Santa Clara University

News for the Campus Community
The Faculty-Staff Newsletter, e-mail edition
Santa Clara University, April 17, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 12

Table of contents

SCU ranked among top 10 places to work in the Bay Area
Global Village multicultural fair
Students choose museum's first works of art by African-American female artists
Center for Science, Technology, and Society and Leavey School of Business receive Good Samaritan award
SCU hosts a presentation of “A Killing in Choctaw”
Happy birthday Alumni Association
Women’s soccer team raises money for breast cancer research on the field

SCU ranked among top 10 places to work in the Bay Area

SCU was once again selected as one of the best places to work in the Bay Area according to a survey published in “Best Places to Work in the Bay Area 2006,” an annual publication produced by San Francisco Business Times, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, East Bay Business Times, and Deloitte. SCU was ranked No. 6 in the “big companies” category. Other Bay Area employers in the top 10 among big employers (501–3,000 employees) are: Intuit Inc.; Mills-Peninsula Health Services; and YMCA of San Francisco. SCU was the only higher education institution in the top 10.

“I am proud of this community for making our campus one of the best places to work in the Bay Area. My thanks and congratulations to the entire community, as well as supervisors, chairs, and department heads who continue to lead and make Santa Clara a wonderful and welcoming community to work in and one of the nation’s best and academically excellent Catholic, Jesuit universities,” said SCU President Paul Locatelli, S.J.

“Best Places to Work in the Bay Area” is the result of anonymous surveys of workers at companies that employ a total of 103,382 people throughout the Bay Area. Employees were asked 38 key questions about their workplace via electronic surveys administered by the companies. Survey questions asked employees about management practices and policies, benefit offerings, and how happy they were with the work climate and culture.

The rankings were divided into five categories based on size for equitable comparison. The categories are: 25 to 50 employees; 51 to 100 employees; 101 to 500 employees; 501 to 3,000; and companies with more than 3,000 employees. Surveys were completed by 400 companies.

Global Village multicultural fair

Students choose museum’s first works of art by African-American female artists

Art history professor Bridget Cooks, center, with students Brittany Storey, right, and Michelle Dezember, left. Copyright Carrie Mae Weems

The de Saisset Museum’s permanent collection includes thousands of pieces of art by world-renowned artists including prints by 19th-century painters such as Albrecht Durer and William Hogarth, modernist prints by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, and an extensive collection of contemporary prints by artists such as Robert Arneson and Robert Bechtle. The de Saisset Museum also boasts a strong photography collection, with hundreds of prints by artists such as Ansel Adams and Ruth Bernhard.

Even with this extensive collection, curator of exhibits and collections Karen Kienzle had an idea to make it even better. “The de Saisset Museum has a strong permanent collection that serves the entire community with teaching, research, and exhibition opportunities. However, the Museum’s permanent collection is lacking in the ethnic diversity we showcase in our exhibitions,” she said. In fact, the museum did not own one piece of art by an African-American female artist.

In order to change that, Kienzle applied for a grant for $5,000 from the Center for Multicultural Learning to build the museum’s collection and provide an educational experience for students. Kienzle teamed up with art history Professor Bridget Cooks and her upper-division class last quarter titled African-American Women in the Visual Arts. The students were assigned a first-of-its-kind project: Choose and purchase artwork that will be the museum’s first works of art by African-American women.

Cooks admits that it was a bit stressful, but the students took the assignment seriously. “We had lots of really good discussion about identity and stereotypes,” she said. “Some people thought that we should buy a piece of work by a black woman artist that was totally abstract and non-representational to make a point that black women artists can make all kinds of work and it doesn’t have to be about race. Some people said we definitely need to buy a piece about race.” Read more...

Center for Science, Technology, and Society and Leavey School of Business receive Good Samaritan award

SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society and the Leavey School of Business were honored by the Sand Hill Group (SHG) and received the first SHG Foundation Good Samaritan award at the Software 2006 gala benefit April 4 in Santa Clara.

The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), a program offered by SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society and the Leavey School of Business, was recognized for its contributions to the work of social entrepreneurs around the world.

GSBI’s executive director, James Koch, who acknowledged the award on behalf of the program’s cofounders, Al Bruno and Patrick Guerra, said, “This two-week business boot camp program offers social entrepreneurs unique access to leading-edge faculty and Silicon Valley mentors, and the knowledge and skills that they need to enable their ventures to become sustainable at scale—a critical need in the presence of the unmet and increasingly urgent human needs that exist in our world.”

“We are honored that we’ve been recognized for our work in fostering partnerships between technology innovation and entrepreneurship in less developed parts of the world to help close the gaps between poverty and dignity, despair, and hope,” remarked Geoffrey Bowker, executive director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society.

Santa Clara University’s GSBI program recruits award-winning, socially conscious innovators and entrepreneurs from around the world and provides them with knowledge, skills, and mentoring support they need to develop business models that are more likely to attract funding. The other Good Samaritan award recipients were Sahana and LiveOps.

SCU hosts a presentation of “A Killing in Choctaw”

In 1962 in Alabama, while being questioned by a white man named Bill Carlisle, Ray responded by saying “yes” and “no,” instead of “yes sir” and “no sir,” which was the customary response when addressing white people. Ray was severely beaten for being disrespectful. An hour later, Carlisle went to Ray’s home and shot his father eight times as Carl looked on.

“A Killing in Choctaw” explores how these hate crimes held Ray prisoner in his own skin for more than 20 years, as well as the power of forgiveness that finally set him free. The play deals with the years following the tragedy. From the agony of being humiliated in a Jim Crow court trial, to being locked in a hotel room and being harassed by eight members of the Klu Klux Klan the night before George Wallace stood in the door of the University of Alabama to keep African-American students out, Carl Ray gives the audience a peek into his struggles and his changes in careers—from engineer to taxi driver and stand-up comedian—and more.

