Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo’s Blog – June 28, 2013

This week, we introduced Jessica Mannetti as the new head women’s basketball coach. Jessica is a native of Fairfield County and is excited to be back on her home turf after most recently serving as an assistant coach at Hofstra. Please join me in welcoming Jessica to the Sacred Heart community and in wishing her much success with the lady Pioneers.

SHU's AD, Bobby Valentine introduces Jessica Mannetti as the new head women’s basketball coach.

Congratulations to Don Cook on his well-deserved induction this week into the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame. He was honored for his 50 years of service as a coach and athletic director at the college level. Sacred Heart was certainly lucky to have the benefit of his expertise and guidance.

Michael Larobina was elected to the board of the Stamford Downtown Special Services District at their annual meeting Wednesday night. This supports our goal to expand our presence in Stamford, and we appreciate his willingness to serve.

Sacred Heart’s summer study abroad students were at the Vatican this week to visit the museum there and St. Peter’s Basilica. In addition to talking about the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s School of Athens, faculty adviser Nathan Lewis shared information on John XXIII for whom Roncalli Hall is named. The students also got pretty close to Pope Francis greeting the people in the piazza as you can see in the picture below taken by Nathan.

 

Photo taken by Professor Nathan Lewis at the Vatican during a study abroad program.

 

Sacred Heart University is among the best catholic colleges, according to BestColleges.com. These rankings are based on a wide range of criteria that blends academics and faith. Surveys were administered to students at a variety of programs to determine their satisfaction with classes, professors and the inclusion of faith practices in their studies. Additionally, experts in the field were interviewed about the reputation of the various programs.

Last night I was back in Stamford for the announcement of a joint program between Sacred Heart and Starwood Hotels to expand on the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program. We have created a curriculum so the hotel’s interns can learn about digital marketing for three weeks before working in the field for the other three weeks of the summer program. This program continues our strong relationship with the City of Stamford and begins what we hope will be a long partnership with the Starwood Hotels Group.

We took a tour of the renovations to the Academic Building and the Edgerton earlier today. Things are really moving along. It will be exciting to unveil the updated look in the fall and to have beautiful new facilities available for our 50th anniversary celebration.

 

The hallway outside 63's and the new Edgerton Center addition.

Yesterday we published a bonus, online-only issue of the Sacred Heart University magazine. As I read through the issue, it brought into focus for me just how much we are accomplishing here and the talented and devoted faculty and staff who are helping us to do it. I encourage you to take some time to look through the magazine. You can access it here.

 

Have a relaxing weekend, and enjoy the Fourth of July holiday! 

President Petillo's Blog - Friday, June 21st

This past week will be one that Michael Higgins should long remember. Last Thursday, he received the International Thomas Merton Society’s Louie Award for International Contributions, and then Monday evening he was awarded the New York Festivals International Radio Competition’s Gold Medal for the World’s Best Radio Programs in the Documentary/Religious Program category. The Gold Medal recognized his work as writer and presenter of Genius Born of Anguish: The Life and Legacy of Henri Nouwen. It’s great to see his hard work and tenacity pay off. Congratulations!

Kathleen Deignan, CND, presented Michael W. Higgins with the 2013 Louie Award for
International Contributions during the Thomas Merton Society conference last week.

In other good news, Bank of America has given another $5,000 to benefit the “Bank of America Scholars Program:  A Mentoring & Retention Program for Low- to Moderate-Income Undergraduate Students.” This follows a $15,000 gift that we received from Bank of America last year. We are grateful to Bank of America for its investment in Sacred Heart and for allowing us to help more minority scholars receive the education and training they need for success in 21st-century jobs. 

A committee, headed by Seamus Carey, is hard at work on a proposal to revise the core curriculum. They expect to have a draft completed by the end of summer and will begin conversations with the faculty in early fall to solicit suggestions that will further strengthen the proposal. My thanks to all the committee members and to everyone who has already submitted proposals or made suggestions. I hope many more of you will join the discussion in the fall.

I got together for an afternoon with the senior staff this past week. We had a productive meeting as we continued to hammer out our strategy for the coming years.

Our United Way campaign is coming to a close. You have until next Tuesday – June 25 – to participate. My thanks to all of you who have already made contributions.

Commencement exercises will take place for students at our Luxembourg campus later today. The ceremony will be followed by a reception and dinner to honor the graduates.

If you’re in the mood for some Irish music, the Yanks – four talented and accomplished young musicians— will perform traditional Irish music in the Schine Auditorium at 8 this evening.

Enjoy the first day of summer, and have a great weekend!

President Petillo's Blog - Friday, June 14th

It was a good week for SHU baseball players. John Murphy was selected 194th in the sixth round of the Major League Draft by the New York Yankees. John is the highest draft pick in Sacred Heart history. A shortstop for the Pioneers, John led his team to four straight NEC Championship games. This past season, he led Sacred Heart in batting (.367), slugging (.565), on base percentage (.442), RBI (47) home runs (4), triples (8), doubles (13) and hits (76). We look forward to seeing him tear up the ball on the YES Network in the not-too-distant future.

Congratulations also to recent graduate and pitching ace Troy Scribner who signed with the Houston Astros as an undrafted free agent on Wednesday afternoon. During his four years as a Pioneer, Troy distinguished himself as one of the best pitchers in Sacred Heart history, including finishing his career second in program history in both career strikeouts (261) and innings pitched (344) to go with his 26 wins.


