We started our week with a workshop at John Moores University with a group of event management students. Our task was to create a cultural event to take place as students traveled together by ship across the Atlantic from Liverpool to New Haven. The event needed to include elements of each culture that we would like to share during the voyage. We learned of each others favorite foods, music and recreational preferences. What occurred was an hour and a half of learning about each other, finding common interests and learning new things from each other. It was time well spent that resulted in us making plans to meet later that evening for a night out in Liverpool. We had a great, late night out and made some new friends that we are sure to stay in touch with over the year. Many of the LJMU students are hoping to come to Southern for the fall semester!

We have been fortunate to spend two days touring the various museums that have contributed to Liverpool’s status as a Culture Capital on Europe back in 2008. Most of the museums that we visited are open seven days a week and are free to residents and visitors.

We visited the Slavery Museum which helped us to understand the economic realities that lead to the 150 years of trade between Liverpool, West Africa, the Caribbean and the North American Colonies in the deplorable slave trade.

The Tate Museum of Modern Art challenged us to expand our understanding of what constitutes art.

The Liverpool Museum is the largest and most interactive of the museums in the city. From pre-historic times to our modern era, the development, growth and impact of Liverpool on the UK and the rest of the world is presented in a variety of interesting exhibits. Museums are the best way to learn the most about a city like Liverpool in a modern (and dry) setting.

The Liverpool Museum is a perfect example of how contemporary buildings have been added to the 17-18th century dockside scene.

A view of the transportation section of the Liverpool Museum.

After a few hours of museum hopping our reward was a trip on the Liverpool EYE. Many european cities have added a ferris wheel to their center city attractions. Despite the fear of heights that a few admitted to, we all took a spin on the wheel, getting a great panoramic view of the city.

The Liverpool Wheel – a great view of the city from a dizzying height!

Our group was the guest of John Moores University at the Annual Grand National horse race at Aintree. It is a week of horse races, charity events and high fashion. It is a combination of the Kentucky Derby and a high school prom. Average citizens put on their best clothes and parade around the grounds usually with a pint of beer or glass of wine in hand. The races are exciting to watch and we did win a few quid on the races. But the greatest entertainment is watching the slow erosion of the crowd after a day of drinking in the afternoon sun. The local train authority actually hands out free flip flops to the women so that they can free themselves from their four inch stiletto heels in order to safely make it back to town on the trains.

As always, the faculty from LJMU were very wonderful hosts and provided us with a unique look at social life in Liverpool.

Miguel de Cervantes, author of the 17^th-century Spanish novel “Don Quixote,” wrote of Salamanca, Spain, that it “enchants the will because once you have experienced its placid character, you have to go back.”

Hundreds of Southern students have experienced the “placid character” of Salamanca over the past quarter century, thanks to the university’s longest consecutively running international study program — the International Field Study in Spain — led by Carlos Arboleda, professor of Spanish in the World Languages and Literatures Department. And as one of those students, Rachel de la Torre, has said, “I definitely need to go back soon!”

To recognize the 25th anniversary of this program and the work of Arboleda as its organizer, the university will hold a gala celebration on April 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom. Alumni, faculty, staff, and current students are welcome to attend the event, whose proceeds will benefit a scholarship fund for future study abroad students in Spain. The gala will include dinner and entertainment — flamenco dancing, live music, speakers, and a DJ — and Arboleda will have available for purchase copies of a book he has compiled about the Salamanca program; proceeds from the book sale will also benefit the scholarship fund. Tickets to the gala are $60 general admission and $20 for current Southern students and may be purchased here.

Celebrations also took place in Salamanca last summer, including events hosted by the City of Salamanca and universities with which the program has been affiliated over the years. One such event was a reception in the City Hall of Salamanca hosted by representatives of the city and the Colegio de España (pictured below). Now, Southern will host the campus celebration to highlight and recognize the Study Abroad Program in Spain and the SCSU study abroad faculty and staff for their con­tribution to the program’s success.

Arboleda says, “As Director of the SCSU Program in Spain since 1990, I continue to be honored to work with a system that has such a highly developed commitment to internationaliza­tion. Southern Connecticut State University recognizes the significance of international education for the academic strength of its programs and the quality of the education it provides to its students.”

Upon being hired as a full-time pro­fessor at Southern in 1988, Arboleda accepted the university’s invitation to develop the program in Spain. Since then, he has successfully run the program in Salamanca, known as the Golden City of Spain. Since 1990, the SCSU program has worked with the University of Salamanca (1990– 1994) and later with the prestigious Colegio de España.

Over the past 25 years, the Salamanca program has provided professional development, commu­nity engagement, and intercultural travel experiences for students from Southern and other Connecticut higher education institutions. About 25 students attend the program each year. Many of the graduates of the SCSU–Colegio de España program have pur­sued careers in the field of teaching Spanish as a second language, international edu­cation, multi-national organizations, and in a variety of fields where the Spanish language is critically needed.

A key part of Southern’s mission is “preparing our local students for global lives,” and each year, a significant number of Southern students study abroad. The university recently joined 240 institu­tions nationwide in the Institute of Interna­tional Education’s Generation Study Abroad initiative to double the number of American students who study abroad by the end of the decade. President Mary Papazian says, “Professor Arboleda saw long ago the need for students to have such experiences and has said that total immersion in another culture helps the indivi­dual not only to learn about that culture but also gain insight into him or herself. Dr. Arboleda’s vision and his understanding of the importance of study abroad have set a foundation for this university to build upon.”

Erin Heidkamp, director of the Office of International Education, agrees, noting Arboleda’s “steadfast commitment to international education, and to our students.” Heidkamp credits Arboleda’s leadership as playing a critical role in the growth of global education initiatives at Southern.

Steven Breese, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, who was present at the anniversary celebration in Salamanca last summer, says that the students who attend the program there are “forever changed by the great city and culture that is Salamanca.” Indeed, for nearly eight centuries, Salamanca has been home to the first Spanish language university, and it has been a World Heritage Site for more than 25 years and was named the European Capital of Culture in 2002. Salamanca is also recognized as an international leader in Spanish language education.

Most Americans believe that robots and computers will perform much of the work currently done by humans at their jobs within the next 50 years. In fact, a Pew Research Center poll released last month shows that 65 percent of the public believes that is likely to be the case.

Three students at Southern who are interested in pursuing a career in writing – two English majors and a journalism major – explored the trend toward the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. They focused their research on the potential effect on writing professions – ranging from journalism to technical writing to medical writing to poetry.

The students – Chelsea Green, Melanie Espinal and Kaylin Tomaselli – will share their findings in a poster presentation April 23 during the SCSU Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference. The three currently are conducting their research as part of an English class, “Writing for Business and Industry,” taught by Jason Lawrence, assistant professor of English.

Among the trends they found are:

• Kismet, a humanoid robot with eyes that was created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1990s, has been learning “social cues” and uses “facial expressions” of its own.
• The What-If-Machine (WHIM) research project in Europe is teaching computers to understand humor, metaphor and sarcasm.
• Computers have written novels and poems that are sometimes indistinguishable to those written by people.

But while the students, based on their research, believe that robots will be doing some of the more menial writing tasks – such as writing basic, data-driven reports, and obituaries in newspapers – they are optimistic that skilled writing jobs will still require humans in 50 years.

Espinal pointed to an example of a reporter interviewing someone for a story, particularly a controversial one. “You can lie to a machine,” she said. “But it’s much harder to lie to a real person, especially when a reporter can ask more probing questions.”

She said while the technology is improving, a robot is unlikely to be the equal of an experienced, inquisitive reporter.

Green agreed. “Part of a good profile story brings in an individual’s personality traits,” she said. “A robot is not able to do that the way a real person can.”

Tomaselli said having robots to do menial work is fine. “The important thing for us to keep in mind is that they should be working for us, not the other way around,” she said.

Lawrence said the use of artificial intelligence in the writing professions is the theme of his course this semester.

“I actually got the idea for this topic a couple of years ago when I was living in Utah and my kids were attending elementary school,” Lawrence said. “The school used software developed by a North Carolina company to grade papers. The claim was that the computer was a more accurate grader than the teachers. And we weren’t talking just about spelling or grammar. The computer was assessing writing skills such as originality, organization and persuasiveness.”

Lawrence said that got him thinking about whether computers and robots can actually write, and how that might affect the workplace. “My hope is that we can use robots, computers and other forms of artificial intelligence in a symbiotic way, rather than looking at it as an ‘us vs. them’ kind of relationship.”

April 13, 2016

Spring Comes to Arts & Sciences

As the winter blues begin to recede in the semester’s rear-view mirror, we all begin to look forward to spring’s revitalization and renewal. Along with the reemergence of flowering buds and the greening of the grass, the A&S Music Program ushers in spring with its own annual welcome: Concerts!  In the coming weeks the Music Program will offer a wide array musical programming including Choir Concerts, Jazz, Broadway Classics, a Piano Recital with Karine Poghosyan, and much more. Already this month, the Department of Music presented two faculty music recitals sponsored by the Stutzman Family Foundation: Jonathan Irving (piano) with Kim Collins (flute) and Olav van Hezewijk (oboe) with Eric Trudel (piano). I encourage you to check out the A&S Event Calendar to peruse the wide variety of events the School has to offer.

Accepted Students Day

Each April, we invite to our campus the students that we hope will become Owls in the fall. On Saturday, April 2^nd, Southern hosted hundreds of prospective students and their parents to Accepted Students Day. Many A&S faculty attended this important event. Thuan Vu (ART), Marie Nabbout-Cheiban (MAT), Evan Finch (PHY), Jodi Gil (JRN), and Jessica Kenty-Drane (SOC/IDS) participated in a panel discussion on the college experience. Walter Stutzman (MUS), Evan Finch (PHY), Kevin Buterbaugh (PSC), Troy Paddock (HIS), Meredith Sinclair (ENG), Kelly Bordner (PSY), and Linda Sampson (COM) presented sample mock classes in their respective fields in an effort to give these prospective students a sense of undergraduate college academics.  Three A&S students, Laeticia Iboki (BIO), Jacob Santos (THR), and Arden Rand (PSY) also talked to the assembled group of prospective students and parents. Thank you to all that offered a warm welcome to students and their parents!

