Spring 2006

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Exhibit joins Latino artwork and poetry

Twelve poets inspired creations by twelve visual artists for "Poetas y Pintores: Artists Conversing with Verse," held at the Moreau Art Galleries from January 27 to March 1. The exhibit, whose title, in Spanish, means "Poets and Painters" features texts by established Latino poets alongside original works by Latino artists from around the country.

An enthusiastic crowd attended the show's opening in January and got an informal walk-through with co-curator Maria Melendez. Melendez, an assistant professor of English at the College, read an original poem that was paired with a painting by Regina Diaz '02. The exhibit sought to create a "dialogue" between art forms, Melendez said.

"Poetas y Pintores" will travel from Saint Mary's to galleries in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles.

The Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership and the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame co-sponsored the exhibit with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

* For a profile of Regina Diaz, Click Here

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Design for new academic building unveiled, approved

The new academic building will be located east of the Saint Mary's Science Hall and north of Madeleva Hall. It will have three stories and a total of 68,000 square feet.

Fourteen departments and programs and the College’s three centers of distinction will be in their new home by fall 2008.

* For more info about and a further look at the new builidng click here

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Religious Studies celebrates 60 years

In February, the Religious Studies Department celebrated its 60th anniversary with an alumnae panel and symposium. Various alumnae comprised the panel, which met in Stapleton Lounge, that addressed "What the RLST Major has Meant Since Graduation." They were Susan Wyffels Horner '93, Molly Kahn '01, Sara B. Koehler '70, Rachel Tomas Morgan '91, Angie Appleby Purcell '91, and Cynthia Jean Taylor '88.

After lunch in the Noble Family Dining Hall, a symposium on St. Thomas Aquinas in Stapleton Lounge featured Keith J. Egan, professor emeritus and Joyce McMahon Hank Aquinas Chair in Catholic Theology, on "Friendship and Eros." Diana Fritz Cates of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Iowa, spoke on "Thomas Aquinas on Friendship: Cultivating Intimacy and Emotional Integrity."

"We rejoice in our alumnae and present majors," said Phyllis H. Kaminski, chair of the department. "All of them chose to embrace the study of their faith and to address open-ended issues and questions for which there are no easy answers."

In 1946, under the leadership of Sister Madeleva, CSC, Saint Mary's College became the first Catholic college to offer women an undergraduate major in religion with its own academic department, the Department of Religion. In 1952-53, the name changed to theology, and in 1969, both the department and major became religious studies.

The religious studies major reflects the academic organization of religious studies as a field of knowledge as well as the department's focus on the depth and breadth of Catholicism.

* Click Here to read an article about the major by Therese Borchard '93.