IUP Magazine, Spring 2024

Inside Kopchick Hall

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

From a drone’s perspective, Breezedale’s

seemed to point at the Indiana scenery to the northeast.

cupola

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Problem Solvers and Storytellers

It’s no secret that the landscape of higher education is evolving rapidly, presenting universities across the country with both challenges and opportunities. At IUP, we are meeting our challenges head-on with creativity, adaptability, and a steadfast commitment to our mission. Although there is a lot of work yet to be done, we are seeing positive results in many areas.

In this issue, you’ll find examples of the great ways IUP can impact people and the world around us. This inspires us to continue our good work, and I hope it will inspire you.

One of the hallmarks of an IUP education is our ability to produce graduates who are not only knowledgeable in their fields but also adept at solving problems. Take, for example, the story of Donta Green on page 18. Donta is the football coach at Westinghouse Academy and the CEO of the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh. A 2010 IUP graduate, Donta works every day to improve the lives and communities around him, with results that are gaining a lot of attention. Donta’s story is a testament to the transformative power of an IUP education and the lasting impact our graduates have on their communities.

IUP is also home to a world-class faculty that uses teamwork and innovation to learn more and then share that knowledge. A great example is the story on page 8 about the work of a group led by Distinguished University Professor Ben Ford. With faculty members Erin Conlin, Jeanine Mazak-Kahne, and Chris Schaney and with several undergraduate and graduate students, the group is working to understand and re-tell the history of a multiethnic settlement near Johnstown believed to date to the 1800s. The group’s work at the Laurel Hill settlement exemplifies the spirit of inquiry and exploration that has always defined IUP’s academic community.

As we continue to build toward a brighter future using curiosity, creativity, and commitment, I am filled with optimism. I hope that by staying engaged with us, you are, too. Together, we will continue to inspire excellence, foster innovation, and shape the leaders of tomorrow.

Michael A. Driscoll President

IUPMAGAZINE

New Era of Science

Look inside IUP’s long-awaited, shiny new science building, Kopchick Hall.

Unearthing Stories

Rediscovering a multiethnic community dating to the early 1800s may change perceptions of the region’s early settlers. An IUP team helped dig up the facts.

Winds of Change

In roughly a decade, IUP enrollment has dropped 40 percent, unleashing a cascade of problems. Learn about the university’s efforts to turn the tide.

On Assignment

As a coach and a trade-school administrator, Donta Green ’10 gives his all for his players and students. He believes it’s why God put him on this earth.

ABOVE: Classes dispersed in Leonard Hall on the first day of the spring semester. In 2023-24, IUP experienced both its first enrollment increase and its highest new-student retention rate in more than a decade. But more challenges lie ahead; the story starts on page 12.

COVER: Just inside the Oak Grove entrance, Kopchick Hall’s second floor looks down on a spacious first-floor atrium. See more of the new science building starting on page 4. Time-lapse illustration by Brian Henry

Return of the Winds

The Keystone Wind Ensemble gave its first performance in eight years during a reunion weekend last November. Retired trumpet professor Kevin Eisensmith ’78 shares his account of the activities at IUP.edu/KeystoneWinds

‘Autumn Reverie of Indiana’

Michael Lambert ’68, M’69 has documented the sights, sounds, and smells of Indiana from his childhood and his college days. Read his reminiscences at IUP.edu/AutumnReverie.

IUPMAGAZINE

PRESIDENT OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Michael Driscoll

EDITOR: Elaine Jacobs Smith ’93

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Karen Philippi Gresh ’67, Bob Fulton ’75

NAMEDROPPERS EDITOR: Matthew Burglund ’98

ALL ABOUT ALUMNI EDITOR: Jason Levan ’97

DESIGN: Meghan McMeans Strittmatter ’13

PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Henry

IUP Magazine is published by Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

The magazine’s address is John Sutton Hall, Room 321, 1011 South Drive, Indiana, PA 157051046 (telephone 724-357-3112; email iupmagazine@iup.edu). Correspondence regarding any aspect of the magazine may be directed to this office. Print and web images derived from photos submitted for publication become the property of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and may be reprinted at the discretion of the university.

IUP Magazine welcomes contributions to help defray the cost of publishing. The Official IUP Magazine Form may be used for this purpose.

©2024 by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to excellence through diversity.

A New Era of Science

Inside Kopchick Hall

IUP’s long-awaited science building, Kopchick Hall, opened for classes at the start of the spring semester in January.

The facility and the Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics that it houses are named for John Kopchick ’72, M’75 and Char Labay Kopchick ’73, who in 2018 committed $23 million for IUP science and math initiatives.

The five-f loor building’s more than 142,000 square feet include 51,600 for laboratory space, 10,000 for collaborative work, and 8,000 for instruction. Kopchick Hall also houses Cejka Planetarium, named for 1973 graduates Tim Cejka and Debra Phillips Cejka, who were instrumental in establishing the building.

Photography by Brian Henry provides a look inside.

Josiah Townsend leads a human genetics class on the third f loor

Large windows in classrooms, laboratories, and even offices put science on display throughout the building. A chemistry lab with Sudipta Majumdar

Plenty of open space is available for studying or relaxing.

Kopchick Hall’s main entrance faces the Oak Grove. McElhaney Hall is just south of the new building.

Student-led tours of the building were also part of opening-day activities in November.

Rocks in the window hint that the Dr. Walt Granata Geological Sciences Classroom is on the opposite side of the wall. This seating area is just inside the main entrance.

Kopchick Hall officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 2.

From left: Debra Phillips Cejka, Tim Cejka, John Kopchick, and Char Labay Kopchick.

ACHIEVEMENTS LETTERS

Young Achievers

IUP’s Young Alumni Achievement Award is given to one graduate of the last 15 years from each academic college. Following are the fall 2023 recipients with their descriptions from the time of the awards presentation.

College of Arts and Humanities

Richard Bielawa III ’15, deputy attorney general, Appeals and Grand Jury Section, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, Pittsburgh

College of Education and Communications

Lindsay Ward ’08, morning news anchor, KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh

College of Health and Human Services

Phillip Schnarrs ’07, M’09, associate professor and associate chair for research, Department of Population Health, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin

Eberly College of Business

Corey Crocco ’10, co-owner, Flair of Country Catering and

Event Planning and the Willow Wedding and Event Venue; managing partner, the Fifth Local Eatery and Alehouse, Johnstown

Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Lindsay Elise Matolyak ’12, team lead, Compositional Analysis Lab, PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh

Imani Jefferson and Luke Faust in the Emmy-winning video. Watch it at IUP.edu/lifechanging

Behind the Lens

Last fall, IUP teams won two awards from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences:

Office of Marketing and Communications members Bill Hamilton ’92, Brian Henry, and Emily Jaros Smith ’03, M’05 won an Emmy award in the Short Form Content category for the video “A Life-Changing Experience,” featuring faculty member Luke Faust D’17 and his former student Imani Jefferson ’16

Members of the COMM 360 Digital Sports Production class, under the direction of

faculty member Stephanie Keppich M’09, won a Crystal Pillar Award in the Live Sporting Event category for their coverage of IUP football’s 2022 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game.

Science of Linguistics

David Hanauer, professor of English and applied linguistics, is in the top 2 percent of cited scientists in the field of education and linguistics, according to a ranking compiled by Stanford University using Elsevier’s Scopus database. Hanauer has been on the English faculty more than 20 years.

50 over 50

News organization City & State Pennsylvania named Michael Driscoll, IUP president, to its “50 over 50” list for 2023, recognizing the commonwealth’s 50 most inf luential people over the age of 50. Driscoll has led the university since 2012.

Funding Received

In recent months, IUP received these major grants:

• From the US Department of Education, more than $2 million to improve retention and persistence rates among Pell-eligible, first-generation, and underrepresented students. This funding will build on initiatives within the Student Success Infrastructure.

• From the US Department of Defense, nearly $1 million for a pilot program to help cybersecurity students become proficient in Chinese. Waleed Farag, professor of computer science, was the grant proposal’s author, and Shijuan (Laurel) Liu, professor of Chinese, will be the lead instructor.

‘Inf lammatory Accusation’

Reading the story on Weyandt Hall in the Fall 2023 edition of IUP Magazine reminded me of a strange message inscribed on one of the first f loor men’s restroom stalls during the 1970s. It wasn’t a typical graffiti statement complaining about the president at that time (Nixon, Ford, or Carter), nor did it contain a name and phone number. It was unknown if it was written by one of the biology, chemistry, or physics majors who basically lived in Weyandt Hall or by a disgruntled student who had to take one of the tough science courses in the building. Perhaps it was written because Weyandt Hall’s main doors opened toward the Oak Grove. It may have been a satirical statement made by a professor in hopes that it would make a student think. The mysterious graffiti was an inf lammatory accusation about a beloved star of movies in the 1940s as well as television shows in the 1950s. The statement simply read, “Lassie kills squirrels.”

Steve Claudy ’80 Butler, PA

Editor’s Note:

IUP photographer Brian Henry may jog more memories with his online photo gallery “Weyandt Hall: A Final Walkthrough.” Find it at IUP.edu/ Weyandt

Unearthing Untold Stories

Ben Ford watched as Emma Lashley used ground-penetrating radar to study differences in soil, which can aid identification of features such as grave shafts.

Team Researches Early Multiethnic Settlement near Johnstown

By Mary Ann Slater

It was the turn of the 19th century, and high on a hill above the west end of the growing city of Johnstown, another community was taking shape.

An exact date for the start of the Laurel Hill settlement is unknown, but researchers say it was founded by two African American men who traveled hundreds of miles—from different directions—to reach the wooded, rocky land that eight generations would come to call home.

Over the years, a few Johnstown-area historians have pulled together information on the centuries-old settlement. Still, questions

remained about its history—questions a team of IUP faculty members and students sought to answer last year. Their work was part of a yearlong grant with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Anthropology Department chair Ben Ford is one of the faculty members who worked on the project, part of DCNR’s “Untold Stories” initiative.

“It is a program to try and identify underrepresented populations within DCNR properties, state parks, and state forests,” Ford said. Remains of the settlement became part of Laurel Ridge State Park around 1970.

“It is important to focus on the untold stories, the underrepresented populations,” he said. “A lot of times people think of Appalachia as this very White area, and a lot of times people think of outdoor recreation as very White.”

But the development at Laurel Hill shows that western Pennsylvania’s early settlers were not as homogenous as many think.

William Harshberger and Edinborough Smith are commonly credited as founders of the Laurel Hill settlement. The former hailed from eastern Pennsylvania, while the latter was probably a former slave from Virginia. It is unknown whether Smith ran away or was released.

A student in the Applied Archaeology master’s program, Emma Lashley has created a vast family tree for the generations who lived at the site. Most of the information she used was unearthed by local researchers. Occasionally, family members show up on census records or death certificates, she said, but official records from the early 1800s, especially for African Americans, are few.

Lashley pieced together that Smith first married a Native American woman, and Harshberger wed a White woman named Jane. After Smith’s first wife and several of their children died from an illness, Smith married William Harshberger’s daughter, Keziah.

“The initial patriarchs were African American, but from the beginning, it was a multiethnic community,” Ford said.

He also noted that intermarriage among the settlement’s resident families was common, which the family tree shows. Lashley plans to refine the tree with help from IUP librarian Carrie Vite Bishop ’02, M’18, a Laurel Hill descendant who has done extensive genealogical research.

No one is sure how or why Harshberger and Smith came to Laurel Hill. In the early 1800s, there was one road that ran from Johnstown up the hill, Ford said. The settlers laid down roots along that road in an area he described as relatively f lat compared to the overall hilly terrain.

“Historically, it would have been a couple of different farmsteads along a rural highway,” Ford said. “They settled right along a pretty major thoroughfare.”

Erin Conlin, associate professor of history, is another member of the Laurel Hill project team. She believes the settlers’ decision to put down roots on the hill was based on a need to survive and prosper.

“They actually picked this really good area that would provide steady people coming through,” Conlin said.

One early settler was a blacksmith who likely saw how his trade would benefit if he lived along a well-traveled route. Over time, others were able to develop businesses.

“One of them was known for selling clothes poles,” Ford said.

The settlers were most likely able to develop and eventually own property through the principle of adverse possession, Ford said. Like squatters’ rights, adverse possession allows people to keep property if they can prove they held continuous, visible, and exclusive possession over a set period of time.

