Holy Cross School alumni are moms and dad, grandparents, godparents, aunts, and uncles. Holy Cross School alumni serve the world professionally as doctors, nurses, business leaders, musicians, actors, athletes, teachers and more. Most importantly, Holy Cross School alumni are individuals of faith, tolerance, and service.
Marla Novo Emerson '80
Marla Novo Emerson is a graduate of Holy Cross Elementary (’80) and Santa Cruz High (’84). Marla received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Art History from UC Santa Cruz and San Jose State with an emphasis in 20th Century art. While in graduate school, she received the Violet Speddy and Catherine Urban Scholarship for Outstanding Art History Graduate Student, and took part in the Young Scholars Art History Colloquium at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.
Marla is the currently the Assistant Curator and Registrar at The Museum of Art & History @ the McPherson Center in downtown Santa Cruz. She oversees the Museum’s collection of over 300 works of art and hundreds of historical artifacts. She regularly curates exhibitions for the Museum, including The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: A Century by the Sea (April 21-September 2, 2007) and the current exhibit, Don’t Forget to Write: Correspondence in the Pre-Electronic Age. Marla loves when Holy Cross students visit the Museum for educational tours.
Brother Ronald Gallagher, F.S.C., Ph.D.
Brother Ronald Gallagher, F.S.C., Ph.D., has served as the President of Saint Mary's College of California since 2005. A seasoned educator, Brother Ron is deeply devoted to the College's Catholic, Lasallian and liberal arts traditions and is committed to promoting the values of those traditions among students, faculty, staff and friends of Saint Mary's. He was born in Oakland, California, grew up in Santa Cruz and Bakersfield, and joined the Christian Brothers after graduating from Mont La Salle High School in Napa.
Brother Ron began his formal education at Holy Cross School and attended until the fifth grade when his family moved to Bakersfield. He has fond memories of the school: all of his eight siblings attended Holy Cross and his father was the school's coach during the 1950s. The Gallagher's were also longtime parishioners of Holy Cross Church.
Learn more about Brother Ronald and St. Mary’s College of California, located in Moraga, CA.
