Jeremy Glasstetter Hired to Lead Veterans’ Center at Excelsior College

Jeremy Glasstetter Hired to Lead Veterans’ Center at Excelsior College

By Mike Lesczinski, Excelsior Life News Staff--

The Center for Military Education (CME) at Excelsior College today announced the hiring of Jeremy Glasstetter to lead the College’s Lt. Col. Bryant A. Murray Veterans Center, an online, array of services to meet the needs of former members of America’s armed forces. Glasstetter, a U.S. Army veteran of both Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom, served previously as a military & veterans program advisor for Baker College (Michigan).

[AUDIO: Glasstetter discusses higher education transition challenges for returning veterans]

The Center offers resources and support for both academic and life needs to the more than 4,000 veterans currently enrolled in the college. Working within the Center for Military Education, Glasstetter will develop and advance services available to veterans, promote increased use of veteran benefits, enhance communication to veterans and related organizations, serve as an advocate for veterans issues, and work toward unit and college strategic planning goals related to the center.

“Jeremy served our country with distinction on two fronts and has dedicated his post-military career to helping his fellow servicemembers transition back to the civilian world,” said Sue Dewan, executive director of the Center for Military Education at Excelsior, which in addition to its veterans population, also counts more than 10,000 active duty military personnel among its 36,000 currently enrolled students. “His experience and commitment to nontraditional higher education for adults and, more specifically, military service members and veterans, make him a valuable addition to Excelsior. We are thrilled to have him on board.”

Raised in Flint, Michigan, Glasstetter enlisted in the U.S. Army as an avionics, armament, electrician and helicopter mechanic less than one month after the attacks on September 11th. In 2004, he proudly deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2007, he deployed once again, this time to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Honorably discharged from activity duty, he returned home to serve in the Michigan National Guard and began his studies at the University of Michigan-Flint.

While at UM, Glasstetter founded the Student Veterans of America – Flint Chapter (SVA-FC); eventually he was elected the 3rd President of the national organization. During his undergraduate studies Glasstetter also helped orchestrate, with the help of the University of Michigan Board of Regents and others, the creation of the university’s first Student Veterans Resource Center. One of the few in the nation at that time, the center offered returning military veterans a place to work and congregate during their transition home.

In August 2011, Jeremy graduated with his Bachelors of Business Administration Degree from the University of Michigan and in May, 2013 will earn his Masters of Business Administration in Leadership degree from Baker College Center for Graduate Studies.

Jeremy, married with a young son, resides in Clifton Park, NY.

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Transition Challenges for Veterans Returning to School: Interview with Jeremy Glasstetter, Director, Lt. Col. Bryant A. Murray Veterans’ Center

Transition Challenges for Veterans Returning to School: Interview with Jeremy Glasstetter, Director, Lt. Col. Bryant A. Murray Veterans’ Center

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Listen to the full interview with Jeremy Glastetter below.

Jeremy Glasstetter, director of the Lt. Col. Bryant A. Murray Veteran Center at Excelsior College, joins Excelsior Life to discuss contemporary challenges experienced by veterans seeking out a higher education. A U.S. Army veteran of both Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Glasstetter previously served as the third National President of the Student Veterans of America.

Excelsior Life and Glasstetter chat on a range of issues, including the different experiences of modern veterans compared to those of the past, his vision for Excelsior’s veteran center and new services every institution of higher education needs to explore. Glasstetter also talks about his personal experiences transitioning out of military service.

Podcast Outline (Time: Topic)

1:15 What are the unique transitional challenges facing today’s returning veterans?
3:49 Is there a generational difference in veterans challenges?
6:40 Are institutions of higher education doing enough to help veterans?
7:59 What new services should every school rollout?
9:45 Glasstetter’s vision for the Excelsior’s Lt. Col. Bryant A. Murray Veteran Center
12:19 “Driven to service…forever a veteran”
14:00 Glasstetter’s personal experience transitioning out of the U.S. Army
17:00 The one action every veteran must take upon leaving military service

(Please help support the show by leaving an iTunes review!)

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"The Visitor," a fascinating look at a historic event involving free speech and hate speech, to be performed at the Quick Center for the Arts

"The Visitor," by Carol K. Mack
Tuesday, March 19, 2013, at 8 p.m.
Fairfield University's Wien Experimental Theatre
Free

"The Visitor," Carol K. Mack's gripping play about a German anti-Semite in New York City and the Jewish police officers assigned to protect his right to free speech, will be performed in Fairfield University's Wien Experimental (Black Box) Theatre at the Quick Center for the Arts, on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, at 8 p.m.

