From the Alumni Office:

My College, My University, My Siena!

Jennifer Hamlin ChurchAssociate VP for Advancement & Director of Alumni Relations

Homecoming 2013: What a weekend! Hundreds of alumni came back to campus, the rain stayed away, there were reunions of all kinds—classes, cheerleaders, sorority sisters, fellow semester-travelers to Italy, baseball players. Read all about it in this issue of Reflections.

We work all year on Homecoming and when it’s over, I’m always in a reflective mood. That was especially true this year, because I was honored to be one of your 2013 alumni award winners. Standing on the awards stage at the start of Homecoming gave me a new perspective on Siena. So this seems a good time to talk about my work and why I am so grateful to be at this place.

My job is all about building relationships: inviting friends and alumni (you!) to reconnect meaningfully with the school you once attended. Sometimes, alums are concerned that today’s University seems different from the college they attended 20, 30, 50—or 5—years ago. And it is different: There are new buildings. There are men. There are no uniforms or room inspections, no mandatory Mass. There are students who never set foot on campus. Depending on when you attended Siena, any or all of those differences might be jarring.

From the Alumni Office:

Outstanding Faculty: The Heart of Siena Heights

From its earliest days, Siena Heights has been known for the quality and caring of our faculty: demanding and dedicated, wise and wonderful.

In 50 years as a women’s college, from 1919 through the 1960s, Siena teachers were almost all Adrian Dominican Sisters. Alumnae of those decades spoke (and still speak) with awe and affection of professors like Sisters Helene O’Connor and Jeannine Klemm in Studio Angelico; Sister Mary George in the business office; Sister Leonilla in the Little Theater; Sister Miriam Michael in the chemistry lab; Sister Ann Joachim in history class and on the basketball court.

As Siena Heights transitioned into coedu-cation at the end of the ‘60s, men appeared in the faculty as well as the student body. Fr. David Van Horn, who taught art for almost 30 years, was the first male teacher to become a long-time legend of the faculty. In 1979, a young John Wittersheim arrived in Studio Angelico and began teaching metalwork.

From the Alumni Office:

Jennifer Hamlin Church
Associate VP for Advancement &
Director of Alumni Relations

Why We Do What We Do. And Why It Matters.

At Fall Convocation, Religious Studies Professor Ian Bell spoke to a standing-room only crowd in St. Dominic Chapel. Convocation is the official kick-off of each new academic year and the speech by each year’s Eileen Rice Teaching Award winner is always a highlight.

In an address titled “Why We Do the Things We Do,” Professor Bell talked about why he is so deeply committed to Siena Heights—and what makes this place so special.

It all comes down to mission and identity.

Siena Heights is a Catholic university where “faith and reason walk hand in hand,” he said: Unlike many colleges, where education is considered strictly intellectual, Siena Heights actively encourages students “to ask questions about faith and religion,” without judging or forcing the answers. “The encounter with one’s faith—be it Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim or other—is not only tolerated but encouraged.”

We want you to become more competent, purposeful and ethical, Dr. Bell told the students; and to do so in an environment that respects the dignity of all. Why? Because “we desire good things for you”—a good life and the kind of success that is defined not by wealth or possessions but by whether the human community is “better off because of the choices you make and the actions you take.”

He ended with a plea: “Take your identity and mission seriously. Embrace questions of meaning. Explore the arts. Examine the workings of the world. Become a better thinker. If you do this, you will be able to define yourself not in terms of what you do, but in terms of who you are.” And, he added, “You will know why you do the things you do.”