The Magazine of St. Ambrose University | Spring 2015

Diversity: A St. Ambrose Core ValueALSO INSIDE: Bringing the World to Campus

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2 Under the OaksAdult learners are on the move; SAU men’s

soccer is a worldly game; a student group

expands the campus culture; a retiring professor

learned washing brains can be a good thing; and

a Spanish teacher got a cold lesson in cultural

differences.

SceneThe Magazine of St. Ambrose University

Spring 2015 | Volume XLIII | Number 1

Managing Editor

Linda Hirsch

Editor

Craig DeVrieze

Staff Writer

Jane Kettering

Staff Assistant

Darcy Duncalf ’12

Photo and illustration credits: Dan Videtich: cover, page 5, 28; Greg Boll: page 8;

John Mohr Photography: page 1, 5, 9–11, 14–17, 22, 25; Putnam Museum & Science Center,

Davenport, IA: page 18.

Scene is published by the Communications and Marketing office for the alumni, students, parents,

friends, faculty and staff of St. Ambrose University. Its purpose is to inform and inspire through

stories highlighting the many quality people and programs that are the essence of St. Ambrose’s

distinguished heritage of Catholic, values-based education.

Circulation is approximately 30,000.

St. Ambrose University—independent, diocesan, and Catholic—enables its students to develop

intellectually, spiritually, ethically, socially, artistically and physically to enrich their own lives and

the lives of others.

St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport, Iowa 52803.

Contributing Writers

Steven Lillybeck

Emilee Renwick ’14

Dustin Renwick ’10

Ted Stephens III ’01, ’04

Designer

Sally Paustian ’94

www.sau.edu/scene

scene@sau.edu

Features 12 Diversity: Our Legacy, Our Future

As our campus grows more diverse, we more effectively

serve our mission to ensure the God-given worth and

dignity of every person. But like the great granddaughter

of a QC civil rights icon knows, we have a lot to live up

to at St. Ambrose.

14 All Unique, Each DiverseDiversity is everyone and many things, and at

St. Ambrose, it lives in the people who come here, learn

here, teach here, work here, live here and leave here.

Meet the faces of diversity among St. Ambrose students

and alumni.

18 A Rich History in the Fight for Civil RightsOur rich history stands as a testimony to the worth and

dignity of all. It is a history written through the actions

of justice-minded priests like the O’Connor brothers,

Msgr. Marvin Mottet, the Revs. Francis Duncan and

Jack Smith and by alumni such as Charles Toney, John

Crocitto and many others.

21 A World of DifferenceWith 94 degree-seeking students from 24 foreign nations

on campus, and another 130 domestic students studying

abroad this year, St. Ambrose is building a learning

experience that better prepares its graduates to live and

work in a global environment.

Alumni Profile24 A Champion for Diversity

Jim Collins spent his working life committed to the

cause of diversity. As a trustee emeritus and driving force

behind the SAU Diversity Work Group, he is building a

legacy of service.

26 Alumni NewsEight recent Fulbright Scholars from St. Ambrose set out

to impact a corner of the world, and each came back

changed by the experience; lessons in mentoring from

the late Freeman Pollard help an alumnus change lives a

quarter of a century later; and an interest in the lives and

culture of his hosts opened doors to an alum for business

opportunities in Communist China.

30 Class Notes

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Get a Head Start on Law Career Since St. Ambrose began offering a pre-law

curriculum 15 years ago, seven graduates

have enrolled in the University of Iowa

College of Law.

Starting in the fall, St. Ambrose students

intent on earning a law degree at Iowa

will have an opportunity to complete

their schooling and start their careers a

year sooner through a 3 Plus 3 agreement

between the two schools.

The program will allow interested SAU

students to apply to the Iowa School of

Law as juniors. If accepted into the 3 Plus 3

program, they can combine their first year of

law school with their senior undergraduate

year, providing they have completed required

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Expanded course offerings, an increased pool of instructors and convenient access to the library and food court will be among the benefits St. Ambrose adult learners enjoy when adult evening classes are relocated to the main campus next fall.

Director of Adult Learning Kathleen Andresen, RN, DNP, is overseeing the transition from the 54th Street facility, one she said will improve the learning experience for working students and adults.

“This is an opportunity to grow, adjust and improve our adult-learning programs in a time when more working adults are seeing the worth of obtaining a St. Ambrose degree,” Andresen said.

St. Ambrose will continue to offer flexible, nighttime class schedules and accelerated undergraduate degree programs. The move to campus also will provide adult learners access to a new “one-stop shopping” approach to student services at St. Ambrose, along

Adult Learners Benefit from

Additional Campus Opportunities

with greater connections to academic departments, professors and other students on campus.

In addition, the adult-learning program will be able to make greater use of learning formats offered on campus, such as weekend, hybrid and online classes.

In the past 20 years, more than 1,000 students have earned degrees through St. Ambrose adult learning programs. The 54th Street facility will continue to house the Master of Social Work program.

Learn more about adult-learning degree programs at sau.edu/scene

general education courses at St. Ambrose

and will be able to take classes that fulfill

requirements within their chosen major

during their first year at Iowa.

“For the student who is thinking ahead and

works with us to get prepared, we want this

to be an option,” said Joseph Hebert, PhD,

pre-law director and professor of Political

Science and Leadership Studies at SAU. “This

is a valuable partnership.”

Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD,

president of St. Ambrose, agreed. “We are

tremendously grateful to the University of

Iowa for helping us provide this significant

option to our students,” she said.

Learn more about Political Science and Leadership Studies at sau.edu/scene

This is an opportunity to grow,

adjust and improve our adult-learning

programs in a time when more

working adults are seeing the worth of

obtaining a St. Ambrose degree.

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Put Runner on Right TrackGrandma

Shaquille Jones often hears the voice of his late grandmother Gloria Jones as he goes about his business on a St. Ambrose campus he is certain she would have loved.

“She was a huge advocate for a one-on-one education in a smaller environment, to keep me concentrating on getting the fullest education I can,” Jones, an SAU sophomore, said of the woman who raised him nearly from birth. “I know she would have loved this school. She probably would have volunteered here.”

In 2010, Jones was a ninth-grade student living on the south side of Chicago when his grandmother died after a lengthy battle with cancer. He had never met his father and was long estranged from his mother, and, so, Jones quickly found himself among a growing number of teenagers who fit the legal definition of homeless.

Unwilling to leave Chicago to join siblings who were living with an aunt in Kentucky, Jones briefly stayed in Chicago with a friend of his grandmother. Eventually, he did what many homeless young people do—surfed from one friend’s couch to that of another.

Ultimately, he found long-term shelter thanks to his late grandmother’s insistence that he prepare for college by applying to the Link Unlimited Scholars Foundation. The foundation matched him with mentors who would pay his tuition and expenses to attend Seton Academy, a private, Catholic high school in South Holland, Ill. The school offered the college prep curriculum on which his grandmother insisted.

When those mentors—Kai Bandele and Bernette Braden—learned young Shaquille had no home, they

took him in for the duration of his high school years.“Grandma arranged Seton Academy,” Jones said.

“I wanted to go to a public school. But it is amazing how it all played out. I don’t think I would be here if it hadn’t been for her making sure I got into that school.”

It was during a college fair at Seton Academy that Jones, a three-time prep state qualifier in track and field, encountered then St. Ambrose admissions counselor Marcus Simpao ’09, MCJ ’11, himself a former Fighting Bees track athlete.

“Without ever seeing Shaq run, Marcus told me he was a kid who could help our program,” said Dan Tomlin, ’05, ’10 MBA, head track and field coach. “Shaq is such a positive person. He is a leader. He is someone who has all the reasons in the world to have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn’t.”

Jones said he thanks God daily for his good fortune, but he also takes a little credit himself for overcoming adversity. “Every once in a blue moon, I get down,” he said. “But I’m pretty positive. It’s hard to put me down. Really hard.”

Perseverance is a trait he learned from his grandmother, who he said earned a master’s in criminal justice while working as a janitor at Chicago State University. The more he experiences life, the more Jones appreciates what his grandmother instilled in him.

“I am starting to see everything from her eyes now,” he said. “She left me with a lot, mentally and spiritually. I know she is watching. That’s why I have got to keep my act straight.”

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MACA Expands the Campus CultureSome increasingly popular events on the campus social calendar are the Mr. SAU Contest, Gospel Fest, the Multi-Cultural Fashion Show and Soul Food night.

It’s no coincidence that each event is sponsored by the Multicultural Affairs Community Action (MACA) group, which has enhanced diversity within the campus community through events that promote cultural difference.

“Our events really get students involved,” MACA Adviser Ramona Amos said. “The past two years we’ve had more than 300 in attendance at Mr. SAU. It has grown into one of the most well-known events on campus.”

This year’s Gospel Fest will include four local church choirs and special guest Drew Chambers from Sunday Best, while the annual fashion show earlier this year added special guests and entertainment that showcased the growing group of international students on campus.

“A couple of students from China wanted to do a program for intermission last year,” Amos said. “They did such a great job we asked them back again this year, with a couple Saudi Arabian students all in their traditional dress.”

