President's Annual Report 2022

Commitment to Sustainability

Neumann joined the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) to improve campus efforts toward building an ecologically just world. Through membership in AASHE, Neumann will receive support through workshops, webinars, toolkits, an online community of sustainability officers, and an online resource library to advance its sustainability initiatives throughout the institution and in the community.

Knights’ Pantry Opens

For the first time in its history, Neumann opened a food bank for students. The Knights’ Pantry, meant to alleviate food insecurity among enrolled students, began operations on September 8, 2021, on the fifth floor of the Rocco Abessinio Building. The pantry offers non-perishable food and personal hygiene items to any undergraduate or graduate student with a university ID, no questions asked. The concept is the brainchild of Rina Keller, professor of Social Work, and Mary Beth Davis, former counselor at the Counseling Center for Wellness.

Ranked for Social Mobility by U.S. News

U.S. News & World Report again ranked Neumann among the Best Regional Universities in the North for social mobility in its Best Colleges 2022 issue. Neumann was also ranked among the best for social mobility in 2021, the first year that the magazine included rankings for that category. Neumann was #62 in the North in 2021 and rose to #47 in 2022. The ranking identifies colleges that are successful at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating significant proportions of economically challenged students who are eligible for Pell Grants.

Dr. Sandra Weiss Honored

On October 26, 2021, Neumann named a laboratory classroom in Bachmann Building in honor of Dr. Sandra Weiss, who retired in June after teaching clinical laboratory science at the university for 45 years. Weiss came to Neumann in 1976 and became director of Neumann’s clinical laboratory science program in 1985. Under Weiss’s leadership, the majority of her biology/CLS students have had job offers in hand before they graduate.

Supporting Ukraine

In the weeks after Russia’s February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, the campus community rallied to support the war-torn country and its refugees in a variety of ways. On March 9, more than a hundred student and faculty volunteers packaged and heat-sealed 15,072 meals for Ukrainian refugees who had fled to Poland to escape Russian bombing. On March 23, Janis Chakars, a communications professor who has played in punk rock bands for 30 years, launched Band Together, a compilation of songs by nine American and seven Ukrainian bands to support the besieged country. Chakars used his music industry connections to collect the songs in a matter of weeks after the invasion.

Basketball Court Named in Honor of Coach Schuler

Len Schuler worked on campus for 38 years, coached more than 1,000 games, and earned the admiration of thousands of students. On February 5, 2022, Coach Schuler passed away, and news of his death triggered tears across campus. Ironically, February 5 was the very day when the university had planned to name its basketball court in his honor, unveiling Len’s newly inscribed name on the Mirenda Center hardwood. To honor his legacy, the university established an endowed scholarship in his name and dedicated the basketball court to him in a rescheduled ceremony on March 26.