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DU Home > News & Events > Media Releases > September 2003

MEDIA RELEASES

Contact
Jessica Mackinnon
jmack@dom.edu
(708) 524-6289

Father Close Receives Bradford O'Neill Medallion

Father James J. Close, president and CEO of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, will receive the Bradford O’Neill Medallion for Social Justice at Dominican University’s academic convocation on September 11. The convocation will be held at 4:00 p.m. in the Lund Auditorium at the university’s Main Campus, 7900 W. Division Street, River Forest.

During his 30-year tenure at the 115-year-old Mercy Home, Father Close has presided over an era of unprecedented change, both physical and philosophical. He has overseen a substantial expansion coupled with ongoing physical plant improvements. With his professional staff, he has given damaged children the unique opportunity to receive a private education, therapy, tutoring, educational counseling, employment assistance and mentoring.

In 1981, Father Close instituted an aftercare program that provides a link to Mercy Home and assistance for as long as the child or young adult needs it. In 1987, he established in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood Mercy Home’s first residence for girls and launched a Friends First program matching volunteer mentors with at-risk youth.

Dominican University’s Bradford O’Neill Medallion for Social Justice was named in honor of Sister Vincent Ferrer Bradford and Sister Thomas Aquinas O’Neill, two pioneering Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. The award is presented annually to an individual whose life and work reflect and embrace the university’s core mission to create a just and humane society. Father Close will receive the award in honor of his tireless efforts to provide a safe and loving home to children whose lives have been shattered by neglect and abuse.

For more information about convocation or the Bradford O’Neill Medallion, call (708) 524-6294.

Founded in 1901, Dominican University is a comprehensive, coeducational Catholic institution offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Dominican offers 50 undergraduate programs in the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences and 15 graduate programs through the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the Graduate School of Business Information Systems, the School of Education and the Graduate School of Social Work. In the 2004 issue of America’s Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report ranked Dominican University in the top tier of Midwest master’s level universities and as a Best Value for the sixth consecutive year.