Nearly 1,300 Bloomsburg University seniors received bachelor’s degrees Saturday, May 18, during commencement ceremonies on the BU Academic Quadrangle. BU held two commencement ceremonies for undergraduates on May 18. Students from the Colleges of Education and Liberal Arts graduate in the morning; while students from the Colleges of Business and Science and Technology will receive their degrees in the afternoon.

Students who earned the highest grade point averages in each college, known as top honor graduates, were recognized during the commencement ceremonies. The graduates, their hometowns and majors:

• College of Liberal Arts and College of Business — Sarah E. Geise, Northumberland, double major in economics and business administration/management.
• College of Education — Justin E. Drumm, Bloomsburg, education/early childhood.
• College of Science and Technology — Dagaen Garrett Brady Golomb, Bloomsburg, double major in computer science and mathematics; and Caitlin Green, Factoryville, speech pathology and audiology.

Six doctorates and 207 master’s degrees were conferred during graduate commencement Friday, May 17, in Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. #BUClass2013

As one chapter ends, another one begins

"As slowly as spring arrived this year, it didn’t appear to impact the speed of the semester. In fact, it seems like only yesterday I was welcoming you back to campus for the start of the 2012-13 academic year — the final year at Bloomsburg for more than 1,300 of you. I even remember welcoming you to the university as wide-eyed freshmen in August 2009. I was beginning my second full year as president, and you were getting your first taste of independence," — an excerpt from President David L. Soltz's latest blog.

Three faculty members will be recognized at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania’s spring commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18, as the Teaching and Learning Enhancement (TALE) Outstanding Teachers for 2012-13.

Jennifer Johnson, assistant professor of psychology, and John Grandzol, professor of management, were selected by undergraduate students; Denise Davidson, assistant professor of school counseling and college student affairs, was chosen by graduate students.

Davidson’s nomination and selection is the first for the new TALE graduate teaching award. Nominating students praised her “expectation of excellence.” Known as a “demanding professor,” she “challenges her students to learn the material and connect it with other classes and their chosen professions.” Johnson’s nominators said she “goes out of her way to ensure that each student in her class, whether in a mass lecture or 20-person seminar, understands and learns the material provided.” She encourages students to become “intrinsically motivated” rather than just memorizing facts, and requires students to “think critically and apply their work, while at the same time giving back to their community.”

Students who nominated Grandzol called him an “outstanding teacher.” Students know that the “tools he is teaching them are what they will need when they begin a job.” He provides “learning experiences outside of the classroom to show how concepts are applied in the real world” and “piques interest in a topic.”

Both lower campus and upper campus will undergo a series of construction projects this summer, starting after spring graduation on Monday, May 20, with the Swisher Circle/Chuck Daly Way project, according to BU's facilities management department within the Office of Planning and Construction.

Featured on bloomu.edu/planning-construction-summer are a series of campus plans showing this summer’s more significant construction activity occurring across lower and upper campus. The approximate dates the projects will span are noted on the plans, which include several projects that started earlier in the spring semester. Any changes to the information shown on the plans will be updated as needed.

BU’s Army ROTC program recently commissioned four new officers at Bucknell University’s Rooke Chapel.

• 2LT Steven Shorter was commissioned into the PAANG in the Adjutant General Corps
• 2LT John Petty was commissioned in the Active Army Ordnance Corps with a follow on assignment to Ft Lewis, Wash.
• 2LT Adam Wendoloski commissioned in the Active Army as a Military Intelligence officer detailed to the Infantry for his first assignment in Alaska
• 2LT Robert Roche was commissioned into the PAANG as a Ordnance officer.

Congratulations to them and their families on this great accomplishment.

Four faculty members were honored last week with the Provost's Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity.

Shown, from left, are Kuo-Hao Lee, finance; Todd Borlik, English; Jennifer Venditti-Roadarmel, biological and allied health sciences; Mark Bauman, educational studies and secondary education; Ira Blake, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

Each award winner received $1,000 for travel or other faculty development activities and a plaque. Nominations of untenured faculty are made by each dean and evaluated by Dean's Council based upon publications, presentations and other scholarly work.

