marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020

A PHYSICIAN’S FOUNDATION

How the diversity of a

liberal arts curriculum

informs the human spirit

for a career in medicine.

INTERNSHIPS OFFER STUDENTS A UNEXPECTED ARTIFACT FIND EOP ALUMNA REFLECTS ON TODAY’S WINDOW INTO COMMUNITY CHALLENGES. LEADS TO CULTURAL CASE STUDY. NEED FOR EQUAL EDUCATION ACCESS. p. 14 p. 18 p. 28 FROM THE DEAN Dr. Heidi Bostic Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences

elcome to the 2020 issue of A&S Marquette magazine. It illustrates the excellence, dedication and marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 Wresilience of the faculty, staff and students in the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. Here you will find testimonials to the transformational difference our college an African American neighborhood and the use of makes as it enacts Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit mission. The big data to understand the 2020 election cycle. research, teaching and community engagement described TABLE OF CONTENTS Our alumni are central to Marquette and to our college here spans Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., Guatemala, the community. Alumna Dr. Malore Brown testifies to the South Pole and beyond. Our cover story reflects the impact of the Educational Opportunity Program, founded importance of the humanities and social sciences as at Marquette, which recently celebrated 50 years. We also preparation for careers in medicine. These We appreciate INSIDE ARTS AND SCIENCES recognize another recent milestone, the 30th anniversary fields provide perspective on the human your feedback on of The Les Aspin Center, which has provided generations A&S Marquette condition and hone the capacities of 02 COLLEGE HAPPENINGS Peace Works gets its message of students with incredible opportunities. magazine. Please send medical students to assess situations to more students, rock and roll at the core of a team- The stories in this magazine amply demonstrate why all comments to the and understand patients. Related stories taught course, Les Aspin Center for Government I am delighted and honored to join the college as dean. editor at sarah.koziol describe a method developed by a @marquette.edu. celebrates 30 years, Klingler College’s broad research What drew me to Marquette and to the college are the physics faculty member to sterilize masks on full display. purpose, the people and the place. There is nowhere Editor for the Kenosha (Wis.) Fire Department Sarah Koziol, Arts ’92 I would rather be. 08 RESEARCH Filling the critical need for computer science as part of our community’s response to the Special thanks to Dr. Heather Hathaway for her leadership Creative director education, a method to identify sex chromosomes in COVID-19 pandemic and an English faculty as acting dean over the past year. I also want to thank staff Sharon Grace reptiles, how state litigators influence public policy, member’s award-winning book about the written reporting remembering Madre Rosa’s influence on a Guatemalan members across the college for their adaptability and Art director skills of first responders. village, assessing reporting skills of first responders, professionalism. And my heartfelt gratitude goes to our Karen Parr Our faculty exemplify the teacher-scholar model in the lab contributes to big-time international projects. faculty members, who have continued to provide students Editorial team classroom and beyond. Stories in this edition span the history a world-class educational experience while carrying on Stephen Filmanowicz of rock and roll, opportunities for students to interact with Kim Patterson FEATURES with their research, creative activity, university service persons studying while incarcerated, an archaeological study of Jennifer Russell and community engagement. Enrique Torruco, Comm ’15, 14 IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE A psychology course’s True to the spirit of Marquette’s founders and benefactors Grad ’17 internships provide students with real-world and to all of those who have come before, the college Photographers experiences while tackling community challenges. this year faced formidable challenges with grace and Tyler Van Riper – Unsplash, REMAINS OF THE DAY Artifacts from a historically What drew me to Marquette determination. That spirit will carry us onward. Thank you page 3; James Kegley, page 4; 18 all for your steadfast support of Marquette. I would love John Nienhuis, page 7; relevant African American neighborhood lead to a Dan Johnson, page 8; cultural case study. and to the college are the purpose, to hear from you! “ Stu Nielsen, page 9 the people and the place. There is 22 A PHYSICIAN’S FOUNDATION How the diversity of nowhere I would rather be. Illustrators Traci Daberko, cover, a liberal arts curriculum informs the human spirit for pages 22-27; a career in medicine. ” the i spot, page 14 28 THE LANGUAGE OF OPPORTUNITY Alumna Dr. Malore

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For more details check out our Brand Guidelines. Brown recognizes the Educational Opportunity Program that supported her dreams of a Marquette degree is just @muartssciences as relevant today as it was when it launched 50 years ago. marquette.edu/arts-sciences EDITOR’S NOTE: The production of A&S Marquette magazine was nearly complete when the coronavirus pandemic closed the Marquette University campus. Although pandemic conditions ended plans to print the issue, the Klingler College’s leadership has decided to share the inspirational stories of faculty research, college happenings and alumni accomplishments found in this issue with you, as a digital-only release. In a few cases, updates were made to existing stories most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Within this issue, however, we have not addressed the transformational recent protests gripping the nation since the death of George Floyd. Please understand, the protests and subsequent calls for racial justice are important to the Klingler College and Marquette University as a whole, and we are committed to covering this movement in future communication efforts. 01 INSIDE ARTS AND SCIENCES COLLEGE HAPPENINGS INSIDE ARTS AND SCIENCES COLLEGE HAPPENINGS

PEACE WORKS CENTER FOR PEACEMAKING BRINGS SUCCESSFUL NONVIOLENCE 1,500+ PROGRAMMING TO MORE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS.

The Center for Peacemaking is bringing and Chicago since 1997, serving more its Peace Works education program to than 1,100 students in MPS behavioral The number of spring semester courses that Milwaukee Public Schools students at reassignment schools alone. This new had to be moved online in March because the the district’s new MPS Success Center. partnership will allow the center to COVID-19 pandemic forced the university This new partnership allows the Center reach more of MPS’ student population. to complete the semester’s course work remotely. for Peacemaking to offer its nonviolence, In November, the Center for Visit stories.marquette.edu and search for “digital peace education program in collaboration Peacemaking mourned the loss of its transformation” to read how that Herculean with other therapeutic services, including founding director, Rev. G. Simon Harak, transition materialized in just over one week. art, music, drum and dance, and yoga S.J. In his six years at the center, Father therapy, for MPS students in grades 4 Harak helped build a thriving research and through 12. Peace Works utilizes a social- cocurricular center that actively explores A screenshot of Dr. Leah Flack’s Modern Irish Literature class on Best Disguise Day. emotional curriculum, restorative practices the power of nonviolence. His teachings, INTERNSHIP and peer mediation to teach youth spirituality and leadership inspired communication, anger-management and students, faculty, staff and community OPPORTUNITY problem-solving skills through skill-building members. A student room in the center exercises, role play, games, reading, has been dedicated in his memory. writing, art and reflection. DATA SCIENCE DIRECTOR Peace Works has been delivered in Search for “arts and sciences magazine” at The Arthur Vining Davis marquette.edu to read more about the Center Foundations have awarded KLINGLER PROFESSOR GUIDES INSTITUTE STRATEGY. public and private schools in Milwaukee for Peacemaking in the A&S 2019 issue. the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences with a nearly $300,000 grant to ensure inclusive access for all students to participate in career-readiness internships. Dr. Edward Blumenthal was appointed Marquette’s director ABBOTT LABORATORIES LAKE BLUFF, ILL. Through this two-year grant, for the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute for for which Dr. Andrew Kunz, the 2019–20 academic year. The institute is an industry AMAZON SEATTLE associate dean, serves and academic partnership between Northwestern Mutual, AMERICORPS WASHINGTON, D.C. as principal investigator, Marquette and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, formed BAKER TILLY VIRCHOW KRAUSE CHICAGO the college will be able to to help advance southeastern Wisconsin as a national hub for provide financial support for technology, research, business and talent development. Together, BANK OF AMERICA CHARLOTTE, N.C. WHERE IN THE WORLD J.P. MORGAN CHASE NEW YORK 140 students to participate the three institutions will contribute $40 million over five years toward these goals. CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS in what are normally As Marquette’s director, Blumenthal is responsible for setting research priorities, DO OUR A&S ALUMNI LEO BURNETT CHICAGO unpaid internships in local enhancing the university’s data science programs, growing data science skill sets in DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WASHINGTON, D.C. WORK AFTER MACCABI HOLON FC HOLON, ISRAEL community organizations the Milwaukee region and establishing the institute as a national and global leader DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES RIVERWOODS, ILL. MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER, MINN. and government offices. of data science. Blumenthal is the Klingler College’s associate dean for research GRADUATION? Internships allow students and graduate affairs and was quick to embrace the role of data analytics in his GE HEALTHCARE CHICAGO MILWAUKEE BUCKS Here’s just a sampling of employers the opportunity to previous role as the Biological Sciences Department chair. EL GOBIERNO DE ESPAÑA MADRID pulled from our most recent NATIONAL DOWN SYNDROME SOCIETY apply their skills in the In the first round of projects supported by the institute, the Elecurator project GUAM DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BARRIGADA, GUAM First-destination Survey, along with NEW YORK workplace so that they is analyzing 2020 voter sentiment. Co-led by Dr. Amber Wichowsky, associate the employers’ headquarters’ locations. can experience firsthand professor of political science, the team is mining data sources such as political INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE PARIS how the transferrable polls and advertising, debate transcripts and social media interactions to JESUIT VOLUNTEER CORPS BALTIMORE, MD. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE WASHINGTON, D.C. skills of their liberal arts understand which issues are on voters’ minds this election season. education translate into UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS career preparedness and Visit marquette.edu and search for “big data A&S magazine” for more information on the institute. U.S. SENATE WASHINGTON, D.C. competitiveness in the job market.

