University of San Diego Digital USD USD Magazine USD News Winter 1994 USD Magazine Winter-Spring 1993-1994 University of San Diego Follow this and additional works at: http://digital.sandiego.edu/usdmagazine Digital USD Citation University of San Diego, "USD Magazine Winter-Spring 1993-1994" (1994). USD Magazine. 6. http://digital.sandiego.edu/usdmagazine/6 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USD News at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in USD Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ~99~ WINTER-S PRING ~ggOi, hen Tom Burke joined USD in 1973, the fledgling student affairs division needed a leader. In Burke, it got that as well as a compassionate guide and "the nicest man in shoe leather," as one colleague described him. Not only has he steered student affairs through phenomenal growth - including the addition of four residence halls, an award-winning dining service and catering operation, a university student center and a Division I athletic program - but, with his faith and humor, Burke has shaped the very spirit of the division. Through it all, this vice president for student affairs and dean of students has never forgotten the reason his division exists: to serve the students. Burke lives by his ow1;1 credo that service is para­ mount, and his door is always open to students. After all, he says, "Students don't come back to see buildings. They come back to see people." In our cover story, we celebrate Burke's 20 years as "Dean of Wildlife," and we look forward to many more. As the student affairs division has matured, so too has the academic side of the university. This year, USD reached a milestone: five endowed chairs - professorships fully funded by donations - are either operational or committed. "A Time­ less Tradition" illustrates how these positions enrich life at USD for both faculty and students. Finally, in this issue, we remember the day - rather, the instant - our nation matured, when an assassin's fatal gunshots rang out in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. In "The End of Innocence," one man explores the impact of the John F. Kennedy assassination on himself, on our nation and on a generation that is unified by the question "Where were you when you heard that Kennedy had been shot?" D N T E N T s A Timeless Tradition USD MAGAZINE by Dianne Ludlam EDITOR At a time when many are looking to the Tris ha J . Ratledge future for progress, USD has wisely CONTRIBUTING EDITORS reached into the past. A 700-year-old Kate Callen tradition of academia has taken root at Jacqueline Genovese Alcala Park, and the faculty and stu­ dents are all the better for it. Michael R. Haskins ART DIRECTOR Visual Asylum PHOTOGRAPHERS The End al Innocence Jim Coit by Michael P. Soroka Ken Jacques COVER ILLUSTRATION Some say Oliver Stone's film, Troy V iss "JFK," reopened an old national wound. It is probably more accurate to say that this THE UNIVERSITY OF wound never fully healed. A SAN DIEGO USD professor of sociology examines why the assassina­ PRESIDENT tion of John F. Kennedy - Author E. Hughes and of a nation's innocence - remains acutely painful even VICE PRESIDENT FDR 30 years later. UNIVERSITY RELATIONS John G- M cNamara DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS Dean al Wildlile Jack Cannon by Jacqueline Genovese DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS He calls himself the Dean of Wildlife, John Trifiletti '78 but thanks to Tom Burke's unerring wisdom and guiding hand, student life at USD has been relatively tame for the past 20 years. USD ilfagazi11e is published quarterly by the University of San Diego for its alumni, par­ ents and friends. Editorial offices: USD Mag­ azine, Publications Office, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110-2492. Third-class postage paid at San Diego, CA 92110. USD phone number: (619) 260-4600; emergency security: (619) ALCALA ALMANAC KALEmDSCDPE 260-2222; disaster: (619) 260-4534. Postmaster: Send address changes to ALUMNI GALLERY :a.