BU's Act101/EOP recently honored graduating seniors at a banquet. Shown from left are:

• Kirstin Selvey and Breanna Nicholson, Director’s Award Recipients
• Irvin Wright, Acting Associate Dean for Academic Achievement and professor of Developmental Education
• Jasmin Rockemore and Jasmin Rosario, Director’s Award Recipients
• Luke Betley, Achievement and Leadership Award Recipient

The Director’s Award is presented to graduating seniors of the program in recognition of their contributions to the university through student leadership and involvement. The Achievement and Leadership Award is presented to program seniors deserving special recognition. Act 101/EOP, coordinated through the Department of Developmental Instruction, provides support and opportunities for success to students traditionally under-represented in higher education.

BU’s chapter of Sigma Pi Sigma, the official honor society of the physics profession, recently inducted Michael Ashton, Robert Gionfriddo, Kelly Barko and Mark Campbell as its newest members. Through election to Sigma Pi Sigma, distinctive achievement and high scholarship in physics is recognized and celebrated. Students elected to membership must attain high standards of general scholarship and outstanding achievement in physics. Undergraduate candidates must be in the upper one-third of their class in general scholarship to meet the minimum standard that chapters may use.

Undergraduate candidates must have completed at least three semesters of full-time college work and at least three semester courses in physics that can be credited toward a physics major. Students who are not physics majors can be elected, provided that they meet the standards and have demonstrated an interest in physics. BU’s Department of Physics and Electronics Engineering is very pleased to congratulation the latest members of the Sigma Pi Sigma honor society.

Eight BU chemistry majors and five faculty members presented their research recently at the 245th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans. In additional to presenting research and attending other scholarly seminars, the students and faculty met BU alumnus Dr. Conrad Stanitski (’60) the recipient of the George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education, and attended Stanitski’s award acceptance speech.

More than 15,000 chemists, academics, students and other professionals participated in the conference, addressing the relationship between chemistry and food in our society. Representing BU were Michael Pugh, Gene Tunney, Jessica Viscomu, Hannah Cronk, Christopher House, Jacob Powell, Toni Trumbo-Bell, Matthew Miele, Mark Tapsak, Owen O’Sullivan, Scott Blackburn and Diane Hinkens.

BU’s Association for Operations Management (APICS) Student Chapter recently hosted its first annual “Best of Class” night. The chapter welcomed student members, parents, and over 15 industry professionals and alumni, including representatives from NEPA APICS, Kydex, Autoneum, Merck, Lowes, and Geisinger Health Systems. These and other organizations were critical to the chapter chartering process and provided speakers and field trip experiences throughout the year.

The event featured a light buffet and a short program consisting of John Grandzol recognizing students graduating with the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Career Concentration, award winners for the SCM case competition, and officers for the APICS student chapter. Christian Grandzol displayed a pictorial year in review. A special presentation by NEPA APICS was among the highlights of the evening. The professional chapter presented the student chapter with the chapter charter and a very generous check to seed the chapter’s educational events.

Nearly 1,500 was raised this semester by Richard Ganahl's PR Cases and Problems class for the annual Bocce Bash, a Special Olympics event held each fall on campus with support from BU's Student Council for Exceptional Children and the Department of Exceptionality Programs. The senior-level mass communications class plans fundraisers for a chosen local charity each spring as its main project. Each level of the project, from selecting the charity to developing a plan to launching the actual fundraising campaign, is done by the students.

Using the online funding platform, Indiegogo.com, the class conducted several fundraisers across campus and within the surrounding community. In addition, the class hosted a 17-team Bocce Bash tournament in April on the Academic Quad. Proceeds from the Bocce Bash fundraiser will benefit the Special Olympics of Columbia/Montour to purchase equipment and increase athlete participation in the event. #CollaborativeLearning

Along with celebrating student and faculty accomplishments over the past academic year, BU’s Department of Anthropology honored its 16 graduating seniors and celebrated the induction of 20 new members to the Lambda Alpha National Honor Society's Zeta Chapter of Pennsylvania.

