“Welcome to the Salve Regina Family! Get involved!”

This fall, when you begin your time at Salve Regina, you will hear those words over and over. You may become tired of them. You may feel that they are too demanding as you launch into your college years. Get involved? you’ll think. I just got here. I barely know my way around. I don’t even know what I have to offer yet.

College is a time of discovery about the world and about yourself. You will need a place that both challenges and supports you. At the Mercy Center for Spiritual Life, you will find a welcoming community excited to meet you and walk with you as you search and grow during your Salve Regina years.

Below are words of welcome from just a few of our Mercy in Motion leadership team members. We are all looking forward to meeting you! 

 

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McKillop Library has created a Padlet discussion board where members of the Salve Regina community can share readings and reflections that have helped them to better understand racism and relations within the U.S.

This discussion board has been requested by members of the community, since so many are scattered across the country and the globe right now. While there are many lists and resources out there, this list is specific to the Salve Regina community in order to support each other in learning how to do better as a campus and as individuals.

In the spirit of Mercy, McKillop Library asks everyone to please share the readings and resources that have challenged them to do better in regards to racism. If comfortable doing so, please also leave one’s name and reflections on the works being shared, which will make the list more meaningful to the community.

This list is moderated, so it may take a few hours for a post to appear.

The Padlet board is found here.

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Salve Regina’s chapter of Enactus, the world’s largest experiential learning organization focused on building relationships with businesses, schools and other community partners in need, garnered two major honors during recent competition at the Enactus USA National Exposition 2020.

The Salve Regina students placed second overall to Oklahoma State University in the Expo’s first-ever Early Stage Competition, which was conducted online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and financial management major Miranda Benoit ’22 was named a Top 3 Enactus Chapter President in the United States.

College teams competing in the Early Stage track submitted pre-recorded video presentations of their projects and participated in live Q&A sessions with the Enactus judges. Overall, the teams were scored on their efforts to define a need, pursue entrepreneurial leadership, work toward positive impact, focus on long-term sustainability and effectively communicate their project. Joining Oklahoma State in Salve Regina’s division were Johns Hopkins University, Shippensburg University and Penn State University Park.

In addition to Benoit, members of Salve Enactus who participated in the Q&A included Amanda Corp ’20, vice president of competition; Saarah Papineau ’23, project manager; Jett Hughes ’23 and Jasmine Jobe ’23. Other competing team members included Caroline Chapell ’23, Andrew Kleczkowski ’22, Peter Sullivan ’21, Chase Freiman ’21, Annie Southard ’23, Garret Aube, Jasper Khambaylarsirikul ’21, Grace Lamanga ’23 and Ansen Cassady ’22.

“The great thing about Enactus is you need a very diverse group of people to make a successful project,” Benoit said. “Our Enactus team has so much talent, from writers to photographers to graphic designers to public speakers to leaders. There were many first year Enactus members on our team this year that stepped up and took on huge roles.”

Salve Regina’s project for the National Exposition featured its partnership with Universal Promise (UP), the Newport nonprofit focused on serving the academic needs of underserved populations. Strategizing with Martha Cummings, UP’s executive director, the Salve Regina Enactus team began building after school programs for students in South Africa to help combat problems associated with idle time. The Salve Regina students developed programs in yoga, chess, debate, various sports and other areas. The students also partnered with La Sierra University’s Enactus team in California to leverage its eLibrary project for implementation in Universal Promise schools.

The national Enactus competition stretched from April 17-May 14, and the concluding week-long Expo attracted 16,000 participants online. Judges included a select panel of executive leaders from companies like BIC, The Boston Consulting Group, Ford Motor Company, Google, Walgreens and more.

“When we found out our Nationals trip to Kansas City was cancelled, we were bummed because it was so much fun last year, and we grew a lot closer as a team in the weeks leading up to it,” Benoit said. “However, I am so proud of how our team adapted quickly to the change in competition format. There is a really great team dynamic and that certainly helped us overcome these obstacles.”

