New on Campus This Year

There’s always something new going on at St. Norbert and its environs. Here’s an exciting list to check out ahead of this coming academic year.

Student employment program
SNC is unveiling a new Student Employment Program, housed in Career & Professional Development, that combines campus employment with supervisor mentoring and experiential learning. While final details are still in the works, the program will help students prepare for their future careers through academic enrichment (e.g., educational learning experiences) and social engagement, where they can participate in diverse, educational and community-building activities outside of the classroom with peers, faculty and staff – all while earning money to help fund their education.

Wellness living/learning community
First-year students now have a chance to be part of a community dedicated to health and wellness by applying to become a member of this new living/learning community, housed on a dedicated wellness floor in Sensenbrenner Hall. The community will focus on SNC’s Wellness by Design initiative, which strives for wellness across eight dimensions: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, financial and environmental.

Students accepted into the group will have to complete an individual wellness plan, plus attend at least three wellness-focused programs each semester. The programs will be offered monthly, and cover a variety of topics such as nutrition, meditation, personal finance and recycling.

Renovated res halls
Sensenbrenner, Madelaine/Lorraine Hall (Mad/Lor), Bergstrom and Victor McCormick (VMC) received substantial renovations and updates this summer. Improvements include LED lighting, new flooring, updated bathroom fixtures and intelligent fire-alarm systems. Room built-ins were replaced with movable furniture along with other décor updates.

New seminar program for First-Year Experience
SNC’s robust First-Year Experience program has a new element: courses that imitate the intimate, collaborative classes enjoyed by upperclass students. These seminar-styled classes were piloted last fall, and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both students and instructors.

FYE is a three-tiered program that begins during summer orientation, includes a Week of Welcome in late August, then concludes with a 10-week program designed to guide first-year students through their first semester of college life, while nurturing a sense of collective and individual belonging.

The program's 25 new seminar-style classes cover subjects ranging from math to sociology to art, and will give students a taste of the types of courses they’ll eventually be taking. The classes will average just 15 students, allowing instructors time to work with each student. The instructors will also become primary academic and college-life resources for the students.

Renowned leader in Catholic higher ed at helm in Academic Affairs
Sister Andrea J. Lee, IHM, is St. Norbert’s interim vice president for academic affairs while the college searches for someone to fill the permanent position. Lee has a stellar reputation in the world of higher education. She served multiple terms on the board of directors for the Association of Catholic Colleges & Universities, and spent 25 years as president of three Catholic colleges and universities, most recently as head of Alverno College in Milwaukee. Before that, she led Minnesota’s St. Catherine University (aka St. Kate’s), where she worked closely with outgoing President Brian J. Bruess ’90 during his time there.

Lee is also known for her creativity, passion for music, and work in equity, diversity and inclusion.

New role at St. Norbert College Parish
The Rev. Mike Brennan ’99 has been appointed pastor of St. Norbert College Parish. Brennan, a Norbertine priest and SNC alum, was ordained in 2017 after teaching and coaching in Catholic schools for 11 years. FYI: While the campus church building is called Old St. Joseph Church, the name of the parish is St. Norbert College Parish.

SNC's Tastes Like Home event
What is the one singular, unforgettable dish that reminds your student of the comforts of home? Submit your favorite recipe and your dish may be featured in our Tastes Like Home in dinner in September.

Additional hotel option for campus visits
Just west of campus, Cobblestone Hotel & Suites will soon be taking reservations. The dog-friendly hotel features a complimentary breakfast, swimming pool, business center and the Wissota Chophouse, among other amenities. Cobblestone will provide a handy alternative for those times when the college's on-campus hotel, the Kress Inn, is full to the brim.

snc.edu updates
St. Norbert’s website is undergoing a full redesign and refresh, which will include new content and a modernized, more visual look. Its unveiling begins next month, when the site’s first 300 pages will be launched in the new template.

Before starting the project, the college solicited input from a variety of users, including domestic and international students, parents, faculty and staff. “We discovered that finding the right information in minimal steps can sometimes be a challenge,” says Erin Schroeder (Office of Communications). So one of the team’s main focal points was navigation, including content architecture and organization.

Watch for the site’s new Affordability section, which better organizes the various types of student aid available and how to apply for it. This section, located within the main navigation, will be part of the initial launch this fall.

July 21, 2022