Society of Professional Journalists

The Journalism Department brought 200 professionals and students to Southern Connecticut State University April 8th and 9th for Making CONNections, a regional journalism conference. The conference featured keynote speaker John Dahl, vice president and executive producer for ESPN Films and Original Content. More than 20 professional development workshops gave insights into topics ranging from drones to ethics to different news beats.

Speakers represented major media outlets, including ESPN Films, the Hartford Courant, Newsday, the New York Law Journal, Connecticut Health Investigative Team, and Slate. Also present were leaders of journalism groups such as the Freedom of Information Commission, the Tully Center for Free Speech and the National Society of Professional Journalists. Leonard Boyle, the deputy chief state’s attorney for Connecticut, and Scott Burrell, the men’s basketball coach at Southern, also appeared on panels.

The conference attracted journalists and students from New England and the tri-state area. One student traveled from Cairo, Egypt to receive an award in the Mark of Excellence student journalism contest Saturday.

Students in the SCSU SPJ chapter organized two of the panel discussions. One focused on how to work with college coaches and sports information directors when covering college sports; the other covered free speech issues on college campuses. Faculty members and adjunct instructors in the Journalism Department moderated several of the workshops, and Southern alumni were part of four of the panels.

The conference attracted media coverage in the New Haven Register, CTNewsJunkie and on CT-N.

Conferences Coming to A&S at Southern

There are several conferences and events in the coming weeks. Anita Sarkeesian, media critic, public speaker, and founder of the website, Feminist Frequency, will give the keynote address for the 22^nd Women’s Studies Conference Saturday, evening April 16^th. The presentations and panel discussions of this conference will not only address the past, present, and future of the intersections of women, community, and technology, but also showcase feminist in(ter)ventions with technology. Participants will explore how women and girls have participated (or not) in the fields of technology and in what ways this participation has intersected with the studies of gender, race, class, and sexuality. Several A&S faculty and students will present at the Friday/Saturday conference including Christine Broadbridge (PHY), Lisa Lancor (CSC), Alan Brown (SOC) and Siobhan Carter-David (HIS). Alexis Elder (PHI) and Anahit Ter-Stepanian (ART), also A&S faculty, will present late Friday afternoon with Sarah Reeves, a graduate student in WMS.

Following the success of the April 2015 Commemorative Conference in honor of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the World Languages & Literatures Department presents “Literature Across Disciplines: Gabriel García Márquez II: An Interdisciplinary & Transcultural Conference.” Southern faculty, including Maria Diamantis (MAT), Patricia Olney (PSC), David Pettigrew (PHI), Rubén Pelayo (WLL), Resha Cardone (WLL), Rafael Hernández (WLL), and Miaowei Weng (WLL), will participate in panel discussions on the works of this great author. The conference is free and open to the public.  Connect to the President’s Blog for more information.

At the end of April, Southern will host the 12th Annual Conference of The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place (IASESP). This will be the second time that Southern has hosted this interdisciplinary conference that seeks to bring together scholars from a variety of institutions and disciplines to address the inscription or spatialization of meanings. Participants will be arriving from California to Florida and just down the hall with Southern faculty from History (Darcy Kern, Troy Paddock, Christine Petto, and Troy Rondinone), English (Charles Baraw), and World Languages & Literature (Erin Larkin). This year’s theme is “Mythical Places/Legendary Spaces,” and the organizers look forward to discussions on the vital role that myths and legends have played in various cultures over time and the geographical links created by their development, use, and manipulation.

A&S Program Highlights

Seven of our outstanding Computer Science students participated in the finals of Connecticut Technology Council Skills Challenge.  The finals consisted of 50 students selected from colleges and universities across Connecticut including: Quinnipiac, CCSU, ECSU, WCSU, UConn, Yale, UNH, Sacred Heart University, University of Bridgeport, and Gateway Community College.  All 50 students were formed into 10 teams of 5 – our Computer Science team among them. Congratulations to Tudor-Matei (Matt) Boran and Steve Blandon, whose team placed second overall and were awarded prize money.  Our other CSC students who participated were, Mario Aguayo, Stephen Csvihinka, Nicholas Bittar, Ivan Meyerovich, Julian Velez and Utibe Idongesit.

Steven Brodeur, a recruiter for Aerotek, responded to the success of Southern’s Engineering Concentration. He reported that Enis Bukalo (PHY ’15), a recent graduate with this concentration, was successful in landing a job with Assa Abloy. Brodeur wrote, “It is a unique story because although Enis didn’t have a standard engineering degree, he still beat out multiple other engineering candidates that had engineering degrees from notable schools. It was Enis’ work ethic and great senior project that set him apart from the competition. For Enis’ senior project, he designed and built a 3D printer from scratch and presented it to the Physics Department. SCSU’s hands-on teaching styles and real world applications are very beneficial and definitely carry on with students as they embark into the real world!”

Last month the Hartford Courant ran a story on colleges and the biosciences industry. The article mentioned Southern’s bioscience pathway partnership with the city of New Haven. Christine Broadbridge, Director of STEM initiatives (STEM-IL), and biology student Bryan Pasqualucci were quoted in the story. Broadbridge offered, “‘Higher education officials are looking at how to expand the jobs pipeline, talking with businesses about drawing up professional development and certificate programs at Connecticut companies’.” Pasqualucci, a junior biology major, is seeking a summer internship. He reported, “A lot of companies in Connecticut are doing [gene] sequencing work so when I go to apply for jobs there are a lot of opportunities for me.”

Also on April 20th, a 25th-year anniversary gala celebration of the SCSU Program in Salamanca, Spain, will be held from 6:30-10:30 p.m. in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom. The event includes dinner and entertainment to celebrate this study abroad program’s quarter-century milestone and also will raise funds for a scholarship program to assist future study abroad students in Spain. Tickets are $60 per person and $20 for current SCSU students. The event is sponsored by the World Languages and Literatures Department, the Office of International Education, and the School of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office. For more information, you can contact Carlos Arboleda. Purchase tickets.

Theatre/SCSU Awarded for Excellence

Each year our Theatre Program enters at least one production in the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival. This year two of our students where highly honored in their respective competitions!  Kiernan Norman attended the Festival to compete in Dramaturgy and Criticism. She was the proud winner in Best Program Notes/Dramaturgy and the Region’s Theatre Journalism institute. She will be going on to Washington DC in April to compete on the national stage. Christine Parella competed in Lighting Design, in which she received 1st Runner up in the National Award for Excellence in Lighting Design and won the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas Award. She will be traveling to Las Vegas this summer to attend the prestigious Stagecraft Institute. In addition to these honors, Theatre/SCSU also received three merit awards: Outstanding Multiple Dialect for Our Country’s Good, another for Outstanding Student Sound Mixing (JT McLoughlin) for Rent and Outstanding Ensemble Acting for Almost Maine. Finally, Marcelle Morrissey, an Irene Ryan nominee for acting, made it to the semi-finals. Congratulations to the Theatre Department and to all of our student artists!

Psychology Opens New Student-Friendly Website

Psychology Website has undergone a significant update this month! The Department has added many of features to make it easier to navigate including pages embedded in menus that are directly accessible from the homepage. The goal is to help students more become more proactive and informed as they move through the Psychology program(s).

Of note, PSY has an area devoted to “prospective majors,” which includes promotional info about their program (and some bragging, based on student feedback from our department’s assessment survey), and the site has a new page specifically for prospective transfer students. Larry Brancazio, the Department Chair, indicates that, “We’ve been trying to make things easier for psychology majors in general. To this end, we have: online signups for group advising that are directly accessible from the webpage; forms for students to request an advisor;  pages explaining the acceptance process; information about tutoring opportunities….we’ve also tried to help students have a better sense of direction with their major.  We now include pages with comparisons of our different degree options (including a comparison of the requirements for each, and a list of how they match up with different career paths),  lists of graduate programs and professions our alumni have gone to, lists of faculty research projects, explanations of how to get involved in research, and lists of different interests and which courses are good choices to match those interests. In general, we’ve been working hard to promote our program, to be accommodating and welcoming to students, and to streamline processes for majors to keep them on track for graduation.”

Psychology has also been hard at work on their curriculum, having recently revamped their B.S. in Psych which will be going into effect in the fall. This revised program will have Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Applied Psych tracks which will be an exciting new option for STEM-oriented students.  Along with this, they have revised their minor, which will now offer a general minor and a higher-level minor in Psychological Science. The new minor is designed to allow higher-achieving students (either minors or IDS majors) to take upper-level Psych classes, while other students with a more general interest will still have a variety of options.

Congratulations to everyone in Psychology for these new and important innovations!

Rock Stars in the Building

Earth Science Faculty and students were highlighted in “Business New Haven” for the many projects they worked on as we opened our new science building. Congratulations and thank you to the Department of Earth Science for raising our profile and representing A&S so very well. Read the article on pages 16-18. (This issue is dated November 2015 but was not released until January).

Invitation to “The World of Gaming, Gaming in the World” 

Visiting Scholar Dr. Joaquín Granell Zafra from Universitat Jaume I (Castellón de la Plana, Spain) will be on campus from April 18th to 22th to visit classes and learn about our varied approaches to teaching at SCSU. He is particularly interested in attending courses in Media Studies and other fields related to his research and teaching (described below). In addition to Dr. Granell’s presentation about his work, this event will feature a student-led round-table, during which five students will discuss topics related to our theme, “The World of Gaming, Gaming in the World.”  If you have students who might be interested, please invite them to attend or to contact Charles Baraw with proposed topics for the round-table.

