This weekend I took part in two very different spring rituals that guided me to similar reflections. First, my family and I participated in a series of events with our church that culminated in a joyous Easter celebration on Sunday. Then, on Monday, I spent the day working outside, pruning, mulching and preparing my yard for the season ahead. I marveled at how both activities reminded me of resurrection, rebirth and renewal. As I taught an auditorium full of 1st through 5th graders the Easter story and noticed how trees and shrubs that looked dead just a few days ago are now bursting with life, I could not stop thinking about the promise of spring. Given my work in graduate education, my mind kept returning to the perennial seasonal rite of Commencement. 

It seems ironic that the culmination of an educational experience is referred to as beginning. My spring rituals taught me the error of my linear line of thought. Progress is cyclical and often requires sacrifice. While Commencement is certainly a time of new beginnings, it is also time to reflect upon what you have had to lay down in order to move forward. As graduate school is meant to be a transformative experience, graduation is a time to consider how you have changed and how the new you will change the world.  

No matter where you are in your graduate education journey, I encourage you to reflect with me on the promise of the season. How will you use the sacrifices you have made in the pursuit of your graduate education, the pruning, the mulching, the laying down of things in your life, to make a difference in the world? Some of you will be moving on to new academic or professional opportunities. Others will be here and embarking on new scholarship, new research or new service-learning experiences. You all have new horizons with limitless potential. 

I am reminded of the famous quote from St. Augustine, "Become what you are not yet." I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that this new beginning, this promise of spring, provides for everyone. 

The Villanova Department of Theatre and Studio Art boasts faculty who are accomplished scholars in the field and acclaimed practitioners of the craft. This spring, Associate Professor James Ijames, MFA, debuted his Pulitzer-winning play FAT HAM on Broadway; Associate Professor Chelsea Phillips, MFA, PhD, published two articles in scholarly journals; Assistant Professor Bess Rowen, PhD, edited and contributed an introduction to a revised edition of A Streetcar Named Desire; and Assistant Professor Peter Hilliard, BM, MFA, composed a new opera, Inbox Zero. READ MORE

Villanova Psychology master's student Grace Gervino '23 MS earned a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF) for her research examining the neural bases of stuttering. The NSF-GRFP is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Gervino's application was selected out of a national pool of applicants as one of the best in her field.

The Villanova University Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is pleased to announce Allison Warner '22 MS as this year's Ingeborg L. and O. Byron Ward Outstanding Thesis Award winner. This award honors one Psychology master's student each year for a particularly excellent thesis and thesis project. Warner conducted her thesis project, "The Effects of Brain Serotonin Deficiency on Antidepressant- and Anxiolytic-like Responses to Cardiovascular Exercise in Females", under the direction of Benjamin Sachs, PhD.

Whether it is because of similar research interests, connections within the field or other, more nuanced factors, faculty play a large role in students’ choice of graduate school and are also instrumental in shaping the graduate student experience. Villanova English master’s student Theo Campbell '23 MA points to the kindness, generosity and support of Villanova faculty for helping them to flourish as a scholar and to gain acceptance to the English PhD program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they will be starting in the fall.

Villanova Theatre Presents: Sunday in the Park with George – April 13 - 23

Support your fellow CLAS graduate students who are integral to all aspects of Villanova Theatre productions! Sunday in the Park with George runs from April 13 to April 23 in The John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts. Inspired by the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s stunning masterpiece merges past and present into beautiful, poignant truths about life, love and the creation of art. One of the most acclaimed musicals of our time, this moving study of the enigmatic painter won a Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for an astounding ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Student tickets are discounted to only $10. Learn more and get tickets.

The Office of Graduate Studies sponsors intensive language training during the summer to assist students in preparing for reading proficiency examinations. This summer the language workshop offerings are in Attic Greek and German. Priority enrollment is for doctoral students in Theology and Philosophy, followed by master’s students in CLAS. Learn more and apply.