The original size of the property was 400 acres, but about half was sold later in the

1800s. Use of the land changed over time as residents had different needs. By the mid19th century, community members used the land for farming and planting apple trees, some of which are still visible at the site today.

“They were cutting and squaring timber,” Ford said. “In the 20th century, they were running hogs.”

Around 1970, shortly after the death of the community’s last resident, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy acquired the land, Ford said. It then transferred the property to the state for Laurel Ridge State Park.

In the past year, Ford and Conlin have helped raise awareness about the history of the Laurel Hill settlement. Ford spoke at Johnstown’s Heritage Discovery Center, and

Conlin participated in a panel discussion as part of the city’s Juneteenth activities.

In December, as the grant ended, IUP students and faculty members presented DCNR with their compiled findings so the agency could start sharing the settlement’s story.

“The goal of the project is to help their park rangers and park educators talk about this history,” Conlin said.

The compiled work includes written narratives focusing on three major themes: historical change at Laurel Hill in the context of statewide and regional transitions, land use and development at the site, and the courage and determination of the community’s female pioneers. Ford, Conlin, and Jeanine Mazak-Kahne, associate professor of history, wrote the three reports.

Keziah Brown (1849–1900), greatgranddaughter of Laurel Hill cofounder William Harshberger

Elmer Brown (1868–1946), great-greatgrandson of William Harshberger, with his wife, Annie (1884–1953)

Gravestone for Civil War veteran John Brown

ELAINE ADAMS COLLECTION

ELAINE ADAMS

Faculty member Christopher Schaney contributed drone footage and photography of the site.

Christopher Schaney, associate professor of geography, contributed drone footage and modern aerial photography of the site. He also oversaw the work of graduate student Elizabeth McCreary and senior Eric Goins, who created story maps based on the faculty members’ research. The maps use geographical information system software to tell stories about places, people, and events.

“A story map is an interactive way for people to be able to get online and look at the geographical space of what we call an archaeological site,” McCreary said. “You can upload pictures and text and videos to go along with this map so that people can explore information.”

Goins, a student in the Geography and Geographic Information Science program, developed a story map on how land use changed over time. It shows remnants of houses and farm structures as well as gravestones in a cemetery, which today is the most visible part of the former settlement. A global positioning system (GPS) device helped establish the cemetery’s boundaries using old markers. Based on that mapping, Goins estimated 80 people are buried there.

The cemetery includes gravestones for two Civil War veterans from Laurel Hill: John Brown, of the Fourth Cavalry, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company H, and John Smith, of the Third Regiment, US Colored Troops. Brown’s family had a farm at Laurel Hill; Smith was the son of settlement founder Edinborough Smith.

Lashley, McCreary, and Elena Frye, all from the Applied Archaeology program, along with history and anthropology undergraduate Kaylee Becker-George, collaborated on a story map about the formidable women of Laurel Hill. The map includes 1850 and 1860 census records for some of the Harshberger descendants and a picture of Annie Bowser Brown, who was married to Elmer Brown, the great-greatgrandson of William Harshberger.

“There are just some really interesting characters,” Lashley said. “There is a story of some men who were on Elizabeth Harshberger’s land. She doesn’t want them there, so she comes out with a stick she uses to kill snakes.” She beat the men with the stick and drove them off.

“They take her to court for it, and she gets acquitted,” Lashley said. The court sided with Harshberger, because of her determination to protect her family.

IUP’s grant work with DCNR is over, but Ford thinks further study of the area could fit with a project he is developing as part of his tenure as IUP’s 2023-24 Distinguished University Professor. Called “Heritage Futures,” it engages professionals, students, and community members in projects “to leverage heritage to heal past wrongs and foster a healthier future.”

This summer, as a part of Heritage Futures, he will work with Joe Stahlman, the Tribal Historic Preservation officer for the Seneca Nation of Indians, and other scholars. The team will search for sites beneath Lake Erie where Indigenous people may have lived when the water level was lower.

“We are going to actively seek out Indigenous perspectives” for the research, Ford said.

Over the years, Ford and his students have concentrated their research in western Pennsylvania and the Great Lakes, because of those areas’ proximity to IUP. For instance, two of Ford’s former graduate students, Angela Jaillet-Wentling M’11 and Samantha Taylor M’18, excavated the historic site of Pandenarium, another early African American settlement, in rural Mercer County.

“It makes sense to work with the people who are around us,” he said. “The hope for Heritage Futures is to work with various communities and to understand from them what they would like to know about their pasts and also what they would like for their futures. We can try to help them move toward that.”

This research also offers a unique experience for students. Those involved in the Laurel Hill project became well acquainted with the lives of the settlers, Ford said, by investigating an archaeological site, creating interactive maps, and doing archival research. He expects that to be the template for subsequent Heritage Futures projects.

“That sort of deep, hands-on exposure to past lives, and realizing how little of our lives are actually captured in documents,” he said, “is one of the best ways to build empathy for the past and to apply that empathy to the present.” m

Today, the cemetery is the most visible part of the former Laurel Hill settlement.

Milestone Generosity

The university community is grateful for the following gifts and pledges of $25,000 or more, made to the Foundation for IUP between July 1 and December 31, 2023.

Addison Gibson Foundation, a gift to support the Addison Gibson Foundation Scholarship for continuing full-time students who live in western Pennsylvania

An anonymous gift to support men’s basketball and football scholarships

An anonymous gift to establish the A. Daniel Bilko (’66) Memorial Scholarship for dual-enrollment students from Cambria Heights, Bishop Carroll, Central Cambria, and Penn Cambria high schools

Thomas Baker ’05 and Dilini Pinnaduwage, a gift to establish the Tom Baker Scholarship for Research, which encourages students in pursuit of degrees in either chemistry or biochemistry to apply for the Research Experience for Undergraduates program

Charles Baltzer ’53, a planned gift to establish the Charles and Margaret Baltzer Memorial Scholarship for full-time students pursuing an education degree or certificate, with preference given to active-duty military personnel, veterans, or the children of active-duty military personnel or veterans. Margaret Johnston Baltzer was also a member of the Class of 1953.

Jane Miller Banks ’56, a gift to support the Jane Miller Banks ECOB (Eberly College of Business) Scholarship for fulltime, undergraduate business majors who graduated from a Pennsylvania high school and who have reached junior standing

Jeffrey Bobich ’93, a gift to support the creation of a college of osteopathic medicine

Victor Campbell III ’68, a gift to establish the Victor H. Campbell III Scholarship for

full-time students who live in Cameron County and who are in good academic standing

Richard Caruso ’83, a gift to support the creation of a college of osteopathic medicine

Vito DonGiovanni ’72, M’75, D’88 and Donna Dellafiora DonGiovanni ’74, M’79, a gift to establish the Eleanora Dellafiora and Sandra E. Dellafiora Memorial Scholarship for full-time students pursuing an undergraduate degree in the Department of Music

Michael Driscoll, gifts to support the creation of a college of osteopathic medicine and to support the Fund for IUP and the Sutton Scholarship

The Estate of Peggy Cox Frankenfield ’49, a gift to support the Sutton Scholarship

Mary Leisher Leipheimer ’66, a planned gift to support the Mary Louise Leipheimer Scholarship for Teacher Education for junior and senior teacher education majors in any IUP college

Leonard A. and Mary Jane Schafer Foundation, a gift to support the Fund for the IUP Library and, for students with financial need, the Student Assistance Fund. Mary Jane McMurray Schafer was a member of the Class of 1931.

Meredith Light, a gift and planned gift to support the Academy of Culinary Arts

David Moore ’82 and Karole Scurci Moore ’83, a gift to establish the Tim Moore Memorial Scholarship for full-time students in the Eberly College of Business

Michele Wippich Norwood M’92, a gift to establish the Michele Norwood Professional Development for Student Success Initiatives fund to benefit the IUP Navigator program

Richard Polaski ’72 and Linda Tobias Polaski ’73, a planned gift to establish the

Richard F. Polaski and Linda Tobias Polaski Scholarship for Medical Technology and the Richard F. Polaski and Linda Tobias Polaski Scholarship for full-time students, with preference given to Elk County residents and to undergraduates pursuing a degree in computer science

Punxsutawney Area College Trust, a gift to support the Department of Culinary Arts Student Scholarship and the Punxsutawney Campus

Matthew Schroeder ’91 and Stacy Schroeder, a gift to establish the ECOB Student Support Fund for students enrolled in courses through the Eberly College of Business who are experiencing emergency needs or needing further assistance to continue their education

Marilyn Silvey, a gift to support the Bedford John “BJ” Silvey Sr. (’62) Scholarship for full-time students, with preference given to firstgeneration college students

Frederick Streams ’55, a gift to support the Dr. Fred ’55 and Hazel (Grant) ’55 Streams Scholarship for full-time undergraduates majoring in secondary education in natural sciences or in early childhood/ special education

Primo Toccafondi ’62 and Patricia Kurtz Toccafondi ’63, a gift to establish the Toccafondi-Kurtz Scholarship for full-time, continuing students pursuing an education degree or a teaching certificate

Rolando Toccafondi ’65 and Barbara Toccafondi, a gift to establish the ToccafondiKurtz Scholarship for full-time, continuing students pursuing an education degree or a teaching certificate

Withstanding the Winds of Change

IUP Aims

Not Just to Survive

Enrollment Drop but to Grow Stronger

By Matt Burglund

It wasn’t all that long ago that IUP seemed to be the perfect size. It wasn’t as large as the big-name schools in the region, but it felt more personal. And it had more academic offerings than many of the small private colleges in the region, making it the destination for more than 10,000 students every year, most of whom came from western Pennsylvania.

IUP was the largest school in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, its only PhD-granting institution, and the envy of many of its sister schools.

But for many reasons—some beyond the university’s control—enrollment has declined dramatically over the past decade. This has caused a cascade of problems, leaving IUP to face one of its most difficult times, with finances, workforce, programs, and facilities all adversely affected.

“We rely on our enrollment,” said Debra Fitzsimons, IUP’s vice president for Administration and Finance. “It drives the decisions we make, from the number of faculty and staff to the number of course offerings to the number of buildings we have. It affects everything. We’ve dropped

Looking west between Leonard Hall and Stapleton Library on the first day of fall 2023 classes

over 40 percent in enrollment, and that’s huge.”

IUP is not alone in this regard. The State System, collectively, has lost more than 32,000 students, or 27.9 percent, since 201213. Every school except West Chester in the State System has fewer students today than it did then.

It’s not just the State System that’s hurting in Pennsylvania. The state’s two biggestname schools, Pitt and Penn State, are holding steady or growing slightly overall, but their branch campuses are experiencing sharp declines. From 2010 to 2022, enrollment at Pitt’s four branch campuses declined an average of 36 percent, while enrollment at 18 of Penn State’s 19 satellite sites dropped an average of 30 percent. College enrollment across the country is also sagging. Nationally, the number of 18to 24-year-olds enrolled in college is down approximately 1.2 million from its peak in 2011.

In its little corner of the higher ed world, IUP is taking on the challenge of not just

weathering the storm, but becoming better and stronger, which requires scrutinizing some of its old ways.

“We’re going to have a different population set for the next 50 years than we’ve had in the past 50 years,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said. “We have to change how we think about enrollment. But we are rich in smart people who are dedicated to the mission and the institution. We have an incredible alumni base and an incredible reputation that we have earned. But we must be willing to change almost all our assumptions about how we should operate if we are to remain viable and strong going forward.”

The Harsh Truth

By drawing mostly from its fertile western Pennsylvania backyard, IUP averaged just over 13,000 students per year for most of the past six decades. The university reached its high-water mark for enrollment in 2012-13, but beginning the following school year, its head count began decreasing. In 2021-22,

it fell below 10,000 for the first time since 1968-69.

Since 2012-13, IUP’s enrollment has dropped by more than 6,000 students.

“I think it’s appropriate to talk about this as being a disruptive time in higher education,” Driscoll said.

So how did it come to this, and what can be done about it? The answers are as complex as the problem.

Driscoll’s first day as IUP’s president was July 1, 2012, and about two months later the university announced its highest enrollment ever: 15,379 (not counting students in clock-hour programs, such as Culinary Arts and Criminal Justice Training). Times were good, especially because head counts at several other State System schools were either stagnant or declining, and IUP continued to have the most students among the 14 universities.

