I hope you all have been having an enjoyable summer with some time to relax and enjoy your families and friends. I was fortunate enough to kick off my summer with a trip to Italy. While in Rome, I met up with a group of SHU students and took them to dinner. We had a delightful evening sharing stories of our experiences at the University and in Italy. It was wonderful to hear how they were enjoying their visit to a place so filled with Catholic history and tradition.

Those of you who have spent some time on campus this summer know that quite a bit of construction has been under way to prepare for the arrival of the students in a few weeks. The work includes continued progress on the new Student Commons building, renovations to the first floor of the library, a wing in the Humanities Center and in the biology labs and also work to the façade of the main academic building. The  
extremely hot weather we’ve experienced over the summer – especially the record-breaking temperatures last week – has made this work even more difficult. My profuse thanks go to all of the hard workers who have done an outstanding job on these renovations in the most challenging of circumstances.

Thanks and congratulations also go out to the Institution Advancement team for surpassing their fund-raising goal for this past fiscal year by a significant margin. The team raised the largest amount of money in the University’s history – a particularly great achievement in these tough economic times. We are so grateful that our alumni, friends and neighbors are willing to open their hearts and support our mission to prepare students for the future and to make a difference in the world.

Finally, our Fairfield campus was the site of an emergency preparedness anthrax drill this past Wednesday. Approximately 435 volunteers turned up to help the Bridgeport Health and Social Services Department determine if they are ready in the event of an anthrax threat at the Bridgeport train station. Organizers tell us they learned a lot from the drill and are grateful to the Sacred Heart community for opening up the campus and for providing so many volunteers. Thanks to Dr. Linda Strong and Jack Fernandez for their hard work coordinating the event on behalf of Sacred Heart.

Enjoy the remaining weeks of summer. Don’t forget the sunscreen!