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NEWSGoodwill for All David Hollier and Stephanie Upshaw MAT ’12 presented a paper about their work with Goodwill Industries atthe Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education in October 2011.ABI JUSTICE ’04When most people think of helping Goodwill Industries International, they picture droppingoff used clothes at their local donation site. For David Hollier, assistant professor ofEducation, donating to Goodwill now has a different meaning.In early 2011, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas came to Hollier looking forhelp: They needed a pro to provide feedback on essays written by participants in theirLeadership Learning Program, an internal professional-development program focused onimproving communication skills. Hollier, Associate Professor of Education Judy Leavell,and Assistant Professor of English Writing and Rhetoric Ryan Hoover fit the bill, and theyagreed to help.The brief service opportunity inspired Hollier. His graduate students could learnby conducting research in a real-world setting, and Goodwill could benefit from theirexpertise as educators.Ultimately, Hollier’s team came up with a list ofThe Master of Artsfive recommendations to enhance the programin Teaching studentsbased on observations and a survey of 30learnedby conductingparticipants. And their relationship continuesresearch in a real-worldwith Goodwill, with Hollier and otherssetting, and Goodwillpresenting workshops for LLP and continuingto support the program.benefited from their“It was a rich opportunityexpertise as educators.in keeping with the mission of St. Edward’s,”Hollier says. “We were able to show that we wantto support the community outside St. Edward’sby assisting them with our expertise whilecreating a really authentic learning experiencefor our students.”Bright IdeasIf you can recharge the battery for a powerdrill, why do you have to wrangle cords whenflat ironing your hair? That’s exactly whatSara Kogut ’12 wondered when she enteredthe inaugural iChallenge competition,sponsored by the School of Management andBusiness, the Student Entrepreneurs Club, andthe Dean’s Leadership Council in November2011. Kogut took home first place with her ideafor rechargeable, cordless hair tools.The event, which was open to all students,captured the spirit of innovative thinking atSt. Edward’s. iChallenge is about answeringthree questions: Is it innovative? Does ithave impact? Will it improve the community?Students pitched ideas to a panel of judgesmade up of students, faculty and localentrepreneurs, and several students walkedaway with coveted Apple gift cards.Aaron Reissig ’13 landed second placefor his device that can link two flash drivestogether and transfer data from one to theother without a computer.Carlos Martin ’12 garnered the third-placetitle with his proposal of a bar or restaurant thatuses interactive table technology, facilitatingorders and connecting patrons with otherdiners at the same venue.378117 St Eds.indd 34/27/12 1:25 PM

NewsHot SpotsWho needs Frommer’s or Lonely Planet travel guides when you have globetrotting St. Edward’sstudents? We asked several study-abroad returnees to give us the scoop we wouldn’t find inany guidebook. Global UpdateSt. Edward’s University continues to establishnew global partnerships and expandinternational opportunities for students.Here’s an update. With a new year comes a new graduatedegree. St. Edward’s will launchthe Professional Science Master’sin Environmental Management andSustainability in Fall 2012. Students willexamine ecological issues through thecombined disciplines of environmentalscience and project management in anintensive two-year, full-time program,which will be conducted in both Austinand Angers, France. Graduates will receivea joint degree from St. Edward’s and theUniversité Catholique de l’Ouest. A 3.75-million, five-year grant from Japan’sMinistry of Culture will take the university’spartnership with Ritsumeikan AsiaPacific University to new levels. Thegrant will enable APU students to study atSt. Edward’s and vice versa. Additionally,the funding will support a religion andculture program for both APU and St.Edward’s University students to studyabroad together in Thailand and Malaysia. February found the hilltop abuzz withFrench cinema. The Tournées Film Festivalwas held on campus and showcased sevenof the latest French films. The three-weekevent was made possible with the supportof the Cultural Services of the FrenchEmbassy and the French Ministry of Culture.Buenos Aires, ArgentinaHot Spot: At The Konex, which is an oldfactory, there is a giant percussion concertcalled La Bomba de Tiempo with a differentspecial guest every week. It often sells out, sogo early.Insider Tip: Burn the midnight oil. Emily Zipp ’13discovered many secret bars throughout thecity where the social scene was at its best. Amman, JordanHot Spot: Wadi Mujib. This long canyonhas a river that flows through it and runs intothe Dead Sea. Visitors can climb throughthe canyon and slide down waterfalls in agorgeous setting.Insider Tip: Embrace the people. DanielBorgersen ’13 was