The Power to Tell Your Story

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The purpose of the conference is “to foster better understanding of the nature of hatred, develop more effective models and approaches for combating it, and consider the implications for practice across many fields,” Shuford said. “A key goal for us is to shape an academic curriculum on hate studies.” Gonzaga already offers courses in this area, and a hate studies academic degree program would be the world’s first.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – After searching the world for great faith-based humanitarians, Gonzaga University announces three finalists for the 2014 Opus Prize (www.gonzaga.edu/opus-prize): Sister Tesa Fitzgerald of Hour Children, Queens, New York; Gollapalli Israel, of the Janodayam Social Education Centre in Chennai, India; and Rev. Joseph Maier, of the Mercy Centre Human Development Foundation in Bangkok.

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Gonzaga University invites the regional community to join in honoring three of the world’s most deserving unsung humanitarians this fall with the presentation of the $1 million 2014 Opus Prize.

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Elizabeth Addis, assistant professor of biology at Gonzaga University, and three senior biology majors are spending this summer researching why the local population of yellow-bellied marmots – those gregarious, burrowing rodents ubiquitous near the Spokane River – are not only surviving but thriving in the urban areas of Spokane. Most research exploring patterns of species survival has focused on birds; little is known about the physiological mechanisms that allow animals to survive in urban environments.

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Gonzaga University understands that the transition for new students to college life can be fraught with anxiety – both for students and their parents and other family members. That’s why Gonzaga started its Parents and Family Relations Program five years ago to provide resources and personal attention to everyone involved. Amy Swank, director of Gonzaga’s Office for Parents and Family Relations, is accustomed to reaching out to families well before they make the transition in the fall with advice, face-to-face meetings and old-fashioned care and concern. This year, Swank has developed a new online booklet to facilitate the transition.

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Kevin Daniels, president of Nitze-Stagen & Co. and Daniels Real Estate, and Mike Powe, senior research manager for the Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, are national experts in trends and opportunities within sustainability and green construction.

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Saying thank you has been among the commonest of cultural civilities for centuries. Now new research offers the first evidence that expressions of gratitude go beyond mere etiquette and provide real social benefit.

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Gonzaga University and the Opus Prize Foundation will honor three exemplary faith-based humanitarians and award one with the $1 million 2014 Opus Prize this Thursday evening, Oct. 16. Two finalists will receive $100,000 each to advance their social change initiatives. The finalists are Sister Teresa Fitzgerald of Hour Children, Queens, New York; Gollapalli Israel, of the Janodayam Social Education Centre in Chennai, India; and Rev. Joseph Maier, of the Mercy Centre Human Development Foundation in Bangkok.

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SPOKANE, Washington – Sister Teresa Fitzgerald, who directs the nonprofit organization Hour Children in Queens, New York, dedicated to transforming the lives of female offenders and their children, was honored Thursday night with the 2014 Opus Prize for faith-based humanitarian work. Sister Tesa, as she is known, said the $1 million award will provide desperately needed housing for the women and children Hour Children serves.

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A team of four Gonzaga University accounting students is thanking Zag Nation this Thanksgiving. An eleventh-hour burst of support from Gonzaga and its friends last week has powered the team to the finals of the prestigious PricewaterhouseCoopers National Accounting Case Competition in New York City in January.

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SPOKANE, Washington – Christopher Birmingham, a Gonzaga University senior from Tacoma, Washington, who has focused his studies on developing robots to help the disabled and the elderly, has won a Marshall Scholarship, a prestigious and extraordinarily competitive award that enables future leaders to undertake advanced graduate study at universities in the United Kingdom.

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SPOKANE, Washington – Gonzaga University has announced its intention to engage in a community-focused exploration of a medical education and research partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine in Spokane. This announcement follows an invitation, made to Gonzaga by the University of Washington, to consider forming a new partnership to sustain and potentially expand UW Spokane’s medical school and create opportunities to grow biomedical research in Spokane.

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SPOKANE, Washington – Not many sixth-graders can say they have been published in an academic journal, but Caleb Lefcort can cross that distinction off his list. Caleb got into a discussion with his father, Hugh Lefcort, professor of biology at Gonzaga University, as to whether the seed burrs from cheatgrass would survive the laundry cycle. Hugh believed the seeds would not survive. Instead of simply taking his father’s word for it, Caleb – who was in fourth grade at the time – suggested the scientific method: an experiment. What the researchers discovered surprised them.

