Voucher Expansion

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, Feb. 25 — With just days left before a rationing plan was to begin for students in Milwaukee’s popular school voucher program, the state’s politicians agreed to increase the enrollment cap to 7,500 students.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle originally opposed expansion of the program and the Department of Public Instruction announced it would ration the slots available at schools for students receiving vouchers, which could have led to school closings.

Of the 125 schools participating in the choice program, 34 are Catholic schools.

Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan said that “the school choice program works. It is now part of the fabric of education in southeastern Wisconsin.”

Sports Fast

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, March 1 — “Today is Ash Wednesday, and if recent history is any guide, once again Roman Catholic colleges will be giving up the NCAA basketball championship for Lent,” said commentator Frank DeFord.

It’s been 21 years since a Catholic school last won the NCAA basketball title, and since then only three Catholic colleges have even made the Final Four.

DeFord added: “Only Notre Dame and Boston College even field Division I-A football teams anymore.”

This year, though, two Catholic schools are genuine contenders, according to DeFord. They include “tiny Gonzaga” and Villanova, the last Catholic national champion.

New Campus

THE UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS, Feb. 24 — The university will expand its presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by opening a new, MBA-focused campus in Tarrant County in April, with summer-term courses beginning the first week in May.

The multi-purpose campus, located at the junction of highways 121 and 820, will offer a blend of general MBA curriculum and executive and professional development programs.

In addition to its MBA courses, the new facility will also feature a variety of executive and professional development programs.

         

Career Change

THE CATHOLIC NEW WORLD, Feb. 27 — Russ Fee traded the courtroom for the classroom, and he couldn’t be happier.

Fee, a former civil rights and employment attorney, gave up 27 years of practicing law to work with young people. Today he’s a third-grade teacher at St. Bruno School in Chicago.

“I feel better about what happens in a single day in the classroom than I ever did during my years in law,” Fee said. “The children are enthusiastic, unafraid even with all the problems that occur in their lives.”

         

Sister Wendy Celebrated

ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, Feb. 29 — Internationally renowned art commentator and television host Sister Wendy Beckett received St. John’s University’s 13th annual Colman Barry Award for distinguished contributions to religion and society during a private reception recently at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

The presentation from the Minnesota university coincided with the opening of an international exhibition tour of The Saint John’s Bible, which was to be on display at the London museum until May 1.

Sister Wendy is the author of more than 15 books, including Sister’s Wendy’s 1,000 Masterpieces and Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting.

She joined the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1946 but has lived in the cloistered Carmelite convent in Quidenham, England, since 1970.