NewsNotes
Roman Collaboration
Rev. Nicholas J. Rouch,Vice President for Mission and Ministry, recently returned from a trip to Rome, where he was working to strengthen Gannon’s collaboration with the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota) in their Rome program and visiting two seminarians from the Diocese of Erie who are studying in Rome, including Dan Hoffman (photo, right). Dan is the first Gannon student to take advantage of a semester of study in Rome arranged through the collaboration. Dan attends the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, usually referred to as “The Angelicum,” where he studies theology with students from all around the world. Dan will returnfor his senior year at Gannon in the fall of 2004.
Students Starve for Dollars
More than 60 students fasted for 30 consecutive hours to raise $1,800 for poor children and families around the world. Each student participating in the 30-Hour Famine raised at least $30 in pledges, or $1 for every hour of the famine. Funds were donated to World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that serves the poorest children and families in nearly 100 countries, including the United States. Sponsored by GU’s Campus Ministry, the 30Hour Famine is also designed to raise students’ awareness of world hunger. As part of the famine, the students also reflected on hunger and discussed their experience.
Homan and Tallmadge Win $145,000 Grant
2004 Student Research Writing Award Winners
Assistant Professors Michelle Homan, Ph.D. (Environmental Science and Engineering: below, left), and Weslene Tallmadge, Ph.D. (Chemistry: below, right), recently won $145,000 in funding from the Great Lakes Commission for their study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie. They will set up precipitation and air sample collection points within, upwind and downwind of the City of Erie in order to quantify the extent and characterize the transport of PAHs to the Bay and Lake. These chemicals are routinely emitted into the atmosphere from industry and automobiles, with their primary sources being incomplete combustion of coal, wood, oil, and gasoline.
The faculty judges for this year’s competition were Professors Gary Berringer, Bryan Brendley, Linda DiJoseph, Dennis Fletcher, Kenneth Gamble, Thomas Hudson, Barry Jackisch, Sister Min-Shik Kim, Michael Latzer, James McGivern, James McPherson, Charles Meacci, Dawna Mughal, Suzanne O’Connell, Patricia Pollifrone, Steven Ropski, Ruth Shoemaker, David Tobin, Mary Wagner, and Karen Weston.
The goal of the study is to evaluate the potential contribution of urban sources of PAHs to Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie. The Homan-Tallmadge study findings will be used by the Great Lakes Commission and by local, regional, state, and federal agencies to reduce environmental and public health impacts associated with air quality.
The Peter C. Braeger Student Research Writing Awards, presented in April, recognize research and writing completed by students over the past year in the graduate, undergraduate, and freshman categories. This year’s first-place graduate was Joan Francis Rowland, Nursing. Undergraduate level winners were Occupational Therapy majors Denise Cox, Julieann DeBlasi, Emily Specht, and Angelique Miller. First-place freshman was Amy E. Snyder, Occupational Therapy.
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