Newman Challenge Alumni Magazine

From the President

Posted on by arnoldk Posted in Fall 2012, Issues, President's Letters

Dear Alumni and Friends,

In this issue of Challenge we take a look at today’s students – who they are, where they come from, what they value and why they chose Newman.

In many ways, this is not a simple task.

Every year, hundreds of surveys are produced, thousands of magazine articles and books are published, many T.V. news stories are broadcast, and an untold number of blogs, articles and essays appear online focusing on this very topic. From this media, some characteristics and trends emerge, and some conclusions can be drawn. Yet in the end we are left with generalized, aggregate portraits at best, and broadly drawn caricatures at worst.

As we all know, each individual student is unique, with his or her own talents, values, opinions and attributes. This has been true of every generation. Not every student in the ‘60s rebelled against the establishment, for example, any more than every student today wastes hours a day keeping up with “friends” on Facebook.

Of course, Newman students have always been different. They may share tastes in music, clothing, and amusements with their counterparts at other colleges across the country. But students at Newman and its predecessor institutions have qualities on a level not always seen at other college campuses – a commitment to service, a devotion to faith and desire to grow spiritually, a dedication to excel academically, and an eagerness to blaze new trails for the future while maintaining a heartfelt respect for the past.

Yes, the times may change for Newman students in terms of the language they use (OMG instead of “far out”), the people they choose as role models (Jay-Z rather than Roy Orbison), even the way they learn (online versus classroom). Yet the quality that sets Newman students apart – the ability and drive to transform society – is the same today as it was almost 80 years ago.

I’m willing to bet it will be the same 80 years from now, too.

Thank you for your support of Newman students and all you do for Newman University.

Sincerely,

Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

From the President

Posted on by arnoldk Posted in Issues, President's Letters, Spring 2012 Leave a comment

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Within the past year, we’ve experienced a number of positive outcomes, events and developments. While they pertain to a wide variety of areas and interests, they are in many ways connected.

Last fall, for example, student enrollment topped 3,000 for the first time in our history. This spring, the Athletic Department unveiled some impressive upgrades to their facilities, and the women’s basketball team won the Heartland Conference Championship.

Our revived theatre program has been a smash hit, with great stage productions, appreciative audiences, and excellent financial support. We honored several members of the Newman community by awarding the Cardinal Newman Medal, alumni awards and honorary degrees. And, we continue to see steady improvements in our financial foundation.

We’re also seeing some remarkable developments in academics. Our new Cardinal Newman Studies Program is being recognized by our peers as an effective, innovative approach to learning, because it helps students form connections among various fields of knowledge. Now, we are further helping our freshman students make connections through “learning communities,” as you will read about in Provost Austin’s article in this issue.

So how are all these things connected?

They are all made possible in part by you and your connections to the university.

Through your connections with us, whether in the form of time, talent or treasure, you help us create the programs to recruit good students. Your gifts allow us to build better facilities and offer hundreds of student-athletes the opportunity to participate in intercollegiate sports. Your interest and support have helped us bring theatre back, and provide the academic, spiritual and service programs that produce alumni worthy of awards. And, your continued support of Newman and its mission have helped see us through some tough economic times.

In short, your connections make it possible for our administrators, faculty, staff, and most important, our students to achieve and succeed in their many and varied endeavors. They are connections we value, and we thank you for them.

I invite you to share in the many things your support makes possible. Come attend a lecture, play or musical. Take in a ball game. Visit campus and see how our students are engaged in their studies and service projects. I think you’ll agree that connections – student to student, teammate to teammate, you to us– do make a difference, and benefit everyone involved.

Thank you for your continuing support of Newman University.

Sincerely,

Noreen M. Carrocci

From the President

Posted on by arnoldk Posted in Fall 2011, Issues, President's Letters Leave a comment

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Carrocci

As many of you know, between 1852 and 1854 our namesake Blessed John Henry Newman delivered a series of lectures that, along with some of Newman’s later writing, became The Idea of a University. Newman, who wrote the lectures in his role as the founding rector of the Catholic University in Dublin, believed a university education should encompass a wide range of disciplines, and teach its students not simply facts, but the ability to determine the meaning behind facts. Higher education, he said, should endeavor to enlarge students’ minds and ability to learn by helping them forge connections between ideas, produce methods of evaluation, form guiding principles, and develop the ability to not only receive ideas, but also act on them.

Those concepts are very much alive today at Newman University.

