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The Online Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Siena Heights University
Heritage Project Has Plan to Keep the Siena Heights Mission Going through Future Generations
Siena Heights University President Sister Peg Albert, OP, PhD, knows that one day there may not be an Adrian
Dominican Sister on the SHU campus.
Thankfully, that day won’t be soon. However, President Albert and the SHU administration recently put a plan in place to help preserve SHU’s mission and heritage. Thanks to private funding from a SHU benefactor, in January 2014 Sister Mary Jones, OP, (below) was hired as the director of Mission Education and the Heritage Project. Her charge is to create a program that will help carry on the mission and heritage of Siena Heights—as well as the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
“When I got the call from Sister Peg, I was actually involved in discerning my next step in ministry,” said Jones, who had an “eclectic” career as a teacher and in the automotive industry before becoming an Adrian Dominican 10 years ago. “It was a delight, because when I read through what her desire for the position was, it really allowed me to use a lot of the gifts and skills I had created and learned over the years.”
Jones, a Detroit-area native, was a former high school math teacher before she was eventually hired by the Ford Motor Co. as a program planner/trainer. One of her tasks was helping experienced line workers make the transition to using technology in the workplace. She designed a program “from where they were to where they needed to be.”
Saints football coaches and players at The Colosseum in Rome, Italy.Alexis Donnelly in Italy.Amari Kelley in Italy.
SHU Teams Visit Italy
SHU football and women’s soccer players traveled to Italy last spring and played against local competition during their stays (photos above & right). The group traveled to Rome, Florence, Siena and Viterbo from May 5-13 for a week of experiencing a new culture, highlighted by competitive games on the football fields and soccer pitches of Italy. The women’s soccer team faced a local Division I Firenze team before being part of a unique doubleheader in Viterbo, near Rome. The Saints football team played against the Italian national team, which was coached by former University of Texas and Kansas City Chiefs head coach John Mackovic. Before returning on May 13, the group also took a guided tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica.
SHU Earns Eight NAIA Scholar-Team Awards
The Saints had eight teams earn the NAIA Scholar-Team Award. Those teams honored were baseball, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, softball and women’s volleyball. For a team to be considered for the NAIA Scholar-Team award, it must have a minimum 3.0 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale). The team grade-point average includes all eligible varsity student-athletes.
Softball
Junior first baseman Taylor Hayes was named to the Great Lakes All-Region second team by the NAIA. She hit .400 with five homers, 15 doubles and 30 RBI for SHU. Senior Katie O’Hotzke, Hayes and sophomore Mariah Boss were each named to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference first team. O’Hotzke, a pitcher, has 14 wins and 118 strikeouts in 152 1/3 innings so far this season. Boss, an outfielder, batted .347 with 15 stolen bases. Freshmen Megan Jones and Kenya Keller received honorable mention all-conference honors, with Boss, Hayes, Megan Higdon, Morgan Huttenlocker, Ashley O’Leary, Jenn Sylvester, Bitty Treece and Morgan Warfield earning academic all-conference honors. Kelsey Lampkowski earned the team’s Champions of Character award. O’Leary, Sylvester, Treece and Warfield were also each named NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Finally, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association recognized 10 Saints as NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes, including Boss, Huttenlocker, Megan Jones, Kenya Keller, Kelsey Lampkowski, O’Leary, Liz Polmanteer, Sylvester, Treece and Warfield. The Saints finished 20-21 on the season.
Spirit of Academic Innovation
Continues at Siena Heights
By Doug Goodenough
Creativity has always been a calling card in the Siena Heights classroom over the years.
In Siena’s earlier days, it was educating Adrian Dominican Sisters over the summer months to keep them teaching in elementary and high schools during the fall, winter and spring.
In the 1960s it was the genesis of the Creative Stages youth theater program that blazed new trails and connected education to performing arts like never before.
The 1970s had Siena Heights leaving the Adrian campus to teach adult and nontraditional students across Michigan and beyond.
Today, that spirit of innovation continues. One course fuses a familiar concept—food—with one a little harder to grasp—chemistry. Another combines the endless possibilities of creative writing with the new and evolving visual arts in a true liberal arts collaboration.
What it means for the Siena Heights student is learning in new—and sometimes fun—ways.
