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Sacred Heart University

Coordinates: 41°13′17″N 73°14′31″W / 41.22139°N 73.24194°W / 41.22139; -73.24194
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For the Puerto Rican university, see Universidad del Sagrado Corazón.

Sacred Heart University
MottoInspiring Minds, Unleashing Hearts.
TypePrivate
Established1963; 61 years ago (1963)
Religious affiliation
Catholic
Endowment$177.1 million (2019)[1]
PresidentJohn J. Petillo
Academic staff
802 (full-time and part-time)
Undergraduates5,428
Postgraduates3,104
Location
Fairfield
,
Connecticut
,
United States
CampusSuburban 300+ acres
ColorsCrimson and Gray[2]
   
NicknamePioneers
AffiliationsACCU
NAICU
CIC
NEASC
Mascot"Big Red" the Pioneer
Websitewww.sacredheart.edu

Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private, Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholic university in the United States to be staffed by the laity.[3]

Sacred Heart is the second-largest Catholic university in New England, behind Boston College,[4] and offers more than 80 degree programs to over 8,500 students at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.[5]

Undergraduate students study at Sacred Heart's international campuses in Dingle, Ireland[6][7] and Luxembourg,[8] including freshmen participating in pre-fall and Freshman Fall Abroad programs. On the main campus, academic facilities include the Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center[9] and the Center for Healthcare Education.[10] The university received national attention for the choking death of a student in 2017 during a university sponsored pancake eating contest.

History

Sacred Heart University was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport on the grounds of the former Notre Dame Catholic High School. The University was to be led and staffed by the laity independent and locally oriented. Former American ambassador and Diplomat Thomas Patrick Melady served as President of the University from 1976 to 1986.

Enrollment has risen from the original class of 173 to over 8,500 full and part-time undergraduate and graduate students, and the faculty has increased from 9 to 281 full-time professors and over 520 adjunct professors since 1963.

Sacred Heart has enhanced the undergraduate student experience in several notable ways. The first dorms, Scholars Commons (previously known as J-Hill), were built in 1991 giving the university the ability to accept students who wanted the residential experience. It now has 10 residential buildings with 50 percent of the full-time undergraduates residing in university housing.[11]

The University offers Division I athletics with 32 varsity teams. The $17.5 million The William H. Pitt Health and Recreation Center is available to all students.

In the 1980s, former United States president George H.W. Bush received an honorary degree from Sacred Heart.[12]

The University established a relationship with Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, and named its College of Business after him.[13]

Recent history

On September 27, 2009, Sacred Heart University opened its new chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.[14][15]

In 2012, the University opened a new student commons building dedicated as the Linda E. McMahon Student Commons after McMahon donated $5 million to the University. The new Commons includes dining facilities, lounge space, meeting rooms and several other amenities.[16]

Also in 2012, the University approved construction of a new building for the Jack Welch College of Business and the School of Communication & Media Arts, called the Frank and Marisa Martire Center for Business & Communications. The building was designed by the Watertown, MA firm of Sasaki Associates (who also designed The Chapel of the Holy Spirit and the Linda E. McMahon Student Commons).[17]

In 2013, Sacred Heart opened its new Health and Wellness Center.[18] The two-story, colonial-style, 5,800-square-foot building, situated on Park Avenue across from the main campus, serves as a place for acute health and medical needs and offers students counseling and therapeutic services.

In the summer of 2014, Sacred Heart broke ground for a new learning center, called the Student Success Center. The center provides educational support for students at the university and from the surrounding region.[19] In the summer of 2015, the University started construction of the Center for Healthcare Education.[20]

In 2015, Sacred Heart again broke ground on a new residence hall called Bergoglio Hall,[21] named after Pope Francis, whose birth name is Jorge Bergoglio. The building includes a CrossFit fitness facility and a video game classroom for video game majors and members of the video game club.