Benoit praised all the support the team received from Salve Regina’s business department faculty and staff, including Bonnie Kennedy, Melissa Varao, Stacey Carter and their Enactus advisor, Gregg Johnson.

“The students on the Salve Regina Enactus team are the very best students I have ever worked with in all of my years in higher education and in my 24 years advising Enactus teams around the country,” said Johnson, lecturer in Salve’s Business and Economics Program and program coordinator in the MBA and management program. “They say ‘yes’ to every challenge, and they succeed at everything they do.”

Salve Regina’s Enactus is only in its second year, having won Rookie of the Year honors at its first national competition. “It only happened because of the effort put forth by the men and women on the team,” Johnson said. “I literally did nothing other than giving them the freedom to pursue their passion. The students ran the projects, they wrote the reports and speeches, and they created the videos. I just watched and smiled.”

To win an award, any award, with Enactus is incredibly challenging, Johnson said, because of the number of teams represented. Founded in 1975, Enactus encompasses 37 countries from around the world. The U.S. operates the largest division of Enactus, with 378 universities and 7,821 student participants.

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Salve Regina is excited to announce a new partnership with OptimizeU, an executive coaching and consulting firm designed to provide professionals at all stages of their career with development opportunities that are aligned with Salve Regina’s Mercy mission and provide integrated leadership.

Integrated leaders effectively impact their industries by focusing on skill sets as well as what motivates each person on their team. They make decisions based not only on what is best for the vision of their organization, but also on what is beneficial to the larger system of which their organization is a part.

The team at OptimizeU has already worked with the University in developing a strategic direction, and their expertise is focused on strengthening both individuals and organizations to encourage meaningful and positive impacts on a global landscape.

Please join this complimentary webinar created to address topics within career and leadership development on Wednesday, June 10.

Thriving During an Uncertain Job Market
Wednesday, June 10
12 – 1 p.m.

This webinar is designed specifically for those currently seeking employment or making a career change and how to stay optimistic, resilient and motivated in the process.

People often jump into the job-search process without having done the inner work needed to set themselves up for success. Join this webinar to discover the keys to thriving at work and consider how people can align the direction of their career. Looking for a job is no easy endeavor, and may, at times, undermine confidence. In this webinar,  learn powerful mindfulness tools to stay calm, confident and determined during the process.

Register for this webinar here.

The webinar is lead by Jade Augustine, MBA, CPC and Shahnaz Broucek, MBA, PCC. Augustine brings over 20 years of experience to her work, coaching individuals through career transitions and developing career path strategies. She works with people at all stages of their career journey, including early career, first-time leaders, mid-career changes, executives, and coaching individuals through loss of employment and new beginnings.

Augustine is a Certified Professional Coach through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and brings a special interest in supporting graduate students in their career exploration.

Shahnaz Broucek is passionate about helping people optimize their lives personally and professionally. She brings over 30 years of leadership experience across multiple industries to her work as an executive coach. She has a special interest and expertise supporting leaders in career transitions and career switchers in pursuit of engaging and meaningful work. Shahnaz holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where she teaches Coaching and Mentoring in Organizations.

She is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation, trained in the Designing Your Life program at Stanford, and is a certified teacher for Search Inside Yourself, the mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training developed at Google. Shahnaz was recently awarded a University of Michigan’s Provost Teaching Innovation Prize (2018).

Register for this webinar here.

Featured Photo by Getty Images/oatawa

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“Story in the Public Square” has been awarded both silver and bronze awards for Best Political/Commentary in Television for the 41st Annual Telly Awards. This is the third consecutive year with a Telly Award win for the show.

“Story in the Public Square” is an initiative to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter that is hosted Jim Ludes from the Pell Center for International Relations at Salve Regina and G. Wayne Miller of ‘The Providence Journal.’ The two hosts sit down each week with authors, scholars and storytellers of all kinds to make sense of the narratives shaping public life in the United States.

The Telly Awards were founded in 1979 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after. The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens as judged by leaders from video platforms, television and streaming networks, agencies, and production companies including Vice, Vimeo, Hearst Digital Media, BuzzFeed and A&E Network.