frequently invited to dineat people’s houses, even by those he hardlyknew: his taxi driver, his barber andnew acquaintances.Hangzhou, ChinaHot Spot: Outside the city there are severalgardens that will take your breath away.Insider Tip: Take advantage of the local foodmarkets. Ximena Fernandez ’14 marveledat the offerings: cat, starfish, shark, friedcockroaches and traditional fried ice cream. Geneva, SwitzerlandHot Spot: Lake Geneva is surrounded by theAlps and offers incredible views. People headthere to relax on the grass, ride paddle boats,sail or just lie on the pier.Insider Tip: Indulge in the cheese. JuhiTariq ’12 found new appreciation for the vastnumber of fromage varieties.Paris, FranceHot Spot: Jardin des Tuileries, the gardens infront of the Louvre, is a great gathering spot.Bring your picnic blanket, a bottle of wine anda fresh baguette for the quintessentialParisian experience.Insider Tip: Take in the art scene. AlexMcCormack ’12 says the young, artsycommunity of Montmartre is the Austin ofParis. Although Montmartre is known for theSacré Coeur church and the Moulin Rouge,its back streets are an artist’s paradise withan abundance of street-art markets and cafésbuzzing with locals.4 St. Edward’s University78117 St Eds.indd 44/27/12 1:25 PM

Social CloutT h e S c i e n c e of S c a n d a l sChallengePut these infractions in order of impact onan election: Outrageous statement (e.g. racial slur) Financial impropriety (e.g. shadyinvestments) Immoral behavior (e.g. cheating onyour spouse) Criminal act (investigated, arrestedor indicted) Abuse of office (e.g. nepotism)Long found that financial improprietyaffected an incumbent least, with a net lossof 4.34 percent of the vote, followed byan outrageous statement (5.33 percent).Biggest surprise? Criminal acts came in at a5.36-percent loss, making an arrest potentiallyless “incriminating” than abuse of power(5.73 percent). The worst infraction? Immoralbehavior gets the blue ribbon, with a loss of6.51 percent of the vote.Of course, in all U.S. elections, incumbencyhas significant power. In the House, forexample, more than 90 percent of incumbentsare reelected by a significant margin, meaninga loss of 5 or 6 percent of the vote isn’tABI JUSTICE ’04Pop quizWhich scandal is more likely to put at risk aSenate incumbent’s chance of reelection:a Republican who cheats on his wife or aDemocrat who cheats on his taxes? These arethe kinds of questions that got Chad Longthinking during the 2006 midterm electionswhen the Democrats took control of theSenate amidst a higher-than-usual number ofscandals across party lines.The assistant professor of Political Sciencegathered data on all Senate races from 1974to 2004 and found that 19 percent of thosematchups involved a scandal, defined as anincident reported by the media that raisedquestions about honesty, judgmentor competence. But not all scandals arecreated equal.likely to affect the outcome. But in closerraces, politicians might be wise to keep theirimproprieties in check.QuestionTrue or false? A Republican is more likely to face wrathafter a scandal than a Democrat. First-term senators are more likely to beinvolved in a scandal.AnswerBoth are true. Perhaps because moreRepublicans run on a platform of values, Longspeculates, a misstep reflects more poorly onthem. And why are more tenured senators lesslikely to be affected by scandals? “If you’renot a cynic, then you might surmise that withage comes wisdom, and wise people avoidscandalous behavior,” Long explains. “Ifyou’re more cynical, then those senators arejust better able to prevent their behavior frombecoming public.”Long continues to research, focusinghis next paper on House elections,campaign receipts and more specific typesof scandals. We’ll be sure to pass along thesalacious details.In the meantime, some advice forincumbents in the upcoming election:Pick your next scandal carefully.Suzanne Bonifaz DMBA ’12 and RobertFlores DMBA ’12 had a busy semester last fall.So when representatives from a national lifeinsurance company approached the Digital MBAstudents with a competition to create a socialmedia plan, many students thought twice abouttaking on such a huge time commitment.Bonifaz and Flores, however, readilyaccepted the challenge and teamed up todevelop SocialClout, a comprehensive socialmedia plan for Jackson National Life InsuranceCompany, based in Lansing, Mich. “I liked thiscompetition because this was real life,” saysBonifaz. “We were creating a strategy that amulti-billion dollar company could implement.We could take what we learned in the programand apply it to a company out there.”The two spent countless hours preparingtheir social-media business plan. Theypracticed their pitch numerous times andreceived feedback from digital-media faculty.Yet it was still unnerving to step off the planeon Jan. 19 knowing that in a few short hours,they would be pitching the plan to JacksonNational executives in the finals.Bonifaz was in class when the email poppedinto her inbox. “When I saw the missed calls onmy phone from Rob, I knew something was up,”she says. They were ecstatic to have won firstprize — and 15,000 to share.Bonifaz and Flores got this incredibleopportunity to pitch their plan to a multibillion-dollar company in part becausethe university’s digital media program hasbecome an international rock star, of sorts.Visit www.stedwards.edu/makegifts orreturn the enclosed envelope before June30 to make a gift to The St. Edward’s Fundthat will support the university’s diverseacademic programs.578117 St Eds.indd 54/27/12 1:25 PM

