MARQUETTE MAGAZINE STUDENT SANITIZER STARTUPMARQ • WHEELCHAIR WHITETAILS •ALUMNI AWARDS • SPRING 2021 POWER THE OF PEAR HOW TO REALLY LIVE. TOHOW REALLY HER LIFE —AND TAUGHT FUNNY AND FAST GAFFIGAN’S TUMOR HALTED JEANNIE AFRUIT-SHAPED BRAINHOW IN EVERY ISSUE SEEN+HEARD 2 LEFT Xouhoa Bowen PRESIDENT’S VIEW 5 empowers women to MU/360° 6 live without limits. PAGE 47 CLASS NOTES 44 8 47 28 ABOVE Kristen Carter builds on her family's CONTENTS entrepreneurial legacy. FEATURES PAGE 26 The power of pear 18 RIGHT Jeannie and Jim Gaffigan: A brain tumor is no match for alumna partners in life, love, ABOVE Jeannie Gaffigan and her unstoppable faith. health and humor. Steve Nooyen pushes the PAGE 18 boundaries of possibility. Hot hand 26 PAGE 28 Senior Kristen Carter realizes an entrepreneurial LEFT dream with a sanitizer-dispensing wristband. Harvey Anderson is cultivating leadership for 18 an equitable Silicon Valley. Called to the wild 28 PAGE 32 Alumnus Steve Nooyen found his midlife mission: inviting those in wheelchairs to experience bow hunting. We are committed to seeing God in all things, particularly in those with whom we disagree. The igniters 32 This year’s 52 Alumni National Award recipients We must learn to listen to our neighbors, are honored for their character, achievement — with whom we share a common home.” and impact. MARQUETTE COLLEGE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS, PRAYER SERVICE FOR NATIONAL UNITY SPECIAL INSERT 36 32 Marquette launches Time to Rise philanthropic campaign. SPRING 2021 MARQUETTE MAGAZINE / 1 SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING AT MARQUETTE RIGHT NOW — VISIT MARQUETTE.EDU. UPSTAGING COVID Restricted by pandemic protocols, the Marquette Theatre players found other forms of expression. Here, Emma Knott and Will Knox perform at a distance in + Dead Man’s Cell Phone, where masks “reinforced SEEN HEARD the anonymous nature of the characters,” says Stephen Hudson-Mairet, chair and associate professor of digital REDIRECTED MISSION media and performing arts. Founded at Marquette in 2003, Global Brigades is the world’s largest student-led health organization. With the group’s international humanitarian trips suspended because of the pandemic, seniors Carmen Prater-Bellver (left) and Abigail Kuborn joined fellow students in preparing ART SPEAKS VOLUMES personal hygiene kits for two local service agencies. Students, faculty and staff members (far right) help paint Our Roots Say That We’re Sisters, the new mural (right) on Holthusen Hall celebrating Marquette’s Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. Check out a related podcast featuring diverse Marquette women at our-roots-say.captivate.fm. HIGH HOOP HOPES In newly hired Shaka Smart, a Madison native, Marquette men’s basketball has a head coach with a national profile and NCAA Final Four experience. He’s also the Editor: Stephen Filmanowicz Filmanowicz, p. 10; Chris Guillen, times a year by Marquette Assistant Editor: Tracy Staedter p. 26; David Jackson, pp. 29, 30, University, 1250 W. Wisconsin first person of color to lead the 31; Mick Jones, pp.1 and 35 Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233 Writers: Diane Bacha; Agu (Anderson), 47; James Kegley, program. Read more about Ibañez-Baldor; Mary Schmitt Postage paid at Milwaukee, WI p. 34 (Rauh/Quereshi); John Boyer, Jour ’77; Patrick Durkin; Coach Smart at gomarquette.comgomarquette.com.. Nienhuis, pp. 6, 14, 34 (Kasten), Address correspondence to Stephen Filmanowicz; Guy 51, 52, 61; Scott Paulus, p. 44 Marquette Magazine, P.O. Box Fiorita; Garrett Gundlach, S.J., © 2020 Milwaukee Business 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201- Arts ’09; Sam Kissel, Eng ’15; Journal. All rights reserved. 1881 USA Aly Prouty, Arts ’19; Reprinted with permission; John [email protected]. Lauren Sieben; Tracy Staedter; Sibilski, cover, and pp. 2 (mural), Phone: (414) 288-7448 Jennifer Walter, Comm ’19; 25; Enrique Torres, pp. 5, 56, 58. Publications Agreement No. Paula Wheeler. Illustrations © Steve Rawlings, 1496964 Art Director: Sharon Grace cover and p. 19; Jing Jing Tsong, p. 7; James Yang, p. 8; Christie Photography © Maggie Bean, Younger, p. 13 pp. 3 (Coach Smart), 33; Kelsey Cheery, p. 20; Mike DeSisti/ Marquette Magazine (Spring Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, p. 3 2021, Vol. 39, Issue No. 1), for (Global Brigades); Patrick Durkin, and about alumni and friends of p.1 (Nooyen); Stephen Marquette, is published two 2 / SPRING 2021 MARQUETTE MAGAZINE / 3 PRESIDENT'S VIEW IN THESE CHALLENGING TIMES, WE ARE CALLED TO LIFT OTHERS. TO GIVE OF OURSELVES. Time to Rise marks our boldest philanthropic campaign n a time of continuous disruption and to date, and the Marquette family is stepping up. change, I find myself looking for what’s For our students, faculty and beyond. constant. It often feels like nothing has Join us at timetorise.marquette.edu. remained stable during the pandemic. So much is new and unfamiliar. Campus is quieter, screen time is longer, and the We are Marquette. And it’s time to rise. simple joys of seeing droves of students while walking across campus