Last year, The Telly Awards attracted more than 12,000 entries from top video content producers including Adult Swim, the BBC, Condé Nast, Complex Networks, Netflix, Refinery29, RadicalMedia, T Brand Studio and Ogilvy & Mather.

“Story in the Public Square” was honored with a Silver award for its 2019 episode featuring Daniel Okrent, prize-winning author of “The Guarded Gate” on the remarkable history of the bigotry that lay at the heart of the Immigration Act of 1924. It also won a Bronze for its 2019 episode with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, author of “What the Eyes Don’t See,” a memoir of her role in exposing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

“The Guarded Gate” with Daniel Okrent

“What the Eyes Don’t See” with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha

“Undoubtedly, this has been an unprecedented season for our entire industry,” said Sabrina Dridje, managing director of the Telly Awards, in announcing this year’s awards. “The global impact of COVID-19 has shaken the film, video and television industries in ways we could not have imagined. Every year since the inaugural Telly Awards in 1979, Telly Winners have reflected the top tier of our industry, and this year, even more so.We are truly thrilled to recognize ‘Story in the Public Square’ as a standard bearer of television excellence.”

The Pell Center is extremely grateful for the recognition that it has received, according to Ludes, who also serves as executive director of the Pell Center.

“From the beginning, we have known that this show works because of our guests—gifted, generous story tellers who share their remarkable talents with our audience each week,” said Ludes. “They and our incredible crew are the reason the Telly Awards recognized ‘Story in the Public Square.’ ”

The show was also honored in the 40^th Annual Telly Awards with a Bronze in the same category for its 2018 episode on the death penalty featuring Sr. Helen Prejean, the author of “Dead Man Walking” and in the 39^th Annual Telly Awards with a Bronze for its 2017 end of year special featuring Dr. Evelyn Farkas.

“Story in the Public Square” airs on over 300 public television stations across the United States in 488 broadcasts each week. Locally, the show can be seen on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET, and Sundays at 4:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124.

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On Friday, June 5, students, faculty and staff gathered for an online Vigil and Forum for Social Justice to share stories, reflections and action steps with the Salve community to combat racism and injustice during a historic time in America.

“We are witnessing these events with heavy hearts as we think of the people who have been lost, of the senseless violence and what these events have laid bare about the state of racism in our society,” said Dr. Kelli J. Armstrong, president of Salve Regina. “As individuals, many of us feel a deep frustration and pain.”

Salve Regina is a Catholic, Mercy institution that stands for particular values, stated Dr.  Armstrong, and it has a special obligation to provide an environment for its students, faculty and staff that is safe and secure, where all members are valued and heard, and where its values are woven into the fabric its educational experiences — in the classroom, in co-curricular environments and in the workplace.

Thoughtful reports from the Multicultural Advisory Committee and the Racial Diversity Initiative of the Student Government Association have recommended concrete steps to move Salve Regina closer to the inclusive community that it aspires to be.

“You have my solemn commitment to continually work for change, to do everything in my power to ensure that our campus is a safe and secure place for all, and to always be available to listen to the concerns of our community as we work together to build an environment that is worthy of our mission,” said Dr. Armstrong.

With this in mind, here are some immediate next steps that the University will take at Salve Regina to ensure that we foster a community dedicated to equity and inclusion:

• The University will acknowledge and clearly define the University’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. A more explicit statement of these values will be developed and communicated.
• Salve Regina will implement a training process for all members of its community to participate in that will give a common vocabulary and understanding around issues related to equity and inclusion so that there be will a foundation for deeper conversations on campus. In particular, there will be an emphasis on training of those who are in high impact roles to ensure that they are best prepared to support an inclusive environment for all students.
• A Leadership Development Program will be launched for faculty and staff. In this program, the University will provide training so that they are better able to support students and staff from diverse backgrounds with an increased awareness on how to leverage the power of diversity.
• The University had planned to launch an Equity and Inclusion Summit this past spring, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. This summit will be held annually for the whole community, and it will not only provide the best thinking on how to promote equity and inclusion on campus, but it will give the University concrete best practices for improvements to its environment.
• The University is committed to working with the faculty to make sure that our values are reflected in its Core Curriculum. This was part of its Strategic Compass exercise of defining what every Salve Regina student needs to know by the time they graduate, and diversity and inclusion were prominent in those results.
• The University will institute changes in its hiring processes – including how it recruits and how it selects future members of its community to ensure that it is doing everything in its power to bring in a workforce that reflects the diverse backgrounds of the wider community.
• The University will implement a regular campus-wide climate survey for its students, faculty and staff so that it will have an ongoing measure of how effective all of the changes have been.