NewsKeeping the InterfaithLETTER s TO T H E EDITORDear Editor,In the Winter 2012 issue (“From the Archives” on the insideback cover), you asked for old St. Edward’s football stories.My father-in-law, Harold Jansing ’30, played in a gameagainst Trinity University. Harold scored the game’s onlytouchdown and kicked the extra point.Later in the game, with his back to the goal line, Haroldhad his punt blocked. He recovered the ball in the end zone,a safety for Trinity, scoring the final two points of the game.Harold scored all nine points, making the final scoreSt. Edward’s 7, Trinity 2.Ray Bourgeois ’57Dear Editor,You asked for thoughts about St. Edward’s football duringthe 1930s. While I was not present then, I recall seeing inthe Old Gym or Old Library a trophy showing St. Edward’sas the Southwest Conference champion, which would havebeen when Jack Chevigny — one of Knute Rockne’s AllAmericans at Notre Dame — was the head coach. WhenSt. Edward’s stopped fielding a team in 1939, Coach Jackwas hired by the University of Texas as its head coach.When the Second World War broke out, Coach Jack joinedthe Marines and was killed at Iwo Jima.As a freshman in 1953, I had Father James Gibbons,CSC, for religion class. After class one day, he asked me ifI was related to the Bresnahan who played quarterback onone of those St. Edward’s late-1930s teams. I told him no.In the course of this exchange, he told me that thefootball player Bresnahan was a quarterback from Indiana.I believe Father may have even said Greencastle, Ind.,where I later learned a Bresnahan family lived but movedto Washington, D.C., after the Civil War. But that’s a wholedifferent story, which brings me to ask if you could find anyadditional information on the St. Edward’s football playerwith the last name of Bresnahan.Tom Bresnahan ’57Editor’s Note: The only Bresnahan we have record of duringthat time was Robert E. Bresnahan, who graduated in 1937.Unfortunately, there weren’t any yearbooks published from1931–1941, so information from this time period is sparse,at best.St. Edward’s University Magazine invites letters on itscontent. Send your letters to frannies@stedwards.edu orAttn: Frannie Schneider, CM 1029, 3001 S. Congress Ave.,Austin, TX 78704.PRESIDENT OBAMA’SINTERFAITHCHALLENGELook at any major newspaper, andchances are pretty good you’ll find anarticle about religious divisiveness,especially as the 2012 elections pick up.St. Edward’s — and 249 other campusesacross the country — are trying tochange the conversation by fosteringa movement of interfaith cooperationas part of President Barack Obama’sInterfaith and Community ServiceCampus Challenge.Students have attended variouspresentations, programs and serviceprojects to better understand peoplewith different backgrounds. While thetheme, “Displacement, Migration, andRefugees,” holds relevancy for peopleall over the world, St. Edward’s studentsfound a group of people needingassistance right in their own backyard:The community of Bastrop was seriouslydamaged by wildfires last fall. By participating in three events in Fall 2011,students provided hands-on assistance and raised money and supplies to helpthe displaced community.Throughout the year, faith groups on campus have shared traditions andengaged students and faculty in conversations, which were then continued inresidence hall discussions called BUTTER: Being Understanding and TactfulToward Everyone’s Religion.Events in the spring wrapped up with a screening of Beyond Beliefs, adocumentary that follows four Australians as they consider how Muslims and nonMuslims live in Australia. Although the challenge ends at the close of the schoolyear, similar events will continue in years to come, and leaders hope to establishcollaborations like a student interfaith council and perhaps an interfaith livinglearning community.Learn more about how St. Edward’s is participating in the Interfaith Challenge atseuinterfaithchallenge.tumblr.com.6 St. Edward’s University78117 St Eds.indd 64/27/12 1:26 PM

