Mission Matters
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Engage the world Power to the People Building a network like no other New vice president for University Relations Provost transition Townhouse living comes to SCU Santa Clara Snapshot: 1960 Varsity 4G Awards Three Fulbrights for Poli Sci grads of 2010 The song remains the same Notes on civility in a fractured society
Engage the worldFrom the crossroads between the Mission and the microchip, the biggest graduating class ever sets forth.The sun shone brilliantly on the lawn of Buck Shaw Stadium for undergraduate commencement ceremonies on June 12, when 1,392 Santa Clara undergrads acquired all the privileges and responsibilities that come with bearing an SCU diploma. Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), delivered a stirring address to the assembled commencers—but first he called for a round of applause for the parents, grandparents, and assorted family members who had come to witness the grand occasion. Hackett, assessing Santa Clara University’s place on the Pacific Rim and its identity as a university where the microchip and the Mission intersect, surmised, “It is hard to imagine a better place to have prepared you for the 21st century. That’s not easy for me to say .… I come from a city called Boston where we are pretty proud of our institutions of higher learning.” As for that fabled microchip, Hackett said, it “might make people a lot of money,” but in the larger scheme of things, “it is worthless without the mission.” The Internet, he said, “will sell you anything … ideas and products, good and evil. It has become one of the main recruiting tools for terrorists. Hate groups form many of its virtual communities. And though Facebook might keep you in touch with far-flung friends … it has become a terribly efficient mechanism to bully classmates. My point is not that this technology is evil. But nor is it good. It is indifferent. It has no moral sense.”
Hackett was presented with an honorary degree by SCU President Michael Engh, S.J. Members of the SCU community are no strangers to CRS, the organization Hackett directs, which provides humanitarian relief and development assistance to the poor and marginalized in more than 100 countries. CRS has responded to humanitarian crises and disasters such as this summer’s flooding from Tropical Storm Agatha, human trafficking in India, and the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. Inspired by a speech given at Santa Clara by Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., in 2000, when he served as superior general for the Society of Jesus, CRS and SCU forged a partnership several years ago; students Rebecca Fox-Guttadauro ’10 and Patrick Schweiger ’10 are among those who have worked internationally with the organization since then. Hackett also pointed to the values some graduating seniors have exemplified during their time at Santa Clara: Michael Hayes ’10, who traveled to Honduras delivering medical supplies; Sarah Bradley ’10, who worked in schools in India and Spain; and Anne Murphy-Hagen ’10, who journeyed to Tijuana to help build a house. The three students received the Nobili Medal, the Saint Clare Medal, and the Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Award, respectively. Other 2010 honorary degree recipients this year included Bernard and Barbro Osher, in recognition of their enormous influence on higher education, integrative medicine, and the arts through their philanthropy in the U.S. and Sweden. Bernard Osher is the founder and treasurer of the Bernard Osher Foundation. Barbro Osher is the chair of the Bernard Osher Foundation and president of the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and she is the consul general of Sweden in California. George Coyne, S.J., president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, was also honored for his work in promoting dialogue among philosophy, theology, and the sciences.
Reaching out … in Afghanistan or Silicon ValleyAlong with picking up their diplomas, graduates of SCU’s advanced-degree programs heard a story about the Taliban this year. It was a real-life experience shared by Sakena Yacoobi, an Afghan women’s rights pioneer, who spoke to the 800 students assembled from the School of Engineering, the Leavey School of Business, the School of Education and Counseling Psychology, and the Graduate Program in Pastoral Ministries as part of the graduate commencement ceremony on June 11 at the Leavey Center. Yacoobi founded the Afghan Institute for Learning, which promotes health and education for the women of her native country; it also supports human rights and leadership training. She shared a personal experience of when extremists visited her office, having discovered she had, years before, started an underground school for girls and boys, when the Taliban had outlawed schooling. Surprisingly, the men came not out of animosity but seeking her help. “‘Our women are dying,’”
Yacoobi’s work has focused on women and children in refugee camps. She urged the graduates to seek commonality in a world of division because in doing so “you give a gift” both to yourselves and others, which she said is the key to success. “I don’t ask you to move to Afghanistan … but here in your home town there are many, many things you can do to reach out for others.” On to practiceOn May 22, Miguel S. Demapan J.D. ’85 opened the 99th Law School Commencement with a warm “Hafa Adai,” a Chamorro greeting from the Northern Mariana Islands—where he serves as chief justice. Standing before the graduating class of 350, Demapan spoke of the moral challenges facing the legal profession, as profitability and marketplace competition begin to challenge the core values of practicing law: public service, loyalty, trust, confidentiality, competence, and avoidance of conflicts of interest in a global economy.