Free and open to the public, this lauded work is co-sponsored by Fairfield University's Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and the American Studies Program. The play will be performed by an all-professional cast, and will be directed by Dr. Martha S. LoMonaco, professor of visual and performing arts. Seating is limited and reservations are necessary. Please call the Bennett Center at (203)-254-4000, ext. 2066.

The play takes place in 1895 when Theodore Roosevelt was Police Commissioner of New York City. Herr Ahlwardt, a rabidly anti-Semitic member of the Reichstag, came from Berlin with the announced purpose of "preaching against the Jews" and he demanded protection. Roosevelt assigned a group of Jewish policemen to be his bodyguards and protect his right to freedom of speech. "The Visitor" is about these policemen, this historical event and its significance.

Mack received a commission from Theatre J and the Foundation for Jewish Culture to write the "The Visitor," and she was greatly assisted by members of the Shomrim Society, an organization of Jewish members of the New York Police Department.

Mack's plays, which have been performed all over the world, include "Territorial Rites," "Postcards," "Esther," and "A Safe Place." They premiered respectively at The American Place Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The White Barn Theatre Foundation, and The Berkshire Theatre Festival in Association with The Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts. In 2006, she conceived and organized a documentary theatre piece in connection with Vital Voices Global Partnership, an NGO that develops and connects women leaders in 80 countries. With a group of award-winning women playwrights, they wove the collaborative documentary theatre piece, "Seven," which has been translated into sixteen languages thus far. Her plays have been published in four separate editions of "Best American Short Plays."

Mack has taught at New York University, Marymount College and Fordham University.

For more information about the Bennett Center, visit http://www.fairfield.edu/judaic/.

Image: The Visitor," Carol K. Mack's gripping play about an anti-Semite in New York City and the Jewish police officers assigned to protect his free speech, will be performed in Fairfield University's Wien Experimental Theatre at the Quick Center for the Arts, on March 19.

Media Contact: Meg McCaffrey, (203) 254-4000, ext. 2726, mmccaffrey@fairfield.edu

Posted on March 05, 2013

Vol. 45, No. 210

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Community gathers for Sklut Hillel Center dedication

A renovated home near the Academic Village was made possible by gifts from Eric and Lori Sklut P’14 and several generous benefactors.

From left: Elon University President Leo M. Lambert, Lori Sklut, Eric Sklut and Assistant Professor Geoffrey Claussen attach a mezuzah to the entrance to the Sklut Hillel Center

*****

Jewish students, parents, faculty, staff and their friends at the university joined together Sunday to dedicate a new home for Elon Hillel, a member of a worldwide organization that fosters personal connections to Jewish life, learning, and Israel, and to “cultivating commitment to the Jewish people and the world.”

Named for Eric and Lori Sklut, parents of a university student and the benefactors who made a lead gift to fund the center through the Levine-Sklut Family Foundation, the Skult Hillel Center will serve Jewish students studying at Elon this year as well as the countless others who will one day make the campus their home.

The renovated building formerly housed the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual LIfe, which has since moved to Elon’s new Numen Lumen Pavilion.

Eric and Lori Sklut P'14 made a lead gift to help bring the vision for a Hillel center to reality on campus.

“We are overwhelmed with the warmth and cheerfulness this house now exudes,” Lori Sklut said as she and Eric addressed the crowd that gathered for the March 3 dedication on the lawn outside the house, which sits at the intersection of Antioch and East College avenues. “The picture of Jewish life at Elon is now complete.”

Hillel at Elon offers Shabbat programs, Jewish cultural events, Passover meals, worship opportunities and interfaith events. The Sklut Hillel Center includes a modern kitchen, student lounges, offices, a conference room and business lounge to provide a home-like atmosphere.

“The Sklut Hillel Center assures us that there will always be a place, there will always be a home, for Jewish life on this campus,” said Hillel director Nancy Luberoff, who noted that the center complements a growing academic focus on Jewish studies and, in the Greek system, a new Jewish fraternity that has recently colonized at Elon University.

“Beyond your financial commitment, I want to thank you for your vision and leadership,” Elon President Leo M. Lambert said the Skluts during the March 3 dedication.

