That commitment inspires the many courses, experiential, and co-curricular opportunities developed by our talented faculty and staff. It undergirds successful partnerships such as the QU/ConnCORP Adult Entrepreneurship Academy which graduated its first successful cohort this summer. It provides meaningful bridges between community needs and student interests via the Presidential Public Service Fellowship Program which recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary (shout out to Scott McLean for his vision and leadership!). It guides our continued success in securing new grant funding for academic innovation and scholarship. And it inspires our continued commitment to leveraging the B.O.L.D. Hiring Initiative to be a leader in collaborative learning and interdisciplinary engagement. In short, great things are happening at Quinnipiac because of each of you.

The guiding theme for this academic year will focus on enhancing collaboration, impact, and connection. I look forward to working with each of you as we devote this academic year to building on our collective successes. There is much to be excited about in the coming year!

Below you will find updates about:

• Staffing
• Forward Thinking
• Learning Innovations and Student Success
• Teaching Resources and Opportunities
• Upcoming Events

Staffing Updates

Full-time faculty who have joined us since Fall 2022:

• Dennis Brown (Physician Assistant Studies)
• Julie Buck (Film, Television, and Media Arts)
• Nicole Casbarro (Nursing)
• Nicholas Charboneau (Physician Assistant Studies)
• Robin Chataut (Cybersecurity and Computer Science)
• Su Yeon Cho (Strategic Communication)
• Guy-Serge Emmanuel (Graphic and Interactive Design)
• Chester Fernández (Law)
• Joshua Freund (Physician Assistant Studies)
• Mehmet Gulum (Software Engineering)
• Tan Gürpinar (Business Analytics and Information Systems)
• Patricia Harmon (Nursing)
• Hamlet Hernandez (Education)
• Dennis Hohne (Film, Television, and Media Arts)
• Siobhan Hollander (Medicine)
• Karen Hook (Medicine)
• Jennifer Kenter (Law)
• Michael Mayo (Physician Assistant Studies)
• Donald McAulay (Management)
• John McClaskey (Medicine)
• Dolace McLean (Law)
• Linda Merritt (Nursing)
• Kiseok Nam (Finance)
• Thanh Nguyen (Marketing)
• Brian O’Neill (Computer Science)
• Kimberly Przeszlowski (Criminal Justice)
• Brittani Sahm (Media Studies)
• Asif Shaikh (Business Analytics and Information Systems)
• Bhakti Sharma (Strategic Communication)
• Rebekah Stein (Environmental Science)
• Diane Sullivan (Nursing)
• Candice Travis (Political Science)
• Wayne Unger (Law)
• Paul Wolujewicz (Biomedical Sciences)
• Enia Zigbuo-Wenzler (Nursing)

We congratulate the following faculty members honored as emeriti faculty over the summer:

• Timothy Dansdill (English)
• Robert Farrell (Law)
• Margaret Gray (Nursing)
• Richard Hanley (Journalism)
• Brian Jones (Marketing)
• Linda Meyer (Law)
• Terry O’Donnell (Physician Assistant Studies)

Partners in Academic Success

In partnership with ITS, academic technology and instructional design have been restructured to the Office of the Provost. Adam Nemeroff, director for learning design and technology, will lead the team and ensure closer integration of academic technology with teaching and learning at Quinnipiac. We also welcomed academic leaders Larry Slater, dean of the School of Nursing; and Kafui Kouakou, assistant vice president of career development and experiential learning.

Special recognition to those serving in new roles, Terry Bloom, interim dean, School of Communications; Ben Bogardus, interim associate dean, School of Communications; Anna Brady, associate dean, School of Education; Terri Johnson, associate vice president of student personal and professional development.

Rich McCarthy (School of Business) will lead this year’s Associate Dean Council. Many thanks to Wes Renfro, senior associate dean for academic affairs and strategic initiatives, College of Arts and Sciences, for his leadership during AY 2022-2023.

Forward Thinking

Artificial Intelligence

To be the University of the Future we must comprehensively assess how AI can enhance the quality of education and the student experience at Quinnipiac University. We need to proactively address the implications of AI in the realms of teaching and learning, curriculum, student experience and administrative processes. To this end, we are establishing the Quinnipiac University Committee on AI Strategy. The committee will be comprised of three subcommittees that together will comprehensively explore and make recommendations about the practical, ethical, and innovative uses and implications of AI. More information and ways to get involved will follow shortly.

