Services, Activities, and Programming

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug (ATOD) Program

The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug (ATOD) Program provides leadership to the University community in reducing alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and related negative consequences. The ATOD program administers and supports prevention, lectures, and personal development through programs and intervention services that encourage students to make healthy lifestyle decisions to improve their overall well-being and enhance their academic and personal success.

Archives

The Archivist collects and maintains materials which document the history, growth, and development of the University and its predecessor institutions, their programs, administrators, students, faculty, and alumnae/i. The Seton Hill University Archives is the official record-keeping center on campus.

The Archives houses records, in a variety of formats, pertaining to: students, Board of Trustees, presidents, administrators, and administrative offices. Also collected is information about the alumnae/i, faculty, curriculum, and academic divisions and departments. Some information on Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the patroness of the University, and the Sisters of Charity, the founders of the University, is also collected. The Archives is located on the ground floor of Brownlee Hall.

Athletics

Seton Hill is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The athletic programs at Seton Hill University allow students to participate in intercollegiate and recreational sports throughout the academic year. Seton Hill offers women’s athletic programs and men’s athletic programs at the intercollegiate level. During the fall semester, Seton Hill competes in football, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s field hockey, and women’s equestrian events. Intercollegiate sports during the winter season include wrestling and men’s and women’s basketball, while the spring semester offers baseball, softball, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s tennis, and women’s golf. Intramural sports occur throughout the academic year in flag football, intramural basketball, intramural volleyball, intramural soccer, and other indoor and outdoor activities.

The McKenna Center includes a gymnasium, coaches’ offices, training rooms, dance studio, weight room, locker rooms, and an indoor running track. Outdoor amenities include two multi-sport turf fields and grass fields. A field house overlooks the fields and houses a training room, weight room, and locker rooms for home and visiting teams. There are also a softball field and a practice field available to all students. Sullivan Hall is utilized for additional athletic activities.

Bookstore

Textbooks, supplies, clothing, and sundries may be purchased at the bookstore on campus. The bookstore accepts cash, personal checks (with a current driver’s license or state identification card), VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. The website for the Seton Hill Bookstore is www.setonhill.bkstr.com.

Campus Ministry

Campus Ministry, while Catholic in orientation, provides opportunities for students of all denominations to enrich their university experience by participation in prayer and worship, community service, social responsibility, and, in general, sharing the gifts of faith with the entire university community. The Campus Ministry staff welcomes diverse sensibilities and encourages a range of religious and spiritual expressions in an environment rooted in ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue. All students are invited to participate in Campus Ministry.

Campus Police

To ensure the utmost protection for students, Seton Hill University maintains a Department of Public Safety. As an essential part of the total university security, a campus-wide communication network is available to students via any campus phone. The security phones located throughout the campus filter into the network system. When needed, a police officer can be dispatched to any location within a matter of seconds. A 24-hour on-call staff person is available seven days per week. Security policies and procedures and crime statistics are available in accordance with PA Act 173 and the Student Right to Know Act.

Career and Professional Development Center

The Career and Professional Development Center provides assistance to students to enhance their liberal arts education by developing the skills needed to be marketable for employment or pursuing graduate level education. Seton Hill University is one of a select number of colleges and universities nationally that integrates the development of career readiness skills as part of the University’s curriculum. The Career and Professional Development Center reinforces career readiness skill development by partnering with local and regional employers who value and encourage career development in the internship and employment opportunities they offer to students.

Career development begins when a student enters the University and continues as a lifelong career management process. This process promotes a high level of self-knowledge, career competency through self-assessment, career exploration and decision-making, and job-search skill development.

Services provided by the Career and Professional Development Center include:

• major and career exploration
• resume and career document development
• interviewing preparation
• networking guidance
• internship and job search strategies and resources
• graduate and professional school planning

Child Development Center

The Child Development Center is a preschool dedicated to providing an excellent education for children ages three to five and their families as well as serving as a learning laboratory for future teachers and social scientists.

The Child Development Center has been accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs since 1994. The Academy is a division of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), an organization that establishes guidelines for excellence in Early Childhood Programs. Additionally, the center is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as a Private Academic School.

Community Service

Students are encouraged to study peace and justice issues at Seton Hill and to think about how they can have a creative effect on the world. Campus Ministry provides opportunities for students to train for, participate in, and reflect upon meaningful service to the community. These include aiding the very young and the elderly, the unemployed and economically disadvantaged, the homeless, and the handicapped. Students enrich their own lives while helping others in the search for justice and liberation.

