Media contact:

Becca Baker, Associate Director of Media Relations 724-830-1069 bbaker@setonhill.edu

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GREENSBURG, Pa. – Sister Lois Sculco, SC, Ph.D., vice president for mission and student life at Seton Hill University, will receive the John McGrady Award from the Catholic Youth Association of Pittsburgh at the 35th Anniversary Art Rooney Award Dinner on April 29 at the Westin Convention Center in Pittsburgh. Sr. Lois is being honored with this award in recognition of her years of dedicated service to the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill, for which she serves as Administrator.

“Sr. Lois is, in many ways, the conscience of Seton Hill,” said Seton Hill University President JoAnne Boyle. “She keeps us mindful of our greater mission, in everything we do. In her work with the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, and as our vice president for mission and student life, Sr. Lois helps Seton Hill students to transform themselves as they prepare to transform the world.”

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) was established on the campus of Seton Hill University in 1987. Seton Hill initiated this national Catholic movement toward Holocaust studies in response to the urging of Pope John Paul II to recognize the significance of the Shoah, the Holocaust, and to "promote the necessary historical and religious studies on this event which concerns the whole of humanity today." The NCCHE has as its primary purpose the broad dissemination of scholarship on the root causes of anti-Semitism, its relation to the Holocaust and the implications from the Catholic perspective of both for today's world. Toward this end the Center is committed to equipping scholars, especially those at Catholic institutions, to enter into serious discussion on the causes of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust; shaping appropriate curricular responses at Catholic institutions and other educational sites; sustaining Seton Hill's Catholic Institute for Holocaust Studies in Israel through a cooperative program with Yad Vashem, the Isaac Jacob Institute for Religious Law and Hebrew University; encouraging scholarship and research through conferences, publications, workshops for educators, and similar activities; sponsoring local events on the Holocaust and related topics in the University and the community and enhancing Catholic-Jewish relations.

John McGrady spent his entire career in service to the community through government services and volunteer activities. He is also remembered as being a devoted husband and loving father to his 14 children. Mr. McGrady spent more than 40 years on the Catholic Youth Association board of directors and several of those as chairman. In memory of his years of humanitarian service, the recipient of the John E. McGrady Award reflects the virtue espoused by John McGrady of commitment to community service.

Other prominent members of the local community who will be receiving awards at the 2008 Art Rooney Award Dinner will be: Terry Bradshaw, who will receive the Art Rooney Award; Kenneth Melani, M.D., president and CEO of Highmark, who will receive the Art Rooney Corporate Leadership Award; Dick LeBeau, Steelers defensive coordinator, who will receive the Bob Prince Award; and Peggy Finnegan, WPXI news anchor, who will receive the Bill Burns Award.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Lawrenceville-based Catholic Youth Association (CYA), a non-sectarian, nonprofit agency founded in 1925. The CYA provides wellness, recreational, cultural, and educational programs to both children and seniors in the Pittsburgh area. For more information about the CYA or the Art Rooney Awards Dinner and Auction, please visit www.catholicyouthassociation.com.

Seton Hill University, founded by the Sisters of Charity, is a coeducational Catholic liberal arts university in Greensburg, Pa. Chartered in 1918, Seton Hill offers more than 30 undergraduate programs and nine graduate programs, including an MBA. Seton Hill brings the world to its students through its distinguished lecturers and nationally and internationally renowned centers. Recognized three times by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the nation’s Top 100 Entrepreneurial Universities, Seton Hill has also been named a Best Baccalaureate College by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best in the Northeast by The Princeton Review, and one of Pennsylvania’s Top 100 Businesses by Pennsylvania Business Central. In addition, Seton Hill has been named a University of Distinction by Colleges of Distinction, an organization founded by a group of concerned parents, educators and admissions professionals. For more information on Seton Hill please visit www.setonhill.edu or call 1-800-826-6234.