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May 2019
A Community of Impact: How Adelphi Is Committed to Service

This month, I am proud to shine a spotlight on Adelphi’s enduring commitment to community engagement—a hallmark of our University since our founding in 1896 as a school for liberal education with a strong mission for civic engagement and service-learning. After more than 120 years, Adelphi’s faculty, students and staff unreservedly engage with our campus and broader community in ways that not only benefit them personally and professionally, but that advance and enrich our friends, colleagues, neighbors, partners and communities.  

Although it proved tricky to select just a few to highlight, this month’s stories illustrate how Adelphi’s earliest charges of service-learning and civic engagement have shaped a community committed to showing compassion and giving back.


As you can see, Adelphi has a deeply rooted dedication to serve that leads to the betterment of our campus and our communities. I look forward to the future knowing that Panthers everywhere are out there making the world better!

All the best,
Christine M. Riordan, Ph.D.
President

Green is growing at Adelphi

Adelphi’s sense of community extends to the entire planet. That’s why we formed a Sustainable Campus Council—powered by staff, faculty and students—to develop solutions that will make Adelphi greener.
Change in plans: How one student became a social justice leader
Graduating senior Antonette White thought she knew what she wanted to study when she first came to Adelphi. A look through the course listings showed her all Adelphi has to offer and inspired her to take a new path.
How one student is fighting for change. Najee Hunt came to Adelphi determined to make a difference on campus and in the community. He’s done that—and has won a prestigious Newman Civic Fellowship, an honor given to student leaders from across the country.
Finding ways to treat young people suffering from trauma. Adelphi’s Institute for Adolescent Trauma Treatment and Training is helping mental health professionals nationwide recognize and treat patients who suffer from a lifetime of traumatic experiences.
Preparing for storms ahead. Joy Ann Matthias has years of experience helping communities recover from hurricanes. Now she’s preparing for bigger roles by studying for a master’s degree in Adelphi’s emergency management program.
Nourishing minds, feeding a community. The Garden Vines S.E.E.D.S. program is giving Adelphi students hands-on experience helping elementary schools in neighboring Hempstead plant and maintain vegetable gardens in their community.
Speech-language therapy with empathy.
Patients of all ages come from surrounding communities for low-cost treatment of hearing, speech and language issues at Adelphi’s Hy Weinberg Center for Communication Disorders.
Our mission to keep local children in school. A clinic in nearby Hempstead, run by the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, is providing mental health care to disadvantaged students while teaching graduate students just how big a difference they can make in the life of a child.
Research at Adelphi: Nursing and the opioid crisis
Nurses are on the front lines of healthcare’s battle against opioid addiction, but the education they receive doesn’t fully prepare them to treat patients with substance use disorders. Marissa Abram ’08, Ph.D. ’17 , assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Public Health, thinks nursing education and the culture of nursing need to be refined to meet the crisis. Read about it in “ Recovering Hope,” a feature article in our Academic and Creative Research Magazine.
Looking forward to championships, looking back at a legend
The academic year is coming to a close with our highly ranked spring sports teams vying for spots in the playoffs. Our baseball team is No. 11 in the national polls—its highest ranking since 2011—and both our lacrosse teams have been holding positions in the top five throughout the season. Softball and track and field are looking to make waves in the conference tournaments, which begin May 2 and May 3, respectively. All five teams have championship aspirations.

While we look forward to celebrating the successes in May, we also take a moment to honor our storied past. The late Robert E. Hartwell, former director of athletics and recreation, will be posthumously inducted into the East Coast Conference Hall of Fame this spring. The longest-tenured athletic director in school history, he served from 1986 through 2013, having been promoted to assistant vice president in 2009.
Alumni making a difference: Molly Cuevas ’16, M.S. ’17
We thank this extraordinary alumna for starting a thre e-mo nth, 3,000-mile run from Santa Monica, California, to Montauk, New York, to support the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which provides grants to people across the world facing physical challenges.

Molly's story is another example of Adelphi's impact in the community. Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching with the prestigious Community Engagement Classification, Adelphi is deeply committed to both bettering and benefiting from our community. We enrich our students’ experiences through service-learning, hands-on learning and community-based research, and we provide countless important services and opportunities to others.
Momentum Tour 2018–2019
The 2018–2019 Momentum Tour has now come to an end after crisscrossing the country over the past nine months. I’d like to thank the loyal alumni and friends of the University who hosted these great events, as well as all the proud graduates, family members, prospective students and donors who joined us to share their stories. Your support has helped “power up” the Panther network. I encourage everyone to stay connected through Alumnifire and adelphi.edu . Look for details about the 2019–2020 tour, coming in July!