The nature of this topic and Dr. Granell’s work make it a multi-disciplinary endeavor and this event welcomes participation from all Departments, Programs, and campus groups. We hope students and faculty from across the university will participate. Finally, as part of Dr. Granell’s visit, the English Department is organizing a symposium which will take place on Thursday April 21st from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in Engleman C112. 

Clubs & Organizations

Southern hosts over 100 clubs and organizations, many of which have ties to the School of Arts & Sciences. Thanks to all the faculty advisers for their service to our students through the many clubs and organization including:

• Anthropology Club, Valerie Andrushko
• Biology Club, Meghan Barboza & Michael Fisher
• Biotechnology Club, Nicholas Edgington
• Bookmarks English Club, Cindy Stretch
• Botany Club, Rebecca Silady
• Chemistry Club, James Kearns
• Computer Science Club, Winnie Yu
• Crescent Players, Mike Skinner
• Digital Production Club, Kaia Monroe-Rarick
• Drumline, Craig Hlavac
• Earth Science Club, Cynthia Coron & Mike Knell
• Folio, Jeff Mock
• French Club, Luke Eilderts
• German Club, Christine Dombrowski
• History Club, Siobhan Carter-David
• Italianissimi, Pina Palma
• Math Club, Ross Gingrich & John Scheuermann
• Media Studies Club, Rosemarie Conforti
• Music Club, Jonathan Irving
• Music Studio Club, Mark Kuss
• Philosophy Club, Richard Volkman
• Physics Club, Todd Schwendemann & Eric Anderson
• Society of Professional Journalists, Jerry Dunklee
• Sociology Club, Cassi Meyerhoffer
• Southern News, Cindy Simoneau & Frank Harris III
• Spanish Club, Rubén Pelayo
• WSIN Radio, Jerry Dunklee

Student Shout Outs

Brian Darrow, a secondary education mathematics major, was recently accepted to an eight-week summer REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) at Illinois State University for pre-service teachers doing research in Discrete Mathematics. These programs are funded by the NSF and are highly competitive. Review REU program information.

Lynn Houston, an MFA student working with Vivian Shipley, was named a finalist in the Broad River Review’s Rash Awards in Poetry with her poem, “Not All Who Wander Are Lost.” More information about the Broad River Review can be found here: http://broadriverreview.org/2015-contest/

Patrick Cumpstone, a recent graduate in history teaching at a Hartford magnet school, has published his work, Connecticut Witchcraft: Witch-Speak and Social Unrest in 17^th Century Connecticut, with the Maine academic publisher, Picton Press. Drawn from his honors thesis completed under the guidance of Marie McDaniel, Cumpstone investigated the speech patterns of the accused witches from the documents of ten trials. His work contributes not only to the scholarship on the history of witchcraft, women, and Connecticut, but also to public and local history as an avenue of study for the students he is teaching in Hartford.

Jacqueline M. Desrosier Thurber (BS ’15) and Laeticia Iboki (BS ’16), both in Biology working under the guidance of Elizabeth Roberts, will soon be presenting her research in Washington, DC at the 20th Annual Posters on the Hill event in April. Out of 300 applicants, their work, “Characterization of a Novel Antibiotic and Plant Growth Promoting Pseudomonas Bacterium found in Connecticut” was accepted as one of 60 presenters. Here is more information about the Posters on the Hill.

Jahana Hayes (Jahana Fleming, BS ’05) was named Connecticut Teacher of the Year in October. Governor Malloy praised the work she is doing at John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury. Hayes, a social studies teacher, is one of four finalists for the National Teacher of Year to be announced this month (April). She earned this distinction through her dedication to teaching and her encouraging efforts to direct student attention to the community and projects that will improve society. Read the Courant Article.

Mohamed A. Rilvan, a CSC student working with Shafaeat Hossain, attended the National Conference for Undergraduate Research last week at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. Mohamed began his research as part of an NSF funded REU program at Washington State University and continues to develop it under the guidance of Dr. Hossain.

Faculty Shout Outs

In early February Charlene Dellinger-Pate (MDS) contributed to the Southern webpage story, “Satire: an Essential Element on the Political Landscape.” Commenting on the presidential campaign coverage, Dellinger-Pate noted that “‘we need satire to see what is behind the performance.’” She teaches a course, MDS 385: Political Satire and New Media, which gives student a front row seat to the antics and analysis of the events. Furthermore she warns, “‘there is no informed political discourse—no informed debate—in punditry. So much information is presented as true, with so much money behind it. Without satirists, there’s a perfect recipe for disaster.’” Read the full article.

Frank Harris (JRN) was interviewed on WNPR’s “Where We Live” about his research on the history of the n-word. The project culminated in a film, “Journey to the Bottom of the n-Word,” produced by Harris that explores the history and modern day usage of the n-word, as well as dispelling some myths associated with it. WNPR interview.

Derek Taylor (COM) has had his recent experimental film, Into the Light of the Present, chosen for screening at the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Hawick, Scotland this April. Out of 850 submissions, Derek’s film was one of 90 selected. His work will be screened with 38 other films, of which only 17 are from US filmmakers.

Jonathan Wharton, Assistant Professor of Political Science, was profiled Monday in the New Haven Independent. He recently took over as chairman of the New Haven Republican Town Committee.

For anyone old enough to have a vinyl record album, the name Liverpool brings to mind the Fab Four, the Beatles, and the impact they and other British Invasion groups had on popular culture in the second half of the 20th century.

For those of us on the trip, although we couldn’t all name the four Beatles, we had heard of them from our grandparents and the occasional appearance of Paul McCartney on tv.

What we learned on the trip is the importance the Beatles had in bringing Liverpool out of the industrial era and into the 21st century as a cultural, event and tourism center for Great Britain. Although current Liverpool students listen to much the same music as American students, they all have a keen awareness of the role the Beatles played in Liverpool.

From visiting the Beatles Museum we learned that the group first played music that they call “skiffle” which was American folk music including instruments like the banjo. They were conscious of the folk traditions of the US and added their own interpretation to the music. But what made a bigger impression was the music of black artists from the US south and cities like Chicago and Memphis that made its way to the Liverpool shores via the influx of black American soldiers during World War II. The Blues and Gospel music and something called rock and roll made the biggest influence on the Beatles as evidenced in their earliest recording of songs by black artists. What the Beatles, and groups like the Rolling Stones, did was to introduce white America to the music of people like Little Richard, Chuck Berry and others who did not find a way to the mainstream audiences in America due to the segregationist attitudes in the US through the 1960’s.

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Dr. deLisle tried to help us understand the influence of the Beatles by saying that if Taylor Swift, Beyonce,  Adele and Chris (Ed) Sheeran formed a band they still would not match the impact of the Beatles on American musical culture.

For one of our group members, Jim Russo, who graduated in 2015 and had participated in last year’s trip to Rome, his main motivation for joining the trip was to learn more about the Beatles and to see, hear and feel their presence in Liverpool.

Here is an excerpt from his journal:

I have been a Beatles fan since I was about six years old. I studied their entire history, and knew every song at a very young age. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to visit Liverpool, where The Beatles were born and became famous. I visited at Mathews Street, site of the Cavern Club, where The Beatles played their very first gigs together. I went to the Beatles Museum twice! Before I left for this trip, I told myself that I would try and experience as much as I could while I was in Liverpool. Who knows when I will be back? Being the obsessive fan that I am, I “googled”, where some very important people related to the band were buried around Liverpool. I found out that their manager, Brian Epstein, was buried in Everton Cemetery, just a few miles down the road from Mathews Street, where the Cavern is located. The visit became quite an adventure getting bogged down in the mud in the cemetery in a hired cab. It all worked out and I even found a second hand store where I was able to buy some 45 rpm records of Beatles songs that were never released in the US.

A final connection to the Beatles took place in our last days spent in London. At Jim’s urging we made an early morning trip to Abbey Road, the recording studio for the Beatles and the site of an iconic album cover that were looking forward to re-enacting.

For the group, learning about the Beatles was an unexpected and very fun part of the trip!

The London Bridge is…. actually in Arizona!

We were fortunate to have about 36 hours in London before flying home to JFK. The quickest way to take in the city in a limited amount of time was the big red double-decker tour bus. You can get on and off as many times as you like to visit all of the important sites in the city. Here are a few of the things we saw:

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We were very happy to spend at least some time in London, a much bigger and busier place than Liverpool. Definitely deserves a return trip!

Some Parting Shots from Great Britain

We pulled together some of our favorite pictures from our time in Liverpool, Chester and London to share with you. The Liverpool trip allowed us the opportunity to learn about John Moores University and the many programs they offer. We learned about the common interests we have with the students attending LJMU. Our research projects and on site presentations helped us to understand and share the characteristics of particular elements of life in Liverpool from many different perspectives. We learned that although we share a common language there are many different expressions that were both puzzling and enlightening for us.

We saw the success that Liverpool has undertaken in transforming itself into an  excellent destination for tourism and special events and we had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of foods, culture and recreational opportunities. We also learned about our fellow SCSU students by spending twelve days together in a foreign land, supporting each other in many ways.

Here are some of our memories:

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And with that, we invite all of you to spend some time at Liverpool John Moores University in the years to come!

Despite the pervasive wind and rain, the spirit of Accepted Students Day remained undampened as we welcomed approximately 2,100 guests to campus April 2, showcasing our modern campus and our outstanding range of academic offerings and student support services.

With 734 students in attendance – a 27 % increase over last year – this successful event promises to be a springboard for good things to come.

Indeed, while it is still early days, Terricita Sass, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, reports that we continue to stay ahead of last year’s totals in freshmen applications, acceptances and deposits (up 45%) as we progress toward our fall freshmen goal of 1,400.

