John Bonofiglio, Alumni "Ambassador" By Frances Harding, Editor
John Bonofiglio (HBA’81) has always gone that extra mile when it comes to making connections between Lakehead University and the Italian and Francophone communities. “His gracious style and genuine warmth and enthusiasm for all things Lakehead make him an ideal Ambassador,” says Bonnie Moore, Director of Development. Bonofiglio was born of Italian parents who emigrated from Italy to France in the 1950s. He went to private school near the city of Nancy in the Lorraine region, and then moved with his parents to Thunder Bay as a young adult. Bonofiglio studied languages (French and Spanish) at Lakehead and became involved with the Association of Francophone Students in Northwestern Ontario (AEFNO), serving as President. He was also one of two founders of a French student newspaper, Info-Impact, serving universities nationally and abroad, and worked as an interpreter at many national and international sporting events. As an imaginative and energetic undergraduate, Bonofiglio recalls transforming the Agora into a Parisian street scene complete with café tables and fresh croissants flown in daily from a French bakery in Toronto—all in the name of fostering an understanding of an appreciation for French culture. These days, he is focusing his creativity on Lakehead University Institute of Italian Studies.
Institute of Italian Studies The idea of a Chair of Italian Studies at Lakehead was formulated about 15 years ago by members of the Thunder Bay Italian community. To some extent, it was modeled on the same principles as the Chair in Finnish Studies. Money would be raised by the Thunder Bay community to bring in visiting scholars in an effort to foster academic linkages between Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, and Europe. However, members of the Italian community in Thunder Bay chose to take a wider view of things. Their vision was to develop an Institute of Italian Studies – a body that would undertake a variety of initiatives to promote, preserve, and celebrate Italian language, culture, and history − in Canada and in Italy. Initiatives undertaken to date have included book publishing, a speaker series, and fundraising for capital projects, a language course, and scholarships. John Bonofiglio is motivated by the need to bring Lakehead University and the Italian community closer together. Last fall, during a talk he gave at the DaVinci Centre at the invitation of the Italian Cultural Committee of Thunder Bay (ICC), he spoke about Lakehead University and what opportunities the institution is providing for Italian-Canadians – particularly the children and the grandchildren of the older generation living in Thunder Bay. (Bonofiglio’s oldest daughter Erika, 21, will be a graduate of the Lakehead Nursing program, and his younger daughter Andrea, 16, is considering enrolling in the same program when she finishes high school.) Passion and pride are fuelling Bonofiglio’s current endeavor − to assist the many Italian cultural groups across Thunder Bay to work together toward establishing an endowed scholarship for Lakehead University. Bonofiglio is President of the 15-member Board of Directors of the Lakehead University Institute of Italian Studies, which meets once a month in the Avila Centre. It’s a dynamic group, he says, which includes a wide cross section of the community including professionals, business managers, as well as two Lakehead University students. Their most recent achievement was to rally around the “Arthur Mauro Challenge” of raising $150,000 from the community to match a donation of the same amount from Arthur Mauro for the ATAC capital campaign. Arthur Mauro is a distinguished businessman and philanthropist who was raised in Thunder Bay and given an Honorary Degree from Lakehead in 1997. He was in Thunder Bay on November 2, 2006, for a naming ceremony in his honor of AT-1001 – a 150-seat lecture hall in the Advanced Technology & Academic Centre (ATAC). “I felt a great sense of accomplishment at the unveiling,” says Bonofiglio. “For me, the event symbolized the beginning of a new relationship. It expressed, in a very concrete way, the strong presence of the Thunder Bay Italian community at Lakehead University, and of Lakehead’s recognition of the community’s contributions.” Institute of Italian Studies
Recent Accomplishments Book Publishing
In their Footsteps stories from the Italian community of Thunder Bay edited by John Potestio (HBA’70, MA’81) and The Italians of Thunder Bay by John Potestio.
Speaker Series
A lecture in 2004 by Dr. Bruce Strang, Associate Professor of History, entitled, “Babes in the Bretton Woods: Italy's Post-War Reconstruction,” and a panel discussion on “The Future of the Italian Community in Thunder Bay in 2006.”
Fundraising
Contributed funds to establish the first Italian language course at Lakehead in 2005 and supported the Arthur Mauro Challenge which raised $300,000 for ATAC between 2005-2006.
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