But a little more than a decade ago, the population decline in western

Pennsylvania Public High Sc hool Graduates and Projec tions

Pennsylvania Public High Sc hool Graduates and Projec

Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Education, Division of Data Quality; Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates, 2020

11.5% drop from peak in 2011-12 to projection for 203 6-37

from peak in 2011–12 to projection for 203 6–37

Year

etition and

To use a fishing analogy, there are not just fewer fish in the pond today; there are more baited hooks. In Pennsylvania, high school graduates have nearly 300 options for colleges, universities, and trade schools. Only three states—California, Texas, and New York—have more. With some of the surrounding states also suffering from population declines, many of their colleges and universities have crossed the border at increasing frequency and dropped lines in Pennsylvania’s pond.

At the college fair sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Pittsburgh in February, there were 30 schools from New York and 28 from Ohio. Also, the US Army staffed a booth, and several technical colleges were there, hoping to lure Pennsylvania students.

schools like IUP—schools at which taxpayer support is key to keeping tuition low—the continued lack of appropriate funding by the commonwealth has made it harder to afford college, so many students are avoiding that burden.

And while Pennsylvania funds IUP and the State System with hundreds of millions of dollars every year, the state still ranks near the bottom in higher ed spending. In 2022, it ranked 49th out of 50 states in funding for public higher education per full-time student.

Although the State System determines the price of tuition for its schools, each varies in the cost for fees, housing, and dining. In 2016, hoping to give students more f lexibility in scheduling, IUP enacted a per-credit tuition plan, replacing a f lat rate. Combined with an increase in student fees designed to bring in more revenue as enrollment dropped, the plan wasn’t as affordable as intended.

Source: IUP Office of Institutional Research, Planning, and Assessment

Pennsylvania began to accelerate, and IUP’s head count started to slide.

“We had been coming off a period since the mid-1970s when the talk about enrollment was almost always about growth,” Driscoll said. “We were set apart from the rest of the system in that they were declining while we were still growing. The demographic information was out there, but there was not this recognition that we were really headed downward. I don’t think, in the early stages, that anybody was talking about it or making decisions based on it.”

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, from 2013-14 to 202223, the total number of students from prekindergarten through grade 12 in western Pennsylvania public schools dropped by about 42,000, or nearly 9 percent. Indiana County, IUP’s home turf, has suffered heavily: last year, there were 1,037 fewer students enrolled in the county’s schools than there were 10 years ago, a drop of 11.2 percent.

“Demographics are a huge problem,” said Stacy Hopkins ’94, M’96, who has served as IUP’s executive director of Undergraduate Admissions since 2015.

Yet demographics are not the whole problem. Other factors have contributed to the enrollment decline.

“Students have many more options than they used to,” Hopkins said. “At the college fairs, there used to be primarily four-year colleges. Now, they’ve got two-year nursing schools, community colleges, the military, realtors, and the trades. It’s very different than it used to be.”

There are also more four-year, in-state college options for western Pennsylvania students. Within the past 40 years, at least three colleges in the region became coeducational, while a few more were created or expanded with branch campuses.

But the problem goes further than demographics and competition. In recent years, there has been a national discussion about the perceived value of a college education. Some students are forgoing the traditional route and heading into entrylevel jobs after high school. Some are taking a “gap year” before starting college, and many are going into trades to make good money right away. Not surprisingly, a 2021 report showed that one in three high school graduates who did not go to college believed higher education was “a waste of money.”

“At college fairs,” Hopkins said, “we meet students who have just walked away from a table where someone tells them they can start as an electrical lineman first-year apprentice making up to $35 an hour. Now they’re thinking, ‘Why would I go in debt for college when I could work and make money with no debt and have the potential to make six figures once the apprentice program is complete?’ That’s tough for any college to compete with.”

The discussion about the value of higher education is based in part on cost. For

“Did we raise tuition or fees higher than we should have? In hindsight, we probably did,” Driscoll said. “But at the time, it was a way to protect the core of the institution to keep our finances stronger. Who knew that it would be part of the problem going forward?”

There’s also the problem of perception. For decades, IUP has fought a reputation of not being academically rigorous. Some prospective students have dismissed the university because it’s a state school. And, things like being ranked the number-one party school in America by the Wall Street Journal last year continue to devalue any academic currency IUP has earned from its expert faculty, evolving facilities, and highly regarded programs.

“There wasn’t an event I was at this past fall where I wasn’t asked about [the party school ranking] by a student or a parent,” Hopkins said. “It ref lects poorly on the academic reputation of the university. We have so many positive stories we could share, but unfortunately, people don’t always hear them.”

Unfinished Business

There is another significant component to IUP’s enrollment troubles. Going back at least a decade, roughly 3 of every 10 firstyear undergraduates have chosen not to return for their second year.

“This is not out of line with national averages for a university like IUP,” Driscoll said. “But we can do better.”

IUP’s retention rate for the 2023-24 school year (71.5 percent) ranked seventh among

what are now 10 State System entities. The bottom line is it was hurting IUP’s enrollment as much as demographics were.

In 2017, Driscoll commissioned a task force to investigate the causes of the retention problem. Paula Stossel, now IUP’s strategic advisor to the president for Student Success, was cochair of the committee, called the Task Force on Undergraduate Retention, and she said the group found no easy explanations.

“Finances are a big reason, and so are academics,” Stossel said. “Health is a big reason, and that’s mental health and physical health. Family is a reason. Some students left because they wanted to be closer to home. Some students were homesick, and some left because they just didn’t feel like they belonged here.”

Additionally, many students were coming to college unprepared, which meant they started their academic journey behind the eight ball.

“The reality is there are students today who come to the university who 10 or 20 years ago may not have even considered coming to college, because they weren’t prepared for it,” said Tom Segar, IUP’s vice president for Student Affairs.

The Impact of Fewer Students

Declining enrollment means declining revenue, and losing 40 percent of its students over a decade left a multimilliondollar hole in IUP’s budget.

When the State System was created in 1983, it relied mostly on taxpayers to provide Pennsylvania residents with affordable options for college. But in time, the funding model changed. Tuition now covers most of the schools’ operational costs, with the state appropriation level changing year to year, largely due to politics.

“There’s not enough money in Pennsylvania to get us to the midpoint in per-student funding,” Driscoll said. “We’re still at, or near, the bottom, because other states are raising the ante. But we can at least try to catch up and keep costs reasonable for families going forward.”

In 2019, the State System graded each of what were then 14 university entities on their financial health. Each school was assigned a color—green, yellow, orange, or red—signifying a financial rating ranging from good to bad. IUP was assigned orange, meaning it was functioning but in danger if it didn’t take immediate action.

And, some of those actions have been difficult.

The faculty, staff, and administration needed to be rightsized to ref lect the lower enrollment, leading to a smaller workforce. The academic programs went under the microscope, as did the facilities.

“We’ve done some really painful things that I thought I would never have to do as president,” Driscoll said.

The State System required each school to submit a report annually that shows how it is addressing its financial challenges. New grades are given out every year based on these reports, and IUP has stayed in the orange, despite taking drastic steps to reduce spending.

“There is much more work to be done,” Fitzsimons said. “If we hadn’t taken the steps we’ve already taken, we’d be in the red. We’ve had to come up with permanent solutions.”

If IUP failed to address these shortcomings, the likely resolution would have been for the State System to step in and take control of the university, a dystopian future that would leave permanent scars.

“In other systems, they call it receivership,” Fitzsimons said. “They’ll take whatever measures are needed to intervene, and in my opinion, any decisions they would make aren’t as good as the ones we would make ourselves. We want to continue to make our own destiny.”

An Admissions tour stopped in Elkin Hall.

BRIAN HENRY

Working the Problem

Rather than sitting by and waiting for a rescue or continuing with old ways and hoping for different results, IUP is attacking the enrollment problem on several fronts.

operates so student success is the priority. Although certain parts of the university— particularly many individual faculty and staff members—may have worked to that end already, it must become a common thread throughout the IUP fabric so that

These full-time staff members have been trained in the best ways to help students, and they work every day to keep them on track academically, emotionally, socially, and in whatever manner they need.

Clarion *

Shippensburg

Lock Haven †

Kutztown

Bloomsburg †

California *

Millersville

East Stroudsburg

PennWest ‡

Mansfield †

Commonwealth ‡

Cheyney

Slippery Rock

West Chester

PASSHE Total

*

†

Another factor that has helped is IUP’s commitment to affordability. In 2022, the university announced its Tuition Affordability Plan, which included a return at tuition model and resulted in a nearly 20 percent cost reduction for undergraduates. Because of that and other measures—the State System has held tuition steady and IUP has frozen housing and dining costs for the past six years—the cost for in-state students to attend IUP today is only about $100 more than it was in 2016.

Enrollment,Then and Now Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education

The early returns show that the plan is working. The 2023-24 enrollment of 9,254 students is an increase of 422, the most gained by any school in the State System

and IUP’s first increase in 11 years. At the start of the spring semester, IUP’s fall-to-spring retention rate for first-year undergraduates was 90.1 percent, its highest since 2010.

One of the seven presidential goals is to grow IUP’s reputation, while another is to educate new student groups. IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine, tentatively scheduled to open in fall 2027, would address both those goals. Although opening a medical school is a costly proposition, IUP is working to ensure the funding will come from new sources.

“We are not relying on our existing budget to stand up the college of medicine, and that’s something President Driscoll is committed to,” Fitzsimons said. “We don’t want to take away from what we normally do. We won’t be using the regular operating budget.”

Opening a college of osteopathic medicine is expected to help IUP’s enrollment in other ways. The college would be the first of its kind at a public university in Pennsylvania, enabling it to provide more affordable medical training. It would also raise IUP’s academic profile, helping it stand apart from similar State System schools, and would possibly attract students from other states.

While projections show that a significant drop in the number of high school seniors is looming, the work IUP is doing now has helped change the culture and stabilize enrollment so that the university is strong enough to withstand more challenges.

“I’m very confident that we can do it,” Fitzsimons said. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel.” m

Presidential Goals for 2023–28

1. Keep every student who comes to IUP

2. Grow market share in traditional market

3. Educate other student groups (open new markets)

4. Grow IUP’s reputation

5. Engage the (internal and external) IUP team in realizing the vision

6. Find alternate revenue streams to support work

7. Focus resources on the highest priorities to ensure a sustainable, thriving future

Every student—new or continuing—is assigned a navigator, like Marcia Mpfumo Briscoe ’09.

BRIAN HENRY

On Assignment

Coaching Goes ‘Far beyond Football’ for Green

By Matt Burglund

Donta Green won’t rest. How could he when there is so much to do?

He is surrounded by people and things that need his attention. Underfunded schools. People surviving in neighborhoods that are dying. Drugs and crime. He looks around and knows what he has to do. He helps, he guides, he pushes, and he pulls. His days start early. They end late.

A 2010 IUP graduate, Green by day is the executive director of the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh. Almost every other waking minute, he’s the football coach at the high school he attended, Westinghouse Academy. The two jobs are about a mile and a half apart—the institute in Homewood South and the high school in Homewood West—each in neighborhoods that are among Pittsburgh’s poorest.

Donta Green and the Westinghouse Bulldogs in November 2022

“My [players] come home to a neighborhood that blight has taken over,” he said. “I have moms calling me, asking if I know anybody that has some food stamps, because they have run out of food. I have kids who don’t have a ride home from school, and they’re afraid to walk, because it’s too dangerous. Some of them wear the same clothes all week.”

Green takes their calls. He finds ways to help. He believes it’s why God put him on this earth.

“There is not a better human being on the face of the earth than Donta Green,” said IUP football assistant coach Mike Campolo ’96, who recruited Green and now counts him as one of his closest friends. “Nobody is more giving than Donta. Nobody makes

time for people more than Donta. He is the definition of someone who always gives and never takes.”

Green is a devout Christian, a devoted husband, a loving father, a loyal friend, a community activist, and an inspiring motivator. That’s a long way from where he started his life’s journey.

He came from Larimer, another povertystricken Pittsburgh neighborhood where dreams were for other people. But after graduating from IUP, he returned to the city and now lifts up the people and places around him. He doesn’t have to think long about how his life would have turned out if he’d never made it to IUP.

