Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo's Blog: December 15, 2017

At this point, I hope most of our students have completed their final exams and are well on their way to spending time with family and friends. It has been a memorable semester filled with many events, celebrations and achievements. Thank you for making it another special fall at SHU.

Thanks to the many faculty and staff members who turned out to serve students a delicious meal at the Late-Night Breakfast on Monday in 63’s. As always, the annual event was well attended by hungry students preparing for exams. I hear the tater tots were the most popular food item.

We were recently ranked one of the best colleges for holiday events, and I cannot say I am surprised. The SHU Choir presented “A Choral Christmas Extravaganza: Christmas Around the World” on Sunday, and the SHU Band impressed us with its “Holiday Voyage” performance on Monday. There’s one last chance to get into the holiday spirit here on campus with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “A Broadway Holiday” tonight at the Chapel.

Also on Monday, the SHU Band presented a workshop and performance with Jens Wendelboe and A Nordic Sound. Wendelboe, a composer, conductor and trombonist, shared lessons he learned throughout his nearly 40-year career in the music business. I hope band students learned a lot from this opportunity.  

Last weekend, the Welch College of Business hosted a Girls With Impact event at the Martire Center. Dozens of girls from local high schools came to hear advice from businesswomen about starting on the path to becoming successful entrepreneurs. Girls With Impact is an organization that supports women pursuing business and getting ahead in a male-dominated industry.

Best wishes to Father Bruce Roby who was reassigned to the Newman Center at Western Connecticut State University. We will certainly miss him, his positivity, his laid-back demeanor and friendliness. Good luck, Bruce.

Seniors in the health science and occupational therapy programs presented their research at capstone events on Tuesday. There was some truly interesting work on display. We also saw the projects of our students in the School of Communication & Media Arts on Tuesday at The MAX. This bi-annual event allows students to show off their photography, audio, video, magazine production, photojournalism and critical writing skills.

We also hosted the Vantage Sports Network Video Awards on Thursday evening, honoring high school students who submitted videos to the Vantage Sports Network Video Awards Contest. It is always good to hear about students pursuing their passions and putting their talents to good use.

Speaking of putting talents to use, Welch College of Business students participated in the College’s annual Business Plan Competition last Friday. Teams of students set up at the Martire Center and presented their proposals to a panel of five judges. Teams came up with interesting ideas for businesses such as a mobile hair salon (the winning proposal) and offering nutritious drinks and snacks at the Pitt Center.

We lit our Advent Wreath on Wednesday at West Campus. This beautiful tradition was followed by our annual Christmas Party for faculty and staff. It was great seeing everyone. I hope you enjoyed the celebration after another successful semester.

Members of the SHU community gathered at the Chapel Thursday afternoon to remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy five years ago. One of our band members, senior Eric Cassidy of Newtown, rang a ship’s bell 26 times in honor of the students and staff who lost their lives on that day. Fellow band member Anthony Frawley played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes.

As the year comes to a close, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and a Happy Kwanzaa. However you choose to celebrate, I hope your time off is fun and relaxing. Please take the time to reflect on your many blessings. Let us be thankful for what we have and appreciate one another’s company. I look forward to seeing you refreshed and reinvigorated in the new year. Be well.

President Petillo's Blog: December 8, 2017

It is hard to believe, but Monday is the last day of classes for the semester. It has been a memorable few months. I encourage faculty and staff to come out and serve our students their traditional late-night breakfast on Monday to kick off finals week. Good luck in the days ahead.

Getting into the Christmas spirit was easy last weekend with the many cheery performing arts events going on. We were wowed by the Chamber Ensembles, the Choir and SHU Dance Ensemble and all of their amazing performances. This weekend, there are more concerts to look forward to, including the Concert Band’s “Holiday Voyage” and the Choirs’ “A Choral Christmas Extravaganza: A Christmas Around the World.” Also, be sure to get your tickets for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s “A Broadway Holiday” on December 15. Admission is free for students.




Wearing a quirky festive sweater has become a trend over the years. On Monday, our graduate students gathered to show off their silliest and tackiest holiday apparel. Last night, there was another ugly sweater party at Red’s, and later today our undergraduate students will don their sweaters in University Commons with the Student Events Team. Director of Graduate Student Affairs Kathy Dilks even contributed to a recent Connecticut Post article about the tradition.


The SHUpermen were also in the Christmas spirit this week when they donated the proceeds from their “Salute to Heroes” Veteran’s Day concert to Homes for the Brave Monday night.

