Monday, September 30, 2013

Lunch served right at Widener



affordable and delicious

Are you tired of asking yourself: What’s for lunch? Looking for some variety to spice up your taste buds? Students in the School of Hospitality Management at Widener University can help by preparing lunch for you as part of the school’s Fall Lunch Series.
 
The first serving of the lunch series will be offered Tuesday, October 1. 

Served in the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Dining Room on Main Campus at Widener University (located on the first floor of Academic Center North on 17th Street between Walnut Street and Melrose Avenue), lunch is available on Tuesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; items include a variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, and entrees at reasonable prices each week. 

Can’t make the first serving? The Lunch Series will run through December 3.

Widener Welcomes Largest Ever Freshman Class



University Bucks Nation Trend, Overall Enrollment Up

Widener University this fall welcomed the largest freshman class in the 192-year history of the institution, with 827 freshmen enrolled. In addition to being the largest ever freshman class, it also has the best academic profile, boasting the highest average SAT score and grade point average on record at the university. Widener’s previous largest freshman class was 782 in 2007.

The overall university enrollment is also up, bucking a national trend reported earlier this month by the U.S. Census Bureau that showed that college enrollment nationwide plunged last fall after several years of significant growth. The university’s overall enrollment is up one percent from 6,238 in 2012 to 6,311 in 2013.

Widener University President James T. Harris III attributed the largest freshman class and overall enrollment increase to a number of factors including the university’s growing national reputation in civic engagement, leadership development and academics.

“We have also introduced new majors such as biomedical engineering and informatics that are in demand,” Harris said. “In addition, we have made a strong commitment to increasing financial aid and invested more than $150 million in infrastructure over the past decade, including a state-of-the-art building for our School of Nursing and a new building for communication studies, computer science and informatics that opened this fall. It’s an exciting time to be at Widener.”

Last fall, the university made the decision to dedicate 100 percent of the contributions to its annual fund to student financial aid. Before that decision, the university had already doubled the amount of institutional financial aid available to students over the past 10 years.

In addition to focusing on increasing financial aid, Widener’s efforts to improve student retention, including new software to track students’ academic progress and identify potential issues, have paid dividends. Seventy-five percent of the university’s freshman from last year returned for their sophomore year this fall, up four percent over 2012. Increased retention typically translates into a higher graduation rate.

The overall enrollment increase came despite a continuing downtown in enrollment in law schools nationwide which has had an impact on the Widener School of Law. Law enrollment at the Delaware and Harrisburg campuses was down 15 percent over last year.

Clippers Girls Tennis Team

(left to right): Jameeka Bowman, La’Jaezya Watson, Deray Jones, Jamie McDowell, Kamri Staples, Lasheeda Jones, Anyae Chestnut, Aya Salim, and Savannah Watkins
The Clippers Girls Tennis team was the breakout superstars last year winning their first major award, the Del Val Team Championship. The Clippers are in second place now against Academy Park High School. Today at Chester Park, they played singles and doubles against Academy Park which they previously lost twice to giving Academy Park the Del Val Championship this year. Last year the Clippers were undefeated against Academy Park. 

Clippers’ coach, Joseph Providence, has been coaching for 20 years. He said this was his best team. The girls’ tennis team has never won a major award before. “In the City of Chester, tennis is not big at all so it’s a monumental accomplishment for the team to win last year. The team was not expected to win or to be competitive so this was an historical championship.” What accounts for the lost this year? Coach Providence said of his team, “they were a little too confident.” Nonetheless, coach Providence is very proud of his winning girls’ tennis team. 

*Score for Games Played on Monday, September 30, 2013
Chester won 4 over Academy Park 1

Friday, September 27, 2013

MAYORS PRESENT FOR ‘CITIES UNITED’ AT NATIONAL PRESS CLUB

City of Chester Press Release 
WASHINGTON D.C.- Hon. Mayor John A. Linder attended the National Press Club, ‘Cities United’ presentation given by Mayors Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, PA, and Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, LA, concerning the national epidemic of gun violence specifically concentrated inside urban areas. The United States Conference of Mayors Staff, youth violence prevention network mentors and organizations, several regional community leaders, and Press Club membership were guests of Cities United, “a National League of Cities sponsored partnership “to eliminate violence- related deaths of African-American males”. Through the leadership of Mayors Nutter and Landrieu, the organization aims to acquire research data on violence related deaths, assist member mayors in gaining federal and state agency support, connect local officials to enact best practices with other participant cities, encourage accountability strategies, coordinate assessment meetings, and orchestrate an annual “Youth Committed to Eliminating Violence” summit. Further information about the Cities United partnership is available at www.NLC.org.