C U LT U R ETo Travel FreelyBy Lisa ThiegsAssociate Professor Kerstin Somerholter escaped from East Germany in 1986.This summer, she takes students to her native Berlin.At the age of 21, Associate Professor ofEuropean Languages Kerstin Somerholterwas just like any other college student inEast Berlin. She studied diligently andseemed to follow the party line. But she wasalso secretly planning her escape fromEast Germany.Somerholter grew up in Brandenburg,Germany, right outside the divided city ofBerlin. At Humboldt University, she spent fouryears studying English and French, when shewas hand-picked to work as an interpreter inParis. “It was like winning the jackpot,” shesays. “I had the opportunity to get officially outof East Germany with a passport and visa towork in Paris. The wall was still up in 1986, andI thought this was my opportunity of a lifetime.It was my ticket out of East Germany.”While in Paris, Somerholter was undersurveillance, but she nonetheless decided tomake the daring escape. She was so filled withnerves during her getaway that she told thecab driver to take her to the German embassy.It wasn’t until she was halfway through Paristhat she realized she needed to clarify ithad to be the West German embassy. Afterbeing questioned by the West German secretservice, she was given a temporary passportand later West German citizenship.She was elated to have her freedom,but it meant not being able to return to EastGermany to see her family — even for hermother’s funeral, which happened only monthsbefore the wall fell — for fear of being arrested.In the months after her escape, Somerholteroccasionally called home using a neighbor’sphone and wrote letters to her family. She hadnot told her parents that she would seize theopportunity to escape, knowing that the EastGerman secret service would interrogate herparents. “The secret service questioned myparents for six months, but they didn’t knowwhat I had planned, so they didn’t have to lie,”she notes.She eventually left West Germany forthe United States, where she experiencedanother moment of elation: watching theBerlin Wall come down as communism felland Germany was reunited. Somerholter hassince been back to Germany every year,including four times as the leader of a studentstudy abroad program.This summer, however, will be the first timeshe takes students to Berlin. For four weeks,students will explore Berlin’s history from thebeginning of the German national state in1871 to present by taking walking tours andvisiting historical sites and cultural venues. Forone week, they’ll visit the more quaint townof Koblenz, a five-hour train ride from Berlin.There, the students will continue exploringhistory and take a day trip to Bonn, the capitalof the former West Germany.Somerholter has a great love of travel —and an even greater appreciation of beingable to do it freely. “There’s no place thatisn’t interesting to me, and I’ve never had astudent say they regret that they went abroad,”she says. “Usually it starts a path of lifelongtravelling and a desire to learn languages andunderstand another country’s culture.778117 St Eds.indd 75/1/12 11:37 AM

TOMAS SEGURA ’14C U LT U R EShedding LightThe audience at Samantha Cook’s spring production ofDon Quixote was blindfolded. Seated in the middle of a darkenedroom, theatergoers listened as actors spoke while moving amongthem and crew members created sound effects. There was no set, nocostumes and, when the audience removed their blindfolds at the endof the show, no way to identify which actor played which character.The production, Cook’s Brown Scholarship project, wasdesigned to give sighted theatergoers the chance to experiencea play without seeing it. Audiences in Theater of the Blindproductions must listen attentively and use their imaginations toconstruct the story.Samantha Cook ’12 (above right) leads a blindfolded audience member toher seat. During performances of Cook’s Don Quixote production, audiencemembers are blindfolded.Don Quixote: Theatre of the Blindopens the eyes of the sighted.By Robyn RossCook first encountered the show during the 2009 InternationalFestival Experience Study Tour, an immersion in the summer festivalsof Edinburgh, Scotland. Led by Assistant Professor of Theater SheilaGordon, the program includes instruction in event management byJoe Goldblatt ’75 and immersion in the arts festivals.“I left thinking it was the most vivid and amazing play I’d ever seen,and I hadn’t actually seen anything,” Cook recalls. “Because DonQuixote is already a blend between imagination and reality, it workedperfectly to have the set and the characters all in your mind.” The show’screator later agreed to Cook’s request to produce the play in Austin.Cook, who graduated this May, wanted to raise awarenessabout blindness among the sighted in a respectful way. Staff fromthe Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired trained Cook’screw in the correct way to sight-guide the blindfolded audience intothe performance space. The cast also did a test performance forTSBVI theater students and solicited their feedback.Cook’s degree is in Arts and Event Management, a selfdesigned curriculum that includes courses in theater management,digital media, global studies and communication. The production inScotland sparked her interest in disability studies, which she plansto pursue after graduation.Samantha Cook was recently selected as the university’s firstfinalist for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which fundsgraduate school in the United Kingdom. Cook will work

Kevin Koch '80, MBA '84 Regina L. Lewis Edward E. Leyden '64 EX OFFICIO: George E. Martin Mary Rist TRUSTEES EMERITI: Charles A. Betts Edward M. Block '50 Guy Bodine hs '68 Leslie Clement John Bauer '62 J. William Sharman Jr. hs '58 Reverend Thomas O'Hara, CSC F. Gary Valdez MBA '78 Joseph A. Lucci III Sister Amata Miller, IHM