“The legal community now faces a new reality in today’s society, in which firms are seen as business entities as much, or more so, than as a practice,” Demapan said. And he wondered, “Can the maximization of profits coexist in a profession in which we owe the highest duties to both the court system and our clients?” Demapan spoke as well of new, positive challenges facing lawyers as technology increasingly empowers the public in the legal arena. “People are now demanding more from their courts than ever before. They are more aware of their rights and what government should be doing for them and how their leaders should be held accountable.” Power to the PeopleThe Center for Science, Technology, and Society launches a defining three-year project: pursuit of clean energy for the developing world
In the office she shares with Jeffrey Miller at Nobili Hall, Radha Basu leans forward. “In much of the developing world, they don’t have grid power,” she says. “Underserved means not served.” A report released by the United Nations in April backs up Basu’s sobering observation: Globally, 1.6 billion people, one-quarter of humanity, lack access to electricity—which affects their health and keeps them trapped in poverty, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who requested the study. Confronted with the enormity of this global crisis—energy scarcity begetting poverty—Basu and Miller, implacable optimists, don’t despair. The two, co-managing directors of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society (CSTS), have inaugurated a three-year Clean Energy Sector Program that combines Santa Clara’s leadership in engineering and social enterprise with the school’s Jesuit values in pursuit of clean energy for the developing world. Basu frames her optimism with an analogy: the deployment of mobile phones in rural Africa and Asia, where landlines were never built. “The developing world is now the highest-growth market for mobile phones,” she says. “In China, India, and Africa mobile customers use solar-powered kiosks for charging. Nokia develops entirely new products just for these markets. “We will see the same with energy,” she says. Remote parts of the developing world might never be served by conventional grid power: large, centralized base-load power plants feeding a far-flung transmission grid. The developing world could be a laboratory for clean energy and alternative fuel solutions we might never see in the developed world. Scaling social enterprise
An overarching goal of the center for the next three years is to help deploy renewable energy to so-called base-of-the-pyramid communities. Arriving at that goal required Miller and Basu to objectively assess what the University could contribute. After all, SCU can’t compete with the R&D muscle of major research universities. Their answer: social enterprise, acting as a bridge between Silicon Valley innovation and solutions being developed around the world. That means leveraging alumni of the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) and the Tech Awards—a network that spans the globe. Since its launch in 2003, the GSBI has trained and mentored more than 100 social ventures in developing countries. Miller and Basu estimate that GSBI ventures have benefited more than 10 million people in more than 30 countries. The program’s chief aim is to scale proof-of-concept ventures, especially clean energy solutions, such as off-grid power and light or biofuels, for underserved markets. Why three years?
Limited access to clean energy afflicts rich countries, too, especially among the poor—and one panel focused on innovations that deliver renewable energy to the Bay Area’s low-income communities. Building a network like no other
In Mexico City this April, Paul Locatelli, S.J. ’60 brought together leaders of Jesuit universities from around the world to work on a modest goal: shaping the future for a humane, just, sustainable globe.When SCU Chancellor Paul Locatelli convened an international conference for faculty and leaders of Jesuit universities in Mexico City, April 22–24, he took as his cue an observation familiar to folks here on the Mission campus: “Learning in a global context is the future.” As Secretary for Higher Education for the Society of Jesus, a position to which he was appointed in 2008, he recognized that technology enables Jesuit universities around the world to collaborate as never before—and that there is a mutual responsibility to address shared concerns, such as poverty, sustainability, and human rights. The conference brought together the largest ever gathering of international leaders in Jesuit education for “Networking Jesuit Higher Education: Shaping the Future for a Humane, Just, Sustainable Globe,” held at the Jesuit Universidad Iberoamericana. Delivering a keynote address was the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Adolfo Nicolás, who built upon themes articulated in a speech at Santa Clara University a decade earlier by his predecessor, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J. The fundamental question Fr. Nicolás offered: “How does this new context challenge us to redirect the mission of Jesuit higher education?” While technology enables unprecedented transnational connections, Fr. Nicolás also noted that it fosters “the globalization of superficiality…of thought, vision, dreams, relationships, convictions.” In response, he said, Jesuit education must “promote in creative new ways the depth of thought and imagination that are distinguishing marks of the Ignatian tradition.”