Graduating Seniors — Tristan Adrian, Sarah Blackwell, Sarah Gray, Frank Hickman, Elizabeth Kinder, Kayla Maciorkoski, Jimmy Muwombi, Samantha Nowka, Natalie Wagner, John Barrett, Janelle Derr, Shelly Fought, Kahlil Little, Krysta Shaffer, Katelyn McMichael and Kristin Stauffer.

Lambda Alpha Inductees — Gabrielle A. Ferrara, Teresa M. Robbins, Rachel Lillian Harris, Andrew Ostrowsky, Matthew Vincent Kenny, Katelyn Shoemaker, Jared McAlexander, Amanda Shott, Emily R. Prisuta, Amber M. Weaver, Shayna Lee Stella, Tamara Sellers, Shannon Faye Sursely, Chelsea Meagan Myers, Gabrielle Vielhauer, Laurel K. Downs, Katrina S. Taylor, Michelle Mattar, Lindsay C. George and Gessica Barry.

The WISE women of BU (Women Inspiring Strength and Empowerment) raised $200 late this semester for the Breast Cancer Fund through the LUNAFEST, which was held on campus in April. LUNAFEST, the fundraising film festival dedicated to:

• promoting awareness about women's issues
• highlighting women filmmakers
• bringing women together in their communities

This unique film festival highlighted women as leaders in society, illustrated through nine short films by women filmmakers. The films range from animation to fictional drama, and cover topics such as women’s health, motherhood, body image, aging, cultural diversity and breaking barriers.

PPL has committed a total of $26,500 to date in support of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Magnet Program, which begins this fall at Bloomsburg University. PPL also advised on development of the curriculum and will assist in mentoring program participants, starting with 21 juniors from Berwick, Bloomsburg and Central Columbia high schools.

Shown from left are BU President David L. Soltz; Teri MacBride, PPL regional affairs director; Michael Munroe, plant manager, PPL Montour; Jerome Dvorak, executive director, BU Foundation; Don Bernhard, PPL director of community affairs; Brian Case ’83, PPL manager of academic relations; Joe Scopelliti, community relations manager, PPL Susquehanna; Elizabeth Mauch, dean of the College of Education, BU; and Jim Hollister, assistant vice president for External Relations, BU.

BU’s mass communications faculty will offer a week-long Technology and Mass Media Camp for high school juniors and seniors from Monday to Friday, June 24 to 28. Classes and workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day in McCormick Center. The cost is $45 per student.

Students will be introduced to the expanding field of mass communications and how the mass media operate. During the workshop, students will produce web- and broadcast-quality projects using equipment and software in the mass communication television studio, control room, edit bays and multimedia computer lab. David Magolis and Jason Genovese, BU assistant professors of mass communications, will host the camp. The registration deadline is June 1. For additional information, contact Magolis at dmagolis@bloomu.edu.

A team of four BU students won second place in the Society for the Advancement of Management’s business case competition held this March in Arlington, Va.

Shown from left are students Nathan Shefter, Andrew Foley, Kristin Hummel and Nicholas Bonitatibus with team adviser Lam Nguyen, associate professor of management, Joan Benek-Rivera, assistant dean of the College of Business, and John Okpara, chair of the department of management.

Lambda Pi Eta, the official honor society for communication studies, celebrated the induction Sunday, April 28, of their newest members. Lambda Pi Eta recognizes, fosters and rewards outstanding achievement in communication studies.