or at basketball games seem like distant memories. I’ve often stated that there are two things about Marquette that cannot change: our commitments to achieving academic excellence and to upholding our Catholic, Jesuit identity. In providing a high-touch, Itransformational education to our students and fulfilling our mission, we must never waver. These are the cornerstones of our university; they are the very foundation upon which our university was built. Since our lives were turned upside down last spring, I have been struck by the power of a third constant: our unwavering commitment to each other. When those on our campus have needed it the most, our Marquette community has consistently risen up. I am particularly proud of this last item. Over the past year, our community has made a record ■ We listened to each other and answered the call — every single time. number of donations to the Bridge to the Future Fund. Founded in 2008, the fund provides ■ We made masks for each other. emergency scholarships to students who otherwise ■ We trained each other in new online platforms. would not have the financial resources to complete ■ We marched for each other. their degrees at Marquette. Since the pandemic ■ We stepped forward to provide resources when our students were in financial crises. began, we have seen a tenfold increase in the number of students needing emergency funds. Through the inspiring generosity of our donors, COMMITMENT we have already helped nearly 200 students this academic year. We know these funds truly make a difference, as 91 percent of Bridge to the Future Fund recipients graduate from Marquette. Bridge to the Future is just another example President Michael of how Marquette shines through the darkness. Lovell and business students appreciate So, when I look for stability, I know where to find it. an opportunity this It starts with our commitment to our students’ spring to engage in success. The way we uplift each other during an in-person course difficult times is the reason that Marquette will discussion. continue to thrive through unforeseen change. Dr. Michael R. Lovell President MARQUETTE MAGAZINE / 5 IMMUNITY BOOST MU/360° Nursing students’ clinical rounds take them to health care’s frontlines. That makes the vaccine that graduate SACRED SPACES student Hannah 600 years young Bettack administers As new buildings rise around to a fellow student campus, Marquette’s oldest structure will get plenty of nurse a welcome care and attention too. Such form of protection. were the recommendations of a historic structure report on the beloved St. Joan of Arc DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Chapel, led by Vice President for Planning and Facilities Marquette en Español Management Lora Strigens and her team, that proposed A neneww uniuniversityversity wwebeb prprojectoject servserveses the grgrowingowing numbernumber ways to improve accessibility of Marquette families who speak Spanish at home.home. for visitors and preserve the 600-year-old chapel’s BY AGU IBÁÑEZ-BALDOR, SENIOR MAJORING IN BUSINESS distinctive medieval architecture for future ccording to a recent instructor of Spanish, edited the webpages generations. And helping survey, 42 percent of over the summer. to put that plan into action, students at Marquette The idea of having to do less translating a $1 million donation from identifying as Hispanic of university policies, rules and culture the Slaggie Family Foundation or Latinx come from resonates with senior Evelia Guerrero, will seed an endowment homes where their president of Marquette University Student dedicated to restoring what families speak primarily Government. From a Spanish-speaking President Michael R. Lovell Spanish. Everything from household herself, she says it means a lot calls, “a historical treasure the menu for dinner to that she and her mother can now work and the spiritual centerpiece decisions about major together on financial aid forms. “It creates of our campus.” purchases is discussed this bridge for families where they not only Ain free-flowing Spanish. Then there’s feel more a part of their children’s Marquette college. Since informational materials from experience, but they also feel like they could WHAT’S NEW ON CAMPUS & BEYOND Marquette have traditionally been in English, navigate it by themselves,” she says. students in these households often have Hispanic students now account for found themselves serving as translators as 15 percent of Marquette’s undergraduate their families navigate financial aid details, student population — and that number is campus housing arrangements and other heading higher as Marquette pursues a goal thorny issues in two languages. of becoming a federally designated Hispanic- Enter Marquette en Español. Live since Serving Institution. So, Marquette’s November, it’s an extensive set of university Spanish-language communication resources web resources entirely in Spanish. A cross- keep growing too. A Spanish-language group ° university team including Jacqueline Black, for Marquette parents has been active on Marquette’s associate director for Hispanic Facebook for a couple of years.