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FOUNDING FATHER LONGTIME MUSIC REV. TIMOTHY O’BRIEN AND THE ASPIN CENTER CELEBRATE FACULTY LESSONS 30 YEARS OF SHAPING THE LIVES OF CIVIC-MINDED STUDENTS. INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSE ANNA MILLER, ARTS ’17 The Klingler College recognizes the IN ROCK AND ROLL PROVES following faculty members who are THERE’S MORE TO THE GENRE Rev. Timothy O’Brien, Ph.D., founder and make this program accessible to people from WHEN IN ROME celebrating 50-plus years at Marquette. THAN MEETS THE EAR. director of Marquette’s Les Aspin Center all economic backgrounds. The $725,000 We appreciate their steadfast for Government, is a pioneer. Thirty years he helped raise last spring as part of the NEW INTERNSHIP dedication to the university and ago, after years of independently connecting program’s 30th anniversary celebration will OPPORTUNITY TAKES our students. political science students with internships, he go toward this end, as does the Kleczka STUDENTS TO THE HEART founded a congressional internship program, Program, a sister program that provides Rev. Ron Bieganowski, S.J., BY JIM HIGGINS, JOUR ’79 OF THE JESUITS’ HISTORY. adjunct associate professor of which eventually became the Aspin Center. students with local internships with English (50th anniversary as a One of the first of its kind, the program Milwaukee-area government agencies Studying rock and roll is a vehicle for Jour ’78, I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Jesuit; 45th as a faculty member) provides students with the transformational and nonprofits. BY GUY FIORITA studying U.S. history, particularly racial Staple Singers, and the Music That Shaped opportunity to put their studies into action “I have worked very hard to make sure Dr. Curtis Carter, professor of relations, history professor Dr. Phillip the Civil Rights Era, which not only traced that and intern at various that the program is Led by Rev. Michael Maher, S.J., philosophy Naylor contends. In a new team-taught group’s development of blues and gospel political offices, not just for wealthy Interpreting Jesuit Rome, a new Dr. Carla Hay, associate professor course, studying rock also became an into popular music, but also considered their executive agencies students; that would summer internship program, gives of history avenue for learning how ears and brains role as the de facto house band for many and interest simply not align with students the opportunity to study hear and interpret sound, differences of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches. groups throughout my Catholic values,” Dr. Jeanette Kraemer, associate Jesuit history at its source. For five between analog and Kot, the Chicago Tribune rock Washington, D.C. Father O’Brien says. professor of French weeks, 10 students live and study in digital recording, the critic, also spoke to the class. Under his stead- “Another way a special area of the Society of Jesus’ role of algorithms in As a final project, student fast guidance, the I incorporate these mother church, Church of the Gesù. determining what we groups created 20- to 30-minute Aspin Center has values is that all Here, along with learning about the listen to, psychological podcasts on a rock act of their since served more Les Aspin students art and architecture of the church, development, mental choice, analyzing the performers than 3,000 students take an experiential the students also act as tour guides, illness and drug abuse. from historical, technological and and launched learning course COMPUTING taking groups through important During the fall 2019 psychological perspectives, and the careers of that educates churches and other historical sites SUCCESS semester, Naylor joined demonstrating their mastery of countless political them on pressing in the city. This hands-on approach Dr. Stephen Saunders, contemporary digital technology and community social issues teaches them the skills required for chair and professor of by editing and balancing the leaders, many of like income the presentation and interpretation psychology, and Dr. Elaine music included. Naylor says whom attribute inequality, addiction, Marquette was ranked 16th in the of everything they have learned. Spiller, associate professor The Beatles and Queen their later success homelessness nation for best online computer (Although the program did not send of mathematical and were popular choices, the to their time with and elder care.” information technology graduate Father Tim O’Brien walks his dog alongside Aspin Center interns overseas this summer due statistical sciences, latter stimulated by the Father O’Brien and Over the programs in the 2020 U.S. News student Daniel Cady, spring 2018. to the pandemic, Father Maher to teach Rock and Roll in 2018 biographical movie his entertaining next 30 years, & World Report. The success of hopes it will continue in 2021.) the U.S.A.: The Music Bohemian Rhapsody. stories, sound advice, endless network and Dr. Karen Hoffman, the Aspin Center’s the computing graduate program of America’s History, Naylor, Grad ’72, ’80, also Labrador retrievers. Rana Altenburg, Arts ’88, associate director, hopes the program Philosophy student Sam Solowicz, was boosted by the university’s Technology and Psychology. It is one co-edited a kindred Marquette University Press Marquette’s vice president for public affairs, will become even more accessible and who participated last summer, says hosting of the 2019 Computers, of several interdisciplinary Methods of book, Milwaukee Rock and Roll 1950–2000: A notes that Father O’Brien’s influence stems interdisciplinary. The O’Brien House in the experience taught him that, Software and Applications Inquiry courses designed to bridge the Reflective History, with Bruce Cole, curator of from his ability to connect with students on Washington, D.C., was recently remodeled “Everything [within the churches] is Conference for the IEEE Computer Foundation and Discovery tiers of the the Jean Cujé Milwaukee Music Collection at a personal level. and its door painted Marquette blue, ready meant to convey something important Society this past summer. The event new Marquette Core Curriculum. Marquette’s Raynor Memorial Libraries, and “Father O’Brien is one of those legendary for the next generation of leaders to flourish to the audience. Understanding this marked the return of COMPSAC to “Rock subsumes so much,” Naylor veteran Milwaukee journalist David Luhrssen. leaders,” Altenburg says. “He has that unique under Father O’Brien’s mentorship, just as helps us better understand history, the U.S. for the first time since 2016, says, noting its “transcultural mélange” Drawing on archives and invited contributors, and wonderful ability to make students feel Eduardo Perea-Hernandez, Arts ’19, has. theology, philosophy and even why when it was in Atlanta, and just the of European influences, including lyricism, their book takes a mosaic approach to like they matter and that he is going to be “He’s investing in me by allowing me Marquette emphasizes service third time since 2007. The conference and its synthesis of African beats and chronicling several generations of the there for them on their academic, professional to invest in myself,” Perea-Hernandez says and reflection. And to top it off, was held in Tokyo in 2018 and Torino, rhythms. Required reading for the course music scene in southeastern Wisconsin. and personal journeys.” in a 2019 video tribute to Father O’Brien. sometimes we were lucky enough Italy, in 2017. included a book written by Greg Kot, As part of his commitment to students, “To him, I’m more than just a student. to have a coffee and cannoli before Altenburg says, Father O’Brien strives to To him, I’m the future of this nation.” the tours began.”

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DISCOVERY DAY POSTER SESSION PUTS COLLEGE’S DIVERSE AND BROAD RESEARCH ON FULL DISPLAY.

