Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo's Blog: May 27, 2016

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see campus in full bloom. Our hanging plants on the poles next to our SHU banners and the blossoming flowers on the trees and bushes are a beautiful sight. The arrival of warmer weather is welcome also!

Last week our faculty immersed themselves in digital learning for SHU’s annual weeklong Digital Pedagogy Summer Institute. On Friday, I joined faculty at the Forum in the Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center to see the many projects they developed as part of the conference. I was impressed and am looking forward to seeing their projects piloted with students this fall.

Faculty are also participating in the Presidential Seminar, a two-part immersion program that includes studying the Catholic intellectual tradition. SHU has been conducting the seminar for the past 12 years. Faculty will participate in the seminar for the next two weeks and will continue with four full-day workshops during the school year. Faculty will also present projects that relate to their discipline based on what they learned. The Presidential Seminar is a way to connect faculty with our mission and the foundation of our mission. I always look forward to the great projects that come out of this seminar.

Professor John Roney has been busy in Dingle. He has already presented two papers on understanding the costal environment of Ireland this spring and has more in store. Keep up the good work, John. Understanding Ireland’s coastal environment will be the theme of SHU’s international conference in Dingle next June.

Speaking of Dingle, nearly 100 SHU students are studying there this summer. Other students are in China studying business, in Luxembourg learning about finance and health-care systems and in France learning about fashion brand marketing. We also have students studying in Italy, Japan and Spain. We hope all of our students abroad are having fun, learning a lot and gaining a global perspective on their chosen industry.

One of our trustees, Charles V. Firlotte, president and CEO of Aquarion Company in Bridgeport, wrote an interesting article about managers in the workplace. He explains why good managers are essential to running effective businesses. Read his article here.

Congrats to our film students for getting honorable mention awards for their short documentaries, On Gun Reform and College Debt Reform, from the Civic Youth Film Challenge. Making the documentaries was a requirement for students taking Digital Media Production II, a course in the School of Communications and Media Arts. It is a great recognition for our students and our University. The filmmakers of On Gun Reform are Alexandria Grobleski, Arianna Tate, Sean Lee, Kelsey Hor, Sabrina Garones and Luke Stannard and the filmmakers of College Debt Reform are Dylan August, Jeff Ehalt, Tevin Falzon, Alyson Gannon, Corey Gittleman and Dan Marro. Well done!

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day. Let us remember and pray for those who lost their lives serving our great country. Enjoy the weekend.

President Petillo’s Blog – May 20, 2016

The year has officially come to a close. I’ll miss our Pioneers and the everyday hustle and bustle. It won’t be the same without a crowd at Linda’s or students walking swiftly to class in the Main Academic Building. But while it is bittersweet, it’s been a great year. The past few weeks have been especially memorable as we celebrated the successes of our graduating seniors and graduate students.

Last Friday, seniors attended the Senior Ball on campus. Underneath a large white tent, Pioneers showed off their dance moves and formal attire. I was pleased so many students sported bow-ties. Everyone looked grown up and happy. Seniors also spent time dancing and dining at the Family Dinner Dance the following evening.

Students celebrated their academic achievements at various receptions and hooding and pinning ceremonies throughout the weekend. These ceremonies mark the start of new journeys and careers. I enjoyed watching students, deans, professors and family members revel in the students’ accomplishments.

On Saturday we held our Commencement Mass in the Pitt Center. Families and students joined us as we celebrated victories and new beginnings. It was an honor having Bishop Frank Caggiano with us for this special occasion.

We held our graduate commencement Saturday and our undergraduate ceremonies on Sunday, both at the Webster Bank Arena. Both ceremonies were well attended and included inspirational speeches and words of wisdom from scholars, students and religious leaders. Both also included posthumous degrees for a student who had passed away. On Sunday, we presented the degree for Kaitlyn Doorhy, who was struck and killed by a car at the beginning of her junior year, to her parents and sister, Carly. Carly will be a member of the class of 2020 in the fall.

