School news: Fulbright award, Knott Scholars and other award recipients

 

Steven Hughes, professor and chairman of history at Loyola University Maryland, recently received a Fulbright Senior Research Grant to study the 19th and 20th century evolution of an Italian law that drastically lessened the punishment for honor killings, according to the Baltimore institution.

Hughes will conduct his research in Rome during the 2014-15 academic year, focusing on what’s known in Italy as delitto d’onore (“crime of honor”), according to Loyola.  

“Under the law, when you found your wife ‘in flagrante’ you could kill her, and the other man too, and receive grossly mitigated penalties,” Hughes said in a statement. “Your likelihood of getting a year in jail was pretty thin.”

While approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals will travel abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2014-15, Hughes is one of only two people who received a senior research grant for Italy, according to Loyola.

His research will be the first historical study of delitto d’onore theory, legislation and practice in modern Italy, according to Loyola. The penalties for violence against female family members for sexual – or alleged sexual – transgressions were weakened in the early 1800s, and the law gradually became wider in its application from Napoleonic Code to Fascist regimes in the 1930s. Women could kill an erring husband; past affairs or discovered love letters also became delitto d’onore fodder.

The law was in effect in Italy until 1981, according to Loyola. Hughes will examine how the legal concept was abolished, with an eye on current problems of honor killings elsewhere.

“I’m very interested in how these people talked about delitto d’onore – why is it important that a law like this be maintained or even broadened?” Hughes said in a statement.

Hughes became interested in delitto d’onore when he spent time at the Biblioteca Nazionale di Roma to research his book “Politics of the Sword: Dueling, Honor, and Masculinity in Modern Italy,” according to Loyola. He will return to that library, as well as the Biblioteca della Camera – Italy’s equivalent of the Library of Congress – where he’ll have access to records of parliamentary debates.

Hughes will also be a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome, allowing him to network with world-renowned experts and utilize additional historical resources, according to Loyola. Once his research is completed, Hughes will write a monograph.

This is Hughes’ second Fulbright award, according to Loyola. The first, which took him to Rome in 1992, was the beginning of his study of dueling and questions of criminality, policing and masculinity in modern Italy that led to presentations and publications over the following two decades, including his first book “Crime, Disorder, and the Risorgimento: The Politics of Policing in Bologna.”

At Loyola, Hughes helped develop the international program in Leuven, Belgium, and served as director for six years, according to Loyola. He received Loyola’s Nachbar Award for Scholarship in 2010 and won a National Endowment for the Humanities Travel Grant in summer 1998.

Hughes has taught history at Loyola since 1985.

Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Doreen Bolger, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art; Rebecca Hoffberger, director of the American Visionary Art Museum; and Julia Marciari-Alexander, executive director of the Walters Art Museum, received  Notre Dame of Maryland University’s Pro Urbe Award April 22 at the Baltimore institution, the college announced.

The award recognizes the professional accomplishments and community outreach of the female leaders of Baltimore’s major cultural arts organizations, according to Notre Dame.

The awards were presented as part of The Arts Transforming Communities, the Charles J. Busta III Lecture in Business, according to Notre Dame. A panel featured Alsop, Bolger, Hoffberger and Marciari-Alexander, who discussed how their organizations are effecting change in the city. The discussion was moderated by Caroline Busta, associate editor, Artforum magazine.

The Charles J. Busta III lecture series is designed to showcase the thoughts and experiences of business leaders, particularly female leaders, to encourage creativity and personal growth in women, according to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s Pro Urbe Award is one of the institution’s highest honors presented to individuals whose accomplishments in the community have had lasting impacts for Baltimore, according to the university.

 

St. Joseph School eighth grader Connor Maher and fourth grader Kiera Papa were recently named Knott Scholars, the Cockeysville school announced. They each received four-year, full-tuition scholarships.

Knott Scholarship Funds are awarded to Catholic students who want to continue their education at a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to St. Joseph School. The awards are based on academic merit.

Connor, who maintained straight As throughout middle school and scored 95 percent or higher on his seventh grade standardized tests and his high school entrance exam, plans to attend Calvert Hall College High School in Towson this fall, according to St. Joseph School. Kiera also scored 95 percent or higher on her third grade standardized tests. She received a full-tuition scholarship for grades five through eight at St. Joseph School.

Sarah Marie Petrunyak, an eighth-grader at Sacred Heart School, has also been named a Knott Scholar, according to the Glyndon school. She received a four-year scholarship and plans to attend Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson this fall.

Students in kindergarten and fourth grade at St. Joseph School are paired together as reading buddies, according to the Fullerton school. They meet during the school year to read books and work on crafts.

The students recently gathered to celebrate Easter.