BY SHELBY WILLIAMSON

This fall, the Klingler College showcased the rich variety of research within arts and sciences at an inaugural poster session titled A Celebration of Research. More than 140 students, faculty and staff across the college’s 17 departments, as well as the JOSEPH DANIELS The research on display shows the Center for Peacemaking, MU4GOLD and interdisciplinary AUGUST 24, 1959 – FEBRUARY 11, 2020 programs, presented various research projects to an passion and skill of our students enthusiastic campus community. BY DR. HEATHER HATHAWAY “This poster session is designed to encourage interdisciplinary and faculty as they develop interaction and discussion among researchers in different departments and majors,” says Dr. Edward Blumenthal, innovative ways to understand associate professor of biological sciences and associate dean ourselves, to solve problems and Marquette lost one of its most beloved members and most for research and graduate affairs. “The research on display brightly shining stars when Dr. Joe Daniels, Keyes Dean of KEEP THE PROMISE ALIVE. shows the passion and skill of our students and faculty as they improve our world. Business Administration, tragically lost his life in a pedestrian develop innovative ways to understand ourselves, to solve accident on February 11, 2020. We continue to miss him greatly. Scholarship gifts carry the promise of a problems and to improve our world.” DR. EDWARD BLUMENTHAL A professor of macroeconomics in the College of Business transformational Marquette education for A sampling of the noteworthy presentations from the event Administration, Joe was also an important member of the Arts and generations to come. Through scholarship, include: Dr. Iqbal Ahamed, professor and chair of computer Sciences family. The major in economics is housed jointly in the two science, and Dr. Richard Love, an OB-GYN and research colleges, and during his nearly 30 years at Marquette, Joe served students learn to be problem solvers, fearless colleague of Ahamed, are developing hardware and software to several terms as chair of the Economics Department. Joe’s calm, leaders and willing servants, ready to measure blood hemoglobin levels noninvasively using 10-second steady and discerning approach to decision-making was distinctly Be The Difference for others. Your gift, in the smartphone videos of the index fingertip. The technology gauges plasma. The researchers are proposing a study to validate Ignatian and highly respected. When he was selected to become spirit of St. Ignatius, can inspire them to light absorption to identify blood-oxygenated hemoglobin and the system by testing individuals with various blood disorders. the Keyes Dean in January 2020, we in Arts and Sciences were The tool would improve the lives of the nearly 2 billion people delighted, knowing that our decades-long collaboration would “go forth and set the world on fire.” worldwide who suffer from hemoglobin-related blood disorders continue to serve students in both colleges well. and have to test their blood through venipuncture and await As many tributes to Joe have noted, he was a strong leader, a laboratory testing — methods that can be inconvenient and costly. great scholar and a beloved teacher. But as importantly, Joe was Research by Dr. Brittany Pladek, assistant professor of English, a deeply compassionate person who cared genuinely for those To make a gift in support of scholarship aid, assesses if literature can heal. Her research culminated in her first around him. Having survived an aggressive cancer nearly 15 years contact Molly Eldridge at 414.288.4497 or book, The Poetics of Palliation: Romantic Literary Therapy, 1790– ago, for example, he never stopped looking after colleagues he met 1850. Pladek’s research looks to the Romantic period to expand through a Marquette cancer support group. Joe sought the best [email protected]. on the idea that literature as medicine cures by making sufferers in every circumstance and person, and his optimism, dry sense whole again and considers palliative forms of literary medicine — of humor, and twinkle-eyed grin brought joy to all who worked therapies that stressed literature’s manifold relationship to pain with him. We are grateful for his presence in our lives. and its power to sustain, comfort and challenge even when a Joe’s greatest love was his family, and we send our deepest cure was not possible. Pladek has found palliation offers a condolences to his wife, Lora, and their children, son Bill and more comprehensive metric for literary therapy than the his wife, Angela; daughter, Leigh, and her husband, Michael; curative traditions we have inherited from Romanticism. and son Wesley. The Dr. Joe Daniels Memorial Scholarship was The Klingler College expects to present research poster established by his family to honor his memory, and we ask you sessions annually. To view all the research from the 2019 event, to consider honoring his contributions to Marquette by visiting visit marquette.edu and search for “celebration of research.” give.marquette.edu/joe-daniels. College of Arts & Sciences

Graduate student Bikram Mandal explains his research “Sulfur Allotropes: A Connection Between the Past and the Future” at the college’s Celebration of Research.

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DIGITAL-WORLD DEFICIENCY PROFESSOR ACTS ON AN UNEXPECTED COMPUTER ILLITERACY PROBLEM AND TEACHER SHORTAGE IN AN ERA OF UNPRECEDENTED TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT.

BY LAUREN HERB SCHUDSON, GRAD ’97 DNA DISCOVERIES EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST BREAKS GROUND BY DEVELOPING A METHOD TO IDENTIFY SEX CHROMOSOME SYSTEMS IN REPTILES.

BY SARAH KOZIOL, ARTS ’92

This initiative — Preparing the Upper Midwest for Principles of Computer Science — recently received its third NSF grant. The $2 million grant will fund the program for the next four years. “Our goal is to expand computer science curriculums so that As a child, Dr. Tony Gamble As DNA sequencing became more affordable, all students have the foundational skills necessary during their reveled in the outdoors Gamble started sequencing thousands of lifetimes,” Brylow says. “Computers are involved in automating — playing in the mud genome fragments from 10 male and 10 every kind of task. Some people will be coding, but most will and unearthing nature’s female geckos and compared them. His team interact daily with computers and need to know how.” varied residents. When then developed a software program that sorts Another of Brylow’s objectives is to promote computer he learned that he through this data to find sequences that were science education across Wisconsin. Brylow found that a could make only in males and never in females, or only in key reason six out of seven Wisconsin high schools didn’t a living doing females and never in males — characteristics have computer science classes was that they didn’t just that, it was a “huge discovery” for him. called sex-specific genetic markers. With know what they didn’t know. “Principals told me they “I feel like I’ve won the lottery in that I can go this data, they plotted out an evolutionary have 1:1 ratios of students to laptops, and they thought to work every day and do things I am super tree, which showed a significant number that was offering computer science education. But they excited about,” says Gamble, assistant professor of transitions in sex-determining systems had no teachers instructing students in the science of of biological sciences. among geckos and other reptiles. Today’s high school students have fewer opportunities to learn computers and no training for the teachers.” Now, as an evolutionary biologist, Gamble has “We showed about a third to a half of the computer science than students did in the 1990s, according to Brylow says the word “science” is essential in describing made a name for himself by discovering chromosomal transitions in sex-determining systems in all lizards Dr. Dennis Brylow, professor of computer science. Before Brylow the subject. “Science means the computer is the object truths about geckos that could influence the field’s and snakes occurred just within geckos. This opened up launched a K–12 computer science of study; we’re looking understanding of biological diversity patterns among a whole host of different organisms to be amenable to education program, he says, “Only at how the computer thousands of species. His groundbreaking research studying how their sex chromosomes evolved,” he adds. 15 percent of high schools had works, why it does what has upended decades-long scientific assumptions The evolutionary tree also allowed the team to identify computer science classes, mainly it does, and how to use Our goal is to expand computer science made regarding sex chromosome identification how many times geckos have gained or lost their sticky because they didn’t have qualified it to do new things,” curriculums so that all students within the reptile family. toe pads, used to climb surfaces. Historically, scientists teachers for those classes.” he explains. In most species, the complement of the two sex believed this characteristic evolved a few times at most. When Brylow noticed enrollments have the foundational skills An added challenge was chromosomes that an embryo gets at fertilization “But we showed that it evolved more than a dozen times decreasing in Marquette’s own necessary during their lifetimes. that the computer science will determine whether it becomes female or male. and also was lost many times,” he says. This finding set Computer Science program, he teachers of the ’90s were DR. DENNIS BRYLOW Gamble explains that many species have either an him on a new research track to learn how different modes set out to discover why. As he retiring, and there was no XY or ZW sex chromosomal system, but that the of locomotion evolve, which earned his team a $1 million collected information and looked system for replacing them. vast majority of species’ two sex chromosomes don’t collaborative National Science Foundation grant to for researchers keeping track of “Since computing skills are look different from each other under a microscope, study gliding behavior in geckos. the data, he was surprised to not tested in the No Child making them indistinguishable among the species’ As that project wraps up, Gamble’s learn that no one was. Left Behind Act, there was other chromosomes. Geckos fall in that category. long-term plan is to continue using the Understanding the critical need for computer science before no route to produce new computer science teachers,” he says. “If you want to study how sex chromosomes transition — gecko evolutionary tree to study sex graduation, Brylow and his colleagues introduced a Milwaukee This has all improved over the last five years as Brylow and they are changing all the time, and we knew that from the chromosomes — only 3 percent of the Public Schools program in 2015. With a National Science many volunteers have leaned into advocacy with 464 school little bit of data we did have — and you can’t even identify species’ sex chromosome patterns have been identified Foundation grant, they researched the obstacles to offering K–12 districts and rolled out more interesting curriculums. “We found the sex chromosome system for a species, there isn’t — so that the next-level evolution question of why these computer science classes and held teacher workshops to provide a way to teach computer science in a welcoming way, and it’s hope for any further research,” says Gamble. chromosomes change can eventually be solved. tools to teach grade-appropriate computer science content. had an impact on 67,000 school children,” Brylow says.