MACA began as the Minority Affairs Council in 2003—merging the Black Student Union and Latinos United. It was renamed MACA in 2005.

“What drives us is the way we represent ourselves in the community, on and off campus, and the values that we all believe in,” said current President Lauren Taylor, a senior. “Our common goal is to bring awareness to other cultures.”

The core goal of MACA is to get people talking about diversity. “Many people get turned off by the word multicultural,” said

senior Avalon Sorensen, the club treasurer. “But it’s essential that students understand everyone has a culture, everyone has a story that defines them and makes them who they are.”

Learn more about MACA at sau.edu/scene

A House Where Culture Can ThriveThe St. Ambrose Culture House is currently under renovation across from campus on West Locust Street. When ready in the fall, it will provide a home-like atmosphere where students of varied ethnicities and backgrounds can bond.

“It’s a place to give groups on campus a space to do some programming that they currently can’t,” Multi-Cultural Community Action Group Adviser Ramona Amos said. “We would love for it to be the ‘it’ house.”

In addition to providing a meeting place for MACA members, Culture House will be used by Intercultural Life, Promoting Respect in Sexual Minorities (PRISM) and the student disabilities organization ADAPT. Tutors from the Student Success Center also will work with students there.

“It will serve as both a study place and a great social atmosphere,” Amos said.

To help students feel more at home, they also will be consulted

on interior changes, including selecting paint

colors and furniture.

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Associate Professor of Social

Work Michael O’Melia, MSW,

LCSW, can’t remember a day of

teaching where something good

didn’t happen. “I remember

one very engaged student

who told me that her husband

believed I had brainwashed

her,” said O’Melia. “At first I felt

defensive—but as I thought

about it, I knew it was true.

Washing someone’s brain with

evidence and professional values

in order to displace assumptions

and biases? I’m all about that.

That’s what teaching is. When I

see my students shift to a social

justice perspective, that is a

memorable experience each

time.”

“My memories of St. Ambrose

will be about all the interesting

individuals with whom I have

worked all these years,” said

Phil Hall, PhD, professor of

managerial studies. “My friends

and colleagues have been most

engaging and entertaining;

there was never a ‘dull moment.’

St. Ambrose has been a good

home for me.”

“I work with students who

either have struggled with

math or don’t really want much

to do with it,” said Kathleen

Potter, assistant professor of

mathematics and statistics. “My

goal is to show them they can do

math and hopefully find some

of the beauty in it.” Recently,

Potter ran into a former student

who took Potter’s general

education math course as a

first-year student. “Instead of

the quiet and unsure young

lady I had come to know, here

was a confident senior, ready

to graduate. She told me that

she just got her first credit card

and during the process could

hear my voice from class telling

her what she needed to know.

She asked herself, ‘What would

Kathy say?’ What else could a

teacher ask for?”

‘Brainwashing,’ Rites of Passage

and No Dull Moments

Retiring faculty members share a few memories

Also retiring in May are George Bailey, PhD, professor of chemistry; Janet Enslein, PhD, professor of nursing; Richard Dienesch, PhD, professor of managerial studies and organizational leadership; Barbara Walker, PhD, professor of kinesiology; and Richard Hanzelka, PhD, professor of education.

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Studying abroad as a St. Ambrose student

isn’t just about seeing a new part of the

world. It’s about experiencing different

cultures and discovering common ground.

In the past several years, SAU students have

circled the globe, studying in 30 foreign

countries and coming home with a more

global sense of themselves. Oh, and they

return with pictures. Lots of pictures.

The World Through an Ambrosian Lens

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Soccer Brings the World to St. Ambroseand the St. Ambrose men’s soccer team a World Cup.More than half of Coach Jon Mannall’s varsity and junior

varsity rosters last fall featured Bees from beyond the US

borders. That amounted to 26 players total, representing seven

foreign nations.

The international flavor makes sense when you consider

that soccer is the world’s most popular game, and also when

you factor that Mannall left his native London in 1997 to play

basketball and soccer for the former Marycrest International

University in Davenport.

“I had the experience of coming to the US to play, and

it gives me great joy to extend the opportunity to others,”

said Mannall, who joined SAU as an assistant coach for the

women’s soccer team in 2002. He became women’s head

coach a year later and then also took the reins of the men’s

program in 2010.

As a player, Mannall said he was a part of the “first wave”

of international recruits on NAIA men’s soccer squads. He

said the numbers have grown considerably over the past

15 years.

“I think there has been an increase everywhere of

students attending colleges outside their home countries,”

he added. “The world has gotten smaller, and the option

to travel and study abroad has become more and more

feasible.”

Last fall’s Fighting Bees men’s squads featured 18 players

from England, two from Germany and one each from

Mexico, Scotland, France and Australia. The men’s soccer

players are among a growing number of international

students at St. Ambrose, and athletics are part of the push.

An additional 10 foreign athletes are competing in other

SAU athletic programs this year.

Mannall said many top-level NAIA men’s soccer

programs are rich with international players. That is

because boys’ soccer has yet to fully achieve widespread

popularity among American youth, although, Mannall

added, “The popularity is increasing all the time here.”

Sam Heath, a senior from Northhampton, England, said he

has run across former English high school teammates on the

college pitch and while the large number of fellow foreign-

born Bees provides a certain comfort level, it is the challenge

of gaining a St. Ambrose education that he values most.

“I guess what attracted me most about St. Ambrose was

that it was a relatively large small school,” said the journalism

major. “It has the best of both worlds.”

Mannall believes the broader world view provided by

Heath and other international students on campus makes

St. Ambrose better still.

“It just kind of opens eyes to the world being smaller,” he

said. “The more diversity that is represented on campus, the

broader the outlook students are going to get. I think that’s

important for the cultural development of the university and

for the educational experience as well.”

Learn more about Fighting Bees soccer at sau.edu/scene

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A juggling actCoordinator of Intercultural Life Ramona Amos is a busy bee. “I actually hold three positions,” said Amos. Besides serving as Coordinator of Intercultural Life, Amos also is Coordinator of Leadership Programs and supports Student Activities and its initiatives. And she’s a member of the university’s Diversity Work Group.

So what is Intercultural Life?Intercultural Life is dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of cultural differences. According to Amos, this means enhancing cultural awareness on campus through programming, speakers, poets and the like. “We live in a diverse world and need to learn how to interact with individuals who may have different views or who may look different.”

Motherhood and sillinessAlthough her mother always told her she had a silly and outgoing side, Amos couldn’t see it herself. At least not until she became a mother. “I find myself swinging my arms and singing along to Dora the Explorer and Doc McStuffins — alone, by myself in the car, without my 2-year-old daughter, Ramya. Either my daughter has had a real effect on me by hogging the television or I am a secret fan of Dora and Doc. I am loving motherhood.”

Enjoying the ‘aha’ moments …Whether tutoring students in algebra during high school, mentoring young Ambrosians engaged in SAU Leadership Programs or the Multicultural Affairs Community Action group, or simply facilitating an individual student’s self-reflection, Amos has always enjoyed watching others have their “aha” moments.

… and the ‘ha-ha’ moments, tooAmos is learning from the students, too, but concedes she is not nearly as in tune with advances in app technology as the younger generation. She also confessed she is not a quick study and, though she is among the younger staffers on campus, “I may not be as ‘cool’ as I’d hope.” Wait a minute. “Does anyone ever say cool anymore?” Aha.

More Ramona> Amos was a Gates Millennium Scholar.> Her master’s degree from Marquette University,

Milwaukee, is a mouthful: Education Policy in Leadership with an Emphasis on College Student Personnel.

> When not on campus, Amos can typically be found with her “high school sweetheart,” husband Quentin. And, of course, Ramya, whose name is Hindu for elegance and beauty. (Bet the students didn’t know that. So who is cool now?)

Who is SAU? Ramona Amos

“We live in a diverse world and need to learn howto interact with individuals who may have different views or who may look different.”

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by Craig DeVrieze

can totally Change Your Life’

More than a century after “The Melting Pot” became a popular description of a United States that welcomed immigrants from across the globe, Arturo Meijide-Lapido, PhD, believes a different cooking metaphor might be more appropriate.

“‘The Melting Pot’ is a bit of a myth,” said Meijide, a native Spaniard in his 10th year as a full-time US resident and his fourth as an assistant professor in the St. Ambrose Modern Languages and Cultures Department. “The US is more of a Caesar salad. You can leave out what you don’t want. There is diversity, but it is a little bit compartmentalized.”

Europe isn’t necessarily different in that regard, Meijide said, but it is more aware of its compartments. “That narrative of integration doesn’t exist in Europe,” he said.

Meijide said a culture centered on enriching lives and developing students makes the St. Ambrose community ready-made to embrace difference. “I think it is a pretty diverse campus,” he said. “And I think St. Ambrose is very inclusive.”

The department Meijide chairs provides a window to the greater world. Studying abroad is a requirement for all SAU students who major in languages, and Meijide said students who view another part of the world through an academic lens invariably return with a broader understanding of what diversity truly means. “Definitely, the study abroad experience is a turning point in their careers,” he said.

