Dear Bellarmine Students, Faculty and
Staff,
I am delighted to welcome you all back to campus and to
extend a warm welcome to all of our freshmen. The freshman class is a
record-breaker in a number of categories, including a whopping 42%
percent from out of state. The Class of 2012 represents an increase in
diversity (14% minority students compared to 7.3 % last year); grade
point average of 3.46; average ACT score of 24.1 and students from 14
foreign countries. In addition, more than 850 students are living on
campus this fall. Welcome to you all.
Bellarmine Continues Top
Rankings
Bellarmine has once again been included as one of the
nation’s best institutions by several publications. The Princeton Review
features the college in the 2009 edition of its annual book, "The Best
368 Colleges." Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year
colleges and two Canadian colleges are in the book.
Accolades were given for the first time by Forbes magazine,
which named Bellarmine No. 83 in the best colleges and universities in
the nation. The number 83 ranking places Bellarmine as just one of two
Kentucky institutions to make the top 100, and ranked Bellarmine among
some prestigious company: Georgetown University ranked 76th, Notre Dame
77th, Duke 80th, Johns Hopkins 81st and Emory 82nd.
Bellarmine’s graduate schools were also ranked as the top
Kentucky “master’s university” according to the U.S. News and World
Report. U.S.News and World Report’s 2009 college rankings place
Bellarmine 16th in the South region of the “Best Universities-Master’s”
category. Bellarmine also appears in the publication's listing titled
"Great Schools, Great Prices." For more information on these accolades,
visit Bellarmine’s news site.
John Escosa honored for CPA
exam score
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
(AICPA) has announced the winners of the 2007 Elijah Watt Sells Awards.
The awards are presented annually to the 10 candidates earning the
highest cumulative scores on the four sections of the Uniform CPA
Examination. These candidates must have completed testing during the
previous calendar year and passed each exam section on their first
attempt. In 2007, there were over seventy-six thousand examinees. Among
those awarded was Bellarmine’s own John Briscoe Escosa III. Mr. Escosa
graduated with a BA and an MBA is currently working for Deloitte &
Touche, LLP in Indianapolis. To read more about this fantastic
achievement, click here.
Women's Council Designers'
Show House
This year the Bellarmine University Women’s Council
celebrates its 45th anniversary and 35th Annual Designers’ Show House,
The Manor House at Glenview Springs. This year’s show house is located
at 6005 Springhouse Farm Lane (off Lime Kiln Lane) and the dates for
this event will be Sept. 6 – 21. Parking will be available on site. Click here
for the lowdown.
Assistant Dean Todd Reale
Bellarmine welcomes Todd Reale to the newly created position
of assistant dean for career services and experiential learning. The
announcement also signifies the unification of Bellarmine’s Career
Center and the Office of Internships and Experiential Learning. This
organizational change aligns with Bellarmine’s mission to develop within
each student the intellectual, moral, ethical and professional
competencies for successful living, work, leadership and service to
others. See
this news item to read more about Reale’s appointment.
First Generation Students
Bellarmine University has been selected by the Council of
Independent Colleges (CIC) to receive the Wal-Mart College Success
Award—a $100,000 grant to help build on Bellarmine’s demonstrated
successes in enrolling, retaining, and graduating first-generation
college students. Bellarmine was one of only 20 colleges selected
through a highly competitive application process to receive the award,
which is intended to help institutions that are already deeply committed
to the education of first-generation students. More information is
available here.
Paul Pearson book
Congratulations to Dr. Paul Pearson upon the publication of
Seeds of Hope : Thomas Merton's Contemplative Message (Semillas de
Esperanza: El Mensaje Contemplativo de Thomas Merton) edited by Fernando
Beltrán Llavador and Paul M. Pearson. (Cóbreces : Cistercium-Ciem,
2008). This book, published bilingually in English and Spanish, contains
the proceedings from the 2006 Merton conference in Avila, Spain that
was sponsored jointly by the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine
University and the Center for Mystical Studies in Avila. It also
includes the essay “Emblems for a Season of Fury: The Art of Thomas
Merton” by Paul Pearson.
John Stemmer Book
Please join me in congratulating Dr. John Stemmer, Director
of Library Services, on the publication of his book, Merged
Information Services Organizations at Liberal Arts Colleges, (VDM,
Verlag, 2008). The book examines the effectiveness of merged library
and IT units in a college environment. Congratulations, John!
Robert Korn Articles
Dr. Robert W. Korn, Emeritus Professor of Biology, has
published two articles, one an invited review for the International
Journal of Plant Development Biology 2: 1-12 titled Phyllotaxis and the
other Clonal aspects of plant cell proliferation and their applications
to animal cell and bacteria in Cell Proliferation 41: 691-708.
CPA Society Awards Scholarships
The Educational Foundation of the Kentucky Society of
Certified Public Accountants (KyCPA) has awarded scholarships to these
Bellarmine students:
Heather Nichols
Sara Renyer
Almedina Smajlovic
Joseph Guelda
Shane Mains
Joseph Harris
Kimberly Kaufield
Tara Maeda
Heather Struble
Megan McGraw
Gina M. Solomos
Kayla Bonsutto
Matthew Brumleve
Congratulations to all.
Gail Henson book
Congratulations to Dr. Gail Henson upon the publication of
The Gentle Agitator - Lessons from the Life of Dr. Samuel Robinson. The
book tells the story of the formative years of Dr. Samuel Robinson,
beginning in 1935 in Memphis, Tennessee, and continuing to present-day
Louisville. The oral biography acknowledges Dr. Robinson’s legacy as a
gentle, but powerful figure in the history of civil rights in Kentucky.
Sherill Cronin Paper
Congratulations to Dr. Sherill Cronin and her co-author Dr.
Ruth Carrico on their paper "Infection Prevention and Control
Competencies for Hospital-Based Healthcare Personnel" which has been
accepted for publication in the American Journal of Infection Control
Caren Cunningham Art In
Germany
Professor Caren Cunningham was one of fifteen artists from
around the globe invited by Mainz, Germany, to participate in the
"Mainz-Kunst in der Stadt" (Art in the city) project. Caren chose to
interpret this year's Kunst in der Stadt theme of "bridges" both
literally and physically into her sculpture entitled, The Folly. With
the assistance of a hard working group of Louisvillians and Mainzers,
she was able to complete the construction within the 20 hour art
festival deadline. The end result was a 9' x 7.5' x 6' free standing
sculpture which incorporated the parts of four bridges from Louisville
and Mainz. Over 2,100 colored plastic caps were attached to the piece.
The caps were collected by both Germans and Americans and care was given
to mix the different caps throughout. The city of Mainz purchased The
Folly and will publicly display it in its city hall.
Richard Burchard's Music Part
of Courier-Journal Feature
Hidden in the Ground: Clearing the Minefields of Cambodia is
a feature that brings awareness to the daily devastation that land
mines pose to the people of Cambodia. Music for the video was composed
by Bellarmine music professor Richard Burchard. Read the article and
watch the video here.
Dr. Kerri Horine
Congratulations to Kerri Horine who has received her Ph.D.
in Humanities from the University of Louisville. Dr. Horine is an
adjunct faculty member in our Humanities Departments and is currently
teaching English. She is also one of our Bellarmine alumna from the
English department.
"Balanced Way" meals at
Bellarmine
This year, Bellarmine's dining services are offering a new
way of eating: "The Balanced Way." The new program, which begins
September 19, offers nutritious, satisfying meals and snacks that boost
metabolism and promote peak performance. For more information, please
visit thebalancedway.com