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SPOKANE, Washington – Cory Notestine, a counselor at Alamosa High School in Alamosa, Colorado, and a 2008 graduate of Gonzaga University’s Master of Arts in School Counseling Program, will be honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at a White House ceremony on Friday, Jan. 30 for being named the 2015 national School Counselor of the Year.

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SPOKANE, Washington – Brian Higginson, associate professor of human physiology at Gonzaga University, is conducting research to help save the lives of American military troops and law enforcement personnel.

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Video interview with Kyle Wiltjer

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The recent social media trend of challenging friends to dump buckets of ice over their heads for the ALS Association has inspired Gonzaga University senior Scott Alderson and his brother Matt, a Seattle University freshman. The brothers have developed an Apple app called 1Up Challenges to take such competitions to the next level.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Three members of Gonzaga University’s Board of Regents, one Trustee and senior Sara Wendland shared with students their best advice recently on “How to Rock the Workforce.” More than 150 invited undergraduates – sophomores, juniors and seniors – attended the recent presentation organized by the Board of Regents and Career Center and GAMP.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Humanities Washington will honor poet and Gonzaga University English Professor Tod Marshall with the 2015 Humanities Washington Award at the Bedtime Stories fundraiser Oct. 23 at the Spokane Club.

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When the 19 students and three faculty members from Gonzaga University depart for Zambia on Monday, May 11, they will bring with them some keys to social change: 75 handmade feminine hygiene kits that will allow the young women in Zambezi to stay in school, learn, and have a chance to break the cycle of poverty.

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The district of Zambezi, located in northwestern Zambia, recently received its first community library, a new two-room building consisting of 20,000 books and a technology center, thanks to Gonzaga University and cooperating partners.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University’s Smart Antenna and Radio Laboratory, completed in 2010 thanks to a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, is providing one-of-a-kind research opportunities to faculty and students alike in efforts to meet the increasing demand for reliable and secure high-bandwidth wireless communications.

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After years of thoughtful planning and construction, Gonzaga University’s 167,726-square-foot John J. Hemmingson Center has been completed, and move-in is underway. The official dedication of the facility is set for Oct. 16. The campus community is eager to experience the transformative impact the new living and learning environment presents.

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As part of its increasing sustainability efforts and programs to become carbon neutral by mid-century, Gonzaga University will offer complimentary Spokane Transit Authority bus passes to faculty, students and staff. The program starts in mid-September.

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The Gonzaga University School of Business Administration will present a conversation with John C. Williams, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, from 10-11:15 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7 in the Jepson Center’s Wolff Auditorium.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University is pleased to announce that it will host Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Peace, on Oct. 4. President Sirleaf, the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa, has also graciously agreed to deliver Gonzaga’s sixth Presidential Speaker Series lecture, the first by a visiting head of state, at 7 p.m., in the McCarthey Athletic Center.

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Simon and Simeon Menso, identical twin freshmen at Gonzaga University who immigrated to the United States from Liberia at age 6, will be listening attentively to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when she delivers Gonzaga’s sixth Presidential Speaker Series lecture at 7 p.m., Sunday (Oct. 4) at the McCarthey Athletic Center

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Miss Myrtle Woldson, an accomplished businesswoman, musician and philanthropist, has celebrated her love of the arts, music and student success with a $55 million gift to Gonzaga University – the largest in University history – to fund student scholarships and build a performing arts center.

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KYIV, Ukraine – Gonzaga University alumna Christi Anne Hofland (’05) is leading an experiment in U.S. international relations at the center of a volatile geopolitical drama. As director of the newly opened America House cultural center here, Hofland combines her passions for cultural diplomacy and people-to-people engagement.

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Spokane experienced a severe windstorm that brought near hurricane-force winds that toppled trees and power lines, killed two women, cut the power to nearly a quarter-million area residents – some for up to two weeks – and closed schools for days. For Gonzaga University senior nursing major Maddie Marquard, the storm made for a memorable birthday.

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The all-female Holy Names Academy in Seattle is well represented in Gonzaga University’s Class of 2019 with 18 women, including three sets of identical twins – two of which are members of Gonzaga’s crew team.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – A $294,415 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will establish the Gonzaga University Theology Institute for High School Youth. The grant is part of Lilly Endowment’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service.

