April 26, 2017

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The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University

Volume XCV | Est. 1929 | www.sjuhawknews.com

April 26, 2017

Selection process takes off CAS seeks permanent Dean ANA FAGUY ’19 Editor in Chief Newley elected St. Joe's Student Senate executive board members, Megan Kloss, '19, Ali Natale, '18 and Billy McCallaster, '18. (Photo by Luke Malanga '20). SEE PG. 2

A look inside constructive days

The reasoning behind the unpopular schedule switchup SAM HENRY ’19 Managing Editor

As a way to allocate the required meeting time for each course, Saint Joseph’s University scheduled two constructive days during the spring 2017 semester. The first constructive day took place on Tuesday April 18, where the university followed a Monday class schedule. “Because a lot of our holidays fall on a Monday, some of the Mondays get chopped, but we have enough Tuesdays because we don’t chop a lot of Tuesdays out of the calendar,” said Scott Spencer, JD, registrar, student records and financial services. An academic year should have a minimum of 28 weeks of instructional sessions, According to Pennsylvania Code 31.22. Abiding by this becomes difficult when multiple holidays fall on a Monday or Friday, requiring the university to build in constructive days. Often times, constructive days do not affect a lot of students or professors because

most classes run on the same schedule on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, such as the constructive Friday that will take place on Wednesday May 3. “I realize it is not much different because mostly Wednesdays and Fridays are the same, but I still needed to make sure that if there were any Friday once a week classes, they got their opportunity to make up any time that they lost from spring break and Easter break,” Spencer said. However, conflicts occur when a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule runs on a Tuesday or Thursday, such as the constructive Monday that occurred on April 18. “It [the constructive schedule] is roundly disliked,” Spencer said. ”I understand the concern and why it is a pain. For example, students who go to class in the evenings, like graduate students who are getting bachelor's degrees, things like that, they plan their

schedule around what days of the week they have class. When you mess with that a little bit, it can throw off babysitting schedules and work schedules and that kind of thing, and people don’t like that very much.” Constructive days can prohibit both students and professors from attending or holding classes if they have other commitments outside of the university. “I've been attending an off-campus class at Penn all semester on Tuesdays, since I have a MWF teaching schedule,” said David Carpenter, Ph.D., associate professor of theology and religious studies. “So that was my conflict. I would prefer that these constructive days be scheduled for the same week day as your regular schedule, but perhaps this is not really an option.” Additionally, students with jobs often face conflicts with constructive schedules.

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Hawk Hill at your fingertips St. Joe's mobile app goes live MOLLY GRAB ’17 Editor Emeritus Saint Joseph’s University has officially gone mobile, unveiling a new app for students, faculty and staff to download. SJU Mobile, which was facilitated by the Office of Information Technology as well as Student Senate, centralizes many features of existing St. Joe’s sites and apps: a course schedule, shuttle tracker, What’s Open When, person directory, calendar of events, emergency notifications and more. The app officially launched on April 19, but according to Francis DiSanti, chief information officer, its development began in the fall of 2015. “It was not only time, but we had the right vendor partner and student interest, so that convergence really made it the right time to do it,” DiSanti said. Conor Isbitski, ’17, the IT chair for Student Senate, has been heavily involved in the development of the app. “I helped to facilitate the movement of

the project,” Isbitski said. “Hopefully one day students will use it for regular, simple functions. If you give the students power like that, it creates a more welcoming university.” Amanda Sciarra, director of application services, agreed. “We wanted an app that would easily connect students to the services that they use

most readily so that it’s literally in the palm of your hand when you need it,” Sciarra said. Modo Labs, an outside company that specializes in creating campus apps, was chosen for this project of bringing the SJU Mobile app to life.

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Conor Isbitski, '17, the IT chair for Student Senate reps the new St. Joe's app (Photo by Luke Malanga '20).

After two years with temporary leadership, the search for the new Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences has lifted off. Jeanne Brady, Ph.D., provost, at Saint Joseph’s University announced to all faculty that a selection committee has been formed and preliminary interviews have been scheduled for the coming weeks. Brady announced in an email that the search had begun on April 11. “They are all experienced academics who have gained tenure and risen to the rank of professor,” Brady said in an email to faculty. “They possess both depth and breadth in their respective levels of administrative experience and represent a diverse cross section of the population. They evince strong appreciation for our Jesuit mission, as well as for the distinctive character of Saint Joseph’s University.” Richard Warren, Ph.D., holds the current position and has been filling in as a temporary role. Five students were chosen to be part of the process of selecting the new Dean. Erica McDonald, ’17, was one of them. McDonald worked with Monica Nixon, Ph.D., assistant provost for inclusion and diversity in her capacity as an RA and was thus chosen to be included in the selection. “I think the most important component to being a Dean is evaluating student, staff and faculty's needs and attempting to bring new, innovative ideas to the campus to alleviate those needs,” McDonald said. “This requires the Dean to become involved with the entire Saint Joseph's community and critically evaluating what aspects could be improved upon.” The selection process has been largely confidential in an effort to maintain the privacy of candidates, according to Brady. “For me, I would love to see the candidates have a dedication to diversifying both the student body as well as the faculty we have in classrooms,” McDonald said. “This campus is largely underrepresented in its minority populations and it is so essential for minority students to see themselves represented in the student body population as well as the classroom. Having new and effective ideas for how to accomplish this is definitely something that I value and would love to see in the new Dean.” A final selection for the new Dean is set to be made sometime in May.


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