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.