Mirror - Vol. 04, No. 03 - May 2, 1980

              Fr. Mahan Bids Farewell After 30 Years
by Kathy Noonan
"It is rare to find a man who so
loves wisdom as to live according
to its dictates; a life of simplicity,
independance, magnaminity, and
trust." It was with these words
that the class of 1976 dedicated
their yearbook to Fr. George S.
Mahan, S.J. It is a very fitting
tribute to a man who has given so
much of himself to Fairfield
University. In July, he will leave
Fairfield after 30 years of
dedicated service, and he will be
greatly missed.
Fr. Mahan was born on January
2,1909, in Boston. In 1928, after at-tending
Boston College High
School, he entered the Society of
Jesus at Boston College Normal
School at Shadowbrook, in Lenox,
Mass. Between 1932-1935 he
received A.B. and M.A. degrees in
philosophy from Weston College
in Weston, Mass. From 1935-37 he
participated in archeplogical digs
in Ksar Akil, Lebanon with Boston
College, and Teleilat el Ghassul in
Jordan with the Pontifical Biblical
Institute of Jerusalem. He later co-authored
a book, Teleilat Ghassul
II, which dealt with the Jordan ex-cavations.
The years 1937-41
found Fr. Mahan back at Weston
College pursuing a Ph. L. in
Theology. From there he moved on
to St. Robert's Hall in Pomfret,
Conn., for asceticai studies
(1941-42) and then to the Oriental
Institute at the University of
Chicago. His alma mater, Boston
College High School, served as his
first teaching post. He was there
from 1948-49, teaching Latin,
English and religion. In 1949, after
WWII, Fr. Mahan became one of
the co-founders and the Assistant
Director at the School of St. Philip
Neri, a school for delayed voca-tions
outside of Boston.
Father Mahan's first affiliation
with Fairfield came in 1950 when
he became Assistant Principal at
Fairfield Prep. After a year, Fr.
James Dolan, the president of
Fairfield at the time, asked him to
become an assistant dean and the
first director of admissions at the
University. He served in this
capacity for ten years, 1951-61. His
job included visiting various high
schools to recruit students and
meeting with the students. He
also kept a special eye on the
freshman class. Through this job,
Fr. Mahan established relation-ships
with many students and
their families that lasted
throughout their stay at Fairfield
and beyond.
In 1961, he became the Ex-ecutive
Assistant to the President
under Fr. James Fitzgerald. He
has held this office under four
consecutive presidents: Fr. James
Fitzgerald, S.J. (1958-64), Fr.
William Mclnnes, S.J. (1964-73), Fr.
Thomas Fitzgerald, S.J. (1973-79),
and Fr. Aloysius P. Kelley, J.J.
(1979-80). His responsibilities as
Executive Assistant are varied and
touch almost every aspect of life
here at Fairfield. They have also
changed with each President. The
Executive Assistant does basical-ly
what the president asks him to
do; it is an extension of the
presidential office. He represents
the President when the Presdient
is unable to do so himself.
Fr. Mahan has taken on many
responsibilities during his years
as Executive Assistant. "Anytime
there was a job to be done, Fr.
Mahan would do it," commented
Fr. James Coughlin. "His job as
executive assistant never allows
him to be dramatic. He makes
things work around Fairfield yet
he receives little credit for it. Fair-field
will never realize all of the
things he does until he leaves."
Father Mahan's contributions to
Fairfield are many indeed. In 1961
he became the Director of Alumni
Relations. Prior to his taking the
job, the Alumni Association was
run by a faculty moderator. Fr.
Mahan was responsible for run-ning
reunions, homecomings, and
giving out awards. He also was
responsible for putting out the
alumni newsletter. Father men-tioned
that as the Director of
Alumni Relations he came to know
and establish relationships with
many graduates he had not
previously known. He ran the
Alumni Association until 1968,
when Jack Hickson was hired as
the first lay director. Dick
Popilowski, the present Alumni
Director, said of Fr. Mahan that
"He is a dear friend of many alum-ni;
he is well known and respected
by them. The most spectacular
trait indicated by many alumni is
that Fr. Mahan remembers
Much of Fairfield's history can be traced to this man, Fr. George Mahan.
{Photo by Patty Lanza]
everyone's names, and the alumni
really appreciate this."
Fr. Mahan is the only parish
priest that Fairfield University has
ever hand. Since 1975, he has
supervised all the weddings that
have taken place on campus as an
assistant pastor for Pius X Roman
Catholic Church in Fairfield. He
makes sure that all diocesan re-quirements
are fulfilled. He is also
the man that is responsible for the
successful United Way program at
Fairfield. Father, also, serves at
the Presidential Office Mason to
the commencement exercises and
is in. charge of the honorary
degree program.
He has proven himself an effec-tive
fundraiser more than once.