Meijide serves SAU’s largest minority student group as adviser to both the Spanish Club and an SAU chapter of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. He also is working with students to establish a League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) chapter on campus.

‘Language

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facultyPROFILE

The Spanish Club is attempting to reach out to a rapidly growing segment of non-English-speaking Hispanic immigrants in the Quad Cities, ideally by providing essential translation for legal issues as well as support to ease the transition to a new country.

Meijide himself got a cold, hard lesson in one stark difference between the Spanish culture he’d known for 28 years and that of the US when he came to the University of Kansas in 2004 to pursue a master’s and then a doctorate in Spanish.

“I needed to buy stuff for my apartment and was told a Wal-Mart was five minutes

away,” he said. Through a 45-minute walk in the cold and snow, the newcomer gained a keen understanding that Americans typically measure time and distance from behind the wheel of an automobile.

What’s more, he said, people always seem to be on the go in the US. That’s not to say European cultures de-value work, he stressed: “But I think the whole society is more relaxed. They think, ‘OK, you’re busy but now you’re going to disconnect for a couple of hours.’ Here, I just think that disconnect is not there.”

Meijide mostly speaks Spanish in his classroom, where he teaches courses

in Hispanic literature, culture and film in addition to language. The Modern Languages and Cultures Department offers similar curricula in French and German.

Meijide would like to see the department become a more integral piece of every student’s education. “Sometimes we don’t realize how easily simple barriers can be scaled,” he said. “I would like to see our department become a bridge to other cultures in the world and to other cultures in our community, too. Language can totally change your life.”

Learn more about the Modern Languages and Cultures Department at sau.edu/scene

This is the third in a series in

which Scene magazine will

examine the Core Values that

define St. Ambrose University:

Catholicity, Integrity, The Liberal

Arts, Life-long Learning and

Diversity. In this edition, we

investigate Diversity.

Diversity We believe in the inherent God-given dignity and worth of every person.

Therefore, we strive to develop an understanding of human

cultures, achievements, capabilities, and limitations to promote justice and peace and use our talents in service to others and the world. We welcome people from other

countries and cultures to study, learn and work at St. Ambrose.

Likewise, we encourage Ambrosians to teach, learn, engage in scholarship, and

serve abroad.

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Diversity

Director of Diversity Ryan Saddler and Breanna Toney

Breanna Toney is well aware that her great grandfather

was an iconic figure in the historic fight for civil rights in

Davenport and across the state of Iowa. More than once,

she proudly has posted to her Facebook wall a picture of

Charles W. Toney ’75 (Hon) standing shoulder-to-shoulder

with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Until recently, however, she did not know that Charles

Toney is believed to have been the first black student

to enroll at St. Ambrose. Nor was she aware that many

of his staunchest allies in his civil rights mission were

priests and students on the very campus where Breanna,

a sophomore accounting major from Coal Valley, Ill., now

studies and lives.

St. Ambrose has a proud and enduring history in the

service of its core value mission to ensure the God-given

dignity and worth of every person. That is why Breanna

Toney carries more than her family legacy forward as she

walks today on an SAU campus that is more diverse than

ever before.

Since the fall of 2004, the number of self-reporting

minority students on campus has more than doubled,

from 301 to 700. The St. Ambrose experience also has

grown more global both in look and outlook, with 94

international students pursuing degrees here this year

while 130 SAU students are studying abroad.

This progress is the result of an intentional, institutional

commitment to diversity. But, of course, any progress is

never enough.

Certainly not in this cause.

Definitely not in this moment.

Because exposure to people with different thoughts,

ethnicities, nationalities, histories, predilections, issues

and beliefs must always be an essential piece of a

St. Ambrose education, our Diversity Work Group, the

Center for International Education and numerous student

organizations will remain at the forefront of efforts to

enhance, welcome and celebrate difference under the

oaks.

Meanwhile, Ryan Saddler ’96, ’05 MEd, SAU’s first

director of diversity, can happily report that each

succeeding generation of Ambrosians arrives more

tolerant of difference and, in many cases, eager to engage

within a fully diverse campus culture.

Hence, a barrier of language was the lone concern

for Matt Filipski, raised Catholic and home-schooled in

St. Charles, Ill., when he learned last summer that his

first-year roommate would be Habib Dahar, a Muslim and

a native of Muscat, Oman.

Dahar’s main concern, conversely, was that his future

roommate owned a black belt in tae kwon do. “I expected

this really big guy to walk in and be really bossy,” he said.

For the record, Filipski weighs 170 pounds dripping

wet, Dahar is fluent in English and their cross-cultural

relationship took Dahar to suburban Chicago for

Thanksgiving while Filipski is planning a summer trip to

Oman.

This is growth Charles W. Toney would have welcomed,

but always with the caveat that we can do more. As the

first direct descendant of her great grandfather to attend

St. Ambrose, Breanna Toney knows this, too. “I have a lot

to live up to,” she said.

Given a long line of Ambrosian social justice lions

leading a rich and lasting dedication to diversity, so do

we all.

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Diversity…part of our legacy and future

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by Craig DeVrieze

Diversity at St. Ambrose shines in the face of Xiao “Michelle” Chen ’14, one of more than 25 students who have come to campus from the People’s Republic of China in recent years. She graduated in December with a Master of Accounting degree and is hoping to become a Certified Public Accountant and find employment in the United States.

At St. Ambrose, she co-chaired the Campus Activities Board and was a graduate assistant for the International Admissions office. She shared the beauty of Chinese culture on campus through dance performances. Her St. Ambrose peers taught Michelle the power of positivity, she said, and she is grateful for the help she received in adjusting to college and to life in a new country.

Chen’s suggestion to better serve our core value of diversity? “Bring more international students to

Elijah Grant

D iversity is more than DNA.It is more than skin color, ethnic background,

religious affiliation, more than gender and all that might imply. It is more than nationality, age, health, physical ability and economic status.

Diversity is more than any of the boxes you may check on a tax form or visa application.

Diversity is everyone and many things, and at St. Ambrose it lives in the people who come here, learn here, teach here, work here, live here and leave here.

“Diversity is a cultural clash of people acknowledging differences and accepting those differences,” said Elijah Anthony Grant, a 22-year-old senior from Urbana, Ill.

Grant is a dual major in business management and marketing, a Dean’s List student and a former resident adviser who has participated in such varied campus organizations as the Campus Activities Board, the Multi-Cultural Affairs in Community Action group (MACA), the Art Club and the Diversity Work Group.

Grant is black and said he came to St. Ambrose “assuming I wouldn’t meet anyone who looked like me or who came from a similar background. Many of these assumptions were based on stereotypes taught in my community about Iowa. I came to St. Ambrose fully prepared to be the only minority on campus.”

He, of course, was not.St. Ambrose continues to work to grow more

diverse. Yet, that wonderful clash of cultures that Grant described most certainly exists here today, along with the even more essential acknowledgment and acceptance of difference.

DIVERSITY AT ST. AMBROSE:

A Wonderful Clash of Cultures

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different clubs,” she said. “We can learn something new through teamwork, right?”

Diversity lives in the rich life experience of Leonard Cervantes ’70, ’05 (Hon), a senior partner in the St. Louis law firm Cervantes and Associates. He has been a member of the St. Ambrose University Board of Trustees for nearly a quarter of a century and was one of two Mexican-Americans who enrolled here in 1966.

“I have to say, I didn’t give a lot of thought to being a quote-unquote minority student at the time,” said Cervantes, a second generation American who grew up in Bettendorf, Iowa, and was followed to St. Ambrose by all six of his siblings.

Cervantes will concede, though, that minority struggles—as well as lessons in social justice learned from St. Ambrose instructors like the Rev. Francis Duncan—were on his mind when he began his law career. As president of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis 20 years ago, he helped launch a Black History Month dinner in partnership with another bar association group comprised mostly of minority attorneys. That dinner continues today, a small, but important bridge in a city very divided along racial lines.

“Social justice has always been important to me,” Cervantes said. “Of the schools I attended, St. Ambrose shaped my values the most.”

Diversity grows at St. Ambrose through Celeste Raya, a Mexican-American from East Moline, Ill. A 21-year-old senior majoring in elementary education, she will be the first SAU student to earn an endorsement to teach English as a Second Language this spring.

At St. Ambrose, Raya has been an all-conference pole vaulter for the track and field team, a Spanish and history tutor in the Student Success Center and a participant in Habitat for Humanity, the Student Alumni Association, Dance Marathon and Phi Eta Sigma.

“We each possess different qualities that shape our community,” she said. “We can learn so much from those around us if we are willing to give them the time. I believe that diversity should not just be viewed as the color of our skin, but as the ideas and different attributes that are brought to our table.”

Xiao ”Michelle” Chen Leonard Cervantes Celeste Raya

Difference shines in the faces of students and alumni

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Diversity is broadened by Peter Ly, 25, a Chinese Cambodian-American from Savage, Minn., and a second-year student in the SAU Doctor of Physical Therapy program. Ly graduated with distinction from St. John’s University in his native Minnesota.

“A lesson I have learned at St. Ambrose is the concept of the ‘culture of one,’” Ly said. “Each individual has unique perspectives, values and customs they can share with one another.”