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The Center for Community Engagement and Service said goodbye to the 2019-2020 academic year as it heads home for the month of July. This was a year of many unexpected twists and turns that provided an opportunity for the Center to do what it does best: meet the needs of our community.

This year began like any other, with Kelly Powers, director of community service, and Kathleen Rendos, assistant director of community service, in the quiet of Gerety Hall preparing for the students to return to campus. In August, the office welcomed two new graduate interns, Olivia Collins from Providence College and Nicole Rigby from University of Rhode Island. By late August, students were on campus and the office started to fill with returning students and new faces. As the summer faded quickly and classes began, programs in the Center were up and running.

For the first time ever, the Center for Community Engagement and Service piloted the Senior Service Advocates Program. This program consisted of five seniors, former Service Advocates, that applied for a leadership role that would allow them to stay connected to service during their busy year of academics, internships, and part-time jobs.

 

The center also ran the Service Advocate Program. The 26 Service Advocates committed to completing 100 hours of service throughout the year at one of our partner sites: Child & Family, Edward King House, Potter League, Salvation Army, Donovan Manor, God’s Community Garden and Learning Unlimited. Collectively, the Service Advocates served a combined total of 2,181 hours in the community.

2019-20 was the third year the Center hosted the Thompson Program — an after school program for fifth and sixth graders at Thompson Middle School. For the first time, lessons were planned and taught by work study students that were hired as After-School Program Leaders. In addition to the two leaders, the program had four volunteers that attended weekly to participate in activities. The Art Club also volunteered to create holiday crafts with the students. Enrolling over 25 students, the program was fun and successful. The Center is currently planning the fourth year of the program.

During the fall/winter seasons, the Center ran annual holiday donation drives. For Thanksgiving, it ran the “Feed-A-Family” drive, collecting non-perishable donations for Child & Family, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, the Refugee Dream Center, Saint Vincent’s and the Salvation Army. Immediately after, we began setting up the Angel Trees around campus and making tags. The Angel Tree program benefits children in need through Child & Family, Community Baptist Church, the Confetti Foundation, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, the Salvation Army, the Women’s Resource Center and the Tashirat Orphanage in Mexico. Students and staff flooded the Center with gift donations that Center staff and student-volunteers sorted and wrapped.

After the Holiday Break, students returned to campus eager to continue fundraising and preparing for the many spring Service Immersions. In spring 2020, the Service Plunge 2.0 was scheduled to take place, along with the annual immersion to Orlando, Florida, for Give Kids the World was planned. In August 2020, the first ever immersion to a Native American Reservation in North Dakota was scheduled to take place.

All these plans changed in March, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the Center for Community Engagement and Service was quick to improvise. Preparing for what was next was uncharted territory that the Center navigated with teamwork and open minds. While students went home for Spring Break with uncertainty, the Center prepared for the worst.

After Spring Break, students remained home, staff remained home and the world  remained at home. Everything changed. The Center for Community and Service remained working remotely brainstorming ways to support the Salve Community and Aquidneck Island. Service Advocates were “right there” beside the Center in Zoom meetings, emails and Facetime calls to support our initiatives and Community Partners.

In the earliest stages of the pandemic, the Center responded to the immediate needs including shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and necessities including food and toiletries. It also collected and donated gloves and masks for medical professionals, food for Salvation Army and St. Joes and toiletries for the Newport Health Equity Zone and MLK Center. In addition, it ran drives for Housing Hotline and Changing Table to collect clothing, diapers and baby wipes.

