Month: November 2023

Student Summer Research Highlight – Chloe Wu

Chloe Wu is a  senior majoring in Business Management and minoring in Legal Studies.  Her summer research project, “Understanding and Responding to the Persistent Cultural Narrative that ‘women are becoming over-educated’,” was supported by the Summer Research Program.

Dr. Jill Swiencicki, the interim chair of the English department, served as her mentor on the research project.  When asked about the project, Dr. Swiencicki sent, “This is a rhetorical analysis of the phrase, which has persisted across time in the U.S., ‘women are becoming over-educated.’ This research highlights rhetorics of education for women in the present time. Women are seeking education in record numbers, and are a majority in college classes in the U.S. But the cultural rhetorics that prohibited women from higher education remain. This presentation explores how women are subject to three main rhetorics in response to seeking higher education: while those that argue women should be prohibited from education are rare, they persist; so do rhetorics that state that women should seek an education that complements their roles as wives and mothers, or future mates; and those that argue women deserve the right to seek an education for self-determination exist and battle those other two rhetorics. Our research argues that arguments that bemoan women’s over-education are essentialist, male supremacist, heteronormative, and demonstrate anxiety about the emergence of gender equity in education, and its cultural implications. Understanding these cultural scripts helps women to respond to them with agency.”

Faculty Summer 2023 Travels

With the graduation of the Class of 2023 and all the grades submitted, summer makes for the perfect time to travel!  With the weather turning gloomy, it’s time to look back and share times with sunshine, and some of our faculty have graciously allowed us to share their travels.

In early June, Dr. Tim Madigan participated in the sixth annual Society for Italian Philosophy Conference, which was held at our fellow Basilian institution, St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto.

“I took the train there and back, which I highly recommend – I love Toronto, but I don’t love driving in Toronto traffic.

“The conference was a rich assortment of talks, from witchcraft and feminism in early Enlightenment Italy to Pope Francis’s use of St. Francis’s teachings to address the current environmental crisis, all ably organized by my friends Silvia Benso and Brian Schroeder, professors of philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. My favorite talk was by the art historian Julian Haladyn about his visit to San Casciano to see Machiavelli’s home there. This raised some vigorous discussion about why we want to preserve the residences of famous people of the past, especially since in this case Machiavelli himself lived in the modest home only because he had been exiled from his native Florence, which he longed to return to. As seen in the quote above from the letter he wrote to his friend Francesco Vittori, Machiavelli felt great melancholy as he contemplated the life he once had had in his beloved place of birth, which he could almost glimpse from his place of banishment. So close and yet so far. He found solace in reading the works of ancient philosophers and writing his masterpiece The Prince while there but never gave up his desire to go back to his native city. To paraphrase Neil Diamond, Machiavelli might well have thought ‘San    Casciano’s fine but it ain’t home, Florence is home but it ain’t mine no more.’

“Next to the campus building that houses the Department of Italian Studies, where the conference was held, was a newly-erected Dante Sculpture Garden, with a panel depicting each canto of the Divine Comedy. It was created by sculptor Timothy Schmalz, the same person who made the statue of St. Basil gracing the front of our Hermance Family Chapel of St. Basil theGreat. Coincidentally, the Garden was unveiled on May 25, less than two weeks before the conference (see Sculptor, cardinal tout Dante’s power (catholicregister.org)), which seemed very fitting. I encourage everyone to take the train to Toronto and see this magnificent tribute to one of Italy’s greatest  writers. Dante also knew a thing or two about exile from Florence.”

Back in early July, Dr. Mark Rice and his wife, Anne, and traveled to Italy!

“It was our first time there, and it was a delayed (because of COVID) 30th wedding anniversary trip. We spent three days in Rome and five days in Florence. Florence was by far our favorite of the two. The sixth floor apartment we rented had a panoramic view of the city, so we could sip espresso on our balcony while looking out at the Duomo, listening to the morning church bells while swifts and swallows darted through the sky catching their first meals of the day. It was piercingly hot while we were there (you might have read about the heatwave that gripped southern Europe), but the city’s narrow streets made shade relatively easy to find. We visited many of the usual sites in both cities but the one I was most determined to see was Michelangelo’s statue of David. It was awesome (in the real sense of that word) and sublime to behold, a true masterpiece of the human spirit. 