You are invited to the TEDxVillanovaU Paradigm Shift for Sustainability conference on Sunday, April 16, from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. p.m. in the Driscoll Hall Auditorium and Lobby. The conference theme is about embracing the holistic view of sustainability that is Villanova—not only the importance of environmental and climate responsibility but also all perspectives and ideas that will help us to live Unitas, Veritas and Caritas—to hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth, to enable and accelerate pathways to achieve an ethos of sustainable living, and to guide us into a future world in which everyone globally can live healthily and comfortably. The 2023 TEDxVillanovaU conference talks will be given by Villanova students, faculty, staff and alumni, and will touch on the themes of mental health and compassion, growing authentic community, reconnecting with our natural selves, sustainable agriculture, sustainability in theater and the future of economics from a human-rights perspective. A catered dinner will be provided at the end of the event. Register for the conference.

The Grad Center wants to hear from Villanova’s international graduate students! Please join the Grad Center team for an informal focus group on Monday, April 17, from 10 to 11 a.m. in St. Mary’s Hall, Room 163C. International graduate students often face many obstacles when coming to the United States to further their education. The Grad Center wants to learn about your experiences and what it can do to help. Light breakfast will be provided. Register for the focus group.

Join fellow graduate students and graduate alumni on Monday, April 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Garey Hall Suite 117 for an interactive networking skills workshop and event. What are the top networking skills utilized by successful professionals? How do you make a networking event fruitful with new connections? This interactive event will begin with a one-hour presentation delivered by Villanova Career Management Coach Meredith Okenquist ’96, who will showcase powerful networking strategies and tips that empower professionals. The second hour will be an activation of learned best practices within a networking environment of conversations with fellow Villanovans. Learn more and register.

Join your fellow graduate students on Friday, April 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the monthly Happy Hour at Gullifty’s. Appetizers provided courtesy of the Grad Center and drink specials available to students for purchase. Relax and unwind before the end of the semester! Please register to help get an accurate food count.

Fides Quaerens Conference: Hospitality and the Impossible – April 21 - 22

Fides Quaerens, a group of Philosophy and Theology graduate students, invites you to attend their annual conference. The theme this year is hospitality and the impossible. The plenary speakers will be Stephanie Wong (Villanova University) and Richard Kearney (Boston College). The papers presented at this conference will challenge the impossibility of being hospitable and explore how hospitality may be realized. The conference will take place on Friday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Garey 10A and on Saturday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Dougherty East Lounge. The conference is sponsored by The Augustinian Institute, the Philosophy and Theology Departments, and the Villanova Office Mission and Ministry. Register for the conference.

Save the dates for a week full of graduate student appreciation activities hosted by the Grad Center!

Have fun and dance with Manny Chacon, Assistant Director of Student Performing Arts.

This class is open to everyone, regardless of experience or ability. Just come and have fun!

Location: Garey Hall, Room 10A; Time: 3 - 4 p.m.

Join your fellow grad and law students for a night of pizza and fun.

Location: St. Mary's Hall Courtyard and Room 163B; Time: 4 - 7 p.m.

Description: Take a break from your studies with a movie night featuring Academy Award Winner,

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Pizza and popcorn will be available.

Location: TBD; Time: 5 - 7:30 p.m.

We don't want the little kids to have all the fun with Easter Egg Hunts! Hunt for some

treat-filled eggs, pick up an appreciation basket and have some lunch!

Location: St. Mary's Hall Courtyard (adjacent to Grad Center Office in St. Mary's Hall 109)

Time: 12 - 1 p.m.

End the week with some free food and fun fire pits. Meet up with other grad students at the Oreo for some delicious food trucks followed by s'mores by the fire pits.

Location: Oreo; Time: 8 - 11 p.m.

CONCEPT Recognition Ceremony – April 28

Join the Grad CLAS community on Friday, April 28 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Larson Kelly Auditorium (Rm. 132) and Atrium in Driscoll Hall to celebrate the launch of the 2023 edition of CONCEPT, the interdisciplinary journal of graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The ceremony will recognize this year’s Graduate Research Prize for top paper, along with all of the student authors and editors, faculty editors and peer reviewers. The panel discussion will be held in the auditorium, followed by a reception in the atrium. This event will also be live streamed. Please register for the event.

All graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences can use their Wildcard to access the Graduate Student Lounge on the third floor of Old Falvey, Room 306. The lounge has been fully renovated and is stocked with coffee and snacks. The lounge is a great study space that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Looking for a place to study? A place to connect with other graduate students? A time an place to reserve to study or write? The Grad Center offers St. Mary's Hall Room 110 each Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Coffee, tea and snacks provided!