Southern California -- Orange County Chapter

$5,000 RAISED in Last Year's
Winter Scholarship
Fundraising Event
Let's Top That This YEAR!
For more...

In This Issue:

Upcoming Scholarship Benefit
Spotlight on a Local Alumna -- Julie Broyles '07
St. Catherine's to Become a University
UPCOMING EVENTS
Service Opportunity-- Linking Generations!
Conversation with Books 2009
Chapter Contact Information
Spring Getty Exhibit on Icons from the St. Catherine Monastery in Sinai Was Compelling

26th Annual Scholarship Benefit
on November 15th
at the Center Club
in Costa Mesa!
With Special CSC Guests!

Our annual Scholarship Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction is scheduled for Saturday November 15th, 2008. The event, which will take place at the Center Club in Costa Mesa, will include our traditional dinner, silent auction and drawing for shopping certificates through the opportunity tickets sold prior to and at the event. This year, along with familiar and new faces, we are honored to have guests from the College including Susan Rudd (Admissions Representative for Southern California) and Pam McNulty (Director of Gift Planning).

Please be sure to check your mail for information on this year’s fundraiser. If you are unable to join us, you can still help raise funds by giving your friends, family and co-workers a chance to win gift cards to South Coast Plaza by buying Opportunity Tickets. If each alumna in our region sold just 10 tickets, we would raise more than we ever have! Please support our Scholarship and future Katies! Also, if you own a business or know someone that does, donations are still being accepted for our Silent Auction. If you would like to contribute, please contact Monica Peace at 949-916-3033.

If you think this effort is not worth it, consider the thank you letter we received from Robin E. Regan, one of last year's scholarship recipients:

"I am a student from a low income family and to attend a private college like St. Kate’s was a dream of mine, but it did not look like it would ever become a reality. However, you have helped made that possible for me. As a junior, it has been surreal to see my dreams come to fruition and realize that I am almost finished reaching my goal. Your contribution has been instrumental in assuring my attendance and subsequent graduation from St. Catherine's. I am very grateful for your generosity and hope to replicate that generosity as I leave St. Kate’s and go out into the world."

We are excited to welcome three new members to our Chapter!

Debra Sowells (’99)
Eng Tran (’06)
Julie Broyles (’07)

We want to hear from you! If you have news you would like to share, please contact us or submit it with your dues.

Favorite Memory from St. Kate’s

The lasting friendships I made.
About 15 of us
still meet for lunch
when I go back to St. Paul.
Lori Nadler (’53)

