Slippery Rock University

A pair of global service-learning programs organized through Slippery Rock University's Office of Community-Engaged Learning will provide SRU students, faculty and staff a transformative experience that will outshine the Caribbean sun. A group of nine people representing SRU will travel to Jamaica, Jan. 3-13, while a second group of eight will visit Puerto Rico, Jan. 3-17, to conduct service projects, connect with natives to understand the issues they face and inspire civic action.

Administration, coaching, communications, community relations, IT. The list goes on and on. There are almost as many areas of focus in a professional sports team's operations as there are teams themselves. And while Jenna Plutyk has already interned with the New York Yankees and will be doing a second internship next semester with the Charlotte Hornets, her internship focus has always been in the areas of marketing and sales. The Slippery Rock University senior sport management major from Saxonburg has yet to find herself involved with "game day" operations. However, after taking part in SRU's Sport Facility and Event Management class, Plutyk feels as though she's already got major league experience. What sets the class apart from others is how SRU students interact with alumni, businesses and organizations to offer tangible outcomes, like a facility risk assessment or hosting a golf outing.

Adrianna Bielby has wanted to go to Spain since she first took a Spanish class as a freshman in high school. Thanks to a faculty-led program at Slippery Rock University, Bielby and 20 other SRU students will have the opportunity to travel to Spain and teach schoolchildren while in country. Bielby, a senior early childhood-special education major from Monaca, would not typically have the opportunity to travel overseas during her final year at SRU because most faculty-led international programs are offered during spring break when many senior education majors are completing their student-teaching requirements. However, Sara Tours, assistant professor of elementary education and early childhood, recognized an interest for a winter break program and organized a trip to Barcelona and Valencia, Spain, Jan. 3-15, 2019.

When Slippery Rock University students travel abroad, they get the opportunity to meet all kinds of people, explore new places and sometimes help to make the lives of those they encounter a little better. Organizers expect that to be the case Jan. 12-20 when a group of SRU students joins with their counterparts from Harvard University for a medical mission to Peru. There, the group will work with local health care professionals to provide medical assistance to Peruvian residents in remote communities at mobile clinics.

All U.S. Army ROTC cadets studying at colleges and universities across the country, regardless of the size of their institution, are ranked among their class based on criteria such as grade-point average, physical training scores and serving in leadership positions. Slippery Rock University had two cadets ranked in the top 10 percent and an additional two cadets ranked in the top 20 percent this year out of more than 5,000 senior cadets nationwide, earning them National Distinguished Military Graduate recognition.

A group from Slippery Rock University is looking to remove and replace Cleveland Select pear trees along Main Street in Slippery Rock that have been affected by fire blight, a contagious pathogen that has rendered the trees' leaves brown and withered.

The Student Union for Multicultural Affairs, a student organization at Slippery Rock University, will host its eighth annual "Red Ribbon Monologues" at 6 p.m., Dec. 3 in the Smith Student Center Ballroom to help raise continued awareness of the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

When cadets in Slippery Rock University's Army ROTC program received an email from their cadre, Pauline Matthew waited anxiously to open hers. The email revealed the names of cadets selected for the U.S. Army Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency program, a highly sought-after assignment where cadets spend a month during summer studying abroad and learning from foreign military units.

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -Slippery Rock University Theatre will bring Charles Dickens' classic holiday story, "A Christmas Carol" to life at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 30-Dec. 1 and Dec. 3-6. A 2 p.m. matinee is slated for Dec. 2. All performances are in the University Union Multipurpose Room. The production, adapted by David Skeele, SRU professor of theatre, will be a 70-minute, no intermission performance.

Some issues related to cybersecurity can be resolved by updating or protecting a computer user's password, but others are more complex and affect a variety of touchpoints that often go unnoticed. An event at Slippery Rock University will bring to light a variety of cybersecurity issues as students from multiple disciplines will collaborate through debate, case-study presentations and live software demonstrations. Organized by SRU's Center for Cybersecurity and Advanced Computing, the cybersecurity event will take place 12:30-2 p.m., Dec. 4 at Spotts World Culture Building, Room 111.

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - When cadets in Slippery Rock University's Army ROTC program received an email from their cadre, Pauline Matthew waited anxiously to open hers. The email revealed the names of cadets selected for the U.S. Army Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency program, a highly sought-after assignment where cadets spend a month during summer studying abroad and learning from foreign military units.

Hosting one postseason sporting event is no easy task, with the competitors and the weather not known until a few days before it starts. Imagine the challenge of hosting six championships in one day. So, when SportsPITTSBURGH put in a bid to host the NCAA Division II Fall Championships Festival, officials from the sports division of Allegheny County's tourism promotion agency sought out a capable partner in Slippery Rock University to help win the bid and make the festival a success. Although all the sporting events will take place 50 miles south of campus in Pittsburgh, SRU is serving as the co-host institution for the festival, which will include six championships, Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.

Emphasizing the person, not the disability, is one of the many topics being addressed by the Slippery Rock University President's Commission on Disability Issues. This includes the use of person-first language, such as saying the name of the student who has a disability and not referring to him or her as "that handicapped student."

Domestic terrorism, hate crimes and homegrown violent extremism are becoming more prevalent in America. A group of students in Slippery Rock University's Homeland/Corporate Security Studies Department is partnering with the FBI field office in Pittsburgh to enhance community awareness of potential behavioral indicators exhibited by violent extremists. They'll also look at some basic prevention and intervention strategies which family members, co-workers, peers and others can employ in an effort to prevent radical behavior before it occurs.

