gonzaga university spokesman review insert

19
TR ADITION & TR ANSFORMATION SPOKANE, GONZAGA GROW UP TOGETHER

Upload: gonzaga-university

Post on 07-Mar-2016

218 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

DESCRIPTION

125th Anniversary supplemental insert

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION SPOKANE, GONZAGA GROW UP TOGETHER

Page 2: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

Gonzaga University celebrates its 125th Anniversary and the School of Law Centennial this year. What are anniversaries good for? A lot of hoopla, a

wing-dinger of a party or two, and plenty of congratulations all around. Perhaps the most valuable essence of an anniversary comes in moments of serious reflection, when past may be seen as wistful memory, but also as prologue.

In many ways, the reflective process reveals that Spokane and Gonzaga grew up together.

In a wide-ranging conversation last month, Gonzaga’s President Thayne McCulloh talked about how and why growing up together worked so effectively for Spokane and GU.

In Spokane and Gonzaga’s joint history, three milestone events made 1881 into a watershed year. “Spokan Falls” became an incorporated city. Father Joseph Cataldo, the superior of the Jesuits’ Rocky Mountain Mission, purchased a half section of railroad land in Spokane. The 320 acres lay north of the Spokane River, somewhat isolated from the rest of the young city. And that October, the city fathers petitioned Fr. Cataldo to “build up here a great university,” and promised their aid.

“In those days, Spokane was a hamlet on the Northwestern frontier with just 350 non-native settlers. Among them were civic-minded leaders who foresaw the growth of an economic hub powered by mining, agriculture, railroads and hydropower. Those leaders knew that higher education was crucial both for the sake of individuals’ education and for the sake of the city – to Gonzaga’s campus is rapidly becoming the world as technology dissolves distance.

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

RA

JAH

BO

SE

A look back to see Gonzaga’s way forward

Page 3: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

ensure that Spokane did not sputter out in a cycle of boom and bust,” McCulloh said.

Gonzaga College opened its doors on Sept. 17, 1887. Eighteen students enrolled that fi rst year. The fi rst Catholic institution of higher education had opened in the Pacifi c Northwest, and Gonzaga never looked back. The Jesuit fathers taught commerce and classics, literature, philosophy, theology and the natural sciences. They formed their students into people of faith and character.

By 1900, Gonzaga’s enrollment swelled to 224 students, and the hopes and dreams of the city fathers were coming true. Gonzaga alumni fl owed into Spokane, the region and the nation – teachers, merchants, architects, horticulturists, priests, professors, machinists, engineers, mining timekeepers and farmers.

Spokane, meanwhile, grew at a spectacular pace. The 1890 U.S.

census counted 19,992 residents, and the population leapt again in the next decade. By 1917, 5,000 Gonzaga graduates were salted across the Northwest, with outliers scattered across the nation.

It might have happened otherwise.

“How many different little towns of 350 do you think came and went during this period? How many ghost towns are scattered throughout the American West?” asked McCulloh. “Spokane and Gonzaga’s success is due to intellectual, faith-fi lled, and corporal fortitude. Courage was in the DNA of those early Jesuits and those early townspeople, and it is in our DNA at Gonzaga – and in Spokane – today.”

This anniversary is an occasion for Gonzaga to offer thanks.

“We are mindful of the fact that we owe our existence not only Fr. Cataldo and his formidable band of Jesuits, but we owe Gonzaga’s good fortune today to

Gonzaga students and Jesuits in the spring of 1888.

Who knew?

Gonzaga draws notable dignitaries to Spokane, including

Harry S. Truman (1950), William O. Douglas (1972), Bob

Hope (1978), Lou Holtz (1989) and Desmond Tutu (2012).

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

GO

NZ

AG

A U

NIV

ER

SIT

Y A

RC

HIV

ES

Page 4: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

the selfl essness of our lay faculty and staff, our alumni, benefactors and the community of Spokane. So many commitments and gifts have built Gonzaga over this 125 years,” McCulloh said.

