March 2018
From my desk: News from President Riordan
Going from backpacks to briefcases: How Adelphi is reinventing career planning
I read last weekend that Toyota is spending $2.8 billion, and hiring 1,000 people, to begin its own self-driving car company.
 
I admit I am not particularly anxious to do a crossword puzzle while my car drives itself! 
 
But what struck me about this news is something very personal to my life as a college president. How can we, as colleges and universities, prepare students for the quickly changing nature of the 21st-century world of work?
 
The old model of career services—providing students with interview tips, résumé workshops, and a list of majors and minors—has to be thrown away and replaced with something as new and innovative as a self-driving car.
 
I am very proud that this is what we are doing here at Adelphi—in surprising new ways.
 
Our Center for Career and Professional Development has a unique take on career development. We don’t wait until senior year to talk to students; they are welcome to walk in as first-year students at Adelphi—and very often do.
 
The old standbys of résumé writing and interview skills are there, but they’re part of a much larger plan to help each student find his or her own path. According to our tireless Executive Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development Thomas J. Ward Jr. '93, his office connects students with an array of community service-learning, volunteering, leadership training , on-campus employment (a virtual army of 1,300 students across every facet of the University), workshops and paid internships in almost every field you can name.  
 
“For us, there are many, many spokes of the wheel. But it always begins with a personal conversation. It can’t just be about filling out forms. Our students have to find what they love to do,” said Ward.
 
Jeanenne Campbell, who transferred to Adelphi to major in Computer and Management Information Systems , took an on-campus job as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Video Game Development to gain work experience in her field. In her words, “It gave me a chance to get my feet wet before jumping into the ocean.”
 
Adelphi is currently creating new programs in computer science, applied math, health and wellness, and interdisciplinary studies to offer students new career directions. Our new provost (see below) will play an inspiring new role here.
 
Finally, our alumni network of 100,000 and board of trustees often step in to assist. Last week, after reading about a student who came to Adelphi to create his own interdisciplinary puppetry major —a story that has been receiving considerable press attention—I received a letter from Trustee Charles Tolbert: “Dear Friends: Please let Sebastiano, the puppeteering student, know that I forwarded his info to puppet theatre director Darin Johnson, the head of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and the artistic director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Puppetry Conference (who is also a longtime puppeteer at Sesame Street ).”
 
That’s indicative of the personal connection, and the personal touch, that helps our students thrive—in the classroom and beyond it.
 
Please read how the students below are “getting their feet wet” in the arts, the sciences, social work and everything in between. I know great futures are ahead.
 
Christine M. Riordan, Ph.D.
President
A new program creates career demand…and a healthier, happier nation. 

Adelphi’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner graduate program is helping to meet the growing demand for highly trained professionals in the critical field of mental health. A student and a professor explain how.
Meet Our New Provost

It’s my great pleasure to introduce Steve Everett, D.M.A., the remarkable scholar, composer and educator who’s just been named our new chief academic officer. His innovative ideas will help us provide a brilliant future for our students—and for Adelphi.
Preparing future CPAs for their toughest test. With a passing rate of less than 50 percent, the CPA exam is known as one of the toughest in the professional world. Adelphi is helping in extraordinary new ways.
Learning to be a financial professional, using real money. Can business students manage part of the University’s endowment? Yes, they can, and they do, at Adelphi. It’s preparation for a career in finance that’s produced steady returns.
Making it easier to make it in the arts. Building a career in the arts has always been difficult. But Adelphi performing arts students are landing internships that are leading to promising debuts.
Preparing for a career by helping a city battle a crisis. Social work interns from our Hudson Valley Center are playing a vital role as Newburgh, New York, fights to end its opioid epidemic. 
500 students, 90 companies, 3 hours. Those are the raw numbers from Adelphi's annual Job and Internship Expo, but they add up to nearly limitless possibilities for students looking to jump-start their career. This year's expo is April 27.
Java toast for a successful search for ghosts at Brookhaven National Lab. Physics major Deepsana Shahi spent her final semester at Adelphi helping scientists look for evidence of the subatomic “ghost particles” known as neutrinos.
Athletics Update
"I Don't Let My Deafness Define Me." Senior Athlete Shares Her Story.
Our athletes continue to share their personal experiences through a newly launched series, Panther Podium. This month, senior women's lacrosse player Allison Schneider (pictured) shares a letter to her parents on the 20-year anniversary of the cochlear implant that changed her life and her family's lives forever. In more Panther news, three track and field athletes are going to Pittsburg, Kansas, this week to represent Adelphi in the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships on March 9 to March 10: sophomore Victoria Major (high jump), and juniors Felipe Custodio (400 meters) and Michael Grady (800 meters). We wish them all the best!
Alumni Making a Difference
Alice Hoffman '73
C elebrated and prolific author Alice Hoffman, best known for her brilliant 1995 novel, Practical Magic , is also deeply committed to two great causes: better care for breast cancer patients, and mentoring young writers. This month, we honor this survivor, storyteller, activist and mentor for young writers at Adelphi.
Heart of Gold Giving Day 2018
On Wednesday, March 21, Panthers around the nation will prove they have hearts of gold. Join me on campus or online for Heart of Gold Giving Day to help fund worthy causes at Adelphi.
Momentum Tour 2017–2018
And, if you're in Florida, join me in Palm Beach on March 10 or Naples on March 11 for the next stops of my Momentum Tour 2017–2018: Stories of Lives Changed: Hear Ours, Tell Yours .