President’s Report to the Community

President Tom FoleyDecember12, 2014

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There are three parts to this President’s Report to the Community:

1. An Introduction2. Baker’s Dozen of highlights from the last few months3. State of the College Report

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Part One: Introduction

I want to frame this opening essay in my Winter President’s Report to the Community around the theme“more than meets the eye.” That phrase has matched the spirit and substance of Mount Aloysius almostfrom my very first days on this campus, when Michele and I first encountered this collection of servantleaders, committed faculty and hardworking students. That phrase was top of mind after several recentexperiences at Mount Aloysius— the October formal blessing and dedication of the Athletic Convocation andWellness Center (ACWC), a November reflection on our Speaker Series and a December perspective on ouroutstanding nursing program. ACWC Dedication Photos | My ACWC Remarks

First, the October blessing by Bishop Bartchak and the dedication ceremony led by MC Dan Rullo was thefirst chance for many of our 100+ special guests to see the ACWC. Our guests spent most of their time thatday in the well-conceived main gymnasium and auxiliary gym, some visited the first-class training and weightrooms and a few spent time in the suite that overlooks it all. If our guests wandered a bit further, theyvisited some of the classrooms in which our faculty have taught already over 600 classes (in 29 coursesspread over 9 different disciplines) or chanced upon the 80 pieces of cardio equipment, free weight andanaerobic stations in the new Wellness Center. But only the most inquisitive of our visitors that day got thefull “picture” and saw all of the fabulous artwork that occupies the second floor walkway. On display thatday were:

a Mural History of the College just to your right on thenorth (main entrance) wall, that tells the story of theSisters and the College - Photo

a Michael Streuber painting “Cresson Ridge” immediatelyat your left as you enter the ACWC, with thanks to Bill andAnn Benzel for this expressive gift to the College

twenty framed contemporary Mount Aloysius posters ondisplay on the south (or back) wall, that represent recentMAC theatrical productions, Speaker Series and other events - Photo

an Arts for Healing Exhibit that lines the east wall (facing the Library), already into oursecond full exhibit (in a series of six before next fall) Photo

the four core values of the College that grace both the east (pennants) and south (posters)walls of the second floor - Photo

four reversible and seasonal tapestries that hang in the main stairwell and depict actionshots of students, MAC and the region - Photo

and let’s not forget the mighty bronze statue of our mascot Victory that stands at the ACWCentrance, with thanks to Mike and Astride McLanahan for this impressive gift to ourstudents. - Photo

Thanks to Senior VP Suzanne Campbell who led the effort and to Trustee Ann Benzel, Michele Foley, SisterGiuseppe and art Professor Dr. Don Talbot who worked as a team on the design, layout, acquisition andmounting of all these exhibits. And Tom Fleming and Jack Coyle wrestled patiently but religiously with meover the writing on the mural—no mean feat in itself. All these folks certainly help make the point that thereis “more than meets the eye” in this last major piece of our 15 year old Campus Master Plan: the ACWC.

Secondly, in the category of “more than meets the eye,” Iwant to make a brief comment about this year’s (and really allof our) Speaker Series. There truly is more than meets theeye to the Speaker Series year in and year out and certainlymore than I can convey in my simple listing of various eventsat the college. I link here to a list of almost 40 speakers whohave graced our campus in the last four years on our fourcollege-wide themes. It is an impressive roster to say theleast. This year alone, Fr. Byron’s outstanding openingdiscourse on “The Good Life” was so well done and such asignificant piece of public speech that it was included in theNovember edition of Vital Speeches of the Day, a Nationalpublication in which Mount Aloysius has never beforeappeared.

But Father Byron’s remarks were just one of three or fouroutstanding explorations of the topic this fall alone. Sr. SheilaCarney’s Mercy Week peroration on the “lives well-lived” of Catherine McAuley and Francis Ward was alsovery compelling. NYU Philosophy professor Dr. Larry Jackson gave an outstanding Fall Honors Lecture onancient and modern philosophical inquiries about “the good life” and was equally outstanding in hisengagements with five different groups of students and faculty members in the classroom and over meals.And Trustee Ann Benzel will touch on the subject in her Address to our Fall graduates this very night. LarryJackson Highlight Video | Good Life press release | Faculty Panel brochure | Faculty Panel article

Yet to come this year is our Moral Choices Lecture in the spring with Dr. Timothy Shriver, Chairman of theBoard of the International Special Olympics and part-time Washington Post columnist on religion. His latestbook, What Matters Most, has receivedexceptional praise from critics across thespectrum. And our graduation speaker, RhodesScholar, prolific author, Yale Law Dean andFederal Circuit Court of Appeals Judge GuidoCalabresi will talk to us about “the good life”from his unique perspective as an immigrantwho came here from Italy. Shriver bio |Calabresi bio

In between these major speakers, our collegecommunity has engaged in other enormouslyeffective ways to explore our annual SpeakerSeries themes. [Speaker Series themes summary | The Good Life Initiatives | Speaker Series Roster 2011-2015] This year, the staff and faculty leaders of Fall Orientation, Residence Life, Career Development and(the required first year) Connections Courses focused on the subject through skits and readings, discussionsand other activities. Our faculty engaged in a very high level dialogue on “the good life” from theperspective of five different disciplines here at the college, perhaps the best of these Fall HonorsSymposiums that we’ve enjoyed in the five years that I have been at Mount Aloysius. And our dramastudents have gotten into the spirit of things as well with the fall play, pursuing the subject from a verydifferent angle—trying to answer the question “what is not the good life”— with their rendition of the play“Nickeled and Dimed” (about people living on minimum wage salaries).

The Nursing division recently completed its seventh straight period when our nurses achieved over a 90%passing rate in the state NCLEX exams. That is truly an outstanding record, compared to our regionalcompetition and even as compared to nursing schools across the commonwealth. I’ve had a chance to look atscores over the past year and the Mount Aloysius nursing students’ results are really quite impressive.

Our students themselves are, of course, the primary reason for this success. It is their application to the taskat hand and their commitment to their studies (often, with many other challenges in their daily lives) thatresult in these record performances. But we are lucky also to have a very committed Nursing faculty withstrong leadership. They have worked together through multiple challenges in the last four years; and theyalways look out for the best interests of their students—that dedication is reflected in these scores.

I also believe that the commitment to Mercy core values at the institution as a whole, by faculty and staff,helps to produce these results. Let me say no more than to offer you this reflection, from one of our nursingstudents—prepared as part of NU260, a fourth level Nursing class at the college:

“As I come to the close of my clinical experience, I feel that I’ve learned so much, yet haveso much more to learn. I feel that I’ve made marked process in my understanding of thevast amount of information presented in the patient Kardex, chart and computer records.Being able to make the connections among the various aspects of patient diagnosis, labs,diagnostics, therapies, medications and health definitions was my greatest concern at the

onset and it seemed a daunting task. However, my instructor patiently reviewed the coreconcepts, pathologies and interventions and in the end I realize that I knew more than I hadgiven myself credit for.

As I’ve stated before, I hold myself to a high standard which has been both a blessing and acurse. I feel that I have the duty to be the best nurse possible if for no other reason than thefact that I may very well have someone’s life in my hands— someone’s father, mother, son,daughter— and they need me to be at my best. I used this as my motivation to persevere, tokeep digging, asking questions, and studying. I know I have improved. When I was able tosuccessfully make the connections during my patient review with Mrs. Krug, I felt an immensesense of pride and accomplishment. I do feel that I have met the clinical objectives. I’ve triedto maintain professionalism with patients and staff and to safely care for, value and respectpatients. Though I have grown through this clinical experience, I am fully aware of my limitedknowledge and skills. The brief exposure to what it’s like for the charge nurse was both a soberingand a humbling experience, and I gained a new respect for the preparation, focus and criticalthinking that is required to be an RN. I can’t wait to be one.”

I think this “reflection” explains best the results that I referred to at the beginning of this section of my report.I don’t know that any of us could say it any better than this student—there is truly “more than meets the eye”at Mount Aloysius.

As always, Thank you for your service to the college— service that has helped us expand our student body by25% in the last decade; service that has helped us grow our physical plant now more than 50% in the lastdecade; service which has helped us to literally double our intellectual offerings (through the quality of ourfaculty and their instruction, through the sheer variety of our course and discipline offerings and throughextracurricular offerings like our Speaker Series) in the last 15 years; and service which has helped us toproduce the largest graduating classes in the history of the college these last two years.

All the best,

Tom Foley

CONTENTS

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

PART TWO: BAKER’S DOZEN OF HIGHLIGHTS

PART THREE: UPDATE BY STRATEGIC PRIORITY

Theme I – Academic Futures

Theme II - THE COMPLETE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

--Residence Life

--Service, Social and Leadership

--Intercollegiate Athletics

Theme III – COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Theme IV – NEW HORIZONS

--Communications Inside and Outside Our Region

--Admissions Progress Continues

Theme V - BUILD OUR CAPACITY TO THRIVE:

--Development

--Administrative Services

Part Two: Baker’s Dozen of Highlights

1. Dr. Stephen Pugliese is new Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs—after a six month nationalsearch process, with three candidates coming for day-long interviews at the college, the searchcommittee was unanimous in the selection of Dr. Pugliese. He brings over twenty years of experienceat the Vice Presidential level on three college campuses, most recently twelve years as Vice President(successively, of Student Affairs, Enrollment and Institutional Advancement) at Immaculata College inChester County. Pugliese was highly recommended by his current President who was very sad to seehim go but felt strongly that the Senior Vice President position was perfect for him at this point in hiscareer. We couldn’t agree more. Hiring Announcement | Dr. Pugliese’s Bio

2. State Exam Pass Rates Outstanding—Associate Dean for Nursing Dr. Becky Zukowski recently reportedon Mount Aloysius College’s Academic Successes this year in state exams: Nursing NCLEX 92.05%(highest in the region and among highest in state); 100% pass rate in the Medical Laboratory Technicianprogram; 100% Pass rate in Graduate Degree Program of Community Counseling; 95% Pass rate inRadiological Technician; 89% Pass rate in Surgical Technology; and our PTA program has returned to fullaccreditation status and is at a 100% pass rate for last year’s class. Nursing scores press release

3. Admissions Continues to Set the Standard—With the Fall “Freeze” numbers now final, VP forEnrollment Frank Crouse and his team again brought in the largest class in our history, any way youmeasure it. Headcount (full and part time) now stands at 1,867 students, compared to 1,835 last yearand up from 1,611 in 2010. That breaks down to 1,586 Full Time Equivalent (FTEs) students, up from1,542 last year and 1,446 in 2010. And our full-time undergraduate population also grew, just a notchunder 1,300 (1,296), up from 1,277 last year. The admissions staff works hard and collaboratively,under Frank’s leadership. And our faculty and staff always turn up for Sunday morning open housesand are a big part of our recruiting advantage.