Academic Space Planning

It is very exciting to see the buildings taking shape in the South Quad as the steel sets the form while the concrete foundation indicates the new footprint. Dozens of occupancy planning meetings were conducted during the summer with the design team, facilities, faculty, the deans' offices and academic affairs staff. We are pleased to share that the School of Business building and the collaborative academic building are on schedule for a Spring 2025 grand opening! Our iterative planning process for these spaces will continue during this academic year. Focus groups with faculty, staff and students will be held during the Fall related to furniture in classrooms, lounge and team study rooms, office and meeting spaces. We will also launch a process to update the capital master plan for the Mount Carmel Campus spaces vacated by those moving to the new academic buildings.

Faculty Scholarship and Impact

Quinnipiac faculty continue to advance our path of becoming the University of the Future via distinctions in scholarship and creative endeavors. This year eleven faculty members received grants from the Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works Impact Fund administered by the Provost’s Office, and available due to a generous philanthropic gift. These projects advance the pillars of the strategic plan, contribute to public engagement, and demonstrate substantive impact. Join us in congratulating Professors Henry Adobor (Entrepreneurship and Strategy); Ben Bogardus (Communications); Jill Fehleison (History); David Hill (Medicine); Chetan Jaiswal (Computer Science); Emily McCave (Social Work); Stephanie Miller (Accounting); Ari Perez (Civil Engineering); Tamilla Triantoro (Computer Information Systems); David Valone (History); and Jonah Warren (Game Design).

Quinnipiac is an institutional partner of GrantForward; a comprehensive database of funding opportunities across all disciplines. The database creates individual faculty accounts and researcher profiles based on the information contained in the qu.edu directory. Members receive grant recommendations tailored to their scholarly interests as well as access to recommended grants. Be on the lookout for a separate newsletter from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs detailing how you can access your GrantForward account.

Finally, we encourage all Quinnipiac faculty, academic staff, and graduate/professional students to claim their free membership with the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). The NCFDD is a nationally-recognized, independent organization that provides online career development and mentoring resources for faculty, academic staff, post-docs, graduate, and professional students. Resources include monthly core curriculum webinars, weekly Monday motivators, access to 14-day writing challenges, and a member library of past webinars and materials. This year we will be supplementing this online resource with targeted, on-campus sessions and engagements that build cohorts of interest. Visit the faculty diversity website to claim your free membership. If you have any questions about the membership and its resources, please contact Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, associate provost for faculty affairs.

Learning Innovations and Student Success

Career Development and Experiential Learning

We continue to strengthen how Quinnipiac delivers career development and experiential learning. These important systems help our students prepare for successful careers following graduation. Under the leadership of Kafui Kouakou, assistant vice president of career development and experiential learning, the Office of Career Development and Experiential Learning uses a centrally coordinated framework with decentralized delivery to manage the career expertise that has historically been housed within each school. This unified and coordinated structure will allow us to elevate the significant work already in progress with a more holistic delivery of important functions. Following a July strategic planning retreat, the career development council will focus this year’s efforts on key areas including career education, employer engagement, data and trends, technology, university-wide events, and activities. We are thrilled to welcome Ayanna Wright-Mckennon, project and operations manager, and Brooke Johnston Penders, director of employer relations, who joined the Office following successful and extensive searches during the summer.

Student Wellness

Collaborative efforts are underway to advance the ways we support students across academic and student affairs. Terri Johnson, associate vice president of student personal and professional development, has been working closely with Monique Drucker, vice president and dean of students, and Andy Delohery, associate vice president of retention and academic success, to assess the process flow of support services from a student perspective. Together they are developing action plans to bolster and/or change identified gaps. The goal is to create an ecosystem of health, wellness, connectedness, and student success at Quinnipiac by strengthening intentional touchpoints and collaboration between units.

As part of this work, a landing page has been created to facilitate reporting a concern and receiving support. Thanks are also due to Clorinda Velez, professor of psychology, for leading sessions of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) for faculty. These sessions are designed to help faculty identify, understand and respond to signs of a mental health challenge or crisis and to help connect to care as needed. Additional sessions of MHFA will continue this year.

Bobcat Academy (BA) continues for its second year, doubling the number of students being served to over 60. Bobcat Academy was created to support those students who might want additional structure to succeed during their first year of college. It offers opportunities for academic enrichment, social connections, professional development, and college success strategies. Importantly, it allows participants to lighten their first fall semester course load by taking one less class which they may make up with no additional cost during the subsequent summer. If students are interested in joining Bobcat Academy during the Fall semester, they may contact Corey Kiassat.

