Br. Basil Valente, OFM, lecturer in journalism and mass communication, earned the Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in Service when St. Bonaventure University recognized three outstanding faculty members during its annual Honors Luncheon.

They were also recognized during the university’s 143rd commencement exercises on its campus in Allegany, N.Y. in May. A native of Rutland, Vt., Br. Basil joined the university faculty in 1996. He teaches classes in mass media, public relations, communications technology, media graphics and advertising.

Br. Basil also took on the formidable task of creating the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s first master’s degree program, a master of arts degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, which will debut this fall. He will teach the first course in the graduate program and, in doing so, will have the opportunity to welcome journalism’s first cohort into the program.

A winner of national advertising awards, including a gold medal for outdoor transit advertising, Br. Basil has been recognized by the Buffalo News for his innovative and creative teaching approaches at St. Bonaventure.

He challenges his students to work as communications professionals immersed in actual advertising, media graphics and public relations projects. Br. Basil also serves as faculty director and a tutor for the University’s Francis E. Kelley Oxford program, which each summer sends more than 30 of St. Bonaventure’s brightest students to Oxford, England, for study at Somerville College under international tutors.

Br. Basil also serves both the Bonaventure community and his larger Franciscan community, Holy Name Province, by directing the SBU Franciscan Vocation Program, under which he mentors young men who may be considering a vocation.

— This essay was written in 2003 while Br. Basil was teaching at St. Bonaventure University. It appeared in the September 2003 issue of The Anthonian magazine.