Commuter Student Services

The Office of Student Engagement serves as the office for commuter student services. Commuter students have access to all campus services and are encouraged to participate in campus organizations and activities. Services including lounge areas, meal plans, lockers, and mailboxes are available for commuting students. Contact the Office of Student Engagement with any questions or concerns.

Counseling

Professional counselors are available to provide programs and services that enable students to learn more about themselves, assess their potential, and develop goals. Counseling activities focus on conducting individual sessions, conducting group sessions, facilitating support groups, presenting workshops, and referral services to professional agencies outside of the University community. The counselors respond to students’ requests for assistance related to topics such as anxiety, alcoholism, family challenges, drug abuse, depression, stress, relationships, and sexuality. All services are confidential and free.

Disability Services

The ODS is staffed by the Director of Disability Services and the Associate Director of Disability Services. Any student with a diagnosed disability who is interested in supportive services and accommodations must provide the Director with current documentation of the disability. In consultation with the student, the Director will develop a plan of accommodations for eligible students. All services are confidential, individually derived, and documentation-driven.

Groups and Organizations

At Seton Hill there are many groups and organizations which students may join. Some groups are centered on student interests such as singing, playing a musical instrument, skiing, drama, journalism, cultural/ethnic heritage, and intercollegiate and intramural sports. Other groups form around a special or immediate student interest. There are also professional associations and honorary societies for general scholarship or excellence. To start a student organization, just contact the Office of Student Engagement.

Library (Reeves Memorial Library at the Learning Commons)

At the center of the Seton Hill campus is Reeves Learning Commons at Reeves Hall. Located in the Commons, Reeves Memorial Library serves as the information center of the campus for students, faculty, and staff alike. The library makes available a collection of approximately 150,000 items. These holdings are available in many formats including books, ebooks, periodicals (mainly electronic subscriptions), research databases, educational and entertainment DVDs, and CDs. Access to information is made easy through the Polaris automated library system, and the majority of the library’s services are available online.

The library offers quiet study areas in the Reading Room and the O’Hara Room, both of which are located on the lower level of the building. The in-house collection of monographs is now housed in state-of-the-art compact shelving units to free up additional space for patron use. With the addition of new furniture all spaces are open and inviting. To retain the charm and history of the previous incarnations of Reeves Memorial Library some of the older furniture has been refinished and integrated throughout the Commons. The main floor has been transformed into an area for collaborative work while also offering rooms that can be reserved for individual and group study.

Among the online products offered are: EBSCOhost, Hoover’s Online, JSTOR, LexisNexis Academic, Medline, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, Naxos Music Library, Oxford Music Online, and SAGE Online Journals. These databases offer thousands of abstracts, newspaper articles, and legal and medical information, many of which are full-text, to further enhance the library’s holding.

With an emphasis on service, the library staff works in collaboration with Seton Hill’s faculty to provide a comprehensive information fluency instruction program. Each element of the Liberal Arts Curriculum offers an aspect of research and critical thinking to broaden students’ capabilities in gathering, evaluating, and applying information.

A part of the growing world of information, the library offers its patrons interlibrary loan service for books and journal articles. Reciprocal borrowing privileges are in place through an agreement with the Westmoreland Academic Libraries Reciprocal Borrowing Program that is comprised of: St. Vincent College; the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg; Westmoreland County Community College; and Seton Hill University. Borrowing privileges are also available at any of the Penn State campus libraries.

Multicultural and International Services

The Multicultural and International Services Office provides services to assist all domestic multicultural and international students so that they can be successful at Seton Hill University. The staff members assist students with personal and social matters and serve as liaisons between all international students (graduate and undergraduate) and the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, including the creation and maintenance of all records to assure compliance with relevant laws and regulations. Additionally, the staff provides cultural programming for the campus community.

National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education

Seton Hill University established its National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) on the anniversary of Kristallnacht (November 9), 1987, in response to the urging of Pope John Paul II to recognize the significance of the Holocaust (Shoah), and to “promote the necessary historical and religious studies on the event which concerns the whole of humanity today” (Letter to Archbishop John L. May, 1987).

The mission of the Center is to counter anti-Semitism and to foster Catholic-Jewish relations by making fruits of Holocaust scholarship accessible to educators at every level, especially in Catholic colleges and universities throughout the United States. To this end, the Center sustains a vital cooperative program with Yad Vashem in Israel and designs events to assist educators in shaping appropriate curricular responses for students of every age.

