La Salle University La Salle University Digital Commons La Salle Magazine University Publications Fall 1995 La Salle Magazine Fall 1995 La Salle University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/lasalle_magazine Recommended Citation La Salle University, "La Salle Magazine Fall 1995" (1995). La Salle Magazine. 54. http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/lasalle_magazine/54 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in La Salle Magazine by an authorized administrator of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. *fljr h2i<linburdh "ENGLAND ™ ' '•> -T *7 • IL'"" HCL«X>I I ;i I ivtrpooiL RE . Ma«£?» slt , iblin*i^"?Sh'*tld *. ^-NETHERLANDS". -LaV"! **•»"•»'"-"• V^> Harlem,* Lopdon _.^«*oj«r<!an- ~^ >3? JJL/i ^.BtLUitf?'-^ W g^gra. na-Oonju ^^^ ern SWITZERLAND Augustine r. r alcione, oZ Astrakhan Mticau ^Arzgir . ^Krasnodar President, Cultural Heritage Alliance budennovsk* ntth ra?^r-»^ 4 r Tel Bengasi/ >^ ^°& 's Vi/*2 *~ 1 ,lf CL Atfibiyth, TobrnT V-VT^J W^^srS\7 • ftaW 'V K- * ci«na.ca f&Hmn H MP' V C;^^^^JK^J^fe^? in. l.'l Aclinls • i'-rriT*- • J»at „. ^ \ Ala 1 iu.,..-._Fa\Tuny nr, WAIT* Socnj Siwah Oasis Fsucz" ed by Israel sin qaba ."^W : ' LIBYAN Beni Suwa'u/ ' . , „ w .,VS«l7/.^ -r luhhj Jumj.mil Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/lasalle171973unse ONTENTS Parents Weekend Program, Page 36 THE CULTURAL HERITAGE ALLIANCE A young high school teacher found a way to make student tours more of a cultural Our New Alumni HONOR ROLL OF DONORS Director, Page 54 1994-95 proved to be an outstanding year for La Salle's development program. ALUMNI NOTES A profile of George J. (Bud) Dotsey, the university's new director of alumni, as well '61, Robert S. Lyons, Jr., Editor as the quarterly chronicle of some significant '69, George J. (Bud) Dotsey, Alumni Director events in the lives of La Salle's graduates. ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Joseph H. Cloran, '61, President '62, Nicholas J. Lisi, Esq.. Executive Vice President '82, J. Patrick O'Grady, Vice President Robert L. Buck, '90, Treasurer Charles J. Quattrone. 72, Secretary LA SALLE (USPS 299-940) is published quarterly by La Salle University, 1900 W. Olney Avenue. Philadelphia. PA 19141-1199, for the alumni, students, faculty, and friends of the University. Editorial and business offices are located at La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA 19141-1199. Changes of address should be sent at least 30 days prior to publication of issue with which it is to take effect to the Alumni Office, La Salle University. 1900 W. Olney Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19141-1199. Pi IS [MASTER: send change of address to office listed above. Member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). DESIGN AND lilt STRATTON: Blake+Barancik Design Explorations Sets Sail. Page 53 PHOTOGRAPHY: Kelly & Massa Volume 39/ Number 4 LA SALLE FALL 1995 r JUN 2 7 1997 Back in 1968, as a young foreign language teacher at Philadelphia High School for Girls, Augustine F. Falcione, '62, took an educational tour of Europe organized by one of the leading student-travel companies of the day. "I returned to the United States convinced that I could improve these student tours by offering better services more economically," Mr. Falcione recalled recently. "Things like using experienced tour directors, hiring local guides who knew their areas thoroughly, and putting people in 3 and 4 star hotels with private bathroom facilities rather than the lesser-quality hostels and student dormitories that were being used predominantly at the time." Mr. Falcione also thought that he could make Augustine Falcione ^™ 1 the trips more of a cultural experience where displays collection of tourists could actually "live" the language they plates depicting the were studying. He returned to Italy in 1969 with a carefully- fleet of the old Pan organized tour of 80 students. The following year, he took American Airlines in two planes ("almost the entire school") overseas. Soon other the the offices of Philadelphia schools joined in, then some suburban institu- Cultural Heritage tions and, eventually, high schools, colleges and universities Alliance. from throughout the country. Today, as it nears its millionth customer, Augustine Falcione's Cultural Heritage Alliance is the most successful educational tour operator in the nation. It has provided travel services to more than 12,000 of the country's 16,000 high schools. When By Robert S. Lyons, '61 Jr., it began in 1969, there were 200 similar operations through- out the United States. Today there are only three major companies. CHA is the only American company. The others are Swedish and British. In addition to its corporate head- quarters near Philadelphia's Independence Hall, with a full- FALL 