In order to be eligible for membership, students must:

• complete 60 semester credit hours
• have a cumulative GPA of 3.0
• complete 12 credit hours within the department
• have a minimum GPA of 3.25 for department courses
• be enrolled as a student in good standing, as determined by BU policies
• rank within the top 35 percent of one’s class in general scholarship

Lambda Pi Eta members promote outstanding academic achievement in the communication discipline. Congratulations to the newest members of BU's chapter of Lambda Pi Eta! Inductees were Whitney Barksdale, Lauren Coffey, Nate Friesema, Abigail Morrison, Brianna Olsson, Colby Little, Michaela Reilly and Lindsay Romanelli.

The Gloria Cohen-Dion award was created this year to honor the memory of Gloria Cohen-Dion, who suddenly passed away in February after 20 years of service as a professor at Bloomsburg University. The Gloria Cohen-Dion Leadership Award will be given to the graduating political science major who has provided the most service through leadership to the Department of Political Science.

This student achievement award is given to a political science major who has exhibited outstanding leadership qualities during their tenure in the department. BU’s political science faculty unanimously selected Matthew Coombe to receive this award, which includes a cash gift.

More than 100 high school students representing four area school districts participated in BU’s annual Model United Nations High School Simulation on Thursday, April 11, sponsored by the SOLVE office and directed by BU’s Model United Nation Club. At the conference, the high school students represented the General Assembly I, General Assembly III, Security Council, and the World Health Organization. The high school students came prepared to discuss the topics for each of their respective committees and acted as different countries.

The Bloomsburg Model U.N. members provided their knowledge of the correct chairing process used by the United Nations. As usual, the students were very involved with the whole conference and eager to learn, they even taught some of the college students a few new pointers. Overall, the High School Conference was a productive one and we are excited to host next year’s High School conference. First Row (L-R): LaDeshia Maxwell, Kelly Murray, Jaimie Hoffman, James Haywood, Jessica White, Kenny Gillis and Dave Yael. Second Row (L-R): Ace Ahmed, Haleigh McDonald, Eric Petrozino, Abdullah Al-Bahrani, Harold Alfred, A.S.M. Tuhin and Matt Albertson.

BU’s Gender Studies Minor (GSM) held its Spring 2013 Graduation Reception on Friday, April 26. This semester, ten students are graduating with a minor in Gender Studies. The students graduating with the minor were given green graduation cords.

Also at the reception, the winner of the 2012-2013 GSM Essay Competition was announced. This year's winner is the graduating student, Hannah Long, double-majoring in communication studies and psychology and double-minoring in Gender Studies and Philosophy.

Her essay title is "What's the Buzz About? Reclaiming Female Sexuality through the Vibrator." As a prize, Hannah Long received Cheryl Strayed's national best-seller novel, Wild. Her essay investigates the liberating function of the vibrator for women. Initially developed as a treatment for the condition of hysteria, the vibrator has changed the way that women’s pleasure is viewed and achieved. Because of this liberating aspect, the vibrator serves as a device for sexual freedom as well as a call for discussions on social and ideological realms of female sexuality.

BU students are shown at the Rotary District Conference in Gettysburg this past weekend. The seven students are members of the BU student Rotaract Club that is affiliated with the Bloomsburg Rotary Club. These students have worked side-by-side Bloomsburg Rotarians to serve meals at the Community Meals served at the Wesley United Methodist Church on a monthly basis.

What would it take to change the world? Rotary's 1.2 million members believe it starts with a commitment to Service Above Self. In more than 34,000 clubs worldwide, you'll find members volunteering in communities at home and abroad to support education and job training, provide clean water, combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, and eradicate polio.

The annual Commonwealth of Pennsylvania University Biologists (CPUB) Meeting was recently held at Clarion University. While BU’s biology department only had a few students attend the meeting, the two that were there did a great job representing the Huskies!

• In addition to her CPUB Outstanding Student award, Kelsey Matthews (BS Biology, Pre-Med) was also honored with a first place for her research talk in the Cell and Molecular Biology — Undergraduate Presentation division.
• Ghaith Ibrahim (M.S. Biology) won second place in the Overall Graduate Student division that included all graduate students in both the Ecology, Evolution and Organismal and Cellular and Molecular Biology divisions for both platform and poster presentations.