Since working remotely, the Center has continued planning for next year’s events, including planning Service Plunge and recruiting Service Advocates. While serving remotely and participating in Zoom trainings, students attending the Service Immersions continued fundraising. Service Plunge 2.0 students raised money to purchase school supplies for Pell Elementary students, and students going to Orlando, Florida, funded a wish for a young boy, Ronan, who dreamed of going to the Florida Theme Parks.

The spring was also supposed to be the launch of the new, grant-funded initiative at Rogers High School. The “Supply Closet” at Rogers High School was going to supply students in need with hygiene products, healthy foods and clothing. In addition, the closet will have school supplies such as pens, pencils, highlighters and notebooks.

When schools closed, however, the Center knew students needed access to these items now more than ever. Thinking quickly, the Center decided to move forward with the initiative. It used the grant money to purchased food and school supplies to create care packages with a letter to students included. The students could pick up their packages at the Boys and Girls Club wearing protective masks or have the package delivered. Five requests for packages were made in the first 24 hours.

Most recently, the Center is wrapping up its annual report, evaluations and Service Advocate trainings. Although in August, it will return to campus with a new perspective, and everyone knows our community partners and our students are as excited as we are to reconnect in person.

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Ten rising juniors and seniors at Salve Regina have been selected as fellows for the Nuala Pell Leadership Program for 2020-2021. This innovative leadership development program is run by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy is named in honor of the wife of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell.

The program facilitates leadership development for the twenty-first century through monthly meetings where students will explore leadership theory, ethics, evolution of public issues and what it takes to be a leader in the public sector.  This cohort will also travel to Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2021 to meet with Congressional leaders, policy makers and others.

“I’m so excited to see what this new group discovers. It’s a new day, and it needs a new kind of leadership—built on the combination of empathy and information,”  said Martha McCann Rose, program director.

“The impulse to serve others is as special and profound today as at any time in American history,” said Jim Ludes, Pell Center executive director. “We are excited to get these students back on our campus and work with them over the coming year.”

The 2020-2021 cohort of Nuala Pell Leadership Program fellows include:

• Ana Inciarte ’22, biology major, from Norwalk, Connecticut
• Brittany Bailey ’22, administration of justice major, from New Haven, Connecticut
• Ryan Miech ’21, art major, from Coventry, Rhode Island
• Izabella Mangual-Solivan ’22, global studies major, Southington, Connecticut
• Evan Elichalt ’21, American history major, from Falmouth, Massachusetts
• Kyra Dezjot ’21, secondary education & history double major, from East Lyme, Connecticut
• Tyler McPhee ’22, political science major, from Wakefield, Rhode Island
• Makenzie Sadler ’22, secondary education & history double major, from Mystic, Connecticut
• Callie Crowston-Hickey ’21, psychology major, from Pine Meadow, Connecticut
• Connor Welsh ’22, biology major, from Middletown, New Jersey

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All staff, faculty and students are invited to attend a Vigil and Forum for Racial Justice to mourn the recent tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others.

While it is a time of deep mourning, it is also a time to listen and learn. Racism is one of the five critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy, and Salve Regina knows it is essential to continue the discussion on racism here on the University’s campus.

“Let us proceed to listen to one another, to understand more deeply and fully the ways in which racism has impacted our community, so we can together manifest our Mercy mission and work for a world that is more harmonious, just and merciful,” said Dr. Kelli J. Armstrong, president of Salve Regina, in her recent statement. “It is who we are called to be.”

The forum will include prayers, readings and reflections from members of the University community, including Rose Albert ’13, assistant director of multicultural programs; Chiquita Baylor, director of student engagement; Father Ray Malm, a University chaplain; Izabella Mangual-Solivan ’22, SGA president; and Dr. Tim Neary, professor of history and American studies.

Change starts on campus and in discussions the community will be empowered to have during this volatile time in American history. The Vigil and Forum for Racial Justice will be held on Friday, June 5, at 11 a.m. The WebEx invite can be found here. If prompted, use the event number 160 053 0736. Password is seahawks.

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