Transfer applications also have rebounded as we target a goal of 735 transfers for the fall. We recently hosted a day for community college counselors and are holding Transfer Days at Gateway, Naugatuck Valley and Housatonic community colleges during the next two weeks.

I thank our admissions and student affairs teams, along with the faculty, administrators and staff from various departments who worked so hard to ensure that our campus looked its best for Accepted Students Day and that our guests felt welcomed and inspired to learn more about all that a Southern education has to offer.

BUDGET UPDATE

I am sure that all of you have been following developments in Hartford regarding the state’s fiscal challenges, and as you are aware, we have received instructions from the CSCU System Office to begin preparing a spending plan for the coming fiscal year.

As Mark Rozewski, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, reported last week, the budgetary process will be a difficult task, as we face an overall reduction in our state appropriation that will be only partially offset by the recently enacted tuition and fee increases for the CSCU system.

Mark notes that our preliminary review of key budget elements, and various adjustments we might make in response, still results in a shortfall of between $1,750,000, and $2,000,000. The University Budget and Planning Committee met last week to review these issues and will meet again today (Tuesday) to continue to craft a response, which is due to the system office by April 29.

During the next few days, many of you may be asked to supply information and analyses that will help in the development of this budget, and I ask that you make this your highest priority as we navigate this challenging time together.

In a related issue, six of our Student Government Association (SGA) members are at the State Capitol today (Tuesday, April 19) to meet with legislators representing their home districts, as well as members of the Appropriations and Higher Education Committees, advocating for increased fiscal support for the CSCU system.

In their capacity as tax payers and voters, our student contingent aims to lobby legislators to keep higher education accessible to the residents of Connecticut and look elsewhere to close budgetary gaps. Kalie Menders, SGA President, says she wants legislators to hear first-hand the effect of decreased appropriations and tuition increases and hopes that the sharing of personal experiences will give legislators a “face” to this critical issue.

FOSTERING THE AMERICAN DREAM

Last week, I joined six other area college presidents and administrative leaders at a meeting with Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro, where we discussed major issues facing higher education in the state and nationally.

As the ranking member on the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. DeLauro oversees our country’s investments in education, health, and employment, and she has a keen understanding of the financial burden of higher education on students and families.

As a group we discussed the need for more federal funding and additional programs such as work-study or internships to help students pay for the cost of college.

Rep. DeLauro told the New Haven Register that she believes education has always been “the ticket to success” for middle-class and low-income families, and she would not want to see the federal government “shortchange” them.

“The need for us as a society to invest in education is so great,” she said, noting that she is pursuing several measures to enhance college affordability, including a higher dollar amount for the Pell grant (32 percent of our undergraduates receive some level of a federal Pell Grant, which is free money for college, based on high financial need according to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA).

Rep. DeLauro also re-emphasized the roles of higher education in fostering civic engagement and working for the public good, both of which we foster here at Southern.

In similar vein, the theme of civic and community engagement was front and center at the Campus Compact 30^th anniversary conference: “Accelerating Change: Engagement for Impact,” which I attended in Boston last month. For three days, administrators, faculty, and other higher education leaders discussed past and present efforts to achieve our shared goals and how we can move higher education more fully to embrace its public purposes.

Keynote speaker Robert Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and bestselling author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis discussed his groundbreaking examination of the growing inequality gap and why fewer Americans today have the opportunity for upward mobility.

“During the last twenty-five years we have seen a disturbing “opportunity gap” emerge,” he said. “Americans have always believed in equality of opportunity, the idea that all kids, regardless of their family background, should have a decent chance to improve their lot in life. Now, this central tenet of the American dream seems no longer true or at the least, much less true than it was.”

As an institution of public higher education whose mission is driven by access and affordability, It is vital that we at Southern continue our role in keeping the American Dream alive.

EXCELLING IN ACADEMICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

Last week, I had the great pleasure to present the 2016 recipients of the Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award. The awardees embody all that is best about a Southern education, having earned a 3.7 GPA or better and contributed significantly to life on campus and community service.

• Kristen Dearborn is an English major, with a GPA of 3.71. She is president of the Golden Key International Honour Society; is recipient of the Study Abroad Academic Merit Scholarship; studied abroad in Rome; and wrote a series of poems she intends to publish. What makes her academic accomplishments even more remarkable is that she struggled as a high school student and participated in the SCSU Proof of Ability program during the summer between her senior year in high school and her freshman year at Southern. But she was determined to overcome her challenges, fashioned a path to success and now intends to pursue a master’s degree in a health-related field.
• Kelly Gunneson is a secondary education major in mathematics, with a GPA of 3.91. A student-athlete, she was a captain of our women’s volleyball team and was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Her academic honors include the Beatrice H. Rockwell Endowed Scholarship and the Dr. George J. Collins Academic-Athletic Scholarship. She also participates in many community service activities, serving as the head coach of the Connecticut Juniors Volleyball Association, and is a Praxis core math test prep instructor for Southern’s Academic Success Center. Kelly plans to pursue a teaching career after graduation.
• Caitlin Hansen is a physics major and math minor, with a GPA of 3.97. She has received the SCSU Honors College Scholarship, the Pathways to Academic Success Scholarship and the NASA Connecticut Space Undergraduate Research Fellowship. In addition, Caitlin coordinates outreach programs for the New Haven Public Schools as part of Southern’s STEM-Innovation and Leadership program. She is a nationally certified tutor for physics, scientific writing and writing. And she also is a runner who two years ago completed her first half marathon! Caitlin plans to apply to a Ph.D. program in either medical physics or biomedical engineering.
• Megan Mancinelli is a psychology major with a GPA of 3.91. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society and vice president of the hall council in the Office of Residence Life. Megan tutors middle and high school students from New Haven, Hamden and Cheshire, and was involved with the Gear-Up program, in which she worked with children from New Haven. She also has been involved with many community service activities, such as the Special Olympics and intends to earn a master’s degree in social work before working with to support children and adolescents.

Congratulations to these four outstanding students for their all-round achievements and contributions, and to the faculty and staff who have nurtured their prodigious talents.

(MORE) TEACHERS OF THE YEAR

As I noted in recent blogs, the quality of our teacher preparation programs has been borne out by a succession of statewide awards for excellence, including teacher, counselor and superintendent of the year awards for 2016.

The trend has continued, with Michael Ginicola ’98, being selected by the Connecticut Parent Teacher Association as its 2016 Outstanding Elementary School Teacher. Michael, who teaches at Nichols Elementary School in Stratford, studied physical education as an undergraduate before earning his MS in School Health Education here in 2002.

Exercise Science Department Chair Dan Swartz notes that Michael continues to give back, serving as a mentor for our student teachers.

Meanwhile, South Side (Bristol) Elementary School art teacher Walter Lewandoski ‘77 was named Elementary Art Teacher of the Year by the Connecticut Art Education Association. Walter, who is certified to teacher kindergarten through 12^th grade, earned his bachelor’s degree in art education at Southern.

The association’s annual awards recognize visual arts educators for demonstrating excellence in the classroom, active participation and leadership at the local, state and/or national level, publications and/or exhibits, advocacy for the arts and other art education related accomplishments.

Further afield, Patricia C. Moran, M.S. ’95, was one of five scholars and educators presented with the prestigious insignia of the Chevaliers dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (the Order of the Academic Palms) at a ceremony held at the French Embassy in New York City.

The order was founded in 1808 by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognize commitment and accomplishment in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and research.

Patricia was recognized for helping to obtain an educational grant for Waterbury schools and furthering a program that connects Waterbury students with similarly aged children in Toulouse, France, through state-of-the art technology. Moran is now the supervisor of the early childhood education for the city of Waterbury.

Congratulations to these alums and to all in our School of Education who continue to foster this tradition of excellence!

THE NEW BANNER

Our Office of Information Technology has been taking the lead in a system wide initiative to improve dramatically the University’s systems and data quality, user experience, and support for mobile devices as well as providing modern best practice business processes.

A major part of this effort includes the replacement of the current Banner enterprise software system (ERP), which is used at Southern and throughout the CSCU system to run business and student support functions, but is quickly approaching the end of its life. The system includes everything from registration to financial aid and financial systems.

Chief Information Officer Robert Rennie says that Banner 9, built on Ellucian’s new XE architecture, “will provide a tremendously better user experience as well as greater functionality and improved price performance. This upgrade will represent a significant move forward in our business processes, the availability of useful data, and the ways in which we interact with the system.”

Rob and his team earlier had developed a white paper detailing that it was imperative to develop a replacement for the current ERP and related products, along with system features and other characteristics necessary for sustained success. This charge was embraced by the System Office CIO, Joe Tolisano, and has evolved into a system-wide initiative

The proposal for this initiative was shared by Southern IT staff, CSCU System Office representatives and Ellucian (the company that produces Banner) staff at open forums on campus April 11.

Rob reports that he has asked governance leaders on campus “to solicit input on this initiative from their constituencies and provide feedback to me as I prepare to develop my recommendations for President Ojakian. This project is a good example of collaboration between the BOR and the University to the benefit of us all.”

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

On April 8, we launched a second campus climate survey on sexual misconduct for students. I ask faculty to encourage our students to participate in this important survey as we had a low return rate when we piloted it last year.

The survey, distributed to all graduate and undergraduate students, was designed by the Educational Advisory Board, a best-practice higher education research firm in Washington, D.C.

The results will help us gather systematic information about sexual violence on campus in order to address it and ensure that we are taking every measure possible to ensure that our students live, study and work in a safe and healthy environment.

Participation in the survey is voluntary, and all responses are completely anonymous and confidential. If a student approaches you with a concern or for advice regarding issues raised in the survey, please advise them to contact the SCSU Violence Prevention, Victim Advocacy and Support Center at 203-392-6946, any members of the SCSU Sexual Assault Resource Team (SART) http://www.southernct.edu/student-life/health/womenscenter/sexual-misconduct/sart.html or the SCSU Counseling Office at ext. 2-5475.

