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McCann Student Creates New Mace For MCLA - May 16, 2008
 | | Superintendent James Brosnan, President Mary K. Grant, Brett Gelinas, Tom Matuszak |
NORTH ADAMS – Forty years ago, four machine shop students at McCann Technical School presented what was then North Adams State College (NASC) with a hand-tooled mace, which has been used in official processions. This week, McCann presented Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) with a new mace, just in time for Saturday’s 11 a.m. commencement ceremony in the Amsler Campus Center.
While four students created the 1968 mace, with the advent of computer-aided design and manufacturing, only one student was needed to construct the new one, which Superintendent James Brosnan said was done as a special project for MCLA. Brett Gelinas, a computer-aided design student at McCann, did the design work and drew up the manufacturing codes for the new mace, which took about 100 hours to create.“Brett is very community oriented. He helps out in the community all the time, and did a fantastic job,” said Tom Matuszak, McCann machine technology instructor.
The idea for a new mace came after MCLA officials found a 1968 North Adams Transcript article about the first mace McCann made for the College. “When we discovered the 1968 article, which showcased the collaboration between McCann and the College as they created NASC mace, we thought this would be a logical project to reproduce with our good friends and colleagues at McCann,” said Denise Richardello, MCLA vice president of enrollment and external relations. “They did a great job, and we look forward to using this new mace at commencement.”
At MCLA, the college mace is carried by the faculty marshal at the head of procession on students, faculty, administrators and others on ceremonial occasions, such as commencement and convocation. The ceremonial mace is a descendant of the medieval battle mace, often carried by those charged with the safety of a lord or king, and designed to tear through heavy armor. It symbolizes the governing authority of the institution. While the original design included NASC’s seal – an image of the beacon monument on Mount Greylock – the new mace features MCLA’s seal of gates and pillars. To maintain a sense of history, the new mace reads North Adams State College on one side, and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on the other.
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu |
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