University to Present Frank J. O’Hara Alumni Awards at Reunion 2013

Jun 4, 2013

The University of Scranton will honor five individuals with the Frank J. O’Hara Award at the University’s Reunion 2013 O’Hara Award Ceremony on Friday, June 7. Joseph P. Bannon, M.D., of Clarks Summit, class of 1983, will receive the award for medicine; Michael D. DeMichele, Ph.D., of Scranton, class of 1963, will receive the award for University service; James F. Duffy, S.J., M.D., of Washington, D.C., class of 1988, will receive the award for education; Kathleen Sprows Cummings, Ph.D., of South Bend, Ind., class of 1993, will receive the award religion and spirituality; and Patrick W. Shea, Esq., of Wilton, Conn., and New York City, class of 1978, will receive the award for law.

Bannon

Joseph P. Bannon, M.D., is chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Regional Hospital of Scranton and a clinical professor at The Commonwealth Medical College. He also serves on the board of governors for the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Bannon was a founding partner and is vice president of Delta Medix, the largest surgical group in Northeastern Pennsylvania. He served as president of the Pennsylvania Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the Lackawanna County Medical Society. Board certified in both general and colon rectal surgery, Dr. Bannon has written many journal articles and textbook chapters, and has presented at meetings around the world. He is also a fellow of the Academy of the Clinical Educators.

An active member of The University of Scranton community, Dr. Bannon served on the executive committee of the Pride, Passion, Promise Capital Campaign, Board of Regents and Board of Trustees. He was a founding member of the Medical Alumni Council at Scranton and currently serves on its executive committee.

Dr. Bannon graduated from The University of Scranton in 1983, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology and history. He earned his M.D. at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and completed a surgical residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and a fellowship in colon and rectal surgery at Jefferson Medical College.

DeMichele

Since 1967, Michael D. DeMichele, Ph.D., has served as a professor in the History and Political Science departments at The University of Scranton. He has held several positions of leadership at the University including chair of those departments.

During his distinguished teaching career, Dr. DeMichele has won many teaching awards, including the Alpha Sigma Nu Award for Teaching Excellence; the University’s President’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Sears-Roebuck National Award for Outstanding Teaching and Campus Leadership, the Dexter Hanley College Teaching Award, and the first CASE Professor of the Year Award in 1985. He was chosen by the class of 2004 as the University Professor of the Year.

Dr. DeMichele received the Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology Award from the International Conference of Technology. He was also awarded the first-ever Campion Award, which recognizes an administrative, faculty or staff member who contributed to the University’s mission as a Catholic and Jesuit institution.

Dr. DeMichele has been published numerous times and has presented papers on ethic studies topics throughout the world. He is an active proponent of study abroad programs, taking more than 1,000 students to London for coursework.

A graduate of The University of Scranton in 1963, Dr. DeMichele earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Penn State University and completed post-doctoral studies at Cambridge University in England.
Duffy

James F. Duffy, S.J., M.D., is associate dean for clinical education and an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He teaches classes in ethics and physical diagnosis at the school and works closely with its Ethics Consultation Service, where he helps doctors and patients make difficult ethical decisions concerning health care.

A board-certified internist, Fr. Duffy mentors medical students in internal medicine at the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, D.C., and serves the immigrant population of Gaithersburg, Md., at Mercy Health Clinic. A member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the American College of Physicians and the American Board of Internal Medicine, he recently completed two terms on the University’s Board of Trustees.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from The University of Scranton in 1988 and his M.D. from Georgetown in 1992, Fr. Duffy served as an undersea medical officer for the U.S. Navy in Sardegna, Italy. He returned to the U.S. after four years, earning his master’s in health care ethics from Loyola University in Chicago, Ill., and his M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. In 1996, Fr. Duffy was ordained and began working with the Georgetown Jesuit community.

Fr. Duffy’s Jesuit formation and unique educational background compelled him to serve the people of his community throughout his career, offering assistance to inner-city and immigrant populations in need.

Cummings

            Kathleen Sprows Cummings, Ph.D., is an associate professor of American studies and director of the William and Anna Jean Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. As director, she leads research projects, seminars, conferences and publications with the nation’s top scholars as they explore Catholicism’s role in United States history. She is also leading a multi-year project researching the “Lived History of Vatican II” in 15 dioceses and on six continents.

Dr. Cummings is the author of two books: “New Women of the Old Faith: Gender and American Catholicism in the Progressive Era” and “Citizen Saints: Catholics and Canonization in American Culture.” Her research for the books has taken her to Rome several times, where she worked in the Vatican Secret Archives and in other religious archives in the city. An expert on gender in Catholicism, Dr. Cummings is often a guest on CNN and NBC and is a source for articles in the New York Daily News, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Boston Globe. She often serves as a media commentator on contemporary events in the Church, including most recently on the papal transition.

Dr. Cummings graduated earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from The University of Scranton and later earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Notre Dame. She is a native of Aston, Pa.

Shea

Patrick W. Shea, Esq., is a senior partner at the international law firm Paul Hastings LLP, where he represents companies in employment claims, including discrimination, wage and hour matters, and employee benefits. He joined Paul Hastings in its Washington, D.C., office in 1984 as an associate and was elected to the partnership in February 1989. Later that year, he started that office’s Employment Law Department, a practice that later grew to 16 attorneys. Shea is currently co-chair of the firm’s New York Employment Law Department.

Considered one of the top employment attorneys in the nation, Shea was one of a select few employment lawyers in New York City to be rated a Band1 practitioner by Chambers and Partners and was elected to the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2002. He has been named to the list of The Best Lawyers in America for more than 10 years.

At The University of Scranton, Shea graduated summa cum laude before going on to Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn., where he was an editor for the Law Review and earned his J.D. in 1981. He served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Raymond J. Pettine in Providence, R.I.

In addition to his work in law, Shea is active in his community, helping at-risk youths in a leadership role with several nonprofit organizations. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Scranton.

The O’Hara Awards, named for a late administrator who faithfully served the University for 53 years, are the highest honor bestowed jointly by the University and its Alumni Board. The awards recognize Scranton graduates and others who have achieved distinction in their professional or personal endeavors.

06-03-13

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