Killer Research Canisius College biology students have had the opportunity to get up close and personal with killer whales. Under the direction of their professor, Dr. Michael Noonan (a '68 graduate of the Jesuits' Brooklyn Prep), the students carry out a program of marine mammal research in collaboration with Marineland of Canada. Their research projects are designed to assess the intelligence of marine mammals. For instance, the Canisius College team has shown that killer whales can discriminate between a card with nine squares and another with ten -- an accomplishment that places them among the very highest animals ever tested. Canisius students, listening in on sounds made by young beluga and orca whales, are able to record and track the animals' vocal development. The team also demonstrated that killer whales have very strong left-right preferences in their behavior. "This finding suggests that these animals may have asymmetries in their brain organization," says Dr. Noonan. "Until recently, cerebral dominance was thought to be a uniquely human trait, but now we know that it probably also pertains to marine mammals too." The team was present when several new whales were born and has assembled the first complete record of vocal development in young orca and beluga whales. They have made underwater recordings of the various whistles and clicks that the whales produce and are now concentrating on deciphering the meaning of the calls.

New Jesuit High Planned for Denver's Inner City

Arrupe Jesuit High School, a new Jesuit ministry, will open in inner-city Denver next fall. Modeled after the Jesuits' Cristo Rey High School in Chicago, Arrupe High students will study four days a week and then work one day a week at downtown banks and law firms to help their families defray about 70 percent of tuition costs, according to Arrupe High's president, Fr. Stephen Planning, SJ.

Arrupe organizers plan to use three buildings of what used to be Denver's Central Catholic High for its first 100 students and ultimately serve as many as 500. "There is a tendency for Catholic schools to move away from the inner city," says Fr. Planning. "This site is right in the shadow of downtown. We want to put kids in a corporate world, and they can see where an education can take you."
DENVER POST

Christmas Cards from Africa

Refugees at the Mikono Jesuit Refugee Camp in Kenya who design and make Christmas cards with banana fibers by hand had a problem: no buyers for their product.

Enter John Carroll University's SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team, which pitched the cards to American Greetings, which agreed to print the cards. The Mikono cards are available this holiday season in 80 Carleton Cards stores across the country. The deal will ensure employment for many families in the camp.

SIFE is a national nonprofit organization that promotes free enterprise education.

High School Principals Visit Peru

The principals of the five Jesuit high schools in the Chicago Province recently visited Jesuit works in Peru in order to experience Jesuit education in a different context. They were able to see firsthand and learn more about some of the schools and other works that they interact with through summer service trips and student exchanges.

The experience helped with reflecting and refocusing: getting back to extended service trips; fully utilizing the talent of young teachers, and creating an openness among faculty to Ignatian retreats were some of the desired goals.

September 11 Memorials

Many of the Jesuit colleges and universities commemorated September 11 through prayer services, moments of silence, and panel discussions.

Holy Cross celebrated an interfaith candlelight prayer service in Memorial Plaza, where last March a bronze plaque bearing the names of its seven lost alumni was dedicated as a permanent memorial (right).

An all-night vigil was held at Gonzaga University's St. Aloysius Church on September 10, while students, faculty, and staff at Marquette University lit 3,000 candles to remember each life lost. Boston College and Creighton University had moments of silence at 9:05 A.M. in remembrance of the victims of the attacks. Xavier University held three days of events, including a seminar, "Muslims in America." They also developed a "Wall of Peace" to give the community a chance to share their expressions of peace through words and drawings.

Vanishing World Springs to Life in Collection at Regis University

A historical and artistic look at the disappearing world of Native American life can now be found at Regis University, thanks to a rare collection of books and photos, The North American Indian, by photographer Edward Sherrif Curtis.

The 40-volume collection, published between 1907 and 1930, was purchased by Regis alumnus Thomas Tracy ('61) who has put it on permanent loan to the university. Tracy became interested in Native Americans while at Regis and was inspired by what he learned of the missionary work of Peter DeSmet, SJ.

Originally, 500 copies of the work were to be produced, but it seems that fewer than 300 were completed. The volumes at Regis, the fourth set produced, are known as the King Set because they were given to King Edward VII of England by J. Pierpont Morgan and passed down to King George V, Queen Elizabeth's grandfather. President Theodore Roosevelt autographed the introduction to the collection.

This December the collection went on display at Regis's library.
REGIS UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE

Georgetown Alum Heads "The People's Court" Marilyn Milian, an '84 graduate of Georgetown Law, was a Miami circuit court judge when the popular TV show "The People's Court" called. After a lot of encouragement from her family, she agreed to be the show's successor to Judge Wapner. After graduating from Georgetown, Judge Milian worked for ten years as an assistant state's attorney in Florida's Dade County under Janet Reno. Governor Jeb Bush appointed her to the Miami circuit court in 1999. She says her Georgetown legal education has influenced her throughout her career, and she welcomes the chance to educate others. "There is a very serious educational component to the show," Judge Milian says. "A large percentage of the world's population gets education from television. I get letters and e-mails from people saying how they used my advice in real-life situations, such as landlord-tenant disputes." GEORGETOWN MAGAZINE

School of the Americas Protest Jesuit high school, college, and university faculty, staff, and students were among the estimated 7,000 protestors who demonstrated against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas, at Ft. Benning, Georgia. This was the thirteenth consecutive year of such protests. Graduates of the school, which trains Latin American military personnel, have been implicated in human rights violations, including the murders of six Jesuits in El Salvador in 1989. Close to 100 demonstrators were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing for entering fort property, risking federal prison terms of up to six months and fines of up to $5,000. Members of the Companions, former Jesuits based in California, hosted the Ignatian Family Teach-In during the weekend; Fr. Tom Smolich, SJ, provincial of the Jesuits' California Province, was among the speakers at the event. Jesuit schools represented included Regis University in Denver, Jesuit High School in Sacramento, Cristo Rey High School in Chicago, and Loyola College in Baltimore.