2012 ANNUAL REPORT One Campus Road • Staten Island, New York 10301 • www.wagner.edu A COMMITMENT to Excellence 2012 aNNUal RePORt 2 4 From the Chair From the President Committed to making Wagner a stronger Share the pride in institution. Wagner’s accolades. Earned Recognition Wagner College’s people and programs have been recognized for excellence in many dimensions. In this section, we review eight areas of the College’s life and mission that earned especially positive attention during the past year. 6 Academic Programs 14 Great Majors 8 Class Discussions 16 The Public Good 10 Nursing Excellence 18 Education Leadership 12 Best in Show 20 Athletic Achievement 22 26 The Financial Picture Honor Roll of Donors an overview of the College’s Recognizing the fi nancial status during fi scal generous individuals and year 2012. organizations that help the College fulfi ll its mission. COVeR PHOtOgRaPH: VINNIe aMeSSÉ 2 WagNeR COllege FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD MaKINg WagNeR a StRONgeR INStItUtION his is my fi rst letter of welcome for the College’s annual to do so, I’ll be working closely in the coming months with my T report as chair of Wagner’s Board of trustees. last year, I colleagues on the board, President guarasci, and members of the rejoined the board after serving previously for 12 years. I am senior administration. honored to be back and to have the opportunity to serve as its Please enjoy the pages that follow. they tell the story of chair. We have much to look forward to. a year of accomplishment and the continued evolution of First, I am pleased to commend, after a distinguished coaching our institution. career of more than 30 years, Walt Hameline for his well-deserved recognition as the NeC’s Coach of the Year. He is truly a Wagner icon! all of us here at Wagner College are proud of Walt and this fi ne football team. their accomplishments were spectacular and thrilling, and emblematic of the Seahawk spirit. that spirit will WaRReN R. PROCCI ’68 stand us in good stead as we move ahead with our strategic CHaIR, WagNeR COllege BOaRD goals as an institution. OF tRUSteeS as President guarasci and my predecessor, louise Kaufman ’75 M’78 H’12, have noted, there are abundant challenges for higher education. In my new role, I want to help make certain that we are able to meet each one and ultimately make Wagner a stronger institution. as a native Staten Islander, I know well the opportunities that Wagner can provide for all students, and I’m eager to preserve these for new generations of students. I know well the opportunities that “Wagner College can provide for all students.” PHOtOgRaPH, OPPOSIte Page: aNNa MUlÉ 20112012 aNNUal RePORt 3 4 WagNeR COllege FROM THE PRESIDENT eXCelleNCe tHROUgH teaMWORK n October, members of the Wagner community sponsored None of this would be possible without the College’s fi rm I a celebration in honor of my decade’s service as president fi nancial footing. I’m pleased to report that, once again, our of this wonderful place. But the successes we celebrated were budget is in balance, and that we continue to fund our key not mine alone; they belong to the entire Wagner community, initiatives and programs. But, as I have said in the past, the working in cooperation with each other. that evening illustrated higher education sector is facing a number of challenges, and we what makes Wagner such an incredible place: It is a place where must rise to them in order to continue to thrive and to expand we all help each other. What I have tried to do in my work our work. each day here is to create an environment that encourages and In the months ahead, I will be spending time with my peers challenges our students, faculty, and staff to succeed and to at various other colleges and universities to explore how we achieve the individual excellence they seek. might create plans to leverage and pool resources in a way that this annual report, then, is a tribute to the successes, to the benefi ts all in the organizations and consortia to which we excellence, that they have attained and to the wider community’s belong. I believe that this is time of real opportunity. recognition of Wagner accomplishments. In these pages, we’ll at the same time, I am meeting with members of our share with you a bit more about some of the accolades that have constituency to show them ways to participate in strengthening been garnered by individuals, programs, departments, and teams our endowment investments, which support our students and during the past year. faculty, as well as continuing improvements to our physical plant. It’s important to keep in mind what each of these accolades Finally, after a year’s hiatus, the renewed Main Hall is open says about the teaching and learning that goes on every day again. It looks marvelous, and I hope you will come and see it. at Wagner. It is gratifying to earn awards, but what’s truly Please stop by and say hello whenever you’re here