As you’ll read in this issue, we have just implemented a new approach to the way we prepare our students to transform society called the Newman Studies Program. Based on Newman’s Idea, this multidisciplinary program creates a new way to prepare and deliver the “Core Curriculum” required of all Newman students.

Newman’s Idea also emphasized the nurturing that should occur outside the classroom. He wrote that students are open to “the influence of kindness and personal attachment,” and are better managed “by indirect contrivances rather than by authoritative enactments.” Newman added that it is a university’s duty and privilege “to conduct them to the arms of a kind Mother, an Alma Mater, who inspires affection while she whispers truth; who enlists imagination, taste and ambition on the side of duty; who seeks to impress hearts with noble and heavenly maxims at the age when they are most suceptible.” These sentiments have always been central to this institution, and are integral to the Newman University experience.

Newman’s The Idea of a University is reflected in many other activities and developments on our campus. The university is bringing a theatre program back, producing better methods to assess student learning, forming new partnerships with other educational institutions, and making a focused effort to refine and celebrate our Catholic identity.

I invite you to learn more about these activities, and to visit our campus and see for yourself how we’re putting Newman’s Idea in action. Today more than ever, we are synthesizing elements of faith and reason in the search for truth; blending the instruction of practical and professional skills with pursuits of the intellect and the arts; cherishing our past and preparing for the future, and providing the best of modern thought and technology within a framework of traditional ethics, moral values, and caring for our students.

I think the result will be an educational experience that is distinctive and unique – a true “Newman experience” that students just can’t get anywhere else.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

From the President

Posted on by arnoldk Posted in President's Letters, Spring 2011 Leave a comment

Noreen Carrocci / Steve Rasmussen

Dear Alumni and Friends

An important key to success in most any endeavor is balance. A painter, for example, seeks a balance among different colors, shapes and proportions. Doctors urge us to eat a balanced diet from many food groups to maintain good health. In our daily lives we strive to find the right balance between work and play, spending and saving, dreaming and acting.

In this issue of Challenge we explore the concept of balance through our feature article about a new initiative of the NCAA Division II called “Life in the Balance.” This program is intended to provide student-athletes a well-rounded collegiate experience by creating a better balance among academics, athletics, and service to the community. We also present an interview with a former student and administrator who describes how the balance he experienced and the values he developed at Newman helped shape the NCAA program. In addition, we look at how a new Mission Statement and Identity Documents bring us more in balance with the mission of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. And, we feature a few people in the Newman community who are truly living “Life in the Balance.”

I applaud the NCAA DII for adopting the “Life in the Balance” program, and I am proud that Newman is part of it. But really, the concept of living a life that balances academic, athletic and community service pursuits is nothing new for us. At Newman, we strive to help students acquire intellectual skills and a desire to serve, while also developing a deeper understanding of themselves, their faith and their community. We work to stimulate in them a desire for academic excellence and global awareness, and to develop the ethics and moral values that will guide them through life. By giving them the tools they need to succeed in their chosen fields — all predicated on strong, positive values — we help prepare our graduates to fulfill the Newman mission of transforming society.

Of course, finding the right balance can be a challenge. Just think back to your younger days when you were trying to find the balance it takes to ride a bicycle. As noted in these pages, however, the effort is clearly worth it, and the results can last a lifetime. In fact, learning how to have balance in your life is much like learning how to ride that bike:

Once you get it, you never forget it.

Let us hear how your Newman experiences help you achieve balance in your life today.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

From the President

Posted on by Newman University Posted in Fall 2010, Issues, President's Letters Leave a comment

Noreen M. Carrocci

Dear Alumni and Friends,

The wisdom of planning for the future has been recognized for centuries – long before Benjamin Franklin wrote his aphorisms in Poor Richard’s Almanack, longer even than Aesop wrote of the ant and the grasshopper in his Fables. Clearly, for any enterprise to become and remain successful, it must create a plan that sets goals and guides its future course of action.

The people of the Newman University community have set goals, made plans and taken a number of actions in recent years to ensure our continued growth and success. We have created partnerships with local schools and organizations that provide mutual benefits and help all entities build a stronger and more secure future. We have established new academic programs to better serve the needs of the community. We have made more programs available online to give students more flexibility as they pursue their educational goals. And we are working to bolster our endowment, and create more scholarship support to help make Newman accessible to more students. As a result of our efforts together, our enrollment for fall 2010 is the largest in school history.

In this issue of Challenge, you’ll learn about another very important part of our overall strategy for future growth and development, the Campus Master Plan 2010.

