Joliet, Ill. – Join the University of St. Francis (USF) and the Joliet City Center Partnership for the annual “Light Up the Holidays” Parade, sponsored by USF, on Friday, November 26th, in downtown Joliet. USF President Arvid Johnson and Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk will light the city’s Christmas tree at 5:15 p.m., followed by USF mascot Bernie the St. Bernard leading the parade at 5:30 p.m. Visit stfrancis.edu/holidayparade for more information.
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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
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Joliet, Ill. – The University of St. Francis (USF) is one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review.
The education services company features USF in its website resource, The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2022 Edition, released on October 26, 2021. The guide is accessible for free at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide.
The Princeton Review chose the 420 schools in the guide based on its survey of administrators at 835 colleges in 2020-21 about their institutions’ commitments to the environment and sustainability. The company’s editors analyzed more than 25 survey data points to select the schools.
“It is an honor for the University of St. Francis to be included in the Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2022 Edition. This recognition serves as a nice acknowledgement of our efforts to increase the campus’s sustainability projects and awareness,” said Jessica Conte, co-chair of the USF Sustainability Committee.
The university’s sustainability efforts are tied to the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is remembered for his love of the environment and all living things.
“We believe that our patron Saint Francis of Assisi is the example par excellence challenging us to of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically (adapted from Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ Paragraph 10),” added Sr. Mary Elizabeth Imler, OSF, USF Vice President of Mission Integration.
“We strongly recommend USF to students who care about the environment want to study and live at a green college,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief. “USF offers excellent academics and demonstrates a commitment to sustainability that is exemplary on many counts.”
Franek noted that The Princeton Review has seen an increasing level of interest among students in attending colleges with green practices, programs, and offerings. Seventy-eight percent of the more than 11,000 college applicants that participated in The Princeton Review’s 2021 College Hopes & Worries Survey said that having information about a college’s commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to or attend a school. This was a 12% increase over the 66% so indicating on the company’s 2020 survey. A report on the findings of the survey which also polled parents of college applicants is downloadable at www.princetonreview.com/college-hopes-worries.
The profiles of schools in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges include “Green Facts” sections detailing such matters as the availability of transportation alternatives on campus and the percentage of the college food budget spent on local/organic food. The profiles also provide information about the schools’ admission requirements, cost, financial aid, and student body demographics.
The Princeton Review has published its Guide to Green Colleges annually since 2010. The company is also known for its dozens of categories of college rankings in its book, The Best 387 Colleges, and its website resources including The Best Value Colleges.
USF was also recognized by The Princeton Review’s Best in the Midwest section of its “2022 Best Colleges: Region by Region” website. The honor marks the fourteenth consecutive year USF has been named to this national listing.
How Schools Were Chosen for the Guide
The Princeton Review chose the 420 colleges based on its 2020–21 survey of administrators at 835 colleges concerning their institutions’ sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. The company’s editors analyzed more than 25 data points from the survey to tally Green Rating scores for the schools on a scale of 60 to 99. The Green Rating scores appear in the school profiles on The Princeton Review website and in The Princeton Review book, The Best 387 Colleges: 2022 Edition (published August 2021).
Colleges that earned a Green Rating score of 80 or higher were chosen for the Guide to Green Colleges. Of the 420 schools selected for the guide, 391 are in the U.S., 26 in Canada, one in Ecuador, one in Egypt, and one in Greece. The schools are listed alphabetically in the guide and not ranked overall from 1 to 420.
Twenty-seven of the 420 schools earned a Green Rating score of 99 (the highest possible score). They are also listed in The Princeton Review’s Green Honor Roll (reported August 2021).
How the Guide’s Top 50 Green Colleges Ranking List Was Tallied
The Princeton Review tallied the top 50 green colleges ranking list based on data from the Company’s surveys of administrators at the colleges as well as its surveys of students attending the colleges. The methodology factored in ten data points from the administrator survey and three data points from the student survey. Data from the student survey included student assessments of the influence of sustainability issues on their academic and campus experiences; administrator and student support for environmental awareness and conservation efforts; and the visibility and impact of student environmental groups on the campus.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review, is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. The company’s Tutor.com brand is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 21 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company’s Media Center. Follow the company on Twitter ( @ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram ( @theprincetonreview ).
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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
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Joliet, Ill. – The University of St. Francis (USF) is hosting an American Red Cross blood drive on Tuesday, November 16, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Assembly Hall Gym at USF’s St. Clare Campus, which is located at 1550 Plainfield Road in Joliet.
For an appointment, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org. Streamline your donation experience and save up to 15 minutes by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass to complete your pre-donation reading and health history questions on the day of your appointment.
If you are an eligible type O, B – or A – donor, consider making a Power Red donation. Red blood cells are the most commonly transfused blood component.
Donors can anticipate the following precautions when arriving to the donation site:
- All guests will be required to present either proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test (dated within one week of their visit to campus) in an effort to provide a safe event atmosphere.
- Providing hand sanitizer for use before entering the drives, as well as throughout the donation process.
- Following social distancing guidelines between donors including entry, donation and refreshment areas.
- Ensuring face masks or coverings are worn by both staff and donors. Masks will be provided for all donors who do not bring their own face coverings.
- Routinely disinfecting surfaces, equipment and donor touched areas.
- Wearing gloves, and changing gloves often.
- Using sterile collection sets and antiseptic scrub for every donation.
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Joliet, Ill. – University of St. Francis (USF) Leach College of Nursing assistant professor and clinical simulation and learning director Jennifer Wills-Savoia DNP, MSN, R.N., has always answered a call to serve others. This has held true from her undergraduate studies in psychology, to her transition to nursing, and to her current role at USF. Now, Wills-Savoia’s service-based focus has been formally recognized by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, who recently named her a 2022 Nurse Educator Fellow. The honor carries with it a $10,000 fellowship award and an opportunity to share fellowship plans and activities with other Fellows and members of the Advisory Board for the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center.