Diversity at St. Ambrose is strengthened by Mohammad Buaysha, a 25-year-old business management major and one of 36 current SAU students sponsored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Theirs is a campus community that is growing both in number and visibility, the latter thanks in large part to Buaysha’s creation this past year of the Saudi Student Association.

“My reason for creating this association is to present and share some of our culture,” he said. “But, more importantly, it is to address some of the misconceptions people might have about Saudi Arabia and its people, especially after 9/11—how people see Muslims and Arabs and how the media is presenting us in a very negative way.”

Very little about his St. Ambrose experience has been negative. The campus community, Buaysha said, “has been extremely friendly and kind to us international students and specifically we Saudis. We have been welcomed with open arms and feel like we are among family and friends.”

Diversity is enhanced at SAU by Board of Trustees member Angela Lawrence ’94 MBA, an associate vice

president of sales for Nationwide Insurance in Atlanta. A Davenport native, she earned her undergraduate degree at Jackson State, an historically black college that she said “provided a nurturing environment that catered to the needs of African-American students.”

Lawrence valued every bit as much her experience in the St. Ambrose MBA program from which both of her parents also graduated. She found true and instructional diversity within the life and work experience of the students with whom she studied. “I was fresh out of undergrad,” she said, “so for me it was helpful to learn about real-world experiences and how you can apply an MBA. It was more than a textbook environment.”

More diversity among the faculty and administration, Lawrence suggested, would help to increase diversity within the student body. “Students will want to come where they feel comfortable and feel that the leadership and their professors have something in common with them,” she said.

“…diversity should not just be viewed as the color of our skin, but as the ideas and different attributes that are brought to our table.” —Celeste Raya

Angela Lawrence Mohammad Buaysha

Peter Ly

17

Diversity blossoms in Amanda Gullang ’14, who overcame the learning disabilities of dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to earn her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology this past December. She praised the St. Ambrose Office of Student Disability Services for its work with a sometimes under-served group.

“St. Ambrose is probably one of the most welcoming campuses to students with disabilities that I visited,” said the 22-year-old from Algonquin, Ill. “Having a learning disability and going away to college can be very intimidating. They showed me I could do it like anyone else and that I wasn’t alone in this battle.”

Diversity is deepened at St. Ambrose by Andrea Rivera, 21, a senior majoring in theatre who came to Davenport from Caguas, Puerto Rico. She defines diversity as “respect,” something she has found in abundance at St. Ambrose.

“I have had a lot of people ask me about my culture and my background and I love talking about that,” said Rivera, who has been active with SAUtv, Residence Life, admissions, MACA and much more and was a member of the 2014 Homecoming Court. “I have learned so much about different cultures. My sophomore year, I lived on an internationally themed floor and it was amazing. I was able to learn the significance of being an individual and being proud of where you come from.”

Diversity at St. Ambrose is not captured entirely, nor even remotely, by the stories of nine diverse

students and alumni. Behind each of these nine faces of diversity stand 100 more, each with their own vast and beautiful differences—in color, creed, life history, belief, choice, gender and genetics. And behind those 900 stand thousands more still, all joined together to form a curious, compassionate and compellingly diverse community.

In many ways, Elijah Grant cautioned, St. Ambrose is not yet the widely diverse place he believes it can be. Yet, upon his arrival and through his intervening years, he said, “I was happy to learn that many of my assumptions about the lack of diversity were over-exaggerated. I was happy and surprised to meet people from across the globe and to see that many of my professors came here from different countries.”

Diversity, Grant concluded, “is about creating opportunities for people to meet and educate one another to reduce ignorance. The most significant lesson I have learned is that each individual has a story unique to themselves.”

Indeed, all unique and each diverse. In that way, Ambrosians are all the same.

Learn more about Diversity at sau.edu/scene

Amanda Gullang

Andrea Rivera

18

For more than a century, St. Ambrose faculty, students and alumni have been resolute in advancing the core value and guiding principle of diversity.

In the 1950s, students and faculty lobbied for better living conditions at Cooks Point, a Latino community in Davenport without running water. They even built new homes, complete with plumbing.

From the earliest stirring of a local Civil Rights Movement, St. Ambrose priests and faculty worked closely with Charles Toney ’75 (Hon), who is believed to have been the first black student at St. Ambrose when he enrolled in 1932.

In 1965, four St. Ambrose students accompanied Rev. Francis Duncan to Selma, Ala., for the March on Montgomery, led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. They were among a number of St. Ambrose students who marched and worked for civil rights in the south.

Msgr. Marvin Mottet ’52, ’82 (Hon) was an activist in the labor equality and civil rights movements and was instrumental in honoring Rev. King as the third recipient of the Pacem in Terris Award created by the Diocese of Davenport in partnership with St. Ambrose.

by Steven Lillybeck

left to right: The Rev. Francis W.J. Duncan; Iowa Lt. Gov. Robert Fallon, Charles Toney, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Msgr. Paul D. Moore

at the 1965 Pacem in Terris award ceremony, where Rev. King was honored;Fr. William O’Connor

A RICH HISTORY OF

Standing Upfor the Dignity of All

19

These are but a few people and moments in a rich history of promoting social justice and enhancing the God-given dignity of every man and woman. It is a story heavily documented in A Great and Lasting

Beginning, an exhaustive history of St. Ambrose authored by Rev. George McDaniel ’66, professor emeritus of history.

Fr. McDaniel said social justice at St. Ambrose began to find its voice prior to the first World War, when Msgr. John Augustine Ryan, a prominent moral theologian and social justice advocate, arrived on campus for the first of many visits. Msgr. Ryan’s long commitment to exposing national labor problems planted seeds for activism in pursuit of justice in the St. Ambrose community.

“When you look at the work of the American Catholic bishops and Fr. Ryan, you discover that the general attitude of the Catholic Church was an issue of justice,” said Fr. McDaniel.

No discussion of St. Ambrose and civil rights can take place without including Rev. William O’Connor ’29 and Msgr. Edward O’Connor ’21, natives of Davenport’s hardscrabble west end.

The two brothers made significant contributions to St. Ambrose’s steadfast and very public campaign for social justice, including the establishment of the first NAACP chapter on a Catholic college campus in 1947. Among the countless students they inspired was Toney, who provides an extraordinary tale of racial and social justice activism in Davenport, in Iowa and across the country.

Four years after leaving St. Ambrose, Toney landed a job with John Deere, where he worked for 42 years, becoming, among other things, Deere’s first welder of color, a manager of minority relations and, finally, the company’s first black executive when he was appointed as director of affirmative action in 1972. In the latter role, Toney initiated one of the first voluntary affirmative action plans in the nation. The Deere plan served as a model for what would eventually become mandatory under federal laws.

During the course of his eventful life, Toney also would become president of the Davenport Chapter of the NAACP, chairman of the Human Rights & Employment Practices of the Iowa Association of Business & Industry and a commissioner on the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

One of Toney’s most notable actions was a discrimination lawsuit he filed in 1942. That year, Toney and his future wife, Ann, decided to stop for ice cream at the Colonial Fountain on the corner of 12th and Harrison in Davenport after attending a movie together. They were refused service because of the color of their skin. Toney filed a complaint, and three years and two trials later, an all-white jury found that the Toneys were the victims of discrimination.

The O’Connors and other activist St. Ambrose priests and students supported and expanded on Toney’s efforts.

St. Ambrose was just alive with a pursuit of social and racial justice.

20

In 1951, a group of St. Ambrose students, with the consultation of Fr. William O’Connor, formed the League for Social Justice. Although the League lasted only a few years, its successor organization, the Catholic Interracial Council (CIC), still exists. Toney was vice president of the former and president of the latter.

In 1949, Msgr. Edward O’Connor organized the Industrial and Human Relations Council, which focused primarily on labor, interracial and economic issues. Using St. Ambrose students as information collectors, surveys were conducted throughout the Davenport community to more clearly discover the plight of the less privileged.

One such survey was conducted among Hispanics living in Cook’s Point. Beginning in 1925, Hispanic families had begun populating Cook’s Point, living in shacks with no running water, electricity or sewer system. For 27 years, the Cook’s Point community remained largely invisible to an indifferent community at large.

In 1952, the Cook’s Point landowner wanted to develop the property and evicted the nearly 300 people living there. The wider community that had ignored Cook’s Point residents now resisted integration of those residents into their own Davenport neighborhoods. Hispanics looking for a place to buy or rent faced open discrimination.

The residents’ plight became a cause for the O’Connors, the League for Social Justice and a group of students, who quickly organized and pursued solutions. One of the latter resulted in 24 St. Ambrose students and seminarians donating their time and labor to help build houses in which former Cook’s Point residents could live.

Msgr. Mottet followed the examples of the O’Connors to become a nationally recognized social justice advocate.

“In those years, no matter what class you took at Ambrose you got an education in social justice,” he said. “A lot of the faculty were priests who grew up in working class families with dads who belonged to labor unions. That was the basis of their life. St. Ambrose was just alive with a pursuit of social and racial justice.

“Through St. Ambrose, I met African-Americans and Mexican-Americans,” he said. “They have remained friends for the rest of my life. They left a deep impact on me. I have dedicated my whole life to working for justice.”

