This summer, Saint Joseph’s announced its commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability with a goal of becoming designated by the Vatican as a Laudato Si’ University. Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, “On Care for Our Common Home,” a Laudato Si’ University is called to work toward total sustainability in the spirit of integral ecology.

Saint Joseph’s sustainability program, the President’s Laudato Si’ Initiative on Sustainability and Stewardship, will focus on three main principles rooted in Jesuit values: environmental stewardship, social justice stewardship and cura personalis stewardship.

Environmental stewardship will strive to minimize the University’s environmental footprint through initiatives like energy conservation, including renewable energy sources such as the geothermal-power at Sister Thea Bowman Hall; waste reduction and water conservation; LEED-certified construction; and promoting green spaces on campus. 

The two additional principles, social justice stewardship and cura personalis stewardship, go beyond environmental issues to focus on the interconnectedness of environmental and social justice issues and recognize the environment as an integral part of human health for all, especially for marginalized populations.

“As a Jesuit institution of higher education and as citizens of the world, we are called on to promote environmental justice and to be better stewards of our common home,” President Cheryl A. McConnell, PhD, said in an announcement.

Longtime Saint Joseph’s supporters, Brian Dooner, BS ’83, and Marlene Dooner, BA ‘83, H’23, are funding the University’s initiative, which will be led by a sustainability guiding coalition of faculty, staff and students and chaired by Clint Springer, PhD, associate professor of biology, director of the Institute for Environmental Stewardship and director of the Barnes Arboretum.

“We are honored to support this critical initiative, which demonstrates Saint Joseph’s University’s ongoing commitment to guiding students to become critical thinkers, compassionate leaders and agents of positive change in our increasingly complex and interconnected world,” said the Dooners.

In January 2024, Saint Joseph’s University officially completed its merger with Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences in Lancaster. Along with the acquisition of PA College’s 20,000 square feet of lab and simulation spaces came a plethora of academic programs and provider partnerships that launched SJU’s School of Nursing and Allied Health (SNAH).

SNAH is led by Dean Melissa J. Snyder, EdD, FNP, CNE, and serves over 1,800 students enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s, associate, certificate and post-baccalaureate programs in healthcare. This past spring, 475 SNAH students crossed Saint Joseph’s Commencement stage, marking the first cohort to graduate from the new school.

“Graduation is always a time of celebration but our 2024 graduates have the special honor of being the first class to graduate from the new School of Nursing and Allied Health at SJU,” remarks Snyder. “We are so proud of this class’s accomplishments. Their base demographics show that SNAH is providing educational opportunities for the important and growing student population of first-generation and adult-learner students. It is this commitment to providing accessible educational opportunities and local workforce development that distinguishes our school from its peer institutions.”

SNAH Class of 2024
By the Numbers

562 Graduates 
7 Degree Types Awarded
19 Majors Represented
31% First-Generation College Students
67% Adult Learners
 

Select Employers and Residencies

• ChristianaCare
• DaVita Kidney Care
• Doylestown Health
• Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Masonic Villages
• Patient First Primary and Urgent Care
• Penn Medicine: Lancaster General Health
• Penn State Health: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
• UPMC
• WellSpan Health

Vice President and Director of Athletics Jill Bodensteiner, JD, MBA, was named the 2023-24 Nike Division I Executive of the Year by Women Leaders in Sports (Women Leaders). The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions as senior-level executives across each division and in the broader sport industry. Bodensteiner's accolade is a direct result of her deep expertise and involvement in collegiate athletics and the success of the Hawks on and off the court and field. 

Currently, Bodensteiner serves on two NCAA committees and is the vice chair of the Philadelphia Sports Commission. Often called on for her expertise in collegiate athletics, Bodensteiner visited Capitol Hill in the fall of 2023 to serve as an expert witness at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and the Future of College, and again in the House of Representatives in the spring of 2024.

