Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo's Blog: Friday, August 29th

On Wednesday, we held our annual New Student Convocation, which provided an opportunity for us to welcome the class of 2018 and our incoming transfer students. As has been the case with the beginning of this academic year, it was a bittersweet event as we honored the memory of Kaitlyn Doorhy, but also celebrated everything a new year brings—the chance to set new goals, make new friends, try a new club or sport. We were honored to have Governor Dannel Malloy take time from his busy schedule to welcome the new students and share the obstacles he overcame—and the help he received from teachers and his mom—to succeed in college and law school.

I want to take a moment to also welcome new faculty and staff members and say welcome back to the upperclassmen and the rest of the faculty. I’m looking forward to seeing each of you in person. Let’s make this an exciting and successful year!

Our year is already off to a great start with the news that Marie Hulme and Jaya Kannan have received a 2014 Sloan-C Effective Practice Award for the SHUsquare project. The award will be presented at the National Conference on Online Learning in Orlando this October. Congratulations to Marie, Jaya and all who were involved with the SHUsquare project.

We also learned yesterday that Jaclyn Smith, captain of the rowing team, led her team to a silver medal at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. Team USA crossed the finish line in 3:25.49, just five seconds behind first place Great Britain. This is Jaclyn’s second straight appearance at the World Rowing Championships. Congratulations, Jaclyn! We are very proud of you!

Sacred Heart was mentioned on the Rough Guides website in a story about medical study-abroad trips. SHU offers a variety of study abroad experiences from service learning trips to educational courses for credit, and I encourage all our students to take advantage of these if you can. In today’s global marketplace, experience abroad is a tremendous advantage when you begin your job search. If you are interested—and even if finances are a concern—I suggest you talk to the folks in the Office of Global Affairs. They have had success with Project Travel, a company we use as a partner for students to fund their study abroad programs. They specialize in crowd funding online for educational travel, and several SHU students have successfully raised money for their travel. Go abroad, and send me a postcard!

We had a successful Community Connections program this year with the largest group of students ever—60 freshmen and 17 upperclassmen—participating. Through their many projects and programs, the students had a chance to get to know our neighbors in Bridgeport, including those nearby in the North End. The students did some clean-up projects there and distributed brochures about our North End partnership that includes discounts to various cultural and sporting events here on campus. Thanks to Tom McCarthy, Amy Marie Vizzo-Paniccia and Michelle Lyons of the Bridgeport City Council who helped us develop the North End partnership.

Yesterday, Gary Rose, Dom Pinto, Roberta Staples and Matthew Kaye took the ice bucket challenge for ALS. Thanks to Chartwells for providing the biggest ice buckets I have seen in any of the numerous online videos of this chilly challenge. The four have challenged the rest of the SHU community to dunk themselves in ice water next Wednesday at 2 p.m. on 63’s patio. I believe the idea is that you take the challenge and donate at least $10, or you refuse the challenge and donate at least $100. As of this morning, the ALS Association announced it had received more than $100 million in donations as opposed to $2.8 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 29). These gifts are providing hope to those afflicted with this devastating degenerative disease. To see additional photos, click here.

I know that parking is not a popular topic these days, but I would be remiss if I did not thank Mike Trimble and Paul Healy for the yeoman’s job they did to quickly find solutions once we learned we would not be able to use the North lot for the next few years. They arranged for alternative places to park, put a plan together, communicated the plan and delivered the hangtags and decals in an extremely short period of time. Thanks again to all of you for your patience and cooperation during this challenging time.

We announced earlier this week that the administration building had been renamed Melady Hall. It is a fitting tribute to a former president who made a huge difference during his 10-year tenure here. So, keep in mind that when you come to see me in my office, you now will be coming to Melady Hall!

We lowered the SHU flag to half-staff today to honor the memory of Kaitlyn Doorhy on the day of her funeral. We also rang the Chapel bells at the time her services began. I am hoping this will become a SHU tradition whenever we are mourning the loss of a member of our community.

Speaking of traditions, I want to encourage those of you who plan to attend tomorrow’s football game against Marist to join the marching band in one of their traditions. They gather at the Chapel 45 minutes before kickoff to offer a musical blessing by playing Eternal Father and Amazing Grace before marching up the hill to Campus Field. All are welcome to join them tomorrow at 5:15. We would like to see a large crowd coming up the hill with the band before each home game.