The conference marked the launch of the Jesuit Commons (jesuitcommons.org), geared to be a virtual meeting place for individuals and institutions to collaborate on projects to benefit poor communities. Educators also convened in working groups around specific themes, and the conference was meant to inaugurate their ongoing work. Representing Santa Clara were President Michael Engh, S.J., part of the group on ecology and sustainability, and chair of SCU’s Department of Religious Studies, Paul Crowley, S.J., part of the group on theology, science, and culture. Other working groups included: markets, inequality, and poverty; human rights and civil responsibility; the intellectual apostolate (i.e., educational in general); identity and mission; and regional challenges. In inviting educators to the conference, Fr. Locatelli explained, “As the only global network of higher education in the world, Jesuit higher education should seize this opportunity and, at the same time, accept its responsibility for helping to fashion a more humane, just, and sustainable world for all.” No question that the conference showed a largeness of vision—pursuit of the magis, in Jesuit terms—that was the hallmark of so much of Fr. Locatelli’s work here at Santa Clara. It applied on a global scale both lofty ideals and practical sensibilities, with a serious desire to get things moving. At the same time, the conference underscores even more deeply the loss that so many feel with Fr. Locatelli’s death in July. The meeting was meant to launch new initiatives; what more was in store—and how will that work be carried on? In the next issue of this magazine, we’ll look at the conference in greater depth, including the speech by Fr. Nicolás. In the meantime, you can read or download the speech. New vice president for University Relations
With the start of a new academic year, the University welcomes a new vice president for University Relations. Robert Gunsalus will head fundraising efforts, government relations, alumni relations, and marketing and communications. He comes to Santa Clara from Humboldt State University, where he served as vice president for university advancement and as head of the university advancement foundation. “Robert’s experience in leadership, external relations, and fundraising, and his understanding of how to orchestrate a successful campaign make him a great addition to the leadership team at Santa Clara,” noted SCU President Michael Engh, S.J., in announcing Gunsalus’ appointment. Gunsalus follows in the footsteps of Jim Purcell, who served as vice president for the past 14 years. Purcell will continue to work with the University in a part-time capacity, assisting with fundraising for particular projects. While Gunsalus was here on campus this summer, he answered questions on a number of topics. Why he does what he doesIn my 20s I became committed to the cause of higher education. It changes people’s trajectories in life more than just about anything else. Helping to fulfill the mission of a place like Santa Clara University—which brings together not only the practical and professional aspects of learning a trade, but also the personal attributes of a well-educated human being, able to apply ethical thinking to careers, neighborhoods, and families—is something that I’m very excited about. On rankings(given that he’s worked at Trinity University, which always seems to be one spot ahead of Santa Clara in the U.S. News & World Report list): It’s nice when outsiders recognize the quality of your institution by ranking it highly in U.S. News & World Report or Kiplinger’s or any one of the other growing number of magazines that do rankings. But I’ll say this about rankings: They’re secondary. What’s really important is the mission of the University and that Santa Clara is able to fulfill its mission. On soccerI grew up in Oklahoma, a fan of the Sooners football team, but I ended up playing soccer in college, and then coached for several years. I’m looking forward to watching a lot of the Broncos’ games. On how to pronounce his last nameIt’s pronounced similar to the traditional spelling of Gonzalez, only with “s” sounds in place of the “z.” I’m told it goes back to the Inquisition: Jews fled Spain, intermarried with the Dutch, O’s and Z’s got changed to U’s and S’s and a few A’s thrown in. Then at Ellis Island, there was some bad spelling, and some misspellings on birth certificates. . . . My grandfather was the last one to really take seriously trying to change all of the records to spell our name correctly, but it’s set now. C.V. for the VPAge: 44 Education: B.A. in theology form Oklahoma Wesleyan University; M.A. in political science from North Carolina State University; Ph.D. in political science from Purdue University with minors in higher education administration and theory, political economy, and political theory. Experience: Vice President for University Advancement at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., and executive director of the Humboldt State University Advancement Foundation; Associate Vice President for University Advancement at Trinity University in San Antonio, Tex.; Vice President for University Advancement at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Wash. Family: His wife, Aejung Gunsalus, is a psychologist by training. They have three children, ages 4, 6, and 8. Alumni, take note: He served as president of the alumni association for his undergrad alma mater. Provost transition
