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Campus News
A fond farewell to
Saint Mary’s ‘institutions’
2000 graduation ceremonies mark new beginnings
for seven retiring faculty and staff
C hange.
According to Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary, change is defined in
many ways, including “to make different
in some particular fashion; to
undergo a modification … .”
At Saint Mary’s University,
change has come in all shapes and
sizes over the last 30-plus years.
New dormitories … new classrooms
… new office spaces … new
athletic facilities … new technology
… new parking lots … new presidents
… .
Change, change, change.
Yet, while the school has had a
virtual face-lift over the last
30 years — the latest
“tuck” being a
new $4.5 million
residence
hall
scheduled
to be completed
by summer,
2001 — there
has always been one element
of Saint Mary’s that has withstood
the test of time.
Make that seven elements.
Through all the additions and
subtractions, the ins with the new and
outs with the old, Pat Costello, Dan
O’Neill, Orest Ochrymowycz, Rob
Situmeang, Jane Ochrymowycz,
Rory Vose and Rose Kowles have
been SMU’s stabilizing forces — its
links to the past 30-plus years.
Its unofficial historians.
Until now.
When this year’s graduating
seniors received their diplomas at
commencement exercises in mid-
May, they weren’t the only ones
leaving the friendly confines of the
Terrace Heights campus.
Father Time and the dreaded —
or anticipated — “r-word” have
finally caught up with SMU’s “Magnificent
Seven.”
There will be no more Intro to
Literature courses taught by Dr.
Costello, no more Orest Ochrymowycz-led
Greats of World Literature
classes. No more summers of
Jane Ochrymowycz holding College
Bound sessions; no more afternoons
out on the river with one of Rory
Vose’s environmental biology
classes; no
more trips to view
Chicago architecture
with Dan O’Neill; and
no more “crunching
of the numbers” with
Rob Situmeang.
In fact, like this
year’s seniors, it’s time for these
seven, dedicated individuals to leave
Saint Mary’s and enter the “real
world.”
“I will always reflect fondly on
having been a part of such a dedicated
staff, both amongst my colleagues
and the students,” said Rose
Kowles, who is leaving SMU after 27
years — the last 14 of which she
spent in the business office. “It’s
ironic that every year, the graduating
seniors always seem so eager to leave
SMU and join the real world. Now I
guess it’s time for me to share that
same experience.”
After so many years as members
of the Saint Mary’s community — the
seven retirees have a combined 171-
1/2 years (plus Costello’s and Orest
Ochrymowycz’s years as students) of
service to Saint Mary’s — life just
won’t be the same around here.
“Looking back over three
decades here at Saint
Mary’s, there
are so
“It’s ironic that every year, the graduating seniors
always seem so eager to leave SMU and join the real world.
Now I guess it’s time for me to share that same experience.”
— Rose Kowles
ROSE KOWLES
YEARS AT SAINT MARY’S: 27
DEPARTMENT: Business office
(accounts receivable)
PLANS FOR RETIREMENT:
Gardening and antique business.
many pleasant things that come to
mind,” said Vose, a member of the
biology and resource analysis departments
for the last 31-1/2 years. “One
of the most enjoyable aspects of my
job has been keeping in touch with
some of the many students I have
had in class over the years.”
There was little time for remi-
SUMMER 2000 9