In October 2016, Nikki Yovino reported to the police of being raped by two black Sacred Heart University football players at an off-campus party. Yovino has admitted, months later, that the sexual assault was a lie in an attempt to gain the attention of another man. She pled guilty to two counts of second-degree falsely reporting an incident and one count of interfering with police and was sentenced to three years in jail. The men, Malik St. Hilaire and Dhameer Bradley, were forced out of Sacred Heart University after losing their scholarships amid the false accusations. As of August 27, 2018, both men are no longer enrolled at Sacred Heart University and with no remediation for losing their scholarships. [22]

In November 2016, Sacred Heart acquired the former GE corporate headquarters located near its main campus.[23]

Academics

The university consists of five colleges: College of Arts & Sciences, which includes the School of Communication & Media Arts and the School of Computing;[24] Jack Welch College of Business and Technology; College of Health Professions; College of Nursing and the Isabelle Farrington College of Education.[25]

Sacred Heart University offers more than 80, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs. Sacred Heart also offers qualified undergraduates the opportunity to complete an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree with five to six years depending on the degree program.[26]

In 2012, the university ranked as America's least affordable university in a Newsweek ranking.[27]

According to the Princeton Review, "Sacred Heart University students are among the happiest and most engaged in community service compared to other U.S. colleges and universities"[28]

Campus

The main campus is located in suburban Fairfield, 50 miles (80 km) northeast of New York City and 150 miles (240 km) southwest of Boston

Additional campuses

  • Center for Healthcare Education (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
  • West Campus (Fairfield, Connecticut)
  • Stamford Campus (Stamford, Connecticut)
  • Griswold Campus (Griswold, Connecticut)
  • Luxembourg Campus (Luxembourg)
  • Dingle, County Kerry Campus (Ireland)
  • WSHU Broadcast Center (Fairfield, Connecticut)

Student life

Theatre Arts Program

The Theatre Arts Program began in 2009 with the premiere of Sacred Heart University's first musical production: Rent.[29] Other productions include Little Shop of Horrors in spring 2011, Spring Awakening in the spring of 2012, Nunsense in spring 2013, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee also in spring 2013, Boeing Boeing, Edges, and The Playboy of the Western World in the fall of 2013, Chicago and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown in spring 2014, Almost Maine" "Dogfight, and I Remember Mama in fall 2014, and Wait Until Dark, The Fantasticks, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in spring 2015. The Theatre Arts Program also features a student-produced, student-written, and student-performed festival called "Theatrefest", spanning through both the fall and spring semesters and is the home of Sacred Heart's own improv team: The Pioneer Players. In 2016, the program began its own rep program, Sacred Heart Rep. It is one of the largest student groups on campus. Sacred Heart recently expanded its Theatre Arts Program by launching its National Playwriting Competition & Intern Program.[29][30][31]

Student government

The Student Government consists of nearly 75 student leaders from all four class years. All full-time undergraduate students have the opportunity to be elected or appointed to a position.[32]

The Spectrum

The Spectrum is a student-run newspaper printed and distributed to students each Wednesday and made available online.[33]

Community service

More than 1,200 students and members of the faculty and staff volunteer in excess of 31,000 hours each year largely within the City of Bridgeport,[34] but also regionally, nationally,[35] and internationally.[36] The work of the Office of Volunteer Programs & Service Learning is at the heart of the overall mission of the University. The programs offered allow students to engage in the local community and in communities around the world. Nearly all of the programs are organized by student leaders who grow their leadership and professional skills as they work with community partners. There are weekly volunteer opportunities to local schools, soup kitchens and food banks, and senior centers. Students interested in a long-term weekly volunteer commitment can participate in a mentoring program, where SHU students work one-on-one with local Bridgeport students. The office also provides immersion programs and experiences.[37][38]

Study abroad

SHU has the only American-accredited MBA program in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and a residential study-abroad program in the Irish-speaking community of Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland. International experiences are available to SHU students worldwide through study abroad programs located at The American University of Rome, in Italy, the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, Australia, and the University of Granada, in Spain, as well as programs in Bermuda and the Bahamas.[39]

SHU allows students to participate in CCIS programs, programs affiliated with other schools across the U.S. These programs include, but are not limited to: France, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, and Japan.

