President Petillo's Blog - Friday, October 18th

I hope everyone had a great time during the Columbus Day break. We continued our celebration of our 50th Anniversary with another busy and exciting week. This week’s 50th Anniversary events included a presentation by author and educator Andrew Delbanco about the role that colleges play in today’s world. He made some excellent points about the continued importance of a liberal arts education. We also presented Rain Man in the plaza last night as part of our anniversary movie night series, and we wrap up the week with a lecture tonight by Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and several other novels.

Andrew DelBanco presents his lecture, "What is College For?"

Jack Welch stopped by campus this week to talk about the current state of the business world with the students and faculty of the Welch College of Business. I had the pleasure of moderating the event and was impressed with the questions the students asked as well as the discussion about business ethics, the economy and the government shutdown. We are always grateful when Jack can take time out of his busy schedule—in his retirement, he is managing 18 companies—to give us his perspective.

Jack Welch talks with students.

I also had the good fortune to see the show put on by “The Mentalist” Wednesday evening. The performance was fascinating and entertaining. I am still trying to figure out how he could have done some of the things he did.

On Tuesday, the faculty gathered for this semester’s Faculty Institute. The topic was the high-impact practice of digital pedagogy, and the agenda showcased several of our faculty members who are using digital technology to enhance the learning experience of our students. The keynote speaker was Steve Carson of MIT who is a visionary and advocate for the opencourseware movement. Congratulations to Robert McCloud, Pilar Munday, Jaya Kannan, Michael Barbour, Antoinette Bruciati and Maria Lizano-DiMare on their outstanding presentations and thanks to Laura Niesen de Abruna for her hard work putting this program together. As a follow-up, there will be a series of workshops throughout the remainder of the year to expand on these discussions.

Steve Carson of MIT was the guest speaker at the Faculty Institute.

Congratulations to Robin Danzak who has been awarded a Fulbright Junior Research Grant to the University of Padua, Italy, to study bilingual writing in students learning English as a second language. We look forward to the results of her research.

Congratulations also to Mark Beekey, Jennifer Mattei, John Rapaglia and LaTina Steele on receiving a $59,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to install a living reef at Stratford Point through the Long Island Sound Futures Fund. This project will financially support multiple graduate and undergraduate students and provide all students with a longterm research project of critical importance to coastal erosion concerns. In addition, Mark and Jennifer also recently learned that their grant proposal for exploring juvenile horseshoe crab habitat requirements was selected for inclusion in the Connecticut Sea Grant Omnibus funding submission. This means they will receive $103,000 over the next two years to investigate the dynamics of juvenile horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound.  The funding also includes money for graduate and undergraduate research support.

Kudos to Chris Burrows who was recently named Northeast Region Associate of the Year by Chartwells. Anyone who stops by the Starbucks Café in the library is familiar with Chris’ outgoing personality and great suggestions for a drink or snack that will hit the spot.

Sacred Heart will host the New England Regional Ethics Bowl for the second consecutive year on Saturday, November 23. I encourage everyone—students, faculty and staff—to mark your calendars and plan to stop by to listen to the student teams present their thoughts on a variety of ethical issues ripped straight from the headlines. Organizers are still in need of faculty and staff volunteers to serve as moderators during the event. If you want to be part of a fun and fascinating event, send an email to June-Ann Greeley.

Last night, we had the opportunity to host the Barnum Festival’s Board of Directors and friends as they announced that Paul Timpanelli ’69 will be the festival’s ringmaster for the coming year. During his remarks, Paul remembered his time at Sacred Heart fondly—especially meeting his wife Carol here—and partially attributed his many successes to his time as a student at SHU. It was great to have a chance to share our newly renovated space in the Edgerton with the Barnum Festival. We wish Paul and his team a successful reign and hope he will be achieve his goal of bringing revenue—as well as fun—to the City of Bridgeport in the coming year.

Alumnus Paul Timpanelli ’69 has been named the 2014 Barnum Festival Ringmaster.
(Photo courtesy of the Connecticut Post - Autumn Driscoll)

Congressman Jim Himes, who represents Connecticut’s Fourth District, took the opportunity to tour our new Graduate Center at Landmark Square earlier today. I was unable to meet with him as I am enjoying Family Weekend at my daughter’s college. However, I hear he was very impressed with the new, modern facility that will allow residents of lower Fairfield County and Westchester to participate in some of our most popular graduate programs. We will officially launch the Graduate Center Tuesday evening, and everyone in the SHU community is invited to attend.

Congressman Jim Himes tours the Stamford Graduate Center. Bottom, from left, are Vice President of Marketing and Communications Michael Iannazzi, Professor Damon Maulucci, Congressman Himes, Professor Justin Liberman, Vice Provost for Special Academic Programs Mary Lou DeRosa and
University College Admissions Counselor Jon De Benedictis.

Speaking of tours, I hope you had a chance to tour the new Wellness Center earlier today. It is a beautiful building with all the amenities needed to care for our students’ health and wellbeing.

Wellness Center Open House

On Sunday, we will hold our second undergraduate Admissions open house. This will be one of the largest in SHU history with approximately 700 prospective students and their guests expected. In addition to tours, the visitors will have a chance to hear about the programs offered by our various Colleges and attend breakout sessions focused on particular areas of study. All members of the community are encouraged to come by on Sunday and help us present SHU in the best possible light.

Our men’s hockey team hits the road for its next five games, beginning Saturday night at Rensselaer. At 2-1-0, the team has already matched its win record from last year, including a stunning upset of top-ranked UMass/Lowell last weekend. We wish them continued success on Saturday.

Cheers also to the SHU Figure Skating club sports team for placing first in the ISI Adult Championships in San Francisco. Way to go, girls!

Club Sports Figure Skating Team

Have a wonderful weekend, and please be welcoming and helpful to our guests on Sunday.