“I would have ended up in jail—or dead,” he said. “If IUP didn’t take a chance on me, I probably would have ended up coming home and selling drugs. That usually ends with you being shot and killed or put in jail.”

“The hours that we put in outside football are probably the most important.”

At Westinghouse, the on-field stuff comes easy for Green, but the off-field demands are difficult. His players need him to be a father figure, a career advisor, a college connection, and a resource they can rely on for a meal or a ride home after practice. He pushes them to be better players, better students, and better citizens.

“I tell my coaches all the time that we are social workers first, and we just happen to know a little bit about football,” Green said earnestly. “I feel like God has placed me here for an assignment. I think the assignment is to do whatever I need to do to support those kids and to make sure that they’re safe and taken care of and that they’re getting the high school experience that they deserve. It’s far beyond football. The hours that we put in outside football are probably the most important.”

The Bulldogs have gone 52-8 since Green became the head coach in 2019, they’ve won four Pittsburgh City League titles, and they’ve advanced to the state championship game the past two years. The statistic he’s proudest of is the number of players he has helped get into college. As of February, it’s 29.

“The players love him, and he loves them just as much, if not more,” said the former Tonia Charles ’09, Green’s wife of 10 years.

Understanding Their World

Everyone knew Chance Battle was a talented player, but his focus in the classroom didn’t match his focus on the field. In 10th grade, he was academically ineligible to play for the Bulldogs.

Donta and Tonia Green got involved, and while Battle showed improvement, in 11th grade he was again sidelined because of academics. But the coach and his wife worked extra hours to help him catch up. And just before the team was to begin preseason camp his senior year, Battle learned he was eligible to play. He earned All-City League honors and is now a starter at IUP.

“Coach Green is an extremely important person in my life, and he’s that way for all the guys,” Battle said. “He never gave up on me.”

Green understands the world in which his players grow up. The son of mostly absent parents, he was raised in Larimer by Antoinette Hunter, a double-transplant patient who lived with her elderly parents. Initially, she was Green’s babysitter, but eventually, the days at her house turned to nights at her house, and although she didn’t legally adopt him, he called her his mom.

Conditions were rough. Until he got his first bed when he was a teenager, Green slept in a recliner. A couple times a year, the gas was shut off, because the bill went unpaid. Green didn’t use a shower until he was in college (he had taken only baths, and those were sometimes in water heated in the microwave, because the gas was turned off). When he did take a bath, first he had to place a garbage can on top of the refrigerator directly below, because the tub drain leaked, and there wasn’t money to fix it.

But Green felt loved. He and Hunter cared for one another. By the time he was in kindergarten, he was able to identify her pills and open their packaging to give her the medicine she needed following her lung and kidney transplants. He learned from those experiences that a house does not make a home. And a home is what he tries to create every day for his players at Westinghouse and students at the institute.

“The thing I love about Donta is that he isn’t loved because he is soft,” Campolo said. “He is demanding, but he is consistent, and he provides structure. The kids respond to that.”

Green remembers a time when a tree fell and crashed through Hunter’s bathroom window. The solution, because there was no other available, was to put plywood over the hole. Years later, while Green was at IUP, Hunter lost the house. He was still calling her mom when she died in 2017, leaving a hole in Green’s heart that, like that bathroom window, can’t be repaired. The house now sits abandoned, and the window is still boarded up. Sometimes Green drives by, just as a reminder of how far he’s come.

BRIAN HENRY

A Winding Path to IUP

In high school, Green was not a good student: he left Westinghouse with a 1.6 grade point average, but he excelled on the football field.

Despite IUP and many other colleges offering him opportunities to play, he did not have the grades to get into those schools. But, as he would do for Battle more than a decade later, Green found someone who would push him. Taunya Tinsley, who at the time worked at Westinghouse as a student advocate, implored Green to find a way to get to college.

“My job with Donta was to nourish the seed and make sure he saw what was possible,” Tinsley said. “I told him not to look at the here and now, but to look at what could be.”

Green eventually made his way to Bethany College, a tiny, private Division III school in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Bethany was only 50 miles from Pittsburgh, but to Green, it felt like a million miles. He finished the year with good grades and, because Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, with some debt. He came home for the summer and decided he was not going back.

Green got in touch with Campolo, who had visited him at Westinghouse the previous year. A couple weeks before the season began, he came to IUP and learned about the football program and its winning tradition. Thanks to his one year at Bethany, this time he had the grades to get in.

In three seasons, Green played 28 games at linebacker and was named all-conference

after his senior season. He graduated with a bachelor’s in criminology, the first member of his family to earn a degree.

“When I look back at it,” he said, “God was telling me that IUP is where I was supposed to be.”

“If nobody recognized him for what he does, he’d still do it.”

Committed to Helping

The Trade Institute of Pittsburgh is a nonprofit agency operating out of a reconditioned brick warehouse.

Many of the institute’s students have drugs and/or incarcerations in their backgrounds, which make it hard to find consistent work. The institute provides them with soft skills, such as résumé writing and interviewing, plus trade skills, like masonry and carpentry, so they can get work that will give them a better future. In 2021, 45 students graduated from the institute and landed decent-paying jobs. In 2022, that number rose to 77.

“I tell people all the time that these students are just older versions of the kids I have at Westinghouse,” Green said. “I feel like I am in a unique space, because I can be on the preventive side of things for those kids. If I

give them the support and exposure they need, they won’t end up having to utilize a program like [the institute].”

Green has been lauded for his success in the boardroom and on the football field. In 2019, after the Bulldogs won their first City League title in more than two decades, Pittsburgh Steelers star Cameron Heyward came to the team banquet and gave Green two tickets to the Super Bowl. In 2022,

Donta Green at his day job, with students and staff members at the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Magazine chose him for its 40 under 40 awards, and KDKA selected him as one of its five Hometown Heroes. He was also a recipient of the FBI Community Leadership Award, and after the past two football seasons, he has been named the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Coach of the Year.

But awards aren’t his motivation. “If nobody recognized him for what he does,” Tonia said, “he’d still do it.”

After being best friends since they were 13, Donta and Tonia started dating a couple years after they graduated from IUP. Married since 2014, they have a daughter, Dru, and a son, Troy, and their strong foundation is built on love, compassion, and a we, not me, philosophy guided by their spirituality. When Westinghouse hired Donta, in effect it also hired Tonia, who spends her day as program director for the Center of Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

“I think the beauty of our union is that we both are committed to helping,” she said. “We understand the call. We help people when they need help. If people trust my husband enough to call for help, there’s merit to that.”

It’s a life to be proud of, but Donta won’t say that in so many words.

“Am I proud of myself?” he asks, repeating the question. “That would be a bold statement.”

Tinsley, who 20 years ago pushed Green to make something positive out of his circumstances, will be so bold.

“Oh, my God, I am so proud of him,” she said. “I love what he does and who he has become.”

Where He Needs to Be

In a video, Green reads a letter from Dick’s Sporting Goods as he is surrounded by his players. He chokes up for a second and bows his head. He then reads the part about the Westinghouse football program being chosen for Dick’s 75for75 program, a distinction that comes with a check for $75,000, to fund a new weight room for the Bulldogs.

What anyone watching the video on YouTube probably doesn’t know is that, a few days before it was filmed in January 2023, Green was all but gone from Westinghouse. He had been offered a lucrative deal to take over the program at Woodland Hills High School in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, and in his mind, he was “90 percent gone.”

The school had offered a dramatic salary increase for Green and all his assistants, and it was allowing him to hire eight of them, three more than he had with the Bulldogs. The school had better facilities and a higher profile than Westinghouse. It was an opportunity to move up the coaching ladder, and Green felt he was ready. Earlier that month, he sat on the bed with Tonia, and they talked it over. He mentioned the increase in salary, the better hours, the better facilities, the better job.

“In my mind, I was going through my first team speech,” Donta said. “And then she said, ‘Is that what we got into this for?’ It was like a punch in the stomach.”

He knew what she meant. There was more to do at Westinghouse.

“I was praying about it,” he said. “I said to my wife, ‘I’m not hearing anything.’ And she said, ‘Well, then you already know what to do. If God isn’t giving you the green light, he’s telling you to sit still.’”

Turning down the Woodland Hills job was a difficult phone call to make. But not long after, he got the letter from Dick’s. Rather than giving him a directive, maybe that was God’s way of answering Green’s prayer. A few weeks later, he was in New York City, a guest on ABC’s Good Morning America being interviewed about the 75for75 program.

For those hearing the story of the Bulldogs, their coach, and their community, it’s clear Donta Green is where he needs to be. All he ever wanted was a home, and he has found it. So, is he proud of himself? There’s no time for that kind of talk.

“Part of my growth as a coach,” Green said, “is being able to sit back and ref lect on some of the things that I’ve done. But proud of myself? I can’t say that, because there are still kids who don’t make it in our program. There are still kids who are making bad decisions. There are still kids who just aren’t getting it academically yet. There’s just so much more work to do.” m

Green has served as Westinghouse’s head football coach for five seasons.

BRIAN HENRY

NAME DROPPERS

By Matt Burglund

When Curt Cignetti arrived at IUP in 2011 to take over the football program, he said he was betting on himself. He had spent the previous 30 years as an assistant coach, and he was wagering that he was ready to be a head coach.

More than a decade later, that bet continues to pay off.

Cignetti, who went 53-17 as the Crimson Hawks’ coach from 2011 to 2016, was hired this past December to take over the “other” Indiana—Indiana University, of the Big Ten Conference, which competes with the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State.

“Sometimes you’ve got to make hard decisions in life,” Cignetti said during his introductory news conference. “This was a hard decision for me, because you’ve got to be uncomfortable to grow, and I’m too young to stop growing.”

At 62, when many people are planning for retirement, Cignetti is just hitting his stride. Since leaving IUP, he has had successful tenures at Division I schools Elon (14-9 from 2017 to 2019) and James Madison (52-9 from 2020 to 2023) and became a hot commodity on the head coaching market.

The oldest son of the late IUP head coach Frank Cignetti ’60, M’65, he credits much of his success to the four years he spent as an assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama from

2007 to 2010. With the Crimson Tide, Cignetti learned what he calls a “blueprint” for success, a plan Saban created that focuses on steady daily improvement, from both the players and the coaching staff.

He used that plan well in his six seasons at IUP. Taking over a team that had gone a combined 11-11 the two previous seasons, Cignetti rejuvenated the Crimson Hawks and led them to a PSAC championship and a deep playoff run in just his second season. He led IUP to the NCAA Division II playoffs two more times, in 2015 and 2016.

Cignetti’s success at IUP helped him land the job at Elon, where he turned the historically bad Phoenix into a playoff team and gained national attention. He parlayed that into the job at James Madison, where he guided the Dukes through a transition from Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) to Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision). In its second season in the top level of college football, James Madison finished 11-1 and earned a trip to its first-ever bowl game.

One highlight came when ESPN brought its popular pregame show, College GameDay, to Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Cignetti was a guest in front of a huge crowd and the live broadcast’s millions of viewers.

After the season’s end, his name was everywhere when jobs opened at some of the biggest programs in the country. It was Indiana that landed Cignetti and signed him to a reported six-year contract potentially valued at $27 million. Indiana also landed two assistants who have been with the coach since his IUP days: offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan (who coached at IUP in 2016) and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines (2014-15).

Cignetti faces a huge challenge: since 1994, the Hoosiers have had only one season with eight or more wins, and they have not won a conference title since 1967 or a bowl game since 1991. Indiana went 3-8 in 2023.

But Cignetti is betting he can turn around the Hoosiers’ football fortunes.

“We have a blueprint and a plan that’s been successful, proven to be successful, and no reason it shouldn’t be successful again,” Cignetti said.

Achievements

Former IUP women’s volleyball coach Julie Torbett Thomas M’22, now the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, earned her 500th career head coaching victory in the Mocs’ 3-0 sweep of Furman in October. Thomas coached the Crimson Hawks in 2020 and 2021, compiling an 18-14 record, although there was no season in 2020 due to the pandemic. Before IUP, she coached at North Carolina Asheville (304 wins), East Carolina (109), and Winthrop (34). Her first team at Tennessee Chattanooga finished 17-16.

Two recent members of the IUP football team signed contracts to play in the Arena Football League. Raunya Mitchell ’23 signed with the Billings (Mont.) Outlaws, and Darrell Davis ’21 inked a deal with the Albany (Ga.) Firebirds.

