IUP in Spotlight as Host for Kennedy Center Theater Festival

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

All is NOT quiet here during the winter break–and IUP could not be more happy and proud.

IUP is hosting the Region II Kennedy Center Theater Festival through Monday, January 16. This means that 1,000 faculty members and students from colleges and universities from the eight-state region are here on campus for workshops, lectures, and performances. This is the second time that IUP has been selected to host the event; we also were the site for the 2010 festival, which featured keynote speaker Bill Pullman.

The keynote presenter for this year’s festival is John Cariani. He’s been in many television series and popular movies, including Kissing Jessica Stein, and was nominated for a Tony Award (Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical) for his performance in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. He also has an interesting IUP tie: He was one of the stars of Elephant Sighs, the movie written by former IUP theater professor and playwright Ed Simpson.

There are a number of plays open to the community throughout the festival in the Performing Arts Center’s Fisher Auditorium, along with four special productions for festival audiences. These plays, offered in the Waller Hall Mainstage Theater, are open to community members as seating permits (available seats will be distributed starting about 10 minutes before the performances).

Productions have to be selected for festival performances, and the competition is fierce; 80 colleges and universities are eligible to enter a production for selection.

So, IUP is very proud that festival officials selected an IUP production, Lindsey’s Oyster, for showcase at the festival. The show will be presented in the Waller Hall Mainstage Theater on Friday, January 13, at 5:00 p.m. This is among the performances for which festival attendees have first priority for seating. Tickets are $10 per person.

This show, in addition to presenting outstanding student talent and excellent direction by IUP’s Jason Chimonides, represents IUP’s inaugural commitment to the National Theatre Conference’s Initiative to Celebrate American Women Playwrights. (Note: This production may contain language and situations to which some audience members may object.)

Make sure to check out the festival website to find about more about the peformances. An amazing opportunity for outstanding theater, right in our own backyard.

IUP Students, Staff on Santa’s “Nice” List

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

Food. New books. Christmas trees and ornaments. Toys. Monetary donations. And hundreds of volunteer hours.

IUP’s students and employees should definitely be on Santa’s “nice” list this season when it comes to providing support for families in need in Indiana County.

Here are a few of the projects and programs held in December:

The IUP Libraries has a long-standing tradition of collecting new books for local families, to be distributed through the Salvation Army. This year, the drive benefited 150 children with new books as holiday gifts.

At IUP Punxsutawney, the sixth annual holiday dinner generated 450 donated toys and more than $800 for local families and children in need. This project is a great town-gown event, involving the Red Hat Society of Punxsutawney and many other community members, along with IUP students and staff members and the Aramark staff, to benefit the Salvation Army’s Treasures for Children program and the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots.

Students in Dr. Ray Beisel’s class also worked with Rotary International of Punxsutawney to decorate the community holiday tree in preparation for the community’s Circle of Trees and tree-lighting ceremony.

The Office of Service Learning, which works throughout the year to help coordinate and encourage outreach and volunteerism, organized the university’s having 45 children adopted through the Treasures for Children program, with more than 180 gifts purchased for these families. In addition, more than 75 toys were collected for the Toys for Tots program.

The African-American Cultural Center collected hundreds of donated food items for the Indiana County Community Action Program food bank through its Ujamaa Food Drive.

One of the first holiday outreach projects of the season is the university’s annual tree-lighting and tree-decorating event. The university has done a tree-lighting program for decades, inviting members of the community and elementary school choral groups to perform and then offering seasonal refreshments and time with Santa.

However, seven years ago, the University Events office and the Office of the President joined with IUP’s fraternities and sororities to do a tree-decorating event.

This year, 14 trees were donated and sponsored by IUP and community groups. Then, the decorations and a certificate for a live, fresh tree are donated to families through the Salvation Army. The students go out into the community to collect money for the Treasures for Children program and for a special scholarship encouraging leadership and service.

It’s a wonderful way to end the semester.

Happy holidays to all. Best wishes for a healthy and restful semester break.

Hair for a Month, Impact Here Forever

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

IUP’s Greek fraternities raised $1,500 for the national Movember project, which promotes awareness of men’s health issues, especially prostate and testicular cancers.

No, that wasn’t a typo.