“When the city needed lawyers to help with the challenges of justice, real estate, and civil order, we built a law school. You need hydroelectric power? We’ll give you engineers,” said McCulloh. This fundamental dynamic of demand and supply played out repeatedly as Spokane and Gonzaga grew up together.

“You have growing families? We need good teachers to fi ll growing schools. So Gonzaga builds a School of Education. You need people who know banking or business or commerce? We’ll build a School of Business. As a city up-and-coming, you want the arts? We’ll have a School of Music. That lasted about three years, unfortunately,” he said wryly.

In 1975, Gonzaga opened its School of Continuing Education. Known today as the School of Professional Studies, its programs in nursing, human physiology and leadership studies enrich hundreds of lives annually.

At this point, McCulloh changes gears from past to future, from the industrial age to the information age.

“Gonzaga’s twin sources of propulsion – what drove it forward in its fi rst 125 years – are excellence and relevance. In its future, Gonzaga needs to continue to harness these two forces again, but in a markedly different world.”

Already, the best institutions of higher education are beginning to put courses online. And for many, for-profi t education is the education of choice.

“Change does come. Large-scale change does happen,” McCulloh said. “I am quite certain, after all, that the early Jesuits never imagined a world so richly informed by technology. But look how it has changed the very meaning of contemporary education.”

Other phenomena point to large-scale change in higher education. The national level of attention to student loan debt is one such issue, especially as the next generation of college-bound students will be less affl uent than today’s. Another is the ubiquity of technology in the lives of young people today. Either issue alone skews the dynamic of higher education onto a new plane. Together, they present a dramatically different universe in which Gonzaga will play out its next 125 years.

“We recently brought Thomas Friedman to campus for our Presidential Speakers Series,” McCulloh said. Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and a Middle East expert who writes for the New York Times. He spoke in early September at the McCarthey Athletic Center about ideas from his latest book, “That Used to Be Us,” – the challenges that America faces as we grapple with how to regain our international competitiveness.

“So, our challenge – nationally and at Gonzaga – is to fi gure out how to manage a fundamental,

seismic shift that the information age has brought to us,” McCulloh said. “We manage this transition by emphasizing excellence and relevance – and we do so in several ways.

“The fundamental question behind this is still a question of ‘who.’ Who is teaching at Gonzaga? And the answer is: the very best faculty that we can fi nd. How do we do that? By working at being focused on excellence in education, and being a constructive and relevant community.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to fi gure out that the American public has become deeply skeptical about the cost of college. So Gonzaga has responded over the past decade by signifi cantly enlarging the number of scholarships we offer. Gonzaga’s future necessarily involves students of great promise, no matter their fi nancial circumstances.

“Then we create a global campus in which Gonzaga’s geographic location, surrounded by wheat

Who knew?

a look back to see Gonzaga’s way forward

Gonzaga’s original 320 acres were purchased for 936 silver

dollars in 1881. The campus now sits on 131 acres. See

gonzaga.edu/125 for a timeline of Gonzaga’s history.

President Thayne McCulloh is GU’s fi rst lay president and deeply committed to its Jesuit educational tradition.

RA

JAH

BO

SE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 5: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

fields and pine forests, no longer isolates students from anywhere in the world. Three things act together to make geography collapse, if you will. They are: technology; programs, courses and projects that are geared toward global problems and solutions; and a conscious decision to bring the world to Gonzaga. That means international professors, scholars and students. This is Gonzaga’s future,” McCulloh said.

“Finally, let’s talk bricks and mortar. Gonzaga is planning a new University Center. Think of

a powerful new city of learning, or a global portal right on our campus. Technology that will change education in ways we can’t yet imagine. You’ll find it in the University Center. Do professors and students need flexible technology-enabled environments, in which to further their learning? Do faculty from different disciplines join together to imagine new team-taught courses? The University Center will enable these discussions with a variety of formal and casual spaces. Digital media spaces will

connect students to learning in and outside of classrooms, anywhere in the world. The University Center also will provide dining services, replacing the COG, which we have so clearly outgrown.”

