Dr. Petillo's Blog

August 31, 2012

Once again, I want to welcome the class of 2016 as well as new faculty and staff members who are joining us. And, I want to say welcome back to the rest of the Sacred Heart community. Nothing makes me happier than to see the campus bustling with activity as we gear up for another academic year.


I had a chance to stop by during freshman move-in on Saturday and was impressed at how smoothly everything was going. My thanks to the faculty and staff who came out to help with the move-in process. You made a wonderful first impression on our new students and their families. You can look through additional photos from the day by clicking HERE.  To watch a great video, click HERE.


I also joined students, faculty and staff for the grand opening of Red’s Pub in the new student commons building on Tuesday. For those of drinking age, it’s going to be a great spot to gather for refreshments and live entertainment.

If you happen to be in Curtis Hall, be sure to check out a new poster display on the first floor featuring some of the many Sacred Heart alumni who have gone on to extremely successful careers. Not only does the series emphasize the value of a Sacred Heart education to prospective students, but it’s a reminder to us all of why we are here and the great work we are doing.


Congratulations to the faculty and staff in the College of Education. We recently learned that NCATE (which is in the process of changing its name to the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation or CAEP) has granted national recognition to the College’s Initial Preparation of Elementary Education Teachers program. This honor is a testament to the outstanding faculty in the College of Education and to the hard work of Associate Dean Ed Malin and NCATE Coordinator Ed Hendricks.  The recognition runs through August 1 of next year. Between now and then, we will submit additional data regarding our assessment system and the changes we are making to comply with new regulations set by the Connecticut State Department of Education.

Just a reminder that Wes Moore will be on campus next Wednesday. He is the author of The Other Wes Moore: One Name Two Fates, which the freshman class read over the summer. He will speak in the Edgerton Center at 2 and 5 p.m., and everyone is welcome to attend.

Are you ready for some football? Our Pioneer football team is making history on Saturday as they visit Morgan State in Maryland for our first-ever gridiron meeting with a school from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Go Pioneers!

For those of you unable to make a road trip to Baltimore, there will be plenty to do on campus this weekend beginning with this evening’s “Just SHU It” event where students can find out about joining clubs, organizations, Greek Life, intramural sports and more, while enjoying great food and music. Other highlights include special activities at each of the freshman dorms; a water slide and ice cream event; mini-golf and hotdogs; and log rolling and sno cones. There will also be shuttle bus trips to the Fairfield beaches all weekend and an outdoor showing of Hunger Games Monday evening.

However you decide to spend your time, have a wonderful holiday weekend!

August 24, 2012

Tomorrow is Move-In Day. Although, some of you may feel a little bit of melancholy that comes with the end of the summer, I am always excited to have the students back on campus. After all, they are the reason the rest of us are here! This week has been a great precursor to the beginning of the school year. Not only have I seen our student-athletes all over campus, but I have heard the sounds of the band practicing and noticed that some students from other organizations are getting an early start.

Students practice during band camp.

Sixty-six students have been training as Resident Success Assistants – more commonly known as RSAs – for the past two weeks. The training is intensive, but it needs to be. RSAs play a critical role in ensuring a positive experience for those who live on campus. It takes a special student to take on the RSA role. My congratulations to all who successfully completed the training.

Resident Success Assistant training

Members of the facility staff and the contractors we have on campus have also been busy this week as we gear up for another academic year. I had a chance to see some of the new construction that has taken place. For example the space formerly occupied by the bookstore and Faculty Lounge in the main academic building is now state-of-the-art offices and a beautiful student lounge. The former cafeteria has been turned into a cozy eatery that includes an indoor fireplace and an outdoor fire pit on the patio. Called Sixty-three’s – a student-suggested name that was a contender for the Pub now called Red’s – it will be a great place to gather, eat and socialize. I think the students will love the new spaces.

New renovation of the former faculty lounge and bookstore

Cafeteria renovations

I had a visit this week from Gabe Esteban, who is the president of Seton Hall. It was wonderful to have a chance to catch up with him, compare experiences and show him the exciting changes that have been taking place here at Sacred Heart. He also told me how Seton Hall has changed since my time there as chancellor. Gabe is heading up the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) Review Committee, so I’m hoping he was impressed with what we are doing here!

President Petillo takes Seton Hall President Gabe Esteban on a tour of campus.