Another St. Ambrose professor and CIC founder, Rev. Francis Duncan, also occupies an important position in the history of civil rights at St. Ambrose.

In 1964, Fr. Duncan spent two weeks in Mississippi, working with other activists to register voters in defiance of Mississippi’s deeply racist voter restriction laws. Upon returning from Mississippi, Fr. Duncan urged his students to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Simultaneously, Fr. Jack Smith was sounding a similar call to action from his students.

A year later, a pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights Movement occurred when 600 marchers in Selma, Ala., were violently attacked by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In response, Rev. King organized a second march and called for people from across the country to join him. Four St. Ambrose students—John Crocitto ’66 EdD, Larry Kamin ’66, PhD, John Jablowski ’67 and Don Knapp ’68—

accompanied Fr. Duncan to Selma.On return to campus, the quartet joined with

others to re-establish a campus chapter of the NAACP. Crocitto was elected president, beginning a lifetime of working toward justice and action.

Crocitto went on to become a high school counselor and an adjunct college professor at the University of Central Florida and Nova Southeastern University. What he learned and experienced at St. Ambrose indelibly stamped him, notably the importance of listening to diverse perspectives. Frs. Duncan and Smith had opposite political perspectives, Crocitto recalled, yet both were deeply committed to civil rights.

“St. Ambrose taught me the importance of not only voicing a concern for an injustice, but the importance of backing up that concern with action,” Crocitto said. “It’s great for people to say they support something because it’s popular, but it’s another to actually do something about it.

“St. Ambrose taught me to do something about it.”

Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, president of St. Ambrose

University, was nearing the end of a long mid-January day

made longer by airline delays when she saw a young man

from the Middle East sitting near a boarding gate at O’Hare

International Airport. He was waiting for the last flight of the

night from Chicago to Moline, Ill.

Alone, visibly travel-weary and looking like he was feeling

a little out of place, the young man was munching on the

gourmet popcorn that only can be found in hustling, bustling

O’Hare along Concourse H of Terminal 3.

“Isn’t that popcorn just the best?” Sr. Joan offered as an

opening to a conversation she was reasonably certain would

lead back to St. Ambrose.

“Yes,” responded Mohammed Alqattan, a 23-year-old

resident of Alhassa, Saudi Arabia. “Would you like some?”

When Sr. Joan asked why he was traveling to Moline, he

explained he was headed for a small, private college in Iowa.

“Have you heard of St. Ambrose?’’ he asked.

by Craig DeVrieze

Popcorn—really good popcorn, especially—can bridge a divide of cultures spanning thousands of miles.

A WORLD of

DIFFERENCE Under the Oaks

21

22

education takes place in residence halls,

in classes when you are sitting next to

someone. It takes place in the cafeteria.

It really is the best way to learn about the

world—by building relationships with people

who are different than you.”

Embracing difference is at the heart of

St. Ambrose’s long-standing core mission

value of diversity, but Sayegh said the

campus was less diverse than he expected

when he arrived at St. Ambrose as a first-

year student in 2007.

As the son of a Palestinian-born father

who first came to the US to attend college,

Sayegh had traveled extensively, and he

enriched his SAU education by studying

abroad in Morocco for a semester, followed

Aziz Alhussain with Munir Sayegh ’11, International Admissions recruiter

Mohammed Alqattan is one of 94 students

from 24 foreign countries pursuing a degree

at St. Ambrose this spring.

That is a number that has grown

incrementally, from eight in the fall of 2009

to 20 in 2011, and from 55 a year ago to

potentially 130 next year. It will grow that

high, at least, if Munir Sayegh ’11 hits his

target goal for international enrollment.

Since rejoining his alma mater in

2013 as its first international admissions

representative, Sayegh has rung up 96,000

frequent flier miles—the near-equivalent

of circling the globe four times—while

searching for students eager to pursue a

post-secondary education at a small, Catholic

university in the middle of America.

Sayegh’s hiring was part of a very

intentional approach to bringing the world to

St. Ambrose while also sending Ambrosians

out beyond the US borders. It is a multi-

faceted international initiative that was

declared a priority by Sr. Joan in her inaugural

address in the fall of 2007.

“It was one of those points that I felt was

important to signal from the very first days of

my presidency,” she said. “We needed to be

more active on the international scene. I felt

that way, and still do, because the students

we are educating today will work in a global

environment.”

In that context, it made sense to help

domestic students gain a more global

perspective by providing a campus that

looked a bit more like the wider world.

“International education doesn’t happen

only by sending students abroad,” explained

Ryan Dye, PhD, director of the SAU Center

for International Education (CIE). “A lot of

T

by a post-graduate year in Egypt as a

Fulbright Scholar.

Two years beyond his graduation, he

returned to a campus more diverse than

the one he had left. With the support of the

administration, Sayegh has worked tirelessly

to add even more international flavor to what

he refers to as “a richer stew.”

he university’s growth in international

enrollment gained momentum in 2010 when

Sr. Joan visited the Saudi Arabian embassy in

Washington, DC, and began a process that

led to a number of SAU academic programs

earning the approval of the Saudi Arabian

Ministry of Higher Education.

23

St. Ambrose students have been

participating in study abroad programs since

the early 1990s and, this year, more than 130

students will earn credit toward their degree

by visiting—and studying—other parts of

the world. By summer’s end, 24 students

will have spent a full semester studying at a

university in another country.

The value of the program is reflected in a

university initiative to double the number of

students studying abroad by the end of the

decade.

“One of the myths about study abroad

is that it is glorified tourism,” said Dye.

“That’s not what we’re about. We are about

integrating a study abroad experience into a

student’s academic program.”

The CIE also is charged with

internationalizing the SAU curriculum. Since

2007, the College of Arts and Sciences has

added an International Studies program and

St. Ambrose also offers majors and minors in

International Business and in Languages and

Modern Cultures.

Beyond the classroom, China in all its

complexities was the focus of the annual

project series in 2011-2012; business students

from India spend a month each summer

immersed in the American Business

Experience; and the Middle East Institute,

coordinated by Dye, was introduced as a

community resource last year.

Acclaimed Iranian gender expert Hamideh

Sedghi, PhD, is on campus this spring as

the Institute’s first visiting scholar. She will

headline a two-day conference in April, the

first of an annual series.

“It really is the best way to learn about the world—by buildingrelationships with people who are different than you.” —Ryan Dye, Director of International Education

T

In 2011, two Saudi students enrolled at

St. Ambrose. When they shared stories of a

very welcoming SAU environment, seven of

their countrymen joined them under the oaks

at their government’s expense the next fall.

Today, 36 students from Saudi Arabia are

enrolled in 33 ministry-approved graduate

and undergraduate programs at St. Ambrose.

Annual visits to various DC embassies by

Sr. Joan, Sayegh and PJ Foley ’01,’05 MOL,

the university’s director of government and

community relations, also have yielded

official approval of SAU programs from the

governments of Brazil, China, Kuwait and

Iraq. Pending are agreements with Oman and

Qatar.

Additionally, the Saudi Ministry of Higher

Education is reviewing an application

to recognize Eastern Iowa Community

Colleges as a provider of an English as a

Second Language program through a unique

partnership with St. Ambrose.

Of course, not every international

student is attending SAU under government

sanction. The “richer stew” described by

Sayegh includes 19 students from the United

Kingdom, eight from China, three each

from Australia, Egypt and Tanzania and a

pair apiece from Canada, India, Venezuela

and Vietnam. There also are students from

Argentina, Botswana, Germany, Hungary,

Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia,

Mexico, Moldova, Myanmar, Nigeria and

Syria.

he work of bringing a more global outlook

to St. Ambrose is not limited to international

recruitment.

Through International Student Advisor

Cathy Toohey and the CIE, the growing

number of international students at

St. Ambrose find ready support for problems

with entry visas, language hurdles, class

schedules and any manner of adjustments

common to life in a foreign country.

Toohey, Dye and Study Abroad

Coordinator Stephanie Loncarich also are

easier to find at the Center for International

Education offices, which have been relocated

from the third floor of Ambrose Hall to a

highly visible place on the lower level of

Cosgrove Hall. In the comfortable lounge

outside the CIE doors, students from across

campus and around the globe can find

opportunities to mix, said John Cooper, vice

president for enrollment management and a

chief proponent of international recruitment.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Alqattan happily

is settling in at St. Ambrose, even though

he conceded he had doubts that evening at

O’Hare. Those quickly were assuaged by his

chance meeting with Sr. Joan, who helped

him replace a damaged boarding pass with

another and assured him he would receive a

warm and lasting welcome at St. Ambrose, a

place she knows quite well indeed.

On arrival in Moline, where fellow

students were waiting to drive him to

campus, Alqattan stopped to thank his fellow

traveler for significantly lessening his fear.

“I was confused about if it was a good

choice that I made,” he said. “When I met

Sr. Joan, I knew it was a good choice. It feels

like family here.”

