following totals to be proud of: 16,506 calls made; 2,372 alumni reached; and a 69 percent increase in pledges since last year.”Donors Who Endow Scholarships Meet Students They Support The 13th annual Donor-Scholar Brunch was held on April 27, and provided scholarship recipients an opportunity to thank the donors who funded their awards. Since the program’s inception, more than 130 named endowed scholarships have been established, providing 233 individual student scholarships amounting to more than $8 million. Cate Avery ’08, recipient of the Diggins Endowed Scholarship and the Hurst Endowed Scholarship, provided remarks to those in attendance. She spoke about her time at the Elms and the benefits of her education that will last for her lifetime. In addition, it was announced that four new scholarships have been endowed:
More Than 200 Alumni Reconnect at Reunion ’08 More than 200 alumni from the classes of ’58, ’63, ’68, ’73, ’78, ’83, ’88, ’93, ’98, and ’03 reconnected at Reunion ’08, held on May 2 to 4. They were joined by members of the Golden Blazers, alumnae who graduated more than 50 years ago. The weekend included a parade of honor classes led by bagpiper Terri Adams ’85, a student panel on their travel and community service projects, a beer and pizza party, induction ceremonies for the Class of 1958 into the Golden Blazers, wine tasting, an ice cream social, tea with author Suzanne Strempek Shea, and a reception with the president. In addition to these festivities, the reunion classes provided the Elms with the largest reunion gifts in recent history with a total of more than $51,000. Such gifts support the educational priorities of the college. View photos of the reunion at:
Theologian Pfeil Discusses ROTC’s Role On College Campuses Theologian Margaret Pfeil, Ph.D., gave a lecture at Elms College on April 24 about the role on college campuses of U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs. Her presentation was the last event in the “Social Justice and the Liberal Arts Spring 2008” series. Dr. Pfeil’s lecture was based on a course called “War, Law, and Ethics,” which she team-taught at the University of Notre Dame with the director of the ROTC program there. An assistant professor of theology at Notre Dame with a focus on Catholic social thought and the development of moral doctrine, Dr. Pfeil felt compelled by the events of September 11, 2001, to deepen her personal commitment to the practice of nonviolence. This eventually led her to found the Peter Claver Catholic Worker House in South Bend.Dr. Michael T. Klare Spoke on the Geopolitics of Energy Dr. Michael T. Klare, director of the Five Colleges Peace and World Security Studies Program based at Hampshire College, spoke at Elms College on April 23 about his new book, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy. The program was presented by the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts. Dr. Klare is defense correspondent of The Nation magazine, a regular contributor to many publications including Tom’s Dispatch and Mother Jones, and is a frequent columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus. He is also author of Resource Wars and Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Petroleum Dependency, He serves on the boards of directors of Human Rights Watch and the Arms Control Association.CSD Professor Wins International Reading Association Research Award Terri M. Griffin, an adjunct professor of linguistics in the Division of Communication Science and Disorders, has won a Dina Feitelson Research Award from the International Reading Association (IRA). The $1,000 award recognizes exemplary published work in a scholarly journal on studies investigating literacy acquisition by beginning readers. The award was presented at the 53rd IRA annual convention held on May 4-8 in Atlanta, Georgia, which was attended by nearly 20,000 reading educators. Social Work Professor Presents Seminar on Self-Injury and Suicide
Dr. Kokaliari serves on the board of directors of the American Foundation for Suicidal Prevention (AFSP) and the committee of the International Network for Self-injury Prevention, Intervention, Research (INSPRIRE) based at Cornell University. Irish Cultural Center Offers Day of Immersion in Irish Language June 7 Teachers from western Massachusetts, Boston, and New York will offer morning and afternoon classes. Other activities include a video in Irish (with subtitles), and a choice of several workshops: bodhran, set dancing, or the use of the old script. The day will conclude in a seisiún (session) with all present invited to join the music with voice or instrument. Participants are encouraged to bring instruments with them. Irish (Gaeilge) is a Celtic language spoken in Ireland. Although once spoken across the entire island, it is presently a minority language. Still, it is constitutionally upheld as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and is an official language of the European Union. Many Irish in the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland have Irish as their mother tongue, and a significant number throughout the Republic regard themselves as competent in the language. The Irish Cultural Center at Elms College, founded in 1999, fosters an appreciation of the Irish culture, acknowledging a special relationship with the Gaeltacht areas of Ireland. The Center offers classes on the beginner and intermediate levels each semester, and members meet weekly throughout the year on to practice speaking Irish on several levels. A committee of Irish language enthusiasts at the center has planned the day: Tom Moriarty, Chip Costello, Paula Dugan, Lynn Coakley, and Kathleen Gilhooly. Sign-in will take place in the Irish Cultural Center, third floor of Berchmans Hall, which is handicapped accessible. Coffee, juice, and pastries will be served. The registration fee is $45 ($35 for members, and $10 for high school and college students) and includes classes, a workshop, the video, and lunch. Registration deadline is May 27. Call the Irish Cultural Center 413-265-2537 for a brochure, or download from www.irish-cairde.org.
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