4. Presidential Scholarship Dinner is again a Fall Highlight—We had another great night of scholarshipdonors enjoying dinner and conversation withthe student recipients of their gifts. Our threestudent speakers were, as always, just terrificrepresentatives of their families, theircommunities and their teachers here at MountAloysius. Jennifer Dubuque did an excellent jobas our mistress of ceremonies for the evening.My 85-year old mother came in from Philly todine with three scholarship winners whosegrants honor my father—he did not go toCollege himself but would be absolutelydelighted that a scholarship in his name allowsother people’s children to do so. My Mom,brother Jim and his wife Mary Jo (who came in from Horsham, PA) enjoyed the Jack Foley Scholars, thedinner and their visit to Mount Aloysius. The Jack Foley Scholarship is now approaching $65,000 andheaded towards$100,000. We had a full house of Polaceks on hand as well, as they honored their

Mother Sally, who passed away this year and is a wonderful Mount Aloysius story all by herself.Scholarship Dinner highlight video |My remarks

5. Mount Aloysius College Invited to the White House—Just received an invitation from the WhiteHouse to join 140 other college presidents (from among 7,000 across the country) to participate in theWhite House Summit on Higher Education in early December. It is good recognition for the college andI will be one of two Mercy College Presidents in attendance. The purpose of the summit is to discussefforts at improving retention and tuition rates. Both the President and the First Lady will address thecollege presidents on the day.

6. Mount Aloysius receives New $2M RACP Grant—Governor Corbett announced this grant in October,ensuring that it will be on the books, whether he won or lost in the fall election. This grant will help tofund a new Health Sciences building, either as an extension to Pierce Hall or as a free standing buildingset in that same quad. This is the largest grant given in the region in this RACP cycle, and one of thefew directed to higher education. Governor press release | John Wozniak press release

7. Speakers Series Stars Shine their Light on “The Good Life” —We’ve had an outstanding fall on the topicwith Fr. Byron at Convocation (whose remarks were chosen for inclusion in the national publication VitalSpeeches of the Day— a first for the College); with Sr. Sheila Carney at the Mercy Week Lecture, whoused poetry and prose to discuss two “lives well led” (Catherine McAuley and Frances Warde); with Dr.Larry Jackson (see #9-10 below) at the Fall Honors Lecture; and with an all-faculty panel at the HonorsSocieties’ Symposium on notions of the good life which featured Sr. Helen Marie Burns, Dr. DonaldTalbot, Dr. Mary Shuttlesworth, Professor Kimberly Asonevich, Dr. John Whitlock and Dr. Ryan Costanzo.The spring promises to be at least as good with Dr. Timothy Shriver (International Head of SpecialOlympics and Washington Post Religion Columnist, who just released his latest book What MattersMost) delivering the Moral Choices Lecture and Federal Judge, prolific author, Professor and Dean GuidoCalabresi sharing his story (Italian immigrant to Yale Law Dean) at our graduation in May. Good LifeSummary | Convocation Monograph | Shriver bio | Guido bio | Faculty Panel brochure

8. Mount Aloysius “Pink-Out” Breaks itsOwn Record—at recent volleyball matchwith Penn State Altoona, our team setrecords for both participants and dollarraised. Although we didn’t win thematch on the court, our team celebratedanyway because they helped double theamount of money sent to the JoyceMurtha Breast Care Research Center atalmost $4,500 and engaged over 750students, faculty and staff and elevendifferent student organizations in the bignight in the Athletic Convocation and Wellness Center. HR Director Tonia Gordon, ProfessorAmandaMinor and Coach Brianna Baker do an excellent job coordinating all the participants for this event. PinkOut news article | Photo gallery

9. Dr. Larry Jackson Captivates at Fall Honors Lecture—philosophy professor at NYU and my colleaguefrom our trip last year to NYU in Abu Dhabi proved a superb choice for the Fall Honors Lecture andcaptivated his audience of almost two-hundred students, faculty and staff with his sentiments and hisvery personal style. He titled his lecture “Pursuits of Happiness: From Aristotle to America”. He alsomet with five classes over meals and brief lectures. I attended four of them, and was especiallycaptivated by his Socratic-style lecture to about 50 nursing students and faculty on bio-ethics. LarryJackson poster | My intro remarks

10. Dr. Jackson Superb in the Classroom—besides his fall honors lecture, Dr. Jackson participated in fiveother events with students and faculty at the college. At breakfast with a group of religion/philosophystudents led by Drs. Dragani and Rohlf, Mackenzie Horne (newspaper editor, soccer captain, securityoffice work study, and honors program) opened the discussion— before Larry could get one bite of hiseggs—with the stunning question: “are you a Hobbesian or a Rousseauian?” Ever the teacher, Larrybroke down the differences between the two schools of philosophical thought, and then admitted hewas neither. It opened a wide ranging, very high level of discussion that could have taken place on thecampus of any elite college in America. Dr. Dragani said many of his students have read the Confessionsof St. Augustine, which proved to be a seminal text for Jackson. Dr. Jackson photo gallery

11. Honoring Those Who Have Gone Before Us—We had our first opportunity (two more to come) tohonor and thank Sister Helen Marie Burns, this time at the Staff Service Celebration (organized eachyear so well by Tonia Gordon); Helen Marie (8 years) is one of two long time staff retiring this year (theother is Nursing Professor Rosemary Kehrer—14 years). Helen counseled/commanded me to be brief(in the Mercy way) at all three occasions! We will celebrate her gifts at an all staff/faculty reception anda leadership team dinner, both in December. Also had the chance to thank a personal mentor, Mr.David T Horn, last month, the high school teacher who guided me to Dartmouth College and who retiredafter 52 years of service to Bishop McDevitt High School as an English, History and Humanities teacher.True to form for HMB and DTH, they are not really retiring—he is still teaching AP English and runningtwo student clubs, and Sister Helen Marie expects to be volunteering in the Detroit area after she leavesthe area. Sister Helen retirement remarks | David Horn remarks | Staff Service Remarks

12. Athletic Convocation and WellnessCenter Dedication— over 500 people,including over 100 special guests, localelected officials and board membersturned out for the official dedication ofthe ACWC. Bishop Mark Bartchak didthe blessing with help from SistersHelen Marie Burns and Eric MarieSetlock (and with AD Ryan Smithfollowing the Bishop around to wipeup all the holy water off the newfloor); Dan Rullo was a superb master of ceremonies and two students (basketball captain and 3.8 GPAstudent Nolan Doyle and tennis captain and 3.6 GPA student Laura Stahli) represented their classmateswell. My ACWC remarks | Dedication article Mainliner | Dedication article Mirror

13. The ACWC and Art—the dedication was thefirst chance for many of our guests to see notonly the ACWC but the fabulous artwork thatoccupies the second floor walkway: (1) themural history of the college on the north(entrance) wall; (2) the Michael Streuberpainting “Cresson Ridge” at your left as youenter the ACWC (with thanks to Bill and AnnBenzel for this gift); (3) the twenty framedposters on display on the south (or back) wall(on MAC theatrical productions, Speaker Series and other events); (4) the Arts for Healing Exhibit onthe east wall (facing the Library), already into our second exhibit in a series of six before next fall; (5)the core values of the college on both the east (pennants) and south(posters) walls of the second floor;(6) the four (reversible and seasonal) tapestries that hang in the main stairwell and depict action shotsof students, MAC and the region; (7) the mighty bronze statue of our mascot Victory that stands at theACWC entrance (with thanks to Mike and Astride McLanahan for this gift). Thanks to, SuzanneCampbell, Ann Benzel , Michele Foley, Sister Giuseppe and Dr. Don Talbot, Tom Fleming and Jack Coylewho worked together on many of these exhibits. ACWC art gallery

14. Fall Sports Finish Successful Seasons—soccer men made theplayoffs and then the semifinals for the second year in a row (andin our history). Soccer women set records for wins, consecutivewins (7) and shut-outs in a season. Between the two teams theyplaced six student athletes on the AMCC all-star team, anotherrecord for the college. Two frosh x-country women placed in thetop 8 in the AMCC championships, a first for the Mount. Volleyballimproved over last year’s showing but again missed the playoffs—their two fall community service projects made headlines on theAMCC Conference webpage. Daniela Battisti again won the AMCCwomen’s golf championship (she won both years of its existence)and men’s golf captain Dylan Link was as outstanding on the golfcourse (first team all- conference) as he is in the classroom (3.91GPA). News articles on Athletics – Men’s Soccer – Women’sSoccer – Golf – Cross Country

15. Good Writing at Mount Aloysius—Religion and Philosophy Professor Dr. Tony Dragani had a recentarticle published by the NYT online, opposite a piece by Notre Dame Professor (of same), where theytook opposing positions on the subject of marriage by priests. I thought Tony’s piece got the better ofthe tussle! My own Op-Ed on Veteran’s Day also got some coverage, appearing in 5 PA newspapers(though none of them called the NYT!!). And our latest issue of the student-run Belltower boasts itsperhaps best and most diverse (authors and subjects) issue yet and is in your packets. Many thanks toDr. Jess Jost-Costanzo, who spends much time with our student writers. Tony Dragani NYT article | MyVeterans Day Op-Ed

16. Accreditation Efforts Bear Fruit—We received news that our Conference on Mercy Higher EducationMission Peer Review visit was very favorably reported on at the last meeting of the CMHE, and awaittheir final written product. Our Middle States process proceeds apace under the careful direction of Dr.Michael Jones. We are on probably our 15th edit of the Self Study, and are collaboratively creating aDigital Library of resources to assist the 8-person team that will visit Mount Aloysius in March. Fullspeed ahead! CMHE Self-study

Part Three: Update by Strategic Priority

This section of my report is an update on progress against the Strategic Plan. It is dividedinto the five themes that emerged in our 2013-15 Strategic Plan, and includes recentactivity on action steps in each area. It is a bit harder to segregate Collegeactivity/departments into these five themes than it was for the three themes in the oldStrategic Plan. The full 2013-15 Strategic Plan and its updated “report card” are on theCollege website.