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REMEMBERING MADRE ROSA A HISTORY PROFESSOR ENSURES THE STORY OF HOW A GROUP OF MARQUETTE-EDUCATED NUNS SERVED A RURAL GUATEMALAN VILLAGE IS NOT FORGOTTEN.

BY DELIA O’HARA, JOUR ’70

Sister Rose Cordis, M.D., a Maryknoll nun Mission Archives Maryknoll born Dorothy Erickson in Boston, was an IN THE PUBLIC’S experienced physician when, in 1961, she arrived on muleback to start a hospital INTEREST in Jacaltenango, a Maya pueblo in the STUDYING HOW STATE LITIGATORS USE LAWSUITS Western Highlands of Guatemala. The people of this rural town had TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC POLICY IS A “TRUE JOY” FOR asked Maryknoll, which had already A POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR. assigned priests and schoolteachers to Jacaltenango, to send a doctor as BY DAN SHAFER well. “Madre Rosa,” as the Jacaltecs affectionately called Sister Rose, Med ’51, had worked for eight years in Bolivia Since Donald Trump became president, state at the first hospital established by the attorneys general have filed more than 100 Maryknoll sisters in Latin America. multistate lawsuits. In Barack Obama’s eight A graduate of Marquette University’s years as president, that number was just medical school (now the Medical College 78. As the role of state attorneys general of Wisconsin), she was a logical choice continues to grow and evolve, so has to lead this new mission. Other nuns, Dr. Paul Nolette’s study of it. including Sister Mary Annel, M.D., and “Not only do I think it’s an important other Marquette alumnae, later joined her. institution in American politics now, it’s something Shortly after Sister Rose arrived, that raises all sorts of very interesting questions about the Guatemala descended into a long, brutal relationship between the states and the federal government, and After that settlement, the pharmaceutical industry became civil war, but the nuns persevered and for her, and she is depicted in a mural in townspeople who remembered political ambition and public policy and all of these sorts of issues the most common target of multistate attorneys general built their 50-bed hospital, treating half front of the town market, says Matthew, Sister Rose. Each cohort produced that have been interesting me for quite some time,” says Nolette, investigations, most recently the opioid industry. “The opioid a million people by 1987, immunizing who stumbled across her story on a its own report. chair and associate professor of political science. crisis is literally a life-or-death situation, and I would consider 182,000 children, training local people to 2017 research trip. Student Isabelle Soto was a member A Massachusetts native who joined Marquette’s faculty in 2011, it the most important single issue that they’re focused on help serve their community’s health care “As a historian, I think a lot about of the second cohort. When she traveled Nolette wrote Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and today,” Nolette says. needs and becoming a what is left out of the historical record,” to Jacaltenango in spring 2019, Soto was National Policymaking in Contemporary America in 2015. After This bipartisan litigation effort by state attorneys general beloved community Matthew says. “It seemed to me on impressed with what the Maryknolls had writing the book, he thought he might move on to other topics, has expanded to target companies, manufacturers, distributors partner in the process. that first trip that the stories I was hearing accomplished in the town, and with the but the attorneys general role remained interesting and active. and even individuals, particularly the Sackler family, who own “Their model of were important to preserve. I also wanted many good things she heard from the Within the last year, utilizing the research he’s done dating back and operate Purdue Pharma, the developer of Oxycontin. service was very to remind the Marquette community of townspeople about the nuns’ dedication to 1981, he launched attorneysgeneral.org, a free, extensive, real- Not unlike the tobacco settlement, the litigation is upending respectful. They this past connection it has to Guatemala.” and generosity. time resource chronicling the actions of attorneys general around an entire industry and doing so for the benefit of public health. made a lifelong Two cohorts of Marquette students, Soto, whose own family roots are the country. Nolette plans to expand upon this educational These attorneys general-led cases are reshaping public policy commitment. We all heritage Spanish speakers, worked on in Mexico, appreciates that, even while database in the months and years to come. in America in myriad ways, and Nolette is there to monitor these talk a lot about service the Remembering Madre Rosa project, Sister Rose and the other nuns brought Nolette’s research interest sparked after reading Up in elected officials at every step. at Marquette, and this most as part of independent study Western medicine to the town, “They Smoke: From Legislation to Litigation in Tobacco Politics by “The nature of the office has changed where they’re not project makes you think very hard about courses with Matthew, beginning in weren’t saying, ‘This is the only way.’ Martha Derthick, an in-depth look at the 1998 historic tobacco only doing the day-to-day work but are getting involved in an what it means,” says Dr. Laura Matthew, 2018. Their activities included conducting They allowed the people to perform settlement, in which 46 attorneys general agreed to “the important way in national politics and policy,” he says. “It’s an associate professor of history, whose preliminary research at the Maryknoll their own rituals and traditional type of biggest civil settlement in U.S. history,” he says. office I would encourage voters to be paying more attention research focuses on Mexican and Central Mission Archives outside Ossining, medicine, too. They were willing to go “It restructured the entire industry of tobacco, and that to when they go to the ballot and vote.” American history. New York, and a number of subsequent outside their comfort zone.” was with no action by Congress, no action by the Food and Sister Rose died in 1992 and is buried trips to Jacaltenango, funded by the Drug Administration. It was from the states,” he adds. in Jacaltenango. A local school is named college’s Mellon Foundation, to interview

10 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 11 INSIDE ARTS AND SCIENCES RESEARCH INSIDE ARTS AND SCIENCES RESEARCH

SMALL PARTICLE RESEARCHERS CRISIS COMMUNICATORS HIT BIG-TIME EXPERIMENTS RESEARCHER FOCUSES ON ASSESSING AND IMPROVING POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW AND UNDERGRAD STUDENT FROM DR. KAREN ANDEEN’S THE WRITTEN REPORTING SKILLS OF FIRST RESPONDERS. LAB CONTRIBUTE TO PRESTIGIOUS INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS.