You are invited to join a new program offered out of the Provost’s Office called QU Pause. Launched during Semester Spark, the goal of QU Pause is to underscore our commitment to your holistic well-being. This program is designed to complement the programming already being offered across the university by adding in micro-opportunities of mindfulness, movement and connection with faculty, staff and students as we support each other on the journey toward wellness within the unique challenges of academic life. Stay tuned for schedule details and reach out to Terri Johnson if you have questions or would like to collaborate. All are welcome to participate.

Learning Commons

Thanks are due to the Academic Coaching staff who have been engaging incoming students all summer. Leveraging technology and institutional data, the Learning Commons has developed data-driven workflows that prioritize outreach to students who have expressed the most need for our services. By the start of the Fall semester, Academic Coaches will have made personal, individualized outreach to all incoming first-year students. The robust peer education programs (e.g., peer tutoring, study tables, course-embedded peer educators - catalysts and fellows) are excellent ways to help support the academic success of your students. Please reach out to the Learning Commons via email for more information about these opportunities.

Office of Student Accessibility (OSA)

The OSA continues its work to support students’ access. Five new staff members have joined OSA over the course of the last year, thus providing more support to students and faculty. OSA also has expanded its footprint on the North Haven campus, adding staff presence as well as more space. This semester OSA is introducing a new tool, "Accommodate," that will facilitate superior service to students and faculty. Working with faculty and staff in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning, OSA is offering training to explore pedagogical strategies attentive to neuro-diversity and other aspects of the student learning experience. For more information about support for students who choose to disclose a disability, please contact the Office of Student Accessibility (OSA) via email.

Teaching Resources and Opportunities

Stellic

In response to faculty and student concerns about our conflicting software systems used for academic advising and degree tracking, we are launching our new degree audit software, Stellic. It will replace the “My Progress” tab in Self-Service and "EVAL" in Colleague. Stellic will provide a more integrated and seamless system for navigating course planning, degree progress tracking, and advising. Students will be able to build their degree plan, track their progress and interact with their advisors and the registrar’s office through the software rather than relying on email.

It includes an instant reporting system that allows faculty and students to access real-time degree progress and degree audit changes, program expectations, and course and non-course graduation requirements. For program leadership, the system allows real-time reporting on future course demand to support course schedule planning and can be used to track non-course requirements. Many thanks to the team in the Registrar’s Office and the faculty involved in the software’s pilot for their important work on this project. The Registrar's Office is offering information sessions within school faculty meetings. For training, please reach out to the Registrar's Office via email.

Lifelong Learning

The Department of Lifelong Learning continues to develop and deliver continuing education programming in partnership with schools, faculty members, and countless university offices and staff. These internal collaborations have allowed us to serve 285 corporate learners across 15 organizations and continue our outreach to populations of learners not traditionally enrolled in programs at Quinnipiac.

Through a partnership with innovative faculty and staff, we developed and implemented a new micro-credential framework and approval process, piloted and fully integrated two Google Career Certificates into for-credit courses, convened the Lifelong Learning Advisory Council created or updated 29 micro-credentials targeting undergraduate, graduate, and executive education populations.

To learn more about how to get involved by developing or facilitating workshops for corporate learners, developing micro-credentials, or integrating industry certifications into your courses, contact the Department of Lifelong Learning via email.

Learning Design and Technology

The provost’s area welcomes the Learning Design and Technology Team (formerly named “Academic Technology”) to the division of academic affairs. This month, Adam Nemeroff, the new director for learning design and technology, joined the university from Dartmouth’s Learning Design and Innovation group. Their portfolio includes learning design across teaching modalities, new online course initiatives, and learning technologies in academic affairs. This team will continue to collaborate with IT colleagues, to expand and promote effective learning technologies services on campus. Thanks to David Valone in his role last year as faculty liaison to the provost for online learning and the many, many faculty and staff, especially those in IT, who participated in the process he led. The move of this team to academic affairs is the direct result of that work and the collaboration across the University.

Thanks to the Learning Design and Technology Team for their work this summer with faculty in the Schools of Nursing, Computing and Engineering, and Health Sciences to bring new and existing degree programs online. This team has also collaborated with faculty in the social work department to develop the new integrated MSW program in partnership with Albertus Magnus College, and with the College of Arts and Sciences on a strategic, quality matters review of forty-three online courses. The team looks forward to numerous collaborations with the schools and programs ahead. To learn more, contact Adam Nemeroff directly via email.

Upcoming Events

• 8/25/2023 - Convocation
• 9/7/2023 – Semester Kickoff hosted by Provost and Academic Affairs, RSVP here
• Fall 2023 – Provost’s office hours, sign up here

Best wishes for a successful and engaging semester!