Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo's Blog: August 26, 2016

I could not be happier to welcome our students back to campus. I hope everyone is well rested and ready to dive back into their studies and extra-curricular activities. It was exciting to see families arrive on campus today to move into the residence halls with their sons and daughters. Thank you to the upperclassmen and all the members of the SHU Welcome Crew who helped move students’ belongings into their rooms. They made what could be a stressful experience a seamless one. I look forward to meeting more of our freshmen during Welcome Week.

While the bulk of our freshmen are arriving today and over the weekend, some were already in the area for the past week participating in Community Connections. Community Connections introduces our freshmen to service opportunities in the surrounding community and increases their understanding of urban issues. About 50 freshmen led by 15 upper classmen volunteered in local nonprofits and charities. Some were also involved in nearby Habitat for Humanity projects. Thank you to everyone involved in this program that has been educating our students and bettering our community for the past 20 years.

Faculty convocation was held on Wednesday. Following Mass, they got together in University Commons to discuss what each college has been working on over the summer. New faculty members were welcomed as well. I hope everyone has a rewarding year.

It was also an exciting week for those involved in our master’s in physician assistant program. Our inaugural class was introduced to their classmates, professors and new classrooms located at Stamford Hospital’s newly renovated Tandet Building. Ceremonies to officially open the space are scheduled for October 6. This is an important program for us and for the state, which is in desperate need of these kind of medical professionals. Good luck to all involved.  

This past weekend, graduate students from our School of Media Art and Communications participated in ceremonies commemorating the School’s first graduating class. Students, friends, family and SCMA faculty gathered in the Frank and Marisa Martire Business and Communications Center where they heard speeches from administration and guest speaker Frank Whaley before getting their diplomas. Congrats, grads.

Congratulations to Jocelyn Novella, director of counseling, who has been selected to participate in the North Atlantic Regional Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Emerging Leaders Workshop in mid-September. The workshop is designed to help students and new faculty members in their first few years of employment to discover how leadership can encourage their own professional development and to help engage talented and dedicated leaders. What a wonderful opportunity!

There are plenty of fun and exciting activities planned for the weekend, including our second annual Mass on the Grass at 5 p.m. on Sunday. Come at 4:30 for the concert and stay for the Mass. It’s a very special event.

Again, welcome back everyone! I’m looking forward to meeting the new members of the SHU community and to another fun, successful and rewarding year!

President Petillo's Blog - August 19, 2016

Last week, our Summer Institute for Global Business Management program came to an end. The month-long program brought about 50 international students to our Fairfield campus. After weeks of education in the classroom and on field trips, students prepared final presentations on what they learned. They also received certificates for completing the program.

Professors Deirdre Yeater, Jennifer Mattei, Jo-Marie Kasinak and undergraduate research assistant, Brianna Chiaraluce, set up a booth at Mystic Aquarium’s Women in Science Day last week. The event featured female scientists, researchers and animal care professionals. The SHU group talked to hundreds of the aquarium’s visitors, including children, about their work at the University. Jennifer talked about Project Limulus, her work with horseshoe crabs.

I have exciting news for our international students majoring in digital marketing. They can now receive STEM designation due to the analytics, web design and web development topics taught in the program. The STEM designation means upon graduation, international students can work in their field of study in the United States longer than if they received their degree in a non-STEM field.

I am pleased and impressed that a self-study put together by Carrie Wojenski, executive director of global affairs, and a team of Sacred Heart faculty on the University’s internationalization plans was used as a case study in the American Council of Education’s Institute for Leading Internationalization. Dozens of faculty members from a variety of universities were in attendance. We are proud of the work completed by the Office of Global Affairs and are honored to be recognized as a leader. Great work!

Sacred Heart will be purchasing the Wearsafe App for members of the freshmen class and will offer it for purchase to upperclassmen. Wearsafe is a wearable device that serves as a panic button for the wearer. Once the button is pushed a text message goes out to a group of contacts the wearer has chosen. About 80 students assisted with beta testing of the app last spring and were impressed with its capabilities. This is just another measure SHU is taking to ensure the safety of our students.