The master plan outlines ways Newman will prepare for and manage expected growth over the next 15 to 20 years. Creating the plan was a year-long, collaborative process that involved everyone in the Newman community, and took into consideration every aspect of the Newman campus. The plan delineates several changes, including our top priority – building a modern facility to replace the Heimerman Science Center. We intend to create this much-needed addition to campus within five years, financed in part by a public capital campaign.

The master plan outlines several other changes, of course, as you’ll read in this issue. And while those changes often include challenges, they are necessary and vital to our continued success. John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was beatified in September by Pope Benedict XVI, wrote, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” While we cannot expect perfection from the plan or ourselves, for the sake of our founders, donors, faculty, staff, and most of all our students, we can and must make the changes that will ensure a strong future for Newman University. I am confident it will be strong, and I invite you to be a part of it.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

From the president

Posted on by arnoldk Posted in President's Letters, Spring 2010 Leave a comment

Newman University President Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Partnerships play an important role in life. In fact, it is highly unlikely that you will go through life without entering into at least a few partnerships with others, be it a marriage, a business agreement, a carpool, a church or civic committee, or any number of other mutually beneficial relationships.

Partnerships certainly play an important role in education, as administrators, faculty and staff work together to produce the best outcomes possible for the university and its students. And while traditional methods of education such as lecture continue to have a place in the classroom, more and more of today’s faculty work to become partners in their students’ learning, guiding them to self-discovery rather than simply imparting knowledge or ideas.

Newman has participated in many partnerships over the years, which have played a crucial role in our development and success. These partnerships include professional connections with local businesses and government, as well as our ties to our founders the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, and the Diocese of Wichita.

Today, we’re working to forge more associations with businesses, educational institutions, dioceses across Kansas and other organizations to reach a variety of objectives – among them to increase enrollment among underserved populations, help local couples and families, boost fundraising and scholarship support, and create new academic programs people want and need. In this issue you’ll learn about some of these partnerships, and meet students whose lives have been enriched because of them.

Of course, our most important partners have been and will continue to be you – our alumni, parents, benefactors and other friends of the university. Your support makes it possible for us to do all the things we do each day, and will help make it possible for us to meet the objectives outlined above. As we work to create new scholarship support to make Newman accessible to more students and establish new academic programs to serve the needs of the community, I hope we can continue to count on our partnership with you. It truly can make a difference for many students today and tomorrow.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

From the president

Posted on by Newman University Posted in Fall 2009, President's Letters Leave a comment

Newman University President Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Since coming to Newman University in 2007, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing many positive changes: The opening of new campus facilities such as the Dugan Library and Campus Center. The transition to NCAA Division II. The creation of a new Strategic Plan with collaboration across the Newman community.

I have also concentrated efforts on other areas I believe are important to Newman’s wellbeing: Attracting and retaining quality students. Balancing our budget. Building mutually beneficial partnerships with people and organizations across Kansas.

Through all of this, the constant that guides us is a focus on the student. Whether a new freshman, transfer, returning adult undergraduate or graduate, laid-off worker, or veteran eligible for the new GI Bill Yellow Ribbon program, we do everything we can to meet the needs of our students.

Two years ago, for example, we began participating in a program to better assess and improve student learning. This program helps us measure students’ acquisition of objective knowledge, as well as their abilities to communicate, think critically, analyze information and make ethical judgments.

Over the past year, we have developed and launched new academic programs to serve an ever-changing and diverse student population. We also began creating a long-term campus master plan that will cover everything from efficiently using old classrooms to building new learning and athletic facilities to expanding food service options.

And during the next few years, we will focus our fundraising efforts on increasing scholarships, so more students can gain the benefits of a Newman education. I would appreciate your support in this endeavor.

As anyone who has attended Newman knows, classrooms, technology and other external signs of the institution change. Yet the dedication of Newman’s faculty and staff to the students does not. I am proud of all they do for our students – and happy to say that students are appreciative of their work, too.

In fact, we often hear back from graduates who tell us how a professor or experience at Newman changed their lives. In this issue of Challenge, you’ll read about former pre-med students who sent notes of thanks to their professors for fully preparing them for medical school. You’ll also hear an alumna describe how Newman helped her become a successful author. And of course, you’ll get a look at some current students and what they think of Newman, as well as some of the activities, methods and people working to meet their needs.

I think as you read these and other stories, you’ll see that, indeed, everything we do at Newman – from providing microscopes and music classes to installing water fountains and WiFi – is for the student.

And that’s exactly as it should be.

Thank you for your interest and support.

Sincerely,
Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.