Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo’s Blog: April 28, 2017

Even though the semester is coming to a close, we are busier than ever. I have enjoyed the many end-of-the-year projects, portfolios and performances by our talented students.

The Academic Festival last Friday showcased our students’ research projects. They were excited to describe their work to attendees, and I was impressed to learn so much about their research.

Faculty also presented research on a variety of topics at the TEDx Hersher 2017 Ethics of Discourse event last week. If you missed it, be sure to catch up here.


We raised $878,000, a record amount of money, for student scholarships at our 29th annual Discovery Gala on Friday at West Campus. The annual event allows us to show our appreciation and support for the students. We honored our trustee and friends of the University, Frank ’69 and Marisa Martire. It was a wonderful night with a fun speakeasy theme, great food and live entertainment from Bernie Williams and his All-Star Band.


On Saturday, I started the day with the Parent Council at its annual spring meeting on West Campus. More than 30 Council members toured the new space and heard from a variety of administrators. The council will be hosting several summer send-off receptions around the area to welcome the class of 2021 and their families. Next stop was Relay for Life. As you know, this cause to raise money for cancer research is near and dear to me. It was great to see so many students, staff, faculty and alumni in their decorative T-shirts and costumes walking around the track in the Pitt Center. Later in the evening, we supported another worthy cause, Horizons. At their annual gala, we praised the good work of the organization that enriches the lives of young students in the Bridgeport area and honored program supporters, Ruben and Grace Rodriguez. The day concluded with beautiful vocal performances by SHU L.O.V.E. at their annual spring concert.

Earth Day was Saturday, and Professor Jennifer Mattei, biology faculty and staff and students showed their support on Friday and Saturday by planting salt marsh grass at Stratford Point to minimize erosion. Local grade-school children and community members also helped with the effort.

We welcomed ESPN host Linda Cohn to campus on Saturday for “Getting in the Game: A Symposium on Women in Sports Media.” It was a pleasure having Linda at the Martire Center to share her years of knowledge and expertise in the sports media business with our students.

In addition to the SHU L.O.V.E. concert, there were performances by SHU’s Dance Company and the SHU Chamber Ensembles last weekend. Both were inspirational and moving.

Congratulations to the College of Nursing students who were inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing on Sunday at the Great River Golf Course.


Our Office of Graduate Student Life hosted a Holi Festival party on Sunday. Holi is a Hindu celebration that signifies the arrival of spring. It looked like everyone had a fun time.


Faculty and staff read poetry, passages from novels and performed songs at the Literatures of Resistance event Monday in the Commons. The event, hosted by SHU’s minor in creative writing, was a way for faculty and staff to showcase their creativity and keep free speech alive. Members of the fraternity Iota Phi Theta also performed a step dance.

Our Campus Life Leadership Awards took place Wednesday night in the Edgerton Center and, as always, it was a wonderful night celebrating the students who have taken advantage of the opportunities SHU has to offer and made a name for themselves on campus. Congratulations to everyone who was recognized.


Twenty-nine social work students, including Caitlin Nelson, were inducted into the Phi Alpha Honor Society on Wednesday. I received the award on behalf of Caitlin and her family. After hearing about Caitlin, the Phi Alpha Honor Society sent a special medallion engraved for her. An empty seat was also left for Caitlin to acknowledge her importance to the group.

The Department of Art & Design presented its Senior Portfolio Night Thursday at the Art & Design Gallery. The reception featured the graphic design and illustration work of our graduating students. It was an exciting night filled with truly impressive artwork.


Today was Fresh Check Day on the 63’s patio, and the weather cooperated. Fresh Check day promotes suicide awareness through interactive activities and fun as opposed to passively offering printed information. This is a valuable event as students are often faced with pressures and stressors, especially as finals and the end of the school year approach.

I am incredibly proud of our women’s golf team for winning the Northeast Conference Championship. The squad set multiple records during the three-day event and led by 33 strokes over its nearest competitor. The team will now participate the in NCAA tournament. Congratulations!

John Winthrop Middle School students, mentored by SHU students as part of the Jones-Zimmermann Academic Mentoring Program, finished an extensive mural project this year. The young students at the local Bridgeport school helped paint lockers and hallways with bright colors, fun characters and positive messages. What a great project.


With final exams comes one of the best parts of the semester—the Late Night Breakfast. I encourage all faculty and staff to join me in serving our hungry, hardworking Pioneers at 63’s on Wednesday, May 3.

Sunday is our final admissions event of the semester, the Annual Spring Preview Day where current high school sophomores and juniors come to explore SHU. This event is similar to our fall open houses. As always, please give our guests a nice, warm welcome.

