The swearing in ceremony for Pennsylvania’s newly elected state treasurer, Stacy Garrity, was held on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at The Forum in Harrisburg. Garrity, a 1986 graduate of Bloomsburg University, unseated incumbent treasurer Joe Torsella in the November 2020 general election. During her inaugural address, Garrity acknowledged her family, friends, and volunteers for their support saying, “I offer a humble word of thanks.”

Due to continued violations of previously announced reforms to its Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) system, Bloomsburg University will begin immediate disaffiliation with three recognized FSL student organizations that have incurred infractions since Dec. 2, 2019. The disaffiliation will be effective the beginning of the spring 2021 semester. It will continue for a period no less than five years, through at least the fall semester of 2025, when the disaffiliation may be revisited for effectiveness and overall interest in the university’s desire or opportunity to expand the FSL community. This action is being taken due to an overall non-compliance to university standards for student and organizational behavior and the defiance of the university’s zero-tolerance policy.

It was a memorable performance for a group of Bloomsburg University professional sales and marketing students who placed 14th out of 80 schools in the recent International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC), hosted virtually by Florida State University due to COVID-19. Ohio State University won the overall World Cup of Sales competition, which combined the sales management simulation, sales management case, and role-play competitions. Bloomsburg — the top performing Pennsylvanian school — was just two points behind West Virginia and finished ahead the University of Central Florida and Iowa State. The next highest PA school was Temple, placing 48th.

Bloomsburg University’s Student Nurses Association (SNA) teamed up to help the Ronald McDonald House in Danville and the BU Women’s Resource Center during these hard times. Jordyn Blucher and Sarah Kelly, both senior nursing majors and members of SNA, were eager to participate in these service activities this semester. “SNA is an organization that is directly for nursing students, where all nursing students have the opportunity to join,” said Blucher. “We meet once a month and talk about what happenings in the nursing program. We also offer community service events and inform nursing students on ways that they can get involved.”

Animal shelters haven’t been immune to the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, something of which Bloomsburg University’s Theta Tau Omega sorority took notice of this fall with the nearby SPCA in Danville. “COVID caused a lot of donations to come to a halt,” said Ellen Wong, the sorority’s philanthropy chair. “It was hard for the SPCA to receive the amount of donations they normally would have. People would drop off blankets, pillows, and food sometimes daily, but the pandemic changed that.”

Stacy Garrity ’86 was elected Pennsylvania’s State Treasurer, beating incumbent Joe Torsella. Garrity earned a degree in finance and economics from BU. Garrity is a retired Army Reserve Colonel who has a decorated service history on the battlefields of Iraq. While serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, she started work as a cost accountant at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp., a global supplier of refractory powders. Eventually, she was named one of the first of two female vice presidents for the company.

A Bloomsburg University fraternity went above and beyond to help children in need who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by donating art supplies to KidsPeace. KidsPeace is a home and correctional facility located in Orefield that helps children and offers lodging and counseling to children without families and have obedience disorders. The brothers of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) got involved with KidsPeace after an alum reached out to them and asked them to make a difference in the lives of the kids.

Community Government Association (CGA) members are generally your typical college-age students between the ages of 18-22 who live on or near campus. Lizz Matias breaks that mold in many ways. A non-traditional student elected to the CGA senate as the off-campus representative, Matias lives in Reading, 70 miles from campus. “One of the problems I ran into as a part-time student is that I'm not eligible for Dean’s List, or any academic distinction, because of my part-time status. When I looked further, I found out you need 45 credits at BU to even graduate with honors. I hope to get this change made for everyone who follows after me and is working full-time while taking night classes.”

When Army National Guard Master Sgt. John Paul Karpovich learned of the new Military Family Education Program (MFEP), also referred to as the PA Family GI Bill, reenlisting for six more years to the Pennsylvania National Guard (PNG) was a no-brainer for him. MFEP allows spouses and children of PNG members to attend college at no cost or a reduced cost. For Karpovich, it would help his daughter Georgia with her tuition to attend Bloomsburg University, so he signed on the dotted line.