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Theme I—Academic Futures: Align academic offerings to emerging fields andcontinue to adapt in ways that ensure access to a college education, andgraduation, for a broad cross-section of students.

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This section will focus on three academic highlights linked directly to the Strategic Plan.

1. THE STRATEGIC PLAN CALLS FOR A NEW LOOK AT SOME OLD PROGRAMS HERE AT THEMOUNT, AND THAT “LOOK” IS WELL UNDERWAY IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

The Business and Information Technology Department has dramatically expanded its offerings thisyear, under the leadership of Associate Dean Dave Haschak and Department Chair Kim Asonevich.Some examples include:

Sport Event Management Course:Course: This course utilizes an activelearning, hands on approach to topicssuch as program planning,organization, budgeting, marketing,risk management, staffing,conducting the event, programevaluation, and other factorsassociated with successfulmanagement of sport events.Students will be responsible for themanagement of at least one or more college sport events on campus.

Communication Media Course:This course covers mass communication and is designed to acquaint the student with the field ofCommunications and what it offers. Through readings and projects, students will learn basicprinciples of websites, other online communication, focusing on creating content, planningdesigns, and graphics.

IT and Technical Lab Courses: The IT division has expanded utilization of its technical lab, offeringeight hands-on courses in the Fall ’14 semester, including three introductory operating systemcourses, a networking survey course, two introductory networking courses, Intermediate DigitalForensics, and the Security, Ethics and Fraud course.

Digital Forensics Course: With the approval of the concentration in Digital Forensic Investigation, theDepartment offered Intermediate Digital Forensics in the Fall semester. The course utilized theAccessData Forensic Tool Kit, along with free and open source applications, to continue the students’journey in the field of Digital Forensic Investigation. The concentration is cross-disciplinary and hasbeen approved for Criminology, Forensic Accounting, and Information Technology majors. Acertificate in Digital Forensic Investigation, available to licensed law enforcement personnel andinvestigators, is also available.

Other New Concentrations: The department is working to develop proposed concentrations inSports Management and Digital Forensics in order to address market demand. The concentrationin Sports Management proposal will be ready for implementation no later than next year. Thedepartment is already implementing the new concentration in Digital Forensics.

American Sign Language program goes for rare national certification: After a year of work, theASLEI program (with thanks to Professor Kierstin Muroski) submitted their 900 page Self-StudyReport to CCIE (Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education) for review for nationalaccreditation of our program. The Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education (CCIE)national accrediting body has approved the Self-Study for MAC's American Sign Language EnglishInterpreting (ASLEI) Program. A site visit has been scheduled for January 28-30, 2015. The sitevisit is the final step in the accreditation process. Upon completion of accreditation, MountAloysius will be the only ASLEI program within a 400-mile radius (the closest accredited programsare in Boston, Mass., Richmond, KY, and Chicago, Il.).

Accreditation Progress: The Medical Laboratory Technician Program had its on-site continuingaccreditation visit on October 14-15. Mr. Duncan Samo, MEd, MOUNT(ASCP), CLS(NCA) from DelMar College in Corpus Christi, Texas represented the National Accrediting Agency for ClinicalLaboratory Sciences in the two-day review process. I had a good meeting with Samo, where I wasjoined by our acting Associate Dean for Health Sciences, Dr. Merrilee Anderson. The visit went well,and the final accreditation report for the program will be issued in April 2015.

2. THE STRATEGIC PLAN ALSO CALLS FOR “BROADENING STUDENTS' EXPOSURE TO THELIBERAL ARTS EXPERIENCE IN WAYS THAT COMPLEMENT AND AUGMENT PROFESSIONALPROGRAMS AND STRENGTHENS THE GLOBAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COMPETENCIES OF OURSTUDENTS.” TO THAT END, LET ME DESCRIBE A FEW OF THE NUMEROUS EXAMPLES FROMTHIS SEMESTER SO FAR:

The Pursuit of Happiness: Dr. Fran Rohlf,Assistant Professor in the Philosophy andReligious Studies Program, along with Dr.Anthony Dragani, Associate Professor inthe Philosophy and Religious StudiesProgram, and nine interested studentsshared breakfast and conversation with Dr.Larry Jackson and myself on the morningof his Fall Honors Lecture on “The Pursuitof Happiness: from Aristotle to America.”The conversation was high-level andlively, with discussion that ranged from St.Augustine to Immanuel Kant, from professional baseball to the common good.

The Common Good: Mr. Chris Mingyar, Assistant Professor of Business Administration andMount Aloysius Enactus Advisor, Aaron McGuire (Sophomore, Accounting) and Rebekah Dean(Senior, Accounting) participated in a day-long Enactus training workshop on September 27,2014 at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave VA (near Harrisonburg). Students andadvisors from ten universities were in attendance, as were representatives of Enactus USA.Enactus (formerly Students In Free Enterprise) is an international non-profit organization thatbrings together student, academic, and business leaders who are committed to using thepower of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for peoplein need.

Education Partners: The Mount Aloysius Education Department Advisory Board met on Nov. 9.The Board includes superintendents from local school districts, the Education director fromCambria County Head Start and other administrators from the area. Topics discussed includeSchool Violence procedures for pre-service teachers, managing PDE required observations, andways for increased collaboration, among other topics.

Nursing Professionalism: Margaret Boyce andDr. Patricia Meintel, Asst. Professors of Nursing,and Level 4 Nursing students attended thePennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA)monthly meeting in Ebensburg. This provided theopportunity to engage students in nursingprofessional organizations and support theirtransition to nursing practice

Health Quest Teachers: Marianne Roberts, Assistant Professor of Nursing, and Mount AloysiusNursing students supported Health Quest 2014 with presentations and hands on simulationactivities. This event attracted over 300 high school students from the region interested in healthcareers.

Blood Drives: The Medical Assistant Club, under the direction ofMs. Cheryl Kowalczyk, Assistant Professor of MedicalAssistant/Medical Assistant Chair and Clinical Coordinator,sponsored a Red Cross Blood Drive in the Cosgrave ConferenceRooms at Mount Aloysius College on September 23. Fifty-six (56)productive pints were collected with sixty (60) individualspresenting to donate. Those blood donations have the potential tosave 168 hospital patients who rely on our efforts for life-savingblood and blood products.

Water Ecology: Biology alumnus Mr. Christopher Sawyer visited campus on October 5th todemonstrate wetland delineation for the Water Ecology course. Mr. Sawyer works for Stiffler,McGraw, and Associates Inc. in Hollidaysburg as an Environmental Scientist.

“Deaf Gatherings”: The American Sign Language/English Interpreting (ASLEI) Programand director Kierstin Muroski has continued to host the monthly Deaf Gatherings andcontinue to receive new participants (as well as repeat visitors) at every gathering. Thelocal press covers these events. Press Release

Schools Crisis Reporting: Twenty students in the Mount Aloysius Education Departmentattended a 3-hour seminar on Mandated Reporter Training offered by the PA Family SupportAlliance in September.

Interpreting for the Community: Professors Kierstin Muroski’s ASLEI students have begun toperform community service interpreting. Three students interpret a weekly Catholic Mass at theResurrection Church in Johnstown and two students interpret for the bi-monthly Girl Scoutmeetings held in Nanty Glo. ASLEI students have also volunteered to interpret the NursingProgram Pinning Ceremony in December.

Helping Non-Profits: The MBA 505 Fall first eight weeks class completed a Human ResourceResearch project. The class was composed of 24 students and researched 72 small businesses/nonprofits in the Southern Alleghenies Region. The focus of the research was to investigate thehuman resources needs and barriers to small business and nonprofits. The principle researcherfor the project was Ms. Kimberly Asonevich, Business Administration/Information Technologyand MBA Chair.

Entrepreneurs Expo: The students in Dr. Cathleen Golden’s BU 360, Entrepreneurship, class,invited five guest entrepreneurs to class throughout the month of October. The speakersdiscussed many of the benefits and challenges of being an entrepreneur. Community membersincluded: Lisa Martyak of Martyak Property Services; Laura and Thaddeus Wolf of Wolf’s

Performing Arts, Wolfs Twirlers, and Marchinglinks.com; Carissa Itle Westrick of Vale WoodFarms; April Ressler of Tetter Group; and Steve McAneny of McAneny Brothers

Pink Out Fundraiser: 11 different student groups, their faculty advisers and the campuswellness committee led by HR Director Tonia Gordon put together a first-rate October eventand fundraiser at the ACWC, with over 750 members of the Mount community engaged. PinkOut news article | Photo gallery

Thank You: The MAC Education Department hosted a dinner for all cooperatingteachers who are mentoring our student teachers on October 16.

Tomorrow’s Hope: On Sunday, October19, 2014, the Psychology Club and theCriminology Club collaborativelyparticipated in a service activity atTomorrow’s Hope, a shelter for homelessveterans, in Coalport, PA. As clubadvisers and servant leaders, Dr.Antoinette Petrazzi-Woods, AssistantProfessor of Counseling, and Dr.Elizabeth Mansley, Assistant Professor ofCriminology, demonstrated living out theMercy Values as well as deeds of service and servant leadership. Student members of both thePsychology Club and the Criminology Club served the veterans. For example, the servants andveterans participated in Neighbor Bingo as well as other Bingo games that provided opportunitiesfor the students to give prizes to the veterans. In addition, the students served desserts anddonated other food goods to Tomorrow’s Hope. The service project promoted “The Good Life” ofservice!

SALSA Conference: a number of faculty andstaff worked with Jennifer Kush, our newDirector of Community Engagement andSocial Entrepreneurship, to plan, organize,and participate in the 7th Annual SALSAConference (Southern Alleghenies Learn andServe Alliance) hosted at Mount AloysiusCollege Nov. 1st Press release

Crim Symposium: The 7th AnnualCriminology Symposium attracted 50 lawenforcement and social service professionals on November 20th. This year’s topic was “Assessmentand Treatment of Sex Offenders and Their Victims” with guest speaker national expert on sex-related offenses Anna Salter. Dr. Joseph Bobak, Assistant Professor of Criminology, plans thesymposium each year, and worked with his Department Chair Dr. Julie Smith and Associate DeanDave Haschak on this.

ISIS for Beginners: Dr. Matthew Arsenault, our new Assistant Professor of Social Studies, delivereda lecture on ISIS to the campus community on November 6. Matt has background in nationalsecurity and intelligence matters.