BU's Board of Governors program recently honored its 51 graduating scholars during its annual awards banquet, hosted by the Multicultural Center. The Board of Governors (BOG) Tuition Scholarship targets students who excel academically including students of various races, and students majoring in liberal arts science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Scholarship recipients are required to participate in a structured program dedicated to the enhancement of retention and graduation rates. #AcademicExcellence

2013 BOG Scholar Graduates

Tyler Allmond, Whitney Barksdale, Ralph Beishline, Susan Brehm, Laura Brehm, Colton Brouse, Jasmine Brown, Rachel Bushinski, Jazmin Carrasco, Raymond Carter, Ryan Cellini, Shyree Clark, Leslie Cope, Deja Davis, Jestina Drysdale, Amro Elansari., Dagaen Golomb, Sarah Gorr, Evelynn Guzman, Heather Hamilton, Eona Harrison, Caprese Harmon, Jaimie Hoffman, Johanna Hyacinthe, Latoya Jamison, Hanna Jarsocrak, Fred Johnson, Terrance Jones Jr., Kimberly Lebron, Shamirra Lloyd, Samantha Morton, Jimmy Muwombi, George Naef, Lindsey Nako, Elizabeth Ola, Tamika Oliver, Ryan Oravec, Gabriel Ortiz, Kenneth Pallis, Ryan Poticher, Caitlin Prokopchak, Tykirra Robinson, Jasmin Rockemore, Jasmin Rosario, Michelle Sherman, Michael St. John, Briana Thomas, Eli Tome, Christopher Wise, Kristin Witmer and Meredith Woy.

Students from Christina Francis's courses — English 364 Chaucer and English 246 British Literature I — spent the day in New York City on April 4 visiting the Metropolitan Museum and the John Pierpont Morgan Library.

While visiting the Met Museum, students toured the medieval artifacts exhibits and the arms and armor displays. At the Morgan Library, in a private viewing room, a curator shared five rare and early printed books, ranging from a first edition of Malory's Morte Darthur to a 15th century Romance of the Rose with hand-painted illuminations, with the students. The Kelmscott Press edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was the group's favorite. Their trip was sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts.

BU’s Rho Chi Chapter of TriBeta, a national biology honor society, has been designated the 2011-12 Second Place winner of the Lloyd M. Bertholf Award, which was established the in 1961 to recognize the chapter which most nearly meets a series of criteria for chapter excellence. The criteria include various aspects of chapter programming, such as guest speakers and tutoring and other service projects, but emphasizes most heavily the encouragement of scholarly activity among the members.

Any chapter which wins the award or either of the honorable mentions, is one in which students have been encouraged to conduct biological research, to present the work at scientific meetings, and to write and submit the work for publication in a scientific journal.

The College of Business sponsored student attendance at the Pennsylvania Association of Computer and Information Science Educators (PACISE) Conference on cyber security. April 5 and 6, the Department of Computer Science at East Stroudsburg University hosted the 28th Annual Spring Conference for PACISE, a professional organization representing faculty in all areas of computing and computing education.

Bloomsburg University students in the course Systems Security Management, ITM 408, competed for the opportunity to attend the conference by researching a current topic in cyber security. Students participated in conference events while their posters were displayed. Abstracts of their research will be published in the proceedings. (L-R): John Hegarty, Aaron Reed, Ryan Dunleavy, Anthony Dellanoce, David Hummel, Korey Young, Garrett Kroboth. Not pictured: Maura Gay, Isaac Kopp, James Ruffin.

BU's information and technology management (ITM) program is designed to educate individuals to effectively plan, design, select, implement, use, and administer emerging information and communication technologies. The program curriculum and instructional strategies provide students with the technical knowledge and skills needed to effectively integrate people, technology, and business processes to support organizational goals.