Elon senior Arielle Weil, president of Elon Hillel, explained the role Hillel played in her own spiritual growth. When she first joined Hillel, she knew little about Jewish traditions, she said. That changed as Luberoff shared with Weil reflections about what it means to be Jewish.

“Being Jewish isn’t about knowing the traditions,” Weil recalled Luberoff telling her. “It’s about how you treat people and taking opportunities to improve their lives.”

Remarks were also made by Deborah Geiger, director of the Soref Initiative for Emerging Campuses at the Hillel Schusterman International Center in Washington, D.C., and by Jeff Stein, chief of staff and senior advisor to the president, both of whom were instrumental in marshaling resources and creating the vision for what Hillel has become at Elon.

Elon University President Leo M. Lambert thanked the Skluts as well as other donors whose generosity to the university have made it possible to grow a vibrant Jewish life on campus. “Beyond your financial commitment, I want to thank you for your vision and leadership,” Lambert said. “Like so many of our wonderful parents, you have stepped up and provided leadership when we needed it, and funds when we needed it, to translate that vision into reality.”

The formal program was preceded by the hanging of mezuzahs on doorposts throughout the home. The ceremony ended with a final mezuzah affixed by Eric Sklut and Assistant Professor Geoffrey Claussen to the right column next to the center’s main entrance.

The Skluts are active supporters of Jewish life at Elon. They endowed the Lori and Eric Sklut Emerging Scholar in Jewish Studies, a named professorship that Claussen holds, and their son Mason, an Elon junior, serves on Hillel’s student board. Lori and Eric Sklut also serve as co-chairs of the Jewish Life Advisory Council with fellow Elon parents Andy and Debbie Cable.

The center will also serve campus groups such as the Elon Academy, a college access program for promising high school students with financial need or no family history of college. Elon Academy students taking sustainable food courses will use the center’s kitchen to store and prepare food grown in Elon’s Community Garden.

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by Eric Townsend, Staff Last Updated - 3/3/2013

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Center for Italian Studies presents “Big Night”

The Center for Italian Culture at Fitchburg State University launches Affari di Famiglia, an exploration of Italian-American families and their foray into commerce, with a screening of the film “Big Night” (1996) at 3:30 and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5 at Ellis White Lecture Hall in Hammond Hall, 160 Pearl St. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets will be sold at the door.

In this acclaimed film, two immigrant brothers in 1950s America struggle to establish their own restaurant.  They finagle a promise that Louis Prima will make an appearance at their restaurant and begin preparing food for the “big night.”

Conflict between the brothers arises over life in America and creative issues in the kitchen. This poignant film blends Italian love of food, family and immigrant ambitions for success, all mixed in with family dynamics. Directed by and starring Stanley Tucci. 

The Affari di Famiglia project continues Wednesday, March 20 with a panel discussion featuring representatives from Italian-American businesses in central Massachusetts. The conversation will focus on how immigrants and their children worked to establish commercial enterprises and how the challenges of family and success affected them. The discussion will be led by Fitchburg State Professor Teresa Fava Thomas, a member of the Economics, History and Political Science Department faculty.

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Fighting hunger takes center stage at Elon summit

Dozens of campus & community advocates gathered Feb. 19 to share ideas and coordinate efforts for alleviating local hunger.

April Durr '01, executive director of Healthy Alamance, speaks at the Feb. 19 Hunger Summit at Elon University.

*****

With chronic hunger harming nearly one out of every five Alamance County residents, campus and community leaders gathered Tuesday evening to discuss collaborative efforts that push back against the problem.

The Hunger Summit at Elon University featured keynote remarks from April Durr ‘01, a former human services major now serving as executive director of Healthy Alamance, a coalition of nonprofits and service agencies whose missions are to promote healthy lifestyle habits and nutrition in the greater Alamance County community.

Durr shared data from the 2011 Alamance Community Assessment with about 70 students, professors, staff members and activists in the university's new Lakeside Meeting Rooms. In the United States, about one in seven people confront hunger challenges every day, defined as the inability to meet sufficient basic dietary needs. “It’s at an individual level that results from food insecurity,” she said.

In Alamance County, 19 percent of the population is “food insecure,” she said.

Also, more than half of students enrolled in the Alamance-Burlington School System are using the free and reduced lunch program, Durr said. She then cited data from a 2011 Elon University Poll that found 64 percent of Alamance County residents knew someone in their family or a close friend who does not have enough money to pay bills.