FCI Loretto Outreach: A group of MAC faculty, staff and students participated in a mock interviewfair at FCI Loretto, the fourth MAC event held there in the last year. Dr. Elizabeth Mansley,Assistant Professor of Criminology, arranged the event.

Electron Microscopes: Dr. Merrilee Anderson and Dr. Michael Engle along with students TylerIckes and Brianna Ports traveled to Juniata College to use their Scanning Electron Microscope totake detailed pictures of diatoms of acid mine drainage.

National Certifications: Three Medical Laboratory Technician students, Benjamin Carnahan,Nicholas Carnabucci and Naomi Rockwell, passed the national American Society for ClinicalPathology Board of Certification Examination for Medical Laboratory clinicians.

Diocesan Volunteer: IT Professor Karen Watt worked with the Religious EducationCoordinator for the Roman Catholic Altoona Johnstown Diocese, developing and modifyingdatabases, as a volunteer, throughout the summer.

3. THE STRATEGIC PLAN ALSO CALLS FOR EFFORTS TO BROADEN KNOWLEDGE ANDOPPORTUNITIES FOR ON-GOING EDUCATION FOR OUR OWN FACULTY. TO THAT END:

Dr. Patty Meintel, Assistant Professor of Nursing, presented at the 2014 Southern AllegheniesLearn and Serve Alliance (SALSA) conference hosted by Mount Aloysius in November 2014. Herpresentation on early exposure and best practices supporting service learning was designed toassist educators in developing strategies for the classroom.

Jeff Sunseri, Instructor of Business Administration/Information Technology, has successfullycompleted the required examination, and has been certified as a forensic examiner (GCFE). Thecertification focuses on core skills required to collect and analyze data from Windows computersystems. The GCFE certifies that candidates have the knowledge, skills, and ability to conducttypical incident investigations including e- discovery, forensic analysis and reporting, evidenceacquisition, browser forensics and tracing user and application activities on Windows systems.

In his role as a member of the Digital Grotto Group led by Sam Wagner, Jeff was also mentionedin a news article in the Altoona Mirror newspaper’s “How Others Are Helping” column. The articledetailed the Digital Grotto Group’s production of a professional-quality promotional video for theHollidaysburg Corps of the American Rescue Workers. ARW is a faith based organization thatprovides food, clothing, household items, counseling, life skills classes and spiritual aid to those inneed in Blair and surrounding counties. Jeff's roles included filming and editing with the clubmembers, acting as an extra, and assisting with supervising the group.

Joan Krug, Assistant Professor of Nursing, and Heather Zonts, Instructor of Nursing, havesuccessfully passed their PhD candidacy examinations as they pursue their PhD’s at IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Jeff Sunseri, whose Master’s degree is in Business Continuity Management, is working with SeniorVP Suzanne Campbell and the MAC Department of Safety and Security on the design andimplementation of our first tabletop disaster exercise. I have had the pleasure of lecturing twicein Professor Sunseri’s class on business continuity in disaster management, reprising some of myexperiences leading a Red Cross team during the Katrina response.

Joan Krug, Assistant Professor of Nursing, and Heather Zonts, Instructor of Nursing, havesuccessfully passed their PhD candidacy examinations as they pursue their PhD’s at IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Rebecca Zukowski, Associate Dean of Nursing, has been appointed as an associate editor for thescholarly journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. This voluntary position providesthe opportunity to engage with scholars internationally surrounding new research and practice inthe field of disaster medicine.

Kierstin Muroski, ASL/EI faculty member, and a student attended the 2014 PaTTAN EducationalInterpreter Summer Institute: ASL Storytelling and Poetry in Harrisburg, PA. Both of the ASL/EIfaculty members also attended the semi-annual Pennsylvania Interpreter Educators meeting inHarrisburg, PA.

Dr. Becky Zukowski, authored the following publication based upon her dissertation research: “TheImpact of Adaptive Capacity on Disaster Response and Recovery: Evidence Supporting CoreCommunity Capabilities” in Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 29 (4). The article appeared in theAugust edition of the journal. She was an invited presenter on this topic at the FEMA HigherEducation Conference in June 2014. She also presented this research nationally as a part of theNational Center for Disaster Medicine invited speaker’s series in July 2014.

Dr. Glenn Neff attended the "2014 Campus Technology Conference" in Boston MA, which focusedon different methods of incorporating technology into classrooms. While in Boston he also spenttime in Concord MA doing research on R.W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau, and L.M. Alcott which I thinkwill be very helpful in teaching his class Survey of American Literature, and also Glenn’s classesfocusing on the American Transcendentalists

Sharon Kisel, Associate Professor of Nursing and Director of Strategic Planning for that division,represented the College at a strategic planning seminar held at Westmoreland County CommunityCollege in August 2014 on Transforming Clinical Instruction, Developing Valid and ReliableEvaluation Tools.

Margaret Boyce, Assistant Professor of Nursing, has been selected by The National Council ofState Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) as a member for the RN Item Writing panel for the nationalnursing licensure exam. This highly selective panel met in August 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Donald Talbot completed course work in June 2014 at Salve Regina University entitled “Arts,Nature, and Eco-consciousness” as part of his ongoing training in expressive arts techniques. Dr.Talbot also attended the annual Expressive Arts Conference at Salve Regina University and foundtime this fall to coordinate (so far) all aspects of four different art exhibits at the College (WolfKuhn and ACWC).

Megan Beaver, Instructor of MI/RAD Sciences, was selected by the Society of Diagnostic MedicalSonography (SDMS) Foundation board to be this year’s recipient of the Sonographer AdvancedDegree Scholarship. The SDMS Foundation Sonographer Advanced Degree Scholarship Programawards a $2,500 scholarship to a deserving sonographer who has a minimum of two years full-time sonography experience and has been accepted or is currently enrolled in an advancedsonography-related degree program (bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral) in an accreditedinstitution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Scholarships can be used for tuition,books, or educational fees.

Joan Krug, Assistant Professor of Nursing, and Heather Zonts, Instructor of Nursing, representedthe College’s Nursing Division at the National League for Nursing Education Summit in Phoenix,AZ in September.

Dr. Fran Rohlf, Assistant Professor in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program, was againpublished in the Delta Epsilon Sigma Journal. Fran’s poem, “’How wondrously considerate of usis God's pity!’: A Meditation on Pope Francis I,” written with his wife Dr. Rosemary Bertocci,Chair of Philosophy and Religious Studies of Saint Francis University, was published in the Fall2014 edition of the magazine. Their article, “Till Death Do Us Part?: Marriage in Light of theEvolutionary Sciences,” was accepted for publication in the print and online, peer-reviewedInternational Journal of Philosophy and Theology in Spring 2015.

Amanda Minor, Instructor of Surgical Technology/ST Program Director, was appointed to theEducation and Professional Standards Committee for the Association of Surgical Technologists(AST). Ms. Minor attended the National Association of Surgical Technologists Education andProfessional Standards Committee Meeting in Littleton, CO at the National Headquarters for theAST September 5-7. Review of the history of the AST policies and a review of revisions ofcontinuing education credits were conducted.

Dr. Fran Rohlf, and Dr. Rosemary Bertocci delivered the Keynote Address at the Conference forRural Health Providers: Mind, Body, and Spirit on September 12 at Saint Francis. Theirpresentation, “Parental Refusal of Immunizations: A Case Study on Autonomy and InformedConsent,” was delivered to about one hundred health care professionals, Physician-Assistant,Nursing, Occupational- and Physical-Therapy candidates.

Dr. Sara Rutledge, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, participated in aroundtable discussion on “Women and the Will to Lead” at the American Association ofUniversity Women (Indiana County Branch) Annual Meeting on September 13.

Dr. Merrilee Anderson, Professor of Science and Mathematics/Interim Associate Academic Dean,was invited to the National Center for Civic Engagement Washington Symposium on Capitol Hill inWashington, DC on September 28-30, where she presented her poster “Using Abandoned MineDrainage as a Teaching Tool for Biology, Chemistry, and Civic Engagement.

Dr. Bonnie Noll-Nelson, Assistant Professor of Nursing/Chairperson RN-BSN Program, attended“Teaching in Online Learning Environments” at the University Of Maryland School Of Nursing in inOctober 2014. As our RN to BSN program continues to grow (doubled in three years), ongoingdevelopment in online education strategies will support student success in this program.

Marianne Roberts, Assistant Professor of Nursing, represented the nursing Division at the GeriatricPain Resource Course in October 2014 in Nemacolin, PA.

Dr. Patty Meintel was the graduation speaker for the LPN program at the Greater Altoona Careerand Technology Center in Altoona.

Dr. Sara Rutledge served as the following during Fall 2014: Manuscript Reviewer for Betwixt andBetween: Education for Young Adolescents A Journal of the Pennsylvania Professors of Middle LevelEducation; Membership Director for the Indiana County Reading Council Board of Directors (2014-2015); volunteer web developer for the NASA Central Allegheny Challenger Learning Center (CACLCfor a 22 county region, where students fly NASA-designed simulated missions in which they will berequired to use STEM skills).

Dr. Fran Rohlf, Coordinator of the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program, attended the annualmeeting of the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the College Theology Society, Friday, October 3,at Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA, taking part in discussion of the texts, “Is a NaturalTheology Still Viable Today,” by W. Norris Clarke, and “Consciousness Examen,” by GeorgeAschenbrenner, SJ. There was a meal and lively discussion of the texts by representatives of fiveuniversities in Western Pennsylvania.

Dr. Michael Engle, Associate Professor of Science and Mathematics, and Dr. Crystal Goldyn,Assistant Professor of Science and Mathematics, visited the Memorial Medical Center inJohnstown in October to tour the medical laboratory and discuss the donation of equipmentwhich could be utilized by Mount Aloysius College.

Kimberly Asonevich, Business Administration/Information Technology and MBA Chair,attended the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partners in Chicago, Illinois onOctober 24-27. NACEP works to ensure that college courses taught by high school teachersare as rigorous as courses offered on the sponsoring college campus. As the sole accreditingbody for concurrent enrollment partnerships, NACEP helps these programs adhere to thehighest standards so students experience a seamless transition to college and teachersbenefit from meaningful, ongoing professional development. To advance the field andsupport the national network of members, actively share the latest knowledge about bestpractices, research, and advocacy.

Dr. Merrilee Anderson, Professor of Science and Mathematics/ Interim Associate Academic Dean,and Dr. Michael Engle, Associate Professor of Science and Mathematics, attended the AlleghenyBranch of the American Society for Microbiology 2014 Meeting at Lycoming College in November.

