Commencement 2007 - Villanova University

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A Poet Adept in Having Fun with Flarf, Cento, Blogging and SpamBY KATHLEEN SCAVELLODr. Justin Quinn’s advanced creativewriting class assignments did, by hisown admission, get “a bit weird.” Studentswere asked to lose, not find, their voices.They were required to write poetry usingedgy literary devices such as “flarf,” a collage-basedform of avant-garde poetry thatcombines “capture” phrases from Googlesearches, and “cento,” a technique thatassembles a poem from excerpts of otherauthors’ writings. Blogs and spam werealso mined for experimental literary treasure.And, no one in his classes walkedaway unchanged.“I joke with my students that I’mlearning more from them than they learnfrom me,” said Dr. Quinn, a visiting Irishpoet and holder of the Charles A. HeimboldJr. Endowed Chair in Irish Studiesduring the Spring Semester at VillanovaUniversity. The Heimbold Chair wasestablished by Charles A. Heimbold Jr.’54 A&S (see page 2).But, between teaching his advancedcreative writing course and a modern Irishpoetry class, it’s clear there was a whole lotof learning going on all way around.Finding a new poetic voiceWith students, “The point is not reallyto get them to stop expressing theiremotions, but to channel them in a differentway, to put them through differentdirections, different voices. For themost part, this can be very liberating,”Quinn explained.“If you sit down with a friend to talkabout your emotions, you’ll often find yourselfbeing railroaded into certain ways ofexpressing yourself. We’re often prisoners tothat kind of emotional honesty,” he added.But, most of all, in learning to becomemore creative, poets and writers need “ahealthy bit of goofing off. There has to beroom for play,” Quinn said.They also have to maintain a constantsense of wonder. Quinn, who hails originallyfrom Dublin but who now callsPrague, Czech Republic, home, has foundhis short sojourn at Villanova “endlesslyexciting.” In Prague, where he has livedfor more than a decade, he is an associateprofessor of English and American Studiesat Charles University.“I love America. It’s almost this shotof energy coming here. Just to breathe theair—it’s a different air here, the air of freedom,”Quinn said.His family, which includes his wife,Tereza Límanová, and their sons, Finbarand Manus, “get a thrill out of going tothe supermarket,” he said. “We visited theKing of Prussia Mall. It was like Americantourists going to the Eiffel Tower.”Taking his son to meet the schoolbus, “amythical object for Europeans,” has been “astrange and wonderful experience,” he added.Captivated by the styleof a Pennsylvania poetAlthough Quinn’s stint as a visiting IrishStudies professor was his first teachingexperience in the United States, he haslong been attracted to American poetryand literature. In fact, so captivated wasQuinn by the style of Wallace Stevens(1879-1957) that he wrote his doctoraldissertation on him. Quinn urges Villanovansto discover this poet from Reading,Pa., whose style he characterized as “astunning mixture of philosophy and sensuality.”His re-assessment of Stevens’ work,Gathered Beneath the Storm: Wallace Stevens,Nature and Community, was publishedby UCD Press in 2002.Quinn, himself a prolific poet, author,educator and lecturer, has published twocollections of poetry, Waves and Trees (2006)and Fuselage (2002) through The GalleryPress. Two other collections, The ’O’o’a’a’Bird (short-listed for the Forward Prize in1995) and Privacy (1999) were published byCarcanet. Quinn holds a bachelor’s degreein modern English and philosophy and adoctorate in American poetry from TrinityCollege, Dublin. He is fluent in Czech andreads proficiently in Irish and French.Students, compared and contrastedThe differences between European and Villanovanstudents have intrigued Quinn.“The students I taught in Prague werevery different. They’d be focused onTeaching atVillanova thisspring, Dr. JustinQuinn enlivenedhis courses withcreativity-expandingtechniques forwriting poetry. Heheld the CharlesA. Heimbold Jr.Endowed Chair inIrish Studies.English and American literature and they’dhave three or four years solid of it beforethey’d come to me. Students here comefrom the [Villanova] School of Business,biology, etc., so literature might not be atthe center of their interest. It was a challengefor me at the start [to determine] howto pitch it,” he said of his Villanova courses.Quinn also was surprised to find studentshere a bit reserved at the beginning. “Ithought American students would be muchmore vocal than European students. If theyhad nothing to say, they wouldn’t say anything.But, if they had something to say,they’d come out with it,” the poet said.American undergraduate education ismuch more varied, and Villanova has a muchstronger sense of campus life, than he finds inhis urban Prague experience, Quinn said.Asked what he thought of Villanova asa teaching institution, Quinn replied, “Ithink they’re really dedicated to it. It’llsound like I’m telling you what you wantto hear, but they really are. The degree ofattention to students is really impressive.”An Irish connection back to 1842The importance of Villanova’s Irish connectionwas made immediately apparentto Quinn after walking around the graveyardnear the St. Thomas of VillanovaMonastery.“I think anyone seeing those names willinstantly know the back stories—the parallellives between the immigrants and the peoplewho stayed at home. It just doesn’t need anyexplaining to me,” Quinn said. “It’s interestingto see the way the identification remainsso important to students here.”After touring a bit of the United Statesthis summer, Quinn will return to Prague.There, he will resume teaching at CharlesUniversity where, as at Villanova, hisstudents had best be prepared for someassignments that might just be considered“a bit weird.”