The Foley Center Library will evolve, devoting a significant portion of the building to technology-driven learning.

“The good news? We’re Jesuit. What it means to be Jesuit is the same in this age as it was in the beginning. We are intellectually

courageous, guided by our faith, and tenacious. We have always been on the edge. You want to build a mission in the middle of Idaho? OK, I’ll travel thousands of miles just to do that. And 150 years later the Cataldo Mission is still standing, built with care, intelligence, and substantial courage, but not a single nail.

“That’s the heritage that we must bring with us into Gonzaga’s second 125 years.”

– By Marny Lombard

Sodexo

Tradition and Transformation (Premiere)

1887

Gonzaga thanks its sponsors for their generous support of the 125th Anniversary Celebration:

Special thanks to The Spokesman-Review for partnering on this special section.

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 6: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

then&now former players making imprint on Spokane

Jeff Brown, Matt Santangelo, David Pendergraft, Casey Calvary, Mike Nilson.

Gonzaga is “unbeatable,” says David Pendergraft, former Bulldogs basketball star and current director of athletic relations for

the university. Once described by head coach Mark Few as “the ultimate Zag,” he isn’t talking about sports teams. He’s talking about the unique relationship that GU has with the Spokane community.

After all, what else explains why so many athletic stars first choose Gonzaga for their university education, then are drawn back to Spokane to settle down?

“It’s just a different environment here,” says Pendergraft. “It truly is. There’s just this camaraderie and friendship and family that K

EIT

H C

UR

RIE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 7: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

isn’t in other places. That’s why so many people come back.”

A quick Spokane roll call turns up someof the biggest names in Bulldog basketballfrom the past two decades: Casey Calvary,Jeff Brown, Matt Santangelo, Mike Nilson,Stephanie Hawk Freeman. Save for Freeman, all played pro ball overseas after graduation, and then chose to come back to the city of their alma mater and spread their roots.

“The list of how many guys have made this a home base is amazing,” says Mike Nilson, who was part of Gonzaga’s Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen teams. “Even the guys who haven’t bought a house here” – guys like Derek Raivio and Jeremy Pargo, former Bulldogs who are still playing pro ball –“still like to come back in the summers just to be tied in.”

“It’s hard to put your fi nger on why so many of the guys stick around. Take me, for example. I grew up in Seattle. That’s where all my aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and parents and grandparents lived. Now I’m here with my family and I got all of them to come over here.”

Nilson played two pro seasons in Germany before returning to Spokane to assist with strength conditioning at Gonzaga. From there he set out on his own to help establish U-District Physical Therapy. That business has a charitable wing called the U-District Foundation, which organizes fi tness camps, fun runs, mentoring programs, and scholarships for the Spokane community.

Another strong supporter of charitable efforts is Matt Santangelo, the point guard who helped propel Gonzaga to the Elite Eight in 1999, then went on to a professional career in Europe.

“When we moved back we had forgotten how welcoming, how supportive, how enthusiastic people were for the Gonzaga basketball program,” he says. “The fact that there’s so much community interest in the 125th year of Gonzaga University says something. It says a lot about the impact that the basketball program has. I’m so very fortunate to still be associated with the program.”

These days he’s shifted gears, practicing different kinds of teamwork and leadership: As father to three young children. As a benefi ts consultant for the brokerage fi rm Moloney and O’Neill. As the president of

the Spokane chapter of the Gonzaga Alumni Association. And as a board member for three philanthropic organizations: the Boys and Girls Club, the Community Building Association, and the Zak! Charity Open.

Jeff Brown, vice president of sales at locally based technology company Next IT, says, “I think it’s awesome that, when you look at a number of graduates, basketball players and non-basketball players, they choose to stay in Spokane.”

Brown is working in his own way to give those grads reasons to stay. Over the past eight years he has helped take Next IT from a company of 10 employees to one with 125. As the economy has contracted, Next IT has continued to bring in revenue from

Who knew?