`LOCAL ALUMNA` `SPOTLIGHT` Julie Broyles '07 Hello to all fellow Southern California dwelling St. Kate’s alumnae! As a recent transplant from Minnesota to this wonderful, snowless paradise I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am Julie Broyles, a Summer 2007 of the Master of Library and Information Science program at St. Kate’s. It has been an interesting life journey that led me first to St. Kate’s and ultimately, here to Southern California. Where should I start? Well, first of all, I’m not really a true Minnesotan. I moved to Minnesota in 1989 from my native Seattle in pursuit of my first career. I was hired at St. Cloud State University as a professor in the anthropology program after finishing a doctorate in cultural anthropology at the University of Washington. I had worked hard to achieve that dream, and fate landed me, of all places, in Lake Wobegon, I mean, St. Cloud. The transition to Minnesota from my beloved, temperate Pacific Northwest was difficult and I was a very bad sport. Along the way I met my husband Kent Robertson, who also taught at SCSU. We were married in 1992 and so Minnesota became home for awhile. OK, it wasn’t that bad. Oh alright, I admit those were especially good years! Now, fast forward to 2003. It turned out that life in the ivory tower wasn’t quite the perfect niche for me. I resigned from my position at SCSU in 1997 and began a search for a new fulfilling career. The only problem was that I didn’t know what it was. Exploration and serendipity brought me to a point where I realized that children and books were something I really loved. So, I decided to become a children’s librarian. But where in Minnesota does one go to become a librarian? One goes to the College of St. Catherine’s MLIS program. In fall of 2003 I went back to school to earn a Master’s degree. It was a great experience and St. Kate’s was an unexpected gift in my life. I drove many miles between St. Cloud and St. Paul to attend my weekend and night courses, listening to many audio books along the way. In fall of 2007 I enrolled in the final course for my degree program with May 2007 graduation in sight. In February of that year my husband died very suddenly and I was surprised to find myself a 51 year old widow. Although my life changed drastically there was an opening door ahead of me, and that was the completion of my MLIS and the launching of a new career. Now able to go anywhere to pursue a library job I decided it was time to head back to the West Coast and to the Pacific Ocean I love and deeply missed. I landed a job as Children’s Librarian with the County of Los Angeles Public Library system last November. On December 11, 2007 I drove out of St. Cloud once and for all and headed back West, as I had so long wanted to. I am now a happy children’s librarian at Los Nietos Library in Whittier. It is a largely Hispanic community where much Spanish is spoken (and to think I chose to study French in high school and college!). I live in a comfortable, cute 1960s tract house in Whittier in a former orange grove, mere footsteps from the Orange County line. My two cats, who are native Minnesotans, love the SoCal lifestyle, especially being able to go outside every day of the year! I’m glad to be here and glad to make connections with others who share the College of St. Catherine experience in common. Serendipity is still at work!	The College of St. Catherine to Become SCU The College of St. Catherine will be renamed St. Catherine University effective June 2009, according to a unanimous vote made August 28 by the institution's Board of Trustees. The name was chosen from among four other options: St. Catherine's University, the University of St. Catherine, Saint Catherine of Alexandria University and the University of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In May the Board voted unanimously to rename the College a university. That decision came after months of research undertaken by a special task team appointed by President Andrea J. Lee, IHM. Among the "underlying commitments" approved by the trustees is that St. Catherine's core identity — Catholic, women, liberal arts — will remain the centerpiece of the newly named institution. The task team and the Board concluded that a name change to "university" more accurately reflects the comprehensive nature of St. Catherine’s and positions the institution for national pre-eminence. For more information on this exciting change, please visit St. Kate’s website at http://minerva.stkate.edu/name.nsf St. Kate's FACTS Fall 2008 Enrollment- 5,201 261 Ranked Faculty 24.3% multicultural or international Nursing is the most popular major with 37.8% of students choosing this field New degree program offered: Doctorate in Nursing Practice In 2008, ranked by *US News and World Report* as #14 among Regional Universities-Masters level The college is classified as a Carnegie Masters I institution
`SUMMER TEA A DOUBLE SUCCESS!` This year’s Summer Tea was a double success, providing Katies a chance to network and have fun AND raise funds. Note cards from the College were given as thank you gifts to those donating $25 or more to the chapter’s scholarship fund, as we seek new and innovative ways to provide funding for women from Southern California to attend the College. As we munched on delicious goodies and sipped tasty tea, we welcomed new members to the chapter. We met two alumnae that are new to Southern California as well as a brand new Katie that started this fall! Hillary Jordan, who is now in St. Paul working on her first year at the College was joined by her mother, Martha Jordan. It was a joy to hear her excitement as she embarks on the journey of her life! As with all of our events, we look forward to seeing new faces and enjoy learning about each Katie and her journey from St. Paul to Southern California. If you have not yet attended an event, we encourage you to come out to the next event! Favorite Memory from St. Kate’s *“The candlelight ceremony after first year orientation* *—I knew I had made the right decision for college at that moment!”