- PARTING SHOT USD ilfagazine, Publications Office, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110-2492. U S D MAGAZINE l 1 ltl iftlftlJI L MAN AC Hill's high school friends had typical teen-age viconcerns: clothes, dates and grades. Hill, on the other hand, worried about getting dinner on the table for his 2- and 6-year-old nephews. "When my parents lost their house, we all had to separate, and I was the only one who could care for my nephews," he explains quietly. Instead of allowing that responsibility to overwhelm him, Hill approached the task with the same attitude he dis­ • • plays today on the USD basketball court. "I told ot1on the boys that we were like a team, and that we could get by if we just worked together," he says. Knowing that his recruit had forfeited a high school social life to raise two children impressed Hank Egan, USD's men's basketball coach. Dis­ T H E L A S T APPLAUSE covering that he writes poetry and dreams of one day becoming a doctor impressed Egan even more. Tbedame To my AncedtoN, "The minute I met Val, I knew he was different," Egan says. "He is one of the most driven, focused d Ull who are hidden people I have ever known." wbicb I a<1k to 11ouridb from the pagu Hill's drive can be traced to a childhood defined my garden of bi.Jtory by great financial struggle and great spiritual bring warmth to my dki11 and are bei11g de11ied from the etJed strength. "Even as a five-year-old, I was very conscious of my parent's struggle to make it day to or reflect it.J beauty of the you11g ge11eratwlld, day," he explains. "But there was also a strength through a rainbow I will there, I'd say more spiritual than religious, that (011 rai11y dayd) help f u/fill kept things going." Discovery of the written word also kept Hill held no mercy your Ladt Grand Guture going when times got tough. "As a child, I didn't formy your la<1t Great effect know the words 'discrimination' or 'oppression,' Ancutord, and renw,,e the mu=led but I knew the feelings that came along with them," he says. "When I started keeping a journal, ad thetJ i11dividually from my peoplu that allowed me to express those feelings of frus­ died 11wuthd tration in a healthy way." died to durvive giving you the Hill's journal-keeping led to an interest in the works of black authors such as Countee Cullen, - in the fie!dd abilihJ to ditzg Malcolm X and Alice Walker. "Reading their work of the great plantatiolld. agauz helped me realize the power of words, and helped Tbedame a11d finally liberating your me understand that as a young black man, I could have a voice, too." ocean dhackled dotdd That voice has come to Hill through poetry. which I rely 011 - from the doiu This spring, a collection of his poetry, "The Last to di1zg to me of thid Applause," will be published by Third World and rid me nation. (temporarily) It'd 11ot until your dOUU a<1cend from my toildome that thede great walld life of opprudwn - brought my Ancutord to theiN. will crumble but whe11 thetJ do will that thi11 dound I hear be your applatue 1 -Val Hill MAGAZINE Press. Hill has read his poetry in front of student groups at USD and youth groups in his hometown Unismi<y of San Diego's boa,d of Tucson, Ariz. "If I can help just one person 'r, gain an understanding of a black man's struggle, or USO of trustees has welcomed three new if someone sees himself or herself in my writing, members to its ranks - two prominent then I will feel as though I've accomplished San Diego business leaders and the head something." BOARD of the Society of the Sacred Heart's The USD sophomore already has accomplished United States province. things in the classroom and on the basketball GAINS Robert H. Baker, president of Bob court. A pre-med major with the goal of becoming Baker Enterprises Inc., began his leg­ a pediatric neurosurgeon, Hill was named scholar­ endary career in the automotive industry athlete of the year last year, and is looked to as a THREE as a car salesman 40 years ago. Today, team leader. "Val is a very physical, emotional he owns a variety of automobile fran­ player," Egan explains. "His physical abilities, combined with his seriousness and focus, are a big NEW chises in San Diego and Imperial coun­ asset on the court." ties. He is a recipient of many awards, Hill says he's grateful to have the opportunity to including the 1991 Distinguished Ser­ play the game he loves while earning a college MEMBERS vice Award from the New Car Dealers education. "Basketball gives me the chance to Association of San Diego County. Baker accomplish other things in my life." is a member of the board of directors of Catholic Charities, the Catholic Diocese -Jacqueline Genovese Finance Council and the board of the Academy of Our Lady of Peace. He was recently knighted into the Holy Sepul­ chre of Jerusalem. Sister Barbara Dawson, RSCJ, is the newly named provincial for the Society PRESIDENT HUGHES ADDRESSES THE FUTURE of the Sacred Heart in the United States. A member of the order since he University of San Diego faces university will continue strengthening 1968, she is an educator and an attor­ enormous challenges in the coming its future.