Dr. Marilyn Roseman, Professor of Early Childhood Education/Education and ASLEI ProgramChair, attended the Pennsylvania Association of College and Teacher Educators in Harrisburgon Oct. 23-25. While there she participated in the Committee on School Violence.Subsequently, Dr. Roseman, Bill Trexler, Director of Campus Safety, and Marisa Evans,Director of Counseling and Disability Services offered a workshop for Education studentsregarding Pa. state emergency plans.

Cheryl Kowalczyk, Assistant Professor of Medical Assistant/Clinical Coordinator, Chairperson ofthe Medical Assistant Program, attended training seminars on October 8 and October 29 on ICD-10 coding at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine: Center for Continuing Education inthe Health Sciences.

Dr. Paula Scaramozzino, Assistant Professor of MI/RAD Sciences and MI/RAD Sciences ProgramChair, Helen Ritchey, Clinical Instructor, MI/RAD Sciences, Sharon Miller, Assistant Professor ofMI/RAD Sciences, and Felicia Holliday, Assistant Professor of MI/RAD Sciences, attended thePennsylvania Society of Radiologic Technology (PSRT) Fall Conference on November 1 hosted atPenn State-New Kensington. They gave high marks to six presentations at the meeting: DaveMcBride on “The Digital Radiography Program Moving from Analog to Digital”, Wesley Sheetz on“Active Shooter in a Healthcare Setting”, Deborah Sillman on “Teaching with Technology-New ToolsSame Goals”, Margaret Blackwood on “Computed/Digital Radiography: Tips for Optimal ImageQuality and Patient Exposure”, Barbara Sobolewski and Jane Rahuba on “Breast Imaging: FromMammography to Surgery, and Janice Wirth on “Safety in the Department”.

Dr. Sara Rutledge was the Keynote Speaker (“Integrating Service-Learning into a Standards-BasedTeacher Education Program: Meeting State and National Standards through Eleven Service-Learning Collaborations”) at the Southern Alleghenies Learn and Serve Alliance 7th AnnualConference held at Mount Aloysius College on November 1, 2014.

Kimberly Asonevich, Business Administration/Information Technology and MBA Chair, and VP forMission integration Sister Helen Marie Burns, Ph.D., attended the Clara Barton Forum at UPJ.Professor Asonevich is a mentor for high student females in Cambria County high schools. This isher third year serving as a mentor for the program. The Clara Barton Form helps local youngwomen who may be at risk set goals, make decisions and solve problems to further their personaloptions in life.

Ms. AnaLucrecia MacVean, Temporary Instructor of Science and Mathematics / LaboratoryManager, attended the 2nd Pennsylvania Botany Symposium at the Penn State ConferenceCenter in State College, PA on November 8.

Dr. Fran Rohlf, Assistant Professor in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program, gave apresentation on the Prophet Hosea for the CRU, Campus Ministry Monday night prayer andsharing session on November 10.

The annual Hearing Loss Expo, hosted by the State of Pennsylvania Department of Labor andIndustry Office for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, hosted most of our MAC ASLEI students andRon Jiu, Assistant Professor of ASLEI. The event was held in Harrisburg in November.

Kiersten Muroski, Assistant Professor of ASLEI/ASL Program Coordinator, has completed thefirst ever ASLEI Program handbook and Internship handbook. These documents have beendistributed and have been well received by students. She also did the lion’s share of the workon our recent 900-page ASLEI accreditation submission.

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Theme II—The Complete Student Experience: Promote the campus environmentas a vibrant community that engages both residential and commuter students;emphasize holistic personal development as a defining value of student lifethrough commitment to health and fitness and the College values of mercy,justice, hospitality and service; and expand student horizons beyond the campuswith the range of services supporting student success.

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This section will begin with some comments on the range of activity in the Residence Halls whichcontinues under Chris Koren. Then, I will provide quick summaries of student activity in three areas:Service, Social and Leadership. Finally, a review of Intercollegiate Athletics. All of this work issupervised by Dr. Grassadonia, with excellent support from Director of Student Activities ElaineGrant, Director of Residence Life Chris Koren, Athletic Director Ryan Smith and Director of AthleticFacilities Kevin Kime.

Residence Life

Lots of good work here, building a real sense of dorm identity, led by our outstanding team of Chris Korenand Matt Lovell (and two good graduateassistants):

Our Residence Life-sponsored campus-wide alcohol education program kickedoff the year with a DUI awarenessactivity during opening weekend. Theactivity brought 40 new students to testdriving a golf cart while wearing “drunkgoggles.” Residence Life staff alsoassisted security with the Liquor ControlEnforcement officer visit in Septemberand ran Red Ribbon Week from October24-28.

Matt Lovell, Assistant Director of ResLife and our campus alcohol educator, led several events thatwere in support of Red Ribbon Week: Monday was “Faith Day” and Red Ribbon gifts weredistributed to the student body; Tuesday was a “Wear Red” rally; Wednesday was “Light up theNight” in remembrance of alcohol related deaths; Thursday featured an interactive “alcoholawareness” table at Lollanobooza; and Friday was a no alcohol “Pledge Day.” Really good work.

The RHA Club will be assisting the facilities department with putting up Christmas lights aroundcampus this year. Senior VP Suzanne Campbell has engaged several student groups in campusbeautification efforts.

The business club Enactus is now helping to run Threads, our campus thrift store. The club willalso be painting the thrift store by the end of the semester.

And our Residence Life advisors group really stepped in to help formulate our Winter Weatherpreparation plan as the parking lot plowing plan was drawn up by Residence Life and our Securityteam. They distributed the plan to all of the students, in hopes that advance notice will reduceconfusion when students have to move their cars in the winter. The manager of Metz will also betraining the professional staff on selected kitchen equipment. The training will be helpful if theschool faced a severe weather emergency.

Working with Facilities staff, new furniture has been placed in several lounges in Ihmsen and St.Joe’s. Additionally, the lounges were painted and new TV’s were installed in some lounges

TV monitors are now present in the three of the residence hall lobbies. The TV monitors act asmarquee boards to display information to resident students. The TV’s also help to streamlineinformation.

Residence Life completed threeintramural sport competitions inSeptember alone— kickball, dodgeball and softball. Our MAC team alsomade the playoffs in the SFUintramural football league.

A total of 28 programs were held in theresidence halls from September throughDecember. Some of the more popularprograms were: nail hygiene and painting (?!)in Ihmsen, birthday parties in St. Joe’s/St.Gert’s, a pie social in Misciagna, a hygieneteach-in at McAuley, a Halloween Safety event in McAuley and an Ebola fundraiser Fashion Showfrom the Park House team.

RA professional in-service training this fall included “Step Up/Bystander intervention” training andon “Managing Mental Health Concerns” in the residence halls.

Service, Social and Leadership

Student Affairs under Elaine Grant continues to emphasize service work in much of their offerings.Community Service events organized by Student Affairs in recent months have included:

Medical Assistant Club held a Blood Drive in Cosgrave on September 30.

Students led by Mardia Gibson ’15 organized a Fashion Show to raise funds for Ebola. Mardiaand her friends and family made many of the outfits on display (she made me a multicolored bowtie special for the event and a beautiful scarf for Michele), and she was interviewed on severalradio programs about her good work and featured in several print stories as well.

At Cresson Heritage Days on October 4 & 5 the Cheerleaders and Campus Activity Board sponsored achildren’s craft table. The Collegeand the Cresson Heritage DaysCommittee sponsored a TracklessTrain and the Tumble Bus for theweekend. Lots of students workedthe event.

The Pink-Out Volleyball Game broughtover 750 people and 11 student clubstogether with the campus WellnessCommittee to raise double last year’smoney—over $4400 for the JoyceMurtha Breast Cancer Research Center.I sent Joyce some pictures of the event, and a note thanking her for inspiring so much good work.

The now annual Haiti Project goods-collection and container-loading took place on October 17.Jane and Elaine and out students have been leading this work since my inauguration year (when itwas our signature inaugural project), and I am grateful that the College has been so consistent insupport of one of my favorite charities.

At the Hollidaysburg Pumpkin Festival on October 18, 9 MAC students and staff worked threebooths.

At MAC’s “Safe Trick or Treat” on October 29, the children of faculty, staff and the communitycame for crafts and the chance to Trick or Treat in designated areas of the residence halls.

The Coaches vs. Cancer Men’s Basketball Tournament brought three local teams to the Mount fortwo days on November 15-16. PS Altoona beat Juniata and then the Mount beat them for the title.Mike McLanahan and I enjoyed a competitive championship game, with our 3.92 GPA accountingmajor Tanner Thomas taking home the MVP (for averaging a double/double in the two games).

MAC Students spent time writing Cards for the Troops on November 24.

Lollanobooza in late October is an occasion for the Student Government Association (SGA) and allthe student clubs come together and host a mocktail party that advocates a “safe” Halloween.Students staged a mock accident reenactment, other simulation games, and experienced the “drunkgoggles” effect.

The traditional MAC Great American Smoke Out took place on November 20.

Lots of social activities this fall semester as well, with four quick updates:

1. Homecoming, Alumni & Family Weekend werecombined into one event this year, under the leadershipof Jennifer Dubuque, Jane, Elaine, Chris, Matt Lovell andothers from October 3-5. We estimate over 700 peoplecome to campus for the festivities.

2. The Homecoming part of the weekend included on Friday:the ACWC ribbon cutting ceremony, a special fall menu inthe dining hall, a musical performance by Brandon Stilesfollowed by fireworks. On Saturday we saw: four MACathletic teams compete (Baseball double-header, Men andWomen’s Soccer double header, Volleyball three games;softball played tripleheader on Sunday); there was a minicarnival in Cosgrave Center with a mason jar cup give away,Build a Mountie, Old Time Photos, Caricature Artist, BalloonArtist, Face Painter, Wax Hands, Put Your Name in a Frameand novelty foods (cotton candy and snow cones). Therewas a special brunch and dinner prepared by Metz. Theevening dance saw Mr. Mountie Aaron Gorba and Ms. Mountie Jazmine Morris raise $671.35 forSamaritan’s Purse Ebola efforts. All weekend a Trolley/Van was available to shuttle people aroundcampus and to Cresson Heritage Days.

