The Reverend Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Award
In 1979, the Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators (JASPA) initiated an annual award for outstanding service in the area of student life in Jesuit higher education on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. The award was named in honor of its first recipient, Reverend Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J., and is JASPA’s most prestigious award.
Fr. Yanitelli was a member of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus. He was born on December 16, 1914. He attended Fordham Prep and entered the Society of Jesus on Sept. 7, 1933 at the Wernersville Novitiate in Pennsylvania. He was ordained on June 20, 1948 by Archbishop Keough of Baltimore in the chapel of Woodstock College in Maryland. He came to Fordham University in 1950 as a teacher of modern languages but soon moved into a vice-presidency. In 1963 he moved over to St. Peter's College in Jersey City and in 1965 became its rector and president. In 1978 he became Chancellor of the College. He was also through much of this period an active member of the Board of the Port Authority of New York. At one time there was even some talk of his running for mayor of Jersey City. In 1980 he became Pastor of St. Ignatius Church on Park Avenue in Manhattan. In 1986 he became the Episcopal Vicar for the East Side of Manhattan and held that office until a few weeks before his death. He died on Jan 2, 1993.
In 1964, Fr. Yanitelli wrote: "There are five philosophical assumptions basic to the whole idea of student personnel work. They are its matrix. They give it life and make it meaningful. The assumptions are these: that student personnel work is educational, i.e. intrinsically related to the overall objectives of the institution; that student personnel work is intellectual, i.e. oriented to the life of the mind; that student personnel work, for want of a better word, is moral, i.e. oriented to the personal uses of freedom with responsibility; that student personnel work is social, i.e. oriented to the individual's life as a member of the group; and that student personnel work is personal, i.e. both in the sense of the individual's growth as a mature, self-directed person and in the sense that reference to the manner in which the institution involves the student in the educational process and endeavors to attain its objectives."
The Yanitelli Award is given to persons in recognition of outstanding service to student affairs work in Jesuit and Catholic higher education, distinguished by a long-term commitment and support of Jesuit values to the campus, the profession, and the Association. The award recipient is a person who may be fairly characterized as the servant/leader, in the tradition of Fr. Yanitelli. The award is given annually, though it is not necessary to determine a recipient every year.
* The Reverend Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Award will be selected by the JASPA Executive Board.