Last week I wrote that few topics divide us as much as politics and religion—and my point has certainly been proven by the number of emails I have received and the great many posts through SHU’s social media accounts in the wake of the announcement that Donald J. Trump would speak on our campus last Saturday. While the correspondence and the media commentary has come down on all sides of the topic (most recently, the Hartford Courant published an opinion piece by SHU Professor Gary Rose), I want to take a few minutes to elaborate on my comments of last week, answer some questions that have been asked and set the record straight.

Much of the correspondence we received quoted the University’s mission—in particular the section that reads “Sacred Heart University welcomes men and women of all religious traditions and beliefs who share its concerns for truth, scholarship, the dignity of the human person, freedom and the betterment of human society.” I would like to draw your attention to another section of our mission: “Sacred Heart University challenges its students to think critically, analyze carefully, evaluate with a sense of justice and proportion and convey conclusions in an intelligible and articulate fashion ... as a community of teachers and scholars, Sacred Heart University exists for the pursuit of truth. It joins with other colleges and universities in the task of expanding human knowledge and deepening human understanding.”

In reality, both these passages support our position that we are obligated to open our doors to speakers on a wide range of topics with opinions and positions that cover the spectrum. Frankly, I cannot remember a time when we said no to a request—possibly if the logistics were not manageable for some reason. This is not the first time that we raised the ire of our friends, neighbors, faculty, alumni and others who disagree with a speaker’s views. We would not be doing our job if this was not the case. We would not be serving our students.

A statement from the ACLU entitled “Hate Speech on Campus” reads in part: “Where racist, sexist and homophobic speech is concerned, the ACLU believes that more speech—not less—is the best revenge. This is particularly true at universities, whose mission is to facilitate learning through open debate and study, and to enlighten. Speech codes are not the way to go on campuses, where all views are entitled to be heard, explored, supported or refuted. Besides, when hate is out in the open, people can see the problem. Then they can organize effectively to counter bad attitudes, possibly change them and forge solidarity against the forces of intolerance.”

We are called Pioneers for a reason. From our beginnings as the first lay-led Catholic University, we have been a maverick of sorts; we don’t always do things as they have been done in the past. It is not our role to shield people from thoughts and opinions they find offensive, but rather to bring all sides into the light of day. I suggest that those who disagree with our speakers express their dissent with the issues rather than with the choice of location of the public square.

Finally, there seems to be a misconception that the University received a significant windfall through renting space to the Trump campaign. Nothing can be further from the truth. In reality, we just sought to cover the University’s expenses. Since Mr. Trump’s visit, we have reached out to the Democratic, Green and Libertarian party campaigns to make it clear to all what our longstanding practice has been and to let them know that our facilities are available to them in the same way they were open to the Trump campaign.

It is heartening to know that most college-aged students welcome the opportunity to expose themselves to varying viewpoints.  In fact, the results of a recent Gallup study determined that 78 percent of college students said they believe colleges should strive to create an open learning environment that exposes students to all types of speech and viewpoints—even those that are biased or offensive toward certain groups of people.

Last year, in the wake of some disturbing incidents on some college campuses—hate-filled songs sung on buses, inappropriately themed parties, hazing—we had a dialogue here on campus about tolerance. As I said then, it is our role to help our students understand right from wrong, and the consequences, intended or otherwise, that accompany every action. We must bring forth biases and intolerant acts and examine them under a microscope. That’s not the same as refusing access or limiting the Constitutional freedoms of those who hold those biases.

Enjoy the weekend!

Informed Decisions are Driven by Listening

Many wise people have observed that at parties and social events, it often is best to avoid discussing politics and religion. Little unites—or divides us—more fervently and passionately than strong beliefs that cut to our personal core. We all have witnessed how oblique rhetoric and pointed oratory can stir, enflame and encourage people to action, bring friends and associates together or turn brothers and sisters against one another.

Presidential political campaigns are fine theater, and the playbill this season has people out of their seats. As Americans, we embrace and value our democratic process, and we go to great lengths to ensure that all voices are heard, questions asked and answered and that opinions by those who wish to lead us are proffered in front of the largest possible audiences.  