1995 page 1 ' "OurMps almostbecame i excuse to raise students to another level. They became terriflc, powerful make students hungrier to come back for more/ time staff of 55, CHA also has 20 employ- recalling that a great majority of the lan- ees working overseas at its European guage teachers traveling with him in the headquarters in London as well as in early days had never been to Europe. offices in Paris, Rome, Madrid, and Athens. "People learned certain things, but could When CHA tours are in operation, another they really speak the language? What they 500 people serve as tour directors and learned in the classroom seemed almost to group leaders. be irrelevant at times. How did the CHA expand so quickly? "Our trips almost became an excuse to raise students to another level. They became "Word of mouth is the most powerful tool terrific, powerful, educational weapons. that we have," said Falcione's wife, Louise, They're like appetizers that make students who serves as senior vice president of the hungrier to come back for more." Cultural Heritage Alliance. "Teachers recommend us to their colleagues and Today, student travel is becoming the focus friends." of the curriculum at many schools, not just in the languages but in such disciplines as "Today there are more sophisticated ways art, music, and the sciences. About 60% of of reaching people," adds Augustine CHA's travelers are high school students and teachers. universities and colleges Falcione. "But if somebody tells you that I Many traveled with them and I'm happy, that is offer academic credit for the tours. Students the best endorsement." must prepare by studying the language and culture of the foreign countries. Institutions CHA "grew by leaps and bounds," espe- often plan their trips a year or so in advance, cially from the late-1970s to the mid-1980s, opting to take one of CHA's 112 pre- primarily because Augustine Falcione arranged tours or having a specific trip found a very economical way to introduce designed to serve their special interests. Last teachers and students to foreign countries year, for example, a college professor from his a very in a short period of time while making it North Carolina took students on an enjoyable educational experience. detailed tour of automobile factories in Europe. Many travelers return to take tours "At that time, travel with students was for the second, third, or fourth time and really a novel concept," said Mrs. Falcione. adult groups like retired teachers often "It was something that only the rich arrange trips for their colleagues. people—the elite—would do, but our goal "Each time I go, I just feel and more was to introduce it to everyone, to make it more more affordable, so they could really see certain that this is the best thing possible the value of studying a foreign language. for a kid to experience," says John Hower, the They could see that it wasn't just words, one of the CHA counselors on company's promotional video. "I had a but it really had to do with people and cultures and different ways of living." parent tell me that one of his kids that I had taken ten years ago matured more in in "It used to be that languages were taught those three weeks than had matured the almost like in a vacuum." said Augustine, past ten years. They learn so much that page LA SALLE they can't learn in a small town of 4,000 or even a large town of 100,000." The most popular destinations are Italy ("by far, number 1 because of its historical heritage," says August- ine), Spain, and England. Australia has recently become very popular. The tours are reviewed, updated, and changed annually. Mr. Falcione travels to Europe at least once a month to negotiate the best prices and accommodations personally daughter, Tina, in their offices near with owners and managers of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. hotels and restaurants, operators of airlines and bus companies, and other travel officials. "Taking the desktop publishing operation, When CHA first started, all tickets easy out and talking over the way developing the annual catalogue as including the name of the passen- phone is just not the same," he well as brochures, newsletters, and ger, all flight information, indi- explained, adding that can be more other promotional and training vidual prices and times, were accomplished with face-to-face material. Tina's operation is just written and validated by hand. For meetings. one of the sophisticated computer- example, a typical itinerary for a ized innovations that have been group might include flying from Local tour directors and group introduced to improve CHA's Greensboro, N.C., to New York, to leaders ("the key element to the efficiency as it has expanded into a London, and Athens with a pos- success of our operation," said world-wide organization.