Seton Hall Magazine, Summer 2001 - TLTC Blogs - Seton Hall ...

Opening the mind with art
On October 28, children
talented in art, ballet
and music will be on
hand to help celebrate this
important date for Seton
Hall University’s Department
of Art and Music. It marks
the grand opening of the
Crayola Dream-Makers
Program in Walsh Library
Gallery. Crayola established
the Dream-Makers Art
Education program in 1984
to cultivate through art the
creative behavior and
conceptual development of
students in kindergarten
through sixth grade.
The University is one of
five schools nationally to host
Dream-Makers in 2001-02
and will serve as the exhibit
site for the Northeast Region.
Students from 10 Northeast
states have been invited to
submit their art to be judged
and displayed at the Walsh
Gallery through December
14, 2001. Project Director
Susan Leshnoff, Ed.D., assis-
8 SETON HALL UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
tant professor of fine arts, and
Joann Cotz, M.A., director of
Walsh Library Gallery, are
working closely with graduate
students in the Museum
Professions program.
Opening day includes a
Children’s Festival of the Arts
in Kozlowski Hall, as well as
various children’s art and
poetry workshops in the Beck
Rooms. Several children’s and
youth groups will perform,
including the Mary
Byrne Ballet School, the
Essex County Youth
Symphony Orchestra
and the Jersey City
Chamber Music Group.
A grant proposal written
by Leshnoff brought Dream-
Makers to Seton Hall. Leshnoff
believes that integrating the
role of art and visual learning
in education helps link creativity
to other disciplines.
This year’s theme, “Dreams,
Design and Dimension,”
focuses on the relationships
among visual art, design and
A new approach to campus safety: officers on bikes
To increase campus safety
and give security officers
more visibility, the
Department of Public Safety
and Security has added a
bicycle patrol to the Seton
Hall University campus.
Patrolling with 21-speed bikes gives four of
Seton Hall’s security officers greater mobility
on their rounds. Pictured (from left) are
Thomas Marzullo, David Byrnes, Jerome
Wilson and Margoline Dorcent.
Patrick Linfante, M.A.,
assistant vice president of public
safety and security, says
bicycle patrols are increasingly
common among universities,
as well as police departments.
“You need to interact
with the community
directly in order to
understand their
concerns,” he
explains. “People are
much more likely to
approach an officer
on a bicycle than
someone who is
behind the wheel of
a patrol car.”
The bicycle
patrols, which began
on March 1, operate
weekdays from
8 a.m. to midnight.
While on duty,
mathematical concepts, such as
monetary systems and geometric
shapes. Leshnoff explains
that “The program uses the
theory of Howard Gardner
(professor of education at
Harvard University), who
believes that we have multiple
intelligences — that we are
not limited to just math and
language. Learning is also
fostered through the arts.” The
Crayola Dream-Makers Guide,
a resource guide for educators
and parents, forms the basis for
the art exhibit and is available
online at www.crayola.com.
Dream-Makers is a great
opportunity for the University,
Leshnoff says. “This is a
nationally recognized program
that allows Seton Hall to be
actively involved in the community,”
she explains. “We will
officers ride approximately
20 miles on bikes equipped
with 21-speed gearshifts and
front and back lights.
The bike patrol does not
replace officers in cars or on
foot, but Linfante finds that
bicycles help security officers
quickly respond to calls. “The
nature of a college campus,
where students walk between
buildings, can make it difficult
to reach some areas by car, and
an officer on foot may not be as
fast as an officer riding a bike,”
he says. Bike patrols also are
useful for maneuvering during
events that can attract a crowd,
such as University Day.
Before the program was
launched, the four security
officers selected for the bike
patrol completed an intensive
training course taught by the
be visiting various school districts
to present workshops on
how teachers can apply the
theory of art in the classroom.”
Leshnoff has spent the past
few months educating Seton
Hall students and local schools
and organizations on how to
incorporate art into lesson
plans. Kory Mellon, M.A. ’99,
a graduate student in secondary
education, aids her in these
efforts. Mellon believes a
holistic approach is critical to
learning. “This helps the students
find a creative side, and
encourages creative behavior,”
Mellon says. For example,
through hands-on art activities,
students discover basic relationships
between art and
other subjects, while stimulating
their imagination and
curiosity and learning to make
use of creative visual images.
As part of Dream-Makers,
the Walsh Gallery will host
workshops integrating
language arts, visual arts and
multicultural themes. Gradu-
West Orange and Florham
Park police departments.
Seton Hall security officers
Thomas Marzullo, Marguline
Dorcent, Jerome Wilson and
David Brynes attended the
bike-patrol class, along with
police officers from West
Orange, Morristown and
Roxbury.
Patrolling on bicycle is not
as easy as it sounds, Linfante
stresses. “Officers have to
handle the bike in all kinds
of situations ranging from
patrol and pursuit to learning
how to fall without getting
injured,” he says. Officers
also are trained to patrol
under a variety of weather
conditions, including reduced
visibility, cold temperatures
and light rain.