We may not agree with those opinions—in fact, we often disagree, sometimes vehemently—but these opportunities to test candidates’ mettle, consistency and true character are critical to helping us make this most profound choice: Which man or woman is best suited to lead our fine nation, represent the United States on the world stage and work with Congress to shape policy, elect supreme court justices and make decisions that will have profound short- and long-term implications for us, our families and our futures.

Tomorrow night, Donald J. Trump, the duly selected Republican nominee for president of the United States, will speak at Sacred Heart University. His appearance on our campus is by no means a political endorsement or effort to boost his campaign; nor is it a University-sponsored event. Over the years, we have made our facilities available to community leaders, politicians and presidential candidates from across the political spectrum. We were approached due to proximity, accessibility and availability and were asked if our venue could be rented so Mr. Trump could speak to voters and observers in this region.

It has long been our policy to open our doors to a wide variety of speakers on an equally diverse range of topics, regardless of party affiliation, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Our goal then, as now, was to promote open dialogue. To do less would be an injustice to our students and to our commitment to providing our educational community the broadest possible exposure and learning.

In the short time since word of Mr. Trump’s scheduled appearance has spread, we have received a great deal of feedback—both positive and negative. There have been hundreds of requests for tickets, and there have been negative responses based on opposition to his philosophies, opinions and pronouncements. Some also have questioned whether—as a Catholic university—we should allow him access to our facilities, as some of his stances and proclamations appear contrary to our religious beliefs and values. We understand that reaction. We also know that any political candidate—and particularly the two main candidates running for president—would elicit similar responses. Should we use that criteria, we would eliminate candidates from both parties and would be absent from the discussion and the democratic process.

Mr. Trump would not be the first controversial person—nor will he be the last—to speak at our University, whether by design or circumstance. As a liberal arts institution, these opportunities provide our students and many diverse audiences the opportunity to assess the facts, observe the actions and measure a speaker’s words. Tolerance of and exposure to one another’s opinions and concerns is a foundation of the liberal arts and the Catholic intellectual tradition. With this first-hand knowledge, we are then better prepared to debate and determine for ourselves a person’s viability, legitimacy and competence. It is a vital step in the democratic process and an historic opportunity we are willing to provide.

President Petillo’s Blog: August 5, 2016

Let the countdown begin! In just three weeks, our Pioneers will be moving back to campus. I can’t wait to see all our students and begin another exciting academic year.

As the school year approaches, the Horizons at SHU summer program has come to an end. The students were engaged all summer long with hands-on lessons and activities. They were also busy learning to swim and chop boards in half with their bare hands. It was inspiring to see them working together at the Makers Fair last week, and it was wonderful seeing their talents on display at the group’s end-of-summer celebration last night.

Our students, faculty and staff were busy last week. On Thursday, many participated in Fairfield County’s Corporate Run. A group representing SHU gathered at Cranberry Park in Norwalk to run the 5K. 

Last weekend was the CT Challenge, and Team SHU came out to ride their bikes in support of cancer research programs and the Christopher Cook Scholarship Fund. Team SHU raised nearly $20,000 for the scholarship. Great job, everyone!

I am proud of our alum and adjunct professor of computer science, Robert Pescatore, Jr., for his recent win in the U.S. Cyber Challenge Competition. He qualified in the national competition by displaying his cyber security skills and then competed in a challenging five-day advanced training program. Congrats, Robert!

Great news about our Great River Golf Course! It was recently named one of the best courses to play in Connecticut by Golfweek. You can read the article here. Great River’s restaurant, Monty’s, was also ranked one of the most gorgeous and delicious places to dine this summer. So before these beautiful, sunny days end, head over and get a bite to eat. Lastly, the U.S. Amateur Qualifier was held at Great River recently, and golfer Joey Savoie was the big winner.

Our Alumni Association did a great job with its Summer Series events, providing an opportunity for alumni to meet up, mingle and have a good time. Last week, there was a gathering at the restaurant BAR in New Haven for delicious pizza and beverages.

Along with all the other exciting renovations that have been taking place on campus over the summer (completion of Bergoglio Hall, updates in the Edgerton and much more), we also installed new furniture in Christian Witness Commons. In keeping with our mission, we didn’t just throw away the old furniture. It was donated to Habitat for Humanity, where the organization will either sell it at their re-sale store or repurpose it for one of their homes.

Enjoy the weekend!