“Movember,” a.k.a. November, is named to reflect both the month and the activity. During November, men at IUP were encouraged to grow a mustache (or “mo”) in support of the project and men’s health.

Some 30 IUP men, most in fraternities, grew mustaches and participated in a “pack the house” event for the November 14, 2011, men’s basketball game, staged a bowling tournament, and held several other fund-raising events throughout the month, plus the Movember Gala early in December.

There were prizes–for teams and for individuals–including the “Man of Movember” award, won by Mike Stough from Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.

A very nice way to end the semester.

IUP Students Living-In and Saving Lives

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

On October 20, 2011, three IUP student members of the Indiana Fire Association helped to rescue and save a man from an apartment fire.

Then, W. Travis Burket, Simeon Logan, and Matthew Reynolds got back onto the fire engine and went home.

The three students–along with fellow firefighters Michael Santos and Benjamin Harley, who were also part of that rescue operation–are live-in members of the Indiana Fire Association.

According to Bill Simmons, IFA president, in the 1970s, there were 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the nation; today, there are 50,000.

“We knew we needed to be innovative if we wanted to keep up our ranks,” Simmons said. “So, we approached IUP’s Safety Sciences Department to see if their students would want to be part of our program.”

Today, 16 of the 70 members of the association are IUP students, and six are part of the live-in program. The bedrooms for the students are at the Indiana Fire Association-West substation, along Indian Springs Road. To be eligible for the program, applicants must be employed full-time in the Indiana or White Township area or be part-time or full-time students at IUP. Students must have at least a 2.0 grade-point average. They can live at the substation for four years.

On December 15, 2011, the team was recognized with a resolution of commendation from the IUP Council of Trustees, along with much applause and pride from members of the Indiana Fire Association in attendance, including Simmons and IFA chief Chuck Kelly.

(Pictured, from left, are Simeon Logan, Travis Burket, and Matthew Reynolds.)

Big Opportunities in the Big Apple for Students

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

On December 8 and 9, 2011, 75 IUP students took a bite out of the Big Apple.

For the sixth year, the Office of Alumni Relations and the Career Development Center organized a networking opportunity in New York City for Business Honors students in the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, students in the Hospitality Management program, and students in Fashion Merchandising.

Students toured businesses where IUP graduates work that are also in the students’ chosen career fields. One of the businesses was Jones of New York, where designer Sarah Graby-Boris, a 2003 graduate, met with a group of Fashion Merchandising students and Eun Jin Hwang, associate professor and coordinator of the Fashion Merchandising program.

Students also had the chance to be part of a panel discussion of noteworthy alumni, including the following:

Kevin Carrai ’86, head of Member and Connectivity Services for Direct Edge, a financial services company
Leland Hardy ’84, a global marketing advisor for the Hennessee Group. He has served as an advisor to many sports greats, including Venus and Serena Williams and Muhammad Ali.
Sarah Hogue ’09, a graduate of the Robert E. Cook Honors College and a senior research assistant at Datacorp, a financial services company
Stephanie Perry ’88, managing director, Deutsche Bank
Derek White ’82, president of Interative & Media Networks, LodgeNet Interactive, which serves the hospitality industry

In addition to the panel discussion, students also networked at a 150-person reception with many IUP alumni, including Marla Sabo, a 1979 graduate and a Distinguished Alumni Award winner, who has held top positions at Hermes North America and Dior.

“Many of the students that attended this event are ones who want to work in urban areas and, in particular, in New York City,” Mary Jo Lyttle, executive director of Alumni Relations, said. “So not only did this event offer them the opportunity to meet with IUP graduates who have been successful in New York City companies, but it also exposed them to life in the city.”

Creating a Culture of Writing Success

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

There’s an old saying by writer Red Smith: “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”

Many students might very well agree with that sentiment.

Fortunately for IUP students, there is a great resource to help with becoming better writers, the IUP Writing Center. Students make good use of the facility and its tutors: The Writing Center helps more than 1,500 students each semester.

The IUP Writing Center is directed by Bennett (Ben) Rafoth, a member of the IUP Department of English, who also holds the title of University Professor. (He was selected for this honor, which recipients hold for a lifetime, in 2010.) As the University Professor, he was the undergraduate commencement ceremony speaker in December 2010.