Wills-Savoia plans to focus her fellowship award on two areas. The first area is to address perceived barriers on the national NCLEX nursing exam. One of these barriers – timed exam questions – affects many testers, especially those who do not fluently speak English. The second area is to further enhance USF’s simulation program.
“As an example, I met with three of my advisees fairly consistently throughout the duration of their educational program at USF, and was told that the NCLEX exam was their biggest struggle. Namely, the timed nature questions on the exam made it difficult. It’s complicated because they felt challenged to convert questions into their native language, arrive at a response, and then convert that response back to English in order to answer appropriately. Within that content, a time limit of one minute per question isn’t feasible,” she said.
“I just feel compelled to figure out a system, something that we can do to make this an easier process for them. These were three brilliant students and their testing results were compromised due to a barrier they couldn’t seem to break. There’s nothing that we can do differently right now as far as testing because the NCLEX does not make any accommodation for that, and that’s really what I’d like to push. I’d like to arrive at some sort of accommodation or solution for that. There has got to be something that we can do differently. I’d like to figure out a way to approach this,” Wills-Savoia added.
Wills-Savoia also feels that an enhanced simulation program at USF can offer students an even more comprehensive path to their degree, and a more thorough foundation upon which they can begin a career.
“What I love about simulation is that we can create situations that students might not see in a clinical setting but that they need to know about. We can challenge and push them beyond their comfort zone in a relatively safe space,” she said.
“I have been able to create some really interesting mental health simulations for small groups of students in the simulated setting, and as a result have seen their critical thinking skills just soar,” Wills-Savoia added.
The ability to offer these individualized approaches to challenges students face is something, according to Wills-Savoia, that sets USF apart from its peers.
“At USF, we try to maintain smaller class sizes. This approach allows each instructor to provide a personalized focus on each student. We utilize so many resources to support our students – resources that a lot of other colleges don’t have – and I think it’s that support that that has developed what we offer into a very long-standing, great program,” she said.
“We also offer students one-to-one mentoring, supplemental instruction and tutoring, along with many other resources. Additionally, we offer a coaching class here that is similar to tutoring, but that focuses more on helping students learn how to be successful on the NCLEX,” she added.
Aside from being in her role at USF since 2015, Wills-Savoia is very familiar with the university. She earned both her B.A. and BSN at USF.
“I love USF’s faith-based college setting and wanted to return to the place that helped me to develop into the educator and professional I am today. Our graduates seem to have the same calling. We regularly have a large number of students that come back and say that they want to return to USF to earn their master’s degree in nursing education. They want to return to USF with an end goal of serving others the way that USF instructors served them. That is a wonderful testament to what we do,” she said.
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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
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Joliet, Ill. – The University of St. Francis (USF) is one of the 158 best colleges in the Midwest according to The Princeton Review. The education services company lists USF in the Best in the Midwest section of its “2022 Best Colleges: Region by Region” website. The honor marks the fourteenth consecutive year USF has been named to this national listing.
Arranged according to five regional categories (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West and International), The Princeton Review’s “2022 Best Colleges: Region by Region” recognizes 654 colleges and universities (representing just 23% of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities) that the organization considers both academically outstanding and a valuable collegiate option.
“USF is dedicated to preparing women and men to contribute to the world through service and leadership, and will continue to work together build a Franciscan future in our second century as a higher educational institution. National recognition such as this – a fourteenth consecutive year of recognition by The Princeton Review – demonstrates the University of St. Francis’ longstanding and ongoing commitment to student success in terms of retention to graduation rates to in-field job placement,” USF President Arvid C. Johnson, Ph.D., said.
Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief, indicated that academics and overall campus experience play an important role in assembling this annual listing.
“We chose the University of St. Francis and the other outstanding institutions on this list primarily for their academics,” Franek said. He noted that the company considered data from its survey of administrators at several hundred colleges in each region, information from staff visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of college counselors and advisors whose perspectives the company solicits. “We also consider what students enrolled at the schools reported to us on our student survey about their campus experiences,” Franek added.
To learn more about The Princeton Review or to view the listing, please visit princetonreview.com/bestMWcolleges.
The University of St. Francis is consistently ranked among the best colleges and universities across the Illinois and the nation when it comes to quality education, affordability, and accessibility. To learn more about USF’s other recent rankings, please visit stfrancis.edu/nationally-ranked/.
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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
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WCSF-88.7 FM, the radio station of the University of St. Francis (USF) is hosting its annual Mega Music Rummage Sale on Saturday, October 23 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at USF’s St. Clare Campus, which is located at 1550 Plainfield Road in Joliet. Admission to the event is free. Thousands of items will be for sale at the event, including vinyl LPs, 45s, 78s, CDs, DVDs, video games, sheet music, 8-tracks, cassettes, instruments, audio equipment, and many more music-related items. Early bird admission starts at 7:30 a.m. with a suggested $20 donation. All proceeds support the educational mission of WCSF-88.7 FM.
WCSF is currently accepting donations of LPs, 45s, CDs, video games and DVDs. Please contact WCSF by telephone at 815-740-3697 to arrange a pick-up or drop-off.
WCSF- 88.7 FM is well known in the greater Joliet area as the home of the popular “Spirit of Christmas” programming that is broadcasted each year from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Day. During the rest of the year, the station plays a great mix of new, alternative, independent and local music programmed and operated by USF students. The station is available on the radio and online at wcsf.streamon.fm.
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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
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