Cur re nt Eve nt s, N ews a n d O th er Ha pp enings at Xavier l The Gold Nuggets won the 2013 women’s team title at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. l Xavier’s men’s and women’s tennis teams won the NAIA unaffiliated group qualifying tournament to earn automatic bids to the NAIA National Championship. The women were ranked No. 1 in the nation at the end of the regular season; the men were rated as high as No. 5. l Zahri Jackson and Matt Pieri won individual titles as the Gold Nuggets and Gold Rush extended their dominance of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, both teams winning team championships for the seventh consecutive year. In the process, both XU teams earned automatic bids to the NAIA National Championships.
Track and Field Champs
l XU Education professor Dr. Judith Miranti is serving on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), having been appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The 11-member board is the state’s policy-maker for all Louisiana public elementary and secondary schools. It also performs certain administrative functions for the state’s nonpublic elementary and secondary schools. l Xavier was awarded a $330,000 grant by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of its comprehensive engaged reading program. The three-year grant, “Creating a Culture of Critical Reading,” will allow the University to continue the work begun in 2010 with its “Read Today, Lead Tomorrow” initiative, a multi-faceted and broad-ranging approach designed to develop a culture of critical reading among students.
XG Summer 2013
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l Xavier has answered the call for an education-based noteworthy institute that trains young professionals to be more effective in their civic engagement with the advent of the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute (NCFLI). Designed to satisfy the demand for more innovative and qualified people stepping up to address public challenges, the Institute opened in January 2013 with a year-long program designed to cultivate the leadership capacities of men and women who have already distinguished themselves in professional and civic life. In its inaugural year, NCFLI selected 25 individuals (“Fellows”) from a broad spectrum of professions ranging from a Special Education Teacher to a Chief Executive Officer.
GETTING INVOLVED: Xavier students and summer SOAR student volunteers with NOLA for Life’s Gert Town cleanup day huddle under a tent with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.