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Ancilla College News - Current Events Ancilla College and Plymouth High School teamed up this week to host the "Junior Job Shadow Program." Chandler Kring and Alisha Risner, both juniors at Plymouth, had the opportunity to shadow Ancilla science instructors Kristin Korcha and Dr. John Fogl, respectively. The students observed the instructors preparing for class, participated in the lectures and lab projects, and also had the opportunity to interview and ask questions of the mentors. Both Kring and Risner found the experience to an eye-opening one. "Coming here, I can find out what it will be like in college," said Kring, who is looking to enter the field of genetics. "I'm used to high school, and this is really different. There is so much more responsibility on the students in college than there is in high school. "It's really interesting seeing what people do and the way they do their work. (The instructors) have a lot of paper work and research to do, as well as preparing exams for their classes. It brings a new light to all the things teachers do for students." Risner, who is looking to study forensic science, feels more students should take advantage of the opportunity. "I think they need to get a feel for college and see how things are," said Risner. "It's a little overwhelming. Some of the lessons I didn't know, some of it I did." According to Fogl, the program is very beneficial to the students. "It's a good thing – I wish they had it when I was their age," said Fogl. "It's good experience for the student to see what it's really like in college and what to expect for the next 20 to 40 years. I never got that stuff. I had to learn with no guidance." Lampen Lecture Series Examines 'Just War' Fr. Ed Reutz, a retired priest in the Fort Wayne/South Bend Diocese, was the guest speaker at Ancilla College's first Lampen Lecture Series of the academic year. Reutz's topic, "Just War Theory", examined the principles that define a "just" war and how they may apply to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In his presentation, Reutz cited the four principles as laid out by St. Augustine in his book "City of God", which include the theory that war should be used as a last resort when more peaceful alternatives are not effective. "As citizens of the United States and as Christians, it is important we have some principles we live by when it comes to following decisions made by national leaders regarding war," said Reutz. "This is a very important issue, very relevant to today. What decisions do we have to make, both about the Iraqi and Afghani wars in the future?" Reutz cited that, historically, the Catholic Church had been founded on the principles of peace making and non-violence, as demonstrated by Jesus Christ. He continues that this standpoint was compromised when Church and state joined together, and only as recently as the Vietnam Conflict began reverting back to its roots. The Lampen Lecture Series is held in the Evergreen Room of the Lindenwood Retreat and Conference Center, part of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Ministry Center in Donaldson, Indiana. The theme for the lecture series is "Thinking With a Global Mind." The series was designed to combine the universality of the Catholic Church, the international character of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, who sponsor Ancilla College, and the Earth Charter to promote thinking beyond one's own experiences and interests. New Ancilla Dean Offers Vision for the College
But while she may not have everyone’s first name memorized yet, the new Dean of Academic and Student Services does have a firm understanding of where the College is at this point in history and where its strengths lie. Adopting a sort of if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it mentality, Dr. Blount has promised to continue working on the strengths of the College in her vision for the Donaldson-based campus. “What I hope to achieve is something we probably already have – a quality institution for students along with career opportunities and seamless transfer opportunities to other schools. To do that, we need to increase the quality and number of articulation agreements and strengthen relationships with other schools that have not yet looked at us.” Blount arrives to Ancilla after working the past 11 years at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, OR, and will serve as the first permanent Dean of Academic and Student Services under second-year president Dr. Ron May. She has worked in several capacities while at Southwestern Oregon, with her most recent title as Assistant to the Vice President of Instruction and Student Services. In all, Blount has spent the past 23 years in higher education with stints at the following colleges: Clovis Community College in Clovis, NM; Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, PA; and Matanuska-Susitna College in Palmer, AK. Blount, who has a Doctorate in Community College Leadership from