February 18, 2008   •   VOL. 46, NO. 4   •   Oakland, CA

HNU president brings
experiential learning to campus
 

By Sharon Abercrombie
Staff writer

In the annals of higher academia, it is probably quite rare for a university president to receive a letter of inquiry from a fourth grader. And perhaps even rarer for said president to reciprocate by paying a surprise visit to the youngster’s classroom, with a college T-shirt for her in tow.

But Holy Names University President Rosemarie Nassif was so charmed last spring by Joanna Fontillas’ missive that she decided a personal follow-up was in order.

Sister Rosemarie Nassif, SSND John Bowman photo

“My goals are to get good grades and be accepted into your college,” wrote Joanna, whose parents are both Holy Names graduates. She asked Sister Nassif, “What do I need to do to get into your college? What should I be working on?” The youngster requested a response, “and some souvenirs.” She added a P.S., assuring the president that “I can write much neater, but I sprained my finger on the hand that I write with.”

Sister Nassif phoned Joanna’s teacher at St. Joseph School in Alameda to get the rest of the story. Erin Rapposelli explained that she had assigned her students, whom she calls “scholars,” to research different colleges and universities as part of a program she had created called “College Bound.”

Rapposelli’s philosophy resonated well with Sister Nassif’s own educational vision. Those who work closely with the School Sister of Notre Dame know that this university administrator’s raison d’etre’s is to encourage and challenge young people to dream big and aim high.

Since arriving at Holy Names in 1999, Sister Nassif, in collaboration with faculty, administrators and students, has created an experiential model of education which includes a two-week summer immersion program for incoming freshmen called the Summer for Liberation and Transition.

And then, as a follow-up during their first year, the students tap into a program called “Connections,” in which they all read the same book. Last year’s selection was Ishmael Reed’s “The Blues City – A Walk Around Oakland.” This year they are reading Michael Pollan’s ‘”The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

As part of this academic program, students are encouraged to descend from their secluded, wooded Oakland Hills campus and experience the surrounding flatlands community.

For some, said Sister Nassif, this involves going to churches they might not have attended before. An art teacher has taken students to Bay Area galleries, given them their first such experience. A class in political science sat in on the San Francisco Chronicle’s morning editors’ meeting, where key editors decide what’s going to be on the front page and on the cover of each section in the next day’s paper.

Holy Names University provides other ways for students to connect with the larger world, said Sister Nassif.

They can volunteer with a local Habitat for Humanity chapter and help build homes in Antioch and Pittsburg. During the summer, they can also go to Tutwiler, Mississippi, where the Sisters of Holy Names have an ongoing mission, and help build houses there. The object of such immersion experiences is to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world and serve others as a leader for positive social change, explained the president.

Sister Nassif has invented a version of immersion for herself on the Holy Names campus. Several times a week she can be found in the cafeteria during the lunch hour and she often is present in the chapel areas. “It’s my MBWA approach – management by walking around,” she said, with a broad smile.

Every Tuesday, she holds open office hours. Officially, she is on the schedule for an hour. “Sometimes there are only two kids. But if 20 show up, we meet for as long as we need to,” she said during a recent interview.

A St. Louis, Missouri native, Sister Nassif is the former president of the Fund for Educational Excellence in Baltimore, Maryland. She served for several years as president of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, also in Baltimore. She is celebrating her ninth year at Holy Names, during this, the university’s 140th year.

Administratively speaking, there is much to celebrate. Since her arrival, the university has increased its enrollment by 38 percent – from 700 to over 1100.

“We’re still small, but it’s a wonderful benchmark,” noted Sister Nassif, who said she is aiming for 1700. Over 75 percent of the students are African, African American, Latino, and Asian Americans.

Some of the student body increase includes 200 adults returning for their bachelor’s degree, up from 40, the year Nassif arrived. Five new and expanded master’s programs have drawn 500 students who are enrolled in nursing, education, counseling and forensic psychology, and pastoral ministry.

Other accomplishments include the completion of a $5,360,000 science facilities in the fall of 2006 that gives HNU a set of state-of-the-art classrooms in Brennan Hall. The campus is now wired with fiber optic cable providing Internet access in every room including wireless areas around campus.

A $250,000 endowment from the California Endowment has enabled the university to build a state of the art video conference studio. It is accessed by nursing students in Catholic Health Care West hospitals via live satellite in 13 areas throughout California.

Holy Names’ pastoral ministry program has begun tapping into the studio as well. Last month the Diocese of Fresno initiated its own program and students there will be able to attend Holy Names classes via satellite.

Sports-wise, Holy Names now has 10 men and women’s intercollegiate sports, including soccer, basketball, and softball.

Financially, the school is now in the black, following several years of deficits. A loan from the Sisters of the Holy Names is well on its way to being paid off, said Sister Nassif. The school’s annual operating budget is now topping out at $1 million to the good.

Academically, the university is proud of the 10-year reaffirmation it earned in 2005 of its accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It’s the maximum and is rarely given, said Sister Nassif. “You should have seen me dancing when I saw the letter.”

So what is her secret? How has she accomplished so much?

She grew thoughtful. “There is a simple formula that always works,” she said: “Be true to the soul of the university”– in this case, the community-oriented service and charism of the Holy Names Sisters. But in order to sustain a university’s soul, to make sure the institution remains viable, it’s necessary to “invest in your strengths by always being entrepreneurial.”

Holy Names’ strengths have always been in its nursing, education, psychology, music and business programs. So, Sister Nassif looked at ways to build up those programs to attract more students.

With a Ph.D. degree in chemistry, she has a way of synthesizing concepts down to their bare essential truths. She has a few truths for students and has given them a name, The Three Commandments of Holy Names University:

Learn your passion. Love the journey. Make mistakes.

Of the latter, she said, “Here at Holy Names University, students have the privilege of making mistakes. As they stretch and grow, we are there to support them.”

Little Joanna Fontillas and her mom picked up on Sister Rosemarie Nassif’s three commandments, especially the first two. Not long after her visit to St. Joseph School in Alameda, they inscribed a white vase with a famous quote from “The Course in Miracles,” and sent it to her.

The quote, which surfaced in the 2006 movie “Akeelah and the Bee,” reads: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?”

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