BY SHELBY WILLIAMSON BY CHRIS BARNCARD, COMM ’03

On top of treating and transporting patients — their sensory and situational awareness. often in high-intensity, life-or-death situations — I want to know about collaboration skills, Dr. Matthias Plum, right, postdoctoral emergency medical responders are required to their ability to listen, how they ask questions, fellow in the Physics Department, shows write comprehensive reports about each 911 determine pertinent information. Then, how his Marquette pride while stationed at the South call to which they respond. are they taught to remember all of it and fill Pole. He is pictured with Matt Kauer from the Dr. Elizabeth Angeli, assistant professor of out these patient care reports? I want to University of Wisconsin–Madison. English and leading expert in EMS writing, identify the best practices.” is working with the Milwaukee and Kenosha Lawyers, health care providers and organ Angeli’s book Rhetorical fire departments on a first-of-its-kind research procurement teams may read patient reports Work in Emergency Medical project assessing the writing capabilities of for various reasons. It is up to first responders signatures from cosmic rays interacting Services: Communicating in first responders in training. The goal, Angeli to include all of the necessary information. overhead with an array of complex cameras. says, is to transform EMS education by “It’s about getting the report writer to think the Unpredictable Workplace Plum added prototype gear expected to creating effective training programs that equip about all of their audiences,” Angeli says. received the 2020 Best Book extend the capabilities of IceTop. first responders with the skills necessary to “The job is to give whomever reads the report “These telescopes enhance the IceTop in Technical and Scientific compose well-written, detailed patient reports. everything they need to understand why [the data by measuring the properties of Communication Award Angeli says quality reports are vitally EMT] made the decisions they made.” cosmic ray air showers interacting in the from the Conference on important in emergency services because the Angeli has spent time at firehouses, atmosphere,” Plum says. “They can lower the reports become part of patient medical records interviewed and conducted writing exercises College Composition and energy threshold for the air shower detection and are used to guide patient care and reflect with trainees, and had various report readers Communication, a constituent and also improve the physics capabilities we paramedics’ expertise and decision-making. provide feedback. She has even gone on can use in our analysis of the data.” organization of the National EMS writing training has historically been several ride-alongs. It’s a dream come true for Smedley’s summer was spent at the other Council of Teachers of English. completed in a brief, one-time workshop a researcher with a self-proclaimed “passion” end of the thermometer, working in the that focuses on for the medical field and emergency services relative warmth of Geneva, Switzerland, the writer’s job that far preceded her research in EMS writing. For physicists, searching for the smallest, most elusive building on instruments to be aimed at plasma burning 100,000 times after a call is “Normally when people think English blocks of the universe now means collaborating around colossal hotter than the center of the sun. complete. Angeli professor, they think about the written international experiments. A duo from the lab of Marquette One of just 15 American students working at the Large is discovering, word,” Angeli says. “But I am about building Assistant Professor of Physics Karen Andeen — postdoctoral Hadron Collider through a prestigious research program for though, it’s what relationships with people to help transform researcher Dr. Matthias Plum and undergraduate Jack Smedley undergraduates, Smedley used instrumentation experience happens before their writing practice. That’s what I do.” — was selected in the last year to contribute to two of the earned in Andeen’s lab to build and test equipment that would the first word Joshua Parish, deputy chief of the Milwaukee most significant projects on the planet. eventually be used to detect subatomic particles called muons. is even written Fire Department, says Angeli investing in the Plum spent several weeks in January at the South Pole — The muons are the product of the decay of other, short-lived that makes all department’s trainees and having them at where the Antarctic summer bathes a barren plain of snow particles thrown off by the plasma created when the Large the difference in the forefront of groundbreaking EMS writing in sunlight 24 hours a day, and temperatures peak around 25 Hadron Collider slams together atoms of heavy elements like reports. training will make these first responders the degrees below zero. Frozen into a cubic kilometer of South Pole lead on a 17-mile loop of collider more than 500 feet beneath “What’s less best at their jobs. Chief Jim Poltrock of ice is the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive detector France and Switzerland. understood in the Kenosha Fire Department concurs: looking for nearly massless subatomic particles called neutrinos “The collisions create a state where you get weird particles EMS are all the “Testing Dr. Angeli’s model against other as they zip through Earth on their way across our universe. that you’d never find unbound in any other way. This plasma processes and traditional approaches is a bold step toward Hundreds of physicists from around the world collaborate — we think — looks like what would have been created factors that impact improving medical documentation and the on IceCube, but space and time “on the ice” are limited. Plum immediately post-Big Bang,” Smedley says. “If the detectors the final written product,” Angeli says. “I’m field of emergency medical services.” worked 16-hour days (broken up by safety breaks from the are precise, we can understand that strange state of matter interested in how first responders are being brutal cold) to deploy equipment made in Andeen’s lab. While better, and perhaps we get a better understanding of the trained to show up on scene and engage IceCube’s main detector watches for neutrinos under the ice, unfolding of the early moments of the universe.” an above-ground experiment called IceTop searches for

12 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 13 IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

This page has been intentionally left blank. In Pursuit of Justice Psychology course internships provide students with real-world social justice experiences while tackling community challenges along the way.

By Jennifer Anderson

Esme Lezama Ruiz, a psychology major, has given a lot of thought to her future. She’s made plans for graduate school, and after that she wants to earn a doctorate in forensic psychology and work for the FBI. But for all her carefully formulated goals, Ruiz felt that the part of her plan that was missing was real-world experience. This is where the yearlong Field Studies course helped round out Ruiz’s résumé and give her a chance to take up Marquette’s challenge to all of its students to become men and women for others. For the past seven years, Dr. Ed de St. Aubin (left), associate professor of psychology, has thoughtfully developed a number of internships with nonprofit organizations throughout Milwaukee, internships where Marquette students come face-to-face with many of the most challenging issues facing the city. Doing much more than making coffee and taking out the trash, students in Field Studies work alongside community leaders doing meaningful work and make deep personal connections in the process.

14 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 15 IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE Reflecting on Perceptions “The prison experience needs Philosophy course immerses students into the lived experiences to be much more rehabilitative of incarcerated people through virtual collaborative course work. By Jennifer Anderson than debilitative. It’s not working if people leave worse

than when they came in.” n ambitious new philosophy writes and shares an individual reflection on it. Marquette students then research —FRANCISCO TEJEDA course, Engaging Mass Incarceration: Freedom, the space, collecting empirical data such A Justice and the Arts, brings as crime statistics, area school funding and amount of green space. They also Kleeman hopes to work in criminal justice the study of philosophy to an unusual mix of scholars: Marquette Honors Program interview a person living in the area. As social work either in reintegration services part of the university’s commitment to Last year, Ruiz (left) interned at Francisco Tejeda interned at Project Return, a or victim advocacy. “It’s been great to have students and inmates within area an experience in the field before correctional facilities. Co-taught by “engaging social systems and values” the Sojourner Family Peace Center, 40-year-old Milwaukee organization that helps throughout its core level courses, this Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit provider ex-inmates find stability. The experience has been graduation,” said Kleeman (left) Dr. Theresa Tobin, Marisola Xhelili class is designed “to be as community of domestic abuse prevention and eye-opening, and Tejada has been struck by the in a Riverwest Radio interview. Ciaccio, a doctoral student in philosophy, intervention services. There she difficult challenges these men face when they “Having the chance through and James Mahmood Watkins, a immersive in Milwaukee as possible,” worked within its Beyond Abuse program, return to life after incarceration. Marquette and through [Dr. community subject matter expert, the says Tobin, Arts ’97, associate professor comprised of group education sessions for “It’s been humbling,” Tejeda says. “These are Ed de St. Aubin] to try this out of philosophy. before we get into the real course is designed for both sets of women who have been physically abusive people who are a lot less fortunate than I am, students to “work collaboratively and “The idea is for students to ask after and want to develop the skills to stop. “These and it’s made me feel compelled to do something world has been invaluable.” individually to reflect on and critically themselves ‘How does knowledge, women are trying so hard to become better and not just turn a blind eye.” De St. Aubin has also arranged Above: Field Studies interns for themselves and for their families,” Ruiz The experience with Project Return clients for Marquette students to intern at EXPO examine how social identity and social both of data and other people’s lived at The Family House, a remarks. “Many of them had been dealt such impressed upon Tejada the importance of (EX-Incarcerated People Organizing), an situatedness influence our perceptions, experiences of a place, confirm or refute transitional living facility that an unfair hand and had developed a lot of addressing issues of mental health, advocacy group focused on changing the laws beliefs, judgments, emotional experience my perception?’” Xhelili Ciaccio says. that pertain to former felons and led by men and is part of Table of the Saints, unhealthy coping mechanisms.” especially in minority communities and knowledge,” Tobin explains. The Center for the Advancement of As part of her internship, Ruiz helped to where the issue is often women who have been previously incarcerated. a nonprofit that serves men The class comprises 25 Marquette the Humanities sponsored Watkins’ coming out of prison. facilitate a three-day retreat for the Beyond neglected. Tejada (left), a In addition, de St. Aubin has installed interns Abuse members, an experience she calls cognitive science major, has who help develop dossiers on parolees, attend undergraduates and coordinates with a participation in the program, an addition “intense” but invaluable for helping her gain subsequently added a psychology sessions between parolees and the judge, and Milwaukee Area Technical College online that Tobin calls “vital to the success an understanding of how she could best major in hopes of becoming collect data and evidence on high-risk cases in course whose enrollees are incarcerated. of the course.” Formerly incarcerated, be of service to these women. a therapist. “The mental health Milwaukee’s U.S. Probation and Parole Office. As part of the course work, all students Watkins now works on issues of “Most of them just needed someone needs of inmates are often neglected,” The Field Studies internship program are divided into small groups to focus prison reform and restoration of to listen to them,” she adds. “I got to be Tejeda says. “The prison experience needs to be continues to grow as students learn of the on a single location in Milwaukee that prisoners’ rights. unique real-world opportunities it can offer that person.” much more rehabilitative than debilitative. It’s not has history and meaning for one of its and as area nonprofits learn of the free skilled “People don’t see the incarcerated as still The Field Studies course currently includes working if people leave worse than when members, such as a park or intersection. five nonprofit organizations and internships they came in.” labor they can access. De St. Aubin plans to a part of the fabric of our community,” The collaboration between the Marquette for 17 students. Students are matched with Marquette intern Casey Kleeman has become add internships in the areas of local LGBTQ Watkins says. “When you educate an organization for which they work eight deeply engaged in Table of the Saints, a small, organizations, as well as with faith leaders and MATC students is achieved virtually. someone, you appeal to the humanity hours per week and are paired with a mentor faith-based group that runs Family House, which who focus on social justice issues. Building The Marquette students photograph that in them, and in turn, hopefully they will the course over the years has clearly been a there who can work closely with them provides temporary housing for men coming spot, and each student in the course recognize the humanity in others.” throughout the year. Students also meet out of prison. Kleeman organized the group’s labor of love for de St. Aubin. weekly with de St. Aubin to discuss what monthly “Let’s Talk About It” meetings. Open “I’m lucky that I’m a professor, so I know Drs. Theresa Tobin; Robert Smith, Harry G. John Professor of History; and Darren they’re working on and what they’re learning. to anyone in the community, these meetings how fabulous 20-year-olds are,” de St. Aubin Wheelock, associate professor of social and cultural sciences, were named the 2020 He also has students read relevant content bring in professionals to cover stigmatized says. “I get to watch their growth over the and write frequent reflections on their work. issues such as depression and addiction. year, and it’s really a privilege to witness.” Way Klingler Teaching Enhancement Award recipients. Working with Xhelili Ciaccio, who co-founded this course, the award supports their project, Bringing Mass Incarceration into the Classroom: Expanding the Blended Course Model, which brings Marquette students and current/former incarcerated students into the classroom together.

