Welcome

It is with great sorrow that we come together today with the departure of our president and dear friend, Fr. Julio Giulietti, S.J. We have all come here to seek the truth, and to know and understand what has happened within the university walls and what has become of the reputation of WJU. In this light, please invite anyone to read the blog and feel free to comment as you wish.

Any posts with profanity are not welcome, otherwise, please speak your mind. You are a part of this university and we want to hear your voice!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Wheeling Jesuit trustee leaving national post

[Drastically corrected version] Fr. Charles Currie, [not] the sole Wheeling Jesuit U. trustee [this was Fr. Edward Glynn] who did not collaborate in the firing of fellow Jesuit Fr. Julio Giulietti from the WJU presidency a year ago, is stepping down as president of the Assn. of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Colleagues heap praise on him in comments at The Chronicle of Higher Ed’s “The Ticker” blog.

Tom Ingram, president-emeritus, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB):
The 28 Jesuit colleges and universities will be losing an extraordinary leader next year, and so will the rest of higher education. Father Charlie Currie has inspired his colleague presidents to be sure, but he has also shepherded his Church and Catholic higher education across the board through some very very, very challenging issues ranging from threats to academic freedom in classrooms and institutional self-determination, as well as to their adequately preparing for their inevitable transition to lay Catholic leadership.
I’m certain that what he has done to help Catholic colleges and universities to begin addressing their futures while honoring the values, traditions, and teachings of the various religious communities that founded each of them will prove to be one of his true legacies.
I know Father Currie less as a professional colleague than as a fellow tenant of the fourth floor of 1 Dupont Circle [DC]. To put it succinctly, to know him is to love him, and to chuckle with him as well. Father Currie’s moral authority within the higher education community, stemming as it does from a unique combination of intelligence, geniality, and learning, will be missed. But I will miss him more as a friend.
And an otherwise anonymous “raslowski”:
Charlie has served the Society of Jesus and the Jesuit Colleges and Universities with distinction. His has been a clear and consistent voice for an education in which the promotion of justice is a critical component. His efforts have shaped the world of higher education for the better.
Currie had the job 14 years. His stepping down is set for next June. He previously served as president of Wheeling (WV) Jesuit and Xavier University, in Ohio. Succeeding him will be the Rev. Greg Lucey, a former president of Spring Hill College, in Alabama.

In the course of post-firing controversy, [not] his email exchanges [but Fr. Ed Glynn's] with the WJU board of directors chairman and the Jesuit president of the all-Jesuit trustees, appearing on a pro-Giulietti web site, shed much light on the firing itself, which happened after Giulietti, now at Loyola U.-Chicago, had been president two years. Glynn and Giulietti were trustees. The three others held a brief telephone meeting on Aug. 5, 2009, without either, agreeing to fire Giulietti after the directors had come close to doing so but failed to muster the required 2/3 vote. The trustees required a unanimous vote for the decision, from which Glynn was absent.

[Indeed, Currie from the start papered over the unexplained aspects of Giulietti's firing, and indeed the firing itself, apparently going along with the whole business.]

- as published by Jim Bowman at Blithe-Spirit

Friday, August 13, 2010

Wheeling Jesuit hard-pressed

Hard times at Wheeling Jesuit — one of 321 privately operated colleges (for and not for profit) that failed the U.S. Department of Education’s 2009 financial responsibility test. That means more hoops to jump through to keep aid going to the 97% of WJU students who receive it.
[Interim Pres. Sister Francis] Thrailkill said this is the first time WJU failed the test. . . . [C]olleges who score a 1 to 1.4 on the test are considered to have failed, but can still participate in federal financial aid programs, but there are a few restrictions. If a school scores in the negative, they are subject to extra requirements. WJU scored a 1.1.
Thrailkill wants to point out that WJU was notified about this issue several months ago, and said they have taken steps to improve their financial situation.
It may be standard to keep this quiet, but The Chronicle of Higher Educationapparently operates under no such compulsion.
More details:
All private colleges that award federal student aid must participate in the Department of Education’s financial-responsibility test, which is based on information from their audited financial statements. The department develops a composite score on a scale of 3.0 to minus 1.0, based on financial ratios that measure factors such as net worth, operating losses, and the relationship of assets to liabilities.
A total of 150 private nonprofit colleges failed the . . . test, [which is] based on their condition in the 2009 fiscal year . . . That’s 23 more than the 127 that failed the test in the 2008 fiscal year, and an increase of about 70 percent over the number of degree-granting institutions that failed two years ago.
WJU has company.