While the 17-day celebration of the University and the inauguration of President William Behre could be categorized as an extravaganza, an actual one is part of the planned festivities. The Planetarium Extravaganza, 4-5:30 p.m., Nov. 14 in the Vincent Science Center, will feature montages with wildlife, underwater and abstract visualizations, as well as a half-hour educational program about the mystery of dark matter in outer space. The event, cosponsored by Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, is free and open to the public.

Slippery Rock University's marching band, The Marching Pride, is ratcheting up preparations and fundraising to take part in the 2019 St. Patrick's Day Festival in Dublin, Ireland. The band was invited to make the March 14-21 trip by Brendan Carr, Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Two military veterans with strong ties to Slippery Rock University will serve as keynote speakers at SRU's Military Appreciation Week Veteran's Center sponsored breakfast and the annual Alumni Association sponsored Veterans Day Ceremony.

When a parent goes to prison, they are not the only person serving a sentence. So are their children, who have to cope with the stigma, separation and not having a personal connection with their parent. A program at Slippery Rock University called "Read to Me" is hoping to change that equation by uniting children with their incarcerated parent through video and the power of literacy and storytelling.

Reclined in a seat inside Slippery Rock University's planetarium, an awestruck second-grader points to video projected on the 30-foot-wide domed ceiling and tells a classmate how all the planets revolve around the sun. Their classmates later hold up fruits and vegetables that represent the size of the planets, like a cherry tomato for Earth and a watermelon for Jupiter. This was just part of the experience for more than 400 second-grade students from the Butler Area School District who visited SRU's Vincent Science Center, Oct. 19 and 24, where 50 SRU students from three classes taught the elementary school students as part of their courses' service-learning project.

As a budget-conscious college student, Kyle Lewis was more than ready to answer the call for free housing for his final semester at Slippery Rock University. But in doing so, he had to be prepared to also answer another type of call - the kind that comes in the middle of night - when the Slippery Rock community needs him as a first responder. Lewis, a senior safety management major from Butler, is the first SRU student to take advantage of a live-in program created by the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company and Rescue Team last year. For the fall semester, Lewis is living in a 400-square-foot bunk room, just one of the amenities inside SRVFC's 5,500-square-foot Rescue Building that was built in 2015 near the corner of Elm and New Castle streets. The SRVFC provides his housing in exchange for Lewis remaining on call for four overnight duty periods per week.

Among the activities planned for Slippery Rock University's celebration of the Nov. 9 inauguration of President William J. Behre are two processions, one with a bark and another with a bang. The Slippery Rock Student Government Association will kick off the 17-day celebration of SRU's 17th president by hosting "Paws for a Cause," which will include a Presidential Pet Parade, Nov. 1.

Fourteen Slippery Rock University student vocalists will demonstrate their range at 2 p.m., Nov. 4 at Swope Music Hall when they compete for the Chad Williamson Memorial Vocal Scholarship as part of the 26th annual competition.

Slippery Rock University's Afro-Colombian Dance Ensemble will take its show on the road when it performs "Palenque!" at 8 p.m., Oct. 26 at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre in Pittsburgh.

With the fall semester in full swing and the holiday season right around the corner, it's only natural for a student to start making plans for ... summer? Well, if you're Robert Bailey, it's never too early to get a jump, or rather a peddle, on your plans. Bailey, a Slippery Rock University junior accounting major from Mount Pleasant and president of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity's SRU chapter, has been selected as one of just 100 cyclists - from a nationwide field of more than 10,000 of his fraternity brothers - to participate in the 2019 Ability Experience's Journey of Hope.

Although the cool temperatures might tempt you to want to do nothing but settle on the couch with a blanket and binge watch Netflix - don't do it. Instead, grab a ticket for the Slippery Rock University Theatre Department's production of "Concord Floral." The production will run Oct. 19-20 and 23-24 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 21 and 25 at 2 p.m. in the University Union Multipurpose Room.

While most students are busy cramming as midterm exams approach, dance majors and their faculty are busy bending and stretching in preparation for an upcoming performance. Slippery Rock University's Dance Department will host its annual Faculty and Guest Artist concert at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Oct. 21 at Butler County Community College's Succop Theatre.

Being a university president comes with privileges, like having your own parking spot. William Behre, president at Slippery Rock University, covets a different privilege: serving SRU's students. That's why Behre recently started raffling off the privilege of using his parking spot for one week to a trio of students.

Slippery Rock University women's tennis standout Lacey Cohen made history Oct. 1 by defeating Katya Minchenkova of Indiana University of Pennsylvania to capture the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference women's singles championship at the Burt Reese Tennis Courts on the campus of Bloomsburg University.

Fall has arrived and with it the sounds of rustling leaves, whistling trees and ... flutes, piccolos and oboes? Hey, autumn isn't just for pumpkins and miniature candy anymore, it's also for band concerts and the Slippery Rock University Symphonic Wind Ensemble has you covered. The 50-plus student-musician group will host its first performance of the season at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 16 at Swope Music Hall.

A mathematician may seem out of place working with clinicians at the National Institutes of Health researching matters of public health, but don't tell that to John Yannotty. Yannotty, a Slippery Rock University senior mathematics major from Butler, recently completed a summer internship at the NIH after being selected to assist a biomedical research group exploring environmental triggers that cause an autoimmune disease called myositis.