Bethlehem University
DE LA SALLE AWARD
BROTHER JAMES GAFFNEY, FSC
The De La Salle Award is presented by Bethlehem University to a person who has distinguished himself in education or to a person who has contributed in an outstanding way to the good of Bethlehem University. Brother James Gaffney, you meet both of those criteria in an outstanding way.
Your entire life has been devoted to education. You joined the Brothers of the Christian Schools immediately upon graduation from St. Mel High School in Chicago. After a period teaching in secondary school you were asked to assist in the formation of young men who were joining the Brothers. Recognizing your dedication and outstanding talent at a very young age the Brothers of the Chicago Province asked you to serve as their Provincial. You filled that role for eleven years. During that period the other Provincials also recognized your gifts and asked you to serve as the President of the USA/Toronto Region of the Christian Brothers, a post in which you served several terms. Your desire to see that young people received a Lasallian education was your motivation for serving on innumerable committees and commissions devoted to the quality, orthodoxy, and financial soundness of the many institutions for which you were responsible.
One responsibility of the Provincials of the USA/Toronto Region is to provide Brothers to staff Bethlehem University. You took that responsibility very seriously and visited Bethlehem University several times during your term as President. You became very familiar with the problems faced by our University. You were influential in working with Senator Percy of Illinois to obtain relief for the Palestinian Universities, at that time subject to frequent closures.
After your years of service as Provincial you had a very brief respite from administrative duties during which you completed your doctorate. You even managed to get back into the classroom for a semester. However, a person with your talents could not long avoid an administrative position. In 1988 you were appointed President of Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. Under your leadership Lewis University has flourished and currently enrolls 4,350 students. Not only has the enrollment expanded dramatically under your leadership, but the campus has taken on an entirely new appearance and what was once almost a wasteland has become a island of beauty and functionality. However, just as dramatic is the change in attitude. Visitors to Lewis are made to feel welcome from the first moment they step on the campus.
However, from the perspective of Bethlehem University, your greatest contribution has been the annual provision of a scholarship to a Bethlehem University graduate to study for a Masters Degree at Lewis University. Since this project began in 1985 Lewis University has been the largest single source for the preparation of new faculty members for Bethlehem University. Twelve of our graduates have attended Lewis and have received degrees that have prepared them to teach Palestinian youth. In recent years, when other organizations which sponsored graduate study for Palestinians abandoned the field, Lewis University has continued to provide well prepared young scholars for our faculty. This support has been vital to our University and is deeply appreciated.
Br. James, it is now our privilege to recognize your contribution to education and your outstanding support of Bethlehem University by conferring on you the De La Salle Award.
Archbishop Pietro Sambi Brother Vincent Malham, FSC
Chancellor President
Given at Bethlehem University on October 2, 2003
