The Great American Tax Debate

Letters from the Civil War The Asthma Epidemic Building Leaders Alleluia! Creighton Brings Online Retreat to China Spring 2011 View the magazine online at: Spring 2011 www.creighton.edu/creightonmagazine University Magazine

The Great American Tax Debate...... 8 How should Americans be taxed? What is fair? Should the “rich” pay more than others? As we approach the April 15 tax-filing deadline, Creighton experts weigh in on these questions and more. Their answers may surprise you.

My Wild Cracked Brains: A Story of Personal and Historical Discovery...... 12 8 Creighton University senior Nathan Tye knew of the family story of two obscure relatives who fought in the Civil War. His research led to a journey of discovery and an unexpected twist.

The Asthma Epidemic...... 16 By all accounts, asthma is an ancient disease, but its affect on society has not been relegated to history books. In fact, asthma is on the rise in the U.S. — affecting nearly one in 13 Americans. Creighton researchers are investigating how to combat this troubling health trend.

12 ‘Building Leaders for the Greater Good’...... 20 Creighton’s new online Interdisciplinary Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) Program in Leadership offers an interdisciplinary approach to leadership education, with an emphasis on developing leaders who will effect positive change in the world.

Alleluia! Creighton Brings Online Retreat to China...... 24 Creighton University has established a unique and vibrant relationship with the Catholic Church in China through its innovative Online Retreat — which is based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. 16 Online Extras … How are Creighton faculty and staff infusing the University’s Ignatian mission into their work? Watch the video on Creighton’s inaugural “All Things Ignatian” event. As chaplain of the men’s basketball team, the Rev. Tom Shanahan, S.J., is part cheerleader and part counselor. See the video recognizing this courtside believer. www.creighton.edu/creightonmagazine

20 Correction: Rod Shkolnick became a partner in the Omaha law firm McGrath-North in 1966 while teaching at Creighton. The date was incorrect in the last issue. Also, Catherine Boe, one of Shkolnick’s assistant deans, is a 1979 graduate of the Creighton School of Law. Her Creighton degree was not included in the article.

University News...... 4 Philanthropy News...... 26 24 Alumni News...... 28

CONTACT US: Editor — Rick Davis, 402.280.1785, [email protected] • Associate Editor — Sheila Swanson, 402.280.2069, [email protected] View the magazine online at: www.creighton.edu/creightonmagazine Message from the University President Crafting Our Purposeful Future In Nebraska, one has an opportunity to fully enjoy the four student recruitment, seasons. (At least that’s what we keep positively reminding ourselves matriculation, retention, in mid-January.) graduation, professional Now, as we shake off the cold and ice of winter, we welcome the placement and career return of spring to campus — students lingering on the mall, birds counseling. We have calling, the sun splashing its life-giving radiance on newly forming reaped what we have foliage. There is a renewed vibrancy, an energy. sown, with historically This is also a holy season, a time to reflect and recommit. A time high enrollments, to plant the seeds for tomorrow’s bountiful harvest. A time, at impressive student Creighton University, to craft our purposeful future. academic credentials, As I noted in my February Convocation address, I am very solid retention rates and grateful for the opportunities of these past 11 years. I have had the nationally recognized pleasure of watching a place that I deeply love grow and prosper. graduation rates. Thanks to the commitment and tireless efforts of the entire I am also extremely proud of our efforts to bring more diversity Creighton community — alumni, friends, faculty, staff, fellow to campus. Today, one in four students is a student of color and 21 Jesuits — we have realized a transformational change in the physical percent are the first in their families to attend college. footprint of the campus. We have enhanced our Catholic and Jesuit Other pieces of the infrastructure puzzle, I would submit, involve identity, our academic quality and professional distinction. And we an explosion in leadership opportunities for students, faculty and have opened our hearts in service to the Omaha community and staff; a continued emphasis on our Catholic and Jesuit mission and beyond. identity; and a high level of engagement in the Omaha community. We have challenged ourselves to dream big — to embrace a bold I believe our infrastructure, in its many and varied forms, is in vision for the future. I am delighted and humbled by our success. place to launch Creighton to new and greater heights. And I am proud to say that our momentum continues. I am optimistic about Creighton’s future. We have taken steps Indeed, many of our efforts over the past years involved through a program prioritization process to assess and streamline improving our infrastructure — a purposeful, measured investment our operations, to concentrate on those efforts that are most central in our future. This includes bricks and mortar, but so much more. to our mission. I received a committee report in January that Our dramatic eastward expansion — coinciding with Omaha’s evaluated some 822 academic and nonacademic programs. downtown renewal — has been well documented and exciting. We While it is still early in the process, we are moving forward have grown our campus by some 40 acres, and we have developed with several actions — from developing a new budget model to new state-of-the-art facilities that have been transformational for the realigning certain administrative and support services to giving quality of life and learning on this campus. permanence to the Creighton Office of Online Learning (COOL) in At Convocation, I shared two examples: Our new junior/senior an effort to strengthen our web-based learning initiatives. residence halls — Davis Square and Opus Hall — and the Wayne and As I look ahead to my final May graduation at Creighton, Eileen Ryan Athletic Center and D.J. Sokol Arena. I am truly grateful for your support, for our many shared Davis Square and Opus Hall have dramatically altered the accomplishments and for the students who allowed us to be a part dynamic of undergraduate life on campus. Our juniors and seniors of their lives and who have gone forth to live out our mission. are more involved in campus life — sharing their time and talents as Let us be not afraid to look forward, to accept a new call. The leaders, mentors and role models. Indeed, students want to live and Creighton of today must become the Creighton of the future — a learn on campus. Now they have more opportunity. future we can serve only if we keep changing and responding to The Wayne and Eileen Ryan Athletic Center and D.J. Sokol Arena new challenges. A springtime rebirth, if you will. is not only an outstanding on-campus facility for women’s athletics, May God continue to bless Creighton University, and may God but it is emblematic of our commitment to the continued growth bless you and your families during this holy Easter season. in opportunities for women at Creighton, where 58 percent of our student body is female. As I mentioned, enhancements to our infrastructure go beyond bricks and mortar. In 2003, we put in place an enrollment John P. Schlegel, S.J. management structure that involves a seamless approach to President University News

University Magazine On the Trail of Renegade Ions, Volume 27, Issue 2

Publisher: Creighton University; Rev. John P. Schlegel, Physics Chair Earns National Award S.J., President. Creighton University Magazine staff: Kim Creighton Physics Chair and Professor Here, Seger explains, physicists Barnes Manning, Assistant Vice President for Marketing Janet Seger, Ph.D., will journey on April 30 and Public Relations; Rick Davis, Editor; Sheila Swanson, are “smashing gold ions together at Associate Editor; Pamela A. Vaughn, Features Editor; to Anaheim, Calif., to accept the American incredible speeds. When they collide Cindy Murphy McMahon, Senior Writer; Rosanne Physical Society’s faculty award for her we make a tiny (but large on the scale Bachman, Writer. work with undergraduate researchers. of quarks!) volume of matter that is far But that journey is nothing compared hotter than our sun — as hot as the early Creighton University Magazine is published in the spring, to the one she makes routinely with her universe,” Seger says. summer and fall/winter by Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178-0001. Periodicals students: to the nether world of quark- At this level, Seger explains, she and postage paid at Omaha, Neb., and additional entry points. gluon physics, where her students can Address all mail to Marketing and Public Relations, they’re on the lookout “observe a phase of Omaha, NE 68178. Postmaster: Send change of address to for ultra-peripheral matter called a ‘quark- Creighton University Magazine, P.O. Box 3266, Omaha, NE 68103-0078. heavy ion collisions. gluon plasma’ that has If your brow not existed since very For more enrollment information, contact the instantly furrows at shortly after the Big Undergraduate Admissions Office at 800.282.5835, this thought, you’re not Bang.” [email protected]. alone. But worry not: But Seger and her Seger will translate. students dig still To make a gift to the University, contact the “We are trying to further, looking for Office of Development at 800.334.8794 or visit www.creighton.edu/development. understand the most the ions that miss each fundamental building other. For the latest on alumni gatherings, contact the Alumni blocks of matter and “At these small Relations Office at 800.CU.ALUMS (800.282.5867) or check their interactions,” Weaver Dave by Photo scales, there’s still online at alumni.creighton.edu. Seger will receive a national award for Seger says. “We know research in an undergraduate setting. a lot we don’t that atomic nuclei understand,” Seger Update your mailing address or send alumni news are composed of protons and neutrons, said. “I have always loved the way (births, weddings, promotions, etc.) electronically through alumni.creighton.edu, call 800.334.8794 or mail to Office of and that each proton and neutron can be physics helps to answer the ‘why’ Development, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, further decomposed into quarks and the questions and the ‘how does this work’ Omaha, NE 68178. gluons that hold them together.” questions. Why is the sky blue? Why It is at this point that Seger and her does the light come on when you flip View the magazine online at students can glimpse the workings of this the switch? I love sharing this with www.creighton.edu/creightonmagazine nether world, thanks to the RHIC collider students, and I love when my research www.creighton.edu at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in helps me reach a point where I suddenly Long Island, N.Y., and the work of STAR, understand something new. The biggest Copyright © 2011 by Creighton University a group studying the formation and reward is watching students get excited Recycled and Recyclable characteristics of quark-gluon plasma at about some of the same things that Brookhaven. thrill me.” Printed with Soy Ink

Creighton University Magazine’s Purpose Creighton University Magazine, like the University itself, is committed to excellence and dedicated to the pursuit of truth in all its forms. The magazine will be comprehensive Fr. Schlegel, Alumni Named to Business Hall of Fame in nature. It will support the University’s mission of Creighton University President the Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., is one of six individuals who will education through thoughtful and compelling feature be inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame on April 12 for significant contributions to articles on a variety of topics. It will feature the brightest, Omaha’s development. The Omaha Chamber of Commerce sponsors the event. Fr. Schlegel has the most stimulating, the most inspirational thinking been actively engaged in Omaha’s business and civic life during his tenure as president. He has that Creighton offers. The magazine also will promote Creighton, and its Jesuit, Catholic identity, to a broad overseen a dramatic eastward expansion of Creighton’s campus, which has contributed to Omaha’s public and serve as a vital link between the University downtown renaissance. and its constituents. The magazine will be guided by the In addition to Fr. Schlegel, two Creighton alumni will also be inducted: George Haddix, MA’66, core values of Creighton: the inalienable worth of each individual, respect for all of God’s creation, a special Ph.D., a member of Creighton University’s Board of Directors, who, along with his late wife, Sally concern for the poor, and the promotion of justice. Hansen Haddix, established the John N. Mordeson, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Mathematics at Creighton; and Lyn Wallin Ziegenbein, JD’77, executive director of the Peter Kiewit Foundation.

4 Spring 2011 University News

assistant attorney Creighton Celebrates general of Nebraska Winter Commencement has developed more More than 240 degrees were conferred than 3.5 million square during Creighton University’s winter feet of residential and commencement ceremony Dec. 18. The commercial space in University also recognized the following for Nebraska, Iowa and making a positive difference in the Omaha Arizona. community and around the country. Support of higher education has long been Lucas Chilton Dunlap a priority of Venteicher and his wife, Susan. As a leader in the Catholic Church for more The brick pathway that links major portions than 35 years and since his installation in July of the Creighton campus are named for the 2009, Archbishop Lucas has demonstrated couple who also established a scholarship faith, godliness and kindness to the more than in the family name in 2004 for academically 220,000 Omaha-area parishioners he serves. gifted law students. Lucas holds appointments with the United As a member of the Creighton President’s States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Council for seven years, Venteicher Committee for the Protection of Children and participated in the Campaign Positioning Young People and the Subcommittee on the Study and provided insight and counsel on Catechism and Task Force for the 2010 Special

Photos by Jim Fackler Jim by Photos Creighton’s east-campus expansion. Assembly. The Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., with honorary degree Archbishop Lucas has shown an affinity recipient George Venteicher, JD’62. Honorary Degrees for Catholic education at all levels, and has The Most Rev. George Lucas, archbishop created supportive opportunities for dialogue Alumni Achievement Award of Omaha, received an honorary Doctor of and discussion whenever possible. A 1962 graduate of Creighton University’s Humane Letters, and Gen. Kevin Chilton, Up until his retirement in January, Gen. School of Law, George Venteicher is a real recently retired commander of United States Chilton commanded one of the most powerful estate developer widely respected for his Strategic Command, received an honorary military organizations in the country; yet, business acumen and ethics. The former Doctor of Laws. he was a staunch advocate of diplomacy and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons as essential first steps to securing international peace. Chilton is one of a number of experts Manresa Medal Awardee Leaves Legacy who voiced support for ratification of the Robert Daugherty, and was designated an emeritus member New Start Treaty. 88, the recipient of of the Board from then on. Daugherty’s Chilton’s advocacy for transparency spans Creighton’s highest friends and associates established the a 34-year military career characterized by nonacademic honor Robert B. Daugherty Chair in Managerial upward mobility through Wing, Numbered and an Omaha Ethics in the College of Business in 1981. Air Force, Major Command and Unified business leader “Bob Daugherty’s qualities of leadership, Combatant Command levels. A member of known worldwide, perseverance, civic participation and NASA for 11 years, he flew three missions on died on Nov. 24. ethical business acumen have influenced space shuttles and was the first astronaut to In 1988, many,” said the Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., be promoted to four-star general. Daugherty received Daugherty Creighton president. “His passing leaves a Creighton’s Manresa Medal, which is great void and Creighton is indebted to him Presidential Medallion bestowed only rarely upon those who for his many years of leadership.” Jay Dunlap, president of the Madonna demonstrate inspirational leadership and Daugherty is credited with changing the School, accepted the Presidential Medallion. enduring achievements in the tradition of landscape of agriculture internationally For 50 years, Madonna School has served St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the through his company’s development of the as the only private, Catholic school in Jesuits, and of Edward and John Creighton, revolutionary center-pivot irrigation system Nebraska that provides education to students the founders of the University. Creighton in the 1960s, expanding irrigation to land with developmental delays and other special has awarded the Manresa Medal only six that had not been able to support crops needs. The school enrolls more than 40 times. previously. Today, Valmont’s equipment students in grades K through 12 who are Founder and chairman emeritus of irrigates 10 million acres worldwide. taught basic reading, writing and arithmetic, the board of Valmont Industries, Inc., His wife of 54 years, Marjorie Kruse as well as skills necessary to live full and Daugherty served on Creighton’s Board of Daugherty, died in 2002, and he is survived productive lives. Directors for 17 years, from 1975 to 1992, by three sons and their families.