“Of course, the food needs to be talked about, too. I’m not usually one to suggest Italian when we go out to eat, but every meal we had was fantastic. Two standouts were a warm salad of grilled octopus, potato, black olives, and parsley in a light lemon dressing, and a grilled steak (medium rare) with a balsamic glaze, topped with a handful of arugula. Both went well with the wine we drank (and drank).

“Anne and I generally don’t like to revisit countries we’ve already been to because the world is too big and we want to explore as much of it as we can, but we’re already thinking about another trip to Italy—the Amalfi coast? Lake Como? Both?”

 

This summer, Dr. Deb Vanderbilt headed to France with great company.

“I went to France for 10 days in the company of my 2 sons who both are fluent in French, which made all my public transportation and restaurant experiences very relaxing. I saw a lot of cathedrals, but my favorite was St. Denis basilica in the suburbs of Paris. The church is amazing and the crypt is fascinating!”

Professor Liga Kalnina took a trip of a lifetime to Norway!

“This summer I went on a trip with the IFTA(International Tree Fruit Association) to Norway to learn more about the European apple production, visit orchards and tree fruit research centers as well as interact with apple growers from United States and around the world. This was once in a lifetime trip with the IFTA to visit the Fjords of Norway. 

“I’m attaching a couple pictures. One is with the IFTA members and Professor Mekjell Meland visiting NIBIO Tree Fruit Research Center in Ullensvang, Norway and the other one is me in front of Europes largest glacier in the background pointing at the glacier as well as some picturesque apple orchards in Norway”

 

 

Last but not least, Professor Jeremy Sarachan ventured the furthest to the Middle East!

“In mid-July, I had the opportunity to travel to Israel as part of the Ramim program through the Jewish Federation of Rochester.  This is an exchange program for twelve adults (35-55) to partner with counterparts in Modi’in.  I was partnered with a Secular Rabbi (and former Air Force officer) and stayed in his home with his wife.   (The Israelis will visit Rochester in October.) The group explored sites in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the area and towns around the Gaza Strip for several days of conversation, learning, and comradeship.  I had the opportunity to visit the Wailing Wall, tour public art in Tel Aviv, learn about Ethiopian Jewry, and participate in a peace art project a few yards from the border with Gaza (just to name four of several dozen events over several days).  On the last day, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea from a beach in Tel Aviv was in order.  (This was necessary; daytime temperatures varied between 92 and 102 each day.)”

RCSD Summer Enrichment

Over the summer, St. John Fisher hosted the Rochester City School District’s summer program for the second year in a row.  Teachers and administrators from RCSD worked with the School of Education to envision and develop the summer school programming for over 250 students that came on campus.

The students were given the opportunity to participate in enrichment courses with Fisher faculty, and many of those faculty members came from the School of Arts and Sciences.

For one of the classes, Dr. Jane Snyder and Professor Fionnuala Regan discussed the recent affirmative action case decided by the Supreme Court. The goal of this particular session was to demonstrate to students the importance of how seeking both sides of an argument is central to law. By looking at both sides of the argument, students would begin to understand the concept of critical thinking to make informed decisions. During the lesson students read an article that presents both sides of affirmative action as well as an excerpt of the case.

Philosophy Day with Dr. Ron Sundstrom

November 16th is the 21st Annual Philosophy Day Event!  This year, St. John Fisher is hosting Dr. Ronald Sundstrom who is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco.  Dr. Sundstrom will be speaking on Frederick Douglass in his talk, The Dread of Tyrants: Frederick Douglass on the Right to Speak, Listen, and Learn.  This talk will be held in the Golisano Gateway at 3pm on the 16th.  Catch a glimpse of Dr. Sundstrom’s talk in the video below:

Ronald R. Sundstrom is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. He is also a member of USF’s African American Studies program, teaches for the university’s Honors College, and is the Humanities Advisor for the SF Urban Film Festival. His research focuses on the philosophy of race and the related areas of racism, xenophobia, and mixed-race identity; political philosophy and urban philosophy; and the political philosophy of Frederick Douglass. He published several essays and two books in these areas, including the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on Douglass, The Browning of America and The Evasion of Social Justice (SUNY 2008), and Just Shelter: Integration, Gentrification, and Race and Reconstruction (Oxford 2023).

