October 16, 2016
PC News: Fall 2016
Construction of the new Arthur and Patricia Ryan Center for Business Studies at the former Dore Hall is proceeding toward completion in early 2017. The new home for the School of Business will include a glass atrium entrance, classrooms, conference rooms, computer labs, collaboration rooms, interview suites, and a student café. The Ryans contributed the lead gift of $5 million toward the project. Arthur F. Ryan ’63, ’90Hon., & ’89P is a former PC trustee.
In other infrastructure projects:
• A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Ruane Friar Development Center took place on Oct. 1 during St. Dominic Weekend. Buoyed by a leadership gift from former PC Board of Trustees Chair Michael A. Ruane ’71 & ’13Hon. and his wife, Elizabeth Ruane, the project will result in a two-story addition to Alumni Hall, including an atrium that connects Alumni to the Slavin Center. The center will feature a basketball practice facility, a new home for the Center for Career Education and Professional Development, and an expanded ’64 Hall, the College’s largest function facility.
• Significant work was accomplished this summer in the area along Huxley Avenue in the multi-year Campus Transformation Project. Triggered by the closing of Huxley between Eaton and Ventura streets in May, the project will bring about major landscape and land-use changes — including pedestrian walkways and plazas — that will unify the campus. To date, the most visible change is a new campus entrance on Huxley Avenue. The entrance features a security control station, a traffic circle, and a bus stop.
• Work also began in June on an expansion to and renovations of the Providence College Science Complex, another multi-year project. Plans call for a 37,000-square-foot addition to Albertus Magnus Hall and improvements to Albertus Magnus, Sowa, and Hickey halls.
The Ryan Center for Business Studies is expected to be completed in early 2017.
Summer Bridge Program draws 22 first-year students
Twenty-two students in the incoming Class of 2020 participated in this year’s Friar Foundations Program. The summer bridge program, which has been offered for three years, is intended to ease the transition from high school to college. Accepted PC students who might benefit from a jumpstart to their college careers are invited. Over five weeks, they take credit-bearing classes, attend skills-building workshops, participate in field trips, and get to know their fellow students and the campus. This summer, the participants were assisted by 10 resident assistants/mentors, who are upper-class students.
Jordan-Zachery earns Accinno Faculty Teaching Award
Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery, professor of public and community service studies and director of the Black Studies Program, was presented the 2015-16 Joseph R. Accinno Faculty Teaching Award at the Faculty
Recognition Dinner following Academic Convocation in August. The annual award honors the faculty member who best exhibits excellence in teaching, passion and enthusiasm for learning, and genuine concern for students’ academic and personal growth.
A scholar in the areas of race, gender, public policy, African-American women, and politics, Jordan-Zachery has taught at PC since 2008. She has taught numerous courses, including Introduction to Black Studies, Race and Public Policy, and Urban Government. She is the author of Black Women, Cultural Images, and Social Policy (Routledge, 2008), which earned two book awards.
Class of 2023: 1,035 strong, high marks for academics, service
The incoming Class of 2020 checked in for the start of fall classes with 1,035 members, 54 percent of whom are women. The class’ academic profile is robust, with 704 members carrying an unweighted institutional GPA of 3.25 or higher, including 204 students whose GPA ranged between 3.75 and 4.00. The first-year students demonstrated a propensity for co-curricular involvement in high school. Some 877 participated in varsity athletics, 781 performed community service, 266 participated in performing arts (music, theatre, art, and dance) organizations and activities, and 190 were involved in student government.
In the areas of ethnic makeup and geography, 16.3 percent of the Class of 2020 identifies itself as either African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American, Native American, or Alaska Native, and 64 percent hails from one of the six New England states. Twenty-nine percent come from mid-Atlantic states, ranging from New York to Virginia.
Seven faculty members retire
Seven faculty members who taught, conducted research, and influenced the lives of thousands of students over several decades retired from Providence College in the period of Dec. 30, 2015, to June 30, 2016.
Together, they gave 210 years of service.
The retirees (by name, rank, start date, and administrative roles) are:
• Dr. Jane P. Callahan, professor of education (elementary/special education) and of public and community service studies; 1993; chair, Department of Elementary/Special Education
• Dr. Philip E. Devine, professor of philosophy; 1990
• Dr. Peter S. Goodrich, associate professor of management; 1984; director, MBA Program
• Dr. Alan L. Kessler, assistant professor of economics; 1985; chair, Department of Economics
• Dr. Francine Newth ’80G, associate professor of management; 1982; chair, Department of Management; director, former Division of Business Administration
• Dr. Paul D. Quinlan, professor of history; 1990
• Dr. Patrick V. Reid, professor of theology; 1977; chair, Department of Theology
Ancient tools discovered by Strasser team on display
Stone tools dating back at least 130,000 years that were found on the Greek island of Crete during archaeological research led by a Providence College faculty member are being displayed for the first time in a museum in Crete. The discoveries are significant as they push the history of seafaring in the Mediterranean back by more than 100,000 years and have implications on the colonization of Europe and beyond by early African hominins, our pre-Homo sapiens ancestors.
In 2008 and 2009, Dr. Thomas F. Strasser, professor of art history, led a team of archaeologists and geologists, and several PC undergraduate students, on the Plakias Survey in Crete. It was the first project to identify Mesolithic and Palaeolithic artifacts in datable geologic contexts. The team explored caves in the area around the town of Plakias and discovered stone tools that included traditional microliths, spines, denticulates, end scrapers, and percoirs, as well as bifaces (hand axes), cores, and cleavers. Some of the artifacts are now exhibited in a museum in the early 16th century church of St. Francis in the western Crete city of Rethmynon.