5 Spring 2011 University News

It reminds me to slow down and never look Theology, Journalism at something just once. Sometimes the second Merge in Innovative look can change your life forever.” The faculty team included: John O’Keefe, Class Ph.D., professor of theology and holder of Nine Creighton students earned six core the A.F. Jacobson Chair in Communications; credit-hour requirements last summer in a five- Carol Zuegner, Ph.D., associate professor of week class — and found their outlook on life journalism; Tim Guthrie, associate professor may never be the same. in graphic design and digital/new media; and The inaugural interdisciplinary class, Kyle Woolley, then the campus coordinator for Backpack Journalism in the Dominican Encuentro Dominicano. Republic, featured a faculty-led international The class met for two weeks for intensive experience and two areas of study: theology and preliminary instruction at Creighton.

journalism. Freeze Peter by Photo Following the trip, the students worked on The theology component explored the Rachel Belsha and Scott Peak entertain a young editing the video and writing articles for Catholic Church in Latin America and the girl at a children’s soup kitchen in Cien Fuegos, a website. The class also involved time for Dominican Republic and the Church’s mission Dominican Republic, while participating in reflection and service work in the Dominican Creighton’s Backpack Journalism course. to put faith into action. The journalistic Republic. component involved learning to write feature and plans to apply to graduate school in public O’Keefe, who originally envisioned the stories, blog and shoot and edit a video health. class, said the experience exceeded his documentary. “Backpack Journalism was one of the expectations. “The students were wonderful The theology and journalism came together as best experiences I’ve had at Creighton. It and their film has been well-received,” he said. students experienced the power of using media was challenging — academically, mentally, Zuegner concurred: “The students were to make a difference. They used journalistic physically and emotionally — but so worth it.” remarkable. They never complained even tools to tell the story of Catholic deacon Pedro Another student, Peter Freeze of Phoenix, though the trip conditions were often Almonte, who is driven by his faith and his Ariz., a junior majoring in graphic design more than challenging in climate and belief that the Church has a responsibility to and photojournalism, had studied in the accommodations. They rolled with whatever work for and with the poor. Dominican Republic previously, through happened.” The students shot and edited a documentary Creighton’s semester-long Encuentro The documentary, “Esperanza,” won two on Almonte’s 20 years of helping the people Dominicano program. He said he was eager to awards at a local film festival. To view the of Cien Fuegos — a sprawling slum next to a return, “to film what I had lived out for four film and read the students’ reflections, visit garbage dump in Santiago, Dominican Republic months.” http://backpack.creighton.edu. — better their lives through soup kitchens, Said Freeze, “I learned that no matter how The next class — Backpack Journalism in education and neighborhood groups that long you look at something, when you return Uganda — takes place in May and will tell the stand up to crime and violence or work to stop you will find something new and wonderful. stories of four peacemakers. environmental degradation. The class was open to nonjournalism majors, and one of those was exercise science senior Rachel Johnson from Denver. Bringing Smiles Something about the flier she saw on the class to Others caught her eye. “I can’t even explain it, but I was Gary Westerman, DDS’69, immediately drawn to everything about this professor and chair of community program. Because I was not a journalism major, and preventive dentistry and the I was nervous about taking this leap of faith, but Oscar S. Belzer Endowed Chair I knew this was just what I was looking for in a in Dentistry, and Billy Bluejay study-abroad program.” instruct a young patient on proper Johnson said the experience “absolutely brushing techniques during the changed me for the better, hands down.” Creighton School of Dentistry’s 11th She said the class opened her eyes to the annual “Give Kids a Smile Day” in daily struggles people face and to what one February. person can accomplish, “with passion, drive Through the event, held and courage.” Inspired by the class, Johnson

in conjunction with National Fackler Jim by Photo has been volunteering with a Spanish-speaking Children’s Dental Health Month, community in Omaha and has been accepted about 75 uninsured Omaha-area children received free dental exams, X-rays, cleaning, into an immersion program in Guatemala this fluoride, dental sealants and dental education at the Creighton dental clinic. fall. She will volunteer there in health promotion

6 Spring 2011 University News

neural tube defect (NTD). edema in pigs and cancer in laboratory Tortillas and NTDs are one of the most common rodents. In humans, ingestion of congenital malformations (one per 1,000 births) fumonisin-contaminated corn is associated Birth Defects? and include defects such as anencephaly and with increased risk for esophageal cancer A Creighton University School of spina bifida. NTDs occur when the embryonic and having a baby with a NTD. An Medicine researcher has been awarded a neural tube, which forms the brain and spinal unusually high incidence of NTDs (six to $2.7 million grant by the National Institutes cord, fails to close properly during the first few 10 cases per 1,000 births) has been observed of Health (NIH) to investigate a possible weeks of pregnancy. in regions of Guatemala, China and South link between the ingestion of tortillas and Africa where corn is a dietary staple and corn-based food products contaminated fumonisin contamination is frequent. with a fungal toxin and increased risk for Gelineau-van Waes and USDA scientists birth defects. have shown that early gestational The three-year award is a collaborative exposure to the toxin disrupts sphingolipid effort among investigators at Creighton; metabolism and induces NTDs in mice. the U.S. Department of Agriculture- In the new study, preliminary data Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) obtained from mice will be used to in Athens, Ga.; Duke University Medical validate biomarkers of exposure in blood Center in Durham, N.C.; and Centro de and urine samples collected from women Investigaciones en Nutricion y Salud in Guatemala. The human samples, (CIENSA) in Guatemala. Fackler Jim by Photo collected by CIENSA scientists, will be Gelineau-van Waes has received a $2.7 million analyzed by the USDA-ARS Mycotoxin Janee Gelineau-van Waes, Ph.D., NIH grant to study a possible link between tortillas principal investigator and associate and birth defects. Research Unit. Creighton researchers professor in Creighton’s Department of will use mouse models to investigate Pharmacology, who also holds a doctor of Fumonisin is a mycotoxin produced underlying signaling mechanisms that veterinary medicine degree, will use the by a common fungal contaminant of corn result in failure of neural tube closure after grant to continue her research studying worldwide. fumonisin exposure, and collaborative a potential connection between exposure In animals, the toxin disrupts sphingolipid studies with Duke University will focus on to fumonisin during early pregnancy and metabolism, causing diseases such as identifying genetic mutations that increase an increased risk for having a baby with a leukoencephalomalacia in horses, pulmonary susceptibility.

Surveys Say … Creighton’s Economic Impact on Creighton University alumni rely on State of Nebraska Tops $787 Million the Creighton University Magazine for Creighton University’s annual impact on Nebraska’s economy is estimated at information about the University and $787.5 million, according to a recent study by Ernie Goss, Ph.D., the University’s Jack are interested in receiving information A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics. That figure includes spending on salaries, specific to their school or college. benefits, goods and services, and construction — and the resulting effect of stimulating other Those are two of the major findings economic activity. from surveys — one online and one Creighton’s job force of 3,395 makes it one of the 25 largest private employers in the state printed — conducted this past fall and one of the 13 largest Omaha employers. It is estimated that Creighton spending also to measure the interests and habits supports another 4,536 full-time equivalent jobs in Nebraska. of Creighton alumni in relation to During 2009-2010, Creighton’s operating budget totaled approximately $400 million, and communications from the University. the University generated $38.2 million in state and local taxes. Creighton’s more than 7,600 More than 95 percent of respondents students spent approximately $106 million in Nebraska on products and services. reported getting all, most or some of their Creighton also adds to Nebraska’s “brain gain.” In 2009-10, 62 percent of Creighton’s information about Creighton from the students came from other states and countries. Many alumni stay in Nebraska after Creighton University Magazine, while 90 graduation, becoming teachers, health professionals, business and civic leaders and more. percent reported an interest in receiving In the Omaha area, currently 27 percent of physicians, 69 percent of dentists, 59 percent information specific to their school or of pharmacists, 72 percent of occupational therapists and 16 percent of registered nurses college. are Creighton graduates. Approximately one-half of Creighton’s 2009 law graduates are Another electronic survey is addressing employed in Nebraska. the interests of Creighton alumni who A synopsis of the study’s key findings can be found on theCreighton Magazine website, graduated between 1993 and 2010. www.creighton.edu/creightonmagazine.

7 Spring 2011 The Great American Tax Debate

©Images.com/Corbis By Eugene Curtin

It is an argument as old as the Republic and as fresh as talk radio; a debate once enjoined by genteel men in powdered wigs, carried on by the barrel-chested and pugnaciously opinionated icon of the Progressive Era, Teddy Roosevelt, and kept very much alive today by partisans of the right and the left: How should Americans be taxed? What is fair? What works? Should the rich pay more than others? If so, how much? And what is “rich?” Should even the poor pay something as testimony to common citizenship?

14 Fall/Winter 2010 Political affiliation, in the long sweep approved extending the tax cuts through of things, can be a fickle guide. President 2012, the reduced levels of 10 percent, Teddy Roosevelt, once the epitome 15 percent, 25 percent, 28 percent, 33 of Republican rugged individualism, percent and 35 percent would have embraced a third-party radical tax reverted to their former (higher) levels agenda in the election of 1912, advocating of 15 percent, 28 percent, 31 percent, 36 not just an income tax on the rich but also percent and 39.6 percent. an inheritance tax. Thomas Purcell, Ph.D., BSBA’72, JD’77, Fifty years later, the iconic Democratic professor of accounting and professor President John F. Kennedy, faced with of law at Creighton, said he would have an ailing economy, proposed tax cuts voted to let the tax cuts expire. Purcell together with reforms designed to is widely published on matters of tax broaden the taxpaying base. And his policy and testified before Congress Democratic successor, Lyndon Johnson, on various tax issues as chair of the shepherded those tax cuts into law even American Institute of Certified Public Thomas Purcell, Ph.D., BSBA’72, JD’77, while laying the foundations of a costly, Accountants’ Tax Executive Committee argues that a flat tax would hurt the poor revenue-devouring welfare state. from 2004 to 2006. disproportionately. “A grocery store doesn’t So which is it? Is the federal On the other side of the aisle is Ernie discriminate between the poor guy and the guy government’s fiscal hunger best satiated Goss, Ph.D., professor of economics. that makes $3 million.” by lower tax rates that spur economic Goss holds the Jack A. MacAllister Chair

activity (and thus tax revenue) or by in Regional Economics at Creighton Fackler Jim by Photos a dependable and predictable flow of and served as a visiting scholar with income drawn from as broad a base as the Congressional Budget Office from instead of getting $650,000 after tax he possible? 2003 to 2004. Results from his monthly gets $610,000? He’s not going to make that To settle this nagging historical business conditions index are cited by investment to get $610,000? I don’t buy dispute once and for all, we turned to news media outlets locally, regionally that logic at all.” five Creighton professors who promptly and nationally, including the New York Goss counters that the kinds of people warned us to expect no such resolution. Times, Wall Street Journal and Investor’s who make these sorts of investments are They, too, see things in different ways. Business Daily. typically cost-conscious small-business The debate over the so-called “Bush tax Goss said he would make the tax cuts owners. Increasing their tax costs may cuts” is a useful illustration. A package of permanent. “Is it fair — is it equitable — not kill the initial investment, but they are tax cuts passed by Congress and signed to be grinding down those people who likely to cut corners to make up for the into law by President George W. Bush in are most productive?” bigger tax bite — like perhaps hiring fewer By Eugene Curtin 2001 and 2003 contained an expiration While President Barack Obama people. date of Dec. 31, 2010, at which point lobbied Congress to pass the tax cut deal “Higher taxes affect their willingness to they would revert to their former, higher — calling it “an essential ingredient in hire new workers,” Goss said. “That’s first. levels. Had Congress, in December, not spurring economic growth over the short And secondly, the evidence indicates that run” — Purcell believes raising taxes on high-income individuals that reverting to the pre- increases their strategies of tax avoidance.” Bush tax rates would not Like Purcell, John Deskins, Ph.D., have caused a significant assistant professor of economics, is downturn in economic skeptical that the higher rates would activity. have depressed economic activity. “Take an entrepreneur Deskins, who joined Creighton’s faculty who has an opportunity in 2005, has focused his research on the to make a million dollars interplay between state tax policy and this year by making an entrepreneurial activity. investment,” Purcell said. Deskins points out that even the post- “The tax rate today is 35 Bush higher rates would have been far (percent). If it had gone lower than rates the United States has seen up to 39 (percent), the in its history and the Republic has always Ernie Goss, Ph.D., believes raising the tax rates on higher- additional cost of the taxes muddled through, managing along the earning Americans could adversely affect small-business would have been $40,000. way to become the envy of the world. owners, who, as a result, might hire fewer workers or lay off “Do you think that Raising the marginal rate on the highest current employees. entrepreneur will sit earners by four percentage points would there and not make the have been unlikely to reverse that trend, investment because he said.

9 Spring 2011 The Great American Tax Debate

employer-provided health insurance. but also will permit economic activity to Or home mortgage interest. All of these thrive.” popular exemptions remove taxable Like Deskins, Morse urges a broader opportunities. And these are just some tax base, but he is less sanguine about the of the best known, he said. The U.S. tax effect of marginal tax hikes on economic code is riddled with clauses put there activity. by politicians beholden to lobbyists and “I think this talk of ‘taxing the rich’ is big-money contributors. Many of these demagoguery,” he said. “Who really gets provisions exempt specific businesses hit? Say you raise taxes on a physician’s created in certain states on specific income and he decides to work one day dates. And they go on for dozens of a week less because it’s just not worth his pages, granting favored treatment to the while. Who gets hit? influential while sticking it to Joe and “The patients lose because they’re Jane Citizen. not getting the opportunity to get their John Deskins, Ph.D., says any meaningful “The people who benefit from those treatment. But what about the cleaning reform to America’s tax system must include exemptions, deductions and credits are crew, the secretarial staff, all these job broadening the tax base. “Base broadening is small in number — they can get together losses that go way beyond just the person so much more important” than adjusting the and lobby,” he said. “The people who are you’re taxing? You’re not just taxing the tax rates. harmed are just the masses — the silent idle rich; you’re ultimately harming the majority, which is not organized. It’s just goal of creating a growing economic base.” everybody. Besides, he said, the “grave concern” “We need fundamental reform in of the federal deficit would have been which we drastically broaden the base impacted only modestly by the higher and lower rates. Base broadening is so rates. much more important than whether we “More than half of what’s necessary go to 39 percent.” to get rid of the deficit will have to come That, and “certainty,” chimes in Ed from spending cuts,” he said. “Raising Morse, professor of law at Creighton. the top marginal rate to 39 percent would Morse holds the McGrath, North, Mullin not have done it. That’s just a small and Kratz Endowed Chair in Business chunk of the economy. It would have Law, and his scholarship focuses on raised $700 billion over a 10-year period. taxation, trade, technology and regulation. That’s nothing. It’s a drop in the bucket.” That Congress failed to expediently extend, make permanent or scrap the Broad Base, Narrow Base “Bush” tax cuts became an issue in the “The question that has to be answered first Indeed, Deskins wishes to bark up a 2010 Congressional elections. And Morse is what do you want government to do?” different tree. said it deserved to be an issue since says law professor Ed Morse. “Then you Whether rates climb or fall is a smaller legal certainty is a basic requirement say, ‘How are we going to finance this?’” concern than how widely and reliably tax for business, which cannot plan growth rates are applied, he said. In other words, without knowing its obligations. it’s a matter of the tax base. The current But even beyond the need for business tax code, Deskins said, is far too riddled certainty, Morse said, Americans have a The Flat Tax with intricate exemptions, deductions fundamental decision to make. Whether Like virtually all developed nations, and credits. It leaves too much taxable they pay more or less in taxes, whether the United States levies a progressive income, capital and property on the table, they are subjected to a flat tax or a tax on its citizens, which is to say the thus forcing higher rates to be applied to progressive tax, whether they are taxed more Jane Taxpayer earns, the higher that which is left. narrowly or broadly, keep or lose their percentage of her income she pays to the “A broad tax base is a tax that taxes exemptions, they have a fundamental government. The most serious challenger everything,” he said. “In contrast, we decision to make about how much to a federal progressive income tax is have a narrow tax base. There are a lot of government they want. a flat tax under which everyone pays exemptions, deductions and tax credits “The question that has to be answered the same percentage of their income, no that narrow the base.” first is what do you want government to matter how much they earn. And Deskins is not picking on just “the do?” he said. “Then you say, ‘How are we Morse is a supporter of the flat tax. “I rich.” going to finance this?’ Then we have to believe a single tax rate is both efficient He’s talking about 401K contributions, think about designing a tax system that and morally superior to graduated tax which are not currently taxed. Or will be perceived as fair by the public rates,” he said.