We are proud of the 10 students enrolled in the doctoral family nurse practitioner track program who received Paul L. Jones scholarships. The students were awarded $2,250 each towards their education to become primary care providers with a clinical doctorate in nursing.

Congratulations to our club football team for winning the National Club Football Association Championship. They beat Ft. Lauderdale University 21 to 18, and we’ve been celebrating with them all week! Great job!

Many of our talented actors and actresses have been nominated for the 2017 Broadway World Connecticut Regional Awards. You can show your support by casting your votes for them now until the end of December.

For the sixth time in his career, our head cross-country coach Christian Morrison has been named the Northeast Conference Women’s Coach of the Year. Congrats, Christian.


On Saturday, our women’s basketball team battles Providence at 1, followed by our men’s basketball game against Lafayette at 3:30. Also on Saturday, our men’s ice hockey team plays Yale at 7 at the Webster Bank Arena. Parking is now free for students who want to attend that game. Best of luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away this weekend. Go Pioneers.

Follow me on social media for a glimpse at some of our holiday events.

Have a wonderful weekend.

President Petillo's Blog: December 1, 2017

The Christmas season is upon as was evidenced by two SHU tree lightings this week—one at West Campus on Wednesday and the other on the quad last night. It was great to see everyone turn out for hot chocolate and carols and to hear the appreciation from our Stratfield neighbors.


There are many more holiday activities to come before the end of the semester including a performance by Chamber Ensembles tomorrow evening and three dance performances—Midnight Cabaret tonight, Mosaic tomorrow and Winter Soulstice on Sunday. Also on Sunday is our annual Lessons and Carols service in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.

On Tuesday, seven members of the state legislature graciously joined us for a discussion on the state of Connecticut and the results of the last statewide poll on the way residents are feeling about what is happening here. Sponsored by SHU’s new Institute for Public Policy and moderated by Professor Lesley DeNardis, the Institute’s director and director of our new MPA program, the conversation was lively and emotional. Clearly there is a lot of passion for Connecticut and a desire to solve its problems. We expect this will be the first of many such events.

For those of you who missed the music faculty concert on Wednesday night at the Chapel, featuring Joe Carter and Ali Ryerson, you are in luck. You can watch the performance here. They always put on a wonderful show.

I want to congratulate our very talented illustration students who had their pieces selected for the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles 56th annual Illustration West—a nationally juried student competition. This is no easy feat as they were selected from more than 1,100 students. Congratulations to Hailey Hastings, Anna Leone, Allison Riback and Sarah Shamatovich!

The Connecticut Post ran a great story this week on a group of students from our Problem-based Learning Lab who are working on a development project with the city of Ansonia. This is a great program that is a win-win for our students and the organizations they engage with.

There was also a lot of press coverage about an alum who, as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, helped to rescue a North Korean defector. Jeffrey Schmidt was one of six soldiers who risked their own lives to rescue the defector after he was shot and collapsed. The soldiers were in range of fire from North Korean soldiers as they executed the rescue.

We were excited to host this week the presidents and athletic directors from the schools in the Northeast Conference at a dinner at Great River Golf Club. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our beautiful facility, especially the restaurant, Monty’s. The group also held their annual meeting at our new West Campus facilities the following day.  

We were excited to learn recently that we are the recipient of two prestigious grants. Steven Michels, along with David Shaenfield, received $203,098 over two years for the project, “Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum.” The grant, received from the Davis Educational Foundation established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’ retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc., will allow for a critical thinking program in the College of Arts & Sciences. It will be part of the University’s core curriculum and will replace the current Art of Thinking program.

Our Horizons program also received a $10,000 award from Near & Far Aid that will be used to support that program’s mission to change the lives of under-served students in the Bridgeport community by addressing the achievement gap. Congratulations to all involved in securing these grants.

Thanks to Hearts United and all who contributed to their collection of snacks, toiletries, decorations and games for the troops. The items were shipped off earlier today and will certainly make a difference to those who are away serving our country.

Our women’s ice hockey team plays Becker at 2 on Saturday at the Sports Center of Connecticut in Shelton and our women’s basketball team battles Lehigh at 1 on Sunday. Best of luck to all our athletes who are playing home and away this weekend, especially our Club Football team members who are going up against the University of Fort Lauderdale in the National Club Football Association Championship tomorrow afternoon in Florida.

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to follow me on social media for the latest campus happenings.

 

JPs seems the place to be these days. Great space for students to gather.

A post shared by Dr. Petillo (@shuprez) on Nov 30, 2017 at 4:54pm PST