Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Through Slippery Rock University's Leadership, Advocacy and Program Development course, students in the SRU College of Education are hosting "Books for Dilworth," a series of book club meetings via Zoom for students and parents at Dilworth Elementary School in Pittsburgh. The program is designed to encourage literacy and foster "a love for learning at home." Each semester, Sara Tours, an SRU assistant professor of elementary and early childhood education, teaches the Leadership, Advocacy and Program Development class, which prepares teacher candidates, who will be teaching children pre-K-4, on the design, development and evaluation of early childhood programs.

Civic engagement at Slippery Rock University has not been diminished during the pandemic -- instead, it has been transformed. Evidence of this is the record number of nominations for the SRU President's Awards for Civic Engagement, recognizing students, employees and community partners for promoting civic engagement through their leadership and innovative practices.

Just as fossils can be found among the rock foundations of buildings, so too can interests and vocations be embedded within families. This comparison certainly applies to a research study at Slippery Rock University involving two students, a professor and a paleontologist whose daughter is one of those said students. This quartet explored the widespread occurrences of fossils and fossiliferous stone found within historic and prehistoric human-made structures, calling attention to unique insights into the human dimensions of paleontology, which is the study of fossils. Brianna Santucci, a junior park and resource management major from Gettysburg, and Carol Moneymaker, a senior park and resource management major from Greenwood, Delaware, spearheaded the research as project in the fall 2019 semester as part of their Cultural Resource Management class taught by John Lisco, associate professor of parks, conservation and recreational therapy.

Ben Troy is like many college students in that he's pulled a few all-nighters and he's awake at ungodly hours compared to the general population. But he's not staying up late to study or party -- instead, he's up early, running. Troy, a senior Slippery Rock University exercise science major from Wilcox, has not only taken up the sport of endurance running, he runs ultramarathons, including 100-mile races that can take more than 24 hours to complete. To fit in his training for these tests of endurance, he wakes up at 3 a.m. ... every morning.

Kara4Kids and Slippery Rock University share more than just the same goal to create lifelong learners, as indicated in both schools' vision statements. SRU has partnered with the Kara4Kids, a system of preschools in India, to provide workshops led by SRU faculty for Kara4Kids teachers, staff and parents, while Kara4Kids is facilitating virtual student-teaching placements for SRU students.

Music teachers and students have had to play to a different tune during the pandemic. Safety measures limiting in-person gatherings have affected students receiving instruction from their teachers, causing members of music ensembles and marching bands to play solo, in smaller groups or in virtual jam sessions. Professors and students in Slippery Rock University's music education program are at the forefront of these changing practices as students prepare to teach music both virtually and in-person while receiving an education that mixes these modes of instruction.

The virtual curtain will soon rise on the Slippery Rock University Theatre Department's premiere of "Making Melrose." The first production of the spring semester will stage online performances Jan. 28-30.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people in different ways: feelings of grief, sickness, economic uncertainty, isolation and angst toward how other people are reacting to this global health crisis. Andrew Jones, a Slippery Rock University senior English writing major from Grove City, has felt them all. He wrote an essay about his experiences last spring and submitted it to a mountaineering and conservation journal, which recently published his work. Since then Jones' metaphorical journey over peaks and through valleys have persisted. Jones' short story, titled "The Shaking Trees," is featured in the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of Appalachia. Although Jones was published by other literary journals that showcase submissions from undergraduates, this was the first time his byline appeared in a professional publication with a national following.

While many students see the beginning of a semester as a fresh start, some issues can continue to linger and affect daily life. One such problem is that of food insecurity. With that in mind, the Slippery Rock Student Government Association, in association with the Macoskey Center and the Office for Community-Engaged Learning, is hosting a food drive to help stock the shelves of the campus food pantry, Bob's Cupboard, now through Feb. 5.

A group of Slippery Rock University students are rebuilding SRU's campus brick by brick. There is no mortar or physical construction involved, but rather pixels in the virtual world of Minecraft. The popular video game allows users to build elaborate virtual environments within the game and five students from the Esports Club at SRU chose to recreate the University's campus.

Slippery Rock University has announced its dean's list for the fall 2020 semester. The dean's list consists of SRU undergraduate students who earned an adjusted semester grade-point average of 3.5 or higher, based on a schedule of at least 12 newly attempted and earned credits.

