Sacred Heart University

Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1963 by Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The university is the second-largest Catholic university in New England, behind Boston College.

SHU offers more than 80 degree programs to over 8,500 students, including bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. It provides many opportunities for students to learn, grow, and prepare for their future careers. The university is known for its strong sense of community and its commitment to Catholic values.

History

Sacred Heart University was founded in 1963 by Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, on the grounds of the former Notre Dame Catholic High School. It started with just 173 students and 9 teachers, but today it has over 10,500 students and more than 281 full-time teachers. The university has grown a lot over the years, adding new buildings, housing for students, and many sports teams.

In 1990, Sacred Heart built its first dorms and started accepting students to live on campus. It now has 10 residential buildings. In 1997, it opened the William H. Pitt Health and Recreation Center. In 2006, a famous business leader, Jack Welch, gave money to the university, and a business college was named after him. In recent years, Sacred Heart has bought more land and built new buildings, including a hockey rink that finished construction in January 2023.

The university has continued to grow and improve. In 2009, it opened the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. In 2012, it built a new student commons area with dining and lounge space, thanks to a big donation. In 2016, it opened a new residence hall named after Pope Francis. In 2018, Sacred Heart completed a merger with St. Vincent's College, and in 2019, it was named one of the happiest schools by Princeton Review. The university also plans to build a new hockey arena and took over management of the nearby Discovery Museum and Planetarium in 2021.

Academics

Sacred Heart University has five colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences (which includes the School of Communication, Media & the Arts and the School of Computing), the Jack Welch College of Business and Technology, the College of Health Professions, the College of Nursing, and the Isabelle Farrington College of Education. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

The School of Communication, Media & the Arts works with local news and journalism. It runs the Easton Courier and helps with news in Fairfield County. The school also makes documentaries, such as Stolen Lives, Flyway of Life, and Ocean State: Rhode Island's Wild Coast.

Sacred Heart University offers more than 80 different programs for students to choose from, including bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Students can finish both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in five to six years, depending on the program.

Campus

The main campus of Sacred Heart University is in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is about 50 miles northeast of New York City and 150 miles southwest of Boston. This area became a special census place in the 2020 Census with 1,446 people living there.

The university also has other campuses in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Stamford, and Griswold in Connecticut, as well as a campus in Dingle, County Kerry in Ireland, and a broadcast center in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Media

Sacred Heart University owns and runs two radio stations, WSHU-FM and WSHU-AM. These stations are connected to NPR and broadcast from Fairfield, Connecticut.

Student life

Theatre Arts Program

The Theatre Arts Program started in 2009 with the first musical production, Rent. Since then, it has put on many other shows, like Little Shop of Horrors in 2011 and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in 2013. Each year, the program puts on six big shows. Two are performed on the Edgerton main stage, and four are in the Little Theater. There is also a special festival called “Theatrefest” where students create and perform their own plays. The program also has an improv team called The Pioneer Players. In 2016, they started a special theatre company for students, and in 2017, they began a playwriting competition and internship program.

Student government

Students can get involved in the Student Government, which includes leaders from all four years. Any full-time undergraduate student can be elected or chosen for a position.

The Spectrum

The Spectrum is a newspaper made and run by students. It is printed and given to students every Wednesday and is also available online.

Community service

Over 1,200 students, teachers, and staff members give their time to help others. They volunteer more than 31,000 hours each year, mostly in Bridgeport, but also in other places around the world.

Study abroad

Students at Sacred Heart University can live and study in different countries. There is a special program in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland. Other programs are available in The American University of Rome in Italy, the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, Australia, and the University of Granada in Spain. There are also programs in Bermuda and the Bahamas. Students can also join programs in France, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, and Japan through other schools.

Greek life

Sacred Heart University has sixteen groups called fraternities and sororities that students can join.

