Nov. 9th 2015 - Cal U Journal

California University

Volume 17, Number 16 NoV. 9, 2015 Read the JouRnal online: www.calu.edu/news/the-journal

STEM Focus Recognized C

al U has been designated a 2016 STEM JobsSM Approved College by Victory Media, a Pittsburgh-based creator of media and resources for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

Cal U earned the designation based on results of a survey rating colleges, universities, community colleges and trade schools on their ability to connect programs and students with high-demand, high-growth STEM occupations.

Institutions submitting completed STEM JobsSM Approved surveys were scored on publicly available data and responses to proprietary questions around four key indicators that demonstrate the extent to which a school works to: Provide opportunities for students to explore STEM subjects.

• Promote partnerships that foster STEM literacy and connect classrooms to careers.

• Ensure coursework and activities have a focus on careers.

• Promote STEM programs that actively attract and engage under-represented student populations.

“This designation affirms California University’s longstanding focus on STEM programs and its special mission in science and technology,” says Dr. John Kallis, dean of the Eberly College of Science and Technology at California University.

“Our career-focused academic programs emphasize fieldwork and hands-on activities that put classroom learning into practice. New programs in mechatronics engineering technology, land management, cybersecurity, “big data” mathematics and other high-demand fields prepare our graduates to compete successfully in a rapidly evolving job market.”

Glen Zollman, vice president of STEM Jobs, says the surveys “help educators evaluate whether they’re meeting the needs of students by employing the kinds of programs that our research shows are most effective in getting students involved in STEM.” “We’re pleased to showcase schools like California University of Pennsylvania as institutions leading the way in this area,” he adds.

Homecoming Members of the Delta Zeta sorority proudly march alongside their float during the Homecoming Parade. See story on page 2.

Speaker Homes in on Gender Violence

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ender-based violence is an issue for both men and women — and Jackson Katz has spent his career trying to put an end to it.

Katz will present a free talk, “Taking It Personally: Why Gender Violence Is an Issue for Men,” at 11 a.m. Nov. 18 in the Convocation Center.

An educator, author, filmmaker and social theorist, Katz was a leader in articulating and popularizing the “bystander” approach to violence prevention. The approach encourages young men and women to take an active role in preventing sexual Jackson Katz violence, schoolbased violence and bullying.

Katz is the founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), the most widely utilized gender violence prevention program in college and professional athletics.

National Football League and Major League Baseball teams, NASCAR, and the U.S. military all use the MVP program.

Over the past 20 years, Katz has spoken to thousands of student leaders and student-athletes at colleges and universities across the country.

He is the author of two books, The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help (2006) and Leading Men, Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood (2012).

— Continued on page 3

Students Preparing Holiday Tunes

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tudents from the Department of Music have scheduled a number of performances as the holiday season approaches.

On Nov. 19 the Cal U Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Frank Stetar, will perform its annual fall concert at 7 p.m. in Room 222, Morgan Hall. The free concert is open to the Cal U community and to the public.

The repertoire includes Come Fly with Me, by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn; A Night in Tunisia, by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli; Sway, by Norman Gimbel; and Mueva los Huesos, by Gordon Goodwin.

On Nov. 22 the Cal U choirs and orchestra will present their annual holiday

concert 3 p.m. in Morgan Hall Auditorium. Choir director