In basketball, former IUP star Armoni Foster ’22 began his professional career by playing for Cherkasy in Ukraine’s SuperLeague. Foster played three seasons for IUP before transferring to Division I Buffalo for his final season of college basketball.

Noteworthy

Last fall’s World Series had an IUP connection. Travis Jankowski, an outfielder for the Texas Rangers, played a key role in his team’s first-ever series title. He is the son of Paul Jankowski ’73, who played baseball for IUP from 1971 to 1973 and was a member of the ’71 team that placed third in the NAIA World Series.

Mike Butler ’83 recently retired after a 40-year career in the NFL. He was a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1983-87), the director of college scouting for the Indianapolis Colts (1987-2006), and a scout for the Detroit Lions (2007, 2008) before returning to the Steelers in 2009.

Three IUP alumni have been chosen for induction into the Indiana County Sports Hall of Fame: veteran sports writer Bob Fulton ’75, who was a writer and editor at the Indiana Gazette for parts of five decades and is the author of five sports books and countless articles in magazines, including IUP Magazine; George Busovicki ’69, M’76, a longtime local high school football, wrestling, and track and field coach; and former basketball star Don Douds ’67, who has the distinction of scoring both the final basket at Waller Hall and the first basket at Memorial Field House.

Coaching Moves

Bob Ligashesky ’85, who most recently was the special teams coach at Syracuse, was hired in December at Minnesota for the same position.

Former IUP women’s basketball assistant coach

Curt Cignetti in his new role with the Hoosiers

Ryenn Micaletti, who was on Tom McConnell’s first staff in 2013-14, recently completed her first season as head coach at Slippery Rock. She came to the Rock from Saint Louis University, where she worked under another former IUP assistant, Rebecca Tillett, who was also on McConnell’s inaugural coaching staff.

Former all-conference softball player Renee Wall ’21, M’22 was hired in October as an assistant at Division I Bucknell. It’s her first coaching job at the college level.

Last August, former IUP player and assistant men’s basketball coach Greg Bearer was hired as an assistant at fellow Division II school Coker University in Hartsville, South Carolina. Also, Jake Perrin M’23, who was an assistant at IUP last season, is in his first year in a similar role at Division I Tennessee-Martin.

In Memoriam

Jim Mill, who coached football, served as an associate athletic director, and chaired the Health and Physical Education Department at IUP in a 32-year career, died December 18 at 82. He was an assistant football coach under Bill Neal and Owen Dougherty from 1970 to 1980.

Julius Misurda ’57, who was an assistant football coach under Bill Neal for two seasons, died December 3 at 88.

Bill Neal, who was head coach of the IUP football team from 1970 to 1978 and a faculty member until 1995, died March 28 at 92. Neal came to IUP in 1969 after a successful career as a Division I assistant. After one season under Chuck Klausing, he took over the program. He finished with a career record of 50-31-3.

Dave Watkins ’63, M’76, who coached IUP’s swimming teams for eight years, died December 21 at 82. An Indiana native, he served the community in many roles, including director of the YMCA, volunteer firefighter, and borough tax collector.

IN BRIEF

Miko Rose spoke at a reception welcoming her in January.

New Dean Advances Medical College Plans

Miko Rose, a board-certified psychiatrist and an awardwinning medical educator, started in November as founding dean of IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine. Her hire was one of the first steps in establishing the college, which IUP has been exploring since late 2022.

Rose came to IUP from the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, where she was an associate professor

and chief of the Division of Psychiatry, as well as assistant dean for Clinical Education. She also has served as an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State University and as program director of the Joy Initiative, a project she started at MSU’s medical colleges to help physicians build emotional resilience. Rose received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wellesley College and a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her residency training through Michigan State.

IUP’s next step in establishing a medical college is completing the three- to five-year accreditation process through the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. The university began exploring the project to address the shortage of primary-care physicians in Pennsylvania’s rural areas. In addition to private gifts, state and federal funding of $2 million and $150,000, respectively, has been secured for the project, and the IUP Alumni Association committed $500,000 in January.

Fall Enrollment Was Up

IUP’s total student enrollment for fall 2023 was 9,254, an increase of nearly 5 percent from fall 2022. This was the first time in 11 years the university’s enrollment had risen. The number of new, first-time students was 2,002, up 16 percent from the previous fall. Heading into the spring 2024 semester, IUP had retained 90.1 percent of those new students, the highest fall-to-spring retention rate since 2010. Find more information about recent trends in enrollment on page 12.

NEW TO THE HALL—The IUP Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023 was inducted in September. Front row, from left: Don Lindich ’65, Jackie Rutkowski ’07, Jack Frank ’58, Jeannette Frank, Brianna Liebold ’11, and Michelle Jones ’07. Back Row: IUP Athletics Director Todd Garzarelli M’22, Paul Bingham ’10, Kerry Yacamelli ’95, M’01, Derrick Freeman, Ron Trenney ’84, Megan Woodall Mills ’01, Frank Trenney ’92, Chris Morgan’08, M’09, and IUP President Michael Driscoll. The 1968 golf team and the late Nicholas Yutko ’83 were also inducted.

FRANK OLMA

BRIAN HENRY

ALL ABOUT ALUMNI

1950s

Following the death of her husband, Ronald Huber ’52, on September 11, 2022, in Orlando, Peg Eagley Huber ’53 reported that she is living in Mechanicsburg.

The retired director of Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Clyde Mills McGeary ’54 wrote that his wife of 69 years, Barbara Conner McGeary ’54, died July 28, 2023. Both majored in art at Indiana State Teachers College, and they had been in love since their freshman year, Clyde said. Barb went on to create and direct the nation’s first arts magnet school, the Riverside School in Harrisburg. They had three daughters and a son.

Palmyra Area School District has named its high school track in honor of Carl Scriniere ’57 He is also an honoree in the school’s Sports Hall of Fame and in the Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He has coached track and field at the school for more than 64 years.

A freelance writer and retired educator, Ralph Stone ’58 has published two books, 9/11, a Christmas Story, and Diary of a First Street Rambler, as well as a manual for quitting smoking, God Answers Smokers’ Prayers He also writes a weekly column, “Etched in Stone,” for the Mon Valley Independent He and his wife, Marilynne, live in Charleroi and have three grown children.

1960s

A professor and dean emeritus, Ian Maw ’63 retired from Rutgers University in 2003 after 34 years of service. His second retirement was in 2020 after 17 years with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, where he was vice

president of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources. A recipient of many prestigious leadership honors, he counts helping establish the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education among his greatest accomplishments. He and his wife, Michele, live in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. See more at IUP.edu/alumninotes.

Tom Sullivan ’64 reported that his wife, Jean Boxler Sullivan ’65, died September 24, 2023, after a 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Jeanie was a former teacher and a coowner, with Tom, of Good Feet retail stores in Delaware.

In November, Herb Moore ’67 was elected to a four-year term on the Windber Borough Council. He is a retired teacher and coach from Shade Central City High School.

Michael Lambert ’68, M’69 shared his memories of the sights, sounds, and smells of IUP and the Indiana community in the 1960s in “Autumn Reverie of Indiana.” Find it at IUP. edu/AutumnReverie. A 1998 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, he is a Distance Education Accrediting Commission executive director emeritus. An Indiana native, he now lives in Virginia.

IUP has seen its share of couples meet and, later, marry. For septuagenarian newlyweds Mary Thomas ’68 and Edward Petrovay ’70, the twist is that they met as undergraduates in 1966, dated, and then went their separate ways. Reunited more than 50 years later, they got married October 17, 2023.

Describing himself as Christian, pro-life, and a political activist, Bill Depner ’69 has hosted a talk show, Love Them Both, for more than a decade. Focused on abortion, the sacredness

of human life, and related topics, the show can be found at www.youtube.com/user/ LoveThemBothTV.

1970s

Lee Crawford ’70 works as a product engineer at Grundfos Pumps Corporation in Kansas.

Last June, Nina Damato ’72 published her first children’s book, The Extraordinarily Ordinary Kittens, a true story about her adopted, blind kittens, Bocelli and Louis Braille. Nina donates half the proceeds from her sales to the animal rescue that connected her with her cats. Learn more at IUP.edu/alumninotes

An IUP Distinguished University Professor and professor emeritus of employment and labor relations, Don McPherson ’69, M’71 was recently sworn in as a British citizen (dual US-UK) at the British Consulate General in San Francisco. He was eligible based on descent, as his mother was born in Glasgow. Don and his wife, Linda Leighty McPherson ’69, M’76, an IUP professor emerita of English, live in Santa Rosa, California.

Saint Francis University head football coach Chris Villarrial has a strong IUP contingent on his coaching staff. Villarrial played for IUP from 1992 to 1995. Joining him on the Red Flash staff are other former players Tom Rogish ’73, who was also a decades-long assistant; Brian Basile ’81; and Marco Pecora, a member of the 2013 squad. Find a photo at IUP.edu/alumninotes.

In March, Mike Allwein ’75 retired as pastor of St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg after a 42-year ministry career. This milestone led to a feature story in the Gettysburg Times in February.

A supervisor in Jackson Township, York County, for 20 years, David F. Brown ’75 was inducted into the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors Hall of Fame in 2023. A law enforcement retiree, he was featured in the August issue of Pennsylvania Township News. See more at IUP.edu/alumninotes.

Rowman & Littlefield recently published Teaching Teens about Relationships: A Guide for Teachers, Counselors, and Youth Group Facilitators, by Chuck Rhoades ’75 According to Chuck, the book addresses topics most curricula don’t, such as f lirting, jealousy, infidelity, gossip, and starting and ending relationships. Chuck and his wife, Melanie Wagner Rhoades ’75 , live in Dover, New Hampshire.

After 35 years of providing administrative and consulting services on vision care, Scott Edmonds ’76 has retired as president and CEO of the Edmonds Group. Pennsylvania’s 2008 Optometrist of the Year, Scott will continue as senior partner in his family eye-care practice, which includes his wife, Susan Edmonds, and their sons,

COURTESY OF DON MCPHERSON

Ryan Edmonds ’07 and Chad Edmonds ’13. See more at IUP. edu/alumninotes.

In the mid-’70s, Daniel Rose was part of what he believes was the first batch of IUP criminology students to serve as seasonal police officers with the Ocean City, Maryland, Police Department. That’s where Dan (’76, M’78), who now lives in Irwin, got the inspiration for his recently released novel, Little Boy Blue, about the genesis of a serial killer and sexual predator. Dan even called on his former roommates, who went on to careers in law enforcement, to serve as advisors and proofreaders. Those friends— Larry McCoy ’76, Joe Morrash ’77, and Mike John ’78—also helped Dan celebrate his first book signing in July. Little Boy Blue is available through major retailers.

Elementary art teacher Sandra Snyder Zumbrum ’76 has retired from the SteeltonHighspire School District in Dauphin County. The former Sandra Snyder Grant has been married to Scott Zumbrum since 2016.

Marian Abramski Fiscus ’78 realized a longtime dream with the recent publication of a memoir about her father, Chuck Abramski. For the Love of Coach—Dementia Could Not Destroy the Legacy of This Unforgettable Man tells the story of the regionally wellknown coach, whose love of football was matched only by his care for his players. The book also includes sentiments from players and friends as well as moments from his years under care for Alzheimer’s disease. Marian lives in Indiana with her husband, Rich Fiscus ’78

Co-CEO of the nonprofit mission Someone to Tell It To, Michael Gingerich ’78 has coauthored his fourth book, Ascending to First Chair: A Lesson in Leadership and Organization Development. He and his wife, Kathy Walton Gingerich ’78, live in Hershey.

The Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences at the University of Kansas Medical Center has granted Jan Hudzicki ’78 emerita status. She retired after 25 years in higher education, 18 of them at KU.

Class of ’79 graduates and former roommates Kathy Mastrian Burry, Susan Gentile Dixon (M’87), Cathy Rentka Forney, Cyndi Clapper Houser, Sheila Neate Repole, and Diane Pozzi Seward recently met on the IUP campus to reminisce and see the changes. Find their photo at IUP.edu/alumninotes

Elizabeth Klingenberg Ricisak ’79, M’81 recently published a memoir, A B+ Life, which follows the everoptimistic author through marriage, divorce, adoption, illness—even the impact of crime. A retired schoolteacher, Elizabeth said she intended her book to inspire other women struggling in their life journeys. It is available through major retailers.