Senior cadets from Slippery Rock University's U.S. Army ROTC program recently received their branch assignments, meaning that their next step after leaving SRU has been determined. All but one of the 29 cadets received branch assignments. Cadets are assessed into one of 17 branches of the Army based on their preferences and where they rank on the Army Cadet Command's Order of Merit List, which consists of more than 5,000 senior ROTC cadets at colleges and universities across the country. The criteria for the OML includes GPA, physical training scores and service in leadership positions. SRU had three cadets ranked in the top 10% and 10 in the top 20%, the latter percentage earning them National Distinguished Military Graduate recognition.

Social isolation and loneliness are conditions that have been perpetuated by the COVID-19 pandemic and safety measures that keep people at a distance from one another. These afflictions are particularly harmful for older adults, many of whom are living alone and encounter other factors such as loss of friends and family members, chronic illness and physical ailments. A new pilot program launched by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging in partnership with Slippery Rock University is addressing the issue for older adults in Butler and Mercer counties. During the fall 2020 semester, nearly 100 SRU students in recreational therapy and gerontology classes completed service-learning projects that included interactions with older adults, either over the phone or virtually if the older adult had access to videoconferencing technology. The project is the first of its kind through a program coordinated by the PDA that provides real-world experiences for students by connecting them with more than 100 older adults through the Butler and Mercer County Area Agencies on Aging.

Slippery Rock University's Music Department is inviting high school flutists to audition for the Flute Studio's 7th Annual Honors Flute Ensemble. Interested students should submit a completed application, recorded audition and nonrefundable $20 audition fee via an online submission process no later than 11:59 p.m., Jan. 1, 2021.

By looking at Matthew and Michael Lugowski, the identical twins are difficult to tell apart, but to them it will be difficult to imagine being apart after they followed almost identical paths to Slippery Rock University as U.S. Army ROTC cadets. Matthew and Michael Lugowski, natives of Crescent, recently finished their degrees from SRU in psychology and political science, respectively. Before going their separate ways as Army officers, the brothers were together on campus one last time, Dec. 3 in the Smith Student Center Ballroom, as the SRU Army ROTC hosted a private Commissioning Ceremony during which the Lugowskis officially became officers with the rank of second lieutenant.

As with many forms of education during the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental education has migrated to Zoom, YouTube channels and other forms of virtual presentation. The transition from outdoors to online has created new opportunities for Slippery Rock University students to exhibit creativity and reach wider audiences. Two such examples include a graduate student in SRU's environmental education program, who as a high school biology teacher, has created a video blog for his students, while SRU undergraduate students in a park and resource management class are creating virtual interpretive trail videos for the public.

Slippery Rock University's Center for Cybersecurity and Advanced Computing, known as "C2AC," is not a physical location comprised of bricks and mortar. Rather, the C2AC is an online resource and interdisciplinary collaborative that is built on the research and career development activities of SRU students. Since the C2AC was launched in 2018 to address topics related to cybersecurity and high-performance computing, SRU students have been fulfilling the center's mission through collaborative research and interdisciplinary academic efforts.

The afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 20, may have been cloudy, but for Ryan Campbell there was a definite bright spot as he posted his fastest one-mile time at Slippery Rock University's Old Thompson Field. The 7-minute, 15-second time trial was symbolic of his time as a student enrolled in SRU's Rock Life program, a post-secondary education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Campbell, who has autism spectrum disorder, ran the first three of his four laps around the track with his mentor/coach/training partner Katie Proffitt, a doctoral student majoring in physical therapy from Spring City. Then, the Slippery Rock native ran the last 400 meters on his own, breaking his personal record by 45 seconds, as friends and family members cheered him on, either socially distanced at trackside or watching on Zoom.

Slippery Rock University's Department of Dance will host its inaugural Emerging Choreographers Student Concert, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 18 via a livestream on the department's YouTube channel. The Emerging Choreographers Student Concert, formerly known as the Winter Concert, is being conducted virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The name change, according to Lindsay Viatori, an assistant professor of dance and the concert's artistic director, was made to "more appropriately represent what the concert is and what it features."

Slippery Rock University's Department of Dance will host its first annual Fresh Moves Student Concert at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 12 via a livestream on the department's YouTube channel. The Fresh Moves Student Concert, formerly known as the Fall Concert, is being conducted virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The name change, according to Lindsay Viatori, an assistant professor of dance and the concert's artistic director, was made to "more appropriately represent what the concert is and what it features."