16 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 17 19

The unearthed treasures treasures The unearthed study case a cultural led to anthropology a Marquette for and her students. professor Artifacts from a historically a historically from Artifacts American African relevant discovered are neighborhood War Civil amid an unrelated excavation.

By Ann Christenson, CJPA ’91 ’91 Ann Christenson, CJPA Ann Christenson, CJPA By By THE DAY REMAINS OF THE DAY REMAINS OF THE DAY

PHOTOS: DR. MICHAEL GREGORY

t started with a Civil devoted both semesters of her senior Peterson is spending her 2019–20 learned in their course work at Marquette. A stratigraphic profile War military camp year to studying materials from the sabbatical year working on the Bronzeville Searching property tax records and utilizing of an excavation unit on the south side of Bronzeville excavations, making it the project in tandem with Gregory, a former some history background, the two students showing the different I Chicago. Leading a dig focus of her senior thesis presented at DePaul University professor who serves as were able to plug information into their for historical evidence the Midwest Archaeology Conference the project’s field director. The Marquette laptops and figure out who actually lived in layers identified at the of Camp Douglas, a 60-acre training in fall 2019. connection happened organically enough. a certain house on site during the 19th and Bronzeville site. Courtesy of University of Chicago Library ground for up to 40,000 Union soldiers Artifacts recovered from Chicago’s After leaving DePaul, Gregory sought another 20th centuries. “We spent at least an hour and a prison for 30,000 Confederate Bronzeville neighborhood are housed in academic partnership. Marquette was a natural investigating the residents’ backgrounds Homes line Grand Boulevard in the soldiers during the 1860s, archaeologist the Archaeology Lab inside Marquette’s fit for a couple of reasons. “We have known through municipal forms and census data,” Bronzeville neighborhood, c. 1910. Dr. Michael Gregory stumbled on a Cramer Hall. In this small, organized each other personally and professionally for a Hincha says. “It was a real eureka moment wealth of late-19th and 20th century room, pieces of old pottery, glass, toys, number of years, and I saw the value to our when we finally found the names and artifacts related to another history — even animal bones are cleaned, labeled students of having an active field and artifact identities of the people.” Students learned that of the residents of Bronzeville. and analyzed to learn more about the analysis opportunity for them,” Peterson says. that historical reconstructions are built using The neighborhood, with homes built people who lived in Bronzeville — from Along with participating in excavation archaeological materials excavated from sites on the same land work — which takes place in the backyards in tandem with documentary sources. after the war, of historic Bronzeville homes — Peterson is Like Hincha, anthropology major Brittany evolved into a rich Students learned that historical co-authoring two articles about the project, Hinkle, Arts ’20, spent days in the lab center of African which she intends to submit for publication reconstructing what life was like in Bronzeville American culture reconstructions are built using by the end of her sabbatical. 100 years ago. Hinkle studied the makers’ as a result of the archaeological materials excavated Historically, the artifacts reflect a culturally marks on shards of pottery to estimate the Great Migration pivotal time in history, as they date to the dates of various archaeological layers and beginning in the from sites in tandem with Industrial Revolution. During this time hypothesize the socioeconomic status of the early 20th century. documentary sources. large numbers of African Americans were people living in the house. She also created A fieldwork This historical heading to northern cities attempting to a database that other students could use to volunteer screens archaeological avoid violence and seek employment, as post photos of research items that will be to find artifacts. site is a valuable part of the Great Migration. Although the used as the model for a photo archive for discovery — fragments uncovered from the excavations continuing research by professors Peterson interpreting it depends on the hard their diets to how they occupied their are small, the researchers are slowly and Gregory and future students. work and expertise of students and time. “There is very little written about cobbling together more details about Both Hinkle and Hincha say the chance faculty from Marquette’s Department African American households and how early Bronzeville residents lived. to apply what they learned in classes to of Social and Cultural Sciences. domestic settings in turn-of-the-century “We are only at the very beginning of concrete anthropological work was vital. Five Marquette students, under Chicago, particularly the lives of women examining public-health issues from the The teamwork that excavation and analysis the guidance of Dr. Jane Peterson, and children,” Peterson says. project,” Peterson says. “Among the time require made Hincha think about the care with professor of anthropology, have made Hincha’s senior project involved periods represented in our excavations which she was entrusted “to research and contributions to furthering plenty of hands-on lab work, organizing are those when municipal trash collection conserve the stories of our past. Handling an Hincha and others the Bronzeville work the artifacts into workable data that services are just emerging, incineration is artifact on site, literally digging into the past, dig and screen for as independent study enabled her to analyze it from a historic still a common solution to dealing with presents me with a lot of feelings of awe, projects. One of public-health perspective. Hincha, household waste and documentary sources respect and curiosity.” relevant artifacts. those students is who plans to pursue archaeology indicate a number of public concerns about Noel Hincha, who in a Durham University graduate sanitation and disease.” says the experience program in the United Kingdom, Former student Hincha remembers bolstered her confidence says the experience provided the a particular day in the Archaeology Lab, Noel Hincha, center, Arts ’19, both as a student and budding “necessary foundation for my when she and a fellow student were able excavates a south side Chicago archaeologist. Hincha, Arts ’19, professional career.” to put to use some of the skills they had neighborhood as part of her senior project.

