Dr. Petillo's Blog

President Petillo’s Blog: February 22, 2019

With many high schools off this week because of the President’s Day holiday, we were visited by hundreds of admitted students for the class of 2023 as well as many prospective students. I hope they all enjoyed their time on campus.

We welcomed Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, to the Martire Forum on Monday. As part of the Jack Welch College of Business Dean’s Leadership Lecture Series, the entrepreneur answered students’ questions about his time working with the president and his business experiences. He later posed for pictures and signed copies of his book.

Anthony Scaramucci

Thursday was a busy day for events and presentations. The Center for Career and Professional Development hosted a marketing and communications forum as part of its new Industry Series. Mike Harrington, senior vice president with Timex and head of their sports business unit, was the guest speaker at the event. Young alumni professionals, Danette Ceriano ’11, Joy Vandermark ’14 and Theresa Campbell ’10, who work in the field, shared their insight and experiences with marketing and communications students. A meet-and-greet reception followed the discussion.

From left are Mike Harrington, senior vice president of Timex, and alumnae Danette Ceriano ’11 (Even Financial), Theresa Campbell ’10 (Google) and Joy Vandermark ’14 (Conair Corporation).

The School of Communication, Media & the Arts announced its exhibition of photography by student Sidney Choothesa. The opening reception occurred yesterday, but you can stop by the second floor of the Martire Center to view Sidney’s work. 

Photographs by Sidney Choothesa

Katie Burke, SHU Board of Trustee member and global chief of staff at Edelman, presented a master class on communicating effectively for all interested students in the School of Communication, Media & the Arts. Thanks to Katie for bringing her invaluable experience in press relations to our students.

Annie Wendel, assistant director of Volunteer Programs & Service Learning, kicked off the spring semester’s Agape Latte events. Annie presented her talk “Rooted in Faith” to a packed crowd at Linda’s.

Agape Latte with Annie Wendel

In case you missed it, take a look at the latest edition of the Pulse, SHU’s TV news magazine program put together by Professor Joe Alicastro’s class. Our students are doing great work bringing important topics to the forefront.

Please give a warm welcome to admitted students attending Performing Arts Day on Saturday. The hands-on, in-depth look at our band, choir, dance, guard and theater programs gives students an idea of what they can expect when they attend SHU. The event will provide opportunities for students to attend presentations, audition for their program of choice and meet student participants and program directors.

Looking for something to do this weekend? It is your last chance to check out the Theatre Arts Program’s production of the musical Ordinary Days in the Little Theatre. Get your tickets here. On Sunday, comedian Pete Davidson will be putting on two shows for our students at the Edgerton Center.

Ordinary Days

Today our women’s lacrosse team plays New Hampshire at 3. Our men’s volleyball team takes on NJIT at 6 tonight and Princeton tomorrow at 4. Our men’s ice hockey team battles Army West Point at the Webster Bank Arena tonight at 7. Tomorrow our men’s lacrosse team plays Fairfield U at 1, and on Sunday, our men’s and women’s tennis teams play Holy Cross at 4 at Yale University.

Follow me on social media for news and updates.

Have a wonderful weekend!

President Petillo’s Blog: February 15, 2019

It was another busy week for the SHU community.

Last Friday afternoon, the Center for Career and Professional Development hosted a finance forum as part of its new Industry Series. Young alumni professionals working in the field of finance shared their knowledge and job experiences with business students during a panel discussion. I hope students found it helpful as they begin their career searches.

From left are alumni Anthony Monaco ’07, Jaclyn Bellino ’11, ’12, Corinne Lajoie ’13 and Matt DuPilka ’18.

Brothers and sisters reunited on Saturday for our annual Siblings Day event. The siblings participated in a number of entertaining games and activities throughout the day.

Siblings Day

Our annual Pack the Pitt celebration brought students, faculty, staff and alumni together for an exciting men’s basketball game.

Pack the Pitt

Over at West Campus, the School of Computer Science & Engineering presented the Connecticut Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament. The event included 10 middle school and 11 high school teams, bringing a total of 250 students to West Campus. Parents, teachers and almost 50 volunteers were also in attendance. Students participated in challenging tests in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, earth sciences, computing and more. The group was mesmerized with the West Campus, the idea of an innovation campus and the commitment and quality of our professors.

CT Science Olympiad

We welcomed many guests and speakers to the University on Wednesday. Jack Mitchell, local businessman and author, spoke to business students at the Martire Center about the importance of customer service and his new book, Selling the Hug Your Customers Way. Guest speaker Chris Kinealy, director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, came to campus to speak about Frederick Douglass and his time in Ireland. Imam Gazi Aga and Rabbi Marcelo Kormis from Campus Ministry sat down with students in Linda’s for an interfaith discussion over coffee. Later, the academic music program presented a concert featuring the music of Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell as performed by program director Joe Carter and guests.

From top down: A Conversation with Jack Mitchell, Coffee & Convos with Imam Gazi and Rabbi Marcelo and Frederick Douglass in Ireland with Quinnipiac's Chris Kinealy and SHU Professor John Roney.

Baden Powell concert featuring Professor Joe Carter

Many lovebirds, or just lovers of music, attended the choir’s “Mid-Winter Night’s Swing,” a Valentine’s Day concert and party featuring hits from the Big Band era. The event included mocktails, snacks, 1920s-themed costumes and trivia contests and a professional dance performance and lesson. Looked like a fun time.