(Continued on page 2)
THE
FAIRFIELD Volume 4, No. 3, May 2,1980
FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY. FAIRFIELD. CONN. 064.«) MIRROR ^^ Incorporated 1977
Success Marks Deli's First Year
by Philip McGinty
The Fairfield University Student
Market is presently concluding
what they consider to be a suc-cessful
first year. According to
President Charlie Rose, the Deli
has done $72,000 worth of
business to date. Although the
Deli operated at a slight loss this
year, the officers informed that an
initial loss is normal for the first
year of a business.
In response to the belief by
many students that the Deli's
prices are unusually high, the of-ficers
emphasized that their in-come
this year did not cover their
costs fully. Speaking on behalf of
Loyola Medals to be Given
The Fairfield University Alumni
Association's St. Ignatius Loyola
Medal, the highest student leader-ship
honor bestowed upon a
graduating senior at Commence-ment,
will be awarded this year to
Carolen Fette and Stephen
Chessare.
Robert J. Brennan, Jr., Presi-dent
of the Fairfield University
Alumni Association, in making the
announcement, stated that no one
better epitomizes the spirit and
essence of the award than the
recipients for 1980. On behalf of
the Aliimni Association, he wishes
Carolen and Stephen continued
success in their future endeavors.
Ms. Fette, of Wayne, New
Jersey, was Co-chairman of 1978
Orientation, Secretary of the Ac-counting
Club, Chairman of
Career Spectrum, involved in plan-ning
and coordinating many S.E.C.
programs and Co-chairman of
1979 Senior Week. Upon gradua-tion,
Carolen will be working for
Arthur Andersen & Company, New
York City, as a Stafff Accountant.
Chessare, of Lenox,
Massachusetts, was 1979 Co-chairman
of Senior Week, Director
of Operations of S.E.C, on the
Judicial Review Board, 1978 and
1979 Orientation Committee and
Sports Director of WVOF. Upon
graduation, Stephen will be work-ing
for Condiesel Corporation as a
Production Control Planner.
The Loyola Medal was in-stituted
in 1952 by the Alumni
Association to honor a member of
the graduating Senior Class for
his/her outstanding contribution
to and loyal representation of Fair-field
University over his/her years
as an undergraduate of the Univer-sity.
This year because of the many
contributions that have been
made by Carolen Fette and
Stephen Chessare, both were
selected as co-winners of the
Loyola Medal by a committee of
administrators, faculty, students
and alumni.
the officers, Rose commented,
"We'd like to thank the students
for their tremendous support."
Concerning the successful
opening year, Rose stated, "I'd
like to thank Dean Schimpf for
securing the location in Gonzaga,
Mr. Fitzpatfick for his dealings
with the Health Department, and
Jim Connolly and FUSA for their
help, also."
The officers that have been
chosen for next year, John
Fitzgerald-President, Liz Anne
Harty-Secretary, and Mary Ellen
Fitzpatrick:Treasurer, informed
that the Deli will be expanding
their services to better serve the
students.
Newly planned for the fall will
be nightly dorm sales in which the
Deli will offer pre-prepared sand-wiches
to a specific dorm each
night of the week. The officers
also informed that on-campus
deliveries will almost certainly be
made during the week starting
next semester.
Also, possible for next year
would be dorm days, Northwest
Day for example, in which all items
at the Deli would be marked down
for the residents of the specified
dorm.
Student Services
Void Filled
Carolen Fette and Steve Chessare, recipients of the Ignatius Loyola Award, pose with Alumni Association
President Robert Brennan.
by Jean Leber
A restructuring of Student Ser-vices
positions has been planned
in order to provide more student
contact and fill the void left by the
departing Mrs. Samway.
Division of Mrs. Samway's posi-tion
into two positions with more
student contact is the change ten-tatively
planned. These two posi-tions
will be a person in charge of
university activities including
clubs, FUSA, and SEC, and a per-son
in charge of judicial affairs
and freshman orientation.
Mr. Fitzpatrick, presently direc-tor
of the Campus Center, will
assume the role of director of
University activities along with
directing the Campus Center.
Working under him will be the
Assistant director of University
Activities, a position which the
University has not yet filled.
In addition to this change in
responsibility, Mr. Krell who is
presently the Assistant Dean of
Students, will be assuming the
new title of Dean of Students. This
position will give him respon-sibilities
which include handicap-ped
counseling, advising interna-tional
students, and coordination
an alchohol education program.
Reporting to him will be the
counseling center, health ser-vices,
minority student affairs, the
title nine officer and the new un-filled
position responsible for
judicial affairs and freshman
orientation^
The restructuring will put Dean
Schimpf in charge of more co-ordination.
Reporting to him will
be Dean Krell, the new dean of
students, along with the positions
which now report to Mrs. Samway.
These are Mr. Fitzpatrick, now
director of university activities;
Mr. Cook, director of athletics; and
Miss Rogge in charge of campus
housing.
By putting the restructuring into
effect it is hoped that there will be
greater communication between
student services and the student
body. However, according to Dean
Schimpf "this is not to say Mr.
Krell or I are not available for stu-dent
contact now." The purpose
of the restructuring is to change
as the needs of the student body
have changed.