General questions about the survey may be addressed to Dean of Students Jules Tetreault at tetreaultj4@southernct.edu

FUSCO DISTINGUISHED LECTURE

We have had many notable figures inspire audiences at the Lyman Center during the 18 years of the Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture Series, and this year promises to be no exception, with the visit of Robin Roberts, Co-Anchor of ABC News’ Good Morning America, on May 6.

Ms. Roberts will recount the incredible journey that has been her life so far, and the lessons she’s learned along the way as she overcame breast cancer in 2007 — only to learn five years later that she would need a bone marrow transplant to combat MDS, or myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood disorder.

“Robin’s Story,” her reports on MDS that inspired hundreds of potential bone marrow donors to register, led to a George Foster Peabody Award and other accolades, including the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2013 ESPYs.

Proceeds from this event help to benefit our Endowed Awards of Excellence, a merit-based scholarship program. In the spirit of community partnership that has always characterized this event, the Smilow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital has purchased more than 100 tickets for cancer survivors and their families.

General seating for this event is selling out rapidly – visit http://go.southernct.edu/dls/ for ticket prices and more information.

CELEBRATING THE SALAMANCA CONNECTION

Hundreds of our students have experienced the International Field Study in Spain over the past 25 years. This program, based in Salamanca, is the university’s longest consecutively running international study program and is led by Carlos Arboleda, professor of Spanish in the World Languages and Literatures Department.

To recognize the 25th anniversary of this program and the exceptional efforts of Carlos as its organizer, the university will hold a gala celebration on April 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom.

All are welcome to attend the event, which will include dinner and entertainment — flamenco dancing, live music, speakers, and a DJ. Proceeds will benefit a scholarship fund for future study abroad students in Spain. Carlos will also have available for purchase copies of a book he has compiled about the Salamanca program, and proceeds from the book sale will also benefit the scholarship fund. Tickets to the gala are $60 general admission and $20 for current Southern students and may be purchased here: https://southernct.ejoinme.org/Mypages/SalamancaGala

Celebrations also took place in Spain last summer, including events hosted by the City of Salamanca and universities with which the program has been affiliated over the years. As we continue to expand Southern’s study abroad offerings and international partnerships, our relationship with Salamanca is a benchmark for success.

LATINO AND NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

The sixth annual Latino and Native American Film Festival (LANAFF) will take place this year on April 22, 27, and 29. Coordinated by Carlos Torre, Professor of Elementary Education, and Anna Rivera-Alfaro, academic advisor, the festival is ground-breaking in its dedication to the recruitment and retention of Latino and Native American students toward furthering their education at the university level.

It is also innovative in its promotion of these two cultures through the exhibition of feature films, documentaries, shorts and animations, as well as through other artistic manifestations, by or about Latinos and Native Americans.

The festival has helped familiarize the university’s, public schools’, and Greater New Haven’s diverse communities with excellent artistic, social, political, and entertainment film projects being created by contemporary filmmakers.

As Carlos notes: “With so many negative stereotypes stilting the progress of Latinos and Native Americans in this country, it is important for all communities to meet and interact toward a better understanding of perceptions and realities.”

The schedule of screenings is available here: https://www.southernct.edu/special/lanaff/program.html and you can also follow the progess of the festival on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lanaff

The Film Festival is just one example of the wonderful array of diverse activities taking place on our campus during the next few days. This weekend sees The BIG Event — when hundreds of students perform community service in New Haven and surrounding communities — and the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference. This is also Spring Week, culminating in a sold-out Spring Week Concert on Saturday night featuring Bryson Tiller. Friday night is also the 5th Annual Greek Yard Show and Sunday is the Show Out Step Show (the largest step competition in the Greater New Haven area). A wonderful array of events that spotlight a vibrant, student-engaged campus!

#FemHack

Last weekend’s Women’s Studies Conference: “#FeministIn(ter)ventions: Women, Community, Technology”  — featured a novel event welcoming teens and young adults to join together in building software and hardware projects.

#FemHack brought together girls and young women, ages 11-21, from Greater New Haven to meet scholars, industry experts, and mentors from all over the country. Activities included learning basic HTML by remixing websites about current events; evaluating the 13 principles of a feminist Web; creating a movie poster using HTML and CSS; and learning how to build a website.

Greg McVerry, assistant professor of education, and members of the Computer Science Club worked closely with the #FemHack participants, in an empowering effort to enable young women to see a future for themselves in the field of technology.

NAME THE CAFÉ CONTEST

One of the notable features of the renovated Buley Library is the new café, operated by Starbucks. Since this was introduced primarily with student needs in mind, it seemed natural to let them name the space.

There are more than 600 entries now in the naming contest and next week they will be winnowed down to three finalists, which will be voted on by the student body.

Prizes include an Apple Watch Sport and a semester’s worth of free coffee, along with the honor of naming a space that we hope will help provide students with the sustenance they need as they pursue their studies in Buley’s Learning Commons.

Budding entrepreneurs at Southern have gotten a taste of what it’s like to start a small business in the real world, thanks to their participation in a statewide, interdisciplinary course offered this semester called “New Venture Challenge.”

Southern joined with about 100 students from colleges and universities throughout Connecticut to form teams that worked on putting together hypothetical businesses centered on student products and services. It marked Southern’s first participation in the course, which culminated in “Launch Weekend,” where their research and preliminary work were put to the test, and ultimately teams made their pitch to judges and investors.

While classified at SCSU as an accelerated, special topics business course, it was open to students from various academic disciplines, provided that they successfully completed the Management 301 course, “Entrepreneurship/Small Business Development.”

“The New Venture Challenge course was tremendously successful in giving students a chance to develop the skills they will need if they opt to start their own businesses,” said Dan Mabesoone, SCSU assistant professor of management/MIS. “The level of enthusiasm sparked by the course – especially during the Launch Weekend – was incredible. You could see the passion that these students have toward being entrepreneurs.”

Mabesoone said there were about 20 teams of 5-6 students each, with each team including students from several of the schools. The teams discussed various aspects of putting a business together, such as branding, logo and website design, minimum viable product requirements, domain and trademark search, and online research for selecting a company name.

Mabesoone said that in addition to standard undergraduate tuition and fees, each student was required to pay $230 for the course. But that additional cost was covered by a donation from Richard C. Meisenheimer, an area businessman who is president of the Meisenheimer Foundation and a member of the Business Advisory Council for the SCSU School of Business.

“(Our) family has a firm belief in supporting and nurturing students who have demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit,” Meisenheimer said. “(Provost) Ellen Durnin presented a new venture challenge to me for consideration, and we felt this was an excellent opportunity and invaluable experience for students in the Business School.”

“In addition, six members of our family are graduates of Southern, and as such, we have a commitment to this institution,” he said.

Durnin, who had been dean of the SCSU School of Business before recently being appointment as the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, thanked Meisenheimer for his support.

“The School of Business faculty and students are indebted to Mr. Meisenheimer,” she said. “Through his generosity, our students were able to participate in the Connecticut New Venture Challenge experience.  We appreciate him providing this unique, hands-on experience for our students to work with entrepreneurs in a mentoring capacity.”

Mabesoone also thanked Sam Andoh, the new dean of the SCSU School of Business; and Richard Bassett, chairman of the SCSU Management/MIS Department; for their support in offering this opportunity to Southern students.

The Council of Chief State School Officers today announced that Southern alumna Jahana Hayes, ’05, a history teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury, Conn., is the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.

Hayes’ route to teaching began as a student. The first in her family to graduate from college, she was inspired by her teachers who urged her to dream bigger and who believed that she was college material, despite a challenging upbringing. She earned an associate degree from Naugatuck Valley Community College, a bachelor of science from Southern, a master of arts from Saint Joseph University, and a certification from the University of Bridgeport.

A veteran history teacher, Hayes also sees herself as an advisor, counselor, confidant and protector. She endeavors to fill the role her own teachers had in her life, guiding students to be their best selves and encouraging them to take ownership of their communities.

“As a teacher, I strive to facilitate learning in a way that engages students by connecting on a personal level and stimulating academic growth, while simultaneously producing contentious and productive members of society,” she says.

For Hayes, being a teacher is a privilege and an opportunity to transform lives and foster a sense of social responsibility in the next generation. As the 2016 National Teacher of the Year and a spokesperson for the teaching profession, Hayes hopes to motivate more people to become educators and continue to carry out this important work.

“I am honored to be the 2016 National Teacher of the Year,” Hayes says. “In the course of the next year, I hope to stoke a national conversation about education that is inclusive of everyone. I want to engage people who have not traditionally been part of the conversation to join in this important effort to prepare well-rounded students for success in life.”

The National Teacher of the Year program, run by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and presented by Voya Financial, Inc., identifies exceptional teachers in the country, recognizes their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning, amplifies their voices, and empowers them to participate in policy discussions at the state and national levels.

As the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, Hayes will spend a year traveling the nation to represent educators and advocate on behalf of teachers. She looks forward to sharing her belief in the importance of service-learning, and in making the teaching profession more attractive and appealing to young people across all demographics.

Every year, exemplary teachers from each state, the U.S. extra-state territories, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity are selected as State Teachers of the Year. From that group, the National Teacher of the Year is chosen by a panel representing 15 renowned education organizations, which collectively represent more than 7 million educators.

“The Selection Committee selected Jahana Hayes as the 2016 National Teacher of the Year because we believe her message of service-learning resonates in the education discussion today,” the committee stated. “In addition, we believe she has a strong story that speaks to educators and will bring an important perspective to the public discourse over the next year.”

