Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo's Blog: May 26, 2017

Campus has calmed down quite a bit since graduation, but faculty and staff are still as busy as ever.

Last week, faculty participated in our annual Digital Pedagogy Summer Institute. The institute serves as professional development. Professors learned about digital tools and resources and how to integrate them into the classroom. Faculty also volunteered to take part in my annual Presidential Seminar. While their work for this program occurs throughout the academic year, they most recently spent eight days immersed in the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Our biology students went to Southport Beach this week to help teach local school children about tagging and tracking the activity of horseshoe crabs as part of Project Limulus. What great work.

Speaking of our biology students, those studying abroad in Dingle were greeted with a rare sight earlier this month. A 19-foot giant squid was caught by local fishermen and taken to the Dingle Aquarium where it was dissected by SHU students. According to local media, only five giant squids have been captured since scientists began keeping records 350 years ago.

The Isabelle Farrington College of Education hosted the Bridgeport school system for its Bridgeport Excellence in Education event on Wednesday in the Edgerton Center. Outstanding educators, students and parents were honored.  

Take some time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and enjoy the long weekend.

President Petillo's Blog: May 19, 2017

It has been a beautiful, warm week on campus; the only thing missing was our students. Our undergraduates are enjoying some well-deserved time off before they return in the fall.

It certainly was a jam-packed few days filled with everything from hooding and pinning ceremonies, Commencement Mass, dinner dances and degrees conferred. Our commencement ceremonies were impressive and filled with much SHU spirit.  I encourage you to take a look at Class President Theresa “T” Fletcher’s speech.  One of the best you will hear anywhere.  Also, look at some of the creativity of our Pioneers and their caps!

Thank you, everyone, for your support and effort to make it a very successful weekend. And congratulations again to our students who received diplomas. I look forward to watching the great things you will do and hearing about your adventures.

Good luck to all our student-athletes who have games this weekend.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the sunshine.

President Petillo's Blog: May 12, 2017

As always, this time of year is bittersweet. I will certainly miss our bustling campus over the next couple of months, but I am excited for our students who are graduating and the growth they will experience this summer and beyond. I am also proud of our SHU community and the work everyone has accomplished.

The graduate commencement will take place on Saturday and undergraduate on Sunday – both at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. I encourage everyone also to attend our Commencement Mass on Saturday at the Pitt Center. I look forward to seeing our students and their families there and again at the Family Dinner Dance.

I know many seniors have waited all year for this week and the fun that goes along with Senior Week. On Thursday morning, they enjoyed a special brunch in 63’s. It was great toasting to their success and accomplishments. Our senior student-athletes also enjoyed the annual Senior Awards Banquet at the Pitt Center. Tonight our soon-to-be-graduates will dress to impress and dance the night away at the Commencement Ball. Remember, gents, dress for the Bowtie Brigade Saturday evening – I need to take my annual snapshot for social media.

With the end of the school year, it was the perfect time to celebrate our faculty and staff who work hard all year long ensuring our students have the best experience possible. We hosted a BBQ at West Campus to show our appreciation.

Last weekend the Office of Graduate Student Life hosted the Graduate Student Olympics. A group of students gathered on Campus Field and competed in a variety of games. Looked like a fun time.

SHU Choirs performed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Wednesday as part of the Cathedral’s Guest Choir Concert Series. This was a rare and wonderful opportunity for our singers.

Longtime NPR radio host Diane Rehm was at the Edgerton Center on Thursday night discussing her newest book, On My Own. Diane talked about the death of her husband and what it was like moving forward without him.

Our student-athletes continue to impress. Our women’s track and field team won its third consecutive Northeast Conference Women’s Track and Field Outdoor Championship title. Our women’s golf team competed in the NCAA Women’s Golf Regionals and put up a good fight against some of the best teams in the country. Golfweek wrote an article about our golf teams and the impact of losing their beloved assistant coach. Good luck to all our student-athletes finishing up the rest of the spring season. Go Pioneers!

