Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo’s Blog: November 30, 2018

It was hard not to get in the holiday spirit this week with two lively tree lightings on campus. On Tuesday, members of the community came to West Campus for our annual tree lighting ceremony. Members of the SHU choirs and band played festive music, and the children in attendance helped push the magic button that lit the tree up in all its red and white glory. Santa also stopped by for a visit. On Thursday, students, faculty and staff gathered on the quad for hot cocoa and carols as we lit the Christmas tree there. I am certainly feeling plenty of yuletide joy.

We hosted our share of thought-provoking lectures and events this week. On Wednesday, we heard from Peter Warrian, distinguished research fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto on artificial intelligence and robotics. A little later in the day, professors Brent Little, Patrick Morris and Brian Stiltner discussed whether the death penalty is really effective, ethical or just. Students from our healthcare informatics program presented posters on their capstone projects on Thursday. As always, their presentations were fascinating and well researched. Also on Thursday, SHU in Dingle instructor Shane Finn showed his documentary on running and talked about his upcoming cross-country running and cycling marathon. State Senator Tony Hwang visited Professor Gary Rose’s class on congress and the legislative process Thursday afternoon. The senator spoke about key issues facing the state legislature. Greg Madrid, assistant director of residential life, shared his personal and spiritual experiences with students at Agape Latte Thursday night at Linda’s.

Gary MacNamara, SHU’s executive director for public safety, was honored at the Light the Fire reception in Stamford last night. The event honors the nonprofit and philanthropic work of community heroes. We appreciate everything Gary is already doing for SHU and the surrounding communities. We are lucky to have him as part of our family. 

Earlier this month WSHU hosted a “Join the Conversation” event with David Bouchier, beloved WSHU commentator, who discussed his memoir, An Unexpected Life. The book chronicles his childhood in post-war London and much more.

Congrats to junior Anthony Smith who was recently mentioned on his fraternity’s national website. He was recognized in an article for receiving the Sophomore Pioneer Award at the Campus Life Leadership Awards last spring.

Our Theatre Arts Program (TAP) has been nominated for several 2018 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards. Register and vote for SHU here. TAP members are requesting that we focus particularly on the Theatre of the Year (Non-Equity) category.

Great news from the Farrington College of Education. We are the first, and currently only, university in the state to offer teacher licensure in computer science. This is very exciting as we know how important STEM is as well as having teachers qualified to teach it.

There’s plenty going on this weekend if you need a break from studying. Tomorrow, our buildOn chapter will host a “Write for Rights” event in the Martire Forum. The event will allow attendees to write letters and create media projects that advocate for the release of prisoners of conscience. There are three dance events going on as well. Tonight, students from the SHU Dance Company and Dance Ensemble will present works by professional and student dancers at “Midnight Cabaret.” Tomorrow night, the SHU Dance Company presents professionally choregraphed works in all styles at its “Pieces of a Dream” performance. Then on Sunday afternoon, the SHU Dance Ensemble will present both student and professionally choregraphed works delivered with soul at its “Winter Soulstice” showcase. The Liturgical Choir will tell the story of Christ’s birth during the “Ceremony of Lessons & Carols: Journey to Bethlehem” concert on Sunday afternoon. Also on Sunday, the SHU Chamber Ensemble will perform music from classical, contemporary and popular styles. Students in our class of 2018 film and television master’s program will present their showcase of films on Sunday afternoon at the Martire Theater.

Congratulations to our football team for clinching its fourth Northeast Conference title in program history on November 17 with a victory over St. Francis at Campus Field. The co-championship is the Pioneers’ third win in the last six seasons.

Tonight our men’s ice hockey team faces Robert Morris at the Webster Bank Arena at 7 and again tomorrow at 2. Our women’s ice hockey team plays Becker College on Saturday at 1 at the Sports Center of Connecticut in Shelton. Good luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away.

Be sure to follow me on social media for glimpses of the holidays at SHU.

Have a great weekend.

President Petillo's Blog: November 16, 2018

We had quite a busy week hosting a number of events and lectures. My video blog highlights International Education Week, a visit from alumnus Brian Hamilton, a Take Back the Night event, our Interfaith Thanksgiving Service and much more. Have a great weekend!

President Petillo’s Blog: November 9, 2018

It is hard to believe, but we are more than halfway through the semester. We continue to stay busy with activities, events and celebrations.

