College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Alum

Saint John's University Alumni

Steven Gravelle writes:

Greetings from western PA! I liked your letter to us alums and I would like to respond. I will try to do it all with e-mail, and will only send a photo if you insist (lazy.) Here's my autobiog: I graduated from Saint John's in 1984 after attempting to do research with an HP GC with the infamous Dr. Ross. I went to Northwestern University directly and spent five grueling years earning my Ph.D in P. Chem. (1989) from Eric Weitz (time-resolved organometallic photochemistry.) I then had a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas in Austin with J. Michael White (laser-induced surface photochemistry.) After about 1.5 years in Austin, I obtained a teaching position at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.

Saint Vincent is the archabbey of the Benedictines in the U.S.; we have just celebrated our 150th anniversary. Trivia: St. John's is the first daughter abbey; St. John's and Saint Vincent vie for first place for largest Benedictine abbey. More trivia: the subtle spelling difference between St. John's and Saint Vincent is an intentional marketing scheme on the part of SVC. (Feel free to edit the trivia out; I just thought I would pass it along.) I have been at SVC for 5 years; I start my 6th year tomorrow. I just became chair of the department and will be going up for tenure this fall. At SVC, we have 5 full-time faculty and one lab manager and 55 total majors.

Personal stuff: I married Ann Ruth McLeod in 1987; we began dating when I was a Senior at SJU. Ann graduated from Saint Benedict's in 1985 in Art. She loves pottery and worked as a potter in a pottery shop when we lived in Austin. She is currently at home with our two children, Sean (almost 5 yrs.) and Brian (3 yrs.) She is trying to get her pottery career going again. She has a wheel in the basement, access to a kiln in a nearby town and has just bought a ton of clay.

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Michael R. Ross
Chemistry Department, College of St.Benedict/St. John's University
St. Joseph, MN 56374
320-363-5482

Comments to author: mross@csbsju.edu