facultyfocus
Featured Faculty
by Melanie L. Cherry
“It’s a really fascinating field,” said Gannon’s computer and information science department chair and associate professor. “There’s always something new. It’s dynamic, even if you stay in one focus. It’s mind-boggling.” Vitolo said her career aspirations began at a young age while she was growing up in Jeannette, Pa. She discovered a biography of renowned chemist Marie Curie and was inspired.
undecided, she said the field of industrial engineering suited her analytical and mathematical brain. “Industrial engineering hit the economic side, it hit the mathematic side, it hit the programming side,” she explained. “It was the perfect fit for me, for exactly the way I was thinking at the time.”
“I read it one summer when I was a child and thought, ‘I want to be a scientist.’ I guess practicality kicked in, and I chose engineering,” she said.
After graduating with her doctorate in 1985, Vitolo taught computer science at Slippery Rock University and Pennsylvania State University – University Park before coming to Gannon in 1999.
Vitolo said that she preferred the engineering field to the field of science because of a hands-on thinking approach. Though she began her college career at the University of Pittsburgh relatively
“I like the people here, I like the people I work with,” she said. “I find this department to be very collaborative, and we’re in sync with each other. It’s like a family.”
Education Ph.D. in Information Science, 1985 University of Pittsburgh B.S.E. in Industrial Engineering, 1978 University of Pittsburgh
Volunteer Work Vitolo crochets for Project Linus, a charity organization that collects blankets for seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise needy children.
Favorite Quote “Because dreams need doing,” from the National Academy of Engineering. “If you dream it, you can build it as an engineer,” Vitolo said.
“I love making other people enthusiastic about what I’m passionate about.”
Vitolo said her favorite part of teaching occurs when students lose their inhibitions about learning and work with her in discovering the material. “I love making other people enthusiastic about what I’m passionate about,” she said. “They can do it. This is totally within their capabilities.” Outside of Gannon, Vitolo belongs to a number of professional engineering and science societies. She has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1978. She served as Gannon chapter faculty
Cherry is a junior journalism communications major and intern in the Communications office.
adviser for the Society of Women Engineers from 1999-2004. She was chair of the Erie chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers until December 2009 and received its Outstanding Member of the Year award in 2003. She also worked on a Scholars of Excellence in Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) Scholarship Program (awarded through the National Science Foundation), which received $600,000 in grant funding for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) scholarships. “My proudest professional accomplishment is being where I am today, having experienced mistakes and being as successful as I am today,” she said. “I’m a very satisfied person.”
Theresa M.Vitolo, Ph.D.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines information science as the collection, classification, storage, retrieval and dissemination of recorded knowledge. To some, this field may sound complicated, confusing or even boring. Theresa M. Vitolo, Ph.D., on the other hand, can’t get enough of it.
17