Last Friday, The Center for Nonprofits and the master in public administration program presented a conference titled “From Surviving to Thriving.” The event focused on management and financial challenges. Breakout workshops and sessions were facilitated by SHU faculty as well as leaders from a variety of local schools and agencies. The keynote speaker was Amy Houston, an adjunct faculty member at Columbia Business School.

Robert Engle, winner of the 2003 Noble Prize in Economics, spoke to a full crowd of students, faculty and staff last Friday in the Martire Forum. His talk, titled “How Much SRISK is Too Much?” looked at financial firms and the external shocks they sometimes face. He explained how the shocks are commonly measured by stress tests or market-based measures of systematic risk.

Professors June-Ann Greely, Nathan Lewis and Joe Nagy and junior Tyler Lascola, attended a conference on teaching Dante’s Divine Comedy at the end of October at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. The conference, “Teaching the Christian Intellectual Tradition,” was sponsored by the Lilly Foundation. It focused on teaching the Divine Comedy in an interdisciplinary course in a core curriculum. The conference was especially relevant for SHU since the Divine Comedy is a core text in our year-long foundational core course, The Human Journey: Great Books in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

Assistant professor of history, David K. Thomson, was awarded a 2019 Obama Fellowship at the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, located in Mainz, Germany. He will work with graduate students and give a lecture while in Germany. Congrats, David.

The Isabelle Farrington College of Education hosted two workshops for K-12 teachers on Tuesday. SHU partnered with the nonprofit organization Code.org to provide educators a workshop called “Computer Science Fundamentals,” as a way to bring computer science into elementary schools. The other workshop focused on STEM learning. I am pleased our faculty are leaders in K-12 education.

We heard from a variety of speakers on Wednesday. Guest speaker Jorge Morales of Johns Hopkins University talked about the varieties of metacognition in the Art & Design Gallery. Panelists from several nonprofits were at the Schine Auditorium to discuss the growing problem of sex and labor trafficking at a colloquium sponsored by the Department of Social Work. Holocaust survivor Judith Altmann spoke at our annual Kristallnacht remembrance ceremony. She shared her emotional story about survival and hope. Thank you to those who attended. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we remember these events from the past.

Students, faculty and staff gathered for Rabbi Marcelo Kormis’s lunch and conversation yesterday in Melady Hall. The group discussed “Being Created in God’s Imagine: What Does it Mean to You?” I hope the lunch was a positive spiritual learning experience.

Remember, Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away and Student Government and Volunteer Programs & Service Learning (VPSL) need your help. To help Student Government reach its goal of raising $12,000 to purchase 700 turkeys, donate here. Bring in nonperishable goods and place them in collection boxes around campus or bring them to the VPSL office. Items can also be submitted at the Interfaith Service on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Chapel. All food will be hand-delivered the week of Thanksgiving to local families in need.

Join the film & television production master’s program as they host actress Zenobia Shroff in the Martire Theater this evening. She will share her experiences and adventures in the film and television industry. Zenobia has appeared in TV shows such as Madam Secretary and the movie The Big Sick.

Professor Gary Rose was certainly busy in the days and weeks leading up to Election Day. Many media outlets contacted Gary to talk politics. He provided his expert opinion and commentary to reporters from the Wall Street Journal and the Connecticut Post to News 12, the Hartford Courant and our very own WSHU, as well as others.


Good luck to our SHU Irish Dance Ensemble, The Claddagh Dancers, who compete in the Intercollegiate Dance Festival tomorrow at Villanova.


Please give a warm welcome to the many high school students and their parents who will be on campus Sunday for our Open House. Let’s show them what being a Pioneer is all about.

Looking for something to do this weekend? It is your last chance to see the Theatre Arts Program’s production of Reefer Madness. Get your tickets here. Celebrate the Diwali Festival of Lights in the Martire Center Atrium tomorrow evening with free food, music and dance performances. The event will kick off International Education Week. We are hosting an array of educational multicultural events throughout the week such as language lessons, study abroad info sessions, a salsa night and more.


The men’s club rugby team, SHU X-Men, needs the community’s help. The team is scheduled to play William Paterson University tomorrow in New Jersey and if they win, they will compete in the national tournament in North Carolina. The cost of the post-season could exceed $30,000, so they are launching a fundraising effort to get the entire team on the bus to North Carolina. You can donate here.