Three teams at Gonzaga vie annually

for the Sweet Sixteen. Who are they?

The men’s and women’s basketball

teams, of course. And Gonzaga’s debate

team, which last year made it all the

way to the Final Four in Atlanta.

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 8: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

Stephanie Hawk Freeman helped lead Gonzaga to its first of five NCAA tournament appearances.

then&now former players making imprint on Spokane

outside the region, creating primary and secondary jobs.

When it comes to success against the odds, Casey Calvary has been there, done that. In 1999 he tipped in the winning basket that beat Florida 73-72, sending GU into the Elite Eight. Following his own globetrotting stint in the pros, he now works alongside his former Bulldog teammates Richie Frahm and Ryan Floyd at Stryker Trauma.

“Some of the friendships that we began way back when, they just stand the test of time,” he says. “I’ve played everywhere else in the country. I think we probably have the most tight-knit former player group of anyone that I know. All our athletic achievements aside, that’s basically the essence of what Gonzaga was to me and the most important part of it – the family, the community.”

And it isn’t just an all-boys club. Stephanie Hawk Freeman, a scholar-athlete who was awarded West Coast Conference Co-player of the Year for 2006-07 while playing for the Bulldogs, found a network of support growing around her from the moment she arrived at GU. It has since sustained her through a substantial career change from business administration to teaching.

“Choosing to become a Zag was more than joining a team,” she says. “It was joining a family – only this one had about 13 other sisters. The bonds that I have created with them during those experiences have been unbreakable.”

– By E.J. Iannelli

– JEFF BROWN “The life lessons we were taught at

Gonzaga – of being prepared, being

organized, being competitive, being

a good teammate... what wonderful

attributes those are to take forward into

your life after basketball.”

– CASEY CALVARY “There’s a connection that the players

feel towards the Spokane community

and that the community feels toward

the players. It really makes this place

stand apart from most others.”

– STEPHANIE HAWK FREEMAN

“Gonzaga really cares about Spokane

and its community members. In return,

the community has embraced the

university and what it represents.”

– MIKE NILSON “All the great things I have in my

life have been a direct result of the

opportunities that Gonzaga has given

me. I’m so thankful for it.”

– DAVID PENDERGRAFT

“What we all learned at Gonzaga is that

attitude of giving back. To the school,

to the community. To say, hey, I’ve had

success and experiences I can share,

and to be open to sharing them and not

closed off.”

– MATT SANTANGELO “The Spokane community, the Gonzaga

family, is just something extremely

special and I think it’s unique to college

basketball.”

they said…

AM

Y SI

NE

STE

RR

A

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 9: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

Who knew?

Each summer Gonzaga students travel to Africa to develop

water purification systems in Benin, teach at the Charles

Lwanga College of Education in Monze, Zambia, and work at

Chimfunshi, a 24,000-acre wildlife orphanage.

the spokane community is invited to enjoy anniversary lectures, exhibits,

masses and more. here’s a sample:

Constitution Day Lecture, Dr. Blaine Garvin: 7 p.m., Sept. 17, 2012

”Tradition & Transformation,” The Foley Exhibit: Open Sept. 17 – Dec. 31, 2012

125th Anniversary at the Spokane Symphony: Oct. 13 – 14, 2012

Women’s Basketball Fanfest: 2 p.m., Oct. 13, 2012

Krazinesss in the Kennel: 4 p.m., Oct. 20, 2012

Jundt Art Center Exhibits: (ongoing throughout the year)

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Visit gonzaga.edu/125 for a full calendar of events.

Page 10: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

reaching out exploring ways to make science engaging to youth

“Science makes me smile.”

Nancy! Nancy! Do we get to do science today?”

Dr. Nancy Staub smiles as she recalls that question, put to her several years ago by eager elementary school students. It marked the germ of an idea that evolved into Science in Action!, a Gonzaga University outreach program.

