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a magazine for NEUMANN UNIVERSITY alumni, family and friends Vol. 49, No. 1 • Winter 2021 The professors prepare you for critical thinking. ALUMNI SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS: Survey results inside I went to get a degree, and I found a family. I love Franciscan teaching and values. Neumann helped me gain leadership skills. YOUR OPINION MATTERS! Save these Dates To view the most current event details and registration information, especially during this semester when every event format is tentative because of coronavirus, visit the Alumni Online Community at www.alumni.neumann.edu. CHARTER DAY CELEBRATIONS (Most locations are tentative) March 18: Day of Giving Online opportunities all day • Look for a call during our Phonathon Visit www.givecampus.com/schools/NeumannUniversity/day-of-giving-2021 March 18: Rocco A. ’79 and Mary F. Abessinio Management and Entrepreneurship Lecture 1:00 p.m. — Online (check www.alumni.neumann.edu for access) Manjit Minhas, owner of Minhas Breweries, Distilleries and Winery and a celebrity judge on Dragons’ Den, Canada’s version of Shark Tank March 19: Charter Day 12:00 noon — Mass, Tent in the Rose Garden • 6:00 p.m. — Alumni Awards, Meagher Theatre COMMENCEMENT May 15: Class of 2021 10 a.m. — Graduate and Adult Degrees • 2:30 p.m. — Undergraduate Degrees The Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development May 16: Class of 2020 10 a.m. — Graduate and Adult Degrees • 2:30 p.m. — Undergraduate Degrees The Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development ATHLETICS GOLF OUTING June 15 Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, Lafayette Hill, PA Stay Connected with us on social media for up-to-date event info and more! Follow NU Alumni: Neumann University Alumni @neumannalum @neumannalum a magazine for NEUMANN UNIVERSITY alumni, family and friends Vol. 49, No. 1 • Winter 2021 President Dr. Chris Everett Domes FEATURES Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing 8 Francesca Reed Editor, Accent Magazine Chiara Honors House Stephen T. Bell Welcomes Students Director of Publications ALUMNI SHARE Carol DiAntonio THEIR THOUGHTS: Survey results inside 12 Assistant Vice President for Alumni and Community Outreach Alumni Survey: Judi Stanaitis ’07 ’13 The Results Are In Contributors Danielle Friel ’09 Carolyn Seagraves ’84 ’19 19 Jill Weigel A Socially Distanced Photography Homecoming Tony Hoffer Kelly & Massa Hunter Martin Jerry Millevoi On the Cover: Your Opinion Matters! Accent Magazine DEPARTMENTS is published two times annually by Neumann University, Office of Public Relations and Marketing, 3 One Neumann Drive, From the President Aston, PA 19014-1298 (610) 558-5549 Copyright by Neumann University. 4 Accent Magazine is distributed free of charge to alumni and Around Campus friends of Neumann University and is printed on recycled paper. 18 Information in this issue was received by 1/13/21. Alumni News Please send change-of-address correspondence to: 22 Office of University Advancement Class Notes Neumann University One Neumann Drive Aston, PA 19014-1298 or to [email protected]. Want to know how to help Neumann this year? We appreciate your continued support of Neumann University and want to thank you for your past generosity. You might want to help us again this year, but you may not know how. An idea you might consider is a charitable bequest — a gift you can make without using any of your current resources. It’s a simple commitment made in your will that leaves a future amount, asset or percentage of your estate to us. Your gift is important because it will help us continue our future work. If you have already included us in your estate plan, please let us know so that we can recognize and thank you. To learn more about how to create a bequest in your will or to request a free guide to making your will or trust, please visit www.nuplannedgiving.org or call us today at 610-579-6288. From the President To our alumni and friends, People often have an emotional, spiritual connection to their alma mater. The college years are a time for growth and maturing, a rite of passage to adulthood and citizenship. Many remember the college experience as the time when they encountered new ideas, developed their Want to know how to help values, and transformed into the person they are today. In the fall of 2020, Neumann University launched the first comprehensive alumni attitudinal survey in its history, and the results reflect the transformational memories that are so common among college graduates. Most of the questions asked our alumni to rate their experience as a student, their satisfaction Neumann this year? with their education, or their post-graduate loyalty to the university. We are thankful that those ratings are overwhelmingly positive — 95.3 percent rate their experience as a student as excellent (66.9%) or good (28.4%). The real insight about the impact of a Catholic Franciscan education, however, is most apparent from the results of