COMMING ATTRACTIONS

A few things are coming up.....

Later this month, there is the graduation ceremony for BUSCA, an associate degree program for Spanish dominant students who receive intenstive language instruction while earning college credit. Many grads of this program pursue a BA from La Salle. We've gotten TV coverage for past ceremonies: last year a grandmother finished and this year a married couple are graduating.

Valentine's Day. It does happen every year, and every year the media do stories about it. So, we look for all things love and love related. Last year KYW newsradio interview a prof here who teaches a course on the philosophy of love. In year past, media have published tips from Assoc. Dean of Students Lane Neubauer on what to cope with being single on Valentine's Day. This year, we'll find out if anyone profs can talk about the "business" of love, or Valentine's Day: imagine the cost of all those cards, flowers and dinners....

Washington's birthday. Last year was Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, so that was in the news. I asked History Chair Stuart Leibiger for some little-known facts about Lincoln and he told me on that floored me: Lincoln spoke with a southern accent! It seems you can take the boy out of Kentucky but you can't take the Kentucky out of the boy. Again, KYW newsradio did a spot on that fact with Leibiger. So, this year I'll bug Dr. Leibiger for some little-known facts about our first president.

Holidays, anniversaries and milestones are good opportunities for media coverage. Br. Ed Sheehy wrote an oped on the 50th anniversary of Pres. Truman desegregating the military; he was also interviewed on radio about the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. History Professor John Rossi talked about the "real" St. Patrick of St. Patrick's Day (he was born in Italy). I'm sure there will be extensive press on Jan. 20: marking the first year of Pres. Obama's term. I've asked a few faculty to look into that. (BTW, I said this jokingly to Br. Ed, who is a naval/maritime specialist: 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, so I've asked him to start researching that infamous voyage; I'll seriously start to bug him about it in late 2011.)

April Fool's Day is always in the news on April 1, and 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of one of baseball's greatest moments.