20 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 21 A PHYSICIAN’S FOUNDATION

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How the diversity of a liberal arts curriculum informs the human spirit for a career in medicine. A Physician’s FOUNDATION

By Lauren Sieben

Eduardo Dolhun, M.D., Arts ’88, arrived at Marquette Fast forward to today in San Francisco, where as a freshman with plans to study biology. His goal: Dolhun has been practicing family medicine to become a marine biologist, following in the since 1999. He’s the inventor of DripDrop, an footsteps of his childhood hero, Jacques Cousteau. oral rehydration solution used to treat dehydration- “Over the course “Over the course of my first and second year, I fell related illnesses around the world. He has traveled of my first and in love with humanities and the questions that they on humanitarian missions to countries including second year, asked,” he says. Haiti, Ecuador, Pakistan and Nepal in the days after I fell in love So Dolhun switched gears, changing his majors to devastating natural disasters. He has also taught with humanities philosophy and Spanish literature. After graduating, medicine at Stanford University and served as and the questions he moved to Spain and began a philosophy doctoral co-director of ethnicity and medicine at Stanford that they asked.” program at the University of Madrid, but he soon for 18 years. His path from aspiring marine biologist felt pulled back to his first love of science. EDUARDO DOLHUN, to philosopher to doctor may seem atypical, but for M.D., ARTS ’88 “I really missed the sciences, and medicine offered Dolhun, humanities and health sciences go hand the promise of using my hands. I wanted more direct in hand. He credits his arts and sciences education contact with individuals in need,” Dolhun says. After at Marquette with preparing him for a challenging a year in Madrid, he returned to Marquette to take career in medicine and, now, for working in physics and calculus while he applied to medical school. medicine at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

22 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 23 A PHYSICIAN’S FOUNDATION

“Being a physician is an intensely human “[Being a physician] is an intensely human experience “Sometimes with the classes that I took [at often surprised to learn that only about half of medical experience that pushes that pushes you in many unexpected ways emotionally, Marquette], it was head-spinning. I would go from school matriculants major in biological sciences; the rest spiritually and physically,” Dolhun says. “Having the a literary criticism course and then I’d head over to major in humanities, social sciences and other subject you in many unexpected discipline and the familiarity with the process of neuroanatomy,” she says. “But really, the worlds aren’t areas, according to data from the American Association ways emotionally, reflection — What does this mean? Why am I doing all that different. You have to be able to take information of Medical Colleges. spiritually and physically. this? — is crucial to staying healthy and being useful and synthesize it and articulate it in a way that another Farley says part of her job is helping students understand to others.” human being is going to be able to understand. … It’s that they can pursue their passions and still be strong Having the discipline and When the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order began great to have this background where I have experienced candidates for medical school, whether they major in the familiarity with the in March, Dolhun and his team quickly implemented so many different things through literature.” theology or biology. rigorous sanitation protocols at the clinic and switched Learning through literature continues to be an asset “Sometimes I’ll go onto a medical school website process of reflection — to phone and video visits. Dolhun also began sending a for Thomas as she navigates her role as a provider during and show them in black and white that many say they weekly newsletter — the Dolhun Dispatch — to patients the coronavirus pandemic. don’t have a preference for what your undergraduate WHAT DOES as the pandemic evolved. Each newsletter answers “To really understand something like this, you have to major was,” Farley says. questions about the virus, debunks myths and shares read about it,” she says. “We haven’t had a significant For students hoping to stand out in the competitive THIS MEAN? updates on the clinic. plague in about 100 years. You can’t really prepare medical school applicant pool, a liberal arts degree can WHY AM I also signal a well-rounded applicant to the admissions committee. DOING THIS? — “It’s very important for med schools to know you’re “You really need an ABUNDANCE OF pursuing subjects that you want to, that you’re not doing is crucial to staying this to be a checklist applicant,” Farley says. Plus, when healthy and being COMPASSION to get through each day.” students choose majors that inspire them, it can bolster their GPAs — another advantage when applying to useful to others.” —JENNY (PEELEN) THOMAS, M.D., ARTS ’89 medical school. —EDUARDO DOLHUN, M.D., ARTS ’88 Lauree Thomas, M.D., Arts ’75, says that a major “The dispatches were very reassuring to my patients yourself for something like this, but you can look at like hers — biology — undoubtedly prepares students … and I feel very grateful that Marquette taught me how it through the eyes of other people who have had to for medical school course work, but it isn’t the only to write well,” he says. “Messaging is critical. People live through this.” path to medicine. are really looking for guidance, especially when there’s In the fall, Thomas gave a talk for Marquette’s Center “You can go into psychology, you can do chemistry, chaos and tons of fear. How you frame a topic is really for the Advancement of the Humanities called “The you can do liberal arts, English. You can do any degree, important, and the word choice is very important.” English Major Goes to Med School.” The response as long as you take the required pre-med prerequisites,” from students was overwhelming, she says, especially says Thomas, who serves as associate dean for career “The worlds aren’t all that different” among students who came in thinking there was only counseling at University of Texas Medical Branch. Dolhun, who since 2018 serves as an adjunct professor one “right” way to become a doctor — by focusing When students “explore museums and look at art, it in the College of Health Sciences, is one of many exclusively on science during their undergraduate years. only helps your appreciation on a totally different level Klingler College of Arts and Sciences alumni who “I hope that was a catalyst to get them to take about different types of cultures and different kinds of have gone on to successful careers in medicine. an elective or do something different than they had people, so you have a deeper understanding of diversity,” Jenny (Peelen) Thomas, M.D., Arts ’89, studied planned,” Thomas says. “I don’t think it always has to Thomas says. Ultimately, a liberal arts background gives English at Marquette before completing medical be medicine, medicine, medicine. You can’t become a students a solid foundation for becoming physicians. school at the Medical College of Wisconsin and good doctor without having experiences with people.” “Any exposure to the social sciences helps lend an becoming a pediatrician. Some students arrive at Marquette thinking if they element of compassion and empathy and also a way of Thomas knew from a young age that she wanted want to get into medical school, they can only choose a understanding life challenges,” she says. “Medicine is a to be a doctor, but she says her English degree is science major, says Julia Farley, academic and pre-health giving profession. You need to be about the business of what makes her a well-rounded physician. professions adviser in the Klingler College. Students are helping others for the rest of your life.”