10 Spring 2011 The Great American Tax Debate

Goss is less of a fan. “I think there base,” he said. “I don’t know of anyone tax codes, Goss said, which is why needs to be some progressivity,” he who doesn’t want a broad base. The flat he would like to see progressivity said. “I would like to have a slight tax proponents just don’t want to be as maintained at minimum levels. progressivity with no deductions. redistributive. They think it’s fair that “Our current progressivity is just too “I have an education because the everyone pays the same tax rate.” great,” he said. taxpayer paid a good deal of my Deskins said it is indisputable that Ed Birmingham, a professor of law education. I went to public school. So higher tax rates slow economic activity and associate dean for administration it would be pretty disingenuous of me and reduce the size of the economic pie. and finance in the School of Law, carries to think that I don’t have a bit of an But those effects are small enough to allow with him some Washington perspective, obligation to pay back some of that. But for argument. having worked for the Internal Revenue the current progressivity is too great.” “The Democrats would probably argue Service in Washington, D.C., from 1964 to Purcell argues that a flat tax would hit that a pie that’s a little bit smaller but more 1967. He now teaches a course in federal the poor far harder than the middle or equally divided is preferable,” he said. income taxation. Birmingham believes upper classes. He said a flat tax would “Republicans would probably argue the the American people are at a crossroads. have to be levied at a daunting 25 percent reverse. But that pits economic efficiency “Change in this country comes at the to generate the same revenue generated versus fairness, and the fairness part is not fringes,” he said. “This country is not by a progressive income tax, and would anything a scientist can speak to.” consume so much of poor- and middle- class income that members of those classes Manipulating Behavior? could never save. There is one aspect of a true flat tax that “A grocery store doesn’t discriminate Goss covets: It removes from government between the poor guy and the guy that the ability to manipulate human makes $3 million,” he said. “It charges behavior, something he believes is among the same prices. The utility company isn’t the greatest sins of progressive tax codes going to differentially price their product.” with all their subjective exemptions. It is And beware, Purcell said, of introducing not the business of government to urge a small flat tax on consumption in an effort citizens to do this or that based on tax to capture lower income people, who often breaks, he said, and such efforts almost are exempt from paying federal income always backfire. taxes. Quite apart from the fact that even Take the Car Allowance Rebate System poor people do pay federal taxes in the signed into law on June 24, 2009, by “We will have to decide if we are willing to pull form of Social Security withholding, he President Obama. Dubbed “Cash for together and sacrifice some things,” says law said, a small consumption tax would Clunkers,” the law granted buyers a professor Ed Birmingham. “It’s a test of our almost certainly grow into a behemoth. generous government rebate when they seriousness.” “‘Let’s just put in a 3 percent traded in old, gas-guzzling vehicles for consumption tax on certain things,’ they’ll newer, more fuel-efficient models. The say. Well, now you’ve got the nose of the $1 billon that was initially provided to going to adopt a flat tax, or any other camel inside the tent and before you know fund the program quickly expanded radical solution. We will have to decide it you’ve got a 20 percent consumption tax to $3 billion. The program was seen as if we are willing to pull together and and a 25 percent income tax.” increasing fuel efficiency and stimulating sacrifice some things. It’s a test of our Deskins, continuing to emphasize a car sales in a slumping economy. seriousness.” broad tax base as free as possible from Goss sees it as meddling. A recent report from the bipartisan exemptions, deductions and credits, said “Used-car prices were up about National Commission on Fiscal the debate over a flat tax or a progressive/ 17 percent last year because of Cash Responsibility and Reform concurs with graduated tax is largely a matter of for Clunkers,” he said. “It stimulated Birmingham’s assessment: The task philosophy — of what is “fair” — and that demand but it also ground up and at hand is great. ”Our nation is on an the science of economics is ill-equipped to destroyed automobiles and so reduced unsustainable fiscal path,” the report deal with such political matters. the supply for low-income individuals. warns. The solutions, it states, lie with He said a flat tax proposed by former “All these programs have been — to all of us. “We all have a patriotic duty to Republican presidential hopeful Steve be kind — failures. If you need new make America better off tomorrow than it Forbes in the campaigns of 1996 and windows, buy new windows — not is today. … Our country’s economic and 2000 would have been broad based because the government is going to give national security depend on us putting and therefore efficient, but its tendency you a $1,500 tax credit. Buy windows our fiscal house in order.” to redistribute income more narrowly because you need windows.” spurred opposition from the left. This sort of governmental About the author: Curtin is a freelance “The flat tax proponents want a broad manipulation is endemic in progressive writer in Omaha.

11 Spring 2011 My Wild Cracked Brains: A Story of Personal and Historical Discovery By Nathan Tye You can tell Mrs. Graham that we heard from the boys about three weeks ago. They was all well at that time but they are suffering for clothing and something to eat.

Pvt. William Love of Company B, 7th prisons, Andersonville and Florence Illinois Volunteer Infantry, included these few Stockade. This was a story lost to history and words of encouragement for a family friend the Grahams’ descendents, until I unearthed in a letter to his wife, dated Sept. 13, 1864, their wartime correspondence. during the bloodiest war on American soil — Growing up, it was my grandfather, the Civil War. Thomas W. Tye Sr., who shared a short — but “Mrs. Graham” was Lurana Graham. She intriguing — bit of familial lore. According was the mother of “the boys” — William and to my grandfather, two obscure uncles James, fellow members of Company B. And, from his mother’s side — the Grahams — as I was to discover, she also was my great- fought in the Civil War and spent time in great-great-great grandmother. the notorious Andersonville Prison. Both At the time of the letter, William and men, names unknown but understood to be James were “suffering” in the stockade of brothers, survived prison, but one died on Lurana Graham Andersonville Prison. For 10 months, they his way home to Iowa. Letters the men wrote lived in two of the most reviled Confederate home supported the story. But the cache sat

12 Spring 2011 James Graham … he and his brother wrote letters home from the front lines of the Civil War.

undisturbed and bound with string in the vault of our family law firm for more than a half century. Forgotten by our family and ignored by history. Three years ago, my mother found copies time, followed his brother a month later. of the letters during a move. With the copies Members of their family were not happy Photos by Jim Fackler in hand, I began sleuthing. What began as with the brothers’ decision. Jonathan and Tye conducts research at a simple inquiry into my genealogy soon Lurana Graham, their parents, were both the Cass County History Museum in Griswold, Iowa. shifted into a multi-year research project Southerners by birth. William described the during which I traveled across the country sentiments at home, noting that, “Some says searching for the tiniest of clues. it is a silly notion that has got into my wild Under the guidance of my advisers, Tracy cracked brains whilst others say it is for some Leavelle, Ph.D., and Heather Fryer, Ph.D., scandalous action why I wander so far from both of the Creighton history department, home.” I began exploring the Grahams’ story, their In spite of their family’s concern, William lives, motivations and relationships during and James remained in the 7th Illinois and the war. A grant from the College of Arts and re-enlisted in 1864. Under the leadership of Sciences supported my research this past Ulysses S. Grant, the 7th Illinois fought across summer. Research at the National Archives the western theater of the war, from early in Washington, D.C.; the Abraham Lincoln victories at Fort Belmont, the famed Battle Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill.; the of Shiloh and eventually marching to the sea New York Historical Society; and the Cass under Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. County History Museum in Griswold, Iowa, The Civil War claimed the lives of some helped me fill in the holes in the brothers’ 620,000 Americans. (Based on current story. U.S. population figures, that would be the I quickly discovered that the men, William equivalent of 6 million war dead today.) and James, were not obscure uncles. In reality, While the number of troops killed in action James is my great-great-great grandfather reached upwards of 200,000, more than and William was his eldest brother. Both grew double that figure died from sickness and up in a family of 12 on a farm just outside disease. Constant drilling during the early Mattoon, Ill. weeks of their enlistment took its toll on the As the nation descended into war, both brothers. William writes, “we would travel till men answered President Abraham Lincoln’s we was ringing wet with sweat … and then call for troops to suppress the rebellion. In lay down on the ground and sleep with our the fall of 1861, William enlisted in Company wet clothes on. That is what made so many B of the 7th Illinois Volunteer Infantry for sick.” three years service. James, just 19 at the Early in the war, the brothers didn’t see

13 Spring 2011 My Wild Cracked Brains: A Story of Personal and Historical Discovery

told his parents, “I thought it would kill me, I thought my head would burst” from the

“Battle of Shiloh,” Library of Congress of Library Shiloh,” of “Battle any direct combat. James was home resting pain. Once healed, he made his way back to after a serious illness protracted in camp the 7th Illinois, after which both he and James The Graham brothers both and William found himself on the sidelines. re-enlisted for another three years of service fought in the Battle of Shiloh At the Battle of Belmont, Gen. Grant’s first as veteran members of the unit. (depicted above left) under foray into combat during the war, William On May 7, 1864, while out on mounted the direction of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. was in reserve, but he visited the battlefield patrol along the Tennessee River, the afterward and observed an “awful scene, the Grahams and 28 other members of their unit Above right: Tye found this dead lay four deep.” James returned to the were captured by Confederate forces. For medal recognizing James 7th Illinois by the end of 1861. And on Feb. 11, the rest of the war, the brothers remained in Graham’s Civil War service 1862, the brothers directly fought in their first Confederate captivity, first in Andersonville at the Cass County (Iowa) History Museum. battle at Fort Donelson in Stewart County, Prison in Georgia and eventually Florence Tenn. They were the second unit over the Stockade in South Carolina. They joined fort’s walls and played a crucial role in the approximately 25,000 prisoners in course of the five-day battle. Andersonville, known to be one of the worst After the victory at Fort Donelson, the 7th prisons during the war. An estimated 13,000 Illinois traveled down the Tennessee River, died while in captivity. The brothers survived aboard the steamboat Fairchild, to Pittsburg on cups of corn meal and polluted water for Landing, Tenn. On April 6 and 7, 1862, the more than six months. brothers took part in the Battle of Pittsburg As the Union forces under Gen. Sherman’s Landing, commonly remembered as the Battle command, including the rest of the 7th of Shiloh. Illinois, marched toward the sea, the William wrote, “Our men attacked them prisoners at Andersonville were shipped to and such volleys of musketry and canon other prisons still under Confederate control. never was heard in the United States.” William and James were sent to Florence At that time, Shiloh was the bloodiest battle Stockade, which rivaled Andersonville in the in U.S. history, with some 19,900 troops either suffering it caused. Prisoners were known to killed or wounded in two days. The brothers slice off diseased fingers and toes in order to survived, and, at the end of April, joined survive. The only food was rotten corn meal. the 7th Illinois as it laid siege to the city of Yet again, both brothers survived. Corinth, Miss. Once it appeared the war was over, the In October, the Confederates attempted prisoners in Florence Stockade were shipped to retake the city and during the course of to Wilmington, N.C., and marched to within the battle, William was shot through the three miles of the Union lines. At the end of shoulder. Writing from his hospital bed he his life, James reflected on the last days of

14 Spring 2011 My Wild Cracked Brains: A Story of Personal and Historical Discovery

captivity in a 1922 interview, “When (I) came No one ever read the inscription out, (I) could not walk. (I was) Helped by or saw the bronze Civil War (my) brother to our line. There (we) became veteran star sticking out of the separated. I never saw him again alive.” ground. For years we strolled After separating from James, William was right by James’ grave and never admitted to the General Hospital in Grafton, made the connection. W.Va., on March 8, 1865, with typhoid fever. William and James survived A little over two weeks later, on March 24, he the entire war, relying on one died. He was 34 years old. William was laid another to endure the stress to rest in what became the Grafton National of combat, the boredom of Cemetery. James returned to the family camp life and the horrors of farm in Mattoon, Ill. Making a similar trip Confederate captivity. They across the country were William’s personal were brothers bonded by belongings. All William had to his name at more than blood. Having death was the clothing off his back and a marched across the country hefty $73 dollars in back pay. to quell the rebellion, Their mother signed the receipt for the they witnessed some of goods, now in the National Archives, with the greatest and darkest a simple X. Lurana was illiterate. Following moments in our history. her husband’s death in 1863, other members James lived to tell his story, sharing it of the family had to read William and James’ with other veterans and ensuring that his About the author: Tye is from Kearney, letters aloud. She would hold onto them until and William’s letters, preserved by their Neb., and is a senior majoring in her death in 1905. mother, remained in the family. It was history and theology with a minor in In 1875, James and his young wife, from these letters that I rediscovered justice and peace studies. He presented Melvina, moved to Iowa where they started a their story. his Civil War research on the Graham family, first with Marcella and then Nathan, The exploits of William and James are brothers at the 2009 Conference on my namesake. James established a farm just no longer obscured by the fog of time Illinois History, where he was the only west of Griswold, Iowa, that remained in our and human memory. As the nation marks undergraduate to present original family until the late 1990s. James and Melvina the 150th anniversary of the Civil War research. He also presented at the are buried in Whipple Cemetery just outside through 2015, it is important to remember Missouri Valley History Conference Griswold — only a short drive from the the men and women of “remarkable in early March, where he was awarded Creighton campus. It’s interesting to note that unremarkableness,” as historian Reid Best Undergraduate Paper by the every Memorial Day our family visited the Mitchell describes it, who fought and died Society for Military History. Tye grave of James’ son, Nathan, to lay flowers, on either side of that bloody conflict. plans to pursue a doctoral degree but we never noticed the grave just beside it. in history, specializing in Early American history, especially that of the Southwest, and later teach at the collegiate level.

Tye visits his great-great-great grandfather’s grave near Griswold, Iowa. The bronze star by the grave stone identifies him as a Civil War veteran.

15 Spring 2011 The

Asthma Epidemic By Anthony Flott s far as diseases go, asthma is about as ancient as you can get. We’ve known about it longer than we’ve known about Jesus Christ, the 365-day calendar, and the concept of zero as a number. A But knowing about it doesn’t mean knowing what to do about it. Just two generations ago, for instance, asthma treatments included hypnotism, doses of arsenic and cutting a nerve in the throat that stimulates breathing. No wonder that many saw asthma medicine as “a little bit of witchcraft,” says Robert Townley, MD’55, Creighton University professor of medicine and medical microbiology, who’s been studying asthma and allergies for half a century. “There wasn’t a lot of science at that time.” Asthma science is needed now more than ever, as 24 million Americans — nearly one in every 13 — have asthma. That’s about the same as the population of Texas. It’s also more than have cancer or coronary heart disease and is the most common serious, chronic, disabling disease among children.

It wreaks havoc. The American Asthma Foundation and the Creighton’s Division of Allergy and Immunology in 1985, about Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America report that asthma in 8.7 million Americans had the disease. That number since has the United States annually: nearly tripled. The increase is especially dramatic among children, about 7.1 million of whom have the disease, with a particularly • Costs $20 billion in direct and indirect health care costs; sharp rise among children 4 and younger. • Accounts for 25 percent (2 million) of all emergency room “This is not a disease that spares anybody,” says Creighton visits; Professor Russell Hopp, D.O., BS’70, who specializes in pediatric • Causes children to miss 13 million school days and adults to allergy and immunology. “From 0 to 100 and everybody in miss 10 million workdays. between. When it happens in the extremes of young children, it’s very dramatic and it’s very sad.” “It is a major crisis,” says Devendra Agrawal, Ph.D., MBA’04, MS’05, professor of biomedical sciences, who holds the Peekie Seeking a Cause Nash Carpenter Endowed Chair in Medicine at Creighton We at once know very much and very little about asthma. and whose research ranges from allergy and asthma to stroke A disease of the lungs, it can make breathing difficult or even prevention. impossible. Airway muscles squeeze together, blood vessels in There is good news. Treatments are improving. And annual them swell, and thick, sticky mucus clogs them, blocking the flow asthma deaths have been on the decline since 1996 to just under of oxygen. Asthma attacks can be akin to trying to breathe with a 4,000. bag placed over your head, sealed at the neck. Yet more people than ever are being diagnosed with asthma, Triggers include allergens (pollen, mold, etc.), respiratory an upward spike that began around 1980. When Agrawal joined infections and sinusitis, irritants like perfumes or paint fumes,