“Having a courageous and generous figure like Carl Ray reside in our community is a tremendous asset, and finally having him perform on campus is a special gift,” said Aldo Billingslea, associate professor of acting at SCU.

Carl Ray graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1967 and began working as an engineer for Lockheed Martin. He enrolled in a comedy class in San Francisco, and after two years honing his comedy skills in clubs in the Bay Area, he headed to Hollywood to pursue a career in comedy. In 1989, he produced and hosted his own cable television show and shortly after, discovered he had a talent for motivational speaking. After giving a talk at the San Jose Museum of Art, he was approached by Tommy Fulcher Jr., who offered to finance a production of Ray’s life story—later known as “A Killing in Choctaw.”

A talkback with Carl Ray will immediately follow the presentation. This performance is made possible by support from Santa Clara University’s Center for Multicultural Learning, the Irvine Foundation, and the Center of Performing Arts.

Happy birthday Alumni Association

The SCU Alumni Association was founded on April 27, 1881—125 years ago this month. In celebration of this monumental anniversary, a full weekend of festivities is planned beginning April 28. At the 125th Anniversary Celebration dinner, the Association will honor Julie Burns Christensen ’70 and Kevin Eagleson ’70 with the Ignatian Award and John S. McInerny ’49, J.D. ’53 will receive the 2006 Bannan Award. If you’re interested in attending any of the events, please RSVP online or call the SCU Alumni office at 408-554-6800 no later than April 21.

Alumni Anniversary events:
Friday, April 28
Pre-game Barbecue and Baseball Game
5:30 p.m. Barbecue in Kerr Alumni Park
7 p.m. SCU Baseball vs. St. Mary’s in Schott Stadium
$20 per person for the barbecue and game, $10 for children

Saturday, April 29
125th Anniversary Celebration Dinner
6 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Dinner Market Square, Benson Memorial Center
$75 per person
Semi-formal attire; reserved seating

Sunday, April 30
Alumni Speaker Series: Chris Lowney
“What 21st Century Leaders Can Learn from 16th Century Jesuits”
1 p.m.
Adobe Lodge
$10 per person

Women’s soccer team raises money for breast cancer research on the field

On April 22, SCU’s women’s soccer team is participating in “Kick Against Breast Cancer,” a soccer tournament and fund-raiser at Stanford University. In support of the team’s fund-raising efforts, the SCU Athletics Marketing Department is selling Breast Cancer Awareness bracelets for $2 each. All of the proceeds will be spilt among Stanford University Breast Cancer Research, the Community Breast Health Project, and the Claudia Mayer Foundation to help women with Breast Cancer survive and thrive. For more information and to purchase bracelets, please contact Christine Gajdos or call 408-554-4066.

A poetry reading by Brian Turner, Tuesday, April 18, 7 p.m., Daly Science, Room 206:
Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet, has had his poetry published in Poetry Daily, the Georgia Review, and other journals. He won this year's Northern California book Award. For more information contact David Pleins at 554-4763 or Nikole Nichols at 554-1951. This event is sponsored by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education and the Religious Studies Department.

Music at Noon: Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, Wednesday, April 19, Recital Hall:
Hip-hop jazz composer and Latin Grammy nominee Omar Sosa hails from Cuba. Read an article about the Cuban music star in this week’s San Jose Mercury News. 

Book of the quarter, Wednesday, April 19, noon–1 p.m., Orradre Library, Boland Reading Room:
This quarter’s book is Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. You do not have to have read the book to attend. A short summary will be provided before the conversation begins. Light refreshments will be served.

Regan Lecture: “A Survival Guide for Thinking Catholics: Conscience and the Roman Catholic Life,” Wednesday, April 26, 6 p.m., Mayer Theatre:
Speaker: Thomas Reese, S.J., former editor in chief of America magazine and visiting scholar at Santa Clara University. Cosponsored by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education.

More SCU events.

Geoffrey Bowker (Center for Science, Technology, and Society) was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle article about a tall tale that ran on the Web for months about Iran’s plan to cause harm to the U.S. by using euros and oil. Read the article.

Erin Burns (’06) shared her experiences about helping out with the cleanup efforts in New Orleans as part of an SCU immersion program in USA Today. Read Erin’s letter to the editor.

Charlie Nolan, SCU’s vice provost of enrollment management, was interviewed on ABC 7 for a story about the growing gender gap on college campuses. Watch the story.

Nancy Unger (history) was featured on Talking History where she shared a historical perspective on the guilty plea of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

More SCU in the News. 

Eric Goldman was appointed director of SCU’s School of Law High Technology Law Institute and a member of the faculty. Goldman’s appointment commences Aug. 16.

Lester F. Goodchild has accepted the appointment as the new dean of the School of Education, Counseling Psychology, and Pastoral Ministries. Goodchild’s appointment is effective July 17.

Richard Barber (physics) and Andrew Giustini (’06) published a research article titled “Transport and Tunneling Measurements of Quench-Condensed Bi Films” in the Jan. 1 issue of Physica C: Superconductivity.

Lucila Ramos-Sanchez (counseling psychology) had a manuscript titled “The Relationships Between Mexican-American Acculturation, Cultural Values, Gender, and Help-Seeking Intentions” accepted for publication in the Journal of Counseling and Development.

Conchita Franco Serri, director of Affirmative Action, presented a paper at the Regional Association for Business Communication in Tampa, Fla., titled “Sexual Harassment Victims and Harassers: Developing Self-Compassion.”

The Santa Clara, SCU’s student newspaper, won a second-place regional award given by the Society of Professional Journalists under the “Best All-Around Non-Daily Newspaper” category.

To submit grants, awards, and publication information, click here.

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