After nearly four years as SCU’s chief academic officer, Lucia Albino Gilbert stepped down from her position as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs effective June 30. She is on leave this year and plans to return to campus as a professor in psychology and counseling psychology at the beginning of the 2011–12 academic year. During her tenure, the University completed a major portion of the WASC Comprehensive Review for Re-accreditation, implementation of the new Core Curriculum, and preparation of the 2010-15 Strategic Plan, which will be presented to the Board of Trustees for review in October 2010. President Michael Engh, S.J., noted as among her contributions: the University Council on Inclusive Excellence, formed to develop and implement campus diversity initiatives; the LEAD Scholars Program for firstgeneration college students; formation of the Data Integrity Task Force and the use of data to inform decision-making; the Office of Research Initiatives to develop and support strategic research initiatives; the Writing Hub, formed to strengthen the culture of writing throughout the University community; hiring new deans for the School of Engineering and the Leavey School of Business; working closely with the college and school deans in the area of faculty hiring and retention; and the academic integration of the Jesuit School of Theology as a school of Santa Clara University. A committee has been appointed to search for a new provost. Don Dodson—who has taught and served in the SCU administration since 1977, most recently as senior vice provost—is serving as interim provost. Townhouse living comes to SCU
Starting in fall 2011, upperclassmen and graduate students will be able to enjoy independent townhouse living at 1260 Campbell Ave., a stone’s throw from Schott Stadium. Construction is under way on a new gated community that will be home to 11 three-story buildings spread over five acres. Units come in fully furnished one-, two-, or four-bedroom varieties. Each will have a gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, air conditioners, laundry facilities, and a patio or balcony. Rent will include all utilities, cable TV, and Internet access. Students will also be able to partake in community activities on the volleyball and bocce ball courts within the complex.
Santa Clara Snapshot: 1960
Varsity 4GFour generations of sporting BedollasBy Sam Scott '96
When Kimberly Bedolla ’10 sank the final putt to win the Santa Clara County Women’s Golf Championship in August 2009, nobody was more surprised than she was. After all, she had only picked up the sport her senior year of high school. From the beginning, she brought dedication to the game. Prepping for her lone high school season, she swung till her hands blistered, taped them up, and swung some more. She zeroed in on Cañada College, the only Bay Area community college with women’s golf, before choosing Santa Clara—where she just made the traveling squad. But Bedolla’s golf was more effort than excellence. She had never broken par, never hit lower than 70, and never found a way to focus in competition like she could in practice. Then came the county championship, where she slipped into a groove disrupted only on the final green. She finished with a 69, three shots under par—her best round ever. Not bad for a woman who was hitting well into the 100s a few years earlier. But then Bedolla apparently has athletic genes to draw upon. She is the fourth generation of her family in a row to play varsity sports at Santa Clara. The grand Turk
Her father, Kevin Bedolla ’73, J.D. ’76, played golf. Her grandfather, Charles Bedolla ’50, starred in baseball. And her great-grandfather played practically everything. The late Ernest “Turk” Bedolla ’25, J.D. ’26—a member of SCU’s Athletic Hall of Fame—was a baseball, football, and track star who once won the pentathlon in an Olympic trial. The streak of family athletes is now a source of pride, though Kevin Bedolla—an attorney who serves on the law school alumni association board of directors—jokes that it’s been downhill from its start. That’s debatable, given his daughter has more holes-in-one in five years than he has in nearly 50. But there’s no question that Turk Bedolla’s accomplishments are unparalleled. In addition to playing sports, Turk moonlighted as a jazz pianist playing local clubs with classmate and future Hollywood star Lloyd Nolan ’25. As a halfback, Turk once threw a 65-yard touchdown for Santa Clara. He could smack the baseball with the skills of a major leaguer. Indeed, he could well have gone on to a pro career if weren’t for family objections. His mother dismissed ball players as a bunch of tobacco-chewing, boozeswilling bums. Instead, Turk settled down to life as a farmer and police judge in Salinas, though he continued to play semi-pro ball for decades. Triple dutyBy the time Charles followed in his father’s footsteps to Santa Clara, World War II had just wound down. The University’s baseball team was a motley mix of fresh-faced teenagers and world-traveled vets, including Charles’ brother, Ernest Bedolla II ’50, who had been pulled into the Navy while still in high school. At the time, tuition, room, and board (including laundry) cost $250 per semester, Charles recalls, and the team’s practice field appeared to have been made for just such a bargain. The infield was carved into the football field, which was circled by a track that ran through the outfield. A flyball would soar over the fields of three sports.