“Teachers like Jahana Hayes are leading the way to a brighter future for America. What an exceptional educator — we are all proud,” says Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. “Extraordinary academic rigor, high expectations, and unwavering commitment to service outside the classroom are the characteristics that Jahana brings to Waterbury students each and every day. She is truly preparing the next generation of global citizens. I want to congratulate Jahana and thank her for making a difference in the lives of so many Connecticut children and families.”

“Jahana Hayes inspires her students to believe in their ability to change the world. She ignites a love of learning and builds their self-confidence. This well-deserved distinction provides Jahana the platform and opportunity to share her gifts, passion, and talent with students and educators across the nation. Without question, Jahana will inspire others to believe in the power of teachers to change the world through education,” says Connecticut Department of Education Commissioner Dianna R. Wentzell. “Connecticut is so proud of Jahana. She is a true role model for educators across the nation who seek to deliver on the promise of an outstanding education for every student.”

“To be the National Teacher of the Year requires not only pedagogical precision, but also the ability to connect to the hearts and minds of a school community,” says Waterbury Superintendent Kathleen M. Ouellette. “Jahana’s own life experience, her passion for education, and the inspirational manner in which she impacts her students, all contribute greatly to her success. Jahana has masterfully refined a focused, pragmatic, yet heartfelt approach to an evolving global vision of education, bringing her to this pinnacle – the 2016 National Teacher of the Year! We in Waterbury, Connecticut, are very proud!”

Hayes and the other 55 State Teachers of the Year have been invited to an event on Tuesday, May 3, at the White House, where they will be honored by President Barack Obama.

A team of Southern business students has captured the recent inaugural Connecticut Venture Capital Investment Competition – pitting some of the state’s best undergraduate investment students against one another in a test of investment strategy skills.

SCSU’s Paul Barlow, Alec Santo and Egzon Dauti defeated teams from Fairfield University and Quinnipiac University to earn first place. To qualify for the competition, SCSU had to prove during a two-hour meeting with Mike Roer, a key organizer of the event, that it had a solid understanding of investment principles needed during the contest.

During the competition, each team had to decide how much to invest among a variety of business plans that were presented during the program. It was part of the overall Connecticut New Venture Competition, organized by the Entrepreneurship Foundation.

“This was a great win for our students, as well as being a significant accomplishment for the School of Business and the university,” said Benjamin Abugri, chairman of the SCSU Department of Economics and Finance and the faculty advisor for the Southern team. “It also underscores the quality of our program and the value of our stock market trading room, which is an important tool in their finance education.”

The trading room – which was enhanced a few years with the opening of the new SCSU School of Business building – enables students to follow the stock market in real time with an electronic ticker. The high-tech facility provides classes and programs with an opportunity to get a state of real world financial investment experience and research.

SCSU earned first place for recommending the most astute investment plan in the opinion of the judges.

Santo, a junior finance and math double major, said winning the competition shed light on the procedure for real-world investment decisions. “This experience has enlightened me on the fast-paced, competitive nature of the financial world and will motivate me to conquer the future challenges I face, academically and professionally,” he said.

Dauti, a senior finance major, said the competition was one of the most exciting events in which he has ever participated.

“We believed we were the underdogs going into the competition, but we took home the trophy,” he said. “I would like to thank the dedicated professors in the School of Business for helping me achieve this major accomplishment.”

Mark McRiley, M.P.H. ’12, was intrigued by the bumper sticker. So instead of rushing inside to place his order, the Southern alumnus stood outside of the Connecticut Dunkin’ Donuts and waited for the car’s driver to explain why the phrase, “I Administered Narcan to an Honor Student,” was plastered on his car.

Narcan — a drug generically known as Naloxone — is an opioid antagonist, meaning it counters the effects of opiates, including heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. It is used when an overdose is known or suspected, potentially saving lives in the process. “I explained that I was a nurse and that I wanted the story,” says McRiley. “He told me that he worked at a high school and had given Narcan to one of the students who had overdosed.”

Many, including McRiley, would argue that such firsthand accounts are highly illuminating, providing important insights about the issues affecting a community — in this case, everything from the increased use of opiates in the U.S. to available treatments for those who are addicted.  In January — armed with a full scholarship — he began a doctoral program in public health at England’s Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), which recently launched a trans-Atlantic partnership with Southern.

“Liverpool John Moores University’s Public Health Department is so strongly focused on social services — homelessness, opiate addiction, alcohol addiction, violence against women . . . It is incredible for me to have the opportunity to work with them,” says McRiley.

His research will cut across the Atlantic, focusing on long-term opiate addiction among people living in both New Haven and Liverpool, England. He will use photovoice, a participatory research technique that employs cameras and other photographic techniques to explore issues through the eyes of community members — in this case, those addicted to opiates. “We’ll be able to compare the two [populations] to see what the major hurdles are,” he says. “What are the influences? What are the risks for a relapse? What are the difficulties related to methadone use over time? How are people being treated by the community?”

McRiley will be supported by faculty at both institutions — Gordon Hay (his lead advisor) and Conan Leavey, both from LJMU’s Centre for Public Health, as well as Jean Breny, chair of the Department of Public Health at Southern. Four undergraduates from Southern also have been studying at LJMU this spring. Countless more ultimately will benefit from the initiative, which will offer courses taught by faculty members at both universities, in addition to more opportunities for students from SCSU and LJMU to travel abroad for study, research, and field work.

“I’m receiving a 100 percent scholarship — which is three years of tuition and essentially enough money to pay for my housing,” says McRiley. “I feel unbelievably lucky and extremely honored . . . to have the opportunity to work so intently on my own research. Who gets to do that?”

The experience promises to be life-changing personally and professionally, building on McRiley’s diverse resume, which includes experience in the film and television industry, nursing, international aid, teaching, and public health. “I grew up in LA, where everybody is supposed to be in the entertainment industry,” says McRiley, who took photography courses at City College. He found work in the industry, first in craft services and later as an emergency medical technician (EMT).  He worked on more than 30 Hollywood films and television shows, including “Van Helsing,” “Rush Hour” (I and II), “Roseanne,” and “The Family Man.” But while the projects were high profile, McRiley came to find the work unsatisfying.

“I realized I wasn’t using my brain. . . . I needed to go back to school,” he says. McRiley moved to New York City, and enrolled at the College of New Rochelle to study nursing. One of only a few men in the nursing program, he earned his B.S. in 2005 and soon become a critical care nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, McRiley traveled to New Orleans with a group of doctors who set up a makeshift clinic at the Cajundome where about 7,000 displaced people were living. “I learned so much,” says McRiley, “but I came back totally changed. As a nurse dedicated to giving aid . . . this is where you want to be.”

With thoughts of working in international aid, McRiley enrolled in Southern’s graduate program in public health. For his master’s thesis, he researched the relationship between post-earthquake housing and health in Léogâne, Haiti. The city, located near the epicenter of the quake, had been devastated and many residents were still living in tents provided as emergency shelter. McRiley traveled to Haiti four times for his research. Using photovoice methodology, he gave 23 Haitian nursing students cameras to explore the issue. They then met as a community to discuss their images. “I would record their responses in Creole,” he explains, “asking them to tell me what I was looking at and why the photo was taken.”

Their issues included pollution, roaming livestock, garbage, lack of water, poor sanitation, and more. Armed with about 500 photos and their accompanying narratives, McRiley wrote his thesis. He met a few others working on similar projects, and together they connected with local city stakeholders. “Low and behold, one year later the trash was gone, the center of town was clean . . . water and electric infrastructure came through. . . .  It was terrific,” says McRiley, whose work was recognized with the 2012 Scholarship and Service Award from Southern’s Department of Public Health.

“The advantage of the photovoice methodology is that you are not just handing somebody a 50-page report. You are handing them 50 photographs that are taken by the people [most affected],” he says.  The researcher notes that today’s “selfie” culture is a tremendous boon for his upcoming research on opiate addiction. “I can collect through Instagram, Facebook, direct text, email. . . . My intention is to gather significantly more information than I have ever gathered before,” he says.

He and his doctoral advisors fully understand the potential power of such testimony. McRiley’s goals include creating a documentary on addiction. Looking further ahead, he envisions returning to Haiti — and again standing at the front of a college classroom. “I love everything about teaching,” says McRiley, who was an instructor in Southern’s Department of Public Health. Having resigned from that position and his 10-year post with Yale-New Haven Hospital  —“two terrific jobs,” he says — he notes with awe the trajectory his life has taken. “When I left Los Angeles before I went to nursing school, I was a roller-blading bartender,” he says. “Fifteen years later, I am entering a Ph.D. program.”

The term “street art” might conjure images of graffiti splashed across the side of a building, but street art – works of art created in public spaces – actually encompasses many media and is often legal and permitted, says Noelle King, an adjunct professor of art. Many artists are doing street art now, says King – herself an artist — so she proposed a new course on street art to the Art Department, and it ran this semester as a beta, or experimental, course.

As a final project, after hearing from several invited guests on the topic of street art, King’s students completed two approved community service art projects: a large mural inside the Yale New Haven Hospital George Street Parking Garage, called “A Leaf History of New Haven,” and “A Friend for Life,” an image of dogs and cats painted on a door at the New Haven Animal Shelter, intended to encourage adoption of animals at the shelter.

Throughout the semester, leading up to these projects, King invited several guests to the class to discuss various aspects of street art. Detective Orlando Crespo of the New Haven Police Department, a specialist in gangs and graffiti, who explained to the students the nature of graffiti and the legal repercussions of street art that is done without permission.

Another guest, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, is an artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y., whose “Stop Telling Women to Smile” campaign addresses gender-based street harassment. In 2015, Fazlalizadeh was named one of Forbes Magazine’s 40 Artists Under 40. In her project, she invites women to tell their stories of street harassment, does their portraits, and adds text from their stories to the portraits. She then pastes the portraits up on walls in public spaces. Fazlalizadeh’s project is universally lauded as being an important part of the dialogue concerning sexual harassment of women.

