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He's "Top Ten" Michael W. Higgins is one of Ontario's ten best lecturers and he can prove it. The President of St. Jerome's was shortlisted as one of the "Top Ten" from over three hundred and fifty nominees by a panel composed of columnist Robert Fulford, playwright Andrew Moodie, and Literary Review of Canada editor Bronwyn Drainie for the TVO program Big Ideas. Big Ideas, which is hosted by Irshad Manji, is a two-hour program which airs Saturday and Sunday afternoons on Ontario's public broadcast network and which features a lecture format which producer Wodek Szemberg declares is "unapologetically intellectual" and "a showcase of the ideas that shape our public debates today and our understanding of the world as it is and as it is likely to be." Big Ideas broadcast lectures by each of the ten finalists and invited viewers to vote for the individual who best demonstrated clarity and coherence, energy and performance, and confidence and authority. Higgins' lecture, entitled "Holiness: An Antidote to Evil," was broadcast on October 15. Although he did not garner enough popular support to be declared Number One, Higgins was deeply gratified at this recognition. "I haven't actively taught during the six years that I've been President, with the exception of being a guest lecturer in various graduate and undergraduate courses. So it is very satisfying to know that past students situate my efforts as a teacher amongst such distinguished company." t • He's Headed East The President of St. Jerome's for the past six and a half years, Michael W. Higgins, is leaving St. Jerome's to become the President and Vice-Chancellor of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Speaking to faculty and staff following the announcement of his departure, Higgins said, "I have not taken this decision lightly. It follows months of discernment, personal struggle and prayer." "My decision to go to St. Thomas is not motivated by personal restiveness or professional dissatisfaction. [St. Jerome's] remains an ideal place to work. But throughout my career, I have been passionately committed to Roman Catholic higher education in Canada and abroad. I knew that, should an occasion arise whereby I could deploy some of my skills and learning to assist in strengthening the Catholic intellectual tradition outside of St. Jerome's and, by doing so, enhance the national network of Catholic institutions of learning, I was prepared to do so." Still, Higgins said he and his family depart St. Jerome's "with a heavy heart. Simply put, we love this place." "I have treasured my relationship with St. Jerome's and have matured as a scholar, administrator and person in the intellectual and spiritual environment that it has impressively nurtured over the years." Higgins takes on his new responsibilities on July 1, 2006. In the interim, Chancellor Richard Gwyn will chair a committee which will undertake a national search to identify candidates to succeed him. Inside this Issue: Honouring the SSNDs Eva Kmiecic: Distinguished Grad The Good that SJU Students Do Three Reunions and an Ordination St. Jerome's University Volume 24 Number 2 Fall/Winter 2005