16 Spring 2011 some medications, exercise and more. New research, for instance, suggests that the asthma afflicting many firefighters who responded to the 9/11 tragedy was triggered by dust from the World Trade Center collapse. Some with asthma suffer mildly and need little treatment. In others, it is debilitating, affecting everyday decisions. Creighton sophomore Marissa Meyers first experienced an asthma attack when she was 10 when a nasty respiratory infection sent her to the hospital. “I could barely breathe,” says Meyers, who works in Creighton’s allergy and immunology laboratory. “It felt like an elephant was standing on my chest.” She’s suffered with it ever since, usually having three or four attacks a year. Townley has been personally impacted, too. He was a physics major in college in the 1950s when his aunt died from asphyxiation brought on by an asthma attack. His grandmother convinced him to change his major to pre-med, and he devoted his life to finding a cure for the disease. In 1966, he founded Creighton’s Division of Allergy and Immunology. Hopp, whose studies have focused on the familial and genetic roots of asthma, had three young patients die in the late 1990s after suffering asthma attacks while at school. “To this day, I can tell you their names,” Hopp says. “I can tell you who their grandma was.” Strange as it may sound, long ago this shutting down of the airways might have served a protective role. Townley notes that the layer of mucus on the bronchial tubes is like a thin coat of paint that traps pollen, allergy particles, dust, viruses and bacteria. “It’s the only thing between you and the outside world, in terms of Photo by Mike Kleveter Mike by Photo your lungs,” he says. Perhaps, Hopp theorizes, ancient humans Creighton’s asthma researchers include, clockwise from left, Thomas needed such mucus and airway constriction as protection against Casale, M.D., Robert Townley, MD’55, Againdra Bewtra, M.B.B.S., and campfire smoke in a cave or noxious chemicals seeping from the Devendra Agrawal, Ph.D., MBA’04, MS’05. ground. Still, those would just be triggers. But what causes asthma? key to asthma’s step-by-step development. “And every year we “The short answer is we don’t know,” Townley says. This learn about new molecules and new pathways that we think are despite science that “has exploded in terms of the knowledge of important,” he says. immunology,” and the mapping of the human genome. Townley refers to this inflammation as being important for Adds Hopp: “It is an extremely complex disease of which there “airway hyper-responsiveness, the exquisite, dramatic response are probably multiple forms and there’s not a single gene that that the airways of people with asthma have to common causes this disease.” exposures such as cold air or exercise.” What we have learned is that it is an inflammatory condition— In asthmatics, a protein called Interleukin-13 (IL-13) increases something known only for about 20 years — and that genetics are this hyper-responsiveness. Worse, it also decreases the effect of in play. bronchial dilator treatments like cortisone inhalers. Thomas Casale, M.D., chief of the Division of Allergy and This hyper-responsiveness was made clear through Creighton Immunology at Creighton and past president of the American research. Subjects were exposed to methacholine, a chemical that Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, calls inflammation mimics the effects of histamine, an organic nitrogen compound naturally produced by the body and released during allergic reactions and that restricts airway flow. A subject himself, Hopp Asthma science is needed now more than could withstand a dose of methacholine 20,000 times stronger than asthmatics could. It became a genetic predictor of having ever, as 24 million Americans — nearly one asthma. in every 13 — have asthma. That’s about the “This is, in part, a genetic disease,” Hopp says. “It runs in families.” same as the population of Texas. It’s also If only one parent has asthma, notes the Asthma and Allergy more than have cancer or coronary heart Foundation of America, chances are 1 in 3 that offspring will have disease and is the most common serious, asthma. If both parents have asthma, the likelihood jumps to 7 in chronic, disabling disease among children. 17 Spring 2011 The Asthma Epidemic

10. Creighton student Meyers’ father has asthma, so even before “It is counterintuitive,” Agrawal says, “but at the same time, we her attack at 10, “it was kind of a waiting game that I was going to have to give our body a chance develop different types of response be diagnosed” (though her brother is asthma-free). to fight foreign invaders.” What we’ve learned about inflammation, genes and asthma also This ever-complex syndrome isn’t reacting only to our shows us how far we have to go. cleanliness, though. Agrawal points to increased obesity as “There’s at least 32 genes involved in asthma,” Townley points another possible reason for the rise in asthma. Body weight out. “It’s not like you can knock out one gene.” and increased fat, he says, “are making our body develop more inflammatory types of cells.” On the Rise Other possible triggers to this asthma explosion could Genes, though, don’t account for asthma’s increasing include increased pollution and greater exposure to pets. Even prevalence. To explain that, researchers look to environment and pediatricians might have something to do with the rise in asthma behaviors. incidence, though not as a cause. Agrawal says that pediatricians Among the most interesting explanations? are becoming better at recognizing asthma symptoms and We’re too clean. diagnosing patients with it, rather than with bronchitis or some “Though if you look at most teenage boys, that’s not true,” other condition. Casale says. And if too much (cleanliness, dust, antibiotics, fat, pollution, Nevertheless, our propensity toward cleanliness and our pets) is a problem, too little also could be at play. How so? Research over the past three decades that has linked vitamin D deficiency to an increased risk of various maladies, including cancer and heart Creighton researchers have played a disease, also has tied it to an exacerbation of asthma. “Low levels of vitamin D correlated with poorer lung function, pivotal role in answering the questions of increased airway reactivity [asthma symptoms] and reduced asthma — from linking vitatmin D levels response to steroid treatment in adult asthmatics,” said Cristina Fernandez, M.D., an associate professor of pediatrics at Creighton. to poor lung function, to developing new The link is not conclusive, but certainly suggestive. Fernandez techniques to measure airway hyper- points to one study of 54 adult patients with asthma. Those who were vitamin D deficient had twice the airway hyperactivity responsiveness, to finding underlying as those with normal levels of vitamin D. Another study of 600 cellular and molecular mechanisms, to Costa Rican children indicates that vitamin D levels are inversely linked to several indicators of allergy/asthma severity, including exploring genetic connections. hospitalizations for asthma, use of inhaled steroids and levels of antibodies (IgEs) that attach to allergens and cause asthmatic reactions. protectiveness via antibiotics actually could be exacerbating the “We suspect that giving vitamin D supplements to asthma rise in asthma. This “hygiene hypothesis” speaks in part to the patients who are deficient may help with their asthma control,” idea that some people are born with an allergic and asthmatic Fernandez said. “Whether vitamin D supplementation can predisposition that “turns on” if the body doesn’t develop prevent the development of asthma in very young children is a immunities. separate question which will be answered by more clinical trials.” “If you’re an only child and you have a few infections, you’re more likely to develop clinical allergies and asthma,” Casale says. On the Map “Whereas if you have older siblings or you’re put in day care, Creighton researchers have played a pivotal role in answering your exposure to a lot of different infections may at some level be the questions of asthma and in developing enhanced treatments. protective of asthma because it shifts the immune response toward Townley, named a “2008 Great Allergist” by the American a different pathway. Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, helped develop “What we’ve learned is that the DNA molecules in some of techniques to measure airway hyper-responsiveness, and his those bacterial infections have the ability to skew the immune seminal work on families with asthma led to many important system. So what we’re doing is studying some of those DNA observations about key genetic aspects of inheritance patterns for fragments and giving them to humans with asthma to see if we asthma and allergens. His research, says Casale, “put Creighton on can skew their immune system away from the allergic paradigm.” the map for asthma and allergy research.” A lifestyle spent mostly indoors in “clean” houses and The map, though, remains somewhat sparse. Townley notes workplaces also seems to be at play. Closed-up homes with wall- that less than half of U.S. medical schools have an allergist on to-wall carpet can harbor dust, dust mites and other allergens that faculty. Creighton has the only such department in Nebraska and the body detects as a threat. So, perhaps a little dirt and sickness several surrounding states have none. every now and then can be a good thing. Creighton’s division, says Casale, “has evolved over time

18 Spring 2011 The Asthma Epidemic

depending on the faculty who’s been here … but we’ve always had both a good basic research and clinical research program in asthma and allergies.” Adds Hopp: “We have a 40-year track record of being at the forefront of a number of different topics.” The department is a mix of experience and approach. Townley, 82, still researches hyper-responsiveness. Agrawal, Casale and Hopp have a combined 85 years of asthma research experience. Agrawal’s research has received national attention and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for efforts to better understand asthma’s underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms and to develop more precise and cost-effective treatments. He and colleague Againdra Bewtra, who holds a medical degree (M.B.B.S.) from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and is professor of medicine in Creighton’s Division of Allergy and Immunology, are studying white blood cells called eosinophils — which are one of the major inflammatory cells in the lungs of chronic asthmatics. Casale’s work includes research on Anti-IgE medication that “suck up” antibodies (IgEs) in the Photo by Mike Kleveter Mike by Photo body, preventing them from attaching to allergens and causing a Creighton’s Cristina Fernandez, M.D., is looking at the effect of vitamin D reaction. Hopp has explored the familial ties of asthma, looking, on asthma, and Russell Hopp, D.O., BS’70, is exploring the familial ties of for instance, at asthma in twins through NIH-supported research. asthma. Fernandez points to Creighton research of 30 asthmatic children to better determine the role vitamin D plays with asthma. “Initial pressure, edema, worsening of diabetes, possible osteoporosis — data shows very low levels of vitamin D in more than half of our were mitigated by limiting the drug’s frequency of dose and using patients,” she says. an inhaler to expose it directly to the lungs. There are numerous others at work in the division. Agrawal is Today, medications can provide long-term control or short-term, assisted by a lab of 11 graduate students and nine post-doctoral quick relief. But asthma treatment is not one-size-fits-all. Hopp fellows. “Everyone is working in a different direction, tackling a points to at least six different therapies he can use for individuals. different point of view,” he says. At the beginning of the spectrum The right mix often comes through trial and error, says Casale, are students like Meyers, who hopes to one day research cancer. who hopes that one day a blood test can identify a patient’s bio- She’s just finding her way around the lab, starting with simple markers, pointing to the most effective drug therapies. techniques like isolating white blood cells. “That’s truly needed,” he says. “We are learning that individuals Creighton’s pharmacological studies also have been important. may have different mechanisms that trigger their asthma, and “Each year we’re improving our knowledge on the safety and different mechanisms require novel approaches to treatment.” efficacy of newer potential medications that could be approved by Treatments being researched look promising. Townley mentions the Food and Drug Administration in the next two to five years,” drugs that might prove to block the harmful effects of Interleukin- Hopp says. 13. Agrawal is working on finding the mediator that can modulate immune response — not only to prevent allergic asthma, but also Treatments, Cure to reverse inflammation in the lung and asthma in the people who The now-game is better treatments; the end-game, a cure. have existing conditions. Treatments were prescribed as far back as 2800 B.C., notes “We haven’t gotten there yet,” says Casale. “The pipe dream is Casale, when a Chinese emperor wrote of herbal and other to find something that can actually reverse that inflammation and therapies for asthma. Townley recalls seeing patients who received ultimately provide a cure.” arsenic as a treatment — and who developed arsenical keratosis, It won’t be easy. Researchers learned about the mutation a precancerous condition on the palms of their hands. Others responsible for Sickle cell disease in 1979, he notes, yet still don’t thought they could hypnotize the asthma out of asthmatics or that have a cure for that disease. a “cure” could be found in cutting a neck nerve that stimulated Asthma is more complex — and it affects many more people. breathing, a treatment that also was used for patients with “I’m working,” Agrawal says. “I’m thinking about it all the emphysema. “That turned out to be false,” he says. time. The hope is that maybe we find one day a common factor One treatment that did prove to work was cortisone shots, involved in all asthmatics. And that will be the great cure. introduced for asthmatics in the 1960s. “Cortisone worked “That is my wish, my ambition, my passion.” like a miracle drug,” Townley says. Hopp points to the better For him and 24 million other Americans and counting. utilization of corticosteroids as the primary reason for the drop in deaths from asthma since 1998. Its side effects — increased blood About the author: Flott is a freelance writer in Omaha.

19 Spring 2011 ‘Building‘Building LeadersLeaders forfor thethe GreaterGreater Good’Good’ New Creighton Online Degree Program Has Jesuit Influence By Pamela Adams Vaughn Features Editor

20 Spring 2011 In the board game “Jenga,” players try to remove sections of an assembled tower … without sending the structure crashing to the floor. Those who keep their towers standing can win. Creighton’s Isabelle Cherney, Ph.D., likens good leadership to this board game: shaping and adapting the organization in ways to improve it — without damaging, and, even better, while enhancing, the whole. Cherney, professor of psychology has been designed to be strongly and director of the Honors Program at interdisciplinary in its teaching of Creighton, is also director of the new leadership. Interdisciplinary Doctorate in Education And that, Cherney believes, is (Ed.D.) Program in Leadership, which another strength of the program: Its debuted at Creighton this spring. interdisciplinary nature encourages a Cherney is enthusiastic about the new broadened, socially aware perspective degree and the students it is attracting. across the curriculum. In a globalized And she believes the new doctorate not society facing financial, environmental, only will be a good fit with Creighton’s and social hardships, farsighted and mission, but that it also will break ethical leaders devise strategies for new ground in the field of leadership growth and change that merge with training. goals for the common good. Probably the program’s greatest Graduates of the new doctoral strength and, indeed, its distinctiveness, program have open to them many Cherney says, is its tie to the Jesuit possibilities across the broad fields of mission: preparing graduates to lead education, business and health care, wisely for the greater good. Cherney points out. “True leaders do more than just help “The Interdisciplinary Ed.D. Program an organization become successful,” the in Leadership was specifically developed program overview reads. “They institute as a diverse, generalist degree that and lead changes that benefit society.” can be applied to any occupation. The Cherney heartily concurs. possibilities are endless,” Cherney says. It’s a program that she and a team of In education, for instance, colleagues have been putting together opportunities include but are not for the past two years. limited to careers as school principals Pulling together Creighton faculty or superintendents, deans or vice and an array of national standouts from presidents; in business, directors the fields of arts and sciences, business, of human resources, or program pharmacy and health professions, managers; in health care, directors of medicine and law, the new doctorate clinical education or clinical residency

21 Spring 2011 Building Leaders

programs, department chairs, or program directors. Covering 60 credit hours, the program is reaching out to an array of people who are “learning from each other,” Cherney adds. Almost exclusively online (students will come to campus to meet in the summer and again at the close of the program), the new doctorate will allow students to solve problems not only within their own organizations, but outside of their areas of expertise. “For example,” Cherney says, “if I’m an educator, I’ll have to work with the health care or business part of

Isabelle Cherney, Ph.D., left, is the director of the new Interdisciplinary Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) Program in Leadership.

advantages of going to school online. “One, I love school and learning and “I really do feel connected with the have always wanted to work for my Students Come Creighton community, even though I am doctorate. miles away in York, Pa.,” says Denise “Two, I have never been educated in from Varied Butts. the Jesuit tradition, and that was a draw An assistant principal at an alternative for me. middle/high school in Baltimore, Butts “Finally, the flexibility of the program Backgrounds has more than eight years of school was a real draw,” she says. Two are assistant principals in middle leadership experience. She also says Creighton’s personal schools, one in Baltimore, another in But her teaching career began back attention to students sealed the deal. “I Springfield, Ohio. in 1993 with the Teach For America feel connected to the professors and the One is a Jesuit priest from India whose AmeriCorps program. Her special area students — in no small part due to Dr. work among the tribal people of the of concern? Urban youth and developing Cherney!” Himalayas will draw him back when his curricula for at-risk young people. Meanwhile, in Ohio, Milton Folson, studies are complete. “There are very few administrators an assistant principal at a middle school, Still another is head of school at a large and teachers at the K-12 level with is responsible for student discipline, Omaha Catholic high school for girls. a doctorate,” Butts says. “My goal is conducting staff evaluations, organizing Another is creating a forum for dialogue to set myself apart and become more professional development, and leading on the issues of privilege and race that are marketable as a school leader.” the day-to-day operations of the building. prevalent in her Virginia community. Meanwhile, Susan Toohey is practically In other words, day in and day out, They all have thrown their hats into down the street from Creighton, yet Folson is in the “real world.” the ring of the new Interdisciplinary she credits the leadership program’s He says he liked the Creighton Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) Program flexibility as a major bonus for her. program because he could “put in Leadership that opened this spring As head of school at Marian High educational theories to work in the real at Creighton. School, with its more than 700 students, world” right away. And whether they hail from down Toohey has to work with flexible options He also says he was after the doctor the street, across the country or halfway in order to add things to her already of education rather than the doctor of around the world, all are joined together packed schedule. philosophy degree. in the camaraderie that comes with good She says her choice of the Creighton “The flexibility an Ed.D. provides,” teaching, openness to learning and the program is three-fold: he believes will “open opportunities at