Other guest speakers in the class included artist and community organizer Alex White-Mazarella; Tina Re, curator of artists’ books and librarian in Buley Library; and Pairoj Pichetmetakul of The Positivity Scrolls Project in New York.

King describes the course as writing intensive, with writing assignments including everything from essays to poems, to letters to responses, and a project King calls indoor sky writing, that involved students writing messages with whipped cream.

To prepare for the mural they painted inside the Yale New Haven Hospital George Street Parking Garage, students researched plants native to the New Haven area from ancient days to the present and decided which leaves to depict. They then stenciled on the garage wall the mural of leaves, creating “a very calm and peaceful” feeling, says King.

Leaves depicted in the painting are from kelp, pin leaf cherry, tulip tree, birch, cinnamon fern, daimyo oak, fern, Franklin tree, white pine, sassafras, slippery elm, mulberry, chestnut oak, aquatic moss, red maple, willow, white oak, sycamore, northern red oak, apple, dandelion, white spruce, and two-leaf water fern.

For the animal shelter mural, the class responded to a request from the shelter. “A man from the shelter approached the Art Department about having someone come paint something to beautify the shelter,” says King. “They wanted to make the shelter feel more family-friendly and cheerful.” Students submitted designs for a painting, and student Traci Henri’s design, “A Friend for Life,” was chosen. The painted mural on an exterior door portrays a dog and cat and encourages adoption of animals.

King says she is proud of her students, who included Shannon Anderson, Ben Asbell, Nick DiDominicis, Alexis Dillon, Dannielle Gladu, Valerie Glibert, Tracy Henri, Ariel Herbert, Dan Holloway, DJ Johnson, Tessa Karmelowicz, Rahni Lawrence, Alexandra Marx, James Mastroni, Kelsey Page, Katie Pfeiffer, Rebecca Ramirez, Laura Salvatore, Jane Snaider, Nathan Tracy, Katie Verrastro, Roleen Bisaillon-Sheehan, Alyssa Fernandes, Kate O’Keefe, Melissa Urban, and Nina Zachary. King says, “They saw how they could make a relationship between themselves and the city of New Haven, and between the university and the city.” She wanted them to learn about doing street art for the public good, as, she says, “art has tremendous power and can change lives.”

Southern faculty are known for striving to make a difference in the lives of their students, as well as for their contributions to their respective disciplines and to the community in general. Each year, the university’s Celebration of Excellence ceremony presents an opportunity to recognize the special achievements of a few faculty and reflect on what is possible in higher education.

At this year’s ceremony, held on April 25, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Ellen Durnin called the event “a public affirmation of the fact that, as a university, we hold faculty research, teaching, service, innovation, and student advising in high regard.”

The Joan Finn Junior Faculty Research Fellowships aim to provide junior faculty members with a significant amount of reassigned time at an early stage in their careers at Southern for these purposes. Two fellowships are awarded each year. This year’s recipients were Amy Smoyer, assistant professor of social work, for her project, “Prison at the Margins: Understanding the Intersecting Vulnerabilities of Incarcerated Lives,” and James Kearns, assistant professor of chemistry, for his project, “The development of methods to quantify arsenic contamination in rice and other common food sources by chemical digestion and measurement with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer.”

The Mid-Level Faculty Research Fellowship aims to provide mid-level faculty members with a significant amount of reassigned time at this crucial stage in their careers at Southern for these purposes. This year’s recipient is Jonathan Weinbaum, associate professor of biology, for his project entitled “Assessment of a New Late Triassic Fossil Bonebed in Arizona.”

The Technological Teacher of the Year Award recognizes the importance of the effective use of technology in the classroom and the faculty who embrace it. Leon Yacher, professor of geography, was named the 2016 Technological Teacher of the Year. Yacher designed and developed the university’s first course in Geographic Information Systems (GIS)and he has made innovative use of pedagogical tools such as Blackboard, clickers, and TOPHAT.

Named in honor of the late Robert E. Jirsa, former Faculty Senate President and P & T Committee Chairman, the Robert E. Jirsa Service Award is given annually to a full-time faculty member who has made extraordinary contributions and demonstrated outstanding leadership in his or her service to the university. This year’s recipient is David Pettigrew, professor of philosophy. Pettigrew came to Southern in 1989, and over the years, he has been deeply involved in the life of the university, having served and chaired most Philosophy Department committees, as well as School of Arts & Sciences and university-wide committees, among them Faculty Senate, the Faculty Academic Strategic Planning Committee, and the University Promotion and Tenure Committee. In addition to his committee work, he coordinated PROJECT CONNSTRUCT to reform Mathematics and Science in Southern’s teacher education program while collaborating with the New Haven Public Schools; initiated the Annual Interdisciplinary Faculty Research Conference, the University-wide lecture series, and the university film festival series, “Cinema du Monde”; and served as chair of the Forum on Islam, as co-coordinator of selected Holocaust Remembrance activities, and as co-chair of Southern’s Big Read, among other activities.

Carol Stewart, assistant professor of management, was selected as the recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Academic Advisor Award. Stewart has advised students in the LEP program as well as the former AUR in the Business Administration and Management concentrations, as well as advising transfer students. In addition to EAB training, her advising is informed through her work with the Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF).

The Board of Regents Adjunct Faculty Teaching Awards are given to recognize part-time faculty who have distinguished themselves as outstanding teachers with a track record of increasing student learning and promoting instructional improvements for their programs or departments. Michael Pascucilla, currently an adjunct professor in SCSU’s Department of Public Health, is the Southern nominee for this year’s award.  An adjunct professor in Southern’s Department of Public Health since 2013, he teaches four to five 3-credit classes in public health each year, serves as a mentor to students, and regularly hosts student internships in Public Health and Environmental Health.

The Board of Regents Teaching Awards are given to recognize faculty who have distinguished themselves as outstanding teachers for at least five years and have a minimum of two years’ track record of promoting instructional improvements for their programs/departments. The BOR-approved SCSU campus winner for this award is Jess Gregory, assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies. Gregory came to Southern in 2010 and has been recognized several times for her excellence as a teacher and mentor, having received the J. Philip Smith Outstanding Teaching Award for 2014-2015; and been nominated four times for the SCSU Outstanding Academic Advisor Award. She teaches courses in education law and leadership, and has numerous publications, presentations, awards and grants.

The Board of Regents Research Awards are given to recognize faculty from the four state universities who are doing exceptional research/creative work. The BOR-approved SCSU campus winner for this award is Christine Unson, associate professor of public health. Unson teaches Biostatistics, Research Methods, and Special Projects at the graduate level, and Health Promotions and Research Methods at the undergraduate level. She has also served as director of the Office of Research Integrity since 2013. Her research interests include aging and work-life extension, participation in clinical trials, caregiver burden, and predictors of student success, and she has many publications and presentations, and has received a number of awards and grants for her work.

The Faculty Scholar Award recognizes scholarly and creative work of exceptional merit by a full-time member of the SCSU faculty.  This year’s recipient is Armen Marsoobian, chairman and professor of philosophy, for his book Fragments of a Lost Homeland: Remembering Armenia. In the book, Marsoobian uses his family’s story in the late Ottoman period to construct the history of the Armenian minority in central Anatolia. In writing this book, he employed a vast array of primary source material, and the selection committee was impressed by the depth of his scholarship and the sheer quantity of archival and investigative work it required. In addition, the committee appreciated the precision of Marsoobian’s writing, the richness of the narrative, and his ability to weave micro or personal history together with broader political developments. Marsoobian serves as chair and professor of philosophy, and since 1993 has been editor-in-chief of Metaphilosophy (an international journal of philosophy).

The J. Philip Smith Award for Outstanding Teaching is presented to one full-time faculty and one part-time faculty member for exemplary teaching. Thomas O’Malley, instructor of communication, has been selected as the recipient of the part-time faculty award. He teaches Interviewing Skills, Communicating Online, Fundamentals of Professional Presentation Skills and Intellectual and Creative Inquiry. He began teaching at Southern in 1996.

Helen Marx, associate professor of elementary education, has been selected as the recipient of the full-time faculty award. Marx joined the faculty in 2011 and currently teaches Integrated Curriculum, Social Studies in the Elementary Classroom, and the Capstone Student Teaching Seminar, which also entails student teacher supervision. She is also the coordinator of the Elementary and Early Childhood Program.

As the school year draws to a close, Southern students may be leaving campus, but not before they put down some roots.

A new campus installation – the Science Garden – is now in place near the Academic Science and Laboratory building, thanks to the efforts of students, faculty, and campus leaders. Susan Cusato, associate professor of science education and environmental studies, worked with students in one of her classes this semester to explore ideas for the garden, and students presented their ideas as part of their course work. In addition, Botany Club students contributed to the garden planning during the conceptual phase and grew some plants for the garden from seeds.

The Science Garden is composed of three primary raised beds, each of which is 4’8” x 4’8”. The beds are located in the courtyard between the new science building and Jennings Hall. Cusato’s students — Honors College students in HON 260: Pollinators — A Case Study in Systems Thinking and Sustainability — installed the garden on May 10. Students and faculty have taken responsibility for maintaining the garden, which has the potential to benefit several science departments as well as honeybees and other pollinators. The Office of Sustainability will maintain the beds during the summer.

Cusato says that she and Sustainability Coordinator Suzanne Huminski have taught the pollinators course together for about four years, and this year Cusato taught it on her own. The course is designed around the issues surrounding the decline of all pollinators worldwide but especially the threats to honeybees, because they are responsible for the pollination of much of our food supply.

As Cusato explains, pollinators face many threats, including pesticides, climate change, and mites, among, “but one thing we can do to help is help preserve their habitat. So planting pollinator habitat is something the students learned to research and design.”