Athletics

See also: Sacred Heart Pioneers and Pioneer Bands

The Pioneers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the Northeast Conference (NEC), Atlantic Hockey, the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA), Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), and the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA). The NEC is the school's primary conference.

Nearly 800 students participate in the university's 32 athletic teams (18 female teams and 14 male teams) along with more than 500 students who participate in 23 Club Sports. The football team plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level and claims an FCS title in 2001. Their biggest rivalry is with the oldest public university in Connecticut, Central Connecticut State University, in what has been dubbed the Constitution State Rivalry.

The men's fencing team won the Northeast Conference title five years in a row (2010–2014) and was ranked #9 in 2011.[40]

On February 21, 2013, the Sacred Heart University athletics department hired longtime Major League Baseball player and manager Bobby Valentine as the athletic director.

The men's ice hockey program competes in the Atlantic Hockey conference.

The women's ice hockey program had competed as in independent from 2003 to 2019 at the National Collegiate level, with "National Collegiate" being the NCAA's official designation for championship events in sports in which members of Divisions I and II compete for a single national title. The Pioneers participate in the NEWHA, established in 2017–18 by Sacred Heart, fellow Division I member Holy Cross, and four Division II schools. Sacred Heart won the inaugural NEWHA tournament title in 2018. The NEWHA lost Holy Cross to Hockey East after that season, but returned to 6 members for 2019–20 with the arrival of LIU, a fellow NEC member that launched a new women's program. With the NEWHA soon to have the membership total required for an automatic bid to the NCAA women's tournament, the NEWHA formally organized as a conference in 2018,[41] and received official NCAA recognition effective with LIU's arrival in 2019–20.[42]

Women's wrestling will become a varsity sport in 2021, the second for a Division I institution and first in the Northeast.

Greek life

Sacred Heart is home to nine national sororities, five national fraternities, one local fraternity, and two professional fraternities. Greek Life is one of the largest and fastest growing organizations on campus. Greek Life at SHU is home to a chapter of Order of Omega, a national Greek academic honor society.

Sororities:

9 National:

Fraternities:

4 National:

1 Local:

  • Omega Phi Kappa

2 Professional:

Sacred Heart started out with several local Sororities and Fraternities; among them were Nu Epsilon Omega, Beta Delta Phi, Gamma Chi Zeta, Sigma Tau and Delta Phi Omega.

