July 2010 News From the College

Dear Friends of the College,

Welcome to the July 2010 e-newsletter for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Inside A&S.

During the weekend of June 11-13, the University welcomed back to campus many of its alumni, who relived old, nostalgic Villanova memories and created new ones with family and friends. The weekend offered our College alumni a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with friends and learn about the curricular changes that have taken place here. For many of our alumni, campus is frozen in a particular time and place; celebrations like Alumni Reunion Weekend allow our alumni to experience campus as it is in the here and now, and to learn more about what the future holds.

In this issue of Inside A&S, you'll read about Dr. Robert G. Webster, the 2010 Mendel Medal recipient. Dr. Webster is a prominent infectious diseases researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He will deliver the annual Mendel Medal Lecture on Friday, Sept. 24, at 2 p.m., in the Villanova Room of Connelly. The title of the lecture is, "The role of waterbirds in the genesis of pandemic influenza viruses." This is an important event on the University's calendar, one that is not to be missed.

In other College news, the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures has changed its name to the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures to more accurately reflect its mission and program offerings. Furthermore, the Latin American Studies Program, in close collaboration with the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, will be offering Portuguese language courses in the fall 2010. Read all about the program in this newsletter.

Also, be sure to check out the College's 2010 Grant Development Report, which you'll find in both Word and PDF versions here. In this report, you'll read about faculty grant activity in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural and Physical Sciences. For the period 2005-2009, the College generated $14,449,536 in grant awards. Of the 14.5 million dollars, $13.1 million was awarded to the Sciences, $944,000 to the Social Sciences, and $358,000 to the Humanities. Read the full report here.

Thank you for continuing to read Inside A&S and for your ongoing interest in the life of the College.

I wish you a productive and enjoyable summer, and I very much look forward to working with you in the upcoming academic year.


Sincerely,

John A. Doody, Ph.D.
Dean of the College