Don’t miss out on any of the events going on this weekend – follow me on social media!

Have a great summer. Don’t forget to send vacation photos of you dressed in SHU swag to #SHUTravels!

President Petillo's Blog: May 5, 2017

Can you believe it? In a week’s time underclassmen will have packed up their belongings and started their summer break. Our seniors will be celebrating and preparing for commencement. It has been an exciting year, but it is not quite over yet!

We watched our students display their talents at our annual Mr. SHU event last Friday. It was a great evening, and I was thoroughly entertained. On Saturday, students gathered in the south parking lot for Spring Fest. At this carnival-like event, participants got their faces painted, played games and indulged in treats from food trucks. Later in the evening, we heard our SHU Choirs perform at a classic rock throwback concert. They had the packed house at the Edgerton rocking.

I was impressed by the number of students who were at West Campus Sunday morning for our Walk to End Violence Against Women and Girls. More than 500 students, staff, faculty and community members showed up to support this important cause, and the walk raised nearly $6,000. A big thank you to everyone who helped make this event possible.

We closed out the weekend with the SHU Band presenting A Concert of Hope and Redemption. It was a great performance.

The University’s Office for Alumni Engagement, the Forever Pioneer student philanthropy group and the Student Alumni Association launched the Pioneer Pride Giving Challenge last week. They challenged alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of the University to show their SHU pride with a gift. The goal of the challenge was 500 donors and, through the generosity of SHU’s loyal supporters, we exceeded our goal. At this moment, we have an increase of over 700 alumni gifts from our numbers last year and have set a new record of over 1,300 student donors. This support provides critical resources and gives a boost to our alumni giving participation rates, which factor meaningfully into national rankings for Sacred Heart.

The Feast of St. Joseph the Worker event took place at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit on Monday to recognize and celebrate service workers on campus. Thank you for all that you do.

We saw the research work of our health science, family nurse practitioner and doctor of nursing practice students on Tuesday at their poster sessions. So many interesting projects.

Students in Professor Lucjan T. Orlowski’s forecasting class presented their annual economic outlook for the state of Connecticut on Wednesday in the Martire Forum. The report included a detailed study of the state economy and addressed growth, unemployment, business investments and more.

The work of our School of Communication & Media Arts students was on display at The Max exhibition this week. Students showed off their photography, audio, video, magazine production, photojournalism and critical writing work.

Students went into the first day of exams with full stomachs. Thank you to all faculty and staff who turned out to serve our Pioneers breakfast before a week full of final examinations. It was a fun time with a delicious menu.

We have enjoyed listening and watching recent news stories developed by WSHU and graduate students in our School of Communication & Media Arts. For eight weeks, students and reporters worked together producing multimedia stories for the WSHU website. You can see their work here, here and here. It is a wonderful partnership.  

Speaking of WSHU, they deserve to be congratulated for receiving two Radio Television Digital News Association Edward R. Murrow Awards. What an honor!

The College of Nursing and the Institute of Technology Department of Nursing co-sponsored the APN Internal Summit in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland at the end of April. The invitation-only meeting gathered international advanced practice nurses, nurse educators and health policy officials from Ireland, Norway, China and the U.S. to share information on the role development of the advanced nurse practitioner, the variable educational preparation and the necessary policy initiatives to support the primary care APN in global settings. Participants and presenters discussed all the factors that influence the role and responsibilities of a nurse practitioner in each country. The summit was held in Ireland to support the SHU campus in Dingle and to honor the collaboration with our educational partners.

Our women’s rowing team competed in the 2017 Spring Metropolitan Championship, and the Varsity Eight team finished first in their event last weekend. This weekend our softball and women’s lacrosse teams are participating in NEC championship games. Good luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away.

Follow me on social media for all the end-of-the-year activities!

Study hard and have a great weekend!