From the Nominator

Fostering a connection between the College of the Holy Cross and alumni, no matter how many years have passed since their graduation, is one of our primary goals in developing magazine content. One area of concentration is profiling popular faculty. In recent history, one of the most popular professors was English Professor Edward Callahan, whom we profiled in our Fall issue on what would have been his 100th birthday. We had a hunch that if alumni knew we were planning to write the profile, they would weigh in, and they did. Anthony Fauci, M.D. '62, Hon. '87, said of Callahan: “I had a great affinity for him and his class because of the way he approached the English language. Precision of thought and economy of expression. His favorite thing was when someone would come into class and start talking and the person would go in 16 different directions, and Professor Callahan would say, ‘You really would be much more effective if you communicate to me one precise thought that I can get my arms around and, importantly, say it in as few words as possible as we don’t have a lot of time.’ I’ve brought that mantra with me throughout my entire career in something that is far removed from English literature; namely, in presenting an interesting scientific or public health concept to people, I’ve used the same approach.” The piece was one of our top 10 stories of the year, with 1,149 page views and an average time on page of 2 minutes, 34 seconds.

From the Judges

Judges all agreed, a beautiful tribute to a meaningful professor. While no one on the panel attended this institution, judges could imagine what sitting in this professor's classroom must have felt like for alumni.