A significant number of local residents live in a “food desert” where access to healthy food from a grocery store is more than a mile away, and for those without money, snack foods or fast food is the only viable and affordable option. Durr said that such factors make it tough for families to make sound nutritional choices.

“More and more people are becoming aware of healthy foods and are more aware of what they’re putting into their children’s diet,” she said. “If you’re dealing with hunger and you’re trying to think about the health consequences of what you’re able to eat, you can see how that would be stressful for a family.”

Elon University runs several programs through a variety of academic and Student Life offices that address hunger both locally and abroad. Steve Moore, a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Studies who teaches agroecology, shared many of these programs before participants broke into small groups for brainstorming additional ideas.

Steve Moore in the Department of Environmental Studies: "The outcome of eliminating hunger in Alamance County would be a really neat goal."

The existing efforts include:

- Campus Kitchen
- Oxfam
- Leaders in Collaborative Service (LINCS)
- Stop Hunger Now
- Powell Community Garden
- Loy Farm
- Elon Academy
- A recently awarded grant to help senior citizens
- Ongoing food drop-off at the library
- Turkey Trot 5K race to collect canned goods in the fall
- A forthcoming Peace Corps partnership with the university to help teach students about sustainable agricultural and development needs

Moore offered other suggestions to examine in the months and years ahead, from mobile farmers markets to considering a new minor at the university in food and hunger studies.

“We are a very small part of the Alamance community,” he said. “It’s important for us to realize the humble part that we play, and hopefully important part, in meeting and helping our fellow citizens and community members. They’re the ones who should really be the main players in directing our activities.

“If we engage with them and share our excitement with the resources we can bring, we can be really useful. The outcome of eliminating hunger in Alamance County would be a really neat goal.”

Elon's Hunger Summit follows in the wake of the Campus Compact Hunger Summit hosted by the university last fall. That forum attracted faculty and students from colleges across North Carolina.

For more information about the Hunger Summit and ideas for moving forward, contact the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement at (336) 278-7250 or elonvols@elon.edu. Moore can be reached at smoore24@elon.edu.

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by Eric Townsend, Staff Last Updated - 2/20/2013

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Francis Center earns LEED Silver Certification

The home of Elon University's School of Health Sciences is the 10th LEED-certified building on campus.

The Gerald L. Francis Center

*****

The Gerald L. Francis Center on East Haggard Avenue serves as the home of Elon University's School of Health Sciences, a place where graduate students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies programs learn using cutting-edge technology.

And the Francis Center now holds another distinction as the 10th LEED-certified building on campus.

By achieving LEED Silver certification through its renovation and operational practices, the Francis Center takes into consideration the health of people impacted by the building’s use, its impact on the environment and its impact on the regional economy, said Jessica Bilecki, the university's education and outreach coordinator in the Office of Sustainability.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification is an internationally recognized standard for sustainable design and construction. Buildings receive the distinction based on criteria for sustainable site consideration, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials use and disposal, indoor environmental quality and innovation.

The Office of Sustainability, in recognition of the university's 10th LEED-certified building, compiled a "top ten" list of sustainable features at the Francis Center.

10. Education. Tours are available upon request, and a website dedicated to the sustainable features of the building help educate people about the existence and relevance of special building features. In addition, anyone will be able to view the building’s real-time energy use on the Building Dashboard.

9. Low Emissions Transportation. By providing shower facilities, bike racks and low-emitting vehicle (LEV) parking, the site encourages the use of no or low emission vehicles. LEVs are not limited to hybrids. The university maintains a list of approved LEV vehicles. In addition, there are BioBus stops nearby to provide easy access to the center of campus.

8. Indoor Air Quality. Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) products were used throughout the building, and several furniture pieces are GREENGUARD certified, ensuring they contain low amounts of chemicals and particle emissions.

7. Green Cleaning. This program includes the use of cleaning products that have low chemical content, vacuum cleaners with high-filtration systems to maintain healthy indoor air quality, and waste reduction through the use of bulk dispensing systems and reusable cloths.

6. Recycled Content (19%). About 19 percent of new building materials, including steel, drywall and carpet, contain recycled content.

5. Sustainably Harvested Wood (87%). Almost 87 percent of the building’s wood-based building materials are Forest Stewardship Council-certified products. This means the wood products come from forests managed to the “highest environmental and social standards”.