Learn more about the Center for International Studies and international admissions at sau.edu/scene

24

an SAU trustee emeritus and a retired John Deere executive,

is a champion for all things diverse.Who better, then, to help lead SAU’s commitment to diversity? Collins, a 1969 St. Ambrose grad, has held a number of

influential positions in the diversity realm. Highlights include: Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinator, Deere & Co.; Director, Affirmative Action, Deere & Co.; Director, Community Relations, Deere & Co.; first full-time Director, Rock Island County (IL) Project NOW; former Chairperson, Human Rights & Employment Practices Committee, Iowa Association of Business and Industry; former Commissioner, Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

The list goes on. So, too, does Collins’ list of achievements and involvement at St. Ambrose, where he served as a part-time counselor to minority students in 1998.

In 2007, Collins helped establish the university’s Diversity Work Group at the direction of Sr. Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, SAU’s then-newly inaugurated president. The work group built upon the efforts of a Collins-assisted task force established a few years earlier by Sr. Joan’s predecessor, Ed Rogalski, PhD.

“Sr. Joan said, ‘Let’s make some things happen,”’ remembered Collins, who subsequently participated in the university’s long-range strategic planning and almost single-handedly developed a list of 101 strategic initiatives related to diversity that became part of St. Ambrose’s 2020 Vision Plan.

The appointment of Ryan Saddler ’95, ’06 MEd as SAU’s first director of diversity in 2013 was critical among those 101 initiatives and, Saddler said, the group’s work continues with Collins as a partner and lead proponent.

alumniPROFILE

by Steven Lillybeck

Alum’s Commitment makes things happen

Jim Collins,

25

Accomplishments include a steady increase in diversity enrollment numbers; the creation of activities specifically for international and minority students; changes to curriculum; and the development of community partnerships such as creating Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Davenport’s Marquette Street.

“There are a number of things we have done to keep diversity on the agenda, and Jim has been catalyst for much of it,” Saddler said, adding that Collins has been particularly instrumental in progress toward fully endowing the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship program.

Collins is a very committed man, especially in regards to improving his alma mater.

“That’s because Ambrose has done so much for me personally and professionally,” he said. “My commitment to give back to St. Ambrose is never-ending, because the benefits of what I learned at St. Ambrose are never-ending.”

Collins is driven in part to create opportunity for African- Americans, but he also fully understands that a culture of diversity goes well beyond race.

“I’m a black man,” Collins said, “that’s who I am, and that’s my reference. But when you talk diversity you’re talking culture, nationality, ethnicity, race, gender and a lot more.

“All of this is part of what the Diversity Work Group is about: To be able to embrace diversity in order to grow and then be able to go out into a very diverse world with that knowledge. If we don’t do that for our students, we’re not doing them the service they deserve as part of the St. Ambrose community.”

Learn more about the Diversity Work Group at sau.edu/scene

My commitment to give back to St. Ambrose is never-ending because the benefits of what I learned at St. Ambrose are never-ending.”

26

alumniNEWS

Ambrosians Changed by

Fulbright Experiences

by Ted Stephens III ’01, ’04

2727

A former Fulbright senior lecturer herself, Pitz taught American and British literature in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. She said the program has the ability to change students, merely by going through the application process.

“Most of the students haven’t written research or grant proposals before,” she said. “I get to work alongside them as they discover what it is they want to do and help them match that to a country that can best put those dreams into practice.”

Samantha (Lee) Barkley ’10 is an industrial engineering graduate who traveled to Trinidad and Tobago to research the continuity of care for HIV patients and determine the effectiveness of a new electronic medical records system. She said the Fulbright became far less about the day-to-day work and more about the cultural experiences she encountered.

“Everything I did there had to do with how people in the clinics adapted to change,” she said. “I came home understanding better how I adapted, too. A lot of the problems we think we have are really ‘first-world problems.’ Too often we don’t understand what it is like to deal with a water shortage, no electricity, or an incurable disease. The ways I approach my life, my work and my relationships today are different because of Fulbright.”

Larson expects to come home changed as well. “I hope I can give to others as much as I’m certain will be given to me just by being there,” she said.

Learn more about SAU Fulbright Scholars and follow Erin Larson’s blog from Malaysia at sau.edu/scene

Just days before boarding a plane in January, Erin

Larson ’14 knew she would spend the next several

months of her life teaching English someplace on the

Southeast Asian island of Malaysia.

But that’s all she knew.“I don’t even know where I’ll be living, or what

language I’ll need to learn and speak yet,” she said from her home in Mokena, Ill. “It is most definitely scary, but absolutely exciting. I’m ready for this new adventure.”

As St. Ambrose University’s newest Fulbright Scholar, she has spent the last year researching the educational and political system of Malaysia, the people and their culture, and getting advice from the other seven Fulbright Scholars who have been selected from St. Ambrose over the past nine years.

“When I was applying for the program, Munir Sayegh ’11, who traveled to Egypt on his Fulbright, told me to propose an experience that I would be deeply passionate about—and one that would be completely new to me,” Larson said. “As I have traveled to places like India and Ecuador through St. Ambrose programs, I have been the beneficiary of the rich cultures and traditions of people I never expected to come face to face with. Now, I hope to extend that to others.”

Barbara Pitz, PhD, professor of English and St. Ambrose’s Fulbright application adviser, has been guiding young Ambrosians through the process for more than a decade. She said the Fulbright program, the oldest and most prestigious international exchange program in the US, offers recipients a truly life-changing experience.

“These students are throwing themselves into new, unchartered cultures—often following the customs of the country in dress, in diet and in everyday life,” Pitz said. “They get a whole different perspective.”

“As I have traveled to places like India and

Ecuador through St. Ambrose programs,

I have been the beneficiary of the rich

cultures and traditions of people I never

expected to come face to face with.

Now, I hope to extend that to others.”

—Erin Larson

28

alumniNEWS

A gift through your will establishes your

legacy at St. Ambrose University and

strengthens the university for future

generations of Ambrosians.

For more information, contact the

Office of Advancement at

563/333-6080 or www.sau.edu/advancement

Legacy Giving is Timeless

29

Focusing on a passion for political science he developed while an activist for voters’ rights over two decades, Pollard earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Alabama and a master’s and doctorate from Indiana University. He joined the St. Ambrose faculty in 1979 as a professor of political science.

In his brief St. Ambrose career, Pollard influenced countless eager learners, particularly minority students like Davis, who is black.

“He taught me there was more you can do,” said Davis, who retired as a colonel after 26 years in the Army and now lives in Fairfax Station, Va., and serves as the CEO of Davis-Page Management Systems. “He told me, ‘Take what you have experienced and take what you have learned at St. Ambrose and in life, and reach out to help someone.”’

Davis honors those lessons by changing lives of young men and women, some from circumstances not all that different from those he counseled in the Quad Cities. He has established apprenticeship programs at his company for students, as well as a scholarship program that matches major corporations with high schoolers interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

“That’s the type of thing Dr. Pollard instilled in me,” said Davis.

Davis also is a leading donor to the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship fund and is active in a campaign to fully endow the scholarship by raising $1 million by the end of the decade.

Learn more about the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship at sau.edu/scene

alumniNEWS

When Mike Davis ’81 was asked to counsel Quad Cities youths being lured by gang activity in the late 1970s, the Sunday school teacher and then-Army lieutenant quickly turned to his own mentor: Freeman Pollard, PhD.

Remembered Davis, who studied political science under Pollard while pursuing his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree: “I told him I didn’t know if I could do this. He said, ‘Not only can you do it, I’m going to help you do it.’”

A civil rights activist, military veteran and the first black professor at St. Ambrose, Pollard spent just nine years on campus but his legacy lives through the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship fund. Since its inception upon his retirement in 1988, nearly 500 students have received aid from the fund.

Minority students of any background may apply for scholarship assistance, and Pollard’s truest legacy lies in a question applicants must answer: When you hear the word leadership, what comes to mind?

For Davis, the answer might well be the measured yet authoritative voice of Freeman Pollard.

“What I found was a source of information, strength and wisdom,” he said of his frequent meetings with Pollard outside the classroom. “He was taking all those things he had lived through and helped me understand where I needed to go.”

Raised in the Jim Crow south in Mobile, Ala., Pollard, who died in 2004, did indeed pack a lot of living into his 81 years. He was a US Marine Corps veteran of both World War II and the Korean War and carried mail in Mobile for 20 years before a fateful decision to return to college at the age of 48.

The Gift of GivingFreeman Pollard Showed Army Officer How to Mentor

“What I found was a source of information, strength and wisdom.

He was taking all those things he had lived through

and helped me understand where I needed to go.”

30

classNOTES

60The Sixties

The Hon. Thomas Dunn ’64 was

appointed to the Illinois Gaming

Board by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Dunn

served as an Illinois state senator

from 1972 to 1997 and was an

associate judge for Will County, Ill.,

from 1997 to 2005.

Jim TeBockhorst ’65 has relocated

from Davenport to Broomfield,

Colo., to be close to his family and

four grandchildren.

Recently retired after 45 years as a

baseball coach and educator, Jim

Murphy ’73 resides in Peoria, Ariz.

He is an associate scout for the Los

Angeles Dodgers and assists with

the Arizona Collegiate Wood Bat

summer league. In 2004, Murphy

was inducted into the Iowa High

School Baseball Coaches Hall of

Fame.

