Dear Bellarmine Students, Faculty and Staff,

Last week’s on-site SACS visit for reaffirmation of accreditation was a great triumph for the university! The SACS committee was clearly impressed by the extraordinary enthusiasm they experienced in their interactions with faculty, staff, students and trustees on campus, and they said the enthusiasm was contagious.

I am delighted to report that the on-site committee was very impressed with our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Liberal Education in an International Context: Preparing Students for a Globally Competitive World. The committee said they were impressed that “you have come together as a community and constructed a thoughtful, important, valuable plan – and you have done so with genuine enthusiasm – mindful of Vision 2020, of your Catholic Identity in the spirit of Thomas Merton, and of your mission.”

The committee’s major recommendations for Bellarmine had to do with clarifying documentation of our assessment of institutional effectiveness, including the QEP, and clarifying the process to document faculty credentials in the IDC program. Over the next five months as part of the process we will respond to these recommendations.

I wish in particular to thank Dr. Doris Tegart, Dr. Carole Pfeffer and Ms. Beth Davis, and all of the Bellarmine SACS and QEP teams for their tremendously effective effort in coordinating our SACS work, and everyone else involved, for what has proven to be a very valuable and positive experience for Bellarmine University. I also wish to acknowledge the organizational efforts early on of the SACS and QEP work by Dean Rob Kingsolver, and especially recognize Professor Gabriele Bosley, who was also instrumental in the QEP design and development. Her excellent work in Internationalization significantly informed our QEP proposal.

Fontana di Verita

Bellarmine’s gorgeous new landmark, the Fountain of Truth -- in the plaza between Our Lady of the Woods Chapel and Siena Primo, is nearing completion and will be dedicated in April. Formally known as Fontana di Verita at Piazza Clayton, the scheduled completion date is April 18.

The fountain will be a black granite wall 65 feet long and six and a half feet tall, engraved with our university’s Latin motto, In Veritatis Amore (In the love of truth). A sheet of water will cascade over the face of the wall into a basin and continuously recycle. We are planning to dedicate Fontana di Verita after our Board of Trustees meeting on April 23.

Hughes Selected For McGowan Prize For Faculty Development

Dr. Claire E. Hughes is the winner of the first inaugural Joseph and Maureen McGowan Prize for Faculty Development, for the summer of 2008. The prize is designed to help increase international experiences for Bellarmine faculty and provides the winner with an opportunity to research at the University of Oxford’s Harris-Manchester College Summer Institute.

Dr. Hughes is an accomplished teacher, researcher, and scholar in the field of special education. Her knowledge of inclusive teaching strategies and language acquisition has provided Bellarmine and the Louisville community with added expertise on strategies for teaching children. She will be focusing on teaching children with autism, an emerging area of research in education. She is published in highly regarded journals and is working on a book for educators who work with autistic students. She intends to spend much of her week at Harris Manchester College writing this book.

The McGowan Prize will also allow Dr. Hughes the chance to engage with leading researchers in the field of autism. In turn, her contributions to this growing field of study will further assist the School of Education in meeting the goals of Vision 2020.”

Miles Hall Expansion

We've begun the construction of an addition to Miles Hall. We will be adding three floors of space to include two large classrooms, two midsize classrooms and eleven new faculty offices. The expansion will be completed in time for the spring 09 semester.

Mock Trial Going Back to National Championship Tourney

Bellarmine's Mock Trial team continued to make us proud in the Hamilton National Tournament, earning a bid to the national championship tourney April 4-6. Seven competing students (Staci Windsor, Danielle Reesor, Alex Flood, Thomas Pedron, Chelsea Brown, Paul Bauer and Ariel Edlin), three teammates (Brooks Herrick, Connie Kremer and Sarah Bogrett), and coaches Ruth Wagoner, Jim Wagoner, and Jason Butler traveled to central Ohio to compete. Bellarmine defeated Michigan, Cornell and Harvard and tied with Miami of Ohio en route to a 6-1-1 record and a spot in the "Gold Nationals." Congratulations to the students and coaches on this great achievement. On to Minnesota! For more information, please visit the Mock Trial website.

Concord Staff Wins Big

Congratulations are also in order for the staff and advisors of The Concord, who brought home lots of awards at the annual Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association Convention, competing in the packed Division B/Small Institution. Here's the list of awards:

First Place
News story: Tabitha Hodges and Kristina White
Best Special Section: Staff (the study abroad section)
Opinion Pages: Staff award
General Interest Column: Eloise Vallat
Advertising Art: Graphics Staff, Megan Carpenter
Informational Graphic: Megan Carpenter and Sara Jane Musk

Second Place
Feature Page Layout: Fall Staff, Megan Carpenter
Sports News Story: Sabrina Sebastian
Sports Feature Story: Jamie Jackson
Sports Photo: Macaira VanDuyn
Best sports headline: Jamie Jackson

Third Place
Best Feature Headline: Rita Dixon
Sports Game Story: Chad Bowling

News from the Lansing School

Nursing
Nettie Wilson, secretary for the Nursing Department, has been nominated by Dawn Hodges, Admissions, for the Metroversity Award.

The $100 prize for the Health Fair Booth, undergraduate, goes to the BSN students who developed and staffed the booth on Nutrition: Serving Sizes and Portions

The Bellarmine Student Nurses Association sponsored the Spring Silent Auction. All proceeds from the event went to Alternate Spring Break.

