Coach’s efforts to remember Sandy Hook victims featured in N.Y. Times blog

The New York Times highlighted Quinnipiac University‘s head women’s soccer coach’s efforts to remember and honor the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School in a recent blog post.

Dave Clarke is working to keep the victims’ memories alive by auctioning 113 soccer jerseys autographed by the top players and teams from around the world. The money collected will be used to seed a scholarship fund.

“I had no idea how big that was going to be,” Clarke told the Times. “It’s been nonstop, but in a good way. I’m like a kid on Christmas going to the post office every morning, but it’s important to temper that excitement because the reason for the auction is not a happy one. Sandy Hook was something that tugged at the heartstrings of the world. We want to keep the victims’ names alive.”

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Panel discussion on ‘Health, Healing and Spirituality’ April 2

From left: Cynthia Barrere, Tami Reilly, and Anna-leila Williams

Three Quinnipiac University experts will take part in the panel discussion, “Health, Healing and Spirituality,” from 3-4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, in the Mancheski Executive Seminar Room in the Lender School of Business Center on the Mount Carmel Campus.

The three presenters are: Cynthia Barrere, a professor in the School of Nursing, who will discuss “Spirituality & Meditative Interventions to Promote Health & Healing;” Anna-leila Williams, assistant professor of medical sciences in the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, who will talk about “Barriers to Meditation;” and Tami Reilly, associate director of fitness and wellness, who will discuss “Meditation and the Quinnipiac Student.”

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‘QU Dancing with the Stars’ to raise money for Camp Sunshine April 12

 

The University will host ‘QU Dancing with the Stars’ on Friday, April 12, on Burt Kahn Court on the Mount Carmel Campus. Proceeds from the event will benefit Camp Sunshine, an organization that provides a camp for children with serious illnesses and their families.

Quinnipiac University faculty members and administrators will dance with student members of Quinnipiac’s Ballroom Society in the competition, “QU Dancing with the Stars,” at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, April 12, on Burt Kahn Court on the Mount Carmel Campus.

The faculty and staff who will participate are: Kathy Cooke, professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences; Sean Duffy, associate professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences; Robin Guisti, assistant professor in the School of Nursing; Louise Howe, director of marketing communications for admissions; William Jellison, associate professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences; Thomas Martin, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Health Sciences; Gary Pandolfi, instructional technologist; Tara Rothman, adjunct professor in the School of Business; and Joseph Woods, professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The student dancers include: Nick Barrios; Joann Cazorla; Alex Diaz; Danielle Martin; Sean McCarty; Kuwabo Mubyana; Ethan Pandolfi; Jaclyn Plante; and Aidan Tatar.

Stan Rothman, professor of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Chris Flaherty will serve as masters of ceremony.

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University’s new anesthesiologist assistant program receives state approval

Quinnipiac has launched an anesthesiologist assistant program, which will begin this summer. The new master of health science program was recently approved by the Advisory Committee on Accreditation (ACA) of the Office of Financial and Academic Affairs for Higher Education and the state Board of Education.Anesthesiologist assistants are members of the anesthesia care team supervised by an anesthesiologist who may have responsibility for as many as four operating rooms, each with an anesthetist caring for a patient.

Anesthesiologist assistants participate in the provision of all types of anesthesia including administering drugs; obtaining vascular access; applying and interpreting monitors; establishing and maintaining airways; and assisting with preoperative assessment.”The safest way to deliver anesthesia is through a care team. An extra pair of hands is a benefit and increases safety for patients,” explained William Paulsen, director of the anesthesiologist assistant program and professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Health Sciences. Paulsen is a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF).”In order to be successful at this, students are taught a lot of pharmacology, physiology and patient monitoring to understand what is going on in the body,” Paulsen said. “They will have to know how to react very quickly.”The program is completed over 27 months with classroom, laboratory, skills laboratory, simulation and proctored clinical experience.

“I think with the facilities and the people that are here in conjunction with the medical school, we are going to produce the flagship anesthesiologist assistant program,” Paulsen said.

Paulsen helped to design space for the program on Quinnipiac’s North Haven Campus, including two fully functioning operating rooms and an anesthesiology learning laboratory. The anesthesiologist assistant program will be housed in the same facility as the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, which is currently under renovation. The medical school received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and approval from the Connecticut State Board of Education in October 2012. The school is recruiting its first class for Fall 2013. Renovations on the shared facility will be complete in time for the anesthesiologist assistant program’s start date in May.

“We are giving them the tools and knowledge they will need to go out and work with patients in an operating room,” Paulsen said. “The opportunities here to serve New England and the other states throughout the country are important to the profession.”

While Connecticut does not permit the licensing or practice of anesthesiologist assistants in the state, the need for AAs is strong. “There’s a great demand for AAs across the country,” Paulsen said.

Students will complete clinical requirements of the program outside of Connecticut. The first graduates are expected with a master’s in health science in 2015.

Connecticut Magazine hails Quinnipiac as one of the state’s biggest success stories

Connecticut Magazine recognized Quinnipiac’s “meteoric rise” in its January 2013 edition. The publication cited several of the school’s milestones since its 1966 purchase of the Mount Carmel Campus in the shadow of Sleeping Giant State Park, pictured above. The university has since added two campuses.

Connecticut Magazine has named Quinnipiac University as one of the greatest success stories in Connecticut.

“When Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum opened in Hamden last October, it was hailed as the crown jewel of John L. Lahey‘s 25-year tenure as Quinnipiac University’s president,” the magazine states of the university’s “meteoric rise” in its January 2013 edition. “And yet, for the university itself, the museum was just another milestone along the road running from 1966, when the one-time New Haven-based “college of commerce” purchased 100 acres near Sleeping Giant State Park, an area that now contains its main (or Mount Carmel) campus. Yes, main campus. Two more campuses have opened since then.“

The cover story states “Quinnipiac is now one of only three universities in the state with both law and medical schools (joining UConn and Yale.) One could go on and on listing the highlights of Lahey’s tenure: establishing the Quinnipiac Polling Institute, acquiring a commercial radio station (WQUN 1220 AM,) adding the School of Law, upgrading the athletic programs to Division I and transforming the school from a college to a university.”

The magazine quotes Lahey throughout the article.

“Today, we are in our best-ever shape,” Lahey said.

In addition to citing substantial growth in the university’s endowment, from $25 million when he arrived to $283 million today, Lahey, who continues to teach a philosophy course, discussed the transformation of the student body.

In 1987, Quinnipiac had 1,902 students — 80 percent from Connecticut and 60 percent who commuted to class. Today, the university has 6,200 full-time undergraduates and 2,300 graduate students, and offers 23 graduate degrees. Nearly all of the underclassmen and 80 percent of the entire undergraduate student body lives in residence halls. Seventy-eight percent of the study body now lives outside of Connecticut.