“When my daughter was in kindergarten, I started going into her classroom to help out,” says the GU biology professor. “We started doing little science projects with the kids.” Those hands-on experiments included activities like floating an egg by adding salt to the surrounding liquid, or testing surface tension by seeing how many drops of water could fit on a penny.

RA

JAH

BO

SE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 11: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

Who knew?

Who knows the connection between Gonzaga and the Edsel? GU

alumnus Bing Crosby promised to help his alma mater build a

much-needed library. An hour-long CBS special, named the Edsel

Show, starring Crosby and Frank Sinatra, aired in October 1957.

The Ford Motor Company sponsored the show, in order to promote

its new model, the Edsel. Crosby, Sinatra and others, including

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, donated their fees to Gonzaga.

Gonzaga got its library – and fared far better than the Edsel.

The children – even some who’d been singled out as having behavioral problems – loved it. So much, in fact, that they would rush her on the playground and plead for more experiments.

“To have them come up to me and say, ‘Can we do science today?’ – a light bulb went off in my head. I thought, ‘This is how all kids should feel about science.’”

The program took shape and gained momentum over the next two years. By 2008, Science in Action! was a fully fl edged

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 12: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

undertaking, sending 61 student volunteers weekly to K-6 classrooms at Bemis and Roosevelt elementary schools.

Since then, nearly 1,500 children across seven public and private schools in Spokane have taken part in Science in Action! Science majors at Gonzaga and students pursuing a teaching certifi cate volunteer in the classrooms.

“One of the biggest benefi ts of Science in Action! is that the young students I teach get these wonderful role models coming in every week,” says Ellen Nessen, a fi rst- and second-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary. “It’s a very active approach to science and a unique opportunity.”

The experiments in Science in Action! deepen what the children are already learning in the classroom, and the elementary teachers love that. The program grows by word of mouth. And it isn’t just the children who are asking if they get to do science today. Last spring 13 classrooms took part, and even more local elementary school teachers have asked to be involved in it this year.

Staub says enthusiasm for Science in Action! is growing on the university side too.

“I hear back from the students saying, ‘I wish I’d done this earlier.’ Once they start in the program, we have a very high proportion who do it for multiple semesters. Walking into a classroom and seeing a room full of beaming kids who are excited to see you is very rewarding. They see they’re making a difference.”

Learning happens on both sides. The Gonzaga students put their knowledge to the test and gain real-world teaching experience. And the children who enjoy Science in Action! are becoming scientifi cally literate. By working with petroleum jelly and black lights to show how bees identify pollen, or by powering a clock with a potato battery, they develop an understanding of how nature and technology underpin their lives.

“What Science in Action! is doing is helping that transformation happen,” says Staub. “It gets K-6 kids jazzed about science by seeing that science is something they can do.”

– By E.J. Iannelli

reaching out exploring ways to make science engaging to youth

“What if I put this here?”

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Who knew?

Gonzaga University ranks No. 2 nation-

wide among small colleges and

universities whose graduates serve in

the Peace Corps.

Page 13: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

The fi rst compilation of the School of Law’s history – from a night school without a home to skyrocketing enrollment and constant evolution to meet the needs of an ever-changing community. Meet the creators and the characters who led the Law School to national prominence.

Celebrating Gonzaga: The University and Its People

Celebrating Gonzaga School of Law: The First 100 Years

Gonzaga Anniversary booksThe ultimate Gonzaga keepsake

It tells the stories of people and events that spawned an extraordinary collegiate experience and brought Gonzaga to national prominence. Why did the Jesuits come to Spokane? How were women received on a once all-male campus? Where will Gonzaga’s vision lead tomorrow? This beautifully depicted book tells the most compelling tales about Gonzaga’s lore.

Order your books today Call 509.313.5999gonzaga.edu/anniversarybooks

Page 14: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

saving homes Law Clinic helping those in dire need

A whiteboard hangs in Al McNeil’s office. On it, the GU School of Law professor has drawn a table with several columns: the name of a

homeowner, the name of the student assigned to the case, and the case’s status.