There is plenty to do and see this weekend. Mr. SHU is tonight! Come see our students perform, and prepare to be entertained. Tonight SHU’s Dance Company presents SHU SLAM featuring many of our dance groups, community artists, poets and musicians. Then on Saturday, head to the south parking lot for Spring Fest. Saturday evening, be sure to check out the SHU Choirs classic rock throwback concert. Please join us Sunday morning at West Campus for the SHU Walk to End Violence Against Women and Girls. I encourage you all to attend this important event. To close out the weekend, the SHU Band presents A Concert of Hope and Redemption Sunday afternoon.

Our women’s lacrosse team plays St. Francis University today at 3 and Robert Morris on Sunday at noon. Good luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away. Go Pioneers!

Follow me on social media to catch a glimpse of some of our celebrations.

Have a great weekend!

President Petillo's Blog: April 21, 2017

Spring is officially here and campus is abuzz. Watch the latest installment of my video blog to learn what’s been happening on campus – from inspiring lectures, to partnerships with universities, to music celebrations. We are enjoying every minute of the final semester.

President Petillo’s Blog: April 13, 2017

Spring finally made an appearance this week, and it was nice to see everyone embracing the sunshine—playing outdoor games with friends, reading or taking time for reflection.

Last weekend, our Winter Guard team came in seventh place at the Winter Guard International World Championship in Dayton, Ohio. They beat out dozens of universities in their class including James Madison University, Purdue, Penn State, Clemson and more. Congrats team!

The graduate student dinner dance took place over the weekend. The students had a great time dancing and creating silly poses in the photo booth.

A group of 44 students were inducted into the Delta Epsilon Sigma National Honor Society last Friday at the Schine Auditorium. They enjoyed a reception with friends, family and faculty after the ceremony where they received a pin and gold cord. Delta Epsilon Sigma is a national scholarship honor society for students, faculty and alumni of colleges and universities with a Catholic tradition. The students who were inducted had GPAs of 3.69 or higher, strong academic lives inside and outside of the classroom and a dedication to service work. This group of students truly demonstrate the mission of the University. Congratulations to all. 

Kappa Delta sorority held its Shamrock the Runway to support Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA) fundraiser on Tuesday. The fashion show charity event took place in the Pitt Center and was attended by hundreds from the SHU community. The sorority was able to raise $54,000 for PCAA, almost tripling Caitlin Nelson’s original goal. Thanks to everyone who supported this cause.

We celebrated our dedicated and loyal staff and faculty members Wednesday at our annual Founder’s Day event. After a service in the Chapel, we headed to the Edgerton Center to congratulate those who have served SHU for 15 years or more. Founder’s Day provides an opportunity to remember the reasons that Bishop Curtis started SHU and to honor those who continue to uphold that mission every day.

Our Pioneers sang their hearts out at SHU Idol on Wednesday. Inspired by the hit TV show, American Idol, they sang and were judged on their abilities. Great job to everyone who had the courage to go on stage and sing.

Our student-athletes play several games over the weekend. Tomorrow our baseball team takes on Fairleigh Dickinson at 1 and 3:30 and again on Saturday at 11. Our men’s lacrosse team faces St. Joseph’s at noon and our men’s tennis team plays Bryant at 11 on Saturday. Our softball team battles Wagner on Saturday at 1 and again at 3. Good luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to follow me on social media.

Enjoy the break and have a happy Easter!

President Petillo's Blog: April 7, 2017

It has been an emotional week for the Sacred Heart community, and while I know it has been tough, I am so proud of the way the community has come together during this difficult time. We are, indeed, SHU.

This week brought events for all interests. Career Development and the Jack Welch College of Business presented a series on Wednesday in the Martire Forum designed for students interested in pursing a career on Wall Street. Students participated in a panel discussion on Demystifying Investment Banking.

Guest speaker David Ibarra from ESPN spoke at the opening of the 25th annual Art & Design Expo on Thursday. This year, the exhibit featured the work of graphic design in broadcasting. We also held our second Literary Spring event of the semester with author Jilly Gagnon who shared her work with students and faculty. Later in the day, our master of science in digital marketing program presented a Digital Marketing Evening, moderated by Associate Dean Anca Micu. A panel of three esteemed marketing experts talked about reaching and measuring audiences.

The cast and crew of Jesus Christ Superstar will wow you this weekend. The show opened last night with all SHU student ticket sale proceeds going to Shamrock the Runway for Prevent Child Abuse America. This is a fundraiser that Caitlin Nelson was spearheading in her role as philanthropy chair for Kappa Delta. More than $2,000 was raised. Thank you to the entire theatre arts team—and to the students who attended the show—for your generosity. I encourage our students, staff and faculty to see the show this weekend.

