Our 50th Anniversary celebration continued this week with Wally Lamb on hand Tuesday night to talk about his new book, We Are Water, as part of the WSHU Conversation Series. On Wednesday, we held a special academic convocation to present Rabbi Abraham Skorka with an honorary doctorate of theology, honoris causa. Rabbi Skorka is a teacher, author, theologian and, interestingly, a biophysicist. His books have covered both theological topics and biophysics. The first English edition of one of his more recent books, On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, was co-authored with then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis. He is close friends with the pope and is sometimes referred to as “the pope’s rabbi.” He is a brilliant and spiritual man, and it was an honor to have him here and get to know him.
Other events this
week included the Welch MBA Forum on “Developing Women Leaders Around the
World.” Mary Borba, senior vice president of Human Resources at Boehringer
Ingelheim, spoke to our business students about the importance of women leaders
and the perspective they bring to the workplace before taking questions from
the crowd.
We also heard from University of Notre Dame Professor Brian S. Collier on the topic of “Save Our Schools, Save Our Children and Save Your Family.” He came for the 2013 Hesburgh Lecture Series. He talked about how schools have changed since World War II and the importance of going back to the days when the entire family was involved in what happened at school. Before the lecture, he met with a group of students from the Isabelle Farrington College of Education where he shared his experience working with Native Americans in Catholic schools and asked the students about their goals for their own future teaching careers.
Wednesday night brought an inspiring talk by Dick Hoyt who regularly competes in marathons and even Ironman triathlons with his non-speaking quadriplegic son, Rick. The talk, entitled “Together You Can Do Anything!” was part of the Student Affairs Lecture Series. It was an eye opener for all of us who think we have it tough as well as a strong argument for independence and inclusion for those with disabilities.
The University
Band celebrated Halloween in style with its Spooktacular Thursday night. The
spooky concert was preceded by games and trick-or-treating for the children in
attendance.
I am extremely
disappointed that I did not get to see the student production of Boeing, Boeing. My wife went and said it
was spectacular. Congratulations to all involved—the actors and those working
behind the scenes—on another professional performance.
The annual
campus-wide turkey drive is already under way with an aggressive goal to donate
800 turkeys to provide Thanksgiving dinner to Bridgeport families. Please do
what you can to help.
This is the weekend when we end Daylight Saving Time by turning our clocks back one hour Saturday night. Have a great weekend and make good use of that extra hour!