1980s

Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education recognized Charlene Mickens Dukes ’80 with a 2023 Keepers of the Flame award for her longstanding contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. A 2008 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, she was the first female president of Prince George’s Community College in Maryland. Now a president emerita, she retired in 2020 after 13 years on the job.

The executive director of Let’s Play America, Pat Abramski Rumbaugh ’80 (affectionately known as the “Play Lady”) was honored at Takoma Park, Maryland’s annual Play Day in September for 15 years of bringing play to the community. The next day, she received a 2023 Fred Rogers Institute Helper Award. In 2009, Pat formed Takoma Plays!

At right: Christine Siddall talked about Willow at Wilmington Area Elementary School.

After one of her family’s barn cats was adopted by President and Mrs. Biden, Christine Telesz Siddall ’81 wrote a children’s book about the feline, newly living a Cinderella lifestyle in the White House. In 2022, Christine published From the Milk House to the White House and has since read the story to elementary classes, held several book signings, and won an Authors’ Zone award. Christine grew

a group aimed at promoting play in the community. Let’s Play America was founded six years later to encourage those young and old to set aside time for daily recreation. Those who wish to plan a Play Day can apply for funding at www.change.org

An IUP professor emerita and former interim dean of the College of Education and Communications, Sue Corbin Rieg ’81, M’82 won the Indiana County ATHENA Leadership Award in October.

A professor in IUP’s Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism, and Event Management program, Stephen Shiring ’81, M’85 teamed up with his daughter, Elizabeth Shiring M’15, D’20, to publish a textbook, Professional Catering: The Modern Caterer’s Guide

up on her family’s dairy and grain farm in Volant. In 2019, when Jill Biden was speaking at a small political rally at one of the family’s barns, she was interrupted by the cat, then called Tommi. The first lady took a shine to the tabby and, after establishing ownership, changed her name to Willow, in honor of Willow Grove, Jill Biden’s hometown. Now the cat even has her own X account, Willow Biden, Catmanderin-Chief. Christine and her husband, Marvin, live in New Wilmington and winter in Dunedin, Florida.

to Success. It was released by Kendall Hunt last year. Elizabeth is a second-grade teacher at Pritchardville Elementary School in Bluffton, South Carolina, and an instructor at IUP.

Marketing firm Greystone.Net named Rose Dill Glenn ’82 the recipient of its 2023 John A. Eudes Vision & Excellence Award, honoring her at the annual Healthcare Internet Conference in Los Angeles. Rose is chief marketing and communications officer for Michigan Medicine and an instructor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. She is a 2018 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

The director of global communications at Texas-based Bell, an aerospace and defense

Patty Hilliard Robertson during space training

A medical doctor and NASA astronaut, the late Patricia Hilliard Robertson ’85 recently had a Cygnus spacecraft named in her honor. The builder, aerospace company Northrop Grumman, has made a tradition of naming its crafts after significant figures in space f light. Patty completed a space medicine

company, Karen Troutman Testa ’82 was named one of Ragan Communications and PR Daily’s 2023 Top Women in Communications in the Leaders category. The recipients were honored at a luncheon in New York City.

CEO of ECM Therapeutics, Paul Fagan ’83 returned to IUP in February to talk with students and faculty members as an Eberly College of Business executive-in-residence.

Supporters of Marc Fogel ’84 have continued to call on the US Department of State and the Biden Administration to designate Marc as wrongfully detained and to secure his release from Russian custody. A Butler native and international teacher, Marc is serving a 14-year sentence in Russia for possession of a small amount of medical marijuana. In March, IUP President Michael Driscoll voiced his support for Marc’s release on the 95th birthday of his mother, Malphine Fogel.

Novelist Lee Allen Howard ’84, of Jamestown, New York, died November 12, 2023. Over

fellowship, joined NASA’s Flight Medicine Clinic, and became a member of the astronaut class of 1998. Also a f light instructor and aerobatic pilot, she died of injuries sustained in a private plane crash in May 2001, a year before she was to f ly to the International Space Station. A Homer City, Indiana County, native, Patty received IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000.

the summer, he announced the release of his sixth book, The Covenant Sacrifice, an LGBTQ horror novel that focuses on a character’s “struggle to accept his orientation in the face of religious bigotry.” The book is available through major retailers. Learn more at IUP.edu/ alumninotes.

Since his promotion two years ago, Rob Sauritch ’84 has served as assistant dean for Finance and Facility Operations in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. See more at IUP. edu/alumninotes.

In January, colleagues of William John Shepherd ’84, M’86 in the University Libraries at Catholic University of America selected him for the 2023 Edward J. Belanger Jr. Staff Award for Excellence in Service. A coworker described Shep, university archivist and head of Special Collections, as a “force for change, professionalism, and good stories (and Churchillian wisdom).” Last year, he had 14 publications, ranging from articles on military history to reviews of

books on Winston Churchill to posts for the Catholic University of America blog, the Archivist’s Nook. See a complete list at IUP.edu/ alumninotes.

After 25 years at IBM, Barry Baker ’85, of Keller, Texas, has been named BMC Software’s lead mainframe product manager. On an unrelated note, Barry is seeking video footage of Mr. IUP pageants from 1983-84 and 1984-85, the years he won and cohosted, respectively. “I think my kids would get a kick out of seeing their dad at such a young age,” he wrote. He is willing to pay for format conversion or shipping. Reach him at barrybakertx@ gmail.com.

The spring ’83 pledge class of Theta Chi (Epsilon Eta chapter) recently held a 40th reunion in Conneaut Lake. Members present were Kevin Gaydosh ’85, Larry Kasten ’85, Kurt Wallisch ’85, Ed Baker ’86, Kevin Gramley ’86, Tom Halligan ’86, Bob Purdue ’86, M’93, Henry Szymanski ’86, Bob Chambers ’87, and Chris Warwick ’87. See more at IUP.edu/alumninotes.

In November, Mount St. Mary’s University named Robert Maag M’85 the director of its Athletic Pep Band. The Mount Pep Band performs at home basketball games and at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship. Bob recently retired from the Shippensburg Area School District, where since 1990 he directed all high school instrumental ensembles and taught music theory and music in film.

Martha Wagoner Millard ’85 wrote to report the death of her husband, Michael Millard ’85, on November 3, 2023. He is also survived by his sons, Clayton and Westley.

After 32 years at Unisys Corporation, Dana Zanchi McGeehan ’86 has joined Navy Federal Credit Union as a change manager. Her team coordinates all computer work on the credit union’s systems to ensure members can access their money. She and Phil McGeehan eloped at Ronald Reagan National Airport in February 2023 and had a ceremony at Gunston Hall in Lorton, Virginia, on May 6, 2023. Andrea McGee Rohrbach ’85 was a member of the bridal party.

Online newsletter EdScoop selected IUP Chief Information Officer Bill Balint ’88 as a 2023 University Technology Leader of the Year. Bill started at IUP as a systems analyst in 1989 and has served as CIO since 2006.

The American Society of Criminology has named Shaun Gabbidon D’96 a fellow, recognizing scholarly contributions to criminology and distinction in the discipline. No more than five people are nominated for this honor each year. A distinguished professor of criminal justice at Penn State’s Harrisburg campus, he was a recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2021 and was inducted into the College of Health and Human Services’ Hall of Distinction last year.

SHARON SIEGFRIED,

HARRISBURG

At the 2023 annual conference of the Pennsylvania Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, Kimberly McCurdy ’97 received the Distinguished Service Award. She is the director of the Bureau of Postsecondary and Adult Education for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Kim earned a doctorate in instructional management from Robert Morris University.

A school counselor at Indiana County Technology Center, Kelly Chambers Fox ’88, M’98 received the IUP Department of Counseling’s 2023 Claire J. Dandeneau Outstanding Supervisor award for her work with IUP counseling interns.

Conductor and pianist Michael Borowitz ’89 returned to IUP in February as the Dr. Edward R. Sims ’53 Distinguished Visiting Artist. Michael is in his 15th year as associate professor and music director of the Turner-Fischer Center for Opera at Louisiana State University. His IUP residency culminated with Sing to Love, a concert in Fisher Auditorium featuring Music Department faculty members and students. Ed Sims, a former professor and Music Department chair at Slippery Rock University, died in 2017.

For a remarkable 25th consecutive year, the Cochranton High School Marching Band, under the direction of Carl Miller ’89, won the Lakeshore Marching Band Association Championship in Erie last fall. Other staff members include Rachel Perry Miller ’00, Tracy Post McCullough ’01, Chad Heiny ’03, Andrew Wolfe ’15, and Kyran Miller, current IUP student and daughter of Carl and Rachel Miller.

Orphans of the Storm, a nonprofit animal shelter in Kittanning, has named Toni Shelaske ’89 to its board of directors. She owns Healthy Pet Products, a retail pet food and supply store with three locations in the Pittsburgh area and one in Florida. She also has a podcast, Toni Unleashed, focused on pet health and wellness.

1990s

Penn State University has appointed Rick Ayers ’90 its associate vice president for marketing. He has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and communications, having served as chief marketing officer and assistant dean for strategic communications for Penn State’s Smeal College of Business. He has also held numerous leadership roles in the nonprofit healthcare industry.

A University of Georgia associate professor and the associate director of the National Center for Home Food Preservation, Tracey Bower Brigman ’90 is the new host of Meals from the Field, a monthly video segment produced by the Georgia Farm Monitor. Airing nationwide, the segment highlights recipes using Georgia farm products. Watch it at www.farmmonitor.com/clips

PMA Companies has promoted 20-year veteran Gene Mattis ’90 to director of risk control services. PMA provides risk management solutions and

services, including workers’ compensation and property and casualty insurance. Gene lives in Chicago.

When reporting its new officers and board members for 2023–24, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care announced Joy Himmel M’91 as board chair-elect. She is the director of Counseling Services at Old Dominion University. Find more at IUP. edu/alumninotes.

A certified financial planner for 23 years and cofounder of the investment and wealth management firm Kinloch Capital in Glen Allen, Virginia, Jennifer Berdell ’92 was named the winner of the 2023 RVA (Richmond, Virginia) Power Woman Award in the Finance category. She was nominated by her clients and fellow professionals.

The Ohio Local History Alliance has appointed Noel Poirier ’92 to its board of directors. Noel is executive director of

the Ohio Genealogical Society. Working to advance the study of the state’s local history, the alliance represents more than 300 organizations, from large museums to neighborhood historical societies.

Retired colonel John Wojcik ’93 recently published his second book, HR’s Mission Next, aimed at helping human resources professionals attract and retain veterans as they transition from active duty. In addition to his IUP bachelor’s, John holds a juris doctor, master of strategic studies, and doctor of business administration degree.

Several swimming alumni were reunited when Kristin Lepley ’96 wed Patrick Laughlin on April 29, 2023. They live in Kennett Square. Among those at the ceremony were Katie Woodruff Britt ’95, Tiffany Staver ’96, Kelly Jones Thomas ’96, Kristin Zinicola ’96, Michelle Humes Berkoben ’97, and Deidre Lamb Pitt ’98

Lee Keegan, Linda White, and Gina Nania

In November 2022, while Leanna Keegan ’02 was through-hiking (end to end) the Appalachian Trail, she met another IUP alumna. Linda Marbury White ’74 happened to be cycling with her husband, Jim, and dog, Lyra, on the Virginia Creeper Trail at a point where the paths cross. Lee, whose trail name is “All Good,” and Linda (trail name “Roll”) instantly connected over the AT, Pennsylvania, IUP, and life, Lee said. Since

then, they have stayed in touch and most recently got together at the 41st annual Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association gathering in October in Abingdon, Virginia. There, they made another IUP connection in Gina Nania ’77, of South Dakota. Lee, who lives in Cresson, Pennsylvania, also throughhiked Vermont’s Long Trail in 2017. She invites other alumni long-distance hikers to join her and her friends at the association’s 42nd gathering next fall.

COURTESY OF LEANNA KEEGAN

Rotary International has named its second female president, Stephanie Urchick D’04, who will start her one-year term in July. The global service organization has 1.4 million members in 200 countries and regions. A Rotary member since 1991, serving the McMurray chapter, she has helped to build a primary school in Vietnam, install water filters in the Dominican Republic, mentor new Rotary members in Ukraine, and coordinate a Rotary Foundation grant project in Poland.