Nowhere has the Center’s impact been felt more directly than at Seton Hill itself. Twenty-three Seton Hill faculty and staff members have participated in the Center’s premiere program, the Catholic Institute for Holocaust Studies, a graduate-level summer institute in Israel. Consequently, faculty have developed a program in Genocide and Holocaust Studies consisting of two components, an undergraduate minor and a graduate certificate program, offered completely online. Not only does this program support the mission of the Center and the University, but it also serves as a valuable resource for teachers, professors, students - anyone interested in the causes and consequences of genocide.

In 2008, Ethel LeFrak of New York, N.Y., donated $750,000 to Seton Hill University to endow the Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference and create the Ethel LeFrak Student Scholars of the Holocaust Fund. The former supports the appearance at the Center’s triennial conferences of national and international speakers, sponsors the art exhibits that accompany the conference, and underwrites the publication of the Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference Proceedings. The latter provides annual student scholarships to support student participation in the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Program at Seton Hill, the Summer Institute in Israel, and the Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference. The endowment also supports the Ethel LeFrak Outstanding Student Scholar of the Holocaust Award to be presented annually to the student who writes a reflection paper that best demonstrates a keen and advanced understanding of the lessons of the Holocaust.

The NCCHE provides Seton Hill students with many programs and resources including the following.

• Annual Kristallnacht Remembrance Service (fall semester);
• Annual Yom HaShoah - Westmoreland Interfaith Holocaust Remembrance Program (spring semester);
• Annual tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of Seton Hill University’s Washington, DC bus trip (fall semester);
• Special guest speakers and visiting scholars;
• Special exhibits, plays, and concerts in cooperation with academic departments;
• Triennial Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education conference;
• Internship opportunities with the Center;
• Genocide and Holocaust Collection including the Karen Rachel Hurwitz Collection of Children’s Holocaust Literature;
• Permanent exhibit of archival photographs depicting women and children in the Holocaust.

In summary, the NCCHE seeks to eradicate prejudice and to promote peace, truth, and justice. We welcome students to participate in the Center’s programs and events.

New Student Orientation

New Student Orientation initiatives are meant to welcome students (traditional new students and transfer students) into the Seton Hill University community. Griffin Orientation Weekend (GO Weekend) is held during the weekend before classes start in the Fall Semester. Various activities and events are planned to help new students make connections with each other, with upper-class students, as well as with various faculty and staff members. Highlights of GO Weekend include: Mass on the Grass; Target Takeover, where the local Target store is open after hours to only SHU students, Cupcakes with Campus Ministry; the annual Class Photograph; Griffin Games and more.

Orientation Leaders (OLs) are upper-class students that assist new students throughout GO Weekend and in the days following. Each new student is assigned to an OL that provides assistance with the adjustment to college life on the hill.

Post Office

The Post Office, located on the ground floor passage between the Administration Building and Maura Hall, receives mail from the U.S. Postal Service daily and distributes it each morning. Intra-university mail is distributed to campus boxes throughout the day. Resident students are automatically assigned mailboxes with their housing information. Commuting students are assigned mailboxes upon request through the Office of Residence Life. All students are expected to check their mailboxes weekly.

Project Forward

Seton Hill University has sponsored the Project Forward Talent Search program since 1969. Project Forward is funded by the Federal Government, and the major goals of the program are:

• to identify qualified students in grades 7 through 12 with the potential for college or other post secondary education;
• to encourage these students to stay in school and earn a high school diploma;
• to encourage these same students to enroll in college;
• to help them apply for and receive appropriate financial aid for post secondary education.

Project Forward works with over 1,400 students each year in 27 schools located in 6 counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Two-thirds of these students are low-income and will be the first generation in their family to attend college.

Residence Life

For students living on campus, the Residence Life Staff plays a vital role. The staff strive to create an environment that is conducive to living and learning both in and out of the classroom. The staff works closely with campus residents to promote a positive sense of community through encouraging personal and professional growth, building interpersonal and intercultural relationships, instilling accountability, creating opportunities for leadership, and preparing students to be fit for the world in which they live.

Student Engagement

Student activities and programs are planned by the Office of Student Engagement with the assistance of members from the Seton Hill Programming Board (SHPB). Students who have ideas for programs or would like to participate in the selection of campus events and activities are highly encouraged to join the Programming Board. Activities include planned social and cultural events as well as spontaneous programming.