22 Spring 2011 Building Leaders my organization.” course, Applied Ethics, comes in. backgrounds that come together in a This is the practicum portion of the Cherney believes these first two given organization. program, Cherney explains. “We want courses already show the indelible She also believes that good leaders the students to reach out of their comfort stamp of a Jesuit education. “They are today must work with limited financial zones and their backgrounds to work on reflective and self-scrutinizing, which is resources and be able to prioritize the something that needs changing” for the very much a part of the Jesuit tradition.” lists of needs within strained budgets. better. Because the degree is online, students They must also make good The leadership program is divided will be working while they’re taking the employment decisions and understand into eight-week modules online. The courses. This means that their day-to- how new technology can change social first seven modules are in sequence, day experience is also a laboratory to relationships at work. followed by a more open schedule. put into practice what they’re learning at Legal issues and new regulations from From the beginning, students are in Creighton. government, including those in health touch with each other online, but they’ve Which begs the question: Is a person care, also are affecting the workplace also scrutinized themselves. a born leader or is leadership essentially today, says Cherney, and shaping the The first course, Cherney explains, learned? decisions leaders make. involves finding one’s own strengths. Cherney would opt for the latter, and For more information on the new Leaders must know themselves before believes that the times are ripe for good Interdisciplinary Doctorate in Education leading others, she believes. leaders. (Ed.D.) Program in Leadership, visit Only then do you learn how others Today, a successful leader, she asserts, creighton-online.com or call 866.717.6365 to work best, and that’s where the second must understand the different social speak with an admissions representative.

the K-12 level, as well as post-secondary to benefit from this opportunity. As gigantic task and, so, would like to begin (two-year and four-year college) levels.” importantly, many of those who have in a small way by becoming a school Folson was also attracted to the access to a good education utilize it to administrator who can motivate teachers interdisciplinary features of the Creighton accumulate wealth by depriving the poor to imbibe values and transmit them to program, features that might “open doors of their rightful share. their students. I hope some day that, in the private sector, specifically in the “As an educator, I am confused by this along with my colleagues, I will be able area of professional development.” paradox. As a Jesuit it pains me. How to prepare students to become agents of Another student is the Rev. Anand social change.” Pereira, MS’10, a Jesuit priest from India. Elisabeth Nichols of Virginia is A graduate of Creighton’s master’s motivated by the same kind of hope. degree program in counseling, Fr. “Creighton University’s While drawn to the “interdisciplinary Pereira is an associate pastor at St. Mary philosophy, which approach and the well-rounded and Magdalene Church in downtown Omaha interesting course schedule,” Nichols and chaplain for both the Magis teachers emphasizes the importance says her attraction to the program is in Creighton’s education department and of social justice and more personal. the students at Kiewit Residence Hall. “Creighton University’s philosophy, But the work he will return to — incorporates a spiritual which emphasizes the importance of among the tribal people in the foothills approach, closely matches social justice and incorporates a spiritual of the Himalayan Mountains in northeast approach, closely matches my personal India — is at the heart of his decision to my personal philosophy.” philosophy.” enroll in the doctorate. And she looks to Creighton for In particular, Fr. Pereira is fascinated – Elisabeth Nichols an educational foundation that will — and troubled — by the disconnect improve her ability to affect social justice between the educated people in his part issues. of India and the plight of the region’s is it that the educated, who should be “The Doctor in Educational poor. the more enlightened, are in fact the Leadership program will allow me to “From what I have seen, despite the oppressors? reach my goal of creating a forum for effort of the government of India to “My dream therefore, is to gradually dialogue concerning issues of privilege provide free and compulsory education effect a change in the education system and race that are prevalent in my up to the age of 14, many are unable in India. I am aware that this is a community.”

23 Spring 2011 University was following in the footsteps reighton University has established a unique and vibrant relationship of famed Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, with the Catholic Church in China. In December, a key leader in S.J. (1552-1610). Fr. Ricci was among the the Church, the 94-year-old bishop of Shanghai, accepted gifts sent first to approach missionary work in a truly Jesuit way. Rather than bringing God on behalf of Creighton President the Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J. He to a “god-less” place, he found God there, countered with gifts of his own for Creighton’s representatives, whom instead. he greeted emotionally as “brother” and “sister.” In a papal address last June on the anniversary of Fr. Ricci’s death, Pope And he held in awe a CD containing It was an especially joyful meeting. Benedict XVI praised the Jesuit luminary: Creighton’s Online Retreat — a digital Bishop Jin Luxian, S.J., is one of the “… His assumption of the lifestyle and ministry with the transformative power leading bishops in China, treading a customs of the cultured Chinese classes, of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius — careful diplomatic line between the the result of study and its patient, far- translated into Chinese. Chinese government and Rome. sighted implementation, ensured that Fr. He would craft his own private retreat Bishop Jin persevered through many Ricci was accepted by the Chinese with with this, the bishop said. And he would difficult years and emerged as a much- respect and esteem.” share it elatedly. Creighton’s Online respected man. He walks a delicate path. Fr. Ricci was following St. Ignatius’ Retreat has been printed in his diocese’s He was visibly moved that a fellow Spiritual Exercises in the truest sense — magazine. Additionally, Creighton and Jesuit had come to see him. That a “sister” finding intimacy with God in all things. Loyola Press have approved the retreat’s from a Jesuit institution had come, too. That included all things Chinese. Rather publication in book form — plans are That the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius than try to change his converts, he would that it could eventually be distributed would spread throughout China, with the explain how, in some ways, the roots throughout China. help of Creighton’s CD and online retreat for Christianity already existed within in Chinese. them. It was a radical concept for the 16th “We felt privileged to carry across this century. And it was much appreciated by distance a relationship that is unique,” his host culture. said the Rev. Andy Alexander, S.J., vice “He did what no other missionary did president for University Ministry and in China before,” said Maureen McCann director of the Collaborative Ministry Waldron, BA’75, MA’98, associate director Office at Creighton. “A university and a of Creighton’s Collaborative Ministry church in China, connected by a website Office. “He learned Chinese, he entered and a text from St. Ignatius, adapted by into their culture, dressing like a Chinese Chinese people, now put to use by a local person, became friends with Chinese church in China.” people. They still revere Matteo Ricci The superior general of the Society of today in China as a great scholar.” Jesus, the Most Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, S.J., Fr. Alexander and Waldron in December hailed Creighton’s efforts in engaging took 200 copies of Creighton’s Online the religious order’s priorities of higher Retreat on CD to Hong Kong for a four- education, the promotion of the Spiritual day symposium honoring the 400th Maureen McCann Waldron, BA’75, MA’98, and Exercises and of serving the people of the Rev. Andy Alexander, S.J., with the bishop of anniversary of Fr. Ricci’s death. At “The Shanghai, the Rev. Jin Luxian, S.J. China. Ricci Legacy: Finding God in Cultures — It happened, in part, because the An Ignatian Symposium,” the Creighton

24 Spring 2011 CDs were snatched up as soon as they frail now, unable to travel. But he is still “It was remarkable to attend Mass in a could be distributed. incredibly sharp, without a doubt every language we did not know, but we were “It was very consoling,” Fr. Alexander bit the bishop of Shanghai. His fellow all there as Catholics,” Waldron said. said, “to realize how often these would be bishops had recently elected him their One woman brought home the power copied and shared,” to imagine how many honorary president, honoring his style of of the situation in an unusual way. As people they could eventually reach. leading the Church in China. The public she guided them at a Marian shrine, they They went to the symposium, in part, co-appointment of Bishop Jin’s auxiliary spoke of her memories of the Cultural to further Creighton’s relationship with by the pope is an indication that he has the Revolution. She said some asked how the partners in Hong Kong who had assisted Vatican’s blessing as well. faith survived in a socialist world. Well, of in translating the Online Retreat into Fr. Alexander and Waldron said they course, it survived, it always does. But the Chinese and were partners in ministry. can see Chinese Catholicism blooming question now, the woman said, is how it (One of the first to help with the today. “It was very surprising, beyond will survive in such a capitalist world. translation was a Creighton student from what either of us had expected,” Waldron “Because,” Fr. Alexander said, “China Hong Kong.) said. “We had not realized the Church has rushed headlong into materialism. The symposium itself was invigorating, in mainland China is so vibrant and so And you almost have to be there to Fr. Alexander and Waldron said. They alive.” imagine shopping centers everywhere. said it was incredible to see Jesuits and lay Plenty of shopping malls in the subway people from around the world — Canada, stations, everywhere. The power of things France, Australia, India — who were “We had not realized is very strong there.” immersing themselves in other cultures in “It” — the faith — “remains order to spread Christianity, in the spirit of the Church in mainland countercultural,” Waldron said. Fr. Ricci. But Bishop Jin is tending it in the way “We met young people who were on China is so vibrant of his Jesuit ancestor, Fr. Ricci. Under his fire, to say the least,” Fr. Alexander said. and so alive.” direction, Mass is conducted in Chinese. “The face of the Church in China,” He stresses that one doesn’t have to stop Waldron said, “is young, and it is alive, – Maureen McCann Waldron, BA’75, MA’98 being Chinese in order to be a Christian. and it is on fire. And it is women.” Fr. Ricci said the same thing, centuries ago They described it as a “great gift” to see The Church in China lives in unique — he found God everywhere. this, to be with these people, to celebrate the and challenging circumstances, but it is When Creighton’s emissaries visited Eucharist in China. They added that it was learning to thrive and grow, Fr. Alexander him, Bishop Jin was visibly moved. As a a privilege to distribute the Online Retreat said. As he and Waldron met with people, Jesuit, he knew of Creighton University. — in Chinese! — to take, in the smallest of they could see the joy. He asked about people within the Society ways, a page from Fr. Ricci’s plan. They attended Mass Dec. 8 on the of Jesus. It was a year ago that Bishop Jin’s flock Feast of the Immaculate Conception “He kept saying to Fr. Alexander, ‘We first became aware of Creighton’s Online at Shanghai’s St. Ignatius Cathedral. are brothers,’” Waldron said. Retreat. Now, it seemed appropriate to In Bishop Jin’s lifetime he had seen He called Waldron “my sister.” establish a deeper relationship, to meet the the cathedral as a beautiful place of His parting word to his partners in man himself. Fr. Alexander and Waldron worship, then vandalized and turned ministry was “Alleluia.” applied for visas to visit mainland China. into a warehouse during the Cultural Bishop Jin met them alone in a parlor, Revolution. Now, it was a glorious About the author: Simpson is a freelance with a giant picture of Pope Benedict cathedral once again, seating as many as writer in Omaha. XVI on the wall. The 94-year-old priest is 2,500 worshippers. Creighton Brings Online Retreat to China By Kalani Simpson

25 Spring 2011 Philanthropy News

Barbara Reardon Heaney students as possible to study the transformative this chair, Robert P. Heaney, BS’47, MD’51, power of liturgy so that they, in turn, can go out the John A. Creighton University Professor, Chair Inaugurated and transform the world and become leaders in recalls that his wife’s love for liturgy first Eileen Burke-Sullivan, S.T.D., MChrSp’84, their communities of worship. drew her to his associate professor of theology, director of Burke-Sullivan has dedicated her life to attention. Creighton’s online Master of Arts in Ministry serving the Church and society as a pastoral “While we program and associate director of the Master minister, administrator and educator. She has were students in of Christian Spirituality program, was been a full-time faculty member since 2003. Creighton’s School installed as the first holder of the Barbara Prior to joining Creighton, Burke-Sullivan of Medicine, I Reardon Heaney Chair in Pastoral Liturgical served as a pastoral liturgical minister in noticed several Theology in Creighton’s College of Arts and parishes and dioceses in both Catholic and pieces of liturgical Sciences during a campus ceremony on Protestant churches throughout the United art — holy cards, Feb. 23. States and Canada. Among her professional bookmarks and such Heaney The new chair in pastoral liturgical ministerial roles, she served as director of — spilling from theology reaffirms Creighton’s commitment music and acting director of liturgy in the her book bag. I remember thinking, ‘Now to the importance of public worship in the Archdiocese of Omaha’s Office for Divine there’s someone who likes the things I think life of the Church and will allow as many Worship for three years. With her brother, the are important,’” Heaney recalls. Rev. Kevin Burke, S.J., she is co-author of The They began their marriage during a Ignatian Tradition. time when the liturgical movement in the Burke-Sullivan described the liturgy as Roman Catholic Church was flourishing and “the fire that fuels the life of the Church.” Her theology that led to the Constitution on the goal as an educator is to tie formal, academic Sacred Liturgy at Vatican II was taking shape. theology to the practices of liturgy and The couple worshipped at St. John’s spirituality. Church on the Creighton campus and Burke-Sullivan completed her Doctorate incorporated liturgical elements into their of Sacred Theology at Weston Jesuit School of family life, such as reading the Psalms Theology in Cambridge, Mass., (now the School around the family table where they gathered of Theology and Ministry at Boston College). with their seven children. She also holds a License in Sacred Theology and Barbara Reardon Heaney, who died in master’s degrees in theology and music. 2006, also was a compassionate psychiatrist, The Barbara Reardon Heaney Chair in volunteering her services to numerous Pastoral Liturgical Theology is a gift from the charitable and religious organizations. Once Photo by Ford Jacobsen Ford by Photo Burke-Sullivan, MChrSp’84, is the Chair’s first family and friends of the late Barbara Reardon her children were raised, she opened a holder. Heaney, MD’51. In speaking about establishing private practice in Omaha.

will be able to see amazing results come from Since December, when direct transfers Tax Law Change their gifts to Creighton made from IRAs. from IRAs by individuals 70½ or older were Benefits Donors, For example, the Barbara Reardon Heaney reinstated, a number of Creighton donors Chair in Pastoral Liturgical Theology, which have taken advantage of the tax-free incentive Students was inaugurated and have received the satisfaction of knowing There are many reasons people choose to on Feb. 23, is being they are helping today’s students become support Creighton University. Chief among partially funded by tomorrow’s leaders by providing scholarships them are to show their appreciation for their this type of gift. and other assistance. own education, to demonstrate their faith Creighton students To learn about this tax law provision, in Creighton’s mission by helping today’s are the direct as well as changes in the estate tax, contact students, and to memorialize loved ones. beneficiaries of these the Office of Estate and Trust Services at A recent tax law change is making it gifts, as the pastoral 800.334.8794, [email protected] or visit possible for more Creighton alumni and liturgical theology http://giftplanning.creighton.edu. You will be friends to meet these objectives — making a chair will allow offered confidential, personalized assistance Scholer tax-free distribution from an IRA to a qualified students to experience and receive answers to your questions. charitable organization by individuals 70½ more richly the transformative power of years of age or older was reinstated at the end public worship, so that they, in turn, can Steve Scholer, JD’79 of 2010 and continues for all of 2011. become leaders in their own communities of Senior Philanthropic Adviser Those taking advantage of this provision worship after they graduate. Office of Estate and Trust Services

26 Spring 2011 Philanthropy News

Kruse Family Community service has always been a organizations to perform community service, hallmark of Creighton University, but it can the new fund reaches across health sciences Endowment mean a real scramble for funding in delivering school lines to pull volunteer crews together. Supports Service services. Now a pharmacist at Palomar Medical A group of Creighton health sciences Now, thanks to the generosity of Creighton Center in Escondido, Calif., Kruse knows how students wants to make a difference in a small alumnus Michael Kruse, PharmD’99, students important community service has been in his Iowa town this spring. will be better able to focus their urge to own life. Their idea? They’d like to help staff a serve. And, better yet, the community on the In fact, his first community service struggling medical clinic as volunteers over receiving end will find it easier to get the help assignment as a Creighton pharmacy student break. they need. still resonates with him down the years. Another group, a pair each of nursing and Kruse’s gift, the Kruse Family Endowment The summer after his second year of pharmacy students, will take a similar route, for Multidisciplinary Service, is the second gift pharmacy school, Kruse worked for Indian offering their services, gratis, to a nonprofit from this service-oriented alumnus. Health Services, which he calls “a model for home health care agency. Like his first Creighton endowment, pharmaceutical care,” at the Ft. Hall Not-Tsoo Meanwhile, a mixed group of medical, the Alumni Endowment for Community Gah-Nee Health Center near Pocatello, Idaho. dental and physical therapy students would Service, the funding goal of this new gift is “Although years in the past, that experience like to lend some muscle to a local Habitat for also $25,000. And, while the first gift targeted has been the one thing that draws questions Humanity project. School of Pharmacy and Health Professions during job interviews,” Kruse said. It also has shaped his philanthropy, as his newest gift attests. Established last year to honor his parents, who have gone before are willing to Students Grateful for Margaret and Wayne Kruse, a nurse and give back to Creighton and help today’s engineer, respectively, the Kruse Family students. Your Support Endowment for Multidisciplinary Service is A senior from Connecticut majoring Creighton’s students — and alumni designed to enable Creighton health sciences in math and economics, Hilary plans to — astound me. As you read about students to “live out the mission of the pursue a career in economics research. them in the pages of Creighton University University … and learn lessons that cannot be She said Creighton has given her Magazine, I am taught in the classroom.” opportunities she never imagined. sure you know If you would like more information “I’ve had such great opportunities in what I mean. They about these funds, or wish to support these the Honors Program to work with faculty truly take to heart efforts, please contact Teri Corcoran, Office of members on their research, as well as the University’s Development, at 402.280.3028. mission and work start my own research agenda,” she said. to make our world “Creighton helped me figure out who I a better place. am and how I want to change the world. I And our couldn’t be more grateful.” students and Because of your generosity, students Wanted: Simic alumni wouldn’t such as Hilary will go on to do landmark be the people they are without our research, perform lifesaving medical Cultural Artwork dedicated faculty. Creighton makes it a procedures, teach children about God, priority to recruit faculty who perceive lead their communities in service to that teaching at Creighton is a higher others, and bring an ethical influence to calling that leads them not only to teach, the corporate workplace. but to mentor their students in the Jesuit, We thank you for caring about the next Catholic tradition. generation and giving so generously to It is because of you — our generous show your faith in them. Together, we alumni and friends — that Creighton is are furthering Creighton’s mission — one able to offer our students these dynamic student at a time. Through your help, educational experiences — as well as the Creighton students go on to impact a Creighton University’s Office of financial assistance they need to attend world sorely in need of what they have Multicultural Affairs is looking for Creighton. Just in the past few months, to offer. artwork from various ethnic cultures our wonderful donors have established to display in its cultural center. To more than 30 new scholarship funds. Laura C. Simic discuss donating a piece of art, please Young people such as honor student Senior Associate Vice President of contact the Office of Development at Hilary Wething are thankful that those Development and Campaign Director 800.334.8794.

