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Connolly-Delouvrier international scholars meet their benefactors
Maureen McKew
 With
fond wishes and loving memories of their wife, mother, sister, aunt and
cousin, members of the Connolly and Delouvrier families joined the Rev.
Edmund J. Dobbin, O.S.A., University president; Dr. John R. Johannes, vice
president for Academic Affairs; and other representatives of the faculty
and administration in saluting this year’s Connelly-Delouvrier Scholars.
These students, whose scholarships will provide them with a semester of
study abroad, were honored at a reception in a very appropriate venue: the
President’s Lounge of the Connelly Center, named for the late Mr.
and Mrs. John Connelly, who were the founders of the Connelly Foundation,
Villanova benefactors, and parents of the late Judith Connelly Delouvrier,
in whose memory scholarships were established.
This year’s scholarship winners will study in England, France, Spain,
Germany, Italy, Argentina, Japan and Vietnam. Maria D’Amato, Gina
Pitera, Nicholas Bouknight, Elizabeth Lang, Kathleen Spencer, Catherine
Peterman, Nicholas Erumin, Kathleen Halcovage, Justin Knabb, Gail Kelley
and Robert Manzanares attended the reception along with members of their
families.
Noting that four years that have passed since the inauguration of the scholarship,
Father Dobbin said that in the early years, it was necessary to promote
heavily the idea of study abroad. Today’s students, on the other hand,
actively seek the opportunity. “It is in great demand here at Villanova
and around the country,” he stated. “Students already appreciate
the need for and value of study abroad. The problem now is cost. This is
where the Connelly-Delouvrier Scholarship comes in. It directly addresses
the cost issue and enables some of Villanova’s most promising and
accomplished students to have an opportunity which they might not otherwise
have.” Gesturing around the room, Father Dobbin acknowledged Villanova’s
debt to the Connelly family. “The history of their benefaction to
this university is just enormous,” he remarked. Johannes also expressed
his gratitude and added congratulations to the students.
Caitlin Fouratt ’04, who used her Connelly-Delouvrier Scholarship
last year to study in Costa Rica, recounted her experiences there and presented
a folio of letters from her fellow scholars to Mrs. Josephine C. Mandeville,
president of the Connelly Foundation and sister of Judith Delouvrier.
 Mandeville
assured Fouratt that the letters would be treasured and read. She went on
to speak of the qualities of her sister, who died in 1996 in the Pan American
Flight 800 crash. She also spoke of the motivations of Judith Delouvrier’s
family in establishing the scholarship. “Because of the incredible
void that existed after Judith’s death, we, the Connolly Foundation
and her family, sought to create something special, something that would
attempt to reflect the joy – the enormous joy – with which she
lived her life and which she brought to us.” She especially thanked
Father Dobbin, Dr. Johannes and Dr. Edwin Goff, director of the Honors Program,
for their support of the program. Following her, Philippe Delouvrier added
his wishes to the students who will carry his late wife’s name and
spirit around the world with them.
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