Oregon State University, also said she would like to see more opportunities offered for Ancilla students to get involved in the local community, either through service opportunities, internships, or practicum required for specific courses. “They, as citizens, have the opportunity to positively impact those around them,” said Dr. Blount. “With the Millennium generation, I find they’re eager to give and share of themselves, but lack the processes to make that happen. “The intent is for students to see someone outside of their socioeconomic and diversity levels.” Ancilla College Receives Gift, Land Lease from Poor Handmaids The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ congregation has given Ancilla College a $200,000 matching grant for unrestricted gifts in the 2007/2008 fiscal year. The Poor Handmaids founded Ancilla College in 1937 and continue to sponsor the College today. In addition to the grant, the Poor Handmaids have also given Ancilla College approximately 15 acres in a long term lease to build student housing. This will be located at the intersection of Upas and 9B Rd., just north of the College’s athletic fields. Ancilla College president Dr. Ron May described the gift as “very generous”. It will enable the College to seek gifts from other donors which can be matched by the Poor Handmaids. The combination of gifts will enable to College to provide scholarships and grants to current students, particularly those who have great need. “The Ancilla College Board of Trustees, in its May meeting, approved a new long range plan for the College,” said Dr. May in a written statement. “The plan resulted from a year long study of the future of the College. Strengthening our ability to cultivate and receive annual gifts in support of the College is one of the major initiatives of the plan. The Challenge Gift is the first step toward achieving the goal. “The second and third major goals are expanding out enrollment and strengthening our student life program,” he continued. “The long term lease on the land enables us to design and build student housing and expand our services to students through a student life center. The on-going, generous commitment of funding and land from the Poor Handmaids is critical to the implementation and completion of the long term strategic plan. On behalf of the College Board, faculty, staff, and students, I thank the Poor Handmaids.” “We understand the needs of Ancilla College to develop student housing,” added Sister Nora Hahn, PHJC Provincial. “The growth of the College will enable it to better serve the students who come from the local area as well as those from farther away.” Ancilla Graduate Receives Doctorate from Mayo Clinic To listen to Bonnie Schmidt speak of her daughter, Lisa, it isn’t hard to detect the pride in her voice. After all, she’ll tell you, it wasn’t long ago that Lisa was a young farm girl, who lived in Culver and took care of horses. It’s this simple image that made May 25, 2007, such an amazing day for the Schmidt family. On that day, Bonnie and her husband, Tom, watched Lisa receive her doctorate in physical therapy from one of the most prestigious institutions in the United States – Mayo Clinic. Lisa was one of only 21 students in the graduating class, a testament to the rigorous demands of the program. Ancilla College professor Dr. John Fogl was there too, watching one of his most prized students complete a journey that began years ago under his watch at the Donaldson-based campus. “She started here in fall of ’98,” said Dr. Fogl. “She took my anatomy and physiology class and right away the science faculty recognized her abilities and we made her into a lab assistant on work study. We trained her to help with anatomy, physiology, chemistry, microbiology – all the preparations. She was an outstanding student, in fact, the first recipient of the Outstanding Science Student Award, given by the Science Department. That has only been given twice in 10 years.” After graduating from Ancilla, Schmidt finished up her undergraduate studies at IU-South Bend. Despite being in a new school, Schmidt often returned to Ancilla, where she received tutoring from faculty members such as Dr. Fogl, Dr. Charles LaFrance, and Mr. Nick Servis to help her along in her classes. When she graduated from IU-South Bend, it was these same faculty members who wrote letters of recommendation to get her into the Mayo Clinic program. “It was not an easy road,” said Schmidt. “It was very hard. Ancilla was great, and it put me in the right direction of where I wanted to go. I finished my masters up at IU-SB, literally had just graduated, with no spectacular awards, nothing. But I applied to Mayo, found out they had a physical therapy school, thought ‘What the heck’, gave it a shot, and a few days later my parents got a phone call for me to come up for an interview.” Since graduating, Schmidt took a position at Family Physical Therapy, an orthopedic clinic in Rochester, MN. Here, she works people of all ages, from children to the elderly, who suffer from