Each row represents a bank foreclosure and, more specifically, a homeowner who has appealed to the Gonzaga Center for Law and Justice for help. There are about a dozen rows at the moment, and McNeil and his colleague Rick White don’t doubt that there will be many more in the coming months.

“Some of the homeowners have come to see us because they’ve been served with a notice of default, the beginnings of the process to foreclose their homes,” explains White, a retired Spokane County District Court judge and GU alum. “And some of them are substantially behind in their mortgage payments and want to know what they can do now.”

In all these cases, White, McNeil, and the Gonzaga law students they mentor work as

Former Judge Richard White, “We’re here to seek justice.”

RA

JAH

BO

SE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 15: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

Who knew?

Gonzaga’s students and faculty have earned 13 Fulbright

scholarships since 2005 … Gonzaga’s incoming freshman class

includes 23 percent students of color … 96 percent of Gonzaga’s

students receive some form of financial aid …

a neutral third party to ensure that the homeowners are being treated fairly in the foreclosure dispute, and that the bank is acting in good faith. Their goal, in a nutshell, is to keep people in their homes.

Funding in these matters is key, and McNeil and White have been lucky to fi nd the necessary support. The School of Law and Seattle University recently split a $60,000 state grant – a tiny fraction of the $25 billion bank settlement back in February – that is designed to assist with mediation for homeowners facing non-judicial foreclosure in Eastern Washington. The law clinic used some of that money to bring in White, who had been running his own mediation practice following his retirement last year and was keen to offer his expertise.

The mediation program has also had little trouble fi nding passionate and committed students.

“The students who worked for Alan and me last year absolutely thrived on it,” says White. “Doing some criminal defense work can be fun, doing a divorce case can be fun, doing other types of litigation can be fun. But we say to those kids, ‘Hey, meet your client, try to keep them in their home.’ We give them some tools and point them in the direction.”

“We’ve got at least two or three students from this last class who are still coming in and want responsibility for their cases. They

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 16: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

Not only did McNeil manage to have the debt written off, he countersued the collector for flagrant violations of fair debt collection practices.

“There’s so many different ways you can help people under these circumstances,” says McNeil, “and just kind of level the playing field.”

“We aren’t Robin Hood,” cautions White. “Our ethics and the principles of our profession are that we’re to seek justice. I like to think that our students, when they finish this experience, can be the lawyers for the collection agencies in an ethical way, just as they can be the lawyers for the defendants in an ethical way.”

– By E.J. Iannelli

saving homes Law Clinic helping those in dire need

Gonzaga School of Law celebrating 100 years.

say, ‘Can you hold that case for me? As soon as I’ve got my license I want to finish it.’ “

Challenging foreclosures isn’t the only way McNeil and White are helping those facing serious financial problems. They and their students are also taking on unscrupulous debt collection agencies.

McNeil recalls one particular case when he found an aging, broken man crying in the law clinic lobby.

“He says, ‘Can you help me? This guy, he just won’t leave me alone. He keeps hauling me down to court every three months to see how much money I’ve got. And he knows I’m a disabled vet and I’ve got no money and I’m never going to have any money and he keeps making me do it.’” The disputed amount was just $600.

RA

JAH

BO

SE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 17: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

jesuit education finding the ”Magis,“ passion in life

Jesuit speak: “Magis,” means doing more.

By her own admission, Molly McFarland was lost. With three disastrous years of college under her belt, she was drifting in a series of unfulfilling

jobs, such as working at a local grocery store, schlepping turkey.

“I didn’t have any direction,” she says. “And I didn’t feel like I was challenging myself intellectually or using my gifts to help others in a way that was constructive.”

She resolved to go back to school and found herself drawn to Gonzaga University with its Jesuit-based holistic education and its emphasis on character, service and social justice.

My admission letter to Gonzaga was about the fifty different types of turkey,” she laughs, “and how I needed to get out of this, how I wanted a unique education.”