Fraternity chapters include:

• Beta Theta Pi
• Kappa Sigma
• Pi Kappa Phi
• Delta Tau Delta
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• Sigma Chi

Sorority chapters include:

• Alpha Delta Pi
• Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Chi Omega
• Delta Delta Delta
• Delta Zeta
• Kappa Alpha Theta
• Kappa Delta
• Omega Phi Beta
• Phi Sigma Sigma
• Zeta Tau Alpha

Athletics

See also: Sacred Heart Pioneers

The Pioneers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in several conferences, including the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Atlantic Hockey America, Eastern College Athletic Conference, Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, and the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.

Nearly 800 students are part of the university's 33 athletic teams, with 18 teams for women and 15 for men. There are also over 500 students who join in 23 club sports. The football team plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level and won a title in 2001. Their biggest rivalry is with Central Connecticut State University, called the Constitution State Rivalry.

The men's fencing team won the Northeast Conference title five years in a row from 2010 to 2014 and was ranked #9 in 2011.

In 2013, the athletics department hired Bobby Valentine, a former Major League Baseball player and manager, as the athletic director.

The women's ice hockey program competed independently from 2003 to 2019. They joined the NEWHA, which started in 2017–18 with Sacred Heart, Holy Cross, and four other schools. Sacred Heart won the first NEWHA tournament title in 2018. After some changes in teams, the NEWHA became an official conference recognized by the NCAA in 2019–20.

Center for Christian–Jewish Understanding

Sacred Heart University has helped bring together people of different faiths, especially Christians and Jews, to learn about each other. Centers like this started in 1953 at Seton Hall University and now exist in many places. Sacred Heart started its own center in 1992.

Since then, the center has held events and awards to honor people who work to build friendship between different religious groups. It also organizes conferences and publishes materials to help people understand each other better. The center works with leaders from many faiths to create programs that can be used around the world.

Notable alumni

Arts and entertainment

• Drew Denbaum - writer, actor, director, and educator
• Lydia Hearst-Shaw – model and actress
• Jeff LeBlanc – singer/songwriter
• Kevin Nealon – actor, Saturday Night Live cast member
• John Ratzenberger – actor
• Romeo Roselli – wrestler and actor
• Braden Peters – (attended but did not graduate) online streamer and influencer

Business

• Suzanne Greco - former president and CEO of Subway
• Brian Hamilton - entrepreneur and philanthropist
• Jenna Sanz-Agero - singer and businesswoman at Netflix

Government and law

• Pat Boyd – Connecticut State Representative
• Thomas W. Bucci - 49th Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut
• Ramón Colón-López, USAF - fourth Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Carl Higbie – left after September 11 to join the Navy SEALs.
• Carlo Leone – former Connecticut State Senator
• Kathleen McCarty - former Connecticut State Representative
• Douglas McCrory - Connecticut State Senator
• Richard A. Moccia - former Mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut
• Michael Pavia - businessman and former mayor of Stamford, Connecticut
• Felipe Reinoso - former Connecticut State Representative and political candidate for the Congress of the Republic of Peru
• Gary Turco - Connecticut State Representative

Sports

• Keith Bennett (born 1961) - basketball player
• Jared Buchanan - ultra-marathoner
• Ginny Capicchioni - lacrosse player
• Julius Chestnut - football player
• Jon Corto – football player
• Justin Danforth - hockey player
• Jason Foley - baseball player
• Adam Fuller - college football coach
• Gordon Hill - football player
• Marc Johnstone - hockey player
• Matt Jones – soccer player
• Mark Nofri - football coach
• Troy Scribner - baseball player
• Zack Short - baseball player
• Alex Sobel (born 2000) - basketball player
• Josh Sokol (born 1997) - football player
• Ed Swanson - basketball coach
• Ryan Warsofsky (born 1987) - hockey player and coach

Notable members of the board of trustees

Some important people serve on the board that helps guide Sacred Heart University. These include Brian Hamilton, Patrick Maggitti, and Linda McMahon.