Though they were not able to attend, Tawney Nardozza Schmitt ’94, M’96 and Joanne Johnson Lotter ’95, M’97 were there in spirit in the form of oversized cardboard headshots. See a photo at IUP. edu/alumninotes.

Margy Gray’s State Farm Insurance office in Indiana hired Jason Levan ’97 as its newest state licensed team member in February 2023.

Released by Melville House in May of last year, Sidle Creek, by Jolene McIlwain ’97, M’02, has racked up honors including NPR Book of the Year and Library Journal Best Book of 2023. Jolene grew up in Kittanning, and her collection of short stories explores life in a fictional, working-class small town in western Pennsylvania.

In October, the IUP Libraries hosted Jolene for a talk in celebration of National Day of Writing. Her book is available through major retailers.

2000s

Last fall, Tracy Eisenhower ’00, M’02, D’18 was named executive director of the IUP Research Institute, which assists faculty and staff members with externally funded research projects. Since joining the institute in 2004, she has served in a variety of roles—most recently as interim director.

In July, Samuel Richards ’04 joined the International School of Kenya in Nairobi as a social sciences teacher. Previously, he worked at Shanghai American School in China and was among the founding faculty members of the school’s Pudong Innovation Institute, which promotes interdisciplinary, project-based learning.

Pittsburgh Business Times has named Tom Baker M’05 a winner of its C-Suite Award, honoring executives who have demonstrated vital leadership and business savvy. His undergraduate university, Millersville, also named him one of its Marvelous Marauders, commemorating 40 of the most impactful alumni in the 40 years since the school became a university. His other recent honors include the Ross Township Durachko-Gottfried Citizen of the Year Award, the North Hills School District Board of Education Community Service Award, and inclusion in City & State Pennsylvania’s Nonprofit Power 100 list.

Kathleen Gleditsch ’06 is head of Volunteer and Intern Services at the North Carolina Museum of History. She earned a master’s degree from North Carolina State University in 2014.

The James E. Van Zandt Veterans’ Administration Medical Center has named Julia Paronish-Ludwig ’06 its program director for the

As a marketing specialist for outdoor clothing and equipment retailer REI, Elena Kapp ’16 helps build programs that expose people from urban areas to the outdoors. A native of Oil City now living in Alexandria, Virginia, she is a graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College and Business Honors Program. Learn more about her in the video Life in the Great Outdoors at IUP.edu/ elenakapp

Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Residency. In addition to her bachelor’s degree from IUP, she has a master’s from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate from Gannon University. She has been with the VA for nine years.

In October, Jessica Shirley ’06 was named interim acting secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Previously, she served as executive deputy secretary. She lives in Etters.

In January, Roger Briscoe ’09, M’10, D’23 started in a new role as IUP’s executive director of Student Inclusion.

2010s

Last summer, Samuel Waltemeyer M’11 was selected as Phi Mu Delta Fraternity’s fourth executive director. A Phi Mu Delta

alumnus, he has served the fraternity as a district governor, as national president, and as a member of the foundation board.

Last fall, the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors presented Emilie Campbell Dye M’12 with the Shelley Sutherland Outstanding Volunteer Award for her contributions on the editorial board of Perspectives, the association’s quarterly magazine. She is the director of Strategic Student Engagement Initiatives at Duke University.

Last summer, the IUP Department of Music announced the appointment of two of its graduates to university positions. Wilson Poffenberger ’13 became a lecturer of saxophone at Valdosta State University in Georgia, and Sarah Hetrick ’16 was named assistant professor of saxophone at the University of Arkansas.

When Rachel Rodriguez ’21 played softball for IUP, her coach gave her the opportunity to use her nutrition major to help the team. That sparked a career in the minor leagues of professional baseball, where she is a performance nutrition associate with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Learn more in the video Helping Athletes Play Their Best at IUP.edu/ rachelrodriguez.

BRIAN HENRY

BRIAN HENRY

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A musician and assistant professor of audio production at Frederick (Md.) Community College, Todd Campbell D’15 served as a coauthor, with IUP Communications

Media professor Zack Stiegler, of the book Musical Intimacy. Released last fall by Bloomsbury Publishing, it examines how intimacy is constructed and perceived in popular music.

After founding a blog, Writing from Nowhere, Kayla Ihrig ’15 has published a book,

How

to

Be a Digital

Nomad: Build a Successful Career while Travelling the World. Published in January, the book is both a practical guide and an exploration of the remote work lifestyle, which boasts some 35 million “digital nomads,” she says. The book is available through major retailers.

Derek Jones D’15 was granted tenure and promoted to professor of computer technology at the Bedford County campus of Allegany College of Maryland.

1960s

Mary Thomas ’68 to Edward Petrovay ’70, October 17, 2023.

1980s

Dana Zanchi ’86 to Phil McGeehan, February 3, 2023.

1990s

Kristin Lepley ’96 to Patrick Laughlin, April 29, 2023.

2010s

Erin Hilderbrand ’17 to David Olszak, May 6, 2023.

ARRIVALS 2000s

To Jason Pudleiner ’03 and Tasmin Pudleiner, a daughter, Salima Crystal, November 7, 2023.

2010s

To John Negri ’15 and Makenzie Wilt Negri ’15, a daughter, Elsie, May 3, 2023.

John Negri ’15 and Makenzie

Wilt Negri ’15 welcomed a daughter, Elsie Negri, on May 3, 2023. They live in Altoona. Elsie’s mother is a secondary social studies teacher, and her father is an accountant.

Political theorist and security analyst Reza Parchizadeh D’18 appeared last July on World Inkers Network’s Parrot TV to give a presentation on William Shakespeare and the foundations of modern political thought. The show was a critical survey of Western

political thought and included discussions of the ideas of Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Sir Thomas More. The proceedings were published in the literary and philosophical journal Harbinger Asylum. Reza was also a Ginsburg/ Milstein Writing Fellow for the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum. See more at IUP.edu/ alumninotes.

A book recently published by educator Charlene D’Amore D’19 HIV Endurance:

Women’s Journeys from Diagnosis to Aging—combines her personal story with the voices of 17 other HIV-positive women. The work analyzes the experience of disclosing HIV to others, incorporating HIV into one’s identity, challenging the associated stigma, and aging with the disease. It is based on her dissertation, Unmasking HIV: Women and Experiences of Disclosure.

A mathematics teacher at Turkeyfoot Valley Area High School in Conf luence, Benjamin Phillian ’19, M’22 was a 2023 recipient of the Yale Educator Award. He was nominated by a Turkeyfoot graduate who attends Yale University.

2020s

Viewers of The Curse of Oak Island may recognize Jamie Kouba M’21. Oak Island, Nova Scotia, is rumored to have a treasure buried deep for more than 200 years—the subject of numerous searches. Jamie is the lead archaeologist on both a dig for the treasure and the History Channel documentary series that chronicles the adventure.

A faculty member at West Chester University, Jeremy McCool D’21 served as a speaker for IUP’s Six O’Clock Series in February. In honor of Black History Month, he talked about socially conscious rap and how it has illuminated world issues.

Joseph Gula ’22 died August 14, 2023, in Johnstown. He was the assistant director of Information Systems Technology at the IUP Student Cooperative Association.

‘Dead-On’

Artist Recalls Role in Manhunt

An artist for more than 40 years, Pat McBride ’81 found that her most meaningful depiction was not made to be hung and admired, but to protect human lives. Pat came to IUP from Beaver County and initially majored in English at the recommendation of her brother, John McBride ’69. “Whatever you do, you have to be able to write,” he had said. But, while taking a course intended for art majors, Pat ended up in the Fine Arts dean’s office with her professor, John Dropcho, and signed on for art. From there, she was immersed in painting classes with Ned Wert ’58, classical drawing with James Innes, and, perhaps most memorable, laboring amid a cloud of charcoal dust while Paul Ben-Zvi yelled to his students, “Bigger, better, faster, more!” Pat said, “Often when I’m working now, those words run through my mind.”

After college, Pat married criminology graduate Larry Gleisner ’82, whom she had met at a party her junior year. When Larry took a job with the FBI, they moved to Alexandria,

Virginia. Soon, Pat joined Larry at the bureau, applying at his urging for an illustrator position in the special projects division. There, she was part of a team whose members ranged from photographers to woodworkers. They would create visuals for trials (before the dawn of advanced computer graphics) as well as tools to assist with investigations, such as a golf club with a built-in microphone for surveillance. “It was a really neat, creative experience,” she said. Her main tasks were drawing composites and touching up photos—adding or removing facial hair or glasses, for example—to keep up with the changing appearance of at-large criminals.

In the spring of 1984, Christopher Wilder, known as the Beauty Queen Killer, was wanted for abducting and killing several young women in a cross-country spree, although he was also a suspect in many other brutal murders dating to his teenage years. In the FBI’s photos, Wilder had a beard; Pat’s task was to recreate his likeness without one.

“He was posing as a photographer and luring these young women with a promise of modeling contracts and that sort of thing,” Pat said. “I thought, ‘Man, if I could nail this [likeness] to save even one person . . . ’”

After Wilder was killed that April in a struggle with New Hampshire police, no new photographs surfaced, and Pat

was left to wonder how close to reality her illustration had come.

When Larry became a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, he and Pat left the DC area and had two children, Carolyn and Matt. Larry’s work required frequent moves, and Pat would get involved in the local art scene and sometimes take on pictureframing jobs to help get her own paintings framed. After they settled in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Pat joined the artists at Eye Candy Art Gallery & Framing in nearby Southern Pines and began painting out of a “real-life studio” above the gallery.

Recently, she was selected as a featured artist for a plein air festival near the coast, and in the fall, she’ll have a two-woman show. On the 70th anniversary of the FBI’s Most Wanted, Pat received a commemorative coin for her contributions in the special projects division.

Eventually, she indulged in an online search for images of Christopher Wilder. She found that her illustration had been “dead-on.”

“I came across a photo, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s him,’” she said.

“I always wondered if I got it and if I helped anybody,” she said. “I never heard that, but at least I did finally get to see.”

Learn more about Pat’s art at PatMcBrideArt.com

COURTESY OF PAT MCBRIDE

Pat McBride with her art and with her FBI work from the ’80s

DEATHS

The following alumni deaths were reported between July 1 and December 31, 2023.

1942: Eleanor Shaffer Aspen

1949: Peggy Cox Frankenfield

1952: Gilda Martucci Byrnes, Mary Sherotsky Kramarenko, Janet Dickson Noel, David Williamson, Doris Kimmel Williamson

1953: Mary Lou Reiser Arthur, Annette Dunkle Davis, Joanne Duncan, Samuel Lamendola, Eugene Moore, Joan Henkel Williams

1954: Dale Johnson, Barbara Conner McGeary, Joyce Albright Peebles

1955: Nancy Byerle Nusser, Dorothy Valko, Elsie Turnbull Young

1956: Claudia Jones

1957: Malcolm Barnes, Nancy Kirk Bittinger, James Deyak, Alyce Marshall Fellows, Paul Golden, Clara Kozier Santarlasci, Patty Taylor Wright

1958: JoHan Fink Farrar, Lois Feather, Barbara Brinkley Heeter, Martha McGeary Pifer

1959: Patricia Seymour Alexander, Walter Baran, John McDermott

1960: Barbara Podhorez Dunham, Margaret Roman Gesin, Arleen Hill Hawk, Vern McKissick, Grace Aul Russell, Richard Shull, Linda Bush Thompson, Joseph Uzmack (M)

1961: Michael Carlson, Norman Gaggini*, James Gesin, Phyllis McCracken Humphreys (M), Nancy Pavlik Murphy, Shirley Shaffer Pensinger, Mary Ellen Wohler

1962: Janice Hecht Murray, Cecil Woodle

1963: Stella Grosso Chero, Warren Hoburg, Paul Mahaffy, Stephen Pearson, Carolyn Volk Thomson

1964: Sara Ferguson, Richard Loase, Judith Zilla Mills, Robert

Norberg, Merrily Tomko

Sobotka, Marcia Thomas White

1965: Sharon Lindsey Chin, James English, Loris Hinebaugh (M), Dona Rolling Reinhold, Jean Boxler Sullivan, John Swanson, Helen Bortmas Voegler