Philosophy Day is supported by the St. John Fisher Department of Philosophy and Classical Studies, the Department of Religious Studies, the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, the William and Helen Cavanaugh Chair of Catholic Studies, and The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Please contact Tim Madigan at tmadigan@sjf.edu for further information.

Invisible No More: A Look Inside the Mt. Hope Cemetery Memorial

On October 23rd, 2023, a memorial honoring the unmarked graves in Mt. Hope Cemetery was revealed.  Spearheaded by St. John Fisher’s Dr. Ryan Thibodeau of the Psychology department, “Invisible No More: Honoring the deceased buried in the public section of Mount Hope Cemetery” honors those buried at Mt. Hope that had died at the Monroe County Almshouse, Monroe County Penitentiary, and Monroe County Insane Asylum (later Rochester State Hospital, currently Rochester Psychiatric Center).  Since this isn’t the first time Dr. Thibodeau has brought this kind of history to our campus, I had the honor of sitting down and discussing his passion for bringing this to light.

Dr. Thibodeau’s interest in the history of mental illness, psychiatry, and social welfare started about 2017 when he toured the former Buffalo State Hospital.  If you’re familiar with the Buffalo area, you may know it now as the Richardson Olmsted Campus.  The Romanesque inspired building hosts many businesses including Richardson Hotel Buffalo.  The tour provides insight on the history of the Buffalo State Hospital, what happened there, along with what they’re doing for renovations.

About a year and a half ago, Dr. Thibodeau helped to bring “The Willard Suitcases” exhibit to our art gallery which highlights those that stayed at the Willard Psychiatric Center in Ithaca.  Both “The Willard Suitcases” and “Invisible No More” share a common thread – local history.  As he’s learned more about the history of these local institutions, the more Dr. Thibodeau has wanted to share what he’s learned.  Since history is so vast, Dr. Thibodeau has kept his focus to the mid to late 19th century.  It was during this period in time that the creation and expansion of public state hospitals became prevalent.

Like we hear many similar discoveries around the country, the unmarked graves were discovered during a construction project in Highland Park back in the 1980s.  Dr. Thibodeau learned of these graves back in 2020 when WXXI published a story about the unmarked graves, along with a brief glimpse of the history behind the gravesite.  He also revealed the inspiration behind the memorial came from a documentary he saw in 2020 centered on the cemeteries at the former Athens Lunatic Asylum in Ohio to help identify and recognize those buried in Athens.  For those interested, they can check out the documentary on WOUB.

After a lengthy process, the project was approved.  The memorial holds a great importance to Dr. Thibodeau as in some cases, the people buried in the public section have been invisible to the public eye for 150 years, and he is very pleased that the memorial finally pays tribute to those people.  He is also excited about educating the public regarding this fascinating history of our city.

As the unveiling approached on the 23rd, Dr. Thibodeau and the committee working on the project had hoped there would be a decent crowd attending this historic event.  Thankfully, a crowd of around 100 people attended to witness, learn, and honor the deceased.

Dr. Thibodeau hopes “Invisible No More” not only educates the Rochester community about what happened regarding mental health during this time in history, but to provide a venue where the community can honor the dead.  While most people who would have known those in the institution have passed, he would also love if their descendants are able to identify if their family member was among the forgotten in Mt. Hope.  Dr. Thibodeau would also like for community members to think about the current challenges related to the social problems that caused people in history to open these institutions in the first place – mental illness, poverty, and crime. What about our current policies are working? What isn’t working about them?  The stigma around mental health has definitely decreased significantly since the mid 19th century, but what can we do to further drive it out of society? 

Be sure to read more about the ceremony on St. John Fisher’s website and on WHEC.  If you would like to visit the memorial in Mt. Hope Cemetery, a pin on Google Maps should be coming soon!