Yesterday afternoon, there was an open house in the simulation labs for faculty and staff in Health Professions. Construction this summer of a new three-bed lab has led to an expanded facility with 16 beds and six ambulatory care exam tables. It also houses the most advanced computerized training system available – the high-fidelity SimMan 3G patient simulation system. Instructors can program the SimMan 3G to exhibit specific behaviors and symptoms, as well as control how it responds to physical care and medications. It can represent everything from a bleeding female patient in distress to an 85-year-old male having a heart attack. The expanded lab and technology ensures that our nursing graduates have the extensive first-hand clinical experience needed to quickly, safely and effectively respond to patients in hospitals or other health care settings.

Clinical Lab Coordinator Beth Boyd, far right, shows Dr. Jody Bortone, Dr. Kathleen Fries and Deb Surbey the new Nursing Simulation Lab.

Primary Care Lab

The weather forecasters are predicting a great weekend for moving in or whatever you have planned.  Enjoy!                                    

August 17, 2012

Forty-two members of the incoming freshmen class are gearing up for our 17th annual Community Connections week. This year Community Connections will take place from Saturday, August 18, to Friday, August 24. Community Connections is a service-immersion program designed to reinforce Sacred Heart’s commitment to developing leaders and community volunteers. The freshmen will be joined by 14 upperclass student leaders and several members of the faculty and staff.

During the week, the students will live at Golden Hill United Methodist Church and St. Charles Urban Center. They will participate in a variety of service projects, including Habitat for Humanity, Merton Center feeding program/St. Stephen’s Food Pantry/Merton Family Center, Daughters of Charity, Groundwork Bridgeport, Bridgeport Rescue Mission and the Kennedy Center. They will also participate in immersion activities designed to help them get to know the culture and social climate of Bridgeport. Those activities will include a Spanish mass, a Bridgeport Bluefish game, a Puerto Rican dinner with a group of Habitat families, salsa dancing, a Taize service, dinner at Captain’s Cove and more.

The participants in the program come away with lifelong memories and friendships as well as the kind of commitment to service that we hope to instill in all our students. I wish them a rewarding and fun week in the Bridgeport community.

For those of you who did not get a chance to see our Horizons Program students on campus during the summer, our own Tracy Deer-Mirek has put together a wonderful slide show that captures the learning, fun and enthusiasm that went on here. Take a look.

Have a fun and relaxing weekend!                                   

August 10, 2012

Sacred Heart University was recently included in a list of least affordable colleges in America put out by Newsweek.  We believe the methodology used to determine the rankings is seriously flawed.

The rankings look at four factors:  debt, total cost, financial aid and future earnings. The greatest weakness in the survey’s data set is its method for assessing future earnings. The survey uses the starting median salary of graduates and their mid-career salary, according to PayScale – a website that only has salary information from those who go there and fill it out. The methodology also ignores additional key factors. For example, when the survey determines “affordability,” it looks only at salaries from graduates with bachelor’s degrees who have not gone on to further study. A much larger percentage of Sacred Heart students go on to professional graduate schools in business, law and the health professions than nationally (which typically leads to highly paid jobs) and are thus omitted from this study. 

The salary component is also biased against schools like Sacred Heart that have experienced significant change and growth in the past 30 years. The profile of today’s students is vastly different from that of the alumni contributing mid-career salary data. The mid-career graduates referenced in the survey attended a much different university than Sacred Heart is today – it was a commuter school with fewer academic programs. The methodology assumes that the college experience of both sets of students was the same and will lead to similar career growth. This assumption is much less of an issue for nearby Yale – ranked the 14th most affordable school by Newsweek – which has been in existence for more than 300 years. That Sacred Heart graduates enter the workplace with a median salary ($44,800) competitive to that of their Yale counterparts ($50,700) supports our contention that this survey is flawed.

The survey also cites student debt. At Sacred Heart, we provide 92 percent of our students with financial aid. We do that because many of them would not be able to otherwise attend college. We are proud of our remarkable record of educating students from a variety of backgrounds and financial needs. In keeping with our mission, we provide students with a focus on living lives of service to others. Many of our graduates go on to do just that, in the public and private sectors, and we are proud of that, too.

It’s unfortunate that a survey such as this – which misrepresents the value of an education at many schools like Sacred Heart – receives more credibility than it deserves. We remain committed to doing all we can to make a Sacred Heart education affordable for all. We work hard to keep our costs down and to explore all avenues of revenue to help our students finance their education.