70The Seventies

Don Schaeffer ’76 has been

promoted to Davenport Chief

of Police. Schaeffer joined the

Davenport Police Department in 1971

and during his 43-year tenure has

instituted a number of programs,

including the first street crime unit

in the Midwest and a Quad City drug

and burglary task force.

80The Eighties

Steven Vandemore ’83 has been

named president of Southern

Imperial Inc., in Rockford, Ill., which

manufactures fixture and display

solutions for the retail industry.

Madelyn (Doty) Flaherty ’87 has

retired from a 25-year career in social

services and family counseling.

Wangard Partners, Inc., a

commercial real estate company

in the Greater Milwaukee area, has

hired Peter Ginn ’87 as senior vice

president for industrial investments.

Bettie Truitt ’87, PhD, has been

appointed president of Black Hawk

College, Moline, Ill. Truitt joined

Black Hawk in 1989, when she began

teaching mathematics. She also

has served the community college

as interim dean of instruction and

academic support, vice president

of instruction and executive vice

president.

Michael Aguilar ’89 MBA, president

and co-founder of Innocorp Ltd.,

was inducted into the Missouri

University of Science and

Technology Academy of Computer

Science in October. The academy

honors outstanding computer

scientists for their contributions to

the profession and their involvement

with the Missouri academy’s

students and faculty.

90The Nineties

Penny Foy ’90 MBA is the business

manager for Townsquare Media.

Foy lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She

is the financial officer for the Cedar

Rapids chapter of the American

Association of University Women

and is a member of American Heart

Association Circle of Red and the

Cedar Rapids League of Women

Voters.

RubinBrown has named Rob

Lewis ’90 as its chief information

officer. Lewis will be responsible

for aligning IT strategy with the

business, developing the technology

vision and strategy, and providing

innovative thought leadership to

senior firm leaders. RubinBrown

is one of the nation’s largest

accounting and business consulting

firms.

David Miller ’91 has been promoted

to assistant vice president of

special investigations for Grinnell

Mutual Reinsurance Co. Since

joining the company in 2002, he has

served as workers’ compensation

adjuster, special investigator and

manager and director of special

investigations.

Tricia (Mann) Berry ’92 received

a doctorate of philosophy of

education and organizational

leadership from North Central

University. Berry is director of

clinical and practicum programs for

Kaplan University.

Bryan Hanson ’92 MBA has been

promoted to senior vice president

of Exelon Generation and president

and chief nuclear officer of Exelon

Nuclear. As president and CNO,

Hanson takes over operational and

organizational responsibility for

the largest fleet of nuclear power

stations in the nation, with more

than 11,000 employees and 23

reactors at 14 locations in Illinois,

Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey,

New York and Pennsylvania.

Mary (Krauska) Javoroski ’92 is

an online admissions counselor for

Concordia University of Wisconsin.

The Missouri Partnership has named

Subash Alias ’94 interim chief

executive officer. Alias has been

the partnership’s vice president of

recruitment since 2011. The Missouri

Partnership is a nonprofit economic

development organization.

Carol Triebel ’94, ’99 MBA has been

appointed as an alderwoman for

Moline, Ill.

Todd Mourning ’96 MPT has been

appointed to an aldermanic seat in

Lincoln, Ill.

NAI Ruhl Commercial Co.

announced Chris Wilkins ’96, vice

president and director, has been

inducted into the 2014 Midwest

Commercial Real Estate Hall of

Fame. The award honors those who

have the vision and leadership to

attain significant achievements

in the industry and reshape their

respective communities. Wilkins

also received NAI Ruhl Commercial

Company’s Top Producer of the Year

Award.

HCA announced the appointment of

Lyn Ketelsen ’98 as the company’s

first chief patient experience

officer. Ketelsen will be responsible

for leveraging best practices that

have been developed at HCA’s

166 affiliated hospitals and other

healthcare providers throughout the

company. HCA is one of the nation’s

leading providers of healthcare

services.

00The Zeros

Tina (Droessler) Rodriguez ’01

is a PT/ATP seating specialist for

Mobility Healthcare in Texas.

Derrick Nelson ’02 is the varsity

assistant offensive line coach for

Rochester High School, which

earned its fifth straight Illinois Class

4A state football championship in

November. Nelson has taught and

coached at Rochester High School

for 12 years and resides in Rochester

with his wife, Tara (Hanke) Nelson

’02, ’03 MOT, and their children,

Brody, Macklin and Braylee.

Great Southern Bank has promoted

Stefanie Johnston ’02 to business

banking officer and VIP banking

manager for the Quad Cities market.

Joe Barrer ’03 is the top assistant

coach for Truman State University’s

men’s basketball program. He

previously was head boy’s basketball

coach at Assumption High School in

Davenport.

The ALS Group announced Michael

Lubben ’03 MBA has joined the

firm as chief operating officer. The

ALS Group is an independent risk

management and insurance advisory

firm that serves as a client advocate.

Erin Watson ’03 MSW, a licensed

clinical social worker, is celebrating

31

classNOTES

the one-year anniversary of opening

her practice, Watson Center for

Wellness in Clinton, Iowa.

Heartland Community Health Clinic

announced James Kerns, MD, ’04

MBA-HC has joined its medical staff.

Kerns is board-certified in obstetrics

and gynecology and will serve as

the resident training director at the

Heartland-Armstrong location in

Peoria, Ill. Kerns received his medical

degree from the University of Illinois

College of Medicine at Chicago.

Rachael Padavich ’05 is the

manager for River Cities

Engineering, Inc., Davenport.

Stephanie (Stapes) Staley ’05 is the

president of TIME That Matters in

Urbandale, Iowa.

Mary Blick ’06 is the human

resource associate for Advanta

IRA, a self-directed retirement plan

administrator that provides tax-

deferred and tax-free investment

opportunities.

Amanda Elkins ’06 is an assistant

supervising attorney for the Student

Legal Services at the University of

Iowa.

Catherine Foy ’06 is an English and

writing tutor at Lane Community

College, Eugene, Ore.

Amanda Gregor ’06, ’07 MOT is

the owner of Peek-A-Boo Pediatric

Therapy in Littleton, Colo.

Bre Scherler ’06 has been appointed

the Davenport Assumption High

School volleyball coach.

Wendy Klein ’07 MBA is the owner

of a lingerie boutique, Bella Ragazza,

in Burlington, Iowa.

David Adams ’08, PhD, is a

counseling psychologist for dental

students and residents at the

University of Iowa. He graduated

from Ball State University in Muncie,

Ind., with a doctorate of philosophy

in counseling psychology degree in

December.

A Pioneer of Chinese-American RelationsPatrick Welsh ’64 understood early in life that learning another language—or in his case many languages—could open entirely new worlds. And so, as a teenager growing up on the west side of Chicago, he’d often pay visits to a gentleman who ran a bookstore in Chinatown.

“He taught me Mandarin—which I came to learn later was a hillbilly version of Mandarin,” Welsh said from his home outside Atlanta, where he is retired after an international banking career that brought him face-to-face with Chinese leaders during the Deng Xiaoping era.

After graduating from St. Ambrose, he took a job with Prentice Hall, selling textbooks. During a sales visit at the University of Kansas, he met Professor Richard Spear, PhD, the head of the Oriental Languages and Literature Department.

“I was very interested in what he was doing, particularly with the tonal aspects of oriental languages, and soon quit my job and enrolled in the program,” Welsh said.

He graduated in just 18 months, and eventually took a position with Northern Trust Company in Chicago. They were looking for Americans who spoke the languages of countries with which the bank wanted to work. China happened to be at the top of their list.

“I learned how to read credit balance and income statements, and how other countries kept their books—but that was not what established such strong relationships with our Chinese counterparts,” he said. “The Chinese were more open with me because we’d speak

about their culture and politics, and not just the transactions we may have been there to discuss. It developed trust.”

That approach tied directly to his St. Ambrose education. A second-generation Ambrosian scholar, Welsh dove into political science, and minored in both German and Russian. It wasn’t until after he left the school—and came face-to-face with some of China’s most powerful leaders —that he understood the value of his education.

“My professors said a lot of things that didn’t really sink in until after I had left Ambrose,” he said. “I’d be in the Far East, and I’d have these moments in which I’d realize, ‘My gosh, they were spot on about history and politics and more.’”

Today, he writes for China Insight, a publication started by Greg Hugh ’64, a former St. Ambrose classmate. He still travels to Asia and spent a semester teaching English at Sichuan University, where prior to giving a speech, he was introduced as a “pioneer of Chinese-American relations.”

“The truth is I have always just wanted to learn more from others,” he said.

32

Michele Herlein ’09 DBA has

joined Barge, Waggoner, Sumner

& Cannon, Inc., as the chief human

resources officer. Herlein previously

spent eight years with Bridgestone

Americas as vice president of talent,

organization and culture. Barge,

Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon, Inc.

is a professional services firm that

includes engineers, architects,

landscape architects and surveyors

employed in offices in Tennessee,

Alabama, Ohio and Georgia.