A towering Christmas tree that last stood in the entertainment district in downtown Orlando, Florida, has found a new home in Slippery Rock thanks to the collaborative effort of a Slippery Rock University faculty member, student volunteers and multiple community partners. The 35-foot, artificial Christmas tree is the main attraction for a new event called the Festival of Trees that organizers hope will draw more people to Slippery Rock during the holidays.

Because of pandemic mitigation efforts, only a few people will be attending this year's Veterans Day Ceremony at Slippery Rock University in person. And while most attendees will witness the event virtually via a video stream on SRU's Facebook page, 11 a.m., Nov. 11, one of those who will have boots on the ground will be an SRU student veteran who will speak on behalf of his fellow veterans, military-affiliated students and Old Glory. Also known as the American flag, Old Glory itself will also be present at the Russell Wright Alumni House as Steven Pancoast will bring voice to the flag by reciting a heartfelt poem "My Name is Old Glory."

Twenty-two Slippery Rock University student vocalists will take the virtual stage at 5 p.m., Nov. 7 when they compete in the Department of Music's 28th annual Chad Williamson Memorial Vocal Scholarship competition. This year's competition will take place via Zoom with passcode 189355. Each student will present two selections, a classical piece and a piece of their choosing. Performers will be accompanied by either Nicole Cochran, an SRU instructor of music and staff accompanist for the Music Department; or James Lesniak, an associate coach and pianist for the Pittsburgh Opera who regularly works with the department.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's hard to remember a time when the majority of your day wasn't spent in some sort of virtual reality. And as even the most routine activities have transitioned to an online format, ensuring your security against potential (and very real) threats from phishing scams and viruses has never been more important. With that in mind, Slippery Rock University students and faculty will have the opportunity to learn how to better defend themselves at the 7th Annual Cybersecurity Fair. This year's event will go live via a series of preproduced videos at midnight, Oct. 30.

Since theatergoers are unable to attend shows in person due to COVID-19, Slippery Rock University's Theatre Department has decided to bring the theater to patrons' video screens with its performance of "Home and Belonging." Performances will be 7:30 p.m., Oct. 15-17 via Zoom.

While "Who Will Lead Us?" is a question Americans will answer on Election Day, Nov. 3, it also happens to be the name of a University seminar course offered to freshmen this semester at Slippery Rock University. The course analyzes the U.S. presidential election. And whether SRU students are learning about the election process in a formal class or just following the news, all students are encouraged to become more political enlightened and register to vote by the Oct. 19 deadline.

Slippery Rock University students taking an online class might not be able to gather as a group to visit an expert in the field, so an expert literally standing out in the field is coming to them. That's the premise of "Farmer Fridays," where a guest farmer conducts synchronous online presentations for SRU's Sustainability in Food and Hospitality course.

While most Pennsylvanians witness leaves changing colors this time of year, from rich greens to yellows, oranges and reds, another color change has been occurring in local streams during a much longer period of time. And fallen leaves are helping provide answers for researchers at Slippery Rock University. The cause for this change is the result of acid mine drainage, known as AMD, from abandoned mines entering waterways. Faculty and students from SRU's Biology Department are studying how AMD affects the microbial communities of afflicted streams and how that affects the habitat, such as the breakdown of organic matter that includes fallen leaves. Their research also considered ways to remediate AMD sites.

Hundreds of Slippery Rock University students have already done what a majority of the U.S. adult population doesn't do: get vaccinated for influenza. SRU's Student Health Services administered flu shots to nearly 400 students who chose to attend free vaccination clinics on campus, Sept. 17 and Oct. 5. Additionally, more than 65 SRU employees received flu shots through two on-campus clinics, Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, organized through the Human Resources Office.

Having a "can-do" attitude can be difficult for people who are continually reminded of all the things they can't do, especially while social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. From social gatherings and awards dinners to sporting events and concerts, the list of "no-nos" goes on and on. However, a group at Slippery Rock University is making another list that may just change students' perspectives. SRU's Office of Student Engagement and Leadership has started a campaign with a published list titled "Things Students CAN Do During COVID." This list, shared online and through campus flyers, names things like on-campus recreation, off-campus destinations or virtual activities, such as attending an online career fair.