Past News from BU Today
Friday, Aug. 29
To provide an extra level of customer service during the opening week activities, the registrar's office instituted a help desk in the lobby of Warren Student Services building. Through the first three days of classes, over 525 students had a variety of questions answered; ranging from instructions on signing on to STINF, dropping and adding classes, finding their academic department, locating classes and buildings on campus as well as a host of other important issues. Shown are, from left, registrar's office student workers Nancy Willingham and Nicole Monroe.
Thursday, Aug. 28
System Chancellor welcomes students
Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Chancellor John C. Cavanaugh is pleased to welcome you to campus for the start of the 2008-09 academic year. To view a brief video message from Dr. Cavanaugh, who became PASSHE's third chancellor on July 1, please click here.
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Overnight trips to NYC, Toronto planned
The Program Board is sponsoring trips to New York City and Toronto this semester.
A day and or night trip to New York City is being offered on Saturday, Sept. 20. For the day trip, a bus will depart from the hospital lot at 7 a.m. and depart from NYC at 8 p.m.
For the overnight trip, the bus will depart from the hospital lot at 7 a.m. and depart from NYC on Sunday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. Tickets to see Wicked and/or Hairspray are available. Bus and ticket to Wicked $90 with community activities card/$100 without; Bus and ticket to Hairspray $80/$90. Bus Only: $25/$30 for the day trip; $79 for overnight trip. Sign ups begin Wednesday, Aug. 27, for the overnight bus, and Thursday, Aug. 28, for the day bus at the Kehr Union Info. Center. Details on the October Toronto trip.
Tuesday, Aug. 26
BU MBA students in the "Organizational Behavior" course tackled the Quest High Ropes course on the upper campus Saturday. The exercise was designed to prepare the 13 students to climb the Knife Edge Ridge of Mt. Katahdin in Maine over Labor Day weekend. The climbing program, dubbed "Leadership on the Edge," is coordinated by BU's Quest program, which will have four guides to accompany the students. A four-person professional film crew will document the entire experience and create a one-hour, high-definition digital video documentary. WVIA has already agreed to air it on four of its television stations and promote it to other stations around the state. The program will be used in both undergraduate and graduate classes at BU as well as being shown to corporate executives around the state.
The Frederick Douglass Institute for Academic Excellence living and learning community students, joined by Jesus Salas Elorza, professor of languages and cultures, danced at the Bloomsburg Town Park during the Frederick Douglass orientation picnic Thursday.
Monday, Aug. 25
U.S. News' annual ranking lists Bloomsburg University among the best
U.S. News and World Report's annual ranking of U.S. colleges and universities once again lists BU as one of the best. In data released this week, U.S. News lists BU as number 81 Best Universities - Master's for the northern region. BU is tied with Southern New Hampshire University, SUNY - Oswego, the University of New England in Maine and, for the second year in a row, SUNY College - Brockport. Details.
BU awarded grant for audiology services
Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) announced that the U.S. Department of Education awarded a four-year grant totaling $780,000 to BU. The funding will be used to improve services and results for deaf and hard of hearing children by educating students in audiology. Details.
New freshmen de-tripling process
Students who are tripled will be de-tripled (in date order) as spaces become available. This process usually begins after the second week of the semester once openings are confirmed. Residence life assumes that all students wish to be de-tripled and their names will automatically be placed on the de-tripling list in the order online housing information was submitted. For more information on the de-tripling process go to reslife.bloomu.edu.