In the class, students worked in pairs to design pollinator habitats. With help from some Southern faculty and community members, the students considered how to enhance the campus’ pollinator habitat by planting pollinator-friendly plants in gardens near the science building. The goal of the plantings is to attract bees, butterflies, birds, moths, and other species.

Cusato says, “We are hoping that by enhancing habitat, students can begin to study the various pollinators on campus, can begin counts of specific pollinators and begin to examine the relationships between plants and pollinators. Students can collect and compare different pollen for specific traits. Blossoms can be analyzed for various compounds resulting in scent. As pollinators are attracted by scent, some plants have evolved intriguing ways to attract them, as the continued survival of that species depends on pollination.”

The planting of the garden is especially timely, given the fact that Governor Malloy recently signed legislation to protect pollinators, particularly in the area of preserving and developing pollinator habitat. The bill he signed had been unanimously passed by the Connecticut House of Representatives and addresses a range of concerns relating to pollinator health, from pesticides to parasites and habitat remediation.

Rebecca Silady, assistant professor of biology and faculty adviser to the Botany Club, credits the students in the pollination class with finalizing the details of the garden and with the actual planting of the garden, although she adds that Botany Club students took part in initial discussions about the garden and grew tomatoes, zinnia, and marigolds from seeds to contribute to the beds. Silady says the garden adds to the plant diversity on campus that she will be able to highlight in her course on plant taxonomy in the fall.

NFL player Jerome Cunningham will be among the Southern students to walk across the stage at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport later this month to receive their college diplomas.

Cunningham, who had been a tight end with the New York Giants for the last two years – including as a starter for part of last season – said he originally came to SCSU because it was one of the few schools that offered him a scholarship after high school. Although waived by the Giants a week ago, he was claimed Monday by the New York Jets.

Cunningham, who grew up in Waterbury, will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in recreation and leisure studies with a concentration in sport management. He will participate in the SCSU undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 20.

“I want to be a sports agent and represent myself one day,” he said.

Cunningham said he was contacted by the Giants before his first season. “Before the next season, I made sure I took advantage of every opportunity and trained as hard as I could.”

He ended up earning a starting tight end spot.

Cunningham said SCSU prepared him well, both academically and athletically. (Former Owls’ coach Rich Cavanaugh) prepared me very well. He made sure nothing was given to me. But all that hard work and discipline helped me to never give up.”

He said about the only thing SCSU didn’t prepare him for on the field was playing in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 NFL fans, compared with a maximum crowd of about 8,000 when he wore the Owls’ uniform.

On the academic side, Cunningham said the faculty approached things in a similar manner. “The teachers here are phenomenal,” he said. “Nothing was given to you in the classroom. They are making sure that are not just being passed you through and that you are actually learning.”

Cunningham said he is looking forward to being handed his diploma. “It’s a great feeling to graduate,” he said. “I didn’t realize the implications of it until I spoke to my grandmother and I told her I was going to graduate this May. She said I was the first one on my dad’s side to actually graduate and I’m going to be the second one on my mom’s side. So, it’s a huge accomplishment to my family.”

Cunningham has been volunteering at Hill Central School, an elementary school, where he previously had done an internship. He hopes to be a role model for the children. “I just enjoy coming back and giving back to people in the community,” he said.

Before playing for the Giants, Cunningham was a four-year member of the Owls’ football team, starting at tight end for three seasons. He recorded 61 catches for 690 yards and 7 touchdowns during his career.

On the joyous morning of May 20, Shaylah McQueen will walk across the stage to receive her diploma at Southern’s undergraduate commencement ceremony — an achievement made all the sweeter by the fact that she once considered dropping out of high school.

In the midst of her academic triumph — she will graduate magna cum laude and has received Southern’s Jack Georges Memorial Award recognizing an exceptional senior majoring in recreation and leisure studies — McQueen says she’ll never forget the moment she almost lost hope. Then a senior at James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, McQueen was sitting in a classroom with other sky-high academic achievers when the conversation took a familiar turn. “I heard them talking about who would be in the top 10 of our high school class,” she says. “And no one said my name.”

The omission was bewildering. McQueen was an outstanding high school student who excelled in advanced classes, including a college-level media course at Southern. With an overall grade point average well above 4.0, she was a member of the National Honor Society, president of the Spanish Honor Society, and an extremely active community volunteer who also participated in varsity sports and the Drama Club.

McQueen was also a teenage mother who had unexpectedly become pregnant as a high school junior. Many were supportive. She credits the high school’s Supporting Parenting Teens Program with helping her stay in school. But she also recalls classmates’ taunts, whispers, and stares — and despite McQueen’s many accomplishments, the odds were not in her favor. Only 40 percent of teen mothers finish high school and fewer than 2 percent complete college by age 30, according to research released by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The pressure became overwhelming for McQueen. “I remember going home one day and thinking, ‘I am not going back to school. I am done. I can’t do it,’” she recalls. The next morning, she felt the same. Then she heard a familiar buzz, her phone signaling an incoming text message. “I looked down and read, “Shaylah, you are valedictorian.’”

More good news followed, with McQueen awarded the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. The award, presented to only 1,000 out of 24,000 exceptional applicants nationwide (4 percent), provides full college tuition, as well as graduate tuition in the fields of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science. The award recognizes exceptional achievement among African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic American students.

Armed with the scholarship, McQueen first enrolled at Wilson College in Pennsylvania, which offers a program for single parents. The initiative enabled her to live on campus with her young son, Arlander, and attend school full-time. “It is awesome that he can honestly say, ‘Mommy, I went to college,’” says McQueen, with a smile. “I always want to be his advocate and his supporter. . . . The best step you can take as a parent is to be that role model — to live what you are trying to instill in your child.”

In 2014, the Gates Millennium Scholar transferred to SCSU. “Southern was always my number one choice,” says McQueen. “In high school, I was in the teacher-prep program which is affiliated with the university. I’d taken a class at Southern and loved it. . . . I’d been on campus, met the professors and students, and knew it was an exceptional university.”

She notes that majoring in recreation and leisure studies with a concentration in therapeutic recreation — a major she discovered at Southern — has allowed her to integrate her passions. “I’ve always known I want to mentor, counsel, and teach youth. . . . I’ve also always loved performance art — drama, creative writing, poetry, you name it,” says McQueen, who cites Southern’s Lyman Center for the Performing Arts as a favorite spot on campus.

McQueen lauds Southern’s faculty for its support, particularly Associate Professor Deborah Smith and Assistant Professor MaryJo Archambault, both from Southern’s Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

Married and living in New Haven with her now five-year-old son, McQueen credits her mother and husband for helping her make the most of her education. In addition to attending school full time, she works at Montowese Health and Rehabilitation Center as a therapeutic rehabilitation assistant and is a recreation leader at New Haven’s Hill Central School (kindergarten through eighth grade), where she previously attended. “I want to be that role model,” says McQueen of her young charges. “ . . . to let them know that whatever they want to do, the sky’s the limit.”

Looking forward, she will continue her pursuit of education. Twenty-eight percent of Gates Millennium Scholars transition into graduate school. Having enrolled in Southern’s master’s degree program in special education, Shaylah McQueen will be happily among them.

In the spring of 2013, a string of her college applications had been rejected. By her own admission, she was not a very good student in high school – her report cards reflecting an “alphabet soup” of grades. “I just didn’t like school very much,” she said.

And when she finally received an acceptance letter – from Southern Connecticut State University — it was conditional. She would need to pass two courses with a grade of “C” or better during the summer between her senior year at Sheehan High School and the fall semester at SCSU – a testing ground known as the “Proof of Ability” program.

The program is designed for students who show signs of academic promise, despite inconsistencies in their grades. Dearborn had started showing improvement in her grades during her junior and senior years of high school, spurring admissions counselors to give her a second look. She took up the Proof of Ability challenge in earnest.

“I wanted to prove to myself I could do it,” Dearborn said. “Those two classes were intense for me.”

Despite the pressure, she passed those courses – a writing composition and a communications class — with flying colors. She would be allowed to enroll for the fall.

“I was so elated,” she said. “I said to myself, ‘I’m doing this. I’m moving in.’”

Not only did she set her sights on a college degree, but she sought to graduate in three years – a full year earlier than the traditional four-year path. Her plan was to take classes during summer and winter sessions, in addition to full course loads during the fall and spring semesters.

And right on schedule, on May 20, Dearborn will be receiving her diploma – a Bachelor of Arts degree in English — after three years of classes. The SCSU Undergraduate Commencement ceremony will be held at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, starting with the procession at 10:15 a.m.

Dearborn proved to be a model student. She earned the prestigious Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award – which honors four SCSU seniors each year for outstanding academic achievement and community service. She attained a 3.7 GPA, in addition to having served as vice president of Sigma Tau Delta (English Honor Society) and a member of the Zeta Delta Epsilon Honorary Service Society. She also is a volunteer at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

“I loved every second of my experience at Southern,” she said.

Vivian Shipley, a CSU Professor of English who taught Dearborn in two poetry courses, said she was impressed by the student’s vigor, as well as her poetry.

“I have been teaching full time at SCSU since 1969 and Kristen is one of the most talented poets I have ever taught,” Shipley said. “Kristen had a remarkable ability to interact with other poets because she is open-minded and sensitive to cultural differences. She also enabled others to open up and share their ideas because she was courageous enough to write about some very complicated subjects. Like Kristen’s multiple achievements at SCSU, her moving poems provide inspiration for all who read them.”

Michael Shea, chairman of the SCSU English Department, also praised Dearborn.

“Ms. Dearborn’s story is among the most inspiring and fascinating I have heard from a Southern student,” said Shea. “Her journey of personal growth…is the kind that inspires all of us who work with students at Southern.”

Dearborn has been accepted into SCSU’s Master of Public Health program, which she will begin during the upcoming fall semester.