- as published at Blithe Spirit, the Blog

Youngstown Bishop and Four Others Join the WJU Board of Directors

WHEELING, WV, Aug. 5, 2010 — Wheeling Jesuit University’s Board of Directors welcomes new members, Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, along with three Jesuit priests and one banking executive at its Aug. 6 board meeting. Led by chairman, Margaret “Mimie” Helm, the five new members join a board of 18 active and two emeritus members.

The Most Rev. George Murry, S.J. (shown at right) became the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown, which includes more than 216,000 Catholics, in 2007. His diocese encompasses 3,404 square miles.

Born in Camden, N.J., Murry graduated from Catholic elementary and high schools, then attended St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, Pa., St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Conn., and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Md. where he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1972 and entered the Society of Jesus. He was ordained for the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus on June 9, 1979. He earned a masters of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley in 1979 and a doctorate in American cultural history from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1994.

Murry served on the faculty and was dean of student activities at Gonzaga College High School, Washington, D.C., from 1974-1976. He was assistant professor of American Studies at Georgetown University, from 1986-1990, and president of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., from 1989-1994. He was named associate vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit-Mercy in 1994.

In 1995, he was appointed titular Bishop of the Canary Islands and Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago. In 1998, Pope John Paul II appointed him Coadjutor Bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and he succeeded to bishop there in 1999.

Murry has served on many boards including the University of Detroit and Loyola Academy, both in Detroit, St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md. and Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn. He is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and serves on the Domestic Policy and Education committees. Since 2002, he has also served on the board of directors of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas arm of the U.S. Bishops, which provides food, clothing, shelter and medicine for those in need.

He received an honorary doctorate from WJU in 2008.

The Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J. has served as the 23rd president of Loyola University Chicago since June 2001. A seasoned university administrator, tenured professor, author, and scholar, Garanzini has spent the majority of his career working in higher education.

Prior to becoming president of Loyola, Garanzini was a professor of psychology at Georgetown University, where he had been special assistant to the president for two years. Before joining Georgetown, Garanzini was a visiting professor at Fordham University in New York.

A native of St. Louis, Garanzini received his BA in psychology from St. Louis University in 1971, the same year he entered the Society of Jesus. From 1984 to 1988, he divided his academic responsibilities between the University of San Francisco and Gregorian University in Rome. He received a doctorate in psychology and religion from the Graduate Theological Union/University of California, Berkeley in 1986. In 1988, he returned to St. Louis as an associate professor of counseling and family therapy. He then served as assistant academic vice president from 1992 to 1994. He was appointed academic vice president in 1994, a post he held until 1998. In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.

Garanzini also serves on the boards of Fairfield and Fordham universities. He also is a member of the Archdiocese of Chicago Board of Catholic Schools, Loyola Academy Board of Trustees and the Board of the Flannery O'Connor-Andalusia Foundation.

The Rev. Brian O’Donnell, S.J. is superior of the WJU Jesuit community. Since February 2009, he has served as executive secretary of the Catholic Conference of West Virginia, while maintaining a relationship as consultant with the Clifford M. Lewis, S.J. Appalachian Institute.

In April 2008, O’Donnell was elected to Board of Trustees of Wheeling Jesuit University, a separate board of governance at the university.

Since September 2006, O’Donnell has been on the executive board of the West Virginia Council of Churches, serving as secretary. As the executive secretary for the Catholic Conference of West Virginia, O’Donnell coordinates lobbying efforts for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in the state capital.

He is the former director of research for Appalachian Institute and leader of Prison Ministries Program Unit for West Virginia Council of Churches. O’Donnell also originated the office of Prison Ministries for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

He is a former assistant professor of history and director of the Institute for Building Sustainable Communities at the University of Detroit Mercy. O’Donnell taught at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden in 1992 and was awarded his doctorate in the history of technology in 1994 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

O’Donnell led the student Wellness Program at Wheeling Jesuit from 1986 – 1988 and served as a liaison with industrial retention groups in Upper Ohio Valley. Prior to that he earned his master’s at the Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Mass. and was a chaplain at Georgetown University Hospital.

He is also a former professor of philosophy at WJU, and assistant to the Appalachian Experience Club. He earned a master’s in philosophy at St. Louis University and joined the Jesuits in 1974. He earned a bachelor’s in history and a master’s in modern European history, both at Catholic University in 1973 and 1974, respectively.

The Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J. is the 16th president of Loyola University New Orleans.

Wildes entered the Society of Jesus in 1976 after graduating from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He holds advanced degrees in theology and philosophy. He received his doctorate from Rice University in 1993 and his professional work is in the field of bioethics.

Wildes serves as associate editor to and on the editorial board of a number of ethics and medicine journals and book series, and he is a founding editor of the Journal of Christian Bioethics. Prior to joining Loyola University, Wildes was a member of the department of Philosophy and a Senior Research Scholar in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University where he also held a secondary appointment in the department of Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He is currently a member of Loyola’s philosophy department and teaches undergraduate students each year.

Wildes has delivered a number of invited lectures and papers and has written widely on bioethics and public policy. He authored Moral Acquaintances: Methodology in Bioethics published by the University of Notre Dame Press (2000), and is the editor or co-editor of four books. He has lectured at Tulane Medical School, LSU Medical School, and given grand rounds at Ochsner Clinic Foundation. Currently he is developing a new book on organizational ethics in health care.

Wildes is also a member of the boards of Loyola University Chicago and St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia. Active in the New Orleans community, he is a member of the New Orleans Business Council and serves as the vice chair of the national Board of Directors of Friends of New Orleans. He is the appointed chair of the Ethics Review Board for the City of New Orleans. Wildes recently served on the board of GNO, Inc., which spearheads economic development for the ten-parish Greater New Orleans region.

Robert H. Young, CPA is executive vice president and chief financial officer at WesBanco, Inc., a position he has held since June 2001.

As senior executive finance professional, he is responsible for leading corporate accounting/financial activities, including external Security and Exchange Commission and regulatory reporting, internal financial statements and board reporting, budgeting and financial planning, federal and state taxes, treasury management and asset/liability committee chairmanship, retirement plan oversight, investor relations and community development function.

A resident of McMurray, Pa., Young was formerly senior vice president and chief financial officer for PNC Bank, F.S.B., Pittsburgh.

Prior to that he was with First Western Bancorp, Inc. of New Castle, Pa. (now part of Huntington Bank), from 1986 – 1998, moving up through the ranks as vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president and chief financial officer. From 1980 – 1986, he was manager of taxes and auditing with Heckett, a division of Harsco of Butler, Pa. He began his accounting career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pittsburgh as a senior accountant.

Young earned his bachelor’s in accounting and business administration at Grove City College, Grove City, Pa. and maintains membership in the Financial Executives Institute, the American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountants and United Way of Washington County, where is the current chairman of the board and past treasurer.

The new directors join William P. Bresnahan, the Rev. Timothy Brown, S.J.; John P. Buch, James S. Cullen, Sr. Kathleen Durkin, C.S.J.; Jane Straub Friday, the Rev. Thomas F. Gleeson, S.J.; David C. Haddad, Daniel L. Haller, Chair Margaret Helm; Christopher Helmrath; Donald Hofreuter, Adam S. Monks, James O’Malley, Gerard L. Stockhausen, S.J.; Interim President Francis Marie Thrailkill, OSU; James Will; retired U.S. Air Force Col. Carol A. Yarnall and emeritus members L. Thomas Marchlen and John B. Yasinsky.

- as published in the 'News and Events' section of the WJU official website

Sunday, August 1, 2010

One Year After

It is one year since Fr. Giulietti's presidency was terminated.  The result of that poorly planned and unjust action by a minority of board members and three troubled Jesuit trustees is now clear to everyone.  The only way to heal the damage is for the Jesuits to call for a South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Only when the truth is open for all to see will there be any possibility for actual healing at the college.

The results of the unjust act continues.  Wheeling [Jesuit University] alumni tell me that the board is once again seeking a new president.  (Interim President Sister Frances,  slipped and broke her hip; she is further incapacitated than before.)  Letters have been sent to the presidents of Jesuit colleges and universities seeking candidates.  Will anyone apply?  If someone does and gets the job,  he/she will have to face enormous financial problems partly rooted in the departure of students and faculty.  About forty first year students departed in January and more students will depart over the summer.  Of the goal of 285 new first year undergraduates for 2010 needed to balance a budget already in the red, only 240 have signed up.  Since May, six respected faculty left the college for West Liberty University and begin teaching there next semester.

Without a Truth and Reconciliation Commission the college will not survive the next academic year.

- Larry Catraro