Student vehicle registration schedule
Students living on- and off-campus must register their vehicles. Commuter students may register their vehicles at the following times in the Scranton Commons north side lobby (across from Second Street Cafe):
- Monday, Aug. 25, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for commuter students with 60 or more credits and a last name starting A-K
- Tuesday, Aug. 26, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for commuter students with 60 or more credits with last name starting L-Z
- Wednesday, Aug. 27, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for commuter students with 59 and fewer credits
Students: Living off campus? Let us know where
All students at BU (except those who will be living on campus) including graduate students must register a permanent and local address including house number, apartment number (if applicable) and street where they will be living while taking classes for the 2008 fall semester. Even if you live with your parents (commuter status for financial aid purposes) or own your home (same address as your permanent one), you must register a local address. This should be done by going to STINF by Wednesday, Sept. 3. It is very important our records be accurate for emergency notification, parking permits, and financial aid review. If you are a non-degree student reporting your address or have any questions, please call the office of student standards/off-campus housing (570) 389-4734. Changes to a permanent address must be done at the registrar's office.
Friday, Aug. 22
BU's field hockey team prepares to hold a scrimmage on the upper campus early Thursday evening. The women's soccer team had just finished practicing.
Freshmen officially welcomed to campus
President David Soltz officially welcomed BU's Class of 2012 Friday morning (Aug. 22) during the annual convocation, held in the Student Rec Center.
"You are the largest, most diverse and best academically prepared" class in BU's history, Soltz told the freshmen, adding that the majority were in the top 25 percent of their high school graduating classes, 90 percent were members of clubs and organizations and about a third held leadership positions. "We received nearly 11,000 applications for fall admission," he said.
During his first convocation as BU's president, Soltz told the new students that he, like they, was attracted to the university by its outstanding faculty and staff, beautiful campus, start-of-the-art technology and innovative, rigorous degree programs. He stressed BU's three core values that promote an atmosphere of intellectual inquiry where diversity is valued and civic engagement is integral to life on campus and in the community.
Thursday, Aug. 21
While students began moving in to residence halls Wednesday morning, these friends found time for a game of touch football on the Academic Quad.
New BU CGA president starts term in office
Candidates usually hold rallies and hand out campaign signs and buttons, but Giovanna F. Adornetto used social networking to win the Community Government Association (CGA) presidency for the BU 2008-09 academic year.
Gaining 60 percent of the CGA election votes, Adornetto won the presidency relying on new technology. "I didn't make signs, I just created a Facebook group," she said. "We also sent messages to the members on the election days with the direct link to the voting page on the BU Web site, which made it easy for people to vote." Details.
Tuesday, Aug. 19
BU hosted the fourth annual migrant summer school this July and August. In the culminating read-around event, migrant children from the CSIU Northeast Region Migrant Program who had come to campus for three weeks to participate in the summer school, were paired with BU students from Caryn Terwilliger's Literacy for Diverse Classroom course. The BU students worked with the migrant children during the three week program as part of their coursework.
J. Edgar Hoover at the Newseum spa
Lindsay Waros '04 and a colleague groom a wax figure of J. Edgar Hoover, long-time director of the FBI, in a YouTube video. Waros, who earned a master's degree from George Washington University, is a curatorial assistant at the Smithsonian Newseum, which opened in April. The Hoover wax figure is part of the exhibit, "G-Men and Journalists," running through June 2009 at the museum in Washington, D.C.
Charities benefit from BU's University Store initiative
The Town of Bloomsburg Recycling Center and two other charities will benefit from "Using Less, Caring More," a new initiative to reduce use and waste at the University Store at BU. "Using Less, Caring More," similar to last fall's "Bag the Bag" effort, will reward students and other customers who choose not to accept shopping bags when they make purchases. Each customer who declines a plastic shopping bag will receive a custom-designed wooden nickel to place in one of three glass jars representing organizations that promote recycling or green-earth causes. At the end of the fall semester, the University Store will make a donation equal to the total dollar amount of wooden nickels in each charity's jar.
Details.New student Trustee wants to impact university
The new student representative on BU's Council of Trustees wants to give back to BU.
"I want to put my fingerprint on the university," said Nicole Najpauer, who will be officially welcomed to the Council of Trustees at the Wednesday, Sept. 3, meeting. "I applied because I love BU and this is something I could help with."
