History Summit Establishes Travel Fund in Holmes' Honor

		Nira Herrmann, PhD, Dean of Dyson College, presents Dr. Holmes with an award for “a lifetime of dedication to his students and to history.”

By Denis McCauley ’79

Dyson alumni gathered in Pleasantville on Presidents’ Day weekend 2011 for the 15th Pace University History Summit. Continuing a tradition started in 1980, ten Pace graduates – all students of retired history professor Dr James H. Holmes – met over a weekend to discuss important topics in history, based on books they had recently read. The Cold War was chosen as the 2011 Summit theme, due partly to the fact that recently opened state archives have led to a wide-scale re-assessment of its origins, key events – and its end.

The Summit opened with a special ceremony, as Nira Herrmann, PhD, Dean of Dyson College, presented Dr. Holmes with an award for “a lifetime of dedication to his students and to history.” It was he who taught the seminar that gave rise to the Summit and – along with his colleagues the late professors John Buchsbaum, John Norman and William Michaelsen – imbued countless students over the years with a passion for the study of history. A few months earlier, his former students recognized their mentor’s achievements by establishing the Professor James H. Holmes International Travel Fund.  The fund supports the efforts of Pace students – majoring in history, economics or political science – to learn about and appreciate foreign societies and cultures through first-hand experience.

The 2011 History Summit participants included Dr. Holmes, Laurence Bellom ’81, Paul Doty ’86, James Holderman ’88, Kevin Killeen ’86, Brian McCauley ’75, Denis McCauley ’79, James McCauley ’73, Howard Shanker ’81, and Peter Walsh ’86.