4. Energy Efficiency (20%). The renovated building uses just over 20 percent less energy than previously thanks to efficient lighting and windows, insulation, occupancy sensors and efficient heating and cooling systems.

3. Water Efficiency (41%). Dual flush toilets, low-flow shower heads and low-flow, automated faucets reduce potable (water that is safe to drink) water use by 41 percent.

2. Reuse (95%). Renovations incorporated the use of 95 percent of existing structural elements like walls, the foundation, and roofing.

1. Construction Waste Diversion (96%). Those who managed the disposal of onsite-generated construction waste kept 96.6 percent of waste from going to the landfill.

Bilecki said that building to LEED-certified standards demonstrates Elon’s continued commitment to sustainability and ensures better health and well-being for people and the ecosystems that support its community.

For more information on Elon’s sustainable construction practices, review the Green Building Policy or visit the Office of Sustainability website.

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by Eric Townsend, Staff Last Updated - 2/14/2013

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Fairfield University's Center for Catholic Studies announces spring semester season

Fairfield University's Center for Catholic Studies 2013 spring semester season of public events is highlighted by a February 15 concert co-sponsored by St. Anthony of Padua Church of Fairfield, marking the first time that the Center will partner with a parish on an event. The concert, taking place in the Egan Chapel on the Fairfield campus, is called "Age-to-Age: Generations of Faith," and will feature a performance by three Catholic musicians of varying ages and musical styles.

Lecture topics include Fr. Paul G. Crowley, S.J.'s Bellarmine Lecture on the challenges of religious faith today, Fordham University faculty members Tom Beaudoin's and Patrick Hornbeck's exploration of the phenomenon of "deconversion," or the changes in heart and mind that many American Catholics are experiencing with regard to their relationship with Catholicism, and the annual Commonweal Lecture in which the distinguished theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson will explore the topic of her forthcoming book on God and Darwin.

Directed by Paul Lakeland, Ph.D., the Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J. Chair in Catholic Studies, the Center for Catholic Studies provides an inter-disciplinary inquiry into the intellectual tradition, history and culture of the Catholic Christian tradition.

With the exception of the concert, all events are free. For details, please see the schedule below or visit http://www.fairfield.edu/cs/.

Spring 2013

Living Theology Workshop
"Student Activism and the Jesuit Tradition"
Julie Mughal, assistant director of Fairfield University's Center for Faith and Public Life
Saturday, February 2, 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
Fairfield University DiMenna-Nyselius Library Multimedia Room
Free

The 2013 Bellarmine Lecture
"The Elusiveness of God in a Wary Age"
Fr. Paul Crowley, S.J., Professor of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University
Wednesday, February 13, 8 p.m.
Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Free

"Age to Age: Generations of Faith"
A concert with Steve Angrisano, Dan Schutte, and Curtis Stephan
Co-sponsored by St. Anthony of Padua Parish and the Center for Catholic Studies
Friday, February 15, 7:30 p.m.
Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola
Tickets are $10 and are available through the Quick Center Box Office; call (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396).

Living Theology Workshop
"How Did the Nuns End Up on the Bus?"
A viewing of the film "Band of Sisters" followed by a discussion with Sr. Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP and Sr. Rosemarie Greco, DW, Wisdom House Retreat Center
Saturday, March 2, 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
DiMenna-Nyselius Library Multimedia Room
Free

"When Catholics Change Their Minds about Faith: Disaffiliation and 'Deconversion' in the Church Today"
Patrick Hornbeck, Assistant Professor of Theology at Fordham University, and Thomas Beaudoin, Associate Professor of Theology, Graduate School of Religion, Fordham University
Wednesday, March 20, 8 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Free

Living Theology Workshop
"Is Service Serving Faith?"
Fairfield University staff members Elyse Raby, of the Center for Catholic Studies, and Jocelyn Collen, of Campus Ministry
Saturday, April 6, 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
DiMenna-Nyselius Library Multimedia Room
Free

The 7th Annual Commonweal Lecture
"Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love"
Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, Distinguished Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Wednesday, April 17, 8 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Free

"Today's Catholics, Tomorrow's Church"
Special lecture hosted by Religious Studies students
Speaker to be announced
Wednesday, April 24, 8 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Free

Media Contact: Meg McCaffrey, (203) 254-4000, ext. 2726, mmccaffrey@fairfield.edu

Posted on January 09, 2013

Vol. 45, No. 149

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