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OLYMPIA, Wash. – Tod Marshall, an award-winning poet and English professor at Gonzaga University, has been appointed the fourth Washington State Poet Laureate by Gov. Jay Inslee, the Washington State Arts Commission and Humanities Washington announced today. His term begins Feb. 1 and runs through Jan. 31, 2018.

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Gonzaga Exceptional Hockey, launched by Gonzaga University special education Professor Mark Derby in 2008 to help youth overcome learning and communications difficulties, has caught the attention of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League.

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The University of Washington (UW) and Gonzaga University (GU) have signed an agreement to continue, enhance and expand medical education and research in Spokane. The agreement makes Gonzaga a partner in the University of Washington’s regional, community-based medical education program and sets in motion plans to advance health related research, entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary health sciences teaching in Spokane.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – As social media has become a ubiquitous part of contemporary American culture, scholars are studying its capacities for both good and ill. Lisa Ellen Silvestri, assistant professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University, explores how Facebook and YouTube have transformed soldiers’ experiences at the frontlines of war in her book, “Friended at the Front: Social Media in the American War Zone” (2015, University Press of Kansas).

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Gonzaga University sophomore Madison Rose, a special education major who has been challenged by multiple learning disabilities, has received a national honor for her work helping students with learning disabilities.

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Nate Disser, a human physiology major at Gonzaga University, is one of two dozen students nationwide chosen to take part in a paid 10-week Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship from the American Physiological Society. For Disser, from Broomfield, Colorado, the internship is a perfect fit.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Anyone with a smart phone intuitively understands the trend toward completely interconnected devices that are always available. This shift – termed pervasive or ubiquitous computing – represents a large and increasing share of our world economy, and Gonzaga University has introduced a new degree that blends highly marketable computer science skills with the intellectual breadth of study in the humanities and social and natural sciences.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – In a resounding affirmation of the continuing success of its $250 million Gonzaga Will capital campaign, the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees has approved the investment of more than $36.3 million to construct a new Jesuit Residence, a home and spiritual haven for Jesuits, and the Center for Athletic Achievement to support student-athletes.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University intends to break ground in spring 2017 on the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, a transformative $30 million facility made possible by an extraordinary $55 million gift from the late Miss Myrtle Woldson – the largest gift in Gonzaga's history. Construction awaits final approval from Gonzaga’s Board of Trustees anticipated later this year.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – “Roman Myth and Mythmaking,” a special, temporary exhibition examining how the ancient Romans constructed and spread their religious and cultural beliefs as seen through mostly small-scale objects they created and used on a daily basis will be on display in the Jundt Galleries of Gonzaga University’s Jundt Art Museum from Sept. 17 to Dec. 17.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University’s College of Arts and Sciences announces its new Center for Public Humanities, directed by Brian Cooney, professor of English. The center will focus on veterans this academic year with special guests including William D. Adams, chair of the National Endowment of the Humanities, and American novelists Tim O’Brien and Whitney Terrell.

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Gonzaga-in-Florence, Gonzaga University’s flagship study abroad program begun here in 1963, will mark the 50th anniversary of the devastating flooding of the Arno River on Nov. 4, 1966, one of the worst in Florence history, with a special exhibition opening at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16 in the Mozilo Center

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University’s College of Arts and Sciences welcomes William D. Adams, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, who will discuss “Making an Impact: Veterans and the Humanities” in a free public lecture in Cataldo Hall’s Globe Room at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 14.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – Allie Burgett, a Gonzaga University senior from Brewster, Wash., has been chosen by fans to sing the national anthem at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas at 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9. For Burgett, who is majoring in political science and criminal justice, it’s a dream come true.

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SPOKANE, Wash. – The future is now for a dozen Gonzaga University senior engineering students who are gaining hands-on research experience with “connected vehicles.” The technology is expected to form a high-tech communication infrastructure that will enhance traffic safety and improve the effectiveness of driverless cars.

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Upon graduating from Gonzaga University in 2014, Jason Iloreta wanted to serve others and nearly joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Instead, Iloreta heeded a more personal calling to return home to Kauai, Hawaii, to serve his brother Josh who has been in a wheelchair his entire life after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth.

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For Gonzaga University biology major Eric Gutierrez, worries about being in the path of a typhoon while in Southeast Asia conducting research on exotic beetles last summer turned out to be the least of his problems. Negotiating the language and cultural barriers the night he arrived got his blood rushing the most.