3. The Alumni part of the weekend featured: a Friday evening reception for the Golden Grads withyours truly as MC; a lunch celebrating Mount Aloysius Academy grads where Jennifer showed themsome video views of their school—old and new; the Alumni Association designed and hosted aMinute to Win It competition and an all-weekend silent auction; the annual Alumni Dinnerhonored Dan Rullo (Honorary Alum) and Marie Little (Distinguished Alum). Dan Rullo HonoraryAlumni Article | Distinguished Alumni Article

4. Students had a busy social calendar this fall thanks to the work of Elaine Grant and her team. Someevents were:

Community Activities Board trip to Ebensburg Potato Festival – September 27 Craft Nights – October 1, 8, 22, November 5, 19; December 3 Pirates Play Off Game viewing in Alumni – October 1

Glow in the Dark Roller Rink – October 2 90’s Trivia – October 16 Blink of an Eye with David Caserta (from America’s Got talent) – October 22 Halloween Movies – October 27 & 28 Cheerleaders at Johnstown Halloween Parade – October 28 Drama Club’s Haunted Cosgrave (Nathan Magee and grad student Pam Young made for

convincing Hannibal Lecter and FBI Agent Starling, among seven different scary scenarios) – October 29 Halloween Dance – October 30 Comic Book Trivia Contest – October 31 The Dating Game – November 6 Mountie Madness – November 11 Talent Show – November 12 Makeovers – November 18 Gaming Night (sponsored by the Military Club) – November 21 Christmas Tea – December 1 Christmas at the Mount – December 2 Stay Ahead of Stress Fest – December 4 Late Night Bingo Breakfast- December 9

Student leadership groups are increasingly engaged and encouraged here:

Student leadership groups are a bitmore involved each year that we arehere, from SGA and CAB (the electedstudent leaders) to the honorsprogram, from the 80+ Mercy Scholarsto the 200+ Mercy Grant Recipients,our veterans support group and ournewest student leadership group, the250+ National Society for StudentLeadership (NSSL). These leadershipgroups all feature a program of activityeach semester, activity in many casesdesigned and/organized by the studentsthemselves.

Some recent events include:

NSSL Leadership Lecture (by video in Alumni Hall) by Stephen Bardo on October 7. Bardo is aformer NBA player with the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, and abroadcast analyst for ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox 1 Sports and The Big Ten Network. He is also the authorof How to Make the League without Picking up the Rock as well as a motivational speaker whodiscusses leadership and overcoming adversity.

NSSL Leadership Lecture by David Garibaldi (also video) on October 21. Garibaldi is a motivationalspeaker and performance artist who was a finalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. He is also aphilanthropist who donated his first million dollars to charity before turning 30.

NACA Regional Conference from October 15 to 19. Four of our students participated.

NSSL Leadership Lecture by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn (video in Alumni) on November 4.Kristof and WuDunn are Pulitzer Prize winning authors, New York Times #1 Best-Sellers, husbandand wife activists. Their upcoming book, A Path Appears, focuses on people who are making theworld a better place, and is the basis of a four hour PBS series airing January 2015. Kristof was alsothe subject of the documentary Reporter, produced by actor Ben Affleck.

Iraqi War Vet Andrew O’Brien on November 6 spoke about Post-Traumatic Stress, Anxiety andDepression, Suicide Prevention and Veteran Integration into College. Our Veterans Club arrangedand sponsored this moving appearance.

The Tri- County Leadership Conference called “T.R.I. Courageous Conversations” on November 8featured a dozen Mountie reps. The focus of the conference was to encourage student leaders toslow down, have fewer and more meaningful conversations, display behavior that builds trust ofothers and behavior that establishes credibility, so that they can build better teams and bettercampus communities.

Intercollegiate Athletics

Four quick updates here:

1. This is our second season sponsoring 8 fall sports (6 in the spring), with 34 home contests. We areincreasingly competitive on the field of play, but still closer to the bottom in overall winningpercentage among the ten AMCC members for fall sports. Athletic Director Ryan Smith provided asummary of which I include an edited version:

Men’s Cross Country—finished last at the AMCCChampionships. Captain Nick Frank missed allconference honors by three spots but ran the eventin the Top 20 of runners. The team placed 2nd atthe Westmoreland Community College Invitational.

Women’s Cross Country—The women’s teamplaced in 8th place overall at the AMCCChampionships. Freshmen Lauren Shrader andCynthia Santoyo had sensational days on thecourse as they finished sixth and eighth among 82runners from ten schools. They became our firstx-country duo to earn AMCC All Conference.

Men’s Golf—The team finished in 4th place at the AMCC Championships. This is the secondconsecutive time the men’s team finished in the top 5. Dylan Link (3.8 GPA) was named 1st team All-Conference (second year in a row) and Zac Morgan named 2nd team. The team won the DuboisCollegiate Golf Tournament and placed 2nd at the Hilbert Invitational—best tourney performancesever.

Women’s Golf—Second time in school history that women competed at the AMCC Championship.Daniela Battisti won her second consecutive AMCC Women’s Golf Championship. The women’steam fielded four players which is the most in school history.

Men’s Soccer—For the second year in-a row (and in our 11-year AMCC history), the men’s soccerteam advanced to the AMCC Semi-finals. The team had three different players recognized as AMCCPlayer of the Week (Kevin Ouellette, Patrick Chea and Winston Crozier), a Mountie first. The teamplayed the #1 and #2 teams in the AMCC competitively and played the most games in the history ofthe team.

Women’s Soccer—The women’s team set a school record by winning 7 consecutive games, thenlost 8 in a row in conference—depth issues, with just not enough players on roster, losing three totheir studies, and three more to season ending injuries. Led by captains, Liz Josephson andMackenzie Horne, the women’s team was very strong on the back line. Olivia Woodley had arecord breaking season going until a knee injury limited her playing time in the final three games ofthe season—she still owns almost all MAC offensive records and has two years left. The team hadtwo players recognized as AMCC Player of the Week (Zara Apakoh and Olivia Woodley).

Women’s Tennis—the women’s tennis team earned a playoff spot for the 4th consecutive year (ofits five years in existence). The team battled unfortunate injuries and a depleted roster (lost toptwo to nursing studies), but managed to fight through adversity. The women played hard all yearand represented the college in a very positive manner.

Volleyball—without a true senior on the team, the volleyball team represented MountAloysiusCollege well on and off the court. The team was featured on the AMCC website severaltimes this season for their community servicework in the local area and were honored fortheir work in the classroom by the AmericanVolleyball Coaches Association. LindseyMercer was named 3rd AMCC All Conferencefor her efforts this season. In coordinationwith the MAC Wellness Committee and theColleges Against Cancer, the women’svolleyball team conducted a very successfulPink Out game against PSU-Altoona. Over$4,000 was raised and donated to the Joyce P.Murtha Breast Cancer organization, whichdoubled the total from the 2013 event. Onthe court, they managed to win several AMCC games after going winless last year.

2. We played short Non-Traditional Seasons in Baseball and Softball: The baseball team concluded theirfall ball season with a doubleheader split with DII UPJ, with the Mounties winning the varsity game.The softball team held their fall ball tournament on campus for the first time. Teams participatingwere: PSU Altoona, Lycoming and Pitt Greensburg. The team finished with a 1-2 record but playing ayoung roster after the graduation of 4 all conference players (including both AMCC MVP and Womanof the Year).

3. We have expanded Mountie Madness in the ACWC to include the formal recognition of: all the Fallsport teams, fall athletes of the week, fall all-conference performers, student-athletes with over a 3.5GPA and the community service events from 2013-14 and 2014-15 (I focused my comments on the lasttwo categories). Both basketball teams were then introduced and held a scrimmage for the fans. Thenight also featured a women’s basketball and men’s basketball hot shot culminating the men’s andwomen’s winners competing against one another, fun contests, free prizes and routines by the MACcheerleaders and dance team. Free prizes were thrown to the crowd (mini basketballs, glow sticks/bracelets and rally towels). The grand prizes this year were a 47” LED TV and an iPad mini.

4. Student Athletes kept up their fast pace on Community Service: The women’s volleyball teamassisted the MAC Wellness Committee with the annual Pink Out game. The event was held on October15th and the opponent was PSU-Altoona. Many Pink Out items were for sale and a basket raffle tookplace during the match. The ACWC was decorated pink for the event along with Pink Out messages onthe video board. In all, the event raised over $4,000 for the Joyce P. Murtha Breast Cancer Center.This doubled the total from 2013. Tonia Gordon, Elaine Grant and Brianna Baker were the leads forthis event. Service coordinator Brianna Baker provide this summary of other fall activities:

August 20th – Women’s Volleyball – Volleyball Clinic – New Day Inc. – 56 hours September 20th – Women’s Tennis – “Fitness Fun” Workshop – Mercy Youth Initiative – 20 hours September 27th – Men’s Tennis – Potato Fest – Community of Ebensburg – 24 hours October 15th – Women’s Volleyball– Pink Out Game– Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center– 180 hours October 19th – Baseball – Project Bundle Up – 162 hours Throughout Year – SAAC- Soles4Souls – 107 pair collected in Fall 2014

Total Hours - 442 (Just teams, not including community service done for class or independently)

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Theme III—Community Engagement: Position the campus as a center for thecommunity; empower all students to become involved in community service;and position the College as a leader in community engagement.

Mission is central to the Mount Aloysius Experience and let me suggest a Baker’s Dozen ofexamples over this last quarter:

1. Moya Dittmeier, Executive Director of the Conference for HigherEducation, let me know that Mount Aloysius College Mission PeerReview received a very favorable report at a recent meeting of theCMHE Board. We await the final written report of the three CMHEdelegates who spent three days with us in October. This is still arelatively new process which has been created to help fill the gaps asthere are so few Sisters of Mercy actually left on these campuses. Theidea is to use the peer review to insure that the Mercy charism is bestpreserved. Self-Study document

2. Mercy Week: This year’s week-long celebration featured: the Sistersserving Tea and Scones on Monday; the All College liturgy and a lectureby Sister Sheila Carney (who also retires from the same capacity at Carlow University as Sister HelenMarie from here) sharing poetry and prose about “The Good Life of Catherine McAuley, FrancesWarde and other Mercy Spirits” on Tuesday ; a Peace Walk on Wednesday; and a presentation bystudents/staff who recently returned from an international Mercy conference on Thursday.Throughout the week, archival displays commemorated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundingof Mount Aloysius Junior College on September 24, 1939. Sister Shelia lecture | My All-College liturgyremarks

3. Mercy Spirit Awards: The second year of our newly-established Mercy Spirit Award has begun inearnest, with the committee reviewing standards and communications efforts. We hope this awardgrows to become the most distinguished and prestigious honor bestowed on students who representthe best of the multi-faceted elements of a Mount Aloysius College education – students whosepersonal development has integrated well growth in knowledge and skill, moral character, and concernfor the welfare of others. Nominations will be solicited beginning this December from faculty and stafffor the names of the woman and man in the 2014 graduating class whose active involvement in the lifeand the values of Mount Aloysius College whom they thought merited consideration for the 2015Mercy Spirit Award. A committee of five persons will review these nominations and select twoawardees from among the AssociateDegree graduates and two awardees fromamong the Bachelor Degree graduates.2013/14Mercy Spirit Winners

4. The Community Engagement and SocialEntrepreneurship Center collaboratedwith the Mount Aloysius Service-LearningCommittee to host the 7th annualSouthern Alleghenies Learn and ServiceAlliance (SALSA) Conference. TheAlliance brings together service-learningpersonnel from Juniata College, St.Francis University, and Mount Aloysius tostrengthen service-learning programswithin each setting. Faculty from each

higher education institution served as input speakers and participants. This year several studentsjoined their instructors to discuss the experience of a particular service-learning project.