Our men’s ice hockey team faces Army West Point at the Webster Bank Arena tomorrow at 2. Good luck to our student-athletes playing home and away. Go Pioneers!

Follow me on social media for campus updates.

Have a great weekend, and remember to think of our veterans as we honor them on Monday. 

President Petillo’s Blog: November 2, 2018

While the weather was not ideal, we managed to have a great Family Weekend. I enjoyed speaking with students’ parents and siblings and also with alumni at the many events and activities. Thanks to all those involved for making it a memorable time.

We held a prayer service at the Chapel on Monday in response to the recent killings and hate crimes across the country. It is necessary to take the time to reflect, stand together in solidarity for the victims and unite against hate. We have to support one another during times like these.

Recently student Sarah Kosha, Student Government president, called on the University community to act and evoke change. She encouraged her fellow students to start the change by voting. I am pleased to see students executing their civic responsibilities, taking a stance and showing leadership. And remember, Tuesday is Election Day. Get out and vote.

Many students, faculty and staff got into the spooky spirit this week. The SHU Band performed the annual Halloween Spooktacular concert on Monday and donned fun costumes as they played ghostly tunes. Faculty and staff celebrated Halloween at Red’s Wednesday afternoon with lunch and laughs.


Student Government needs your help for its annual Thanksgiving Turkey Drive. Help the organization raise $12,000 to purchase 700 turkeys for local families in need. You can donate here. Remember, Thanksgiving is just three weeks away.

Robert W. McElroy, a Roman Catholic prelate and bishop from San Diego, presented two talks on Pope Francis on Tuesday. The afternoon discussion focused on the challenge for the academy in today’s changing church, and the evening discussion was about the Pope’s vision for God’s people.


The Connecticut Technology Council hosted ScaleUP CT at West Campus on Tuesday. This half-day conference for business professionals addressed the needs and concerns of companies and helped invigorate leaders. There were workshops and panel discussions. Our business, computer science and engineering students were invited to attend. These types of partnerships and events with leaders in business are exactly what we had in mind for West Campus. We are not only allowing students to network, but they are seeing firsthand the kinds of jobs they can someday hold.

Thanks to the generous support of SHU trustee Jim Morley, faculty from Catholic Studies were able to attend Commonweal magazine’s annual awards dinner recently in New York City. Jim, who also serves on the magazine’s board of directors, hosted a table at the event that honored Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States. Seated at the SHU table, along with professors Dan Rober, Cara Kilgallen and Marie Hulme, was the distinguished writer, Patricia Hampl, whose own work resonates greatly with the ideas discussed in the Great Books in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Seminars.

A group of business students recently participated in the Fed Challenge. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York provides the opportunity for college students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of macroeconomics, monetary policy and the role of the Federal Reserve. Teams of three to five students play the role of monetary policymakers by analyzing economic conditions and recommending a course for monetary policy. The team finished the competition as quarterfinalists. The SHU Fed Team of 2018 included sophomore Nick White, juniors Emma Stent, Steven Schilder and Jacob Tomanelli and seniors Wilder Rumpf and Jessica Tavarez. Faculty advisers included Professors Jennifer Trudeau and Gerry McCloghry.


Chartwells at SHU was recently recognized for using leftover apple and carrot scraps for vegetarian dog treats. The treats, made by students, were then sent to the Dog and Cat Rescue Samui Foundation in Thailand. Great work.

To commemorate All Souls Day, a day that honors the departed including the members of our families and friends who have gone before us, SHU held a Mass today at noon in the Chapel. Members of the community provided names of family and friends and the Chapel bells rang in their honor.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out the Theatre Arts Program’s presentation of Reefer Madness this weekend and next. For tickets, visit here.


Today our men’s soccer team battles St. Francis Brooklyn at 3. Tonight our women’s volleyball team takes on Bryant at 6, and they play Central Connecticut State University tomorrow at 6. Our women’s hockey team plays Post at Shelton’s Sports Center of Connecticut at 7. Our football teams takes Campus Field tomorrow at noon to play Robert Morris at our Military Family Appreciation Day game.

Be sure to follow me on social for SHU updates.

Enjoy the weekend, and remember to turn your clocks back tomorrow night!

Good luck to The Claddagh Dancers. The best of luck as they compete in the Intercollegiate Irish Dance Festival on Saturday November 10th at Villanova! Go Pioneers 💥💥💥

— Dr. P (@SHUprez) November 2, 2018