The Admission Office was amused. Or moved. Or perhaps both. In 1998, McFarland entered Gonzaga as a classics major.

“I had to work really hard at Gonzaga. I call it my penance. For a couple of years I was working full time and going to school full time,

so it took me a good while to finish. In fact, I got to a point where I thought, ‘If I’m not graduated by my 10-year high-school reunion, I quit.’ I finished a month before that.”

McFarland gained a teacher and mentor in Gonzaga’s Father Ken Krall, S.J. As he helped her ply her way through Greek and Latin texts, the two developed a close friendship – in part because she saw him as a living embodiment of the progressive Jesuit tradition that championed the marginalized, the impoverished, the less fortunate. It was a tradition that could be traced back almost five centuries to St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

“Father Ken practically saved me,” she says. He was instrumental in developing her appreciation for Ignatius’ concept of the magis – that is, the more, the greater. It was precisely what she had longed for during her aimless years.

But noble ideas are one thing. Living them is another. Even with the hat trick of a classical education, the guidance of Fr. Krall, and a firmer grasp on her own convictions, after graduation McFarland found herself in doubt of its

RA

JAH

BO

SE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 18: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

jesuit education finding the “Magis,” passion in life

practicality. There seemed to be an unbridgeable divide between the magis and the mundane.

“What do you do with a degree in classics? There’s not a Latin factory that you can go work at,” she jokes.

She found her answer by looking inward and discovering her own passion for teaching. On her 30th birthday, McFarland received her acceptance letter from Seattle University. She graduated in 2007 with a master’s in teaching.

Today, McFarland teaches eighth-grade language arts, social studies and religion at St. John Catholic School in Seattle. She tries to teach beyond the boundaries of those subjects, drawing on the personal strengths she discovered years ago.

“I use my humor, my curiosity and my passion for Latin and Greek and the classics, and I bring that into my classroom,” she says. “I’ve successfully proselytized quite a few students to take Latin or to try something they wouldn’t normally have tried.

“One of the things I say to them is that if you want to distinguish yourself, be a person of learning and compassion, somebody who thinks critically and seeks justice. That is a direct result of the idea of the magis, this idea of the greater good, regardless of whether that’s the greater good for God or just for humanity.”

McFarland has come to see St. Ignatius as a kindred spirit. Here was a man who was by many accounts an idler and a dandy, a man who first sought glory on the battlefield. It wasn’t until he was gravely wounded that he delved into books and faith, emerging with the idea that, as he wrote, one should “reconcile the estranged, compassionately assist and serve those” in need, and assist the commonweal.

Molly McFarland credits Gonzaga Professor Father Ken Krall with saving her, and helping give her life purpose.

“Was I drawn to Gonzaga because of some personal desire to do more? Or was that nurtured through GU? I don’t really know,” says McFarland. “All I know is that some of the most influential people in my life have been teachers at Gonzaga. Not many people get to have that kind of an education.”

– By E.J. Iannelli

RA

JAH

BO

SE

TRADITION & TRANSFORMATION

Page 19: Gonzaga University Spokesman Review Insert

ZAG NATION,

UNITE!CELEBRATE WITH US.

PRESIDENTIAL SPEAKER SERIES (SPRING 2013)Famed primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, April 9, 2013.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WEEK (SEPTEMBER 12-20, 2012)Mass of the Holy Spirit, Historic First Day, Pilgrimage, and School of Law Centennial Speaker,

acclaimed author Scott Turow.

ZAGAPALOOZA ALL-CLASS REUNION & FALL FAMILY WEEKEND (OCTOBER 19-21, 2012)Come back to campus to live the Gonzaga Experience with family and friends, both old and new.

NATIONAL GONZAGA DAY (TBA, WINTER 2012/2013)The entire Spokane community is invited downtown (location TBA) to cheer on the men’s team and celebrate all things Gonzaga – at the same time as gatherings of Zags across the country.

Entertainment, prizes, special appearances and announcements will be part of the fun.

GONZAGA.EDU/125