Carol Smith and her colleagues: T. Lennie, L. Worrall-Carter, M. Hammash, J. Odom-Forren, L. Roser, R. Trupp, M. Chung and D. Moser have published their article, "Relationship of Heart Failure Patients' Knowledge, Perceived Barriers, and Attitudes Regarding Low-Sodium Diet Recommendation to Adherence" in the 2008 Winter issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing.

Physical Therapy
The graduate award for the outstanding booth at the Health Fair went to the DPT students for their educational programming on, "These Boots Ain't Made for Walking".

Dr. Megan Danzel and Dr. Elaine Lonnemann of the DPT program have been notified that their paper, "Examining Oral Contraception as a Contraindication for High Velocity Thrust Spinal Manipulation: a Literature Review", has been accepted for presentation at the 9th Congress of the International Federation of Orthopedic Manipulative Therapist in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The Health Policy and Administration Section of the American Physical Therapy Association gave its "BEST POSTER" award to a research group headed by Dr. Dave Pariser and Professor Tony Brosky. The paper, " A statewide survey of factors affecting membership and retention in the American and Kentucky Physical Therapy Associations", was co-authored by recent DPT graduates Sheri Roberts, Kristen Luttrell, Amanda Martin and Erin Blackman Bischoffer.

Lansing Alumni News

Jennifer Miller, graduate of the BSN program, completed her MBA at Bellarmine in December. Jennifer is the Resident Services Director for Atria Stony Brook.

Jennifer Carroll, MSN graduate of Bellarmine, is the Health Sciences Division Director at Ashland Community College in Ashland, KY.

SGA and BAC Elect New Officers

Congratulations to these new Student Government officers:

President: Franklyn Fenton
VP of Finance: Keisuke Kawaguchi
VP of Educational Affairs: Caroline Petrik
VP of Campus and Community Service: Cristin Samuels
VP of Public Relations: Sara Crombie
VP of Recreation, Intramurals, and Athletics: Joe Esch
VP of RSO Affairs: Chris Polito

And congrats to the new officers of the Bellarmine Activities Council:

BAC President: Craig Spenlau
VP of Finance: Rachel Keyse
VP of PR: Laura Anderson
VP of Programming: Meghan Baker
Historian: Megan Schlarman

Sara Yount's Book

Congratulations to Bellarmine Associate Dean of Admission Sara Yount on the publication of her book, "Affordability of Higher Education - The Impact of State Higher Education Boards."

Relay for Life on April 4th and 5th

It's almost time for Relay for Life. Please support one of our faculty and staff teams. Learn more or donate today at the Relay for Life website.

Employee Milestones

Congratulations and thanks to these hardworking Bellarmaniacs for their years of service to the Bellarmine community:

10 Years
Mrs. Lucy Burns
Mr. Tim Chastonay
Mr. David Krebs
Mrs. Barbara Hagan
Ms. Sharon Raney
Ms. Laura Richardson
Dr. Keith Richardson
Ms. Janet Russell
Dr. Joseph Sinski
Mrs. Marla Smith
Mr. Fred Smock

20 Years
Ms. Betty Hogue
Mr. G. Rick Gayhart
Ms. Joan Riggert
Mr. Timothy Sturgeon

25 Years
Dr. Joan Masters

30 Years
Rev. George Kilcourse

New Photo Galleries

If you haven't checked out the web photo galleries lately, please give them a look-see. We've recently posted photos from the Alumni Art Show, Homecoming, The 2007 Belize trip, and some beautiful photos of Bellarmine in the snow. You can always access the photo galleries from our About or News pages, which are both linked from the home page.

Bowling Team Advances to National Championships

Congratulations to the Bellarmine ladies bowling team, which advanced to the USBC Intercollegiate Team Bowling National Championships. Six athletes were named Academic All-Americans. The Ladies Team is Becca Jones, Katie Wadell, Amanda Gerber, Theresa Schwiermann, Rachel Ringrose, Christi Spears, Allison Stovall, Rachel Emig, Ashley Stites, Jennifer Heil, Gina Gunn, and Robyn Ballinger. The team manager is Michelle Henry. The Academic All-Americans (men and women) were Becca Jones, Arty Masterson, Drew Crail, Allison Stovall, Ashley Stites and Chris Polito. The team's Head Coach is Dug Barker, and he is assisted by Barb Schwiermann and Marc Augustine.

Celebration of Undergraduate Research

Please join us for the opening reception for Undergraduate Research Week. The opening reception is April 7 from 5 to 7 p.m in Frazier Hall. Students will be available to answer questions about their research and refreshments will be served. Posters will remain on display through April 10th. For more information see the Undergraduate Research website.

Pieper named as Assistant Alumni Director

Congratulations to Stephanie Pieper for her appointment as the Assistant Director of the Bellarmine Alumni Association. She has distinguished herself over the past three years as an admissions counselor at Bellarmine and will become a valuable part of the alumni relations team.

Masterpieces to Travel

The miniature teapots of Fong Choo, Adjunct Professor of Art, have been selected to be part of the traveling exhibition “Tradition/Innovation: American Masterpieces of Southern Craft and Traditional Art.” The exhibit will tour nine states from 2008-2010. You can learn more at the Southern Arts Federation website.