| February 18, 2009 | Vol 10. No. 7 |
The NetGazette features profiles of new and current faculty, staff and administrators. If you have an idea for a Canisius profile, please send an E-mail to Kristin Etu '91, NetGazette editor, at etuk@canisius.edu.
Kathleen M. De Laney ’73, Archivist & Reference Librarian
Kathleen M. De Laney ’73 is a voracious reader. But that’s nothing new. As a child, she often stopped in at the neighborhood library to read before she was old enough to get her own card. De Laney even faithfully read The New Yorker. But it wasn’t until her undergraduate days at Canisius College that she narrowed her pursuits to historic documents.
“My Irish parents had a strong sense of history and emphasized the importance of education to all of their children,” says De Laney. “I really credit Dick Thompson, PhD (professor emeritus of English) and Bob Butler, PhD (professor of English) for my scholarship.”
According to De Laney, while most women studied to be teachers during that era, Butler and Thompson “inspired me and gave me hope that I could pursue a career in archives.”
She obtained her bachelor’s degree in English from Canisius in 1973, and holds a master’s degree in Anglo-Irish studies from University College Dublin, Ireland and a master’s degree in library science from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Thanks to De Laney’s efforts, the archives recently received two grants to preserve integral college documents. The Western New York Library Resource Council, through funds from the State of New York, awarded the college $4,340 to digitize 10 years of The Griffin. The second grant, from the American Institute of Physics, is worth $5,906. The funds will enable the archives staff to preserve the historic records of the Braun-Ruddick Seismograph Station, including the papers of the late Rev. James L. Ruddick, S.J. (For more information on both grants, click here.)
De Laney adds that while she likes every aspect of her job, from preservation of college history to organization of the archives’ speaker series, one type of document especially intrigues her.
“I really enjoy working with manuscripts because they are a part of people’s lives, thoughts and history. You can take a look in and see how life was and continues to be.”
De Laney loves live theatre and has a “permanent seat” at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario. She is an avid golfer and loves to knit. During the spring and summer, De Laney can often be found in her flower garden at her home in the Village of Williamsville, where she serves as chair of the Historic Preservation Committee. She manages to find time to support the Canisius men’s and women’s basketball teams, and attends many ArtsCanisius musical performances in the Montante Cultural Center, as well as Contemporary Writers Series events.
| De Laney’s Favorite Reading: Irish literature, particularly short stories De Laney’s Favorite Authors: William Trevor, Roddy Doyle, Mary Lavin, Calvin Trillin De Laney’s Favorite Plays: Floyd Collins, a musical based on a true story The Steward of Christendom by Sebastian Berry (2008 Canisius College Contemporary Writers Series’ speaker) |
Tanya M. Loughead, PhD, assistant professor of philosophy
Tanya M. Loughead, PhD doesn’t like the word “hobbies.”
“I really don’t have them because the things that I do, I do passionately,” says Loughead (pronounced “lock-heed”). “The thing I am most passionate about is my job. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has a great quote about this.”
“The real “interests” of the [many people] therefore lie usually somewhere else--say, in his family, or in making money, or in politics…it does not characterize him that he becomes this or that. In the philosopher, conversely, there is nothing whatever that is impersonal; and above all, his morality bears decided and decisive witness to who he is.”
Loughead applies philosophy to her everyday life. A conscientious environmentalist for more 15 years, she bikes or takes public transportation to work from her home in the Elmwood village area, which was purchased through the college’s Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) program. She is also a vegetarian.
In 2008, Loughead traveled with the Office of Campus Ministry to El Salvador to participate in their service trip and to conduct research related to phenomenology, the type of philosophy which is her specialty.
“The idea behind phenomenology is to use concrete experiences in life in order to reach your philosophical ideas,” says Loughead. “The experience in El Salvador was very much in that vein.”
Loughead earned bachelor’s degrees in English and philosophy at Northwest Missouri University and master’s and doctoral degrees at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, the oldest Catholic University in the world. To attend college overseas was quite a jump for someone who grew up in a small town in Iowa (population 800). But it was no coincidence.
“My grandfather, Charles Johnson, taught painting at that university. He was just about to defend his PhD when he died suddenly at age 34,” says Loughead, who proudly displays one of her grandfather’s paintings in her seventh floor office in Churchill Tower (see photo on the right below). A painting by her aunt also hangs in her office (see photo on the left below).
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Similar to St. Ignatius Loyola, Loughead is of Basque heritage. (The Basque region is a small area comprised of seven provinces that straddles the border between Spain and France). In fact, Loughead’s grandmother still speaks the language.
Loughead teaches both introductory and upper level philosophy courses. Quick to laugh, she says that she loves the challenge of winning over the introductory students who look at philosophy class as “unpleasant” because they must take it as part of their studies at Canisius.
“I know this sounds geeky but I really do love philosophy” she says. “It is the driving force in my life. I really think that comes across when I teach.”
| 2008 I. Joan Lorch Award Winner Interim chair of the Canisius College Fulbright Committee for 2007-2008 Canisius College Fulbright Committee Member 2008 Ignatian Day Committee Member |