In addition to the football game, the field hockey team is taking on Villanova tonight at 7 p.m., and the women’s soccer team plays St. Peter’s on Sunday at 1 p.m. Get outside in this beautiful weather and cheer on your fellow Pioneers!

Enjoy the long holiday weekend!

President Petillo’s Blog – August 26, 2014

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year—the opening day of the fall semester. Even as I smiled while watching students hurrying to class or to lunch and teachers unloading packets of information from briefcases and even as I enjoyed the beautiful job that has been done on the campus grounds, I was thinking of Kaitlyn Doorhy and the loss to our community. I am sure that all of you experienced a similarly bittersweet day.

Sunday night, the Chapel of the Holy Spirit was once again filled to capacity as you gathered to remember Kaitlyn, celebrate her life and comfort each other. We have made the decision that the New Student Convocation tomorrow afternoon and the Mass of the Holy Spirit on Wednesday, September 10, will also honor Kaitlyn’s memory. I hope to see you all at those two events.

While some might be amazed that more than 700 of you gathered at the vigil Friday night—especially when many students and faculty had not yet arrived back on campus—I was not surprised. In the few short years that I have been your president, I have come to realize what a special family we have here at Sacred Heart.  When one of us is hurt, we all hurt; when one of us excels, we all celebrate. Whether you knew Kaitlyn or not, you came together to express your love for her, your love for each other and your love for SHU.

As you know, I was not on campus the day of the accident and, before I close, I want to take a moment to thank some people who quickly came together to take care of the many special efforts that need to take place when something like this happens. I want to thank Jim Barquinero, Larry Wielk, Denise Tiberio and everyone on the Student Affairs team; the campus ministry team, especially Father David and Father Jerry; Mary Jo Mason and the rest of our counselors; and Michael Iannazzi, Funda Alp, Deb Noack, Bill Haug and Tracy Deer-Mirek of the Marketing & Communications team. These folks have worked tirelessly from mid-day Friday, through the weekend and are continuing to respond to requests as needed. I have no doubt that I am forgetting to thank some people who also deserve to be acknowledged. Please forgive me.

I said in Sunday’s message to you all that I think we should continue to celebrate the beginning of a new academic year and look forward to all it has to offer. I said I thought Kaitlyn would want that, and I do believe it to be true. We have lost a member of our family, and we will never stop missing her. But we are Pioneers, and like the pioneers before us who persevered despite many tribulations and great losses, we need to set our goals and celebrate our victories—all the while keeping Kaitlyn close to our hearts.

President Petillo's Blog: Friday, August 15th

Things are beginning to pick up on campus with the arrival of some of the student-athletes, marching band members, student tour guides and others whose extra-curricular activities require an early return. Welcome Weekend begins a week from now, and I am looking forward to welcoming the class of 2018 and greeting the returning upperclassmen.

Before we get to that point, 60 freshmen and 17 upper-class student leaders, along with several faculty and staff members, will participate in our annual Community Connections program next week. These numbers mark a 25 percent increase in participation in this program, which is designed to provide an introduction to various service opportunities in the surrounding community and increase students’ understanding of urban issues. It is also the first time that the University has invested operating funds for the program as it is no longer funded by grants. We strongly believe in this immersion program that introduces students to the rich cultures that can be found in the communities surrounding our campus and also reinforces the importance of community service.

Beau Kjerulf Greer, director of our exercise science and nutrition program, recently had an op-ed article on the safety of GMOs published in the Hartford Courant. You can check it out here.

Congratulations to Professor Marie Hulme who won third prize for her short story, Special Romantics, in the annual national story competition held by the prestigious Hackney Literary Awards. The piece was published in the most recent issue of the Birmingham Arts Journal and can be read online here. This is not the first time Marie has been recognized for her writing. Her non-fiction work, excerpted from a collection of vignettes entitled Love Letters to London, about her life in London as a young journalist for ABC News, was recognized by the PEN Women of San Francisco’s international writing contest in 2011 and 2012.

