Message from the Provost
Welcome to the first issue of The Provost’s Newsletter. We are excited about the launch of this new initiative because it will help you stay connected to the many academic initiatives and activities at St. John’s. It will be a regular vehicle for information sharing, but will also highlight our community’s many exciting and distinctive academic activities and accomplishments. We have much to celebrate—but we also have much work to do—and it is through the spirit of information sharing and partnership that we will get the work done together.
—Simon Geir Møller, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Provost’s Academic Priorities
The provost sends the academic priorities for the upcoming year to the deans in August. They use them as the foundation for their goals for each individual School or College.
The 2022–23 academic year priorities are
- Enrollment, retention, and persistence through a partnership model
- Academic distinction through academic program positioning and the signature experience
- Continuance of our antiracism efforts
- Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaccreditation
- The revised University Core Curriculum
A common thread is the need for data-informed decision-making. The full text of the provost’s message can be found at 2022-2023 Academic Priorities.
According to the Office of Enrollment Management, 2,905 new first-year students and 319 new transfer students were welcomed into our community as part of the Fall 2022 entering class.
The University’s new first-year students come from 35 states and the District of Columbia.
The University’s new first-year students come from 37 countries representing six continents.
Overall, 62 percent of our incoming first-year students are Black or African American, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or two or more races. Top majors among our incoming students include Biology, Business, Liberal Studies, Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), and Psychology.
The office would like to thank all the alumni, faculty, administrators, staff, and friends of the University who have assisted in our enrollment efforts this past year. While Enrollment Management often spends years working with and recruiting new students, we wouldn’t have been able to exceed our undergraduate enrollment goals without the commitment and dedication from the University community.
Through new initiatives like the Faculty Engagement initiative, Summer at St. John’s: Explore and More, and Parent and Family University, our prospective students and their families were engaged in new, meaningful ways this past year. We heard from many of them about the impact these events made on their decision to attend St. John’s. Thank you to all who were involved in these initiatives; your commitment to our prospective and current students is important and appreciated!
Faculty and Academic Updates
Ceceilia Parnther, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Administrative and Instructional Leadership, The School of Education
- 2022 Honoree, Faculty Excellence in Student Engagement Award
- Researcher, Education Equity
- Coeditor, Voices from Women Leaders on Success in Higher Education: Pipelines, Pathways, and Promotion
- Directorate Member, ACPA-College Student Educators International
- Editorial Board member, Ethics & Integrity in Educational Contexts Book Series
Teresa Delgado, Ph.D., Dean, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies
“St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences—through its distinctive faculty and curriculum—provides the foundational knowledge, critical thinking skills, and creative possibilities to unleash the boundless opportunity and potential in every student. It’s an exciting time to engage in a liberal arts education at St. John’s, one that is deeply committed to promoting ethical citizenship for a pluralistic, globally conscious, and antiracist society. Our students graduate with an understanding of diverse histories, a capacity to discern fact from fiction, and the ability to apply all they have learned to creative problem solving—as the kind of leaders our world so desperately needs.”
Luca Iandoli, Ph.D., Interim Dean, The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies
“The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies is a launchpad for innovators, entrepreneurs, explorers, and problem-solvers who want to change the world for the better. We focus on providing students with a balanced curriculum that incorporates specialized, professional industry programs with a solid liberal arts foundation coupled with access to state-of-the-art technology through our labs and creative spaces.
In addition to affording valuable, real-world exposure and hands-on experience in various fields of study, the Collins College of Professional Studies provides students with the opportunity to participate in various professional societies, career nights, entrepreneurship initiatives, global programs, and extensive alumni networking activities—all of which help bridge the gap between college life and future careers. Our ambition is to form the next generations of V.I.P. students (Vincentian Innovators and Professionals) and prepare them for careers in emerging professions as they graduate to tackle the challenges of today, tomorrow, and beyond.”
Anne Y. F. Lin ’84P, ’86Pharm.D., FNAP, Dean and Professor, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
“The faculty of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences are committed to transforming the lives of our students through education that prepares them to be future health-care professionals and scientists who positively impact a diverse patient population. Our graduates will have the knowledge and skills needed for patient care and research, and also possess the characteristics expected of professionals to lead in their respective disciplines and transform societal health.”
James D. Wolfinger, Ph.D., Dean, The School of Education
“In The School of Education, we fundamentally believe in this year’s theme of ‘Advancing the Potential of Every Student.’ Every member of our faculty takes up our vital work because we know education has the capacity to make the world a better, more just, place.”
The Institute for Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at St. John’s University just completed its first year of operation. Its work focuses on building collaborative relationships across the University, and with groups and organizations outside the University, for the purpose of identifying the problems created by systemic racism and developing applicable solutions. The work takes place in six collaborative spaces within the institute. Here are several activities in a few of those spaces.
Ethics-in-Practice
The institute has partnered with Protiviti Inc., a global management consulting firm, for the development of a study about the efforts corporations are undertaking in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Community Research Partnerships
The institute funds grant proposals from faculty, administrators, and staff that foster research collaborations between St. John’s University employees and individuals and organizations outside the University. The projects must pinpoint or unearth current ways in which systemic racism operates and propose practical and implementable solutions.
Last year’s call for proposals led to the funding of a project submitted by Shahla Hussain, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History. Dr. Hussain is working with a grassroots organization in Queens to reveal how racism, immigration status, indigeneity, and dispossession shape the life experiences of low-income, South Asian workers in New York City.
A new call for proposals will be issued in December.
Education
The institute provides support for the newly minted Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) interdisciplinary major and minor. The major received New York State Education Department approval last year. The institute supports its growth by building faculty participation across all Schools and Colleges in the University.
The CRES Curriculum Development initiative recruited 13 CRES fellows from a call for proposals (CFP) to develop CRES courses. These fellows represent four Schools and Colleges. Another CFP is being issued in November.
A collaboration beginning in the Summer of 2021 between the Office of University Mission, The School of Education, and the institute led to plans to organize a series of summits to discuss the teaching of race in K–12 spaces. The focus has primarily been on New York State, which has a Culturally Responsive-Sustainable Education framework that serves as a key tool for the teaching of race in public schools. The first summit was held on June 9.
The institute has organized a panel discussion scheduled to continue the conversation while the planning for additional summits is underway. The panel features Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.
"The Politics of Culturally Responsive–Sustaining Education"
November 8, 2022, 10:00–11:30 a.m. (virtual event)
RSVP for November 8 Event
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