August 9, 2012

During the last two weeks of July, we welcomed a group of MBA students from Luxembourg to campus to participate in the cross-campus CONNECTIONS program. The group consisted of 10 Luxembourg students and two spouses, who were joined by five local students. A total of 12 different nationalities were represented in the group of 15 students.

In addition to their on-campus classes, the students took several field trips. Highlights included a sightseeing trip to New York City with a visit to the New York Stock Exchange; a VIP tour of Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford (arranged by Sikorsky Chief Counsel Peter Graber-Lipperman, who is affiliated with the Welch College ofBusiness) that included a meeting with a vice president of Marketing and the head helicopter test pilot; and a trip to IBM’s Industry Solutions Lab in Westchester County. While at IBM, the group met Watson, the super computer that successfully competed against Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings. They learned that IBM is working on a version of the computer that will help physicians to diagnose symptoms more successfully and quickly.

The students also participated in several social events and had opportunities to sightsee, dine and shop around the state, courtesy of local students and staff. It was a wonderful experience for all involved, and lifelong friendships were made.

From top clockwise, CONNECTIONS program players take on 'Watson' during a Jeopardy simulation at IBM Industry Solutions Labs, students gather in Grand Central Station and visit the floor of the NYSE.

Our student-athletes who play fall sports are arriving back on campus. The majority of them should be here by the end of the weekend. I wish them great workouts, teamwork and camaraderie as they prepare for their upcoming seasons. Go Pioneers!

If you haven’t yet checked out the faculty and staff lunches in the Hearth Room in the McMahon Commons, I strongly recommend that you do. It’s been great to see so many of you take advantage of the opportunity to mingle and catch up with colleagues in such an enjoyable setting. The big tables lend themselves to a community meal, and the price is certainly right. The great variety and selection of food means there is something for everybody. No matter where you are located, it’s worth the effort to come by for a delicious mid-day meal.

Enjoy the weekend!              

 

August 3, 2012

Last night, approximately 300 people came together in support of SHU’s head football coach, Paul Gorham, who has been valiantly battling health issues. The fundraiser began with a mass in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit and continued with a Welcome Home reception in the McMahon Commons. The committee, made up of members of the SHU athletics staff, others from the SHU community, representatives from the Gorham family and volunteers from the Cheshire community where Coach Gorham lives, raised more than $75,000. In addition to generous contributions from the Sacred Heart community, the committee also received gifts from representatives of the NEC, Oregon Ducks Head Football Coach Chip Kelly and others who were unable to attend. The money will help Coach Gorham with his medical expenses and the costs of making his home handicapped accessible.

Congratulations to the committee on their hard work and for exceeding their initial goal of $50,000. I can’t say I am surprised by the generosity of the Sacred Heart community. I am reminded over and over again how caring, giving and special you all are. Whether celebrating one another’s successes or helping out in a time of need, we are a family – and that is something very special.  To view a photo gallery from the event, click HERE.

Father Jerry invited Noreen, Matt and Paul Gorham up to the altar during mass.

About 50 members of The English Language Institute’s ESL class, and some guests, celebrated Iftar Wednesday night. Iftar is the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Iftar is one of the religious observances of Ramadan and is often done as a community, with people gathering to break their fast together just after sunset.  Ramadan has been much discussed of late as fasting during the Olympics is a challenge for Muslim athletes. Many of the 3,000 Muslims competing in the Olympics have decided not to fast – a decision that has been sanctioned by religious authorities.

Students enjoy the Iftar event sponsored by University College.

Our ESL program has students from all over the world year round. We currently have 63 students studying 20 hours of English per week. During the fall and spring semesters, we have approximately 100 students. Every semester, the program has some kind of international celebration to allow the international students to share their cultures.  For the Iftar meal, students prepared their traditional food and Arabic coffee for sharing, and the ESL department offered traditional Middle Eastern food from Layla’s in Fairfield. A more extensive international celebration, including presentations and photo exhibits, will take place during International Education Week in November.

Today is the last day for the summer Horizons program. I will miss seeing the children around campus. The good news is that they will be back here for five Saturdays during the fall semester and again in the spring. In fact, they will be regular visitors until they graduate from high school (and hopefully enroll at Sacred Heart)!

Horizons students present their spirit check for parents.

If you are wondering why I have been wearing a sling, it is the result of a cooking accident. I fought the mandoline and the manodoline won! Have a great weekend!