The Wheat and the Chaff
Filling the need: After reading about how Harvard and some other Ivy League schools personalize the waffles they serve to students with the school logo, Xavier’s director for auxiliary services Tom Barlow didn’t want to be outdone. So he got with the food services folks and now all Xavier students who pick up waffles for breakfast in the morning find them adorned with a large X in the middle. Now that’s branding.
Swimming’s Steve: Steve Riegler is Xavier’s new head swimming coach, taking over the program after former head coach George Rathman resigned in November. The 30-year-old Riegler was previously an assistant coach at Xavier and the University of Richmond. He named as his new assistant Brent MacDonald, who has extensive coaching experience at the high school and club levels.
The art of X: Jenny Shives, an adjunct instructor in art history, and Kitty Uetz, director for the Xavier University Art Gallery, created a book showcasing the University’s collection of paintings, sculptures and tapestries. The book, titled “Xavier University: A Celebration of Art,” features full-color photographs of pieces from Xavier’s collection, along with historical commentary. The images are broken down into three areas of emphasis—religious art, Cincinnati’s Golden Age and 20th century contemporary and European art. The 112-page hardcover book costs $40 at the Xavier bookstore and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in nearby Norwood.
The future of business: Xavier business students—both undergraduate and MBA—took a group of 50 local middle school students and showed them what life’s like as an entrepreneur. The goal was to generate business ideas for the business district in neighboring Evanston and teach the students about entrepreneurship, marketing, business development, economics and business ethics. Calling the day the X-treme Camp, the students were divided into teams, each of which were facilitated by a Xavier student, and asked to come up with a business/service they would like to see in the Evanston area. The students then presented their business plans to an audience and judges, and were sent home with the challenge of creating a one-minute commercial about their business, which was recorded and later presented at the annual Cincinnati Neighborhood Summit. The initiative was part of a program funded by a 3M Vision Grant in an effort to fundamentally transform the nature of education.
Helping the homeless: Pat Clifford, a 1990 honors graduate, was awarded the Buddy Gray Award by the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition for his long-term commitment to fighting homelessness—a commitment that began during his days at Xavier when he helped start the annual Shantytown event on the academic mall, which helps draw awareness to homelessness. For the last 11 years, Clifford has been the general coordinator at the Drop-Inn Center, which offers shelter to the area’s homeless. Gray founded the Drop-Inn Center in the 1970s. Previously, Clifford was coordinator of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and he helped with the founding of Streetvibes, a newspaper that benefits the homeless.
Chinese relations: Kam C. Wong, Xavier’s new chair of the department of criminal justice, and Jeff Monroe, an assistant criminal justice professor, traveled to China to lecture at the Chinese People’s Public Security University (PSU). PSU is the “West Point” for Chinese police officers and a highly selective school that provides academic education and professional training for would-be police leaders and executives. It’s very rare for Americans to talk there, but Wong has a bit of an inside track. Although he’s an American-trained lawyer, he’s been a police inspector in Hong Kong and past president of the Asian Police Studies Association. Wong spoke on the U.S. Patriot Act. Monroe, who is a national expert on gun policy, spoke about gun control.
Signed here: Xavier’s tennis teams signed three new players: Christie Pleiman from Dayton, Ohio, Chaminade-Julienne High School and Tifanie Treece from Paducah, Ky., Lone Oak High School on the women’s team and Brian Starr from Cincinnati Walnut Hills High School on the men’s side.
An Anderson in Norway: Christine Anderson, an associate professor of history, won a Fulbright Award as the Roving Scholar for Upper Secondary Schools and spent the spring semester teaching in Norway. Only two professors are awarded the Fulbright each year.
A classic award: Xavier’s department of classics is the first-ever recipient of the College Classics Award, which was created by the Ohio Classical Conference to recognize and promote academic excellence in Ohio higher education programs. The department received the award at the annual Ohio Classical Conference, which was held in Cincinnati this year and focused on a variety of topics including: Roman Literature and Art, the Next Generation of Classicists and Making Sense of Vergil. Gareth L. Schmeling, a retired professor at the University of Florida, was the keynote speaker who talked on “Texts, Sacred and Profane: Editors, Saints and Sinners.”
Under the microscope: The department of athletics is undergoing a yearlong campus-wide study of its programs as part of a certification program for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Specifically, it’s taking a close look at areas such as academic integrity, governance and commitment to rules compliance, as well as a commitment to equity and student-athlete welfare. Once complete, an external team of reviewers comes to campus to evaluate the results and recommend further actions, including, possibly, ineligibility for NCAA championships.
Get her a shovel and a sword: Senior volleyball player dug her way into the record books by becoming the nine player in Xavier history to record 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career.
Human awards: Sherri Human, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship and the Castellini Chair of Entrepreneurial Studies, was given the Entrepreneurial Experiential Education Award from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, George Washington University Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence and Delta Epsilon Chi. She also received an honorable mention for the international Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award from the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division and McGraw-Hill.
No horsing around: The Xavier equestrian team, which is in its second season, hosted its first show this year. Done in collaboration with the University of Kentucky, the team held an Intercollegiate Horse Show Association show in Frankfort, Ky., with more than 130 riders from eight college teams from the region competing.
Coaching coaches honor: Associate professor of sports studies Ron Quinn received the U.S. Youth Soccer Excellence in Youth Coaching Education Award, which honors those who have been made a lifetime dedication to have—with integrity, honor, humor and humility—made extensive and far-reaching contributions to the process by which youth soccer coaches are educated in America. In his career, Quinn was responsible for the development of the National Youth Coaching License, served on the U.S. Youth Soccer coaching committee from 1997-2005 and wrote several books that are the foundation of U.S. Youth Soccer’s coaching lessons. He also is on the editorial board of the Soccer Journal and written or co-written six books.
