In Brief (cont.) HOLOCAUST HEADLINE INSPIRES PROGRAM SERIES While browsing the British news and media website The Guardian, Dr. Amy Carney, associate professor of history, was shocked to see the headline “Nearly two-thirds of U.S. Young Adults Unaware 6M Jews Killed in the Holocaust.” “To say that this headline stunned me would be an understatement,” said Carney, who then investigated the source on which the article was based: A survey conducted by the Jewish Claims Conference. As an educator who specializes in modern German history, specifically the Third Reich, Carney regularly teaches students, as well as the larger community, about the Holocaust. “But after reading the results of this survey, which included information specific to Pennsylvania, my desire to
help our students understand how and why it happened doubled,” she said. Carney is launching a Holocaust awareness effort with a series of programs, including talks with Holocaust survivors and scholars as well as museum visits and movie screenings to be conducted as part of the University’s Schreyer Honors College Distinguished Faculty program. Though she is still developing the framework, Carney hopes to have a virtual component to most of the programs to make them accessible to all Penn State students, faculty, staff, and others. “Through these programs, my goal is to ensure that scholars and students as well as members of the community are better informed about one of the most significant events in modern world
SERENITY NOW A team of Penn State Behrend students has developed a mental health and mindfulness app that helps users track their emotions and suggests activities and resources to ease stress and depression. The app, available as a free download at the Google Play store under the name Serene Helps, features videos on meditation, guided breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. It also provides links to Erie County mental-health support services. “When people are in distress, it can be difficult to think clearly,” said Antigoni Kotsiou, who developed much of the app’s content, “so we made it simple: Try a new recipe. Take a walk in a different neighborhood. Call your grandparents.” Kotsiou, who graduated from Behrend’s Master of Applied Clinical Psychology program this past December, created the content in collaboration with Dr. Christopher Shelton, assistant professor of clinical psychology and director of the college’s Virtual/ Augmented Reality (VAR) Lab. Marc Maromonte, a Computer Science major who graduated in May, handled the coding, and Erica Juriasingani, who also graduated in May with a degree in Psychology and a certificate in Human Factors, led the user-experience research and design with Dr. Lisa Jo Elliott, assistant teaching professor of psychology.
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history,” she said. “I also believe this engagement will help attendees gain a stronger awareness of the past and present consequences of anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice.”