Notable alumni

Notable members of the Board of Trustees

See also

References

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2019. "U.S. and Canadian 2019 NTSE Participating Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2019 Endowment Market Value, and Percentage Change in Market Value from FY18 to FY19 (Revised)". National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  2. ^ Sacred Heart University Logo Usage Guide (PDF). Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  3. ^ "Sacred Heart University Connecticut". Sacredheart.edu. Archived from the original on December 20, 2005. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  4. ^ (www.thegkwco.com), theGKWco. "Sacred Heart University - Colleges of Distinction". Colleges of Distinction. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  5. ^ "Sacred Heart University - SHU - The College Board". bigfuture.collegeboard.org. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  6. ^ "US University sets up campus in Dingle - Independent.ie". Independent.ie. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  7. ^ "University hub on the cards for Dingle". January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  8. ^ "Silver commencement for SHU - Delano - Luxembourg in English". Delano. December 14, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  9. ^ "ConnecticutPlus.com News - Picture That Completes Major Art Consulting Project For Sacred Heart University's New Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center". www.connecticutplus.com. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  10. ^ "Sacred Heart University Invests in Healthcare Education". School Construction News. September 22, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  11. ^ "A gateway to four towns, Park Avenue has experienced transformation". Connecticut Post. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  12. ^ "Record-Journal - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  13. ^ Gordon, Jane (January 29, 2006). "IN BRIEF; Jack Welch Endows Sacred Heart University". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  14. ^ Sasaki. "Sacred Heart University Chapel – Sasaki". www.sasaki.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  15. ^ "Sacred Heart University to Dedicate New Campus Chapel of the Holy Spirit". PRWeb. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  16. ^ Sasaki. "Sacred Heart University McMahon Student Commons – Sasaki". www.sasaki.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  17. ^ Sasaki. "Sacred Heart University Martire Business Communications Center – Sasaki". www.sasaki.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  18. ^ "Zoning variance sought by college to convert mansion into wellness center". Connecticut Post. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  19. ^ "Fairfield's Sacred Heart University Adds Student Success Center To Campus". Fairfield Daily Voice. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  20. ^ "Sacred Heart breaks ground on new health care facility". Connecticut Post. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  21. ^ "Centerbrook Architects and Planners > Ribbon Cut on New SHU Residence Hall". centerbrook.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  22. ^ Judge, Monique. "White Woman Who Falsely Accused 2 Black Football Players of Rape Rolls Her Eyes Throughout Sentencing Hearing". The Root. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  23. ^ "University buys GE property for $31.5 million". Connecticut Post. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  24. ^ "StamfordPlus.com News - SHU establishes new School of Computing". www.stamfordplus.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  25. ^ "ConnecticutPlus.com News - Picture That Completes Major Art Consulting Project For Sacred Heart University's New Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center". www.connecticutplus.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  26. ^ "Sacred Heart University Welcomes Largest Incoming Freshman Class". Fairfield, CT Patch. August 30, 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  27. ^ Lambeck, Linda Conner. "Survey: SHU least affordable college in U.S." Connecticut Post. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  28. ^ "August: Sacred Heart Ranks Highly in Princeton Review | Sacred Heart University Connecticut". www.sacredheart.edu. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  29. ^ a b Desk, BWW News. "Sacred Heart University Expands Theatre Arts Program By Launching National High School Playwriting Competition". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  30. ^ "Sacred Heart Theatre Arts Program Punches Above Its Weight Class". Trumbull-Monroe Daily Voice. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  31. ^ "Preview of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' by Sacred Heart University Theatre Arts Program". Fairfield, CT Patch. March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  32. ^ "Student Government - Sacred Heart University Connecticut". Sacredheart.edu. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  33. ^ "Spectrum | Sacred Heart University Connecticut". www.sacredheart.edu. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  34. ^ "Teens Exploring Faith At Sacred Heart Volunteer In Bridgeport". Bridgeport Daily Voice. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  35. ^ 981-3334, Carmen Forman | carmen.forman@roanoke.com |. "College students visit Roanoke for service-oriented spring break". Roanoke Times. Retrieved March 21, 2017. {{cite news}}: |last= has numeric name (help)
  36. ^ Oliver, CB Cotton/Lindsay. "Connecticut college students spend spring break building a home in New Bern". Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  37. ^ "Volunteer Programs & Service Learning | Sacred Heart University Connecticut". www.sacredheart.edu. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  38. ^ "Fairfielders get Kennedy Center Awards". Minuteman News Center. Retrieved March 21, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  39. ^ "Study Abroad". Sacred Heart University. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  40. ^ "Sacred Heart". Sacred Heart. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  41. ^ "NEWHA announces intent to be recognized as NCAA national collegiate women's hockey conference". USCHO.com. September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  42. ^ "New England Women's Hockey Alliance approved for NCAA Division I status, effective with '19-20 season". USCHO.com. September 4, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  43. ^ "Famous Connecticut Grads: Lydia Hearst-Shaw", Hartford Courant
  44. ^ "Administration and Board of Trustees". Sacred Heart University. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
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