BU's chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) won Chapter Honors at the PSHA convention held recently in Harrisburg. The chapter was honored for its extensive community service, including:

• fundraising for the Danville Aphasia Center
• participation in activities at a local nursing home
• for its ongoing encouragement of undergraduate research through its Research Committee
• for its support of the annual Health Sciences Symposium
• ongoing community outreach
• and for its financial support of the speech and language clinical programs.

The award was accepted by NSSLHA President Brianna Haines at the annual Awards Luncheon held at convention.

A team of Computer Science students from Bloomsburg University took first place on April 6 in this year’s PACISE College Programming Contest. ACM student chapter members Nicole Burfeind, John George, and Ryan Oravec completed six problems to win the three-hour competition.

The annual PACISE Programming Contest and Conference brings together students from the fourteen PASSHE schools every spring. This year 22 teams from eleven schools competed at East Stroudsburg University. Also participating from Bloomsburg were a team consisting of Shane Levengood, Dan Eubank, and David Sutherland, and team alternates Melissa Wall and Mike Young. Associate Professor of Computer Science Robert Montante is the ACM advisor for the teams. #CollaborativeLearning

BU's audiology doctoral students under the direction of Thomas Zalewski, Ph.D., associate professor of audiology, completed hearing screenings in April at The Family YMCA of Easton, Phillipsburg, N.J., and Vicinity. The Pre-K Counts Program offered by the Family YMCA of Easton, Phillipsburg and Vicinity is a program for children ages 3, 4 and 5 residing in the Easton Area School District and surrounding school districts whot are at risk of school failure.

Children in these programs are English Language Learner, Disabled, or Developmentally Delayed.

As part of the BU’s audiology program community outreach, the group made visits to three Family YMCA Head Starr programs:

• Pre-K Counts
• the Early Childhood Development Center
• the Annex Kindergarten Program

Approximately 100 children at these three sites on three different days had their hearing screened using pure tone audiometry or otoacoustic emissions. BU's audiology department and The Family YMCA understand the importance of early intervention and the benefits of identifying hearing loss as soon as possible to allow these children to develop a solid educational foundation. #SenseOfCommunity

A proposed internet and mobile based marketing platform designed to help small businesses effectively market their promotions to college students took the top prize in the second Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Student Business Plan Competition.

» The plan for Dorm Discount (.com) was developed by Krutarth Patel, a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). The service would provide a unique self-service coupon creator and management system that business owners would use to generate, monitor and modify promotions easily and conveniently. Its goal would be to maximize savings to college students while boosting revenues for small business owners

» Thomas Rounsville Jr. of East Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg University took second place in the competition with his proposal to create a system that would allow investigators collecting evidence at a wildlife crime scene to use essentially the same techniques and technologies that are used in human forensics. The use of such technology in the field could result in rapid identification of potential poachers.

» Paul Rosa and Sean Roth, both students at Bloomsburg University, took third place with a proposal to create a social network that would allow sports fans to post 15-second video clips of themselves speaking about popular topics, which then could be viewed by a mass audience. It would give the user the ability to interact and reply to other fans’ video posts with their own video posts while experiencing smooth site navigation in an online sports community.

The winners of the competition will receive $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively, to be used as seed money to assist in the startup of their proposed business ventures. More than 200 student teams competed in this year’s competition, designed to provide student entrepreneurs a real-world opportunity to pitch their original business plans. The competition was sponsored by PSECU, F&M Trust, PNC Bank, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts and JP Morgan and was partially funded by a Keystone Innovation Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

Enactus, an international student organization that works with leaders in business and higher education, to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities. BU’s Enactus team recently attended the Northeast Regional Competition in New York City, winning regional champion. They will now advance to the National Exposition in Kansas City, where they will be competing against universities from all over the United States.

In addition, four of the active members received the Enactus Leadership Award for achievement of more than 100 volunteer hours throughout this academic year. The competition also included a career fair, where students were interviewed on the spot for internships and full time positions. To learn more about Enactus and their role in the campus community, please contact Dominique Clark, at ddc32886@huskies.bloomu.edu.