Canisius Public Safety Honored for Cooperation with Buffalo Police
The Canisius College Department of Public Safety will be recognized by the Buffalo Police Detectives Association for its years of excellent cooperation with the Buffalo Police Department. Director of Public Safety Gary Everett and Dr. Ellen Conley, vice president for student affairs, will accept the award on behalf of the college on Thursday, November 20 at the Detective's Association annual awards ceremony.
(l-r) Gary Everett, director of Public Safety, Officer Sue D'Arcangelo, Officer Russ Fiorella and Sgt. Richard Miller.
"I am very proud of the men and women of the public safety department who protect Canisius College and the surrounding area," says Everett. "To be recognized by the City Police Detective's Association really emphasizes the good police work they are doing."
Each year the Buffalo Police Detectives Association recognizes individuals, corporations and organizations which make the city a safer place by working hand-in-hand with the Buffalo Police. This is the first time Canisius has received this distinction.
Canisius Honors Employees at Service Recognition Ceremony
More than 60 Canisius employees were recognized for five, ten and fifteen years of service to the college at last week's Service Recognition Ceremony. Canisius president Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, S.J., a ten-year honoree himself, presented the honorees with gifts in appreciation of their years of service. After the ceremony, honorees and their families celebrated at a reception. Congratulations to all!
Dr. Coral Snodgrass, professor of management/marketing and her husband, Dr. Edward Szewczak, professor of information systems were both honored for 15 years of service.
Dr. Herbert Nelson, vice president for academic affairs, presented Canisius President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke S.J., with his award for 10 years of service to college.
Caption: Gordon Anthony, director of athletic facilities, Franklin Barnwell, housekeeper for maintenance and Jeffrey Bennett, stationary engineer for maintenance were all recognized for five years of service.
National Catholic College Week December 1-6
Did you know that during the last ten years, enrollment at Catholic colleges has risen at three times the national rate of other colleges? To raise the profile of the high quality of Catholic higher education on a national scale, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) is launching the first annual Catholic College Week from December 1 - 6. During this week, The Discovery Channel Network will air a nationally televised program on higher education which will include a segment on Catholic colleges and universities. The program will air on December 2 at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Architectural Heritage and Church History Highlighted in Two New Books Published by Canisius College Press
Just in time for the holiday season, Canisius College Press is releasing two new books for the Buffalo enthusiast in your life.
In BEAUTIFUL BUFFALO, Preserving a City the pages are colored with archival and contemporary photographs that make up the city’s historic architectural sites – many of which were designed by America’s greatest architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and Stanford White. The book also chronicles how these architectural masterpieces survived, despite recent decades of declining population and an eroding industrial base.
BEAUTIFUL BUFFALO is co-authored by the late Linda Levine, a former art and architecture critic for Buffalo Spree magazine and former Buffalo News Reporter Maria Scrivani, a 1976 alumna of Canisius and past public information officer for the college.
BEAUTIFUL BUFFALO, Preserving a City sells for $19.95 and can be purchased by calling Canisius College Press at Ext. 2357 or by ordering on-line at www.canisius.edu/ccpress. The book is also available in area bookstores.
The second book to be published by Canisius College Press for the holidays is Gothic Grandeur: A Rare Tradition in American Catholicism. Written by C. Eugene Miller, a retired research scientist who now studies historical subjects, and co-edited by Michael A. Riester, a 1979 alumnus of Canisius and archivist at St. Louis Church in Buffalo, Gothic Grandeur interprets the internal and external historical forces that shaped St. Louis Church, the first Catholic church in the Buffalo Diocese.
From its foundation to evolution and its rise and decline, all of which are intricately connected to Buffalo’s growth, the book serves as a scholarly narrative, which details the lives of the St. Louis Church parishioners throughout its 175-year existence.
Gothic Grandeur sells for $35 and can also be purchased through Canisius College Press.
Thanksgiving Traditions from the College Community
Thanks to members of the college community who took the time to share their Thanksgiving traditions with NetGazette. Read on for some traditional and "not-so-traditional" holiday customs. Remember, it's never too late to start a new tradition!
Mary Ellen Carver, secretary to the dean of the school of business, and her family have made it a tradition to host international students from Canisius: “Our family has been blessed with hosting many international students from around the world. Our very first student, Peter, was from Kenya. I will never forget the look on Peter's face when he saw Niagara Falls for the first time. Other host students were from Japan, Germany, Thailand, Jordan, and France. We have enjoyed each others company around the dinner table on holidays like Thanksgiving hearing about their family traditions and sharing ours. I am very thankful to Canisius College's International Program and for Esther Northman's phone call inviting us to be a part of this very rewarding experience. Our family's lives have been enriched and we hope to continue to share many more holidays with the international students.”
Rev. Benjamin Fiore, S.J., chair of religious studies, remembers an unusual tradition from growing up in Queens: "We would go door to door on Thanksgiving and not Halloween, dressed in costume and ask, 'Anything for Thanksgiving?' This seems to have been a New York City custom but isn't practiced any more."