1966: Leonard Evansic, Barbara Stahlman Haskell, Charlene Butters Vanderhide, Russell Zimmerman

1967: John Braun, Raymond Catalano (M), Francis Gallo, Carolyn Gentile, Clifford Morton (M), Joyce Kanaan Murrman (M), Barry Peoples, Sandra Reefer, Jane Troychak Slate, Concetta Adornato Stewart, Frank Strelec, Thomas Valenti

1968: Cheryl Dunlap Clark, Helen Erickson Edwards, Dennis Fantaski, Andrew Kittell, Bonnie Emanuel Poff, Dwight Smith, Wilma Lemmer Sprague, Samuel Vaughan

1969: Glenn Cavanaugh (M), Karen Ryan Cummings, Pamela O’Hara, Thomas Sheehan (M)

1970: Lorraine Rothwell Bell, Delwyn Gealy, Aleida Bowers Jackson, Jean Yahres

James, Barbara Beymer Mack (M), Susan Nettrour Mangel, Zema Miller Schaney, Richard Swigart (M), Michael Walendziewicz, Freeman Weible (M), Robert Wojtkowski

1971: Carmen Beneccio, Jimmie Foster, Kathleen Bonomo Linn, Charles Matesic, Connie Berg McClintock, RoseAnn McMullen, Mark Ritter, Elizabeth Huckestein Smith

1972: Josephine Catanzaro (M), Karen Hetrick Henry, Randall McClure, Barbara Rice Thompson, Douglas Woods, Barbara McCavitt Wrazien

1973: Arthur Broge* (M), Karen Strippy Brunetto (M), Robert Cavanaugh (AA), Donna Eaton Dexter, Diane Smith Fleet, James Rawlinson, Lloyd Tomlinson (M)

1974: Carolyn Cummings

Allen, Alex Arth (M), Matthew Kridler

1975: Hyman Blackwell, Richard Decarli, Robert Fitzgerald, Charles Hauris,

Joseph Mayer, Mary StrehseMuckley

1976: Charles Ailes, Laura Hensley Baldwin, Donna Depto, Michael Kosicek*, Joseph Lagorga, Susan Philage Walker

1977: David Hildebrand, Elizabeth Klingensmith Mulhern, Clarence Rine, Janet Stong Shaffer (M), Robert Wellman

1978: Juliana Zibreg Freese, Regis Hackett, Mary Anne Bosak Mureddu, Carole Yon

1979: Joan Balog (M), Thomas Petrosky, Cynthia Weber

1980: Steven Curlen, John Hilton, Patti Ruffner Susko, John White, Frederick Zwegat (M)

1981: Albert Betts, Ann Ranieri, Karen Giegerich Rodgers, Katherine Merilli Wagner, Janet Zewe

1983: Judith Gundaker Gory

1984: Lee Howard, Peter Leyer, Christine Stewart

1985: Michael Millard, Anita Anderson Popolis, Harold Watson, Tanya Zadoyko

1987: Shari Maniccia Pavic

1988: James Gillespie (M)

1992: Tammie Forry, Frank Pifferetti (M), Mark Seidel

1994: Darin Balliard, Jeffrey Friday (CA), Barbara Brunazzi Homa

1995: Richard Coon (AA), Lisa Lott Fitzgerald

1996: Robert Hicks, Mary Huesgen Noel, Brad Puckey

1999: Ronald Nye

2001: Carol McKee

2003: Gary Wilkins

2004: Bradley Pedersen, Shaun Yingling

2005: Lisa Brater Bohenick, John Farcus (M), Nicole Hardy

2006: Shannon McKruit

2008: Katharina Smith Altman, Katherine Shryock Hood (D)

2012: Wallace Diethorn

2019: Michael O’Sullivan, Makenzie Wooldridge

2022: Joseph Gula*

*current or former faculty member, staff member, or administrator

Note: In cases in which an IUP degree beyond the bachelor’s degree was earned, only the bachelor’s degree is indicated. Deaths of faculty members are reported in the Mentors section.

Other Deaths

Mary Gaul, who retired as director of Faculty and Staff Payroll Services in 1998 after 31 years of service, died November 27, 2023.

Sara Abdulqadir Gifford, a student in the English/ Literature and Criticism PhD program, died December 22, 2023.

Floyd Gray, who retired from University Printing in 2009 after 26 years of service, died January 17, 2024.

Susie Hile, who retired from the Grounds Department in 2007 after 17 years of service, died April 1, 2024.

Bonnie Kanurick, who retired from the Payroll office in 1992 after 24 years of service, died March 14, 2024.

Edward Leasure, who retired from the Maintenance Department in 2004 after 31 years of service, died January 20, 2024.

Merle Lukehart, who retired from the Receiving area in 1993 after eight years of service, died January 9, 2024.

Jennifer Margolis, a graduate student in educational and school psychology, died January 1, 2024.

Homer McDowell, who retired from Housekeeping in 1997 after five years of service, died March 22, 2017.

Elizabeth “Libby” Pettit, former wife of Lawrence Pettit, IUP’s president from 1992 to 2003, died January 28, 2024.

Myrna Shernock, who retired from Shipping and Receiving in 2001 after 30 years of service, died August 12, 2023.

MENTORS

Journey to Discovery

For more than a decade, Jonathan Warnock, professor of geoscience, has been traveling to Jurassic National Monument in the Utah desert to dig for dinosaur bones. He often brings along students—both to help him with the excavation and to help them gain research experience. IUP is one of only two universities in the country that the US Bureau of Land Management allows to dig on the property. Find out why Warnock calls the site the “world’s greatest natural classroom” in a video at IUP.edu/ JourneytoDiscovery

Pioneering Professor

During Black History Month in February, IUP published an online story about the school’s first Black professor, Robert Vowels, a member of the Social Science faculty in the 1960s. A Baltimore native and World War II veteran, Vowels earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Howard University and his PhD from American University, all in economics. He had taught at Howard and worked for the US Treasury Department before taking the job at Indiana State College in 1963. Six years later, he left IUP for Clark Atlanta University, where he became dean of the school of business. Also active in local politics, Vowels helped with Maynard Jackson’s successful campaign for mayor in 1973. Following a return to the classroom in the 1980s, Vowels retired as a professor at Tennessee State University. He died in Nashville in 2014. Read more, including

memories of his sons, Robert Jr. and Scott, at IUP.edu/RobertVowels.

Return of the Winds

Last November marked the first performance in eight years of the Keystone Wind Ensemble. Made up of alumni, students, faculty members, and administrators, the ensemble last performed in 2015 in honor of Jack Stamp ’76, who was retiring as director of bands. Last fall, it was Stamp again who drew 60 musicians back to campus for the ensemble’s reunion weekend. Stamp’s successor, Timothy Paul, organized the event, and the two shared conductor duties. The culminating concert was dedicated to the late Bruce Leek, the engineer who had made all 22 of the band’s recordings since its 1992 formation. Kevin Eisensmith ’78, professor emeritus of trumpet, chronicled the weekend’s activities and collected comments from fellow ensemble members. Read his story at IUP. edu/KeystoneWinds

Shooting for the Moon

Studio Art faculty members Sean Derry and Sharon Massey recently received a $70,000 Moonshot grant from Remake Learning for a project aimed at engaging western Pennsylvania teens in creative work. Called “Studio Stream,” the project will transform a Japanese minitruck into an earthbound communications satellite. As the truck travels throughout the region, youth in various communities will be encouraged to create music, poetry, podcasts, and other content that will be broadcast over the truck’s internet-based radio station. A public launch is expected

later this year. Studio Stream is part of Derry and Massey’s Local X Change initiative, which has also backed such student projects as Traffic Island Oasis, a temporary outdoor installation made of cardboard, and Common Goods, a pop-up store featuring laser-cut paper art.

Faculty Deaths

The following former faculty members died in recent months:

John Baker, who retired from the Food and Nutrition Department in 2003 after 23 years of service, died November 9, 2023.

Jean Blair, a professor emerita who retired from the Nursing and Allied Health Professions Department in 1995 after 16 years of service, died March 26, 2024.

Arthur Broge M’73, who served on the Chemistry Department faculty from 1985 to 1999, died August 15, 2023.

Jennie Bullard M’84, a professor emerita who retired from the Employment and Labor Relations Department in 2011 after 16 years of service, died January 19, 2024.

Carol Connell, a professor emerita who retired from the IUP Libraries in 2018 after 48 years of service, died March 8, 2024.

Robert Frank, who taught mathematics at IUP in 2001 and 2002, died August 20, 2023.

Norman Gaggini ’61, M’68, a professor emeritus who retired from the Physics Department in 2002 after 31 years of service, died September 29, 2023.

Gary Grobman, who taught in the Sociology Department in 2007 and 2008, died August 11, 2023.

Zane Kirk, who retired as medical director of Pechan Health Center in 2008 after 22 years of service, died March 3, 2024.

James Mill, a professor emeritus and longtime department chair who retired from Health and Physical Education in 2002 after 32 years of service, died December 18, 2023. He was also a former administrator and football coach. Read more on page 23.

William Neal, a professor emeritus and former head football coach who retired from the Health and Physical Education Department in 1995 after 26 years of service, died March 28, 2024. Read more on page 23.

Richard Roberts, a professor emeritus who retired from the Physics Department in 2002 after 37 years of service, died July 27, 2023.

Royce Walters, who retired from the History Department in 2004 after 34 years of service, died September 30, 2023.

John Worzbyt, a professor emeritus who retired from the Counseling Department in 2003 after 31 years of service, died November 29, 2023.

In Utah: graduate student Eric Buzzelli, left, and Jonathan Warnock

BRIAN HENRY

Energizing Academic Journeys

A scholarship she received last May smoothed the way for IUP senior and firstgeneration college student Jennah Krout.

According to Krout, an environmental engineering major from State College, “Receiving the scholarship allowed me to pay for housing over the summer for a very awesome internship experience working at a power plant in York. I gained invaluable knowledge in my experience working there, and it has sparked my interest in the energy sector so much that I would like to continue on this path after graduation.”

The source of Krout’s assistance was Diversified Energy Company PLC, an independent energy concern that produces, markets, and transports mostly natural gas and natural gas liquids. Two years ago, Diversified Energy made a fiveyear commitment totaling $50,000 for scholarships for IUP students with majors in the energy sector. Earlier, the company had made a $10,000 gift to the university.

This year and last, scholarships were awarded to a total of eight students. They have included five environmental engineering majors, including Krout, and three geology majors.

“Diversified is focused on giving back to the communities in our operating areas, where our employees work and live,” CEO Rusty Hutson said. “As a company, we are dedicated to investing in opportunities to help individuals find the right path in order to achieve their aspirations in life, and we are pleased to offer scholarships to these bright and talented students to prepare students for fulfilling careers.”

IUP faculty member and Environmental Engineering program coordinator Hao Tang said, “I value the Diversified Energy scholarship as a merit-based award, because we select recipients based on their academic achievement. It has motivated our students to excel academically.

“This scholarship has been a boon to our environmental engineering students,” he said, “enriching their academic journey in numerous ways. The corporate philanthropy instills a sense of recognition and validation of the students’ career paths, boosting their motivation and commitment to their studies.”

According to Steven Hovan, dean of IUP’s Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, “IUP continues to offer

several key programs related to the energy industry. In addition to the Environmental Engineering program, Geology and GIS [Geographic Information Science] provide students with fundamental knowledge and skills used in exploration and production. We also offer degree programs in safety sciences that help create safe working environments in businesses operating in the energy sector.”

The Diversified Energy scholarship, Tang said, “establishes a direct link between the industry and academia, offering students unique insights into the real-world applications of their learning. It opens up networking opportunities, potentially leading to internships, mentorships, and employment prospects.”

This rang true for Krout, whose summer experience was with a coal/natural gas plant with a focus on environmental protection. “It was super cool to see everything,” she said.

If your company is interested in starting or supporting a scholarship, please contact University Advancement at 724-357-5661 or iup-giving@iup.edu.

Through frequent trips to Weyandt Hall, IUP photographer Brian Henry began to appreciate the building that was IUP’s center of science for nearly 60 years. With its demolition looming, he sought to convey Weyandt’s character in photos before the opportunity was lost. The overflowing Physics library is just one example. See more at IUP.edu/Weyandt