He is recognized internationally for his work with teaching writing, and during his tenure as University Professor, his projects included a book focused on better serving multilingual writers in writing centers and an online writing center, which is now offered through the IUP Writing Center. His most recent book is ESL Writers: A Guide for Learning Center Tutors.

The center, located in Eicher Hall, took its expertise “on the road” recently, when Dr. Rafoth; Mitch James, assistant director of the center; and Lindsay Sabatino, a teaching associate in the English Department, visited West Virginia University for a special colloquium last month focused on creating writing center learning cultures.

They joined 21 tutors and directors from WVU and Duquesne. IUP’s presentation at the event focused on online writing centers. (IUP’s online center was launched in September.)

Dr. Rafoth will continue to showcase IUP’s Writing Center and its successes when he co-hosts the International Writing Centers Association Summer Institute in July 2012 at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. This weeklong event is expected to draw writing center directors throughout the nation.

Our IUP alumni also are demonstrating what they’ve learned at IUP about teaching writing and writing centers. Columbia University recently published a new book on writing centers, The Successful High School Writing Center: Building the Best Program with Your Students, co-authored by Dawn Fels and Jennifer Wells, graduates of IUP’s Composition and TESOL doctoral program.

And they did not forget about IUP and Dr. Rafoth in writing the book. He co-authored the first chapter with the former students.

Art in Public

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

Art in Oak Grove, full view Students in Robert Sweeny’s art class are REALLY putting themselves out there.

For their final project, students were asked to take something personal that they do and put it on public display. One group decided to showcase its personal interests right in the Oak Grove.

Nicole Keebaugh, Asia Sanchez, Emily Manno, and Jake Good set up a tent to showcase an interest in camping (Good’s interest).

Other students in the group are in the tent doing things that they do in their personal lives. Manno is knitting, Keebaugh is texting, and other students will be “on display” later today.

The students hope to be in the Oak Grove throughout the day today, for as long as weather permits (50 degrees in December definitely makes the project much more comfortable). “It might rain later this afternoon, so we’ll have to see,” Manno said of the ending time for the project.

Least Happy and Low Marks? A Perplexing Contradiction

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

We were more than a little perplexed to find IUP on two “bonus lists” in this year’s Princeton Review Best Colleges guidebooks: “Professors Get Low Marks” and “Least Happy Students.”

When we asked how the surveys were done, the guidebook editors would not tell us much. They did tell us that they conducted the survey for these bonus lists during the 2008-2009 academic year and that they would resurvey IUP students this year.

We know that students can be, and will be, brutally honest. But in this case, the truth from student surveys is better than any well-crafted press release.

Here’s what our students said about IUP in the Best Colleges 2012 listing:

“An affordable school that has something to offer everyone,” with “excellent academic programs” that are “academically challenging but not impossible if you make an honest effort.”

Students recognize “music, nursing, and education” as IUP’s “greatest strengths,” along with the “fantastic fine arts program,” the College of Business, the Robert E. Cook Honors College, and “solid programs in theater, mathematics, chemistry, criminology, and English.”

They said IUP is “about learning to be the best at your career in the future” and offer that IUP’s “academic programs are exceptional.”

One of the things of which we are most proud is the opinion our students have of our faculty. Here’s what they said to guidebook editors:

Students here enjoy “awesome professors” who are “concerned with [students’] welfare and academic growth,” and the students find their teachers “ridiculously easy to get into contact with–no need to make an appointment.”

Students also have positive things to say about extracurricular life at IUP:

The school also boasts a “good selection of clubs” that provide a quick way “to meet people.”

“No matter what your interest is, it wouldn’t be too hard to find someone that you can share this interest with,” students write.

I’m not a data person, nor an expert in survey methodology, but I do know that every day, I learn about students who are winning national and international awards:

Five Goldwater Scholarships in the past seven years
Ten student Fulbright awards
Sixteen national study abroad awards, including the first Bridging Scholarship for study in Japan
Phi Kappa Phi scholarships
The top ROTC cadet in the nation recognition

And the list goes on.

I wouldn’t agree that students who are working this hard, giving back to the community, and achieving these kinds of honors are the “least happy” among their peers at other colleges and universities.