It was, in other words, nothing like the baseball team’s splendid modern digs—though Charles can lay some small claim to the transition. After military service cut short his fledgling pro baseball career, he returned to Santa Clara to coach, recruiting Stephen Schott ’60, who would become a real estate magnate and owner of the Oakland A’s. It was the best thing he did as coach, Charles jokes. Schott funded his namesake stadium, which opened in 2005. War also colored Kevin Bedolla’s time at SCU. Protests against the Vietnam War shut down campus during his freshman year, sending students home to an early summer vacation. In 1970, draft numbers were high on everyone’s mind, he says. But mostly SCU felt sheltered from the storms of the day. Kevin was more occupied with shooting pool in Benson and playing golf, an addiction since his days as a kid sinking tin cans in the backyard to use as holes. SCU’s team was then a small-time, no-scholarship affair. And long before Tiger Woods, the sport earned little interest among his male peers—and even less among women. “It wasn’t helping dating,” he says. But golf ’s solitary challenges grabbed him then as they grab his daughter now. Despite her struggles in the 2010 season to replicate last summer’s success in collegiate tournaments, Kimberly, who graduated with a degree in communication, says she’ll play golf for the rest of her life. Whether that will inspire a fifth-generation scholar/athlete is, of course, a question for far into the future. But if one does, Charles Bedolla says it will be because of one thing. “The guy who works the hardest is the one who performs the best,” he says. And the gal. Awards
Dragoslav Siljak shows well-organized complexity can take you to the stars. Complex systems are everywhere: from electric power networks to economics, from transportation networks to space exploration vehicles. The more sophisticated the systems get, the more difficult they are to control. But as Dragoslav Siljak has shown through his research and writing over the past half century, distributed intelligence and decentralized control can take you far; his control design for spacecraft was integrated into the Saturn V rocket that carried astronauts to the Moon. For Siljak’s prolific and profound contributions to the field, this July he was honored with the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award. Siljak holds the Benjamin and Mae Swig University Chair for the School of Engineering, and he’s taught at Santa Clara since 1964. Along with achievements in science, Siljak claims water polo greatness: Playing with the Yugoslav national team, he garnered a silver medal at the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki, a water polo world championship in 1953, and a fourth-place Olympic finish in 1960.
Denise Levertov Award for Ron Hansen M.A. '95 Steven Boyd Saum
National recognition for ace photographer Charles Barry Sean Lenehan
Three Fulbrights for Poli Sci grads of 2010
Destinations: Poland, Indonesia, and GermanyThis fall Megan Williams ’10 becomes the first American to study at the prestigious Centre for East European Studies at Poland’s University of Warsaw. The center serves as a unique bridge to the East, bringing together Polish students and young scholars and activists from all over the former Soviet Bloc, as well as from Western Europe. Williams is researching how Polish young people see politics and their country’s future—and why the nationalist (read: anti-EU) and Catholic political parties get so much support. She begins her work at a turbulent time in Polish politics, following the death of President Lech Kaczynski, numerous political leaders, and scores of others in a horrific plane crash in Russia in April. The tragedy piled national grief atop historic tragedy; the plane was carrying travelers to the Katyn Forest, where thousands of Polish officers were murdered by Soviet forces in World War II. Poles now have a new president, Bronislaw Komorski, from the ruling center-right Civic Platform party. In a summer runoff, he defeated the dead president’s twin brother, Jaroslaw, who previously served as prime minister and is now the standard-bearer for the conservative Law and Justice Party. Analysts predict a strong showing by the right in next year’s parliamentary elections. In the meantime, a cross honoring the slain president has been erected in front of the presidential palace and is guarded by young Catholic “scouts” who have resisted allowing the cross to be moved to a nearby church. Williams’ interest in Poland was piqued by a trip she took (through SCU’s London program) to Gdansk, where the Solidarity movement began. She was struck, she said, by the fact that “the movement ended up having such a profound impact on not only Poland, but the entire Eastern Bloc.” At SCU she took a class on post-communism with Professor of Political Science Jane Curry, a scholar on Poland and politics in the former Communist bloc, and learned that while much has been written on political attitudes among Polish youth immediately after the fall of communism, much less research has been done on current attitudes. Curry has held several Fulbrights herself, including the first undergraduate Fulbright behind the Iron Curtain at the University of Warsaw. “It opened my eyes and a lot of doors,” Curry notes. She hopes this pioneering fellowship will do the same for Williams, especially at a time when “Poland is coming to grips with what democracy really means,” Curry says. Curry was also the inaugural Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Eastern European Studies in Warsaw in 2003–04, and she has returned nearly every summer since to teach in the summer program. One graduate of the Centre for East European Studies (and former student of Curry’s) is now studying at SCU—Gulmonjon Azimov ’14, who is from Uzbekistan and is completing a joint J.D./MBA. Islam and IndonesiaThanks to a Fulbright Teacher Assistantship Award, John “Jack” Mahoney ’10 has already headed for Indonesia to teach English at one of the country’s pesantrens, or boarding schools. It’s his second visit to Southeast Asia; he studied in Vietnam during his sophomore year. Mahoney became fascinated with Islam after a course with Professor of Religious Studies David Pinault. For his senior thesis, he wrote on Islam’s role in the democratization of Indonesia. While teaching, he plans to research the intersection of Muslim youth culture and Western identity. Recent economic growth makes the country a fascinating place to observe rapid change and its effects, Mahoney says. Teaching English in BavariaJennifer Mock ’10, a double major in German and political science with minors in international studies and history, will be teaching English to middle or high school students in Burghausen, Germany. It’s a return of sorts for her too; during her junior year, Mock traveled to Freiberg for language study and to examine the foreign and economic policy, history, integration, and current status of the EU. The song remains the sameDusting off a World War II-era tune by one of Santa Clara's own
Fred Lico ’49 has long forgotten what exactly inspired the wistful lyrics to “There Santa Clara, There With You.” Indeed, he might not even have remembered writing the song had he not attended his 60th reunion last fall. At that reunion, though, classmates asked whatever happened to the tune Lico once played on piano and crooned on campus. That sent Lico rummaging in his basement, looking through old boxes and files. And there, stashed away for generations, he found the words and music to the vocal jazz harmony he’d written shortly after returning to SCU from World War II. While Lico remained foggy on what had moved him to write the song, he was clear on one thing: He had crafted a pretty darned good tune. Lico went looking for a second opinion. He tracked down Ryan Brandau, Santa Clara’s recently hired director of choral programs. Brandau sat down at a piano, tinkered with the song, and pronounced his firm agreement: Not only was it good, but Brandau wanted to include the piece at the Santa Clara University Concert Choir’s spring concert. Brandau was planning the concert around the themes of war and peace, and Lico’s lyrics were right in tune with that. Lico had entered Santa Clara in 1942, staying only a year before joining the Navy for three years for another kind of schooling, which culminated with him steaming on a troop transport ship toward the planned invasion of Japan. “We were in the Pacific when the bomb dropped,” Lico says. “I was supposed to hit the beach with the Marines with a radio on my back.” For Brandau, such biographical details added poignancy to the lyrics that Lico wrote soon after returning to the Mission Campus: Brandau set about arranging the melody into an a cappella piece for the Concert Choir, including women’s voices—though Lico would hardly have imagined that when he wrote the song. Lico was just as eager to see Santa Clara’s changed makeup reflected in the song, changing “sons” in one of the lines to “friends.” Working on the song was a return to an old passion for Lico. As a young man, he was talented enough on the keyboard that he could walk into nightclubs and give a breather to grateful pianists—then ubiquitous in club orchestras. Shortly after graduating from Santa Clara, he earned an extra few days at a swank holiday resort after the hotel’s band leader heard him play piano at an amateur night and asked him to fill in. Music, though, progressively played less of a role in his life as he focused on running the family business, the San Martin Winery. But at 86 years old, with his best playing days long behind him, Lico showed he still had an ear for music this spring. After hearing Brandau’s initial arrangement, he suggested the song be lengthened into two sections: one with the choir together, the other with solos. Brandau readily agreed. The final product was unveiled May 7 as the concert choir debuted the piece at a concert in the Mission Church titled “Reconciliations— Music of War and Peace.” Lico’s song was performed alongside the music of Handel, the words of Walt Whitman, and tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Brandau notes that meeting Lico helped the students capture the warmth of the lyrics and melody. And he hopes it’s a tune they’ll be singing again. "There Santa Clara, There with You"
Hear a recording of Fred Lico's song performed by the Santa Clara University Concert Choir at the spring 2010 concert. This text will be replaced
Notes on civility in a fractured societyJames Leach, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities and former GOP Congressman, came to the Mission campus on April 6 to deliver the annual Regan Lecture. Below is the full copy of that lecture.
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