As the semester winds down, students and professors alike have begun preparation for final exams, presentations, and for those hard-working individuals that have braved four (or more) years at Saint Leo, graduation. However, one member of Saint Leo University’s administration has just gotten into the rhythm of the work he has cut out for himself. Dr. Jeffrey Senese, senior vice president of Academic Affairs and Provost, has been on the ground in the early morning hours and late afternoons making several assessments within and around University Campus.
Senese, who has a myriad of positions and skills on his C.V., said he chose Saint Leo as his new school because of the home-like feeling he received as he visited the campus. Senese juxtaposed other college campuses stating of Saint Leo, “This place felt better, the people felt better; there was more of a community here, more of a connection here. It wasn’t a job. It wasn’t a business in that way.”
Enamored by the experience, Senese welcomed the opportunity to become a part of Saint Leo’s family and has started to integrate himself into the life of the campus. One of the areas in which he has begun to incorporate himself has been within the athletic community. Senese said, “I think I’ve tried to attend as many athletic contests as I can. Basketball was a bit easier because it occurred on the weekends, and I’ve attended lacrosse, I like those games.”
However, his assimilation into University Campus is not limited to sporting events.
“I’ve gone to the play that occurred in the fall [The Secret in the Wings], and I try to go to as many student events that my schedule allows,” he said. “I know at the end of the academic year there is typically senior presentations which I will try to go to as many as those as I can, including dissertation or master’s defenses.”
Senese also mentioned having lunch with the Abbot as well. Most satisfying with Senese’s initial stint on campus is his affirming that “as much as I can connect to the institution, I will.”
Senese’s first months on campus have been filled with numerous meetings with staff, faculty, and students. Advertised on numerous bulletin boards around campus, Senese opened his door to students where they could sit and speak with him one-on-one, voicing their concerns. “I have established open office hours for students on a scheduled basis. It doesn’t mean that it’s the only time that I’ll talk to students, but it’s a routine block of time that is open to [them],” Senese said. What I told [my]staff is if there is a group of students and they want to talk as a group that is fine; if it’s an individual, that’s fine.”
Additionally, Senese has tried to foster the grounds for better communication between staff as well, stating, “I’ve created a couple of structures to help us communicate better. The first one is Dean’s council, the three Deans and I sit at a table and talk about academic policy issues, faculty and retention issues and how we can support faculty and students better.”
With a multitude of productive meetings already accomplished and many more to come, Senese erred from revealing the many ideas and actions that will be taken in the upcoming weeks and months. However, Senese shared one opinion stating, “A group of faculty came to me and said, ‘We want a refresher course in research methodology. We want to understand it more deeply because we are going to be teaching graduate students, doctoral students, so we want this approach to be not about training us on how to use D2L, but help us refresh our memories and practice in research methodology.’ And I said ‘OK, great.’”
Additionally, Senese spoke about the types of programs that could potentially be implemented at Saint Leo. He indicated that most universities of Saint Leo’s size have programs such as health sciences, engineering, or technology degrees, so, it would make sense to provide these specific degrees for our students.
“On the health science side, I would say nursing makes sense for this institution. So, part of the goal is going to be expanding programmatic options, like nursing and other health science programs.
As far as engineering programs, Senese indicated that we might not incorporate traditional programs, such as electrical or mechanical engineering, but “more digitally based engineering [such as]software development and on the hardware side, network engineering,” he stated.
Senese stated his belief that there is room at Saint Leo for these sorts of programs in addition to more higher-level programs.
“I think increasing the breadth of what we are doing at that level makes a lot of sense right now,” he said.
Senese went on to explain Saint Leo’s APR process, which is the review process all departments go through every five years.
“I think that’s important and I want to make sure that we are paying attention to how we make improvements in every single one on whatever routine we can and that we make investments in making those improvements. That includes not just degree programs, but student support services [like]advising and disability,” said Senese.
There is a lot that the administration is looking into as far as improving the experience for commuter students and resident students who do not own cars. Senese talked extensively about possibly adding special commuter-only lounges on campus that would be an inviting place for those students to hang out when they had free time. At some of the previous institutions that Senese worked at, they had special commuter lounges with lockers, comfortable furniture and televisions that they could hang out at throughout their days. Senese indicated that Saint Leo should look into an idea such as this.
There was also talk about creating a ride-sharing service for campus students to get to downtown Tampa. Senese explained that he helped implement the “Zip Car” program at two of his previous institutions in which students could pay to rent cars on campus for the day.
There have been students asking about non-federal work-study job positions on campus—mainly international students—and what Senese can do to expand positions at Saint Leo. While Senese does agree many of our positions get filled quickly, he explained there are still open jobs with dining services and plant operations. He explained that the money that goes into non-federal work-study (or University Employment) is controlled by the University, but they need to get funding to provide more of these jobs. Senese was not opposed to creating more positions.
“So, if we can find additional sources of funding to have more student workers on campus, we would certainly be open to that,” he said. For the time being he encourages students to contact plant operations or dining services about positions that still need to be filled.
Senese then went on to talk about scholarship opportunities, after being asked if the administration was planning on increasing the amount for University students.
“We are always looking at that and would like to help more; we do the best we can with what we have to work with and trying to add to that overtime.”
He explained that the University Advancement office focuses on raising money from donors to help the students. Senese said that the University is always looking for money to help our students pay for tuition and that the amount of money should grow over time.
“It’s over $20 million we give in institutional aid, so it’s not just federal financial aid to make Saint Leo more affordable for students, and we expanded that number over time, and we continue to do so as students’ needs drive it.”
When the topic of our University Centers and WorldWide community came up, Senese had a plan on how he was going to connect with these different locations.
“I made a commitment that I am going to go to every single Center between now and next January,” he said.
Senese went on to say that with the exception of a few military Centers, he should have visited almost every location within his first year. He believes that by going to these locations he can understand what Saint Leo University is as a whole by simply asking “What do you think needs to be done at your location?”
Senese also reflected on his visit to a new Center opening recently,
“I went to the opening of the Jacksonville [center a]couple weeks ago and visited with the faculty and staff that were up there. That’s important. If this [is]one University, and it is one University, that’s the kind of connection we need to have.”
As Provost, Senese explained, “I was hired for a certain reason with certain responsibilities, and then as things got done and other things emerged, I’ve been able to focus on those additional things that needed to be done for the University. My focus is really on the University.”
One thing in particular that Senese was very passionate about is the opportunity he sees for the University Campus to increase its student retention. By growing the student population, the University will be able to expand the amount of activities that are offered to students.
“I’m not talking about making this place a large university campus but larger than it is … if there were more students here there would be more activity, more people engaged, so, weekends would feel more robust.”
Senese sees a lot of opportunity to be able to do more with what we have on main campus, but he also explained that he wants to improve more at the Centers as well.
“So, I am not the Provost of this office or this campus, but the Provost for the entire University, helping the University get to the point where all academic experiences, all faculty experiences are as similar as they can be across the University.