10The Teens

Andrew Benson ’11 is the guest

services manager and director of

sales at Holiday Inn Express in

St. Croix Valley, Wis. Benson was

also awarded a two-year artist

fellowship with the St. Croix Festival

Theatre.

Miles Chiotti ’11 has accepted a

position as legislative assistant for

Congressman Rodney Davis (D-Ill.)

in Washington, DC.

The National University of Health

Sciences in Lombard, Ill., has

promoted Bridget LeMaire ’12 to

graduate admissions counselor.

Beth Tinsman ’12 MSITM has joined

the Northwest Bank & Trust board

of directors. Tinsman is the founder

of Twin State Technical Services,

which provides programming, IT

management, website, and online

solutions.

Megan McIntyre ’13 MOL has joined

the WHBF-TV sales team in the

Quad Cities.

Amanda Streu ’13 works as a special

education teacher for the Children’s

Village West in Davenport.

Alum Keeps His Eye on the WorldMatt Golden ’13 keeps his eye on the world as a global incident analyst.

As an employee of Allied Barton Security Services assigned to John Deere, Golden monitors news and information from around the globe that could impact John Deere facilities and its employees.

From small local news events to worldwide terrorist attacks, he stays aware of what is happening wherever Deere employees travel or work. Using a system that tracks

their itineraries and contact information, Golden helps them steer clear of danger.

“Any given day, events, big or small, can have an effect on our travelers and facilities,” said the young alum, who tracks real-time news reports and social media such as Twitter and Facebook. “It’s my job to know what’s happening and assess the risk to Deere’s employees and operations.”

Golden found his place at St. Ambrose after attending two other colleges. He said he would have never guessed he would find the right fit at St. Ambrose, especially since his family home is just a few miles from campus.

He credits the St. Ambrose Political Science Department with providing skills he uses every day, noting Professor William Parsons, PhD, the department chair, “didn’t tell us how to think, but more how to digest information.

“Political science was papers and analysis, which is exactly what I do now,” he said. “So by luck or by skill, I ended up with a job that is perfect for what they taught me. I feel very blessed.”

Golden said the reputation St. Ambrose has cultivated within the business community strengthened his resume.

“I’ve found that when you mention you graduated from Ambrose, it carries some influence,” he said. “St. Ambrose professors and staff realize they are here to help you get where you

want to be.”

Learn more about the Political Science Department at sau.edu/scene

classNOTES

■Marriages

Bryce Bender ’97 and Zach Carlton,

Des Moines, Iowa

Jim Finn ’07, ’09 MBA and Amy

Orendorff ’09, Davenport, Iowa

Pat Olsen ’09 and Megan Guilfoyle,

Long Grove, Iowa

Paul Sejnoha ’09 and Rachael

Peterson ’10, Huntley, Ill.

Breanne Christiansen ’11, ’12 DPT

and Bill Cinnamon, Kewanee, Ill.

Allie McLaughlin ’11 MBA and Joe

Conklin ’12 MBA, Davenport

Nakia Schmidt ’11, ’13 MOT and Ben

Tuttle ’12, Davenport

Camri Wolf ’11 and Tyler McGinn,

Westminster, Colo.

Erin Gould ’12, ’13 DPT and John

Baker, Littleton, Colo.

Benjamin Ulfers ’13 and Sara

Strever, Cedar Falls, Iowa

■Births

Jocelyn (Kandl) Metzger ’00, ’01

MOT and her husband, Ron, are

happy to announce the birth of

daughter Emily on Sept. 19, 2013.

Tina (Droessler) Rodriguez ’01

and her husband, Lenin, welcomed

daughter Eliana Grace on Nov. 10,

2014.

Shawn ’05 and Alicia (Levi) Giffin

’05 celebrated the birth of daughter

Amelia on Oct. 24, 2014. Amelia

joins her big brothers, Joe and Levi.

Stephanie (Stapes) Staley ’05 and

her husband, Rex, are the proud

parents of daughter Meredith, born

on Dec. 19, 2012.

Julie (Restarski) Stout ’06 and

her husband, Ryan, are pleased to

announce the birth of son Holden on

Dec. 29, 2013.

33

Shalan (Danker) Knapke ’07 and

her husband, Kyle, welcomed

daughter June on July 8, 2014. June

was greeted by her sister, Matilda.

Andrea (Bristol) Gentry ’11 MBA

and her husband, Jason, are happy to

announce the birth of son Cannon,

born on Dec. 13, 2013.

■Deaths

Ruth (Klauer) Voss ’39, Escondido,

Calif., June 26, 2014

John Curley ’40, Panorama City,

Calif., Nov. 21, 2014

John Meenan ’44, Rock Island, Ill.,

Dec. 27, 2014

Theodore Grevas ’46, Rock Island,

Ill., Dec. 10, 2014

Joseph Sesbeau ’47, Bettendorf,

Iowa, Dec. 20, 2014

Rev. George “Pat” Thompson ’48,

Davenport, Jan. 11, 2015

John “Bill” Coleman ’49, Stockton,

Calif., Oct. 12, 2014

Richard “Dick” Froeschle ’50,

DeWitt, Iowa, Dec. 15, 2014

David Lanaghan ’50, Davenport,

Dec. 30, 2014

Carlos “Lynchy” Lynch ’50, New

Canaan, Conn., Jan. 19, 2015

Charles “Chuck” Ruhl ’50,

Bettendorf, Iowa, Dec. 8, 2014

Rev. Wilfred Sheehy ’50, Santa

Rosa, Calif., Oct. 21, 2014

John Sherwin ’51, LeClaire, Iowa,

Oct. 5, 2014

Russell “Buck” Grundy ’52, Wausau,

Wis., Dec. 5, 2014

Stephen Sherry ’52, Ladera Ranch,

Calif., Dec. 23, 2014

Phyllis (O’Brien) Glowacki ’56,

Davenport, Jan. 20, 2015

Patrick Doyle ’57, Orange, Calif.,

Oct. 5, 2014

Clark Cox ’58, Coralville, Iowa, Jan.

16, 2015

Sally (Shade) Johnson ’58, Boise,

Idaho, Nov. 18, 2014

Edward “Ed” Zack ’58, Davenport,

Dec. 14, 2014

James “Jim” Malay ’59, Hudson, Ill.,

Jan. 24, 2015

Sr. Catherine “Katie” McHugh ’59,

Dubuque, Iowa, Sept. 25, 2014

Richard Hanssen ’60, Blue Grass,

Iowa, Dec. 27, 2013

Jacqueline “Jacque” (Lambrecht)

Rader ’60, Geneva, Ill., Dec. 24, 2014

Kenneth Brockhouse ’61,

Bettendorf, Iowa, Nov. 9, 2014

Donald Denten ’61, Moline, Ill., Jan.

12, 2015

Julius Crocker ’64, Peoria, Ill., Jan.

11, 2015

Richard VanDeVoorde ’65, Rock

Island, Ill., Dec. 25, 2014

Robert Verdun ’69, Findlay, Ill., Dec.

2, 2014

James Gibbs ’68, Scottsdale, Ariz.,

Nov. 9, 2014

Bernard “Barney” O’Brien ’72, West

Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 6, 2014

Jane (Domeraski) Hart ’73,

Davenport, Oct. 28, 2014

Andrew “Andy” Apathy ’74,

Leawood, Kan., Dec. 22, 2014

Craig Reimers ’75, Dublin, Calif., Jan.

3, 2015

David Goetz ’76, Cedar Falls, Iowa,

Dec. 29, 2014

Douglas Gregan ’78, Terrebonne,

Ore., Nov. 1, 2014

Raymond Becker ’79, New

Braunfels, Texas, Dec. 25, 2014

Thu Nguyen ’81, San Jose, Calif.,

Nov. 24, 2014

William “Bill” Sherwood ’84,

Davenport, Jan. 14, 2015

Joseph “Joe” Guise ’86, ’92 MBA,

Davenport, Nov. 28, 2014

Donald Hanley ’88, Brimfield, Ill.,

Nov. 15, 2014

Todd Asher ’89, West Des Moines,

Iowa, Dec. 30, 2014

Fannie (Bobo) Brown ’96,

Davenport, Oct. 8, 2014

Matthew Hoffmiller ’99, ’02 MEd,

Rock Falls, Ill., Nov. 9, 2014

Suzanne Golden ’02 (Hon), Rock

Island, Ill., Jan. 23, 2015

Former Faculty/Staff

Vidyapati Singh, Davenport, Nov.

12, 2014

Help us keep you informed The St. Ambrose University Office

of Alumni Engagement is eager

to keep your contact information

current. If you have a seasonal

address in addition to the one we

currently have on record, or if you

have recently relocated, let us

know. Contact us at 800-SAU-

ALUM, alumni@sau.edu, or visit

sau.edu/scene/newaddress.

518 West Locust Street

Davenport, Iowa 52803

What’s New? Let us know what

you’ve been up to. Drop us a note at

Alumni Engagement, St. Ambrose

University, 518 W. Locust St.,

Davenport, Iowa 52803, or go online

to share updates. Include your full

name, class year and phone number

or email where we can contact you

to verify your information.

online extra: tell us what’s new at

sau.edu/keepintouch

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