A wide variety of activities is offered in order to meet the diverse interests of students. Popular activities include trips to Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., the “mystery trip”, Pittsburgh sporting events, and museum, ballet, and theatre trips, as well as various types of fitness classes, musicians, comedians, and other entertainers on campus.

Cecilian Hall, Griffin’s Lounge, and Reeves Auditorium serve as the sites for comedians, musicians, movie screenings, game shows, and a variety of student social events. The Griffin’s Lounge, located in Sullivan Hall, serves as a gaming space that has a pool table, air hockey and ping pong tables, and dining area. Its proximity to the Bookstore, Griffin’s Cove, and the McKenna Center adds to its convenience as the hub of the student center.

There is also a MediaSphere area in the adjacent Technology Learning Commons which houses gaming systems so students can play their favorite video games on Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii on hi-def televisions either solo, with friends, or during one of the sponsored gaming tournaments.

Student Success Department

The Student Success Department is composed of the Academic Achievement Center; the Writing Center; and the Collegiate, Academic, and Personal Success (CAPS) Program. Students can receive course-specific tutoring, academic counseling, study skills instruction, and one-to-one writing assistance. The Department provides services for all students to assist them in reaching their academic goals and to prepare them to compete in the global economy. The student may be referred or may elect to seek the assistance of academic support services.

Technology

Mobile Learning @ the Hill

Seton Hill’s Mobile Learning @ the Hill program provides our students and faculty with the best in mobile technology and everything they need to use it with ease, from a robust campus-wide wireless network to specially-trained technical support.

Other Technologies

To complement mobility, Seton Hill makes use of many web-enabled products. Products and services include a student/faculty/staff information system coupled with course management which encourages interactive communication, Canvas, blogging, Gmail and Google Docs, and student maintained web-sites.

Seton Hill also has two general purpose and several specialized technology labs. Most classrooms are equipped with multimedia podiums.

Housed in our Technology Learning Commons, the MediaSphere is home to a gaming environment that includes Sony PlayStation 3s, Xbox 360s, and Nintendo Wiis, all connected to 65” plasma displays. The space can be used as teaching and learning environments for the entire campus community.

The Seton Hill University Media Center makes audio/visual resources such as Datashow projection computers, camcorders, microphone and speaker systems, and projectors available to all students, faculty, and staff.

Specialized studios that support media production are located in the Reeves Memorial Library Learning Commons:

• The Media Studio and Sound Booth: The Media Studio is a fully-functional media recording studio. Equipped with a green screen and recording equipment such as video cameras, portable lighting, microphones, etc., the Media Studio supports learners in the creative development of multimedia projects and presentations. An editing hub equipped with iMac computers and video-editing software/hardware provides learners with the ability to edit their presentations for a professionally finished product.
• The Podcasting Studios: Two podcasting studios are also available to the learning community. Each studio is equipped with a 27” iMac computer, boom microphone, and Primacoustic London Studio Kit. The podcasting studios provide learners with the soundproof space and necessary tools to leverage the medium of podcasting in their learning activities. Using state-of-the-art microphones, laptops, and recording software, students are able to create and publish podcasts on a variety of topics depending on their interests and needs. The podcasting studios also serve as audio and video editing suites where learners may develop and produce media projects.

Wellness Center

The Wellness Center, staffed by a nurse practitioner, promotes healthful living through preventive and informational programs. Services, which include basic outpatient care, first aid, allergy shots, glucose monitoring, blood pressure screenings, strep testing, and referrals, are available for resident and commuter students. All students are required to submit a complete Health History Form, including proof of medical insurance and meningitis immunization, to be kept on file in the Wellness Center. Referrals to off-campus medical professionals can be made as needed.

The Wukich Center for Entrepreneurial Opportunities

The Wukich Center for Entrepreneurial Opportunities was established to create a competitive niche for Seton Hill University as a leader in entrepreneurial education and increase visibility across Seton Hill’s undergraduate and graduate programs. The services provided by the Wukich Center complement and further enhance the entrepreneurship curriculum offered by the undergraduate and graduate Seton Hill University programs. The Wukich Center focuses on helping students and alumni transform their business ideas into fully operating businesses by utilizing the guidance of experienced, successful entrepreneurs via the Entrepreneur-in-Resident (EIR) program. Additionally, the Wukich Venture Fund was established to help finance student start-up businesses. The Center also employs a Wukich Scholar to support faculty research as well as support various events and activities out of the Center such as our Entrepreneurs Club, Elevator Pitch Competition, Business Model Competition, and leadership lectures series.