27 Spring 2011 Alumni News

serves as the senior resident at St. Mary Magdalene Church. He will celebrate 50 Edward and Mary Lucretia Creighton Society Alum Items years in the priesthood on May 27. George Blue Spruce, DDS, The Edward and Mary Lucretia Creighton Society is Creighton University’s Surprise, Ariz., assistant dean Daniel E. Monnat, JD, premier donor recognition club. Donors at the Creighton Society level sustain the for56 American Indian affairs and assistant Wichita, Kan., was inducted as University through their unrestricted annual gifts. These generous contributions professor at A.T. Still University’s 76a Fellow of the International Academy of to the University are crucial to ensuring that Creighton is a leader in providing Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Trial Lawyers. In addition, Monnat was the highest quality Catholic, Jesuit education to our students. Alumni donors Health, received the 2010 Oral Health recognized in the magazine Missouri and America Marvin Goldstein Outstanding Kansas Super Lawyers 2010 Edition as one recognized at the Creighton Society level are identified as follows: Volunteer Award for his dedicated of the two-state area’s top 100 lawyers; † – Ignatian Circle ($10,000 and above) volunteer leadership in improving was named to the Best Lawyers in America ❂ – Jesuit Circle ($5,000 to $9,999) the oral health of the American Indian 2011 edition in the areas of criminal ❖ – Founders’ Circle ($2,500 to $4,999) people and for inspiring American defense and white-collar criminal ✽ – Sustaining Circle ($1,000 to $2,500) Indians to enter and become leaders in defense; and his law firm, Monnat & the dental and allied health professions. Spurrier, Chartered, earned metropolitan Staten Harvat practices commercial litigation first-tier rankings for “criminal defense: David Ceci, Esq., BA, Jerome M. Mayer, DDS, Island, N.Y., has earned the and construction law. Wildwood, Mo., was awarded non-white-collar” and “white-collar” in Keith M. Certified85 Regulatory Compliance Davis, Calif., started Fellowship73 in the American College the inaugural issue of Best Law Firms. Pieper, BSBA, ✽ Manager designation from the American Pretarget, an Internet advertising data of Dentists on Oct. 8, 2010. Mayer is Michael J. Schumacher, BSBA, Bankers Association’s Institute of company. currently a general family dentist in Cody, Wyo., has been named executive Dr. Erin D. Underwood, Certified Bankers. Ceci is currently vice Centerville, Ohio, became certified Clayton, Mo. vice president/chief credit officer of BS, Pinnacle Bank-Wyoming. president and compliance officer at as an anesthesiologist by the American Rev. James F. Schwertley, Northfield Bank.Paul Gosar, BS’81, Board of Anesthesiology in April 2009

BA’51, MDIV, Omaha, is the Patrick Costello, JD, DDS, Flagstaff, Ariz., was elected to and was named director of education author74 of a new book, 5 Minute Talks on 77 Lakefield, Minn., received the the House of Representatives. Gosar of Anesthesiology Services Network Life, Love & Faith. Fr. Schwertley currently Excellence in Agricultural Law Award represents the 1st District of Arizona. in Dayton, Ohio. Underwood was from the American Agriculture Law also elected secretary/treasurer of Association. Joseph R. Swift, JD, St. Louis, principal and shareholder with Anesthesiology Services Network board Michael M. Kagan, BA, Brown87 & James, P.C., has been elected of directors in January 2010. Rockford, Ill., was appointed 78 for a three-year term to the board of Dr. Amy E. Cyr, BA, St. Louis, superintendent of schools in the directors of ALFA International, a global completed a breast surgery Rockford Diocese on July 1, 2010. legal network of independent law firms. fellowship97 and joined Washington University in St. Louis as an assistant Dr. Sheila Overton, BSN, David Andrews, BA, Gurnee, Honolulu, a board certified Ill., recently completed his first professor of surgery. Scott Preston, obstetrician79 and gynecologist, wrote the Iron-distance88 triathlon, the inaugural JD, Indianapolis, has joined Littler book, Before It’s Too Late: What Parents Revolution3 Full Rev Cedar Point. The Mendelson, P.C., as a shareholder. Need to Know About Teen Pregnancy and event, held at Cedar Point Amusement Chad Bodner, BA, Gretna, STD Prevention. Park in Sandusky, Ohio, consisted of a Neb., has been named vice Randy K. Newby, DDS, 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile president,98 worksite sales, of Assurity Life Interested in bringing Wichita, Kan., attained the bike ride and ending with a 26.2 mile Insurance Company in Lincoln, Neb. level80 of Diplomate, the highest level marathon. Mary Curry Morrow, BA, local Creighton alumni Pewaukee, Wis., has been promoted Erin Schmitz Albers, BA, of achievement, from the American Elkhorn, Neb., has been together in your area? to vice president of Xerox Corporation Orthodontic Society at their national selected00 as a recipient of the Midlands in Brookfield, Wis. Morrow will lead meeting in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2009. Business Journal 2010 “40 under 40 Xerox’s sales and services offices for the Get started with an Awards.” This award recognizes 40 ❂ Christopher J. Chaput, state of Wisconsin. Event in a Box! BA, New York, has joined RPK outstanding entrepreneurs, business 82Capital’s New York office as part of the Lisa Lodin Peralta, BA, owners, managers and professionals Minneapolis, and her husband, under the age of 40. Albers is currently You coordinate the senior management team. Janine J. 90 McArdle, ARTS, Houston, has been Nelson L. Peralta, through their law the marketing and public relations details and the Office promoted to senior vice president-gas firm, Peralta & Peralta, Ltd., successfully manager for Home Instead Senior of Alumni Relations monetization, a new position at Apache represented a number of clients, mostly Care in Omaha. Carmon M. Harvey, Corporation. Dr. Angela Sharkey, BA, pro bono, in the I-35 bridge collapse in BA, Arlington, Va., has been named sends you supplies and St. Louis, has been named associate Minnesota in 2007 that killed 13 people partner of Montgomery, McCracken, promotes the event. dean of faculty affairs and development and injured 145. The Peraltas handled a Walker & Rhoads, LLP. Harvey practices at St. Louis University School of number of cases involving low-income employment and general commercial Medicine. Latino children who were on a school litigation. Maj. Erica Iverson, BA, This is a great way to bus when the bridge collapsed. Kabul, Afghanistan, completed her reconnect with friends Dr. Elizabeth Freund master’s degree in legislative affairs Cindi Spence Matt, Esq., Larus, BA, Fredericksburg, from George Washington University and meet new ones, too! 83 BSBA, Minnetrista, Minn., Va., has been promoted to professor in and a Congressional Fellowship in the department of political science and has93 opened the law firm, Matt Legal Services, LLC, in Buffalo, Minn. Washington, D.C. She is currently Visit the Alumni international affairs at the University of serving in Afghanistan with the Association website for Mary Washington. Mark Slowiaczek, Erin Noteboom Bow, BS, Afghanistan Engineer District-North. Bahrain, has received the Meritorious JD, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Travis Schmitz, BSBA, Omaha, has more information. Civilian Service Award from the 95 Plain Kate. wrote her first novel, been promoted to partner at the CPA Department of the Navy. This award is firm, Frankel Zacharia, LLC. www.alumni.creighton. one of the highest awards and medals Keith A. Harvat, JD, provided to civilian employees within Omaha, has been named John A. Sharp, BA’98, JD, edu/eventinabox agencies of the federal government of the partner96 of Lieben, Whitted, Houghton, Omaha has been named director United States. Slowiaczek & Cavanagh, P.C., L.L.O. and01 deputy general counsel for Assurity

28 Spring 2011 Alumni News Creighton Artist’s Big Displays Often Tackle Big Issues Matthew Dehaemers, BFA’96, stands in front of 3,300 illuminated bottles of colored water — arranged like pegs in a giant Lite Bright — forming the partial face of a woman drinking bottled water from a green straw. “Those are my wife’s lips,” Dehaemers says. That would be Creighton graduate Shayla Sullivant Dehaemers, BA’97; Matthew used her picture to create the wall-length piece — part of his impressive Watered Down exhibit at Creighton’s Lied Art Gallery. The exhibit — on display this fall as part of the 45th anniversary of Creighton’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts — marked a special homecoming for Dehaemers. As a senior student, he was the first artist to be featured in the Lied Art Gallery when it Kleveter Mike by Photo Matthew Dehaemers, BFA’96, who, as a student, was the first artist featured in Creighton’s Lied Art Gallery in opened in 1996. Then, his medium of choice 1996, returned for the 45th anniversary of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts with his Watered Down was printmaking and oil painting. Today, exhibit. he works on grand displays — often with a social justice twist. feet to get a drink of water, where, in some of materials: 16-foot tall aluminum and His Watered Down exhibit is a good countries, they have to walk miles.” steel sculptures with automated gate example. Dehaemers spent nearly six weeks — arms; a phone booth created entirely The main piece in the display was a pool- three or four days a week — constructing out of recycled phone books; the front shaped structure (roughly 15 feet wide by the exhibit. He received help from Creighton end of a 1978 Cadillac; 1,110 feet of PVC five feet tall) depicting Midwest farmland students and encouragement from his tubing and 200 pounds of rope creating a and the Ogallala Aquifer that lies beneath it. mentor — Creighton art professor John ghost-like streetcar; and 1,100 foam pool The aquifer was represented by hundreds of Thein, whose own work has been exhibited noodles chopped into 80,000 disks for a bags of water, connected by drinking straws and recognized internationally. “He’s floating mural. And his work has focused to the farmland above — painted acoustic amazing,” Dehaemers says of Thein. “He’s on a variety of social concerns, from race tiles made to look like crop circles. Each tile always willing to help. He calms me down relations (he wrote in chalk along a half-mile was topped with a little, moving clock-like when I’m freaking out about a project and of sidewalk outside the Douglas County hand. “Irrigation pivots,” he explains. Corn helps me problem-solve.” Courthouse about the 1919 Omaha lynching stalks and gas-pump handles, fashioned out Dehaemers is a native of Kansas City, of William Brown) to caring for those with of packaging tape and water bottles, rose Kan., and has a studio there. He came to Alzheimer’s. His work can be seen online at from the middle of the piece. A water tower Creighton in the footsteps of his brother, matthewdehaemers.com. provided visitors a bird’s-eye view of the David, BSBA’82, and sister, Renee, BSBA’89. Along the way, he has collected numerous fields; a giant molecule of a crop pesticide After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts awards, including the State of Kansas hung on a nearby wall. degree, Matthew spent a year with the Mercy Fellowship for Artistic Achievement, four “Water is something you can’t go Volunteer Corps, teaching art to students Public Art Network recognitions and an without,” Dehaemers says. “We just take it on the Native American reservation in St. NAACP Community Contribution Award. for granted that it’s there and will always be Michaels, Ariz. He then worked as a graphic But his greatest reward, he says, is involving there.” designer in Kansas City, before earning others in his work. Another part of the display featured his Master of Fine Arts degree from the “I like to make work that people can relate plastic piping winding from a water fountain University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002. to,” Dehaemers explains. “I like to engage outside the gallery to a video on the scarcity There, he began working with different people, including those who may have never of water in Ethiopia inside the gallery. materials — at one point sharing art space had an experience with art, so that they can “It just shows the extreme contrast,” with furniture designers. have their own epiphany.” Dehaemers explains. “We have to walk a few His art has included an eclectic use

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destination creightonreunion weekend 2011 Make your plans to return to the nest! Fall 2011 Destination Creighton Reunion Weekends School of Medicine Reunion Weekend – Sept. 9 & 10 Reunion celebrations for the classes of 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991 & 2001

School of Dentistry Reunion Weekend (in conjunction with the Fall Dental Assembly) – Sept. 15-17 Reunion celebrations for the classes of 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991 & 2001

School of Law Reunion Weekend – Sept. 22-24 Reunion celebrations for the classes of 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1986, 1991 & 2001 All alumni are invited back to campus for the Annual Dinner on Friday, Sept. 23.

School of Pharmacy and Health Professions Alumni Weekend – Sept. 22-25 Reunion celebrations for all classes with a graduation year ending in “6” or “1.” Special recognition of respiratory therapy graduates. For more details, visit

College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, Graduate School and alumni.creighton.edu. School of Nursing Reunion Weekend – Sept. 23 & 24 Reunion celebrations for the classes of 1961, 1971, 1981, 1986, 1991 & 2001

Life Insurance Company’s corporate law attorney for Nodaway County in senior associate. Symonds practices in University in community development and compliance area in Lincoln, Neb. November 2010. Rice also was elected the area of criminal defense and domestic projects. This is one of the first joint president of the Northwest Missouri litigation. service-learning experiences between the Capt. Bill J. Druffel, JD, State University Booster Club and the two local occupational therapy schools. Pullman, Wash., served a first vice president of the Maryville Pride Joshuah Marshall, BA, one-year02 deployment to FOB Marez in Seattle, was appointed to a Lions Club. Rice received the 2010 Lions Michael Noonan, BSBA’05, Mosul, Iraq, as a trial counsel and rule two-year07 appointment as commissioner Omaha, became a Club Melvin Jones Fellowship Award MSAPM, of law attorney with the 2nd Heavy for the city of Seattle Human Rights CFA09 Charterholder in March 2010 and for exemplary Lionism and service to the Brigrade Combat Team of the 3rd Commission in September 2010 by Mayor joined Tenaska Marketing Ventures as a community. Infantry Division. Lt. Col. Daniel D. Michael McGinn. Lt. j.g. Jacob E. natural gas accountant. Gruber, MS’98, MD, Potomac, Md., Dax Anderson, JD, Salt Meusch, BA, Atkinson, Neb., completed was promoted to his current rank in the 04 Lake City, has been elected as the Military Justice Legal Officer course United States Air Force. a shareholder of the law firm of Kirton at the Naval Justice School in Newport, Marriages & McConkie. Anderson is a member of R.I. Jennifer L. Murphy, BSN, Omaha, Kathleen A. Atchison, OTD, the firm’s Intellectual Property section. in honor of her father, participated in the Jacqueline Travis, PharmD, Kansas City, Mo., became one and Jules Dessibourg, May 1, Omaha, has Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Rock ‘n of03 only 5,000 certified hand therapists Adam E. Astley, BA’01, JD, 2010,97 living in Chicago. been named partner of Lieben, Whitted, Roll Marathon in San Diego on June 6, worldwide. La Kristen Freier, MD, Houghton, Slowiaczek & Cavanagh, P.C., 2010, as part of Team in Training. and Ryan Crosse, Wis., has joined Gundersen Angela Carolyn Mott, BA, L.L.O. Englewood, Harvey, Jan. 2, 2010, living in Lutheran Behavioral Medicine. Freier Dillbeck, OTD, BSHS, Colo.; San98 Diego. specializes in behavioral health and Patricia Keane, OTD, BSHS, David E. Black, BSBA, Sioux City, Iowa; psychiatry. Washington, D.C., has been Sarah Goodwin, Margaret E. Teigen, JD, and Ellyn R. Mulcahy, PHD, Sioux City, Iowa; and Countryside, Kan., associate professor of promoted05 to deputy director-Washington OTD’08, Lauren James H. Steele, Sept. 18, 2010, Omaha, traveled science at Johnson County Community affairs of Union Pacific Corporation. Sheehan, OTD, BSHS, living99 in Denver. to Omaha’s sister city, Artemivsk, College, has been named the 2010 Kansas Kansas City, Casey J. Symonds, JD, Ukraine, to facilitate a group of students Kelly J. Johnson, BSBA, and Professor of the Year. Mo., joined the law firm of Altieri & Robert L. Rice, JD, from College of St. Mary and Creighton Eric M. Barten, Sept. 25, 2010, Maryville, Mo., was elected prosecuting Kelly, LLC, in Lee’s Summit, Mo., as a living01 in Beaverton, Ore.

