Campion's First …

CAMPION COLLEGE, May 12 — Campion College of San Francisco has graduated its first class.

In May 15 ceremonies, 14 students received associate of arts degrees in Catholic humanities from the college, which was founded in 2002 by former faculty and supporters of the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco. The institute had been broken up by Jesuit Father Steven Privett, USF's president, and placed under the authority of the university's theology department.

This fall, according to a Cam-pion statement, Campion graduates will matriculate at such schools as Ave Maria University in Florida, Benedictine College in Kansas and the Josephinum Seminary in Ohio.

… Franciscan's Largest

FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY, May 8 — Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, has graduated the largest class in its history.

On May 8, some 434 undergraduates and 127 graduates received their diplomas in more than 30 undergraduate disciplines and among the seven graduate-level programs, a press release from the university reported.

Jim Towey, director of the White House Office for Faith-Based Initiatives, spoke to graduate students, telling them to never stop learning. “Education will cease,” he said, “with the last breath you take before you meet God.”

Author George Weigel addressed undergraduate students, urging them to “think of your life as a vocation.”

Facing Competition

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, May 9 — Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., has stepped up student-recruitment efforts in the Atlanta area. The initiative comes in anticipation of the scheduled opening of Southern Catholic College in fall 2005 in Georgia.

For most of its 128-year-history, Belmont Abbey College has been the only Catholic college between Virginia and Florida, the paper noted. While the college had traditionally recruited heavily in the Northeast, where more Catholics are located, the increasing numbers of Catholics in the South led it to change its marketing strategy.

The college was founded by Benedictine monks in 1876.

New DePaul Leader

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, May 8 — DePaul University in Chicago has named Father Dennis Holtschneider as its 11th president, effective in July.

He replaces Father John Minogue, who announced his retirement in October after 10 years as the school's president.

Father Holtschneider, 42, faces the challenge of expanding the school's modest endowment, the paper noted. The school still relies on tuition for 80% of its operating budget.

The Vincentian priest holds a doctorate in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard. He is currently vice president and chief operating officer of Niagra University in New York.

College Vouchers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 10 — Colorado Gov. Bill Owens has signed the nation's first-ever college-voucher plan into law.

The law would give up to $2,400 per voucher to high-school students in need. Owens said the bill sends a message to high schoolers that college is not out of reach.

Students attending private schools — such as Regis University in Denver, which is Catholic — will receive $1,200 per voucher, the wire service reported. The money is allowed to go to religious schools as long as they are not “pervasively sectarian.”

The program is set to begin in fall 2005.