In April, she announced the launch of enhanced NIL programming for student-athletes in conjunction with Van Wagner, Student Athlete NIL and the Brandr Group. The program, which kicked off with a first-of-its-kind NIL fair, was created to educate athletes about the information and connections necessary for them to pursue NIL deals. 

Men’s basketball student-athlete Shawn Simmons II, BA ’27, shows off his aerial skills in one example of NIL opportunities for Hawk athletes in this advertisement for the American Dairy Association of the Northeast.

 

Since Bodenseiner began her tenure at Saint Joseph's University in 2018, athletics has become a powerhouse of Division 1 accomplishments. Field hockey has appeared in the NCAA tournament five out of six years and won its first tournament game in program history. In fall 2023, field hockey reached its highest national ranking in history at No. 6 in the country. The men's and women's lacrosse teams each made their first-ever NCAA tournament appearances. St. Joe's baseball won its first A-10 regular-season championship, as well as its first conference championship since 1974. The men's and women's basketball teams swept through the city opponents to win the Big 5 Championships, and the teams received postseason bids to the National Invitation Tournament and Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament, respectively, this year.

Under Bodensteiner's leadership, the department has adopted a powerful and unique culture based on human relationships, with a significant focus on inclusion and authenticity. The people and departmental culture are the driving forces behind the twin goals of the St. Joe’s athletic department: first, to achieve competitive excellence that benefits the University in a myriad of ways, and second, to prepare the 500+ student-athletes on Hawk Hill to be resilient, selfless and bold leaders.

Saint Joseph’s University announced the name of its new first-year residence hall at a community-wide celebration on Nov. 1, 2023. Slated to open in fall 2025, the over-500-student residence hall will be named Sister Thea Bowman Hall in honor of the late educator, evangelist and social justice advocate.

“For many years, we at SJU have been inspired by the life of Sister Thea Bowman, having a lecture series named for her in 2014 that featured the experiences of African American women in the academy,” said Daniel R.J. Joyce, S.J. ’88, vice president of mission and ministry. “We are now happy to join with the National Black Catholic Congress to recognize Sister Thea as a candidate for sainthood as we present her as an example of service and holiness to all of our students with this lasting legacy and inspiration in the naming of our new residence hall.”

Honorary degree recipient Sister Cora Marie Billings H ’17, a contemporary and lifelong friend of Sr. Bowman who has been a member of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas for 65 years, offered remarks on the exemplary life Sr. Bowman led.

“Whatever gift you have, whatever thing you can give of yourself, that’s what you do for God. And Thea did that all of her life — she was always giving back to God and God’s people,” said Sr. Billings at the ceremony held on All Saints Day.

Sister Thea Bowman Hall is one of numerous current projects in Saint Joseph’s campus master plan, a decade-long transformation to enhance the student experience. Its location adjacent to the Maguire-Wolfington Welcome Center will create a picturesque quad for students and community members to enjoy.

About Sr. Thea Bowman

Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in 1937, Sr. Thea Bowman (birth name Bertha Elizabeth Bowman) was a professor, advocate of racial equity and powerful force for inclusivity in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council.

She joined the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at age 15 as its first and only African American nun, later going on to earn a bachelor’s, master’s and PhD as part of her religious formation.

She was an educator for 16 years before being invited by the bishop of Jackson, Mississippi, to become a consultant for intercultural awareness for the diocese. The granddaughter of a slave, she gave presentations across the country aimed at breaking down racial and cultural barriers and celebrating each other's differences.

In 1984, Sr. Bowman was diagnosed with breast cancer, but that didn’t stop her from spreading the word of God; she vowed to “live until I die.” The year before she passed in 1989, she was invited by the U.S. bishops to be a key speaker at their conference on Black Catholics. She was also profiled by “60 Minutes” in 1987.

Sr. Bowman was declared a Servant of God by the Vatican in 2018 — the first of four steps in becoming a saint. She is one of six African Americans being considered for canonization.