on grymes Hill. important are the work and the accomplishment that make such things possible. So, I hope you will share in my pride when you read of the Spiro School of Nursing’s work to achieve a premier designation as a Center of excellence, or when you learn that Dorothy Davison received national recognition from the american library association, or that U.S. News again listed us three times in RICHaRD gUaRaSCI, PH.D. their college guide’s “programs to look for” section, or when PReSIDeNt, WagNeR COllege you consider the many other points of distinction revealed in this report. The successes we celebrated “ belong to the entire Wagner community. PHOTOGRAPH: DUSTIN FENSTERMACHER PHOtOgRaPH, OPPOSIte Page: JaSON JONeS 2011”2012 aNNUal RePORt 5 ome colleges and universities are much more S determined than others to provide freshmen and all undergrads with the best possible experience, recognizing that certain enriched offerings, from service learning to learning communities to study abroad, are linked to student success. – U.S. News ”& World Report’s “america’s Best Colleges” guide, 2013 Linked to Student Success In the FYP, cohorts of about 24 fi rst-year students take a learning Wagner College is one of those “much Community (lC) of three classes more determined” schools cited in the together — two academic courses quotation above. In the 2013 issue of in two different disciplines with a U.S. News & World Report’s “america’s common theme, plus a Refl ective ACADEMIC PROGRAMS Best Colleges” guide, for the ninth tutorial (RFt) that focuses on writing straight year, Wagner College was cited and learning experiences beyond the for excellence in multiple “academic classroom. Programs to look For” — programs that enrich undergraduate education the students in each lC launch their and help students meet their goals. journey into college life together, with Wagner was the only college in New each other and their two professors York State listed in three or more (who also serve as the students’ “academic Programs to look For” academic advisors) as friends, fellow categories: First-Year experience, travelers, and guides. learning Communities, and Service learning. Learning Communities Besides the U.S. News citation, a new First-Year Experience book, Powerful Learning Communities “Orientation can go only so (Stylus Publishing, 2013), features far in making freshmen Wagner College for its exemplary feel connected,” says learning community curriculum. U.S. News. at Wagner, learning communities are the the First-Year Program backbone of the Wagner Plan, taking makes the transition students from introductory studies in from high school their fi rst year, through a challenging to college much set of interdisciplinary courses in their smoother and more intermediate years, to their senior engaging for new capstone experience in their major. students. Furthermore, the authors of Powerful Learning Communities pointed to Lily D. McNair, provost and vice Wagner as representing excellence in a president for academic affairs, type of learning community for faculty: joined the Wagner administration Scholarship Circles, where faculty in July 2011 to oversee the meet monthly to discuss their ongoing academic program. scholarship and encourage one another’s work. 6 WagNeR COllege PHOtOgRaPHS, leFt: aNNa MUlÉ; OPPOSIte Page: Pete BYRON Alexa Dietrich, assistant professor of anthropology and sociology, has a book set for publication by NYU Press in June 2013: The Drug Company Next Door: Pollution, Jobs, and Community Health in Puerto Rico. the authors say that Wagner College to make a measurable impact on exemplifi es a “learning Organization” community needs. FACULTY WORKS, — an institution continually focused 2011–12 on innovations to improve learning. Since the Wagner Plan was implemented in 1998, 23 academic disciplines Wagner College contributed Service Learning have established relationships with two chapters to a new book, nearly 100 community organizations. Discipline-Centered Learning at many colleges, service learning Wagner students provide more than means required volunteer work in the 40,000 hours of service annually. Communities: Creating community as part of a class. Wagner these hours are devoted to direct Connections among Students College, however, takes this model service, internships with neighborhood and Faculty Within a Major several steps further. Most notably organizations, place-based research and (Jossey-Bass, 2013): “the in the Port Richmond Partnership, circulation of fi ndings, public policy growth and Current State of Wagner College faculty and students advocacy, participation in meetings work closely with nonprofi ts, schools, and community forums, and more. learning Communities in Higher and other partners for the long term education” by Anne Goodsell Love, associate provost for assessment; and “transitioning Students out of College: the Survey Says Senior lC at Wagner College,” by Laurence J.