Good Morning Villa Maria College Community,
Welcome to the 2021-2022 academic year! We are tremendously excited to begin classes today, fully face-to-face. As I have been walking around this morning, I have been so thankful to catch up with our returning students and have been especially thrilled to greet our new students as they become part of our Villa home.
A lot is new this fall, including new baccalaureate programs in Community Health and Motion Design; our new Athletic Director, Desmond Randall; new full-time faculty members in Occupational Therapy Assistant (Deborah Brownell), Computer Software Development (Stephen Rieks), and Digital Filmmaking (Sarah Mann); a new Career Readiness Specialist, Joseph Milazzo; a new Student Life Coordinator, Lucas Butchko; a new (almost completed) roof on our Main Building; and our newest innovation to make a Villa education accessible and affordable—books and most supplies are now included in the cost of tuition and can be picked up in the Dining Hall.
Students, we know you’re going to love these changes, and we have more in store that we will announce as the year goes on. At the core of everything we do are the learning and exchange of ideas that occur in the classroom. Let us know how we can help you to make sure that you can concentrate on your studies and get the support you need to achieve your goals.
Faculty members, thank you for your hard work over the summer preparing for this day. Welcome to our new full- and part-time faculty members; we are here to support you as you live the Villa Way and put students first.
To have a great experience this year, we need to continue prioritizing the health and wellbeing of everyone on the Villa campus. Wear your masks, practice good hygiene, and please get vaccinated and share your vaccination status with us so that we can minimize disruptions to the semester. Find out more here: https://www.villa.edu/coronavirus/.
This year’s core value is Respect for Human Dignity. Let’s embody this value by being respectful of, aware of, and engaged with one another. If we commit to these actions, we will be well on our way to a successful year.
See you around campus!
