Slippery Rock University

It doesn't take a modern-day Albert Einstein to understand the timeliness or gravity of "The Theory of Relativity," which is the title of a musical that will be performed by the Musical Theatre Society at Slippery Rock University and streamed online, April 15-17. The student-run organization's annual musical, written by composer Neil Bartram and based on the book by author Brian Hill, will be performed virtually and the theme is directly related to what most college students are encountering during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most government benefits and safety-net programs don't recognize diapers as a basic need, but a Slippery Rock University student certainly did while working at a local pediatrics practice. She decided to do something about it. Haley Butrum, a graduate student in the physician assistant studies program from Ocean Pines, Maryland, has organized a diaper drive that in just one week has gathered more than 70 boxes of diapers -- nearly 14,000 diapers -- thanks to public donations at drop-off locations and through financial contributions. The diapers are being donated to families at Next Generation Pediatrics in Butler, where Butrum recently completed her clinical rotation.

Students affectionately call it "The Molly Project." Sure, it is an assignment for Slippery Rock University students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program. But it's much more than that. It's what makes Fridays Molly's favorite day of the week. It's an opportunity for students to think beyond a clinical diagnosis or whatever a professor could put on a syllabus or a PowerPoint slide. It's the human side of physical therapy. Students affectionately call it "The Molly Project." Sure, it is an assignment for Slippery Rock University students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program. But it's much more than that. It's what makes Fridays Molly's favorite day of the week. It's an opportunity for students to think beyond a clinical diagnosis or whatever a professor could put on a syllabus or a PowerPoint slide. It's the human side of physical therapy. "You're not just treating the disease, you're treating the person," said Dan Komoroski, a graduate student majoring in physical therapy from Cranberry Township. "We get to work with a patient who is presented with some of the pathologies and issues that we would see in a clinical setting, as opposed to working with your fellow classmates and simulating the disease." The person is Molly Merhaut, a 26-year-old woman from Gibsonia, who is the daughter of Joe Merhaut, an SRU associate professor of special education. The disease is cerebral palsy, which is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture. CP is caused by an abnormal development of the brain or damage to the developing brain that occurs before, during or shortly after birth.

The work of emerging student artists at Slippery Rock University will be on display now through April 30 via a virtual exhibition, "MOSAIC: Individually Together." Participating student artists are enrolled in the University's professional practices course, Art Seminar, and under the instruction of Heather Hertel, professor of art.

When children are thrust into the foster care system, it is often a confusing and scary time as they are left to wonder what happens next. In order to help support children during this transition time, Slippery Rock University's Student Nonprofit Alliance is hosting a "Hug the Kids" campaign to collect care package items, now through April 2. Care packages will be distributed to local nonprofits including the Butler County Alliance for Children and the Bethany Ministries, a Christian outreach organization.

"Hansel and Gretel" is a fairy tale that was adapted for opera, but how would the German siblings adapt to physical distancing to sing a duet? Thanks to a collaboration at Slippery Rock University, the answer is in front of a bright green screen with even brighter faculty and students improvising despite remote learning. Timothi Williams, a first-year music instructor at SRU, reached out to the University's Strategic Communication and Media Department for help producing the performance aspect of her Opera Performance class. The seven students in her class have yet to gather as an entire in-person group this semester because of COVID-19 safety measures. Luckily, Brittany Fleming, an assistant professor in the SCM department, and one of her student workers were able to help bring together not only the music and communication disciplines, but also students singing duets, in a virtual setting.

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.

While Slippery Rock University is planning for a more "traditional" and in-person college experience this fall, spring semester activities remain largely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the opportunity for prospective students to tour campus. To help those students get a preview of The Rock before making their final decision on where to attend, SRU's Office of Enrollment Management has partnered with CampusReel to bring the college experience to students' mobile devices. CampusReel, a company focused on "revolutionizing how students tour colleges online" has helped SRU launch a webpage on the platform where campus influencers talk about their personal experiences at SRU. Topics include athletics, academics, dorms, honors and dining.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.