Holy Cross Honors Five Alumni for Professional Achievement and Commitment to Service, Faith and Justice

The College of the Holy Cross has honored five alumni with Sanctae Crucis Awards. The highest non-degree recognition bestowed by the College on a graduate, the annual awards are presented to alumni who are leaders in business, professional or civic life, who live by the highest intellectual and ethical standards, and who are committed to the service of faith and promotion of justice.

The 17th annual awards presentation took place at a dinner on campus on Sept. 12, 2014.  During the day, recipients participated in a series of campus events, including a panel discussion moderated by Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of the College, and seminar-style conversations with faculty and students about how their lives and career paths were shaped at Holy Cross.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients:

Aimee Bell ’88 Deputy Editor, Vanity Fair

An English major at Holy Cross, Bell is currently deputy editor of Vanity Fair, the National Magazine Award-winning magazine that reaches 1.1 million subscribers and newsstand buyers each month.  The daughter and granddaughter of Holy Cross graduates, she began her work in publishing in 1990 at Spy magazine, the popular satirical monthly, and worked as a deputy editor at The New York Observer before joining the Vanity Fair staff in1992.  She has edited many special issues of Vanity Fair, covering a wide array of topics: Hollywood, Africa, world leaders, music, the environment, fashion and theatre.  She works with acclaimed writers, specializing in the work of essayists, including the late Christopher Hitchens, James Wolcott, dance critic Laura Jacobs, humorist Fran Lebowitz, and art and social critic Bob Colacello.

Bell provides professional counsel to Holy Cross through her work with the College’s Alumni Marketing Advisory Group.

She holds a master’s in English from New York University, and lives in New York City with her husband David Kamp and their two children.

Elizabeth A. Cafferty ’97 Senior Advocacy Officer, Women’s Refugee Commission

Since graduating from Holy Cross, Cafferty has dedicated her professional career to standing for justice on behalf of people displaced by conflict and war, and to advocating for their rights. She currently directs the advocacy work of the Women’s Refugee Commission, an independent nonprofit organization.

In her position, which she has held since 2011, Cafferty advises members of the United Nations Security Council, donor governments, and UN agencies on policy, and works to improve the lives and protect the rights of women and girls in the parts of the world most affected by conflict, disasters and poverty.

Previously, she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital as associate director of the Division for Global Health and Human Rights, where she directed an internal research study on sex trafficking of women and girls, and developed and managed a variety of international women’s health initiatives. Prior to that, she spent eight years in London working on international human rights and development issues.  She served as founding director of Women for Women International and deputy executive secretary of the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics.

Cafferty majored in political science at Holy Cross and received a master’s of social science in women studies and international development from the University of York in England. She lives in New York City.

Robert Ferris ’92, D.O. Chief of the Division of Technical Leadership and Research, Office of HIV/AIDS at United States Agency for International Development

Ferris oversees a $125 million technical assistance and research portfolio at the Office of HIV/AIDS at USAID.  He advises more than 30 national HIV programs, as well as programs in 20 nations in sub-Saharan Africa.

He is cochair of the Adult Technical Treatment Working Group of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is currently supporting life-saving antiretroviral treatment for 6.7 million men, women and children worldwide.

A psychology major at Holy Cross, Ferris worked after graduation for two years in the Worcester Public Schools and volunteered renovating houses through the program, Matthew 25.  In 1994, he began medical studies at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine  and simultaneously began visiting Haiti, Nicaragua, Mexico and Honduras where he volunteered his medical and public health expertise.  He served a residency at St. Vincent Hospital in Manhattan and is boarded in both pediatrics and internal medicine.  After earning his medical degree in 1998, he deferred his internship and elected to spend a year volunteering in Haiti at a pediatric hospital and orphanage.  He has conducted extensive clinical research in the metabolic complications of HIV at SUNY Stony Brook.  Haiti remains close to his heart:  after the 2010 earthquake, Ferris served as a medical officer for USAID aboard the US Navy’s hospital ship, helping to coordinate medical care for the critically injured.

He and his wife Meghan live in Potomac, Md., with their two children.

Dennis C. Golden ’63, Ed.D. Former president, Fontbonne University

In 1995, Golden was named president of Fontbonne University in St. Louis, the first male, married, and lay president of the Catholic university shepherded by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s.  During his 19-tenure (he retired earlier this year), he increased enrollment to an all-time high, oversaw a name change and a record-setting capital campaign.  He made outreach to underserved populations a priority of  his presidency, and he also served as professor of education.

A scholarship football player at Holy Cross under legendary coach Dr. Eddie Anderson, Golden was twice named All-New England and All-East, and earned Associated Press All-American honorable mention.  He co-captained the Crusaders’ 1962 football team with fellow Hall of Famer Tom Hennessy, and was a member of the Quantico 1963 Armed Forces Championship football team.  After graduation (he majored in history) he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys but turned down a pro offer to enter the Marines.

Following military service, he earned his master’s in counseling from Assumption College, and then received a doctorate in higher education administration from Boston College.  He taught and worked in student affairs at Holy Cross, Duquesne University, University of Louisville, the University of Missouri, and Framingham State. He also coached college football on the Division I and Division III levels for 13 years.

Golden has been a member of numerous college and university accreditation teams.  He is a nationally-recognized authority on pluralism and diversity, and has written, published and consulted about law and higher education, executive leadership, enrollment management, strategic planning, student affairs, intercollegiate athletics, community service and the presidency.  He is past president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

Now living in Huntersville, N.C., he and his wife Monica are parents of three grown children, including Dennis J. Golden, a member of the Class of 1989.

James P. Murphy ’62, M.D. Otolaryngologist

An ear, nose and throat physician, Murphy retired from private practice in New Jersey when the last of his four children graduated from college.  In 2007, at the age of 66, he moved to Tamale, in northern Ghana, where he had first traveled 30 years ago after finishing his medical training and seeing the impact one doctor can make in a developing country.

A biology major at Holy Cross, he went on to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey where he received his medical degree, followed by a decade of graduate education and residences in medicine (at the University of Kentucky), general surgery (Cook County Hospital, Chicago) otolaryngology and maxillo-facial survery (Northwestern) and otology/neuro-otology/head and neck surgery (Baptist and Mercy Hospitals in Nashville).  During this decade, he also served two years as a captain and flight surgeon in the U.S. Army.

Today, he and his wife Cynthia, an audiologist, are back in the United States for only a few weeks each year.  But the majority of his time away from Ghana is spent on the road, seeking donations of medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals to support his work.

He also received a master’s degree in Public Health from Columbia in 1995.