Three Alumnae Receive Nursing’s Highest AwardBY ANN BARROW MCKENZIE ’86 NUR., ’91 M.S.N.Dr. M. Louise Fitzpatrick, Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor, presentedCollege of Nursing medallions to three distinguished alumnae at Nursing’s18th Annual Mass and Alumni Awards Ceremony, held on April 21 in theSt. Thomas of Villanova Church. The event is co-sponsored by the College and its NursingAlumni Society. The honorees’ quotations are from their acceptance speeches.Madeline McCarthy Bell ’83 Nur.Medallion for DistinguishedLeadership in Administrationof Health Care ServicesEach day, Madeline McCarthy Bell ’83Nur. proves that partnerships betweenhospitals, children and families are a priority.She has been associated with TheChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia(CHOP) since her graduation from theCollege of Nursing 24 years ago. TakingNursing’s sense of mission with her toCHOP, which is consistently ranked thebest U.S. pediatric hospital, has meantBell has kept families at the core of herpractice. She was awarded this medallionfor her strategic vision and commitmentto family-centered care in a challenginghealth-care environment.While vice president for patient accessand clinical services, Bell took on themammoth task of assessing and restructuringCHOP’s patient access and revenuecycle. She turned emergency roombacklogs and misaligned departmentsinto a highly regarded, streamlined systemthat effectively serves the needs ofthe hospital, its providers, insurers andmost importantly, its children and families.Concurrently, Bell developed numerouscommunity-based programs in Philadelphiaand several new national centersfor excellence, including those for attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder andfeeding/swallowing care.Now CHOP’s senior vice president forpatient access, revenue cycle and ambulatorynetwork, Bell sets the example for herteam of 20 department heads and morethan 3,000 staff members. She is the executivefor 44 pediatric ambulatory sites and10 community hospital partnerships withnumerous associated responsibilities. Bellconsults internationally, most recently inChile and Ireland.Bell recalls fondly her Nursing leadershipcourse, as well as the lessons of professionalismthat have shaped her career. Shepoints with pride to the high number ofVillanova nurses in practice at CHOP. “Itis a badge of honor,” she says, “They havean impact every day.”Dr. Pamela Zurkowski Cacchione’84 Nur.Medallion for DistinguishedContributions to Nursing Scholarship,Practice and ResearchAs a Nursing undergraduate, PamZurkowski demonstrated the same enthusiasticspirit and commitment to makinga difference that she does today as Dr.Pamela Zurkowski Cacchione ’84 Nur.,educator, geriatric nurse practitioner,researcher and organizational leader. Shewas awarded the medallion for her excellencein multiple realms and for reflectingthe values and mission of Villanova’sCatholic and Augustinian heritage.Dr. Cacchione has developed as an outstandingscholar and nursing exemplarwhose research provides valuable insightsand evidence on which to base the clinicaldecisions that improve the care of theelderly and their quality of life.Since 1992, she has taught at SaintLouis University, where she currentlyserves as an associate professor and coordinatorof the master’s program that preparesgerontological advanced practice nurses.She engages weekly in her own clinicalpractice, thereby providing patients withthe direct benefit of her expertise.Co-editor of the journal Clinical NursingResearch, Cacchione publishes herwork in top-tier nursing and medical journals.Her research focuses on Alzheimer’spatients and concerns related to mentalconfusion in the elderly, sensory deprivationamong elders and critical healthpolicyissues that impact the aging population.Her professional presentations arenumerous and well-received. A $1.47 milliongrant from the National Institute forNursing Research supports her work.Cacchione described how Villanovaand the College taught her to “make adifference.” She views the elderly asbeing grounded in spirituality and sheDr. M. Louise Fitzpatrick (left), Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor, and the Rev. Peter M.Donohue, O.S.A., ’75 A&S, University president, congratulate the Nursing medallion recipients:(from left) Dr. Pamela Zurkowski Cacchione ’84 Nur., Madeline McCarthy Bell ’83 Nur. and Dr.Beverly LeBar Welhan ’83 M.S.N.Summer 2007 61
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A Word from the PresidentWhat You C
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Institutional AdvancementPAOLA NOGU
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“Why did I decide on Villanova? W
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Guidance Center in New Rochelle, N.
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The vision behind a visual artscent
Page 12 and 13: For the 164th year—and the first
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Page 35 and 36: underserved, including the homeless
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Page 39 and 40: James R. Giordano (A&S)Karen P. (Pl
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Page 48: JIM MCWILLIAMSAmong his many activi
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Page 55 and 56: Focus on the College ofLiberal Arts
Page 57 and 58: At Villanova, “I learned to learn
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Page 65 and 66: EssayA Close Brush with Burt Wasser
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Page 69 and 70: eaching his objectives. Such except
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Page 73 and 74: Alumni Chapter Events CalendarVUAA
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Page 77 and 78: Chuck Kahler ’95 C.E., ’00M.C.E
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Commencement 2007 - Villanova University

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