Najpauer, a senior early childhood/elementary education major from Northampton, was one of several students who applied for the position previously held by James D'Amico of Mount Carmel, who graduated. She submitted an application and went through a series of interviews before she was recommended by Gov. Ed Rendell in a process that took five months. Details.
Monday, Aug. 18
Former BU student dies in Altoona
Former Bloomsburg University student Desiree Ann Knechel, 23, of Millmont, died Aug. 3 at Altoona Regional Hospital from injuries suffered in a traffic accident three days earlier in Spring Mills. She was a graduate of Mifflinburg Area High School, a 2007 graduate Central Susequehanna Career Center Practical Nursing Program in Sunbury and worked as a licensed practical nurse at Rolling Hills Manor in Millmont. She was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority at Bloomsburg, where she attended for two years.
BU receives NRC nuclear education grant
Bloomsburg University is one of 60 institutions sharing more than $20 million in grants from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission designed to boost nuclear education and expand the workforce for nuclear energy. Congress provided NRC with $15 million to supplement NRC's grant program.
BU's $17,280 grant is among the $6.4 million designated for education scholarships and graduate fellowships. Other NRC grants are earmarked for faculty development, $7.8 million; university curriculum development, $4.7 million; and trade school scholarships, $734,000. Grant recipients are located in 26 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
"The United States is experiencing a renewed interest in nuclear power," said Dale Klein, NRC chair. "The NRC has received several applications for new reactors. These grants help broaden the pool of candidates for the industry by offering young men and women career paths and research opportunities."
Wednesday, Aug. 13
Fifty-seven students awarded Smith Scholarships to BU
Fifty-seven students who graduated from five area high schools have been awarded scholarships from the Fred G. Smith Golden Rule Trust Fund to attend BU in the 2008-09 academic year. The list of recipients of the $142,400 in scholarships was released by Thomas M. Lyons, the university's director of financial aid. Details.
Scholarship and Recognition
Williams Emeka Obiozor from exceptionality programs, Cristina Mathews from English and Roy Smith from the Quest program recently published research or made presentations. Details.
Digital records project completed
The registrar's office recently completed a major project to create electronic images of student paper folders. To date, close to 20,000 folders have been electronically scanned. Shown from left are: Meredith Womer, Nancy Willingham, Nicole Monroe, Chris Evans and Ashley Honabach, office work-study students who scanned, indexed and created the electronic files. Currently, all documentation that comes into the office on a daily basis that would normally be filed in a "paper" folder is scanned and imaged daily. Usually, more than 50 pages of student information is received on a daily basis. The scanned records are indexed to the student so that all information can be retrieved at one time, regardless of the year it was scanned.
BU tops Wimba listing
BU's award-winning online courses in instruction for the deaf and hard of hearing top the list of Wimba's Modern Marvels, the software firm's Top 10 Unique Online Courses that use Wimba collaborative solutions.
Sam Slike, curriculum coordinator for BU's education of the deaf/hard of hearing program, and Pam Berman, instructional designer for the Institute for Instructional Technology, received an award from the United States Distance Learning Association earlier this year for their use of Wimba Classroom, a virtual learning program that combines interactive technologies with traditional styles of instruction.
Incoming freshmen awarded scholarships
Incoming BU fall freshmen were recently awarded scholarships. New freshmen will arrive at BU for Welcome Weekend, Aug. 22 to 24. During the weekend's events, they will participate in activities and workshops that will help them get settled at BU and meet other students, faculty and staff before classes begin on Aug. 25. Details.
Physics graduate honored as top Navy engineer
Vincent Urick, a 2001 graduate of BU's physics program, recently received the 2007 Department of the Navy Top Scientists and Engineers of the Year award. Urick accepted the award during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. According to the Navy announcement of the award, Urick's research is focused on how analog fiber optics can be used by Navy and Department of Defense. Urick has been working as a research physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., since 2001. He earned his master of science and doctoral degrees from George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia in 2005 and 2007.