muscular skeletal disorders. Still, despite living several states away and having attended two more schools since Ancilla, her relationship with the Ancilla Science Department, including Dr. Fogl, has remained strong, and she has remained grateful for the attention she received during her time there. “Dr. Fogl treated me as an equal,” said Schmidt. “He never, ever treated me like a student, or like a typical student. Obviously, I had him as both a professor and as a boss, but he would always come up and ask ‘hey, how are you doing’ instead of looking down at me. He earned my respect. He didn’t just come in and say ‘I’m your professor’ or ‘I’m your boss’. I ended up just trusting him and asking him anything and everything. I can honestly say the same for Mr. Servis and Dr. LaFrance too.” “We knew she was material, that she could do well there,” added Dr. Fogl. “Whatever she wanted to do she could do. Sure enough, there it is. It’s taken her nine years, but she’s finally finished getting to where she wanted to go. Now she is a very self-assured, self-reliant person who is confident in her abilities.” Ancilla Welcomes New Dean Ancilla College honored two of their own on Wednesday, as faculty and staff bid farewell to Interim Academic Dean Dr. Julianne Maher and simultaneously welcomed her replacement, Dr. Joanna Blount, in what was billed as a “farewell-welcome reception”. Dr. Blount, who comes to Ancilla after working the past eleven years at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Oregon, will serve as the Dean of Academic and Student Services under second-year president Dr. Ron May. She worked in several capacities while at Southwestern Oregon, with her most recent title as Assistant to the Vice President of Instruction and Student Services. In all, Dr. Blount has spent the past twenty-three years in higher education at Clovis Community College in Clovis, New Mexico; Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania; and Matanuska-Susitna College in Palmer, Alaska. Dr. Blount, who has a Doctorate in Community College Leadership from Oregon State University, is looking forward to joining the college community. She said, “I’m thrilled to be coming to Ancilla. One of the things that has impressed me the most is the commitment to each student’s success by the faculty and staff. It is wonderful to see how much everyone cares about the development of our students both academically and personally.” Meanwhile, Dr. Maher is currently preparing to return to her home state of West Virginia. Jokingly referring to herself as a “Rent-a-Dean”, she proved herself far more important to Ancilla than the title would suggest. During her time in Donaldson, she was heavily involved in the strategic planning process, led the College’s self-study for reaccreditation, helped establish an institutional review board, worked towards forming more articulation agreements with various four-year institutions, and also worked closely with both the Admissions and Advising Center. Dr. Maher, who specializes in the study of Linguistics, plans to take a year off and refocus on a research project twenty years in the making, involving the study of a dying language variety on the island of St. Barthelemy, located just south of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. “It has been a fun year,” said Dr. Maher. “What Ancilla has brought to me is an understanding of two-year institutions, since this is my first time in one. I was able to learn more about this community and what the educational needs are. I was able to learn about the Poor Handmaids as a community and learn to appreciate what a unique women’s religious community they are.” Ancilla College Offers Command Spanish Courses to Public Starting July 1, 2007, Ancilla College will begin offering “Command Spanish” courses to the public. Directed by John Gough, Assistant Professor of Business at Ancilla College, the program will be tailored to meet the precise needs of the individual. For example, if a real estate agent were to take the course, they would be equipped with knowledge of how to converse within the boundaries of the real estate environment. “Command Spanish provides a specialized service that will help the commercial and social progress of our communities,” said Gough. “It is different from a textbook or conversational Spanish in that it is designed for very specific situations and can be applied to almost any situation.” Ancilla College is the only certified provider of command Spanish services in the area. Five certified instructors will work with Gough to provide the service to the community, training groups from five to 40 people. Though the program begins July 1, enrollment is described as “open and ongoing”. Fees will vary depending on the number of participants and classes to be provided. Those interested can contact Gough at (574) 936-8898 Ext. 303 for further information. PAGE 1 | PAGE 2 | PAGE 3 | PAGE 4
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Sponsored by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