Bobby Valentine, executive director of Intercollegiate Athletics, and Nick Giaquinto, head baseball coach, recently returned from a 10-day trip to Japan with a group of area 14-year-olds. The excursion provided cultural, baseball experience and community service experiences for the young athletes. The group visited the town of Ofunato, a port city that was wiped out by the tsunami of March 11, 2011. There they had a chance to play baseball in a tournament that included Japanese teams and a visiting team from San Diego. They also experienced the Japanese culture and cuisine, and they did volunteer work that included cleaning debris from area beaches and working with local fishermen and scallop hatcheries. Check out additional photos from the trip here.

Bobby Valentine in Japan - photos by Nick Giaquinto

Our summer Upward Bound program concluded with a celebratory banquet on August 7. The program takes place on campus for six weeks each summer and includes 12 teachers teaching 17 subjects to 50 students.  Classes met from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday for the duration of the six weeks. Congratulations to all involved in another successful summer program.

Upward Bound students, top - at bottom are program faculty and staff

We received good news recently from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Our long-term and unenhanced ratings were upgraded. Among other things, the report noted that the rating action reflects Sacred Heart’s ongoing strong operating performance and good enrollment growth overall, as well as good financial resources for the rating. Not many universities are seeing upgrades of this nature, so we can be proud that we are doing things the right way.

The beautiful summer weather we have been experiencing this year is expected to continue through the weekend, so I hope you have a chance to get outside and enjoy it! 

Dr. Petillo's Blog-August 1, 2014

Those of you who know me well won’t be surprised to learn that I am counting down the days until Welcome Weekend. Because of the size of the incoming class, this year’s move-in will begin Friday afternoon. Student affairs has planned a weekend that is packed with activities—both informational and fun. Incoming freshmen will participate in everything from an academic session, floor meetings and bystander training (the traits of a caring Pioneer) to an ice cream social, a hypnotist, basketball and volleyball games, Bungee Extreme and a performance by “Eyes to See.” I know you are all as excited as I am to welcome the Class of 2018 to the SHU community.

SHU’s Office of International Admissions and the English Language Institute has had the pleasure of welcoming a high school group from Tokyo, Japan, to campus for a pre-college look at the United States. It was a first visit to this country for 11 high school juniors and three faculty members from Jissen Gakuen High School’s Global Education Center. The group enjoyed a trip to New York City during their stay and also took a step back to colonial times with a visit to Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. They commented on Sacred Heart’s friendliness, beautiful campus and residence halls and good food. My thanks to all of you who helped them to feel welcome.

I want to congratulate and thank everyone who was involved in the success of SHU’s CT Challenge team this past weekend. The kudos and thanks have been pouring in as the team did a tremendous job of both raising funds for a great cause and honoring the memory of Don Cook’s son, Chris. Special thanks go out to Team Leader Tiana Williams and Honorary Chair Bobby Valentine, but they would not have been successful without the many riders, virtual riders and volunteers—including many of our student-athletes who volunteered at various times and locations. The SHU team surpassed its goal of raising $15,000, part of an event total that is expected to surpass $1.8 million. Wow!

I also want to thank and congratulate the teams from undergraduate admissions and financial aid for their hard work with the incoming freshman class. I had a chance to get together with them Wednesday night for a barbecue to celebrate everything they have done to facilitate the arrival of the Class of 2018 in a few weeks.

Over the past few years, one of my favorite days of the summer has become the day I am visited by the Horizons at SHU students. I love having a chance to read to them and watch them dance and sing. They are a very real reminder of why we all do what we do. This summer, the program consists of 65 Bridgeport students in grades K-4. In addition to math and reading classes that help address summer learning loss, the students have been gardening, swimming, dancing, singing, learning martial arts, playing games and more. They are particularly focused on music this year and will be performing during Family Weekend in the Edgerton Center. The same students have been coming since we started the program three summers ago, and a new class is added each year. Not only does the program ensure that they keep up with their peers, but they begin to feel at home on a college campus at a very young age. I hope to see every one of them have a successful college experience eventually—and if it is here at SHU, that will be the best possible outcome!

As is the case every summer, improvements—both minor and major—have been taking place on campus. I have certainly heard and seen a lot of activity here at the Administration building as windows are replaced and renovations are made to the second floor. We are particularly excited about our new state-of-the-art chemistry labs. I think the students and faculty will enjoy the new spaces.

We received a tweet from WTNH SportsEdge earlier this week wondering which NEC team has the coolest logo. Really? They have to ask? Of course, it’s SHU!

Have a great weekend!