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Hello Alumni, Parents, and Friends of CC,
I hope this newsletter finds you flourishing. Here in Mueller Hall we are all just returning from two weeks of spring break. I always feel like we should call it “spring” break since it is often cold and snowy, but at this point in the semester everyone needs some time to decompress, travel, or just catch up on sleep, or grading, or reading and writing. I just returned from two weeks of taking students to Japan to think about emerging technology in Tokyo and Kyoto. It was so rewarding and exhausting at the same time. As usual, we have been busy since I last wrote to you. Highlighted in this issue are experiences from CC folks at all stages, from a group of eager prospective CC students, to a highlight on student research, to a callout for alumni news.
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CC in Pictures: Honors Visit Day 2024On February 18, high school students from all over the country joined us at Mueller Hall for Honors Visit Day, a grand preview of life in CC with sample seminar discussions led by our outstanding faculty. This year’s event was situated uniquely on a Sunday heading into an Admitted Student Day, so future Scholars had the opportunity to spend the night on campus and participate in game night in the Commons!
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📣 You Asked for It: April 9 Debate to be StreamedIn a surprising move, the Mueller Hall Refectory is now one of the most high-tech rooms on campus, second only to Gellersen! Alumni have asked to be able to see a debate or a symposium speaker, and we are going to test it out with our April 9 debate on the following topic: “On balance, the rise of Artificial Intelligence harms students more than it helps them.”
Use this link, which we will also share in our Linktree and on social media, to view the debate live or in playback.
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Student Research Spotlight
As the daffodils bloom outside the Chapel, CC students are preparing for spring travel to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) and readying abstracts for the Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE) here on campus.
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NCUR
In April, Professor Ed Upton will travel with Dean Jennifer Prough and a group of CC students to Long Beach for NCUR 2024, a CC tradition that dates back to 2004. Attendees will present research on theses spanning multiple topics and Colleges, from questions of identity in Ellison’s Invisible Man, to instances of microplastics in birds’ nests, to the prevalence of high blood pressure among Valpo students and university students in general. Alumni in the Long Beach area, please join Professors Upton and Prough, as well as the student participants, at Yard House on April 8. Details and an RSVP link are available at alumni.valpo.edu/cclb24. RSVP by March 29 to save your seat. Stay tuned, Indianapolis alumni — the dean is headed your way in May!
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Students in Publication
For many of our student researchers, NCUR is their first taste of professional academic work, but two of our CC Scholars will be sharing work that has already been published! Isabella Dietrich ’24 and Hannah LaFary ’24 recently joined with Bryn Benzing, Alyssa Gonzalez, and Adalynn Harper in the College of Nursing & Health Professions to publish their research on elevated blood pressure in college students. You can read their findings in StuNurse #56 (page 12). Isabella tells us that her CC coursework has also given her an advantage in her medical career: “Ultimately, Christ College has helped me build confidence in myself as a person and as a future healthcare professional.”
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Save the Date for Valpo Day: April 9, 2024!
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First-year debates aren’t the only thing happening on April 9. All across the University, we’ll be celebrating Valpo Day. Nearly every unit on campus is staging a special event or gathering for students (and alumni, if you’re in town!), and CC will be hosting a “Study Break in the Commons.”
We’ll have a selfie station with the authors of your favorite first-year program texts, a marathon of Productions past, a few creative outlets like magnet poetry, and, of course, a Commons full of snacks to refuel between naps in the egg chair. Make sure you’re following our social media accounts (linked in our LinkTree and on most platforms @valpocc), and share your own CC memories on April 9 with the hashtag #valpocc.
Valpo Day is also the perfect time to make a gift to the Christ College Dean’s Fund, which makes it possible for our honors college to flourish. There will be many social media challenges and opportunities to share your Valpo stories, so be sure to stay tuned to Valpo’s online presence as well as Christ College’s. We can, however, let you in on one challenge: the graduating class that contributes the highest number of gifts to the CC Dean's Fund will earn the honor of having their production's name featured in the next First-Year Production. So rally your classmates and save the date for April 9 — it’s the virtuous thing to do.
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Are You Flourishing?
Your memories and advice are so important to sustaining our community of learning, and we always look forward to sharing them with our current students and our alumni. Participate in our new Christ College Alumni Spotlight and we will share your story on Christ College social media, here in our Spillikin e-newsletter, or on our website.
If you have other news you would like to share with the larger CC community or ideas for connecting with CC, current students, or alumni, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at christ.college@valpo.edu.
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| In Closing
I hope this spring brings you some renewal through the liturgical or seasonal calendar, or both. I am heartened to know that all of you — CC grads with the habit and skills of reading closely, thinking deeply, and conversing compassionately even with those with whom we disagree — are out in the world doing great things.
I look forward to connecting with you all again soon. You know where to find me!
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Jennifer Prough '91, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor of Humanities and East Asian Studies
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