Campus roundup

Chemistry professor Richard Herrick received this year’s Marfuggi Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship. His research interests lie in the new area of bioorganometallic chemistry. Herrick and his students synthesize and study new compounds as potential diagnostic imaging/therapy agents.

Patricia Bizzell, professor of English, was the winner of the 2008 Conference on College Composition and Communication Exemplar Award given by the National Council of Teachers of English. “This cumulative achievement award signals that the recipient has reached the very top tier of educators in the field of composition and rhetoric,” says Timothy Austin, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College.

Bob Garvey, associate professor of physics at Holy Cross, was named one of 10 Outstanding First-Year Student Advocates by the National Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. In 2000, Garvey had received the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. Professor of the Year.

Nancy Baldiga, associate professor and chair of the economics department, has received the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA). The award is given to those who show excellence in teaching and motivating students; make contributions to the accounting profession—and are active participants in the society, serving as a liaison between the classroom and the business world.

Retiring at the end of this academic year are: Guy Beales, professor of history; David O’Brien, Loyola Professor of Roman Catholic Studies and professor of history; James Nickoloff, associate professor of religious studies; and economics professor, John F. O’Connell. “Between them,” remarks Austin, “these four remarkable men have devoted an amazing total of 135 years to Holy Cross and witnessed countless changes.”

William Shea has retired from his position as director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. Prior to arriving at Holy Cross in 2003, Shea was a professor in the department of theological studies at St. Louis University for 12 years. Previously, he held faculty positions at Catholic University and the University of South Florida. Shea earned his Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion at Columbia University; his areas of specialization include: contemporary religious thought, philosophical theology, the history of American religion, American religious thought, and American philosophy of religion. An active scholar, he has published numerous articles spanning these areas of specialization and he has written and edited five books.

Rev. James Miracky, S.J., of the department of English, has been named the College’s newest associate dean. Fr. Miracky holds a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Fordham University; his master of divinity and licentiate in sacred theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; and his master of arts degree and Ph.D. in English from Rutgers. He joined Holy Cross as a tenure-track faculty member in 1996 and achieved tenure in 2003; in 2006, Fr. Miracky assumed the position of chair of the English department.

William Sobczak, associate professor of biology, has been awarded a Bullard Fellowship to spend the 2008-09 academic year at Harvard Forest. The Charles Bullard Fellowship program supports advanced research and study by individuals who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry and forest-related subjects—from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law.

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Ben Correia, assistant director of student programs and involvement at the College, was recently named the recipient of the Craig Slack National Leadership Symposium Fellowship. This national award is given to one individual based on professional experience, eagerness to learn and ability to make contributions at the National Leadership Symposium.