Juliette Gudknecht is an analytical type who likes to solve problems. Majoring in physics was an obvious and fitting choice for her at Bloomsburg University. Then she discovered how mathematics could be used to solve real-world problems. And her sights were set. “I took one computer science class and fell in love with programming. I’ve always been fascinated with science, specifically astronomy. I had the same mindset most do — that (astro) physics would be too hard to pursue, or that I was bad at math. I decided to just go for it and work hard.”

Meghan Okken’s career plan was simple. Become a speech therapist. It’s why she chose Bloomsburg University. It’s why she chose to major in audiology and speech-language pathology. Next in her plan — an internship, which led her into an another, yet related, direction. “I honestly never considered going into audiology prior to this internship. It was a great opportunity I felt I couldn’t turn down. I had little knowledge about audiology, and of course, was eager to learn more about it. I had always done my observations with a speech pathologist, so I thought it would be really cool and interesting to experience the audiology side."

As a time-honored tradition for the past 29 years, Allstate and the American Football Coaches Association are recognizing 22 student-athletes and an honorary coach named to the 2020 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® for stepping up to help those in need. Huskies senior defensive lineman Alex Findura is one of those select student-athletes named to the team. Since the inception of the award in 1992, Findura becomes the first student-athlete from Bloomsburg University to earn the prestigious honor.

COVID-19 may have interrupted Andrew Horst’s last semester of college and subsequent graduation plans but didn’t deter his path to a full-time job, which he landed directly from his summer internship. The recent accounting graduate persevered through unexpected challenges of the ongoing pandemic to not only complete his internship with Boyer & Ritter LLC — a recognized leader in tax, accounting and consulting services — but impressed the PA firm enough to make the opportunity more permanent.

Eyeing a fast-paced, interactive marketing internship this summer, Damian Arizini had his career focus lined up just right to kick off his senior of college. Then the COVID-19 pandemic took over. As a result, his internship with beMarketing in Philadelphia became virtual. Arizini adjusted his focus and recalibrated his motivation. In the end, the marketing major came away with a rewarding internship experience that not only gave him valuable insight into the marketing world, it taught him a few extra lessons Arizini says gave him even more confidence to succeed after graduation.

A few added lessons came with this summer’s Migrant Education Program practicum for a group of Bloomsburg University education majors eager for classroom experience prior to their student teaching placements. The four-week traditional summer program — entering its 23rd year in Hazelton and fourth year in Harrisburg — designed for children in kindergarten through 11th grade whose parents are migrant workers shifted to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the future teachers were tasked to lead lessons not in front of a classroom but to teach virtually through Zoom and using various online education tools.

Alex Annan’s first job out of college has not only been the perfect fit for the supply chain management graduate, it’s positioned him to be among the key players in the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And that’s exactly where he wants to be.

“Cardinal Health’s commitment to fulfilling the needs of patients and doctors across the world was very rewarding to me,” says Annan ’19, ‘20M, who started at Cardinal Health as a supply chain specialist in July while finishing his M.B.A. requirements. “I believed starting my career at an organization known for their supply chain capabilities would help me become a well-rounded professional.”

COVID-19 nearly canceled this summer’s field-based practicum for Bloomsburg University’s child life specialist program.

Instead, the 28 students made history by going virtual with their 120-hour experience with Camp Victory in Millville and the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, United Kingdom. It was a first of its kind virtual child life practicum, according to Michael Patte, professor of teaching and learning and child life specialist.

Sergeant Frank Doone, a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and a criminal justice major, is part of a six-person nationwide team that is battling in a new way — in virtual reality. Doone and his teammates will participate in the Keystone Masters: Format Experiments, a live tournament for World of Warcraft against teams from all over the world. Doone’s team consists of military personnel from all components of the Army, including members from the National Guard, Reserve and active duty.

Three chemistry-biochemistry students passed the national American Society for Biochemistry and Biochemistry Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Accreditation Exam. Stepan Budkin, Tara Full, and Jason Stone were among 926 students nationwide who took the rigorous exam last spring and among the 40.4% (374 students) who passed. Additionally, Stone was awarded certification with distinction for extraordinary success on the exam. In total, nine BU students have earned the national certification recognition and three have earned high distinction. Bloomsburg’s 50% certification rate exceeds the national average of 43.8%.