5. Angel Tree: The Campus Ministry Office initiated the annual Angel Tree Project on Sunday, November9, hanging seventy-plus angels on a Christmas tree in the lobby of the Main Building. Each angelrecords suggestions for Christmas gifts for a child whose age/sex is also recorded. More angels areexpected to appear in the next few weeks. Students, staff and faculty continue to be generous in thesubmission of “angel names” and in their selection of various angels. Their contribution of giftsbrightens the holiday for children in families whose economic circumstances prohibit gift-giving.

6. Service Trips: Plans are nearing completion for the annual Campus Ministry Winter service trip toNew Orleans area. Nineteen Mount Aloysius folks will spend part of their Winter break addressingneeds in the hurricane-ravaged area. The group includes staff members Tommy Shireman, BriannaBaker and Chris Koren. Twelve students and faculty/staff members are finishing a semester courseentitled “Engaging Culture, Mercy, and the Gospel,” in preparation for their Spring service trip toGuyana, South America.

7. Four students received scholarships to the Mercy Youth Pilgrimage at Mercy International Center(Dublin, Ireland) thanks to Sister HelenMarie. They incorporated visits to Belfastand Dublin and parts in between. ChrisKoren, Director of Residence Life,accompanied Elizabeth Boyce ‘15,Mackenzie Horne ‘16, Aaron McGuire ‘17,and Courtney Sable ’17 to the latesummer event. They were hosted inBelfast by the Irish basektballers whowere here in 2013, and traveled toCorrymeela, an ecumenical retreat whereI spent some time during my two years asa full time volunteer in Belfast during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Moya Dittmeier let me know howimpressed our friends in Dublin, and the other colleges, were with the engagement by our students(some of whom wished they could be led by Chris Koren as well). Michele and I had a chance to dinewith the students on their return, and were equally impressed.

8. Mercy Discussion Series: The Campus Ministry Office, under the leadership of the Associate Directorof Campus Ministry, Tommy Shireman, hosted a Fall discussion series entitled “SeekingJustice/Impelled by Faith.” Francis Crouse, Vice-president of Enrollment Management, spoke tomatters of justice in the costs for higher education; Dr. Merrilee Anderson, Associate Dean of theScience Division, spoke to matters of environmental justice; and David Lusher, Metz GeneralManager, spoke to issues of food justice. Thirty- some faculty and students enjoyed the input anddiscussion.

9. Student Ministry Team: The Student Ministry Outreach Team has initiated a new feature for MountAloysius College programming: MAC Goes To Church. The once-a-month gathering features localChristian bands/music, personal witness by students, prayer and reflection. In addition, the Team alsoprepared our Thanksgiving Prayer Service and the Christmas at the Mount liturgy, where new SFUPresident, Father Malachi Von Tassel, accepted my invitation for second year in a row, to celebrate theliturgy and join us for dinner.

10. Community Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship Center: Jennifer Kush, new Coordinator ofthe Community Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship Center, began her service at MountAloysius College this fall. Jennifer comes to the Mount with experience in teaching, communityengagement, and a not-for- profit business. She completed a bachelor degree at Edinboro Universityof Pennsylvania in Sociology, a Master’s degree in Student Personnel Services/Counseling atEdinboro, and is working toward a doctoral degree in Administration and Leadership Services fromIndiana University of Pennsylvania. Jennifer has worked as an AmeriCorps Community OutreachCoordinator and a Girl Scouts Western PA/AmeriCorps member. She replaced Jess Maxon, who inher three years of service helped develop protocols and a system for compiling our CommunityService Annual Reports.

11. Campus Ministry: Tommy Shireman, Associate Director of Campus Ministry, will be leaving hisposition at the end of the Fall semester (December 2014). He has purchased a farm near hisLancaster roots where he hopes to begin his own ministry, combining his faith-related work with“organic farming, Gospel living, and volunteer opportunities.” Tommy has been with the MountAloysius College campus ministry program for less than two years but leaves a substantial footprint.He was very successful at engaging more students on the Student Ministry Outreach Team, withHunger and Homelessness Week activities, at the SEARCH retreat, and in the CRU program. Thesearch process to fill this vacant position is underway with the hope that a person will be in place forthe Spring semester. Tommy gave good service to the College and we wish him well in his newendeavors.

12. Fall Ecumenical Luncheon and Lecture: Steven Harmon, professor at Gardner-Webb UniversitySchool of Divinity (North Carolina) was the featured speaker. Dr. Harmon has extensive experiencein ecumenical work, particularly Baptist-Catholic dialogues. His luncheon presentation focused onthe Baptist eschatological vision and the ecumenical future. In his afternoon lecture for students,faculty and ecumenical guests, Dr. Harmon talked about “what Catholics have in common withBaptists.”

13. Student Retreat: For the fourth year in a row, the Campus Ministry Office sponsored a SearchRetreat for students. Forty-five students with the Director of Campus Ministry, Andrea Cecilli, andthe Associate Director of Campus Ministry, Tommy Shireman, spent November 21-23, 2014enjoying a student-led exploration of the meaning of Christ in their life. The retreat team of tenstudents and the Associate Director has been meeting weekly since August 2014 to prepare for theweekend of sharing faith, fun, and prayer. All reports have been positive and a new team andplans for Search V will begin early next semester.

14. Sister Helen Marie’s last meeting: This trustees meeting willrepresent one of her last appearances as her retirementtakes place later in the month. I have asked her to lead us inprayer on this occasion. I had the chance to speak of SisterHelen Marie’s work at our retirement dinner and attachthose remarks here. She has been both a force for Mercyand an intellectual force as well over these last eight yearsand will be very hard to replace. We will try. She and I haveworked out a transition plan to continue her good workthrough the spring, as we continue the search for an ablesuccessor.

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Theme IV—New Horizons: Expand employment of technology in our areas ofacademic strength, grow our presence outside our region, and attract anincreasingly diverse student body._________________________________________________________________________

Let me offer a quick update on our communications efforts (especially as we try to expand ourreach) and then focus on admissions, as we confirm final good numbers for this fall.

Communications Inside and Outside Our Region

Seven quick updates on these efforts, led by Jack Coyle and Sam Wagner:

Print Communications efforts show results: in the last quarter ((through first week of November),over 300 articles about Mount Aloysius have appeared in print (70% non-duplicates), with over one-third of those outside the Blair/Cambria region. We ship stories to student’s home newspaperswhenever possible. We get a monthly report on “impressions” and dollar value of this mediaoutreach. These stories generated 9.9 million impressions, assessed at a dollar value in excess of$735,000 in free media. They covered it all from service work in Johnstown to Vox Nova Sing-alongs,from Mount Aloysius theater productions to sports.

Op-Ed Pieces: My Veterans Day Op-Ed on the lessons learned in every family ran in 5 newspapersacross the state. It was also distributed by the state association (AICUP). Got some nice commentsfrom across the state. Every paper included the Mount Aloysius byline. This is the fifth Op-Ed sinceI came, and most of them got good play across the state. Locally, I have to choose between theMirror and the Tribune Democrat, so I just rotate. Veterans Day Op-Ed

Monographs: We produced one monograph thisquarter and are working on two others. We distributethese to other Mercy Colleges as well as to opinion-shapers in the region, state and a few nationally. Themonograph concerned the convocation ceremony (foursets of remarks included, as well as photos). We areworking on monographs on the Fall Honors Lecture andon Sister Sheila Carney’s Mercy Week address. As in thepast few years, we will be consolidating six or sevenpresentations of this year’s theme— “The Good Life” —into a single publication which we will then distribute toabout 400 opinion shapers, college presidents, guidancecounselors and others across the region and the country.It all helps to broaden the message about MountAloysius College. Father Byron’s convocation remarkswere considered so good they made it into theNovember edition of Vital Speeches, a first for the College. Convocation Monograph

Digital Grotto Productions: Our digital grotto team continues to refine its editing abilities andproduced over 20 digital video products this quarter. These included convocation, orientation, fallhonors lecture, Mercy week/homecoming/alumni weekend activities, the fall play, sports related andthe faculty honors symposium. A complete list of the newest videos is attached here. Users haveviewed our MAC’s videos since September over 6,500 times for a total of more than 10,700 minutes.In December, we reached the 116,000 views milestone. In the last year, our Digital Grotto hasproduced over 100 new videos. Thanks to Jack Coyle, Sam Wagner and their team for their systematicapproach and careful writing and editing.

HealthQuest: The College once again hosted what is now referred to as “HealthQuest”, which isa gathering of over 200 high school students from schools from Blair, Cambria and otherCounties, their teachers, a few principals and guidance counselors at Mount Aloysius College. VPFrank Crouse and his team organized presentations by our faculty on a variety of HealthSciences subjects during the day for the students. Associate Dean of Nursing Becky Zukowskidelivered the keynote address. It was a great opportunity to get out our message about all thegood things at Mount Aloysius College.