Again, I’m not an expert on surveys, but I know that these accomplishments don’t happen without an excellent faculty–with members who are routinely recognized for outstanding teaching and research, who win Fulbright Scholarships on an almost annual basis (61 to date), who involve students in cutting-edge research, and who mentor students on their way to great internships and careers. Students like Chad Hurley, a 1999 graduate who went on to co-found YouTube and then donated $1 million to the university in honor of his former track coach, music professor Edwin Fry.

The accomplishments of our students and faculty would fill pages. (Check out a sampling in the archives of this blog.)

IUP has been selected by the Princeton Review for inclusion in its Best Colleges guidebook for the last eleven years, not to mention receiving recognition as “Best in the Mid-Atlantic” and on another bonus list: “Outstanding Professors.” The Eberly College of Business and Information Technology has been listed for the last seven years in the Princeton Review’s “Best Business Schools.”

Add to that list the many honors from Forbes magazine, U.S. News and World Report, the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, and Washington Monthly magazine, to name a few.

The listings, literally, fill several pages and cover several decades.

There has been discussion about IUP’s inclusion on these two bonus lists by the IUP community, especially on Facebook. The student and alumni postings have vigorously defended IUP, offering that life at IUP is very happy, and its faculty is excellent.

This same discussion, I would imagine, is going on at Rutgers, the University of Oregon, the University of Connecticut, and Iowa State University (who join us on these listings).

One of the student comments in the Princeton Review is that “college is all about what you make it.” I think our faculty and students make IUP a pretty happy, A+ place.

Honoring the Honor Society

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

Not only does IUP have prestigious honor societies–its honor societies get honors.

IUP founded its chapter of Phi Kappa Phi in 1993. Designed to recognize excellence in all academic disciplines, Phi Kappa Phi is one of the oldest honor societies in the nation, with about three hundred chapters on college and university campuses throughout North America.

Earlier this fall, IUP was notified that its Phi Kappa Phi chapter was named a “Chapter of Excellence.” This designation goes to the very best of the best. In fact, IUP is one of only eleven Chapters of Excellence in North America and the only one with this designation in Pennsylvania.

What does that mean?

It shows that the IUP chapter and the IUP chapter leadership–the current president is Dennis Giever in the Department of Criminology and the immediate past president is Marveta Ryan-Sams, Department of Foreign Languages–along with all the former chapter officers, have been active in meeting, organizing meaningful initiations, and seeking national fellowships for graduate study, study abroad scholarships, and the Love of Learning awards.

These awards offer significant and very selective scholarships to students for study abroad and graduate study.

Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation only, and only the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and the top 7.5 percent of juniors will qualify for invitation for induction. Faculty and professional staff members and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify.

Congratulations, IUP Phi Kappa Phi!

English Class Project Marks World AIDS Day

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

Veronica Watson‘s Topics in English class has designed a public humanities project to coincide with World AIDS Day.

“The students have done everything from conceptualize the project to arrange all the logistics to bring it to the world, to all of the publicity and media you might see around it,” she told me.

And, not only has this involved posters, fliers, other publicity materials (including a Facebook page), students have worked to collect poetry, memoirs, and photography to do a “story trail” in the Oak Grove. They will be installing the pieces this afternoon in the Oak Grove, and the story trail will be up through December 1.

Tonight from 4:00 to 7:00 in Folger Hall, the group will stage an awareness game called “Who’s on Fire.” On November 29, it will show the award-winning film Philadelphia at 5:30 p.m. in the Crimson Event Center in Folger Hall. After the film, people will be invited to offer personal testimonies. Information about AIDS also will be available.

My colleagues and I agree that one of the best things about working at a university is seeing the passion and commitment that our students have for important causes. Watching them take what they’ve learned in the classroom–and seeing how well our faculty members encourage them to take classroom experiences into real-life projects–makes me even more proud to be part of this university community.

P.S. Other AIDS awareness events on campus include the World AIDS Day Awareness Event on December 1 in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building, sponsored by the IUP Office of Health Awareness and the African American Cultural Center. The event opens with an open mic session at 7:00 p.m. and continues with a presentation at 8:00 p.m. with Dr. Linda Frank, associate professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh, who will provide an update on HIV. Dr. Frank also is the Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania-MidAtlatnic AIDS Education and Training Center.

There also will be information tables in Stapleton Library November 29 and November 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. offering more information about AIDS.

Around the Oak Grove

A blog of IUP stories by the IUP Office of Communications

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