News

School of Education Associate Professor, Dr. Donna Rafter, has announced her plan to retire at the end of the 2016-17 academic year, concluding 17 years of teaching at Holy Family University. SOE – NewsLink caught up with Dr. Rafter to ask a few questions about her journey in education, advice for future teachers, and retirement plans.

NL: Tell us about your academic preparation. What degrees and certifications have you earned and where did you earn them?

Dr. Jen DeCicco has contributed research towards the Registered Replication Report of Strack, Martin, and Stepper’s original facial feedback hypothesis, which has been published by the Association for Psychological Science.

In the team’s original research about the facial feedback hypothesis, “people’s affective responses can be influenced by their own facial expression (e.g., smiling, pouting), even when their expression did not result from their emotional experiences.”

Dr. Freda Ginsberg has lived in three different countries and held an array of jobs in the service field—however, all of these jobs have remained true to one singular motive: helping others. As the Director of the Counseling Psychology graduate program, she is now focused on educating and helping the latest group of students looking to make a difference in the world.

As an undergraduate student, she studied at Drew University, majoring in Comparative Religion and Women’s Studies. As part of her education, Ginsberg lived and learned in Israel for two years. Once she graduated, Ginsberg officially immigrated to Israel, where she spent the next 12 years living in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—an experience she described as both “amazing and intense.”

Holy Family University introduced a new interdisciplinary way for students to fulfill their language requirement with its latest course addition—Spanish for Health Care. The course will provide students a practical way to learn and hone their craft in a classroom setting while focusing on a budding topic. Beginning in Fall 2017, the course will teach students to demonstrate basic proficiency in communicating in Spanish, a non-native language, and the medical vocabulary utilized in routine, health-care settings, to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking patients.

Dr. Madigan Fichter, Assistant Professor, School of Arts and Sciences

"I spent part of the winter holiday traveling in Guatemala with my family. Although Guatemala has had a pretty dark recent history of dictatorship and civil war, and much of the population still lives in grinding poverty, it’s a spectacularly beautiful country with a rich cultural heritage. We spent several days in the colonial city of Antigua, which is full of colorful, Spanish baroque architecture with volcanoes looming in the background. Next we went to Lake Atitlan, which is a beautiful lake, again, surrounded by volcanoes.

Holy Family University Art Gallery
Presents Robert McNellis
Exhibit Dates: January 9-30

Holy Family University is pleased to exhibit Robert McNellis’ latest collection: Anonymous Images/Specific Objects.

McNellis studied film at the University of South Florida and holds a degree in art from Troy University, with a concentration in film and digital photography. Since moving his studio practice to Philadelphia, his work has been exhibited at ARTSPACE 1241 in downtown Philadelphia. McNellis is also an adjunct instructor in Holy Family’s School of Arts and Sciences.

Holy Family University’s Diversity Team will hold a day of service to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Sunday, January 15, from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm. Students and faculty are will be visiting Jewish Relief Services in Northeast Philadelphia to help prepare food for local families in need and area food banks.

“The Diversity Team did this activity last year to commemorate MLK Day of Service and the small group of students and faculty that went did an excellent job and gained a lot from the experience of giving back to our immediate community,” said Nicole Stokes-DuPass, Associate Professor of Sociology for the School of Arts and Sciences.

In a world of rapidly developing diseases, nurses and biologists stand at the forefront of an epidemic, ready to help contain and treat whatever outbreak just arrived. In the classroom, students are taught about past infectious disease, with textbooks struggling to keep up with current issues plaguing society. Dr. Michael Dickman, adjunct professor for the School of Arts and Sciences, uses his Clinical Microbiology course to teach nursing students about current issues in infectious disease, preparing them for careers where they’ll deal with these issues head on.

Thirty-nine students from the School of Business Administration’s Freshmen Experience class bought, filled, decorated, and wrapped more than 80 gift boxes, which were donated to children oversees through Operation Christmas Child.

Boxes were filled with basic needs: school supplies, hygiene materials, and socks. Fun items such as balls, coloring books, and small toys were also included to bring a smile to the children’s faces during the holiday season.

According to Karl Malaszczyk, Esq., Assistant Professor for the School of Business Administration, students were split into teams to come up with creative items to fill the boxes.

By Alyssa Reyes ‘18

As a young boy, Graham Craig knew he wanted to be a superhero—he wanted to save the world. With his Green Lantern shirt always underneath his regular school clothes, Graham was ready to protect his first-grade classmates at a moment’s notice.

Eventually, he grew out of the shirt, but he found another way to make a difference: teaching. All he had to do was develop the right powers to help the citizens of the world. Craig found that the best way for him to help was to counsel those in need. As a graduate student in Holy Family University’s Counseling Psychology program with a concentration in Marriage and Family Therapy, he is developing those powers.