24 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 025 A PHYSICIAN’S FOUNDATION UNMASKING THE PROBLEM: “The great thing about reading an array of Physics professor calculates sanitization solution histories, narratives and sociological studies By Shelby Williamson is that STUDENTS OPEN THEMSELVES UP TO some medical schools even require more social When the coronavirus pandemic hit and a mad dash for personal protective THE DIVERSE ARRAY OF PEOPLE they would sciences and writing-intensive classes, which is equipment ensued, the Kenosha (Wis.) Fire Department wanted a contingency “really advantageous for students who pursue plan to make the most of its supplies. courses in the liberal arts,” she says. be working with as health practitioners.” Foreseeing a mass shortage of the surgical face masks its medical professionals Ultimately, the path to medical school isn’t one- —DR. JASON FARR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH must wear to perform their jobs safely, the department contacted local experts size-fits-all, and a long list of Klingler College alumni including Dr. Jax Sanders, assistant professor of physics. The goal: Find the best bears testament to the ways a liberal arts degree way to decontaminate masks using ultraviolet light. can lay the groundwork for a successful career in Prep work for a future in medicine Toward the same end, Marquette’s Women’s medicine. Other notable alumni include Dr. Jay “My job does not usually involve UV wavelengths,” Sanders says. “I normally Innovation Network hosted a fall road trip to MCW At Marquette, faculty in the Klingler College are also Varkey, Arts ’98, who studied international affairs deal with lasers and infrared. But as much as those things are different, they for nearly 20 undergraduates, many from the Klingler helping undergraduates find meaningful links between at Marquette before becoming one of the lead are also kind of similar, and I am able to figure out how certain parameters and College, to tour campus, visit classrooms and even medicine and the humanities. infectious disease specialists involved in treating conditions affect the flow and strength of light.” perform mock clinical exams. The networking event Dr. Jason Farr, an assistant professor of English, Ebola-infected American patients in 2014. Today, he provided opportunities for students to observe medicine studies the intersection of health and the humanities, is taking lessons learned during the Ebola outbreak The fire department, already equipped with a powerful UV lamp meant to rid in action. Arts and Sciences student Crystal Boyd said with an emphasis on disability studies and gender and to address the COVID-19 pandemic as an infectious ambulances of germs, set up a mask sanitization area in a storage closet, that there are many professional options in the medical complete with a fresh coat of UV-reflective paint and hooks to hang the masks. sexuality studies. He says he’s noticed a growing number disease specialist at Emory University Hospital field with which she was not familiar, and after the visit, of students in his literature classes who aspire to study in Atlanta. she is now considering MCW’s anesthesiology assistant Using a physics principle and published research on UV dosing, Sanders or work in the health sciences field. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, and throughout program. “As a person of color, I felt very welcome at calculated the necessary placement of the masks in relation to the light and the “In my classes, students learn about the history and my career as an infectious disease physician, my MCW,” she added. exposure time needed for effective decontamination. Sanders says the procedure literatures of disabled populations,” Farr says. “The great liberal arts background has reinforced the words requires masks be flipped to expose each side to the light for 90 minutes — for a thing about reading an array of histories, narratives and of Sir William Osler … who said, ‘The good Navigating the pre-med track, one student at a time total of three hours. Sanders determined the masks could go through the process sociological studies is that students open themselves physician treats the disease; the great physician up to 10 times, if necessary. up to the diverse array of people they would be working Specialized advising within the Klingler College also treats the patient who has the disease,’ ” Varkey with as health practitioners.” helps students stay on track for medical school. In says. “Treating a virus requires mastery of Collaborators from other institutions tested Sanders’ recommendations using Arts and Sciences students are also preparing for addition to workshops and panels that help prepare anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology, bacteria samples and confirmed the proposed process kills bacteria on masks. careers in medicine outside of the classroom. Many students for entrance exams, letters of recommendation, epidemiology and pharmacology. Treating a The method, Sanders says, allows the department to reuse masks in a safe and take advantage of research and service-learning and the experiences necessary for medical school, Farley person requires empathy.” sanitary way, though each mask must be worn only by the same user. opportunities in the college, Farley says, while some offers one-on-one advising year-round. This specialized Thomas, the pediatrician who studied English at students intern at the Center of Bioethics and Medical approach for liberal arts students with medical aspirations Marquette, says her Jesuit values have been crucial “This is extremely beneficial for frontline health care workers who, I have been Humanities through a partnership with the Medical is an extension of Marquette’s commitment to cura as she provides care during a pandemic. told, during the height of the mask shortage had to wear the same masks over College of Wisconsin, which until 1967 was the personalis — care for the whole person. “You really need an abundance of compassion five work shifts,” Sanders says. “In reality, these masks are only meant to be Marquette University School of Medicine. “The pre-health track … it’s a lot to navigate,” Farley to get through each day,” she says. “You do it at worn for a few hours.” Other Marquette partnerships with MCW include says. “There are a lot of factors to consider: What Marquette; you learn that while volunteering, and efforts aimed at diversifying the medical field by makes me a competitive applicant? What are things it’s very steeply enriched in a Catholic tradition.” Helping solve problems that are part of a global health crisis is a position in ensuring underrepresented students learn that the I need to think about each year? Advising that specializes Dolhun, who arrived at Marquette with dreams which Sanders never thought they’d be. profession is within their reach. MCW’s Student in pre-med from an adviser who also truly cares about of becoming a marine biologist before pivoting to “But I’m happy to use my knowledge to make a difference,” Sanders says. “As Enrichment Program for Underrepresented Professions, a student’s whole experience is a huge advantage.” philosophy and then medicine, has a simple piece someone who has always had an interest in epidemiology, aiding in this capacity or StEP-UP, is a supplemental program that supports Farley directs students toward the prerequisites of advice for undergraduates: Follow your passion, lets me be in both spaces.” undergraduate students on their journeys to medical they need for medical school, but she also points out whatever it may be. school. Students move through the program with the that the American Association of Medical Colleges “Find your fire in the belly. That’s what’s crucial,” Sanders says among many things, like broad supply chain issues, the pandemic same cohort and have opportunities to work directly encourages students to round out their science studies he says. “What is it that really interests you? If it underscored a need for higher PPE standards. Sanders hopes in the coming years, with MCW faculty, and medical and graduate students. with psychology and sociology course work. Additionally, is medicine, it’ll all come together.” manufacturers will develop sustainable PPE from materials that can withstand continued decontamination.

26 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 27 ALUMNA PROFILE MALORE BROWN, ARTS ’88

“My parents were not familiar with scholarship programs,” Brown says, “but the EOP was for young minorities and first-generation college students who had the grades and the potential but didn’t have the means.” THE LANGUAGE Brown had the grades. When she arrived in the States, she already knew chemistry and Spanish at an 11th grade level and graduated high school OF OPPORTUNITY at just 16. Her academic success ran parallel to her success adapting to her new city’s cultural By Lora Strum expectations. Milwaukee was 90 percent white for the majority of her childhood, and in eighth grade, Brown was the only person of color in Dr. Malore Brown, Arts ’88, can’t think of the her classroom. She felt like “a Fudgsicle in a word she’s looking for in English. sea of vanilla ice cream,” she says. Alumna Dr. Malore Brown “I’m still thinking in Spanish,” Brown laughs. But Brown, savvy beyond her years, adopted Trilingual in English, Spanish and French, different language styles or dialects to move easily recognizes the Educational Brown is a regional public engagement between communities — regardless of their race, Opportunity Program that specialist with the U.S. Department of State, culture or other differences. “We didn’t have a word supported her dreams of a a role that allows her to leverage her career in for ‘code switching,’” Brown explains, referring to Marquette degree is just as library sciences against her love of international how she learned to communicate. “Back then, it relations. She has served at the U.S. embassies was just survival skills.” relevant today as it in Nigeria and Ghana and traveled to many more When considering colleges, Brown longed for was when it launched West African countries to encourage students a diverse experience, perhaps in another state, 50 years ago. and others to take advantage of the educational but her parents were adamant their 16-year-old and informational resources available through the attend school close to home. Brown enrolled at U.S. government. Marquette and was initially wary of its potential to Today, speaking from Bogota, Colombia, her provide a diverse atmosphere. Her ideas changed current assignment, Brown pauses — using when she was admitted into EOP and met with her fluency in multiple languages to consider her cohort for the first time on campus. a few phrases — before settling on the word “Suddenly there were so many other black “necessity” to describe her experience in and brown people just like me, ready to take Marquette’s Educational Opportunity Program. on the world,” Brown recalls. EOP was established in 1969, and for the past Brown graduated with a degree in Spanish. 50 years it has sought to enable greater access With minimal student debt to consider, Brown to higher education for students of diverse continued her education at the University of backgrounds, including those who may not be Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she received able to afford a college education or who are the a master’s in history and a master’s in library first in their families to attend college. sciences, and a multidisciplinary doctorate in For Brown, a member of the 1984 cohort, urban education, with a focus in library and EOP offered a parity in education access she information science. Before joining the U.S. believes remains critical today. “The EOP Department of State, she spent two decades program was very important to me, and the in content development and children and young program will continue to be important until we adult services in public libraries and associations get to a point in our country where everybody across the country. She’s worked on the Emmy- can benefit from the education system evenly.” winning children’s series The Electric Company Brown was 11 when her Jamaican family and lectured at the University of Wisconsin– immigrated to Wisconsin from the Bahamas. Milwaukee and Rutgers University. To provide for their family of five, her mother “I hope that, at some point, the EOP program worked as a substitute teacher while her father will not be a necessity because all students pursued a career as a United Methodist minister, will have equal access to education,” Brown preaching in pulpits across the state. Her parents, says. “Until then, we need to keep finding those college graduates themselves, always knew smart kids who don’t have the financial means Brown would attend college, but never how to get a quality college education that Marquette they would pay for it. University has to offer.”

Photo: U.S. Embassy Bogotá, Colombia, Fernando Soto

28 marquette university klingler college of arts and sciences magazine 2020 29 Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-1881 USA EXTRA- ORDINARY THINKERS. DECISIVE DOERS.

We know that no matter what happens, the world will always need ethical leaders. Leaders who are as smart as they are passionate. Who act for the good of others. Who demand change. Within the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, we are preparing those leaders. As they work directly with faculty, they learn how to apply those interests. As they develop in an environment of excellence and integrity, they understand how to act with and for others. Through this process, they are transformed — ready to Be The Difference the world needs now.

marquette.edu/arts-sciences