Students had smiles on their faces as they came forward to receive their diplomas—smiles that were also reflected on the faces of their families up in the stands. I was pleased that many of our undergraduates came to campus after the ceremony to enjoy refreshments and to take photos on the quad and in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. I am very proud of you all, and I wish you the best of luck. I look forward to having you back to share the great things I know you will accomplish.

This week, faculty attended the third annual Digital Pedagogy Summer Institute. The goal of the institute is to empower faculty and to enhance their teaching practices through effective integration of the digital environment in on-ground, blended and online courses. Kudos to our faculty for diving into this week-long institute to hone their digital skills.

Thank you to everyone who made last week a success. From the committee members who worked most of the semester to ensure smooth commencement ceremonies and everyone from student life who planned the Senior Week activities to the faculty and staff who turned out to process this weekend or to assist with the many tasks that needed to be taken care of—I want you to know that your efforts did not go unnoticed.

Congratulations to the SHU class of 2016!

President Petillo's Blog: May 13, 2016

This is it. We’ve officially reached the completion of the semester. I hope you all had an enriching year filled with much success and personal growth. While we’ll miss you for the next few months, take the time to relax and reflect. We can’t wait to have you back in the fall refreshed and ready to take on another year of challenges.

This week our undergraduates moved out of the residence halls, and our seniors moved in to be closer to the campus festivities honoring them. We hosted a senior brunch yesterday, and this morning athletics held their awards ceremony for seniors. Tonight our seniors will dress to impress for their commencement ball, and on Saturday seniors and their families will join senior staff and me at Mass and then for the annual family dinner dance. Have fun and be safe!

While the semester is over, we continue to celebrate the success of our Pioneers. Last weekend, our women’s track team was first in the Northeast Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship, and our men’s team placed sixth. Congrats to both teams.

Three SHU students from our Art and Design Department won the Anti-Smoking Campaign competition sponsored by the Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership. Congrats to Mario Teixeira, Jessica Boratko and Kaitlyn Kreizman on their award-winning creativity.

For those of you who missed the Mr. SHU competition, student Evan Miller wrote and sang a beautiful song about Kaitlyn Doorhy. You can hear the song here. Thank you, Evan, for this wonderful tribute to Kaitlyn. On Sunday, we will present an honorary degree in Kaitlyn’s memory at commencement. Her parents and sister—a member of the incoming class of 2020—will be on hand to receive Kaitlyn’s degree.

Our faculty continues to make us proud. Two College of Nursing professors, Anne Barker and Susan NeDisco, received high rankings for their latest book, Advanced Practice Nursing: Essential Knowledge for the Profession. You can read the glowing review here.

Sandra Young, associate professor of English, and her team of students, released their newest edition of Vistas. Vistas is an interdisciplinary journal that celebrates the creativity of SHU students. You are sure to be impressed by the artwork, stories and poetry.

Brian Stiltner, professor and chair of the philosophy, theology and religious studies program recently wrote a review of a book on the ethics of drone attacks. You can read his review here.

University College held an event last week to honor National Small Business Administration Week. The interactive forum, held in the Schine Auditorium, included Susan Chen from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, John XU of the U.S. Small Business Administration and Mary Moy from the Organization of Chinese Americans among others. Included this year was the Connecticut winner of the 2016 “50 Outstanding Asian American in Business” award, Virginia P’An of Yumi EcoSolutions.

On Thursday, SHU hosted a seminar for Fairfield County police, fire and EMS departments. The training took place in University Commons and was well attended by first responders. As always, we are committed to helping the community in any way we can.

I want to share an incredible photograph taken by a drone of our beautiful campus and the surrounding area. As you look at this photo, take a moment to reflect on your time spent at SHU and all the memories you created this year.

There will be a lot of excitement this weekend on campus and at the Webster Bank Arena as we celebrate commencement for the class of 2016. This is the culmination of everything we have all been working toward for four years. I want to thank faculty and staff for coming out to participate in the events of the weekend. Your presence is more important than ever at this time.

Graduates, I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family and friends!

President Petillo's Blog - May 6, 2016

Once again, it has been another wonderful week on campus, and I am pleased to recap everything in my video blog. As commencement approaches, it is a time to reflect on this amazing year and look to the future. Seniors, enjoy your time together!