A Midwinter Night's Swing

Horizons at SHU held its first-ever Valentine’s Day Re-Enrollment Party at West Campus. Current families and students were invited to join the Horizons team at the Farrington College of Education for snacks, crafts and to re-enroll directly on site via iPads. Spanish-speaking SHU teachers and students assisted families through the process.

Horizons Valentine's Day Re-Enrollment Party

Still on the subject of Valentine’s Day, SNY celebrated with a series of short, silly videos featuring our own Bobby Valentine.

Students studying in Dingle, Ireland, took part in the traditional pilgrimage to honor St. Gobnait, patron saint of bees, on Monday, the saint’s feast day. They visited St. Gobnait’s Well and participated in traditional rituals. Watch the news clip here to learn more. You can spot students in their red SHU jackets.


For the ninth year, the Business Council of Fairfield County honored SHU in its annual Healthy Workplaces best practices competition. Kudos to the Office of Human Resources who instituted the SHU Employee Wellness Program in 2007 to promote good health and have been taking home honors ever since.

From left are SHU Fit Wellness Center Supervisor Dan Warzoha, SHU Fit graduate assistant C.J. Cofrancesco, Director of Employee Benefits Elizabeth Henderson and HR Project Manager Sally Schettino.

Professor Dom Pinto, chair of the master’s degree in computer science program, presented “The Inevitability of Playing Politics as Chair: Advantages and Pitfalls” at the Academic Chairperson Conference in Houston last week. It was his 10th time presenting and his eighth year attending.

Professor Dom Pinto

Looking for something to do this weekend? Get your tickets to the Theatre Arts Program’s musical production of Ordinary Days here. The play, which follows the lives of four New Yorkers, runs this weekend and next in the Little Theatre.

Ordinary Days

Today our men’s ice hockey team battles RIT at 1 and again tomorrow at 2 at the Webster Bank Arena. Tonight our women’s ice hockey team takes on St. Michael’s at 4 and tomorrow at 5:30 at the Sports Center of Connecticut. Our men’s and women’s tennis teams will play Colgate at 4 tomorrow, and on Sunday, men’s tennis will play Bucknell at 3. All tennis matches will take place at Yale. 

Be sure to follow me on social media for SHU updates.

Have a wonderful weekend.

President Petillo’s Blog: February 8, 2019

We are just about a month into the new semester and we have already been lucky enough to hear from a number of really great speakers.

We were pleased to bestow an honorary degree upon the Rev. John W. O’Malley, S.J., at an academic convocation on Wednesday in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. Fr. O’Malley is a professor of theology at Georgetown University and a historian of the religious culture of modern Europe. He spoke at the convocation and later gave a lecture on “The Current Crisis: Thoughts and Historical Perspectives” as part of the Contemporary Catholic Conversations series. We are excited to have Fr. O’Malley as our newest SHU alumnus.

Fr. John O'Malley, S.J., academic convocation and lecture

Alumnus Andrew Rowan ’08 talked about the challenges, efforts and successes of Vietnam’s youth and his book, Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic, at a colloquium on Tuesday, and Pastor Cori Bush, an activist, educator, nurse and politician, spoke on Wednesday about her experience protesting against social injustice in the St. Louis/Ferguson area and running for public office.

Alumnus Andrew Rowan ’08 with retired professor John Kikoski and Executive Director for Development and Alumni Engagement Todd Gibbs.

Pastor Cori Bush

Congrats to the Catholic Studies Department on receiving a grant from the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities to participate in the Lilly Faculty Fellows program. The grant will allow leaders across disciplines to engage in the intersections of Christian thought and practice.

I was happy to receive an email from alumnus Adyel Matthew Duran ’17 who is currently a Peace Corps volunteer in Kosovo. In the photo, Adyel is pictured with youngsters at a local church who had just received gifts as part of an Orthodox Christmas celebration. I always enjoy learning what our alumni are up to and am especially grateful when they are taking our mission into the world with them after they leave here.

Adyel Duran in Kosovo

Looking for something to do this weekend? Tomorrow is Siblings Day. We look forward to seeing Pioneers and their brothers and sisters taking part in many campus activities. Bishop Frank J. Caggiano will preside at Mass on Sunday. Be sure to join us at noon.

It’s the annual Pack the Pitt celebration tomorrow, and our women’s basketball team plays Mount St. Mary’s at noon followed by our men who will battle Mount St. Mary’s at 3. Later in the day, the wrestling team will face Hofstra at 7. Good luck to all our student-athletes playing home and away.

Pack the Pitt

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Have a wonderful weekend!

President Petillo's Blog: February 1, 2019

It was a week filled with insightful lectures. We welcomed Fr. James Martin, S.J., to campus and he shared his message of accepting the LGBT community into the Church and the new Heart Challenges Hate series kicked off with a discussion about the psychology of hate. We also hosted a canned food drive in celebration of Super Bowl weekend, concerts at the WSHU Broadcast Center and much more. You can watch my video blog here.

Have a great weekend and let’s hope the Groundhog does not see his shadow so we can put an end to this blustery winter.