I was happy to attend Theta Phi Alpha sorority’s Tie Dye with Theta Phi fundraiser this week. The event raised money for Camp Sunshine, a camp in Maine for children with life-threatening illnesses.

Two of our Isabelle Farrington College of Education graduate students organized a book drive for Bridgeport’s Dunbar School. Many of the school’s classrooms lack libraries filled with books. Our students are asking for brand new or gently used books for kindergarten to sixth-grade students. Books can be dropped off at the Office of Volunteer Programs & Service Learning now until December. Monetary donations can be made here.

Talal Albakri, a graduate student in the master’s of communication program and intern in international admissions, will be performing with his band Al Farabi at BRIC in Brooklyn tonight. Check out Talal’s singing talents and the rest of the band’s sound here.

It is wonderful when we find out one of our Upward Bound students has been accepted into the college of his or her choice. It is even better when we find out that the choice is SHU. Joseph Robles, a senior in the Upward Bound program, has been accepted into the pre-health advisement program at SHU for fall 2017. Joseph has been participating in Upward Bound since 2014. Congrats!

Peer educators from s.w.e.e.t. (student wellness education and empowerment team) presented two programs at the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education BACCHUS Initiatives Region 1 Spring Conference at Suffolk University in Boston. The conference was a great opportunity for peer education groups to get new program ideas on a variety of health and wellness issues, gain new knowledge and skills to support peer education efforts, network with other groups and much more.

Speech-language pathology professor Robin Danzak has been working with a group of bilingual, talented and gifted students from two Bridgeport public schools. The 27 students visited SHU at the end of March and had a great time visiting campus, hearing from SHU students, eating lunch and getting a tour of the Martire Center from communications and media arts professor, Gregory Golda.

Our student-athletes have a busy weekend ahead. Our men’s baseball team plays Stony Brook today at 3. Our men’s volleyball team faces Penn State tonight at 7 and St. Francis University on Saturday at 7. Our women’s lacrosse team battles Central Connecticut State University today at 3 and Bryant Sunday at 1. Our women’s softball team takes on Central Connecticut State University on Sunday at noon and again at 2. Our men’s tennis team faces St. Francis Brooklyn Sunday at 10, and our women’s tennis team plays Bryant Sunday at 2. Good luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away.

Please follow me on social media for the latest SHU updates, and have a great weekend!

President Petillo's Blog: April 3, 2017

We are getting a taste of spring today. It is a beautiful day to be outside. But even as I walked around campus and greeted those of you hurrying to classes or heading for a bite to eat, I was thinking of Caitlin Nelson and the tremendous loss to our community. I am sure that all of you experienced a similarly bittersweet day.

Last night, more than a thousand students, faculty and staff gathered at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit for a Mass in remembrance of Caitlin. Most were forced to stand outside the doors of the building. I don’t believe I have ever seen as big a turnout at the Chapel. I say it all the time—this is an incredibly special community. I love the way we welcome visitors with such warmth, smile at strangers that we pass on the walkways and hold the doors open for one another. But we are at our best in times of loss—whether we are helping the victims of a hurricane, providing food for needy families at the holidays, supporting community members who may feel disenfranchised or mourning the loss of one of our own. We come together to offer prayers, console each other and remind ourselves of the preciousness of life.

Many of you who did not know Caitlin, but you consider her family anyway. Here at SHU, when one of us is hurt, we all hurt; when one of us excels, we all celebrate. Whether you knew Caitlin or not, you came together to express your love for her, your love for each other and your love for SHU.

I want to take a moment to thank you all for the way you have taken care of each other. That includes those of you had a role to play professionally. So many folks in so many departments worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to care for all the members of the SHU family and are continuing to do so. I want to remind everyone that counselors from the counseling center and from Campus Ministry are available to any student, faculty or staff who want to avail themselves of those services.

Finally, if you are looking for another way to honor Caitlin’s memory, I have a suggestion. Caitlin was the philanthropy chair for her sorority and had set a goal to raise $15,000 for their national charity event called Shamrock the Runway for Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA). PCAA works to promote the healthy development of children and prevent child abuse before it can occur with the goal of helping children grow up and contribute in their communities. The event takes place on April 11, and Caitlin was already 2/3’s of the way to her goal. If you would like to remember Caitlin in this way, you can click here to make a contribution.

Please also continue to remember Caitlin, her family and friends in your prayers. Thank you.