From the Editor:

The Quest to Be Better

My old college baseball coach used to say, “You get better or you get worse; you don’t stay the same.” That phrase has stuck with me through my professional career, including my time at Siena Heights University.

After nearly eight years and 15 issues of being the editor of Reflections Magazine, it was time to take a fresh look at what we do with the magazine. It was not an easy decision. The reader feedback we have received on the magazine has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, there has been no clear evidence that we need to do anything different with the magazine.

So, why did we change? We recognize the University has changed quite a bit over the past few years, and we want to be able to change with it. Our readership continues to change (and grow), and today’s readers have different preferences and patterns. For instance, last year we added an on-line version of the magazine to allow our more tech-savvy readers to access content in a more mobile and convenient way.

From the Alumni Association:

Mary Small Poore, President—Alumni Association Board of Directors

Falling in Love All Over Again

I am very excited to be the newest President of the SHU Alumni Association. After graduation, I stayed connected to Siena for nearly a decade before drifting away…life just seemed to get in the way. But in 2006, I attended Sister Peg Albert’s presidential inauguration—and I have been drawn back ever since. You might say I fell in love with Siena all over again. The more time I spent on campus, the more I remembered what drew me here in the first place: the people and sense of community.

If you attended Homecoming 2013, you know about the excitement on campus and the incredible happenings that continue here. I consider myself blessed to be a part of this growing university. As I reflect on Homecoming, I can’t help but think it is the culmination of many small, meaningful connections that made the weekend so spectacular. And these connections, in turn, are what make this a spectacular university. Let me share a few observations:

Team Player

Peggy McCann Honored with 2013 Eileen Rice Award
for Outstanding Teaching

By Doug Goodnough

When Peggy McCann arrived on the Siena Heights campus in fall 2006, she meant business. The business of sports, that is.

McCann, an associate professor of Sport Management, was honored last spring with the Eileen Rice Award for Out-
standing Teaching, which is selected by previous winners and students. She said she was “shocked” when she learned about the award and called the moment “emotional” when she heard her name announced as the winner.

“It wasn’t anything I was expecting,” said the soft-spoken McCann of the award. “You have to share this award, because you can’t say that you did it all yourself.”

McCann’s “team” approach has worked well in the Sport Management program, which prepares students for careers in the business of sport – including college, professional and recreational. The Illinois native was a former four-sport standout high school athlete who was inducted into her school’s hall of fame as a bowler. McCann realized early that she wanted to carve out a career in an area she is passionate about. The teaching part came later.

“While I was at Michigan State (completing her PhD), I found out I love to teach,” McCann said. “I wanted to get a position in a teaching college.”

And she wanted to stay in Michigan. She heard from a friend about an open faculty position at Siena Heights, and hand-delivered her application to Adrian to check out the campus.