open-ended survey questions. At several points in the survey instrument, alumni were provided the opportunity to offer personal comments rather than simply selecting a rating on a five-point scale. The comments made by our alumni capture the deep influence that our Franciscan mission, our RISES values, and our commitment to blend faith and reason have had during our 56-year history. Here are a few of the most moving: Neumann helped wake me up to the value I place on honesty, genuineness and spirituality. I have valued the words of Francis, “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words,” since the first time I heard them. I admire and take to heart the Catholic Franciscan values that I learned at Neumann. I went to get a degree, and I found a family. These sentiments, expressed by our alumni in their own words, underscore the abiding and essential value of a Catholic Franciscan education. The Catholic Intellectual tradition, framed by our Franciscan core values, requires us not simply to impart knowledge but to go beyond, by engaging with our students in meaningful dialogue, prayer, acts of service, and moments for critical reflection. In their survey comments, our alumni have provided evidence that we are doing just that. Dr. Chris Everett Domes President Winter 2021 3 campuscampus AroundAroundNew Online Program for K-12 Teachers In October, Neumann began offering a K-12 Online Instruction Diptee Pathak program to provide teachers with the knowledge, awareness, and Kate Jester and skills to effectively design, deliver, and assess K-12 academic learning content in hybrid and virtual settings. DPT Students Recycle Mobility Equipment Made up of four classes, the program is scheduled to run from October 2020 through June 2021 with one course last fall, two this Diptee Pathak, a student in the Doctor of Physical Therapy spring, and one in the first summer session of 2021. All four will program, works as a home healthcare physical therapist assistant be delivered fully online. dealing with numerous patients who use mobility equipment on This program is designed to provide a daily basis. Through her work, she realized that many patients timely help for teachers, given the recent simply did not have enough durable medical equipment (DME). outbreak of COVID-19. “Emergency online Pathak knew that many former PT patients had mobility teaching is not teaching online,” said Dr. equipment not being used and taking up space in their attics and Stephanie Budhai, referencing the recent garages. Last September, she posted a request on social media to closing of schools due to the pandemic. A donate this equipment, and her recycling efforts took off. professor of graduate education at Neumann, Word spread through the DPT program and soon Kate Jester, Budhai designed the program and wants a first year DPT student, jumped in to help Pathak collect and teachers to be prepared if the virus continues distribute the equipment. Jester also started a GoFundMe page Dr. Stephanie Budhai or if there is an expansion of online learning. to collect monetary donations to purchase DME. Pennsylvania certified teachers can earn a teaching The recycling program grew so much that Pathak created endorsement from the PA Department of Education by a non-profit organization. The domain is DMEdonations.org. completing all four courses. “We are really excited to help so many people,” said Pathak, who not only collects and disinfects the DME but also delivers it to patients. 75% of Faculty Certified to Teach Online Seventy-five percent of Neumann’s full-time faculty have Neumann Receives $1.3 Million DOE Grant earned certification from Quality Matters (QM), a non-profit organization that is dedicated to improving the quality of online The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Neumann education and student learning. University a grant of $1.3 million to fund a Student Support According to Dr. Alfred Mueller, the dean Services (SSS) program, which will provide academic and other of Arts and Sciences, “Certification through support services to low-income, first-generation students and Quality Matters demonstrates a level of students with disabilities. expertise in online education. Faculty receive The purpose of the grant is to increase retention and training to improve the quality of their graduation rates and foster an institutional climate supportive online course design. This training is based of the success of these students. on current best practices in online teaching Neumann has received federal funding for this program in and rigorous, peer-reviewed research.” 2010 and 2015 and has used the grants to support 497 students in Of Neumann’s 97 full-time faculty, their pursuit of a college degree in the last decade. Dr. Alfred Mueller 73 have achieved QM certification. Such At Neumann, the SSS services include one-on-one academic expertise is especially critical during a pandemic, which has coaching; assistance with course selection; the possibility of caused many students to learn in an online or hybrid format.