By Mike Hogan, Editor-in-Chief
On Jan. 29 St. Bonaventure University held a ceremony in Dresser Auditorium for freshman students who qualified for the dean’s list (3.5 GPA or higher).
According to Chris Brown, executive director of the Student Success Center, the university holds a ceremony for freshmen who made the dean’s list every spring semester.
“Prior to the Student Success Center,” Brown said, “there was a department called First-Year Experience. FYE, when it got started a long time ago, started a recognition ceremony for new students after their first semester. The first semester is such a trying semester, so the dean’s list ceremony for first-year students has been something that we’ve been doing. It’s an annual tradition that’s always happened.”
Typically, the university recognizes all of its students who made the dean’s list via letter or email. This semester, however, that message hasn’t come for sophomores, juniors and seniors.
According to Joseph Zimmer, provost and vice president for academic affairs, the letters typically go out to the remainder of the student body in early February.
But due to a change in Zimmer’s office, there has been a delay in the creation of the dean’s list letters. Zimmer said he and his staff will print and send the letters to their destinations in the next week, or shortly after.
“The slight delay in sending those out is my fault, because we had a staffing change in my office, and I did not have an assistant for the past few weeks to help me create the letters,” Zimmer wrote in an email to The Bona Venture. “My new assistant is in place and the letters are being printed this week for mailing over the next week or so, and should arrive at home addresses soon. The letter is simply a congratulations to the student for being on the dean’s list.”
For now, Zimmer and Brown said students wondering if they qualified for the dean’s list can access their unofficial transcripts on my.sbu.edu.
“All students who received a 3.5 or higher GPA for the Fall 2019 semester were automatically on the dean’s list as soon as their grades were finalized and confirmation of that is officially recorded on students’ transcripts which can be viewed at http://my.sbu.edu,” Zimmer wrote. “My apologies if this slight delay caused any concern.”
hoganm17@bonaventure.com