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Sophia K. Sharma, MD, and Aug. 7, 2010, living in Papillion, Neb. David Auw and Jennifer daughter, Rorey Amelia, April 7, 2010. Kevin L. Grabenstatter, May 1, Homer Glen, Jennifer G. Brown and Burke Auw, BA, and 2010,02 living in Oakland, Calif. Ill.,94 a son, Thomas Robert, Aug. 19, 2010. Dr. Neil D. Jones, BS, Brandon C. Brown, BA, Jennifer Rodgers Jones, BS, Kathleen A. O’Connor, BSN, Aug.07 1, 2009, living in Oklahoma Keith M. Pieper, BSBA, and MED’04,99 Erzenhausen, Germany, a son, and Marc J. Hunley, BS’99, City. Catherine Howe, BSBA, and Joy Rickman Pieper, BS’00, Colin Ambrose, July 14, 2010. Joseph DPT,03 Oct. 16, 2010, living in Omaha. Nathan Wurtz, Sept. 4, 2010, living in Davis,96 Calif., a son, Edan Keith, Oct. 5, A. Quattrocchi Jr., BS’95, DDS, and St. Louis. and 2010. Roy Potter and Kim Thiss, JD, and Thomas J. Katherine Ryan, BA, Stephanie Lassek Vickie Allen Quattrocchi, BSN’95, Turner, Oct. 23, 2010, living in Levi Anderson, June 26, 2010, living in Potter, BSN, Gilbert, Ariz., a daughter, Omaha, a daughter, Marin Victoria, Oct. Marion, N.D. Amelia Josephine, March 19, 2010. 8, 2010. Anthem,04 Ariz. Melissa Unruh, BSN, Dr. and Jody and Brett Selk, Oct. 16, 2010, living in and Erin D. Underwood, BS, Michael Creager and Anna Mattia, BS, Joseph Underwood, Centerville, Ohio, a son, Jennifer Missouri Valley, Iowa. Jennifer L. June 12, 2010, Rodgers, BSBA, Evan Maxwell, Dec. 10, 2009. Roberts Creager, BA’97, Wede, BSBA, and Joseph P. Tippins, living08 in Omaha. JD,00 Commerce City, Colo., a daughter, BSBA, May 2, 2009, living in Chicago. Matthew Bashara and Lauren Olivia, April 6, 2010. Brandon and Alexandra Joslyn Emerson, PharmD, 97 Stephanie Anderson M. Fitzsimmons, BA, and Colby Brown, July 2, 2010, Bashara, BSBA’90, MBA, Omaha, a Fitzsimmons, St. Paul, Minn., a son, Births daughter, Autumn Elise, Jan. 4, 2010. Francesco Michael, Aug. 11, 2010. living05 in Arlington, Va. Kristen Knodel, Neil Robertson and Jennifer and and BS’01, DDS, and Maj. Clay Nichols, June Jonathan N. Shoemaker, BA, Ryan L. Fogt, BSATS, Andrea McCue Robertson, BSBA, Tammy Shoemaker, Haslet, Texas, a Athens, Ohio, a 12, 2010, living in Colorado Springs, Colo. Harrison,91 N.Y., twin daughters, Bridget Stirm Fogt, BA’02, daughter, Hannah Marie, Sept. 9, 2010. daughter, Abigail Grace, Sept. 10, 2010. Eileen and Kathleen Joanne, July 29, 2010. and and Alyssa A. Danze, BA, Paul Beldin and Christopher M. Gibbs, MD, Kristopher Norman, June 19, Dan Burtschi and Leah Breen Lori J. Gibbs, Loves Park, Ill., a son, Michele Parker, Colo., 2010,06 living in Ennis, Mont. Beldin, BSBA, Nathaniel Christopher, Sept. 24, 2010. Jill N. Frank, Davidshofer Burtschi, BA, a98 daughter, Sara Anne, May 19, 2010. and Weston Pease, Sept. 18, 2010, Indianapolis,93 a daughter, Kaitlin Ann, and BSN, Dr. James Waldren and Travis J. Schmitz, BSBA, Julie living in Rochester, Minn. July 1, 2010. Megan K. Omaha, a Katherine Hampden, Maine, a Finken Schmitz, BS’01, “Katy” Krebs, BA, and Matthew Core, Waldren, BSOT, daughter, Claire Isabelle, Dec. 7, 2010.

106-year-old: poor, but those were some of the best days ‘Creighton of our lives. I didn’t make any real money, Gave Me the Life I Could but at least I could eat.” He said he paid off his educational debt in 10 years. Never Have Had’ Clark’s parents were among the first Imagine being married to your spouse for families to settle Winterset, Iowa, in 1846. almost 77 years and celebrating both of your The city park features Clark Tower, a castle- 100th birthdays — and then some. like limestone tower named in honor of his Imagine learning to play golf at 52, great-grandparents. The area is home to the shooting your age at 75 and enjoying the famed bridges of Madison County and is sport for more than 45 years. also the birthplace of John Wayne. How about deciding to learn to use a The family later migrated to South computer at 105? Or passing your driver’s Dakota, where Clark was born in 1904. license test — without glasses — and being His father died in his 30s of pneumonia approved to drive for five more years, when when Clark was only 3, and he still recalls you will turn 111? the funeral. His mother went on to live to If you think these feats sound implausible, nearly 98. then you haven’t met Creighton alumnus Clark has to endure the frequent curiosity Will Miles Clark, DDS’29, who is 106 and has of those who ask his secret to such a long, accomplished all of the above. He lives in a Will Miles Clark, DDS’29, is still driving at 106. healthy life. He calls himself a fun-loving retirement community outside of Tucson, Ariz. person, adding, “My wife and I never Clark retired from dentistry 46 years year at 103. dieted. We just ate a good ol’ Midwestern ago. He initially was in private practice and “Creighton gave me the life I could never diet. I never smoked cigarettes, but I had then used his skills in the Army, retiring as have had,” Clark said of his Creighton dental a cigar or chewing tobacco now and then. a colonel. He served as a combat medic in training. “I am forever grateful.” And I still will occasionally have a drink.” World War II and was awarded the Legion Clark said he held various jobs all through The spry centenarian says he hung up of Merit decoration and a commendation on his years at Creighton, often working late into his golf clubs at 99, but he sometimes rides Iwo Jima. the night. “I remember being called into the along in the cart. A “bad hip” caused him to His wife, Lois, was a dental hygienist when dean’s office once for falling asleep in class. I’m curtail the sport and he now uses a walker. they met. Together they navigated more than so thankful he didn’t kick me out of school.” But the hip doesn’t affect his driving. seven decades, living in numerous cities in Clark began his dental practice in Des “Some people say I have no business the U.S. as well as in Germany and Korea, and Moines, Iowa, in 1929, just three months before driving, but I don’t go along with that, as enjoying three children, seven grandchildren the Great Depression brought the country to its long as I’m a good driver. There are plenty and 14 great-grandchildren. Lois died last knees. “In the Depression years, everyone was of people who want to drive with me.”

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two NCAA appearances (including a 64-56 first to Gallagher. That summer the Bluejay From Survival win over New Mexico State in 1991). With big men decided to put their friendship aside him, Creighton improved every season, during practices and challenge each other to to Success posting consecutive records of 16-16, 20-11, improve. “Our summer games were more By Anthony Flott 21-12 and 24-8. competitive than really our practices ever on Numerous other numbers could define his the team were,” Harstad says. The rest of the “Number 30” blew it. career. But the hard-nosed, hustling, dive- team followed suit — and so did the wins. On the first play of his first start in the first to-the-floor Harstad always was more about Post-Creighton, Harstad played nine game of his first Creighton season, promising attitude than he was averages. He may not seasons of pro basketball in Spain and freshman Bob Harstad made his first always have been the most talented player one in Portugal. His scrappy play took mistake. And hot-headed Tony Barone was on the court, but he squeezed out every last its toll: Harstad’s ankles (one of which too disgusted to even look at the rookie. drop of what he did have. now is tattooed with a flaming basketball) All week prior to Creighton’s 1987 season- “I felt I owed Creighton every time I went are “really bad” and he’s had four knee opening tilt against California, Barone had out there to do just the best job I could do,” operations. That means no more basketball. coached the Bluejays to defend an alley-oop he says. “I really felt privileged to play for When he returned to Omaha for his jersey pass the Golden Bears liked to run retirement, the alumni game he — likely to Matt Beeuwsaert. Right played in was the first time he’d before tipoff, Barone warned his team been on the court in a year. again: Watch out for the alley-oop. One of Harstad’s proudest “Got it, coach,” said Harstad. accomplishments occurred Cal won the tip and came down outside the basketball arena, court, Harstad guarding Beeuwsaert. when he completed his Harstad felt an elbow in his back Creighton degree in the summer — a screen — then saw Beeuwsaert of 1993. rise for an alley-oop bucket. Worse, “My wife, Kate, and my Harstad was whistled for a foul. Cal, academic advisor were a Sweet 16 team that season, went on instrumental in me returning to whip the Bluejays 70-49. and completing my last 13 Nearly a quarter-century later, the hours,” Harstad says. “They memory remains seared in Harstad’s were very persistent and I kind memory. “It was the most traumatic of figured out quickly that I was moment of my career,” he says. probably not going to be able to It’s doubtful anyone else retire once I retired. After I did remembers the play in such vivid retire from basketball and began detail or with such agony (OK, to look for a ‘real’ job, it quickly perhaps Barone). But Harstad became apparent how important provided Bluejay fans with plenty that diploma was and the many Photo by Eric Francis Eric by Photo more to remember him by during Former Creighton basketball standout Bob Harstad had his jersey retired in additional doors of opportunity the next 127 games of his career — December. Pictured with him are his wife, Kate, sons Luke and Jack, and that it opened for me.” all starts. In December, Creighton Fr. Schlegel. After his playing career, honored his career by retiring his No. Harstad eventually joined 30 jersey at halftime of the Bluejays’ 82-75 Creighton University.” Ackerman McQueen, an ad agency in win over St. Joseph. Only former Jays Bob It wasn’t always that way, though. One of Oklahoma City. He lives there with his wife, Portman, Paul Silas and Bob Gibson have Harstad’s most vivid memories is of a day in fellow Creighton grad Kate Rooney, BS’91, been so honored. his dorm after his freshman season. He was and their two sons. He is a vice president Harstad is one of only four Missouri disappointed, tired of being nervous all the and account supervisor with Ackerman Valley Conference (MVC) players to time, and tired of being tired all the time. McQueen, the Oklahoma City Thunder top 2,000 career points (2,110) and 1,000 “I was just surviving my freshman year,” among his clients. career rebounds (1,126), along with Oscar he says. “Going forward, I wasn’t going to “I love it,” he says. “The ad agency is Robertson, Larry Bird and Xavier McDaniel. go in with a survival mentality. I was going crazy, and you have deadlines every day. I He was MVC first-team from 1989 to 1991 to go in with a success mentality. To do better thrive on that stress. It’s a lot like basketball. and the conference’s player of the year in every day. It was the mentality of stop trying “I believe I’m a blue-collar worker in a 1990. Along with center Chad Gallagher to get by and being relieved after practice is white-collar world. I have to go 100 percent — his fellow “Dynamic Duo” partner — over to almost being disappointed practice or I’m not effective. I think that carries over Harstad led Creighton to two regular-season is over.” to the real world.” MVC titles, two MVC tournament titles and That attitude spread throughout the team, Too bad he can’t wear No. 30 there, too.