* Janel Lauer (’99) of San Diego READ ALL ABOUT IT! We want to hear from you! If you have news or special memories of St. Kate's you would like to share, please submit it with your dues and/or email klabanda@yahoo.com. As 2008 rolls by, please remember to return your chapter dues for this year to our treasurer, Catherine Martin	`UPCOMING EVENTS` If you are like most graduates living in Southern California, you have probably thought about joining us at an event, but maybe you haven’t made it yet. Have you ever hesitated to attend because you’ve had these thoughts? I wonder if there will be anyone I know there? Will I be able to relate to anyone? Are there graduates of all generations? Will I fit in?? If you’ve thought any of these, be assured that you are not alone! Most of us hesitated in the beginning, but are thankful that we let the events answer the questions by taking a big step and attending. Our chapter involves Katies of all generations and many friendships and professional networks have developed as a result of the Chapter. We would like to invite you to join us at the next event! If you are not on the mailing list, please contact Christine Klejbuk '71 at the College of St. Catherine Alumnae Association:
`Linking Generations Together` As you may know, many alumnae call Southern California home, including many that are unable to join gatherings due to health, age or mobility. If you are an alumni that would be interested in visiting elderly Katies, bringing cheer and a listening ear to them, we want to hear from you. If you would like to visit alumnae/i in your area or if you would like someone to visit you, please contact Minda Suchan or	Katie Energy and Community "There always seems to be a special type of energy when CSC alumnae meet. I found at my first event through the Orange County Alumnae Association, I immediately connected with my fellow Katies. This has always held through at the many events I have participated in, and as your alumnae president, I hope to continue growing and supporting the college so other women may know the true community energy of the College of St. Catherine. If you have any suggestions or ideas for our alumnae association, please don't hesitate to contact me. I always look forward to meeting fellow alumnae!' `Minda Suchan, Ph.D. '95` `Past-CSC Orange County Chapter Alumnae President`
me="8"> Start Talking Books -- 2009 Conversation with Books Titles! The preliminary list of books to be discussed follows. Three new titles have been added! Creating Minnesota:A History from the Inside Out by Annette Atkins. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societyby Anne Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer, Random House, 2008. Ladies of Liberty : The Women Who Shaped Our Nation by Cokie Roberts, William Morrow, 2008. Life Class: A Novel by Pat Barker, Doubleday, 2008. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, Ballantine Books, 2007. The Plague of Dovesby Louise Erdrich, HarperCollins, 2008. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, Knopf, 2008. The Uncommon Reader by Allen Bennett, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make Historyby Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Knopf, 2007. White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson by Brenda Wineapple. Knopf, 2008 To read the highlights of last years' event, click here: 2008 CONVERSATION WITH BOOKS EVENT	`CSC ALUMNAE CHAPTER CONTACTS` Lori Nadler ’53 -- Chapter Founder Catherine Martin '71 -- Treasurer Collette Sfreddo ’56 -- Chapter Board Monica Peace ’88 -- Event Coordinator Marie Proulx '39 -- San Diego Kelly Raetzke Abanda ’99 -- Newsletter Marge Foster '42 -- Founding Member For contact information, please email your request to alumnae@stkate.edu START YOUR OWN KATIE BOOK CLUB Though the Conversation with Books events occur in St. Paul, you can join in the literary excitement by connecting with other alumnae and friends in book clubs to keep the Conversation with Books going in Orange County. Just take a look at the list of recommended books, and then choose some to talk about. You can use the comments of the panelists as springboards for questions and insights of your own. Start Your Own Katie Book Club! Click here for information.

Our first Pamper Party, held in 2007, was a great success. Women gathered together and had fun while being pampered. We shared our favorite memories of our time at St. Kate’s and memories flooded our minds. In addition, the gathering raised $150 to contribute to the Scholarship Fund. We are looking forward to more nights of pampering!

"The Icons of Sinai" Spring Getty Exhibition Was Compelling

The majority of this magnificent exhibition traveled from the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine of Sienna, at the foot of the mountain where Moses saw the burning bush. We viewed some of the oldest surviving icons from the Byzantine world.

The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine hosts the world's largest repository of Byzantine icons, and these works have been in the continuous care of generations of monks at Saint Catherine's over the centuries. The works underscore the central role of icons in the religious practice and spirituality of the Christian world -- and this exhibit introduced us to the compelling history the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine.

After enjoying the museum and grounds, we joined for lunch in the Restaurant at the Getty. It was a time of bringing generations of Katie’s together.

The class of 1999 had a strong showing with four graduates!

Thank you to all that participated and we look forward to seeing more alumnae at upcoming events!