TPF Board Service: I have just been asked to serve on the NCAA Board of Governors for Division III,which is a promotion of sorts, I guess, from my service on the Advisory Committee to the same body.Most of my board service is in the region, and is connected to economic development initiatives, onwhich I have some prior expertise and which are all helpful to larger college objectives. I do serve ontwo state-wide higher education boards (AICUP, PACC), one interstate (AMCC), one out-of-state (St.Xavier’s University) and two national (CMHE and NCAA). We have worked out my meeting schedulesfor these assignments, and though there is a significant number of meetings, the vast majority areconference calls and early in the morning. So far so good—the net benefit to the College is real, in myjudgment. Current assignments are:

Blair County Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors, 2014-

Altoona Blair Development Corporation (ABCD), Board of Directors, 2013-

St. Xavier’s University, Chicago, Board of Trustees, 2013-

Blair County Chamber of Commerce, Executive Roundtable

2013- NCAA, Division III Board of Governors, 2014-

PA Campus Compact Presidents Board, 25th Anniversary Committee, 2012-

Allegheny Mountain Athletic Conference, (Chair 2012– 2013) 2010-

Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in PA [AICUP] State Board, 2012-

Conference for Mercy Higher Education [CMHE]; Sub-Committee Chair (3), 2011

Johnstown Area Regional Industries Executive Committee [JARI], Secretary, 2010

Greater Johnstown Regional Partnership Board [GJRP], 2011-.

Admissions Progress Continues

Finally in terms of our New Horizons goal, another good report from Frank on the excellent work ofour Admissions team. Three updates:

First, With the Fall “Freeze” numbers now final, VP for Enrollment Frank Crouse and his team againbrought in the largest class in our history, any way you measure it. Headcount for fall 2014 (full- and part-time) now stands at 1,867 students, compared to 1,835 last year and up from 1,611 in 2010. That breaksdown to 1,586 Full Time Equivalent (FTEs) students, up from 1,542 last year and 1,446 in 2010. And ourfull-time undergraduate population also grew, just a notch under 1,300 (1,296), up from 1,277 last year.The admissions staff works hard and collaboratively, under Frank’s leadership. And our faculty and staffalways turn up for Sunday morning open houses and are a big part of our recruiting advantage.

Second, a few comments from Frank’s analysis of trends and results. Frank tells me that our Admissionsteam:

Completed 250 high school visits and college fairs this summer and fall in PA and in the designatedcore, secondary and tertiary markets.

Increased our visitations to regional two year colleges, hospitals and businesses for transfer,adult, continuing education and graduate students.

Increased our search efforts based on market analyses, predictive modeling and academic programinterests to increase inquiry base and applicant pool (and we have made significant financialinvestments to support this work).

Enhanced internal operations to get all market segments to campus (traditional student andparents, adults, transfers and graduate students).

Continues to invest heavily in traditional methods of admissions work—the numbers (and Frank says“scientific analysis”) demonstrate that “what Mount Aloysius College does with personal connectionand snail-mail material elicits emotion and [enhances] a student’s commitment to attend” iseffective. The “three most prevalent and influential enrollment management communication levelsfor all students in all market segments remains: (1) personal interaction; (2) printed materialsmailed to the home; (3) info received via e-communication and the web.”

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Theme V—Build our Capacity to Thrive: Modernize our administrativeprocedures and culture, expand our visibility in the region and beyond, attractand retain high-quality faculty and staff, and improve governance andfundraising infrastructures.

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Development

Let me report on three areas here with thanks to VP for Institutional Advancement JenniferDubuque for the data.

CAMPAIGN FOR MOUNT ALOYSIUS

At the end of the first quarter,September 30, 2014, we raised$18,041,533.

By October 31, including the new RACPgrant for $2 million, we passed the $20million threshold. As of 10/31/2014 thetotal is: $20,105,065 (or about 250% ofour last campaign in 60% of the time).

The breakdown is as follows:

Buildings $ 14,518,526 Unrestricted $ 2,588,648 Restricted $ 2,208,755 Deferred $ 789,136

Currently, we have 15 donors over $100k. We finished the last campaign (2003-2008) with 11donors over $100k; these 15 donors have contributed a total of $16,808,791 which is 84% of thetotal dollars raised in this campaign to date (fairly typical in capital campaigns).

“ANNUAL FUND” PROGRESS REPORT (7/1/14 through 9/30/14):

New Gifts & Pledges (restricted and unrestricted) to all programs

Sept 30, 2013 Sept 30, 2014

$ 557,140 * $ 312,930

*2013 number includes $283k equipment in-kind gift for ACWC

Unrestricted Giving— goal is $600k by June 30, 2015. As of first quarter, Sept 30, we have raised$161,910 in new gifts and commitments

Golf tournament— goal is to net $50k from 2015 tournament, up from $43k last summer.Committee meets in December to begin planning.

Direct Mail—the fall 2014 appeals are already coming back and end of year mailings went out atThanksgiving. We now segment our appeals between businesses and local contacts, thePresident’s personal list, trustees past and present and select vendors.

EVENTS: Fall is the busiest time of year for event activity. This year we hosted the:

ACWC Dedication, which was on October 3, with over 50 special guests and over 700 in the building.

First fall Alumni Homecoming Weekend, which included the Golden Grad reception, an AcademyReunion Luncheon and the Awards dinner. Student Affairs estimated that 700 people came tocampus over that weekend, but alumni numbers continue to be disappointing.

Scholarship Donor recognition dinner, which was againexcellent. See Baker’s Dozen above.

Madrigal, which is scheduled for December 6th andDecember 7th.

Administrative Services

Let me offer four areas for update this quarter: on Capitolgrants, on-going construction and repair, IT action stepsand human resources work.

First, a quick update on our two outstanding Capital grants fromthe Commonwealth:

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania CommonwealthFinancing Authority - Greenways, Trails, And RecreationProgram Grant Agreement. $246,396. This grant willfund an outdoor recreation area to include a 2-mile trail and outdoor tennis and basketball courts.To date we have completed the civil site work, the schematic design, permitting and the creationof specs and construction documents. Bid packages went out in late November.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program - $2,000,000. Thisgrant will fund the development of the Learning Center for Health, Science and Technology.Originally seeking $10,000,000 for a one-time expansion of Pierce Hall, we are working to identifynext steps and proper sequence to incremental growth.

Second, a quick update on our ongoing repair and construction efforts, some of which we began lastsummer:

Ihmsen Hall Breezeway: Ceiling renovations are complete.

The Breezeway continues to grow in popularity as a meeting space for students as well as an outdoorentertainment site. Renovating the old ceiling allows not only for a better presentation and lightingbut perhaps more importantly added insulation protecting the pipe infrastructure just above thedrop ceiling. Leaking and rusted piping was addressed prior to remodel.

Boiler House: Boiler replacement complete.

Cosgrave: Domestic hot water heater replacement complete.

Ihmsen Boiler Room: Boiler and Domestic Hot Water Heater replacement is complete.

Library: The temporary parking lot behind the library was dimly lit. Our maintenance crewmounted 4 exterior light fixtures on the west side of the building to provide better lighting for Lot16 and our students who park there.

Pierce Hall: Sanitary manhole was showing some groundwater infiltration around the linecoming from the stables and ACWC. Our Plumbing Contractor, Mervac hired an excavator to digup the area and corrected the problem at no expense to the College.

Old Main Complex Cold Water Line Replacement: Project plans and specifications are complete andthe code review is complete. Project was put out for bid in November.

Baseball infield turf: Project has been completed. In addition to our own team playing this seasonwe expect to host: AAABA Regular Season Games, AAABA National Tournament Games, ERA TravelBaseball Tournaments and PIAA Baseball Playoffs. Multiple local high schools have asked aboutrental.

Bertschi Center and Technology Commons: Construction should be complete in December. It is wellunderway and change orders are at a minimum. Suzanne tells me that we did run into an issue tyinginto the sewer line as the existing manhole was buried under the pedestrian walkway. Rather thantear up the walkway we were able drop a new connection in place.

Third, a quick update on latest action steps by our IT team:

Continuing to update our administrative processes including Abra HR and Payroll online.All timesheets are online. Minor modifications are being made to the student recordingof time. Employees can now view and record their days and time online.

Online acceptance of memberships to the ACWC Wellness Center has been completed and isworking.

Replacement of outdated camera servers with JVC-DVR devices has been completed and working.

Storage capacity has doubled.

100 new laptops and computers have been distributed, as per our budget schedule.

Continued on-going education efforts, completing Milestone Camera training (with Campus Safetyand the Hirsch/Velocity training (with Campus Safety).

Replaced and installed 36 new multifunction office work center printers across campus.

Finally, a few words on good work by the HR Department:

College Health Care: The College is introducing a Qualifying High Deductible Health Plan (QHDHP)with a Health Savings Account (HAS) for 2015. The College participates in a Consortium and hasbenefitted annually with minimal increases in premiums (0% last two years). However as predictedthis year we did see an increase of 8.12%. We are taking the opportunity to introduce a QHDHPwhich the college will fund at 90%. QHDHP have proven effective in private markets. The HSAoption is something the college has wanted to do for our employees as it offers a tax-free accountwhich they can use to cover the deductible and other associated costs. As further incentive theCollege will be seeding the HSA at 100% of the deductible year one (so that employees cancompound their savings from much lower premiums to cover future deductibles). Open enrollmentwas 11-12 through 11-26 and included special sessions on QHDHP and on employee Health Savingsaccounts.

Annual Service Awards & Retirement Reception: on November 13, we recognized ouremployees at (multiple) 5 year service milestones. We also recognized the retirements of Sr.Helen Marie Burns and Rosemary Kehrer, Assistant Professor of Nursing. I shared some briefwords and my recent op-ed piece, and Tonia prepared a gift bag for each. It is a nice mix of folks,who enjoy the opportunity to engage on this day.

Pink Out: The Mount Aloysius Wellness Committee helped raise $4495.00 for the Joyce MurthaBreast Care Center, our largest event and funds raised to date.

This completes the third section of this quarterly report, where we assess progress relative to our 2013-15Strategic Plan. My sense is that we are in very good shape, that we have achieved many of the planobjectives already, and are “in process” on almost all the rest.

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Michele and I continue to enjoy all aspects of our engagement here at Mount Aloysius. She is heavilyinvolved in tutoring numerous students (mostly in writing and Shakespeare, with some Spanish thrown inthis semester), is ever present at a wide range of campus activities (and in the community) and is veryhelpful to me in development/fundraising work as well. M i c h e l e has helped most recently to organizeevents for Sister Helen Marie, and hosted (and prepared) fabulous dinners for our evenings with the ParkHouse students, with the Ingram group (faculty and student) and for our annual Christmas dinner withDirectors Chris Koren, Elaine Grant and the 18 members of the College’s Residence Life team.

Thanks to all of you for all that you do for this College, and for this opportunity to serve.