32 Spring 2011 Alumni News

Dave Wagenknecht and Heather Miller Vergil, PharmD, Omaha, a son, Treyton, Wagenknecht, BA, North Aurora, Ill., April 27, 2010. a daughter, Halas Nicole, July 30, 2010. Levi Anderson and Katherine Remembrance Dave J. Wenthold, BSBA, and Katie Wenthold, Shakopee, Minn., a daughter, Ryan Anderson, BA, At the annual President’s Convocation during Founders Week Marion,07 N.D., a son, Cole Ryan, Sept. Maggie Sue, Sept. 29, 2010. in February, Creighton honors and prays for members of the 22, 2010. Brandon C. Brown, BA, and Chadron S. Araki, DDS, Jennifer G. Brown, Oklahoma City, a University community who have died during the previous year. 01 and Sharyn L.K. Araki, Ewa son, Creighton, Aug. 29, 2010. Samuel “Each person has blessed our University and its mission,” said the Beach, Hawaii, a daughter, Claire A. Dubrow, MD, and Kathleen Rev. Andy Alexander, S.J., vice president for University Ministry. Lorraine Nancy Lai Kwan, Dec. 14, 2010. Manion Dubrow, BS’03, MD, Port Matthew E. Eck, BSBA’99, JD, and Jefferson Station, N.Y., a son, Jason David, Find a listing of those dearly departed, along with a special Brandy Chambers Eck, BS’00, BSN, June 9, 2010. Michael D. Lindeman, prayer of remembrance, online at the Creighton Magazine website, Omaha, a son, Owen Thomas, Aug. 19, BSBA’03, MBA’04, JD, and Paula creighton.edu/creightonmagazine/necrology. 2010. Michael Geraghty and Maureen Faber Lindeman, BA’03, New York, a Baker Geraghty, BA, Minneapolis, a son, Luke Wenlyn, Feb. 14, 2010. Adam son, John Philip “Jack,” March 15, 2010. and R. White, BS’03, JD, Jennifer Wadsworth, Ill., June 3, 2010. Jean M. Kayser, BA, Camp Tom Parker and Omaha, a DDS, Leo J. Nichole Kappenman Schulte White, BSN’03, Lynn, BSPha, Quincy, Ill., Dec. 5, 2010. Hill, Pa., Nov. 17, 2010. Parker, PharmD, Phoenix, a daughter, daughter, Jillian Marie, Aug. 23, 2010. Omaha, Nov. 71 Arthur B. McGuire, BS, Joseph C. “Joe” Breunig Karsyn Shaw, April 14, 2010. 18, 2010. Rosemary Calvert Ridenour, Jr., BA, Columbus, Neb., Oct. Justin A. Bond and Lauren E. BS, Omaha, Nov. 17, 2010. 19,72 2010. Chaput-Bond, BA, Council Deaths 02 Rose Starr Bacon, BS, Bluffs, Iowa, a daughter, Harper Collins, Kathleen Driscoll Ballbeck, Denver, Aug. 6, 2010. John B. Mullin, BSBA, June 10, 2010. Stephen P. McAvoy, SJN, Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 23, 53 Omaha, Nov. 26, 2010. and 2010.39 Omaha, 73 BS’98, MD, Heather Sorensen Pearl Osoff Gross, ARTS, Arthur F. Gute, BusAd, Evelyn Holley Givens, BS, McAvoy, BA’01, Milwaukee, a son, Jan. 4, 2011. Carroll, Iowa, Dec. 2, 2010. Sun City, Ariz., Dec. 7, 2010. Rowan Patrick, Sept. 8, 2010. Brian 55 74 Genevieve McNamara James D. McGuire, BusAd, Creighton J. Micek Jr., BSBA, Omaha, Boerner and Shannon McCormack Murphy, PHB, Lincoln, Neb., Peru, Ill., Nov. 14, 2010. Sept. 28, 2010. Boerner, BS, Omaha, a son, Benjamin 56 Dec.42 15, 2010. Las Patrick, Dec. 14, 2009. James J. Meyer, Dr. Edward F. Vitzthum, BS, Dan J. Boudro, DDS, Cruces, N.M., Oct. 10, 2010. MD, and Sarah Gibson Meyer, Rev. Andrew M. Augustyn, Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 17, 2010. 58 77 Omaha, Sept. BS’97, DDS, Highlands Ranch, Colo., a BusAd, Grand Island, Neb., Mary K. Kratoska, MD, 43 Elmer E. Kobold Jr., MD, 25, 2010. daughter, Madeline Clara, Aug. 4, 2009. Nov. 21, 2010. John C. Gibilisco, Billings, Mont., Nov. 25, 2010. Ryan J. Reasland and Tiffany Tarr BSPHA, Omaha, Dec. 16, 2010. Norbert 60 Alvaton, Steven J. Giannetto, DDS, Reasland, PharmD, Omaha, a son, R. Wolke, PHB, Omaha, Sept. 29, 2010. Robert C. Fulton, BA, Pueblo, Colo., Sept. 12, 2010. Ky., Dec. 13, 2010. Colton Jay, Sept. 10, 2010. Anthony I. 78 Omaha, Nov. Mary Phelan Konat, SCN, 61 Pueblo, Denis J. Novacek, BSBA, “Reskie” Oreskovich, DDS, 12, 2010. Peter Klemin and Jill Detwiller Clinton, Iowa, Oct. 3, 2010. Colo., Dec. 28, 2010. 44 San Klemin, BS, Madison, Wis., a Margaret Stover Lamb, BSC, Terry M. Guzallis, DDS, son,03 Logan Jack, Sept. 20, 2010. Mark T. Jose, Calif., Sept. 16, 2010. Melvin S. Donald E. Parker, BSBA’60, Omaha, Oct. 18, 2010. Larson, BSBA, and Rachel Theilmann Newman, ARTS, San Francisco, March JD, Hermitage, Mo., Sept. 6, 79 62 Omaha, Larson, BA, JD’06, Parker, Colo., a 16, 2010. Robert N. Rourk, BSPHA, 2010. Kala F. Hughes, BSW, Lake Benton, Minn., Nov. 26, 2010. Nov. 7, 2010. Gerald J. “Jerry” daughter, Zoe Grace, Nov. 25, 2010. Marilyn Sobraske Byrne, and Linda Melski, Stratman,82 BSBA, Omaha, Dec. 16, 2010. Daniel Melski, MBA, Bette Boswell Griffith, MA, Kent, Ohio, Nov. 18, Chesterfield, N.J., a son, Caleb Joseph, ARTS, Shreveport, La., Sept. 4, 2010.63 Jean T. Gerber, SJN’52, BSN, Gene A. Stagnaro, JD, Oct. 24, 2010. 2010.46 Marvin Simon, BSD’45, DDS, Columbus, Neb., Sept. 24, 2010. Sr. M. Cincinnati, Aug. 8, 2010. 86 Plano, Texas, Dec. Steven Henderson and Rachel Omaha, Dec. 20, 2010. Angelita Knievel, OSF, Manitowoc, William F. Walsh, BA, Wis., Sept. 9, 2010. 23, 2010. 04 Brodersen Henderson, Sebastian J. Campagna, BA’99, JD, Elkhorn, Neb., adopted a La Quinta, Calif., Aug. Benjamin M. Nachman, Charles E. Hickman, BA, daughter, Alice Diane, May 23, 2010. DDS, 30,47 2010. Joseph L. Vandewalle, BSC, DDS, Omaha, Aug. 28, 2010. Missouri Valley, Iowa, Nov. 12, Dr. Matthew McCormick and Tracy Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Nov. 8, 2010. Charles64 H. Truelsen, JD, Omaha, Oct. 2010.87 Slump McCormick, BSBA, Omaha, 20, 2010. a son, Luke Matthew, Aug. 27, 2010. William P. Higgins, JD, Carolyn A. Servais, BSPha, Omaha, Nov. 27, 2010. Thomas Schulte, BSChm’00, MD, Omaha, Nov. 30, 2010. Angelo L. Amato, MBA, 48 Council Bluffs, Iowa, Nov. 19, 91 and Christine Alles Schulte, BA’00, Brad J. Malesker, BA, Omaha, Robert E. Betterman Sr., 2010.65 James J. Holtkamp, BS’52, MA, Omaha, a son, Davis, Sept. 27, 2010. Omaha, Dec. 30, 2010. Dec. 12, 2010. BusAd, Iowa Falls, Iowa, March 5, 2010. Jerome 50 Council 95 Mathew Beeman and Elizabeth William A. Cutler Jr., BS, J. “Jerry” Schumacher, BS’59, MBA, John M. Hurley, BSBA’90, “Izzy” Valenta Beeman, BS, Bluffs, Iowa, Nov. 25, 2010. Charles F. Omaha, Dec. 17, 2010. MBA, Des Moines, Iowa, Nov. Dayton,05 Ohio, a son, David Michael, Sept. Stratman, BusAd, Ukiah, Calif., Nov. 6, 17,02 2010. 14, 2010. 2010. Robert G. Wilson, MD, Missouri Titus E. Alston, BS, Omaha, Brian T. Macall, BS’01, DDS, St. Louis and Abby Macall, Liberty Lake, Wash., a Valley, Iowa, Dec. 9, 2010. Sept. 26, 2010. Daniel D. Kali R. Mann, BA, Kelly66 II, BA, Omaha, Nov. 24, 2010. Park, Minn., Dec. 24, 2010. son, Jacob George, Oct. 15, 2010. Omaha, Frank J. Duffy, JD, Frederick C. Scott, MD, Goodyear, 09 Patrick T. DePriest, BA, and Sept. 21, 2010. Robert J. Konz, Ariz., Aug. 13, 2010. Laura Samson DePriest, BSPHA,51 Phoenix, Aug. 25, 2010. Richard

BA’05,06 Waynesville, Mo., a daughter, J. Turek, ARTS, Austin, Texas, Sept. 16, Benson F. Bachus, MBA, Scottsdale, Ariz., Sept. 6, 2010. Delilah Rose, Oct. 15, 2010. W. Patrick 2010. 67 Spokane, Kelsey V, BS’02, DDS, and Amanda Julia Ladesic O’Connell, BA, Sr. Flavia M. Augustine, Wash., Dec. 8, 2010. Bauc Kelsey, BA’01, PharmD’05, RSCJ, MA, Atherton, Calif., Omaha, a daughter, Kara Makaylee, Aug. Nov.52 18, 2010. Lavern A. Johnson, Sr. Phyllis A. Hayek, ND, 25, 2010. Todd Vergil and Gina Kohout 70 MSEdu, Omaha, Dec. 9, 2010.

33 Spring 2011 Creighton Appoints New NAB Members

Two new members of the National Alumni Board, Patricia Helke of Omaha and Michael Schekall of Wichita, Kan., began their terms of service on the board this past fall. They will represent alumni for the next three years. Helke, BS’82, MD’86, MBA’00, is a radiologist on staff with Alegent Health, primarily at Bergan Mercy Medical Center and Lakeside Hospital in Omaha. She also assists at the Saunders County Helke Community Hospital in Waterloo, Neb. An assistant professor of radiology at Creighton’s School of Medicine, Helke has served on the Medical Alumni Advisory Board since 1996. In addition, she was a class reunion committee member in 2006, and is active with a variety of community organizations. She is a past president of the Nebraska Radiology Society. Schekall, BS’83, MD’87, also a radiologist, is based at Wichita’s Hutchinson Medical Clinic. He is on the staff of Hutchinson Hospital and Great Bend Regional Hospital in Great Bend, Kan., as well. Like Helke, Schekall serves on Creighton’s Medical Alumni Advisory Board and has since 2007. He has also served on a reunion committee for the School of Medicine. Schekall is involved with various community and medical organizations, including the American College of Radiology and the Mid-America Interventional Radiology Society. Schekall The National Alumni Board meets twice a year on the Creighton campus to discuss various University issues, alumni concerns and alumni program plans.

Alumni Relations Adds Three, Promotes One

Over the last six months, the Office of Alumni Relations has added three new staff members and promoted one. Abrahams They are: Elizabeth Wininger Abrahams, BSBA’06, MBA’09; Sarah Rider, MA’10; Sarah Lukas, BA’02, MA’08, and Katie Wadas, BA’04. Abrahams moved from Creighton’s Undergraduate Admissions Office, where she was assistant director from 2006 to 2010. As new assistant director of school and college programs, Abrahams will provide alumni programs and services for the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and School of Nursing. Rider, who has served most recently as alumni school officer for the School of Dentistry, School of Medicine and the Graduate School, is the new director of school and college programs. She came to Creighton in 2004 as an administrative assistant in Alumni Relations. Rider’s new responsibilities include managing alumni programs and communications across Rider the University’s schools and colleges, as well as serving as the alumni liaison to the School of Law and School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. Lukas rejoined Alumni Relations this fall as the director of regional and outreach programs. She left in 2008 for a stint with an advertising/public relations agency in Omaha. Lukas had worked in Alumni Relations since 2003. In her new role, she oversees the development and implementation of alumni regional and outreach programs, manages the Omaha-area Alumni Advisory Board and coordinates alumni presence and participation at athletic events sponsored by Alumni Relations. Wadas comes to Alumni Relations as assistant director of regional outreach. She previously Lukas worked in Student Services as assistant director of student activities for leadership. Prior to working at Creighton, she earned her master’s degree in education at the University of Maryland. Her new responsibilities include working with the regional alumni advisory boards, as well as developing new ways to engage alumni across the country.

Wadas

34 Spring 2011 Editor’s note: This summer, we announced the first Creighton University Magazine alumni essay contest, with the theme “Finding God in Daily Life.” We received many wonderful entries, and we thank all of the writers for their submissions. A panel of Creighton English professors selected their favorite essays, and noted author and Creighton alumnus Ron Hansen, BA’70, chose the winner — an essay by Marguerite Havlis, BA’87, MA’89, BSN’93, of Tucson, Ariz., which appears below. Hansen called the piece a “tragic, poignant, yet inspiring record of the heartwrenching experiences of a nurse practitioner on the U.S./Mexico border.” He added: “Just as Saint Ignatius did some 500 years ago, (Havlis) has found images of God in the faces and sufferings of the poor, and she is doing her best to imitate Christ.”

as I make my way back down the bumpy gravel ranch road, before raising his hand, then touching his heart. I feel impotent, my offering to slake Finding God in Daily Life their thirst out here in the desert reservation land, paltry. I offer them the By Marguerite Havlis, BA’87, MA’89, BSN’93 humble compassion of the Christ I have come to know, through knowing s a nurse practitioner working in an underserved community them. “Blessed are the humble”… clinic, the poorest zip code in my border town, God is with me At the Food Bank, where I pack bags of food for our weekly recipients, A every moment. Before entering an exam room, laying hands on a the silent monotony of my assigned tasks invites God into my heart. As patient, my whispered prayer is always the same: “God in my hands, God I count “two cans of soup, one of veggies, one bag of rice, two of beans,” on my heart. Thank you, my Lord.” I scan the familiar faces and wave to the children lining up along the far I see bodies ravaged by unchecked disease, untreated ailments, teeth wall, their punch cards in hand. This is my Thursday ritual. rotting in their sockets, festering and unkempt wounds. In my cobbled- I think of my overflowing refrigerator, the extra refrigerator in the together Spanish, I offer comfort and treatment, medicine samples garage that I sometimes use as my wine cooler for “the really good scavenged and begged from pharmaceutical salespeople — who call on bottles,” and I feel nauseated. I never leave my afternoon at the Food Bank the clinic in their designer suits with $500 box lunches for the doctors — without stomach pain. My heart aches worse. I see God in my customers, referrals and maps to the Catholic Charities clinics for emergency tooth their faces passive, their bodies needing basic nourishment, their hearts extractions and skin cancer removals. desiring solace, their situations grim. Their lips whisper “Thank you” and Women wrapped in hijabs have pressed wrinkled scraps of paper “Bless you.” into my hands, prayers from the Koran scribbled with the curving, I am humbled to be blessed by those who have nothing; I have dotted hieroglyphics of their languages; withered, weathered Mexican everything. They radiate Christ’s selfless love, and they reassure me, in grandmothers have given me their rosary beads and still-warm tortillas. their gazes, their soft touches and pats to my shoulder, that God is caring The little kids tug on my white coat, digging in my pockets for stickers, for them as well. I fast on Thursdays, my day at the Food Bank, my and place my stethoscope around their necks, giggling and hiding their simplistic attempt to offer solidarity to the hungry and needy. I feel Christ’s eyes. I am surrounded by God’s grace and solidified by the humble love envelope me more tightly on those days, as my stomach rumbles and gratitude of my suffering and poor patients. They offer me the constancy complains. “Blessed are the hungry”… of their love. What I have come to know in my 17 years of practice, is that I do not sleep well. In the blackest night hours, I sit silently, and I pray to be a true friend of Jesus is to be a friend to the humble, the suffering, the for every person who has crossed my path that day, whether ill, hungry poor. “Blessed are the poor” … or leaving his home to potentially never arrive in “the promised land” for It is in my volunteer work, the true work of my heart, that I find God’s a “better job.” I am overwhelmed; it steals my rest, the magnitude of all presence lurking in the shadowy underbrush. Hauling plastic milk jugs human suffering. I attempt to conjure those moments of God’s graceful of water over a dusty, barren trail in the desert, 107 degrees of searing, presence in their generous smiles, the slight lifting of their shoulders, the blinding desert heat singeing any sliver of my exposed white skin to bit of life blossoming in their eyes. blistering pink, I often — and so quickly — lose faith, repeating a litany to God is with me in my daily life. He is with me in my dark, wakeful myself: “Does it even matter, bringing our measly jugs that are tearing my nights; his arms comfort me. His presence challenges me to wake in the hands apart? I only get here once a week.” morning, allowing him to again work through me to be an instrument of Coming upon the water drop-off site is always a merciful relief, and I healing, of comfort, of solidarity, in my small ways. usually crumple to my knees, and say a quick Lord’s Prayer. More than once, thin brown-skinned men, women and children have warily stepped out of the mesquite bushes, their clothes shredded and sweat-stained from About the author: Havlis holds three degrees from days amidst unforgiving cactus and thorny trees, their eyes wary, shy. Creighton — a B.A. in creative writing (1987), an M.A. Mine must reflect unabashed fear, tinged with the ever-present sorrow in in English (1989) and a B.S.N. from the Accelerated my heart. Nursing Program (1993). She has worked as a critical The migrants I have met in our unforgiving desert truly embody care nurse, served at low-income clinics, operated private Christ: his humility, his generosity, his suffering. They have knelt with me, practices and taught nursing. Havlis has written articles, ignoring the jugs of icy cold water I’ve placed at the drop point, and joined poetry and short stories for publication and pleasure. She in their broken English to finish the Lord’s Prayer with me before we part enjoys participating in local volunteer work and traveling ways. with her husband, Tony. “I am grateful for the Jesuit I wish them “Via con Dios.” They offer me sticky fruit candies from education I received at Creighton; it instilled in me the plastic bags containing their dearest possessions. More than once, one of models of compassionate service and social justice which the men has followed me the two miles back to my car, and stood silently guide my daily professional and personal life.” Send Your Best Wishes … The Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., will be retiring as president of Creighton University in July after 11 highly successful years in the position. Fr. Schlegel has overseen a dramatic transformation of Creighton University and its campus. Do you have a special memory of Fr. Schlegel’s tenure as president? Or do you simply want to wish him a fond farewell? Creighton University Magazine has established the following blog where you can share your good-byes and well-wishes: http://wpmu.creighton.edu/schlegel