Still on the subject of baseball, former baseball commissioner, Fay Vincent, was the featured speaker Tuesday evening for the Civility Lecture Series, held at the Ferguson Library in Stamford and co-sponsored by SHU. This series has helped to further establish our presence in Stamford at the same time as we are expanding our Graduate Center in that city. Those who attended the lecture were treated to fascinating baseball reminiscences, along with Fay’s thoughts on the current state of civility in sports. Attendees included our own Bobby Valentine and Ralph Branca, former pitching great for the Brooklyn Dodgers (and Bobby Valentine’s father-in-law) – both of whom contributed to the discussion.

We welcome to campus the 240 attendees of the Thirteenth General Meeting of the International Thomas Merton Society, which is taking place here over the weekend. I had a chance to personally welcome them last night, and they are a dynamic and engaged group. If you have a chance, stop by the Chapel for the keynote address, which will also serve as our Third Annual Henri Nouwen Lecture. The featured lecturer is Roman Catholic Priest Ronald Rolheiser, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio.


Last night WSHU presented “Newtown: Six Months Later.” The program brought together a group of people close to the issues that have emerged in the wake of the tragedy, such as school safety, gun control, mental illness and ongoing violence. Guests included E. Patricia Llodra, first selectman of Newtown; Mark Barden, Newtown parent; Scott Jackson, chair of the Sandy Hook Advisory Committee; Lt. J. Paul Vance, spokesman for the Connecticut State Police; Reverend Henry Brown of Mothers United Against Violence and Rob Cox of Sandy Hook Promise. I hope you had a chance to tune in.

Enjoy the weekend!

President Petillo's Blog - Friday, June 7th

You couldn’t be on campus this week without seeing members of the Class of 2017 and their families. Our overnight orientations kicked off on Monday with more than 400 families, and 300 more arrived on Thursday. Our final orientation will begin on Monday, and we are expecting 500 families then. While here, the students attended everything from academic sessions to presentations on Greek life, clubs, sports and more. They also had a chance to meet future classmates, register for classes and meet with their advisers. Parents had separate sessions on such topics as financial aid, the core curriculum and faculty expectations. Parents also had the option of spending the night in the residence halls, and many took us up on that. I always enjoy the opportunity each spring to welcome the incoming class and to start to get to know them.

Orientation

We received good news this week—Moody’s has increased our long term bond rating. This is our second upgrade in four years during a time when many universities are being downgraded. It is a tribute to our discipline and attention to our financial responsibilities.

Kevin Flannery of Dingle Oceanworld recently presented part of the transatlantic cable that ran from Valentia Island in Ireland to Heart Content in Newfoundland to representatives from SHU to honor the special relationship we have with Oceanworld. The cable was laid between 1854 and 1866 to allow for telegraph communications between North America and Europe, and a piece of the cable was recently recovered by local fishermen. A group of our students were in Dingle recently to participate in a new coastal ecology program at Oceanworld. We are looking forward to more great things to come from this exciting collaboration.

Kevin Flannery of Mara Beo presents a section of the transatlantic cable that ran from Valentia to Newfoundland to representatives of Sacred Heart University. Front, from left, are Sherylyn Watson, Lenka Bardakovich, Richard Falco and Seán Pól O Conchuir. Back, from left, are Valerie Wherley, June-Ann Greeley, Gerald Reid, Mark Beekey, Seamus Carey, John Rapaglia, Kevin Flannery,
Josh Shuart and Brian Farrell.

A group of SHU employees were on hand at the BRBC’s annual meeting yesterday to pick up the Green Business Award. Paul Healey accepted the award on behalf of the team that was responsible for our victory. Although we all play a part in making SHU as green as possible, special thanks go out to:

• Mary Lou DeRosa for special academic programs on the environment
• Trigona Mililli for the Green Cleaning Program
• Jeffery Barrett for compliance for hazardous wastes
• Ed Dobransky for single-stream waste management
• Ben Benson for the hybrid vehicle program

 Congratulations to all!

Paul Healy, left, accepts the Santa Energy Green Business Award on behalf of his team.
It was presented by Tom Santa, president and CEO of Santa Fuel.

Our master’s program in exercise science and nutrition has been recognized by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, which recognizes regionally accredited academic institutions for their educational programs that have met, and continue to meet, educational guidelines recommended by the NSCA. Specifically, we have been recognized for meeting requirements in strength and conditioning within the specified curriculum. Congratulations to everyone involved!

Nathan Lewis is working toward completion of the mural that will be installed outside of Red’s in the fall. I thought you would enjoy seeing some photos of the work-in-progress. It is going to be a wonderful representation of everything that SHU encompasses, and I can’t wait to see the finished product!

 

We will be hosting the Thirteenth General Meeting of the International Thomas Merton Society next week, beginning on Thursday. The four-day event will include renowned speakers, workshops, panel and roundtable discussions and more. I especially encourage you to attend our Third Annual Henri Nouwen Lecture on Contemporary Spirituality, which will take place Saturday evening at 8 p.m. in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. The speaker will be Roman Catholic Priest Ronald Rolheiser, president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He is a community-builder, lecturer and writer and an outstanding speaker.

Last, but not least, I want to wish the best of luck to Jerry Goehring at the Tony Awards this weekend. His musical adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s film, A Christmas Story, was nominated for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. I know we will all be glued to our television sets and cheering him on Sunday evening. Win or lose, we are lucky to have him as part of our community to share his expertise, creativity and talent with our students

Have a great weekend!