Patrick Greenwald, executive director of campaigns for Canisius, has a unique family "bowling" tradition that grew out of necessity: "I come from a large family (eight children) and we live all across the U.S. Thanksgiving is the one holiday we always made a point of celebrating together at my parent's home in Ohio. They eventually sold their big house and moved into a smaller one, and one year my father was hospitalized for Thanksgiving. We all still wanted to be together, but really had no where to meet. We also wanted to take turns spending time at the hospital. So my brother-in-law, who is part owner of a bowling alley, reserved the meeting room at the bowling alley and we all met there. We ate, drank, bowled and just had a great time being together. We had so much fun we did the same thing for three more years after that! This year, we are staying in town and will have Thanksgiving with my brother in Buffalo, but we still plan to go bowling that day. Did you know that in bowling, three strikes in a row is called a 'turkey?'"
Patty Grasso, secretary for residence life, is thankful for the simple things: "In the past my husband and I volunteered for the food drive here at Canisius. We try to give a turkey to the St. Vincent DePaul Society. We also have an open door policy for dinner, so often our son's roommates and friends will join us for the holiday. Even though holidays get more complicated as the children get older, we are still thankful for the simple things: family, health and jobs."
Eileen Herbert, assistant director of public relations, asks family members to write their thoughts in a journal each year on Thanksgiving: "We have been keeping this family journal for 11 years now, and enjoy looking back at the entries from the past. The children's entries have evolved from a rough sketch of a turkey to entries like 'I luv turkey,' and 'I ate five pieces of pie and had to take off my belt!' In recent years, their messages have become very touching and thoughtful. It is also nice to have journal entries from family members that we have lost over the years. The grandchildren love to read their great-grandmother's funny messages. It keeps her memory alive. It is my hope to copy this holiday journal and give it to my daughter and my nephews for their weddings, so that they can continue the tradition with their families."
Dede Johnson, secretary for modern languages, also shares the tradition of hosting an international student: “For the past three years, we have shared our customs and family warmth with an international student. Our ‘tradition’ is a unique one as it is never the same. Each year each person in the family gets to choose one favorite food, and I prepare each of them (and more)! It could be anything from the traditional stuffing, to fettuccini alfredo, to pecan pie. This gives the host student ample opportunity to sample many different types of ‘American’ foods. We also start the meal with a prayer, and with each person at the table saying something they are most grateful for.
Our first Thanksgiving doing this was unique, as it was the Thanksgiving blizzard year. We hosted two wonderful brothers from Jordan, and two students from Japan. The time spent went from eating, talking and the students playing Nintendo with our boys. This time is special to us and we hope to continue it for years to come and look forward to this year with as we welcome our special student from France, Romain Tassot.”
Debra Park, director of public relations and her husband square off for an annual dessert competition: Each Thanksgiving, my husband, Roswell, and I engage in a little competition we affectionately call "The Park Family Pie-Off." I bake an apple pie using a recipe that has been in my family for generations. He enters a new dessert each year created from a recipe that he has clipped from The Buffalo News. (Janice Okun would be proud.) Ros shops for his own ingredients and then bans me from the kitchen as he creates his "prize-winning dessert." Although year after year the apple pie prevails, the pie-off has become the highlight of our dinner and a great way to kick off the holiday season.
Veronica Serwacki, secretary to the dean of arts and sciences turned a dare from a friend into an annual tradition that changed her life: It started out as a dare. Then it turned into a challenge. “I bet you can’t run five miles.” “I bet you I can.” We were talking about running the Turkey Trot “cold turkey.” No pun intended. None of us had even run a mile. It was September and I decided to start training. I was in for a shock because I couldn’t even run half a block without my head pounding, my muscles in flames, and an incredible desire to throw up. Every nerve cell in my body was telling me to fall flat on my stomach and end this torment NOW. Well, it’s 10 years, two charity marathons, umpteen races and many Turkey Trots later, and I’m still running!
With the tradition of rising early to put the turkey in the oven so I can get to the start line by 9:00 am, I have found no better way to start this day. It’s usually freezing cold, until the gun goes off and we start running. Turkeys and reindeer over-take me, I see bonneted pilgrims shuffling along, even Abe Lincoln scoots by in his top hat, and I hear the tinkling of bells that are tied to sneakers. There’s no end of entertainment along the route. By the end of the race I am truly thankful. I am thankful I can still breathe, that I finished the race standing, and I am truly thankful I will soon be sharing a Thanksgiving meal in the warmth of my home with family, friends and our host student, Virginia. I plan to be among the 5000 who will run the 108th Turkey Trot this year. It is the oldest consecutively run road race in the nation, something for Buffalo to be proud of. I challenge you to try it sometime. It may change your life. It sure changed mine.
In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, the college will be closed, except for essential operating personnel, on Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28.