Office of the Dean

The leadership of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is dedicated to ensuring that all students enrolled in the College, and all of those students who take courses in the College to fulfill their academic requirements, receive a quality education characterized by depth of study and intellectual sophistication.

The Office of the Dean is responsible for creating and enforcing academic policies and exists to assist its students in planning their academic futures so that they realize their post-graduate and professional goals. The following offices report to the Office of the Dean: Office of College Communication, Grant Development, Information Technology, Office of Advising and Professional Development, Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, and the Office of Service Learning.

For more information, please contact the Office of the Dean at 610.519.4600.

Office of College Communication

The Office of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences exists to provide communication, writing, editing, public relations, and marketing support to the Office of the Dean and to the many departments and programs that compose the College.

To learn how the Office of Communication can assist your department or program fulfill its communication and outreach needs, please contact Kate Szumanski ’95, ’97, director of college communications, at kathryn.szumanski@villanova.edu.

Grant Development

The Director of Grant Development: takes an active, and often lead role in writing proposals for external funding on behalf of the College, functions as counsel and provides support to College Administrators in interactions with appropriate administrators in other Colleges and The Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, works closely with faculty to facilitate efforts to develop and prepare effective and competitive proposals, including providing support in preparation of budgets and proposal ancillary documentation, organizes and runs grant writing workshops, especially for new faculty, takes an active role in preparing internal University reports with regard to external funding, works with faculty in the College to identify potential funding sources, plays a lead role in developing and implementing a strategy to secure funding from government (state and federal), foundation, and corporate entities in a manner that supports strategic needs and goals of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

To learn how the Director of Grant Development can help you, please contact Dr. Melanie Vile.

Information Technology

Villanova University has a strong tradition of promoting and using today’s most advanced technological resources. Technology infrastructure at Villanova is managed by the University Information Technology Department (UNIT). This includes the data/phone network, email accounts, Web site hosting, Banner management system, student laptop program, and computer hardware maintenance.

The College provides supplemental IT support to its faculty and staff by employing a staff of IT Professionals to meet the specific needs within our departments and programs.

Office of Advising and Professional Development

We seek to engage students in thoughtful dialogue to explore the multiple dimensions of their college experience: intellectual, cultural, social, spiritual, and ethical. We thus join with them:

• To set exciting, realistic and flexible goals, and to develop well-conceived educational and personal plans for their college experience.
• To assist them in discovering the rich opportunities, both on and off campus, available to them.
• To support them as they implement, alter, and refine their educational and personal plans throughout their initial college years.

We bring to these conversations deep respect for the uniqueness of the individual, knowledge of curricular and co-curricular choices, careful attention to the requirements of the college, and sincere openness and honesty with our students.

Please visit our website for more information.

Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships

Once the bailiwick of Ivy League institutions, Villanova has become a strong presence in the national fellowship competitions. Since 1993, more than 450 Villanova students have applied for national fellowships. Of those, 126 advanced to finalist status while 67 received awards. One mission of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships is to assist our students as they make their way through the fellowship application process, a daunting task that requires developing both a sense of self-awareness and a vision of the path ahead.

The Office also administers the Presidential Scholarship Program, the Connelly-Delouvrier International Scholars Program, and maintains an ever-growing list of scholarships, fellowships, research grants, and internships for our students to investigate. If you are a student interested in any of these opportunities, or if you are a faculty member working with a qualified, motivated student, please feel free to stop by our office in SAC 138 or call at 610.519.5928.

Office of Service Learning

The Office of Service Learning in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences opened in November 2005 under the direction of Noreen Cameron, who comes to the College from the Office of Campus Ministry where she served as director of the week-long service experience program. More than 600 students have participated in these week-long service programs in the United States and all over the world.

Noreen, who has been at Villanova for 20 years, also has worked as a nurse in pediatric oncology and hospice. She worked as a lobbyist for Network in Washington, D.C., and did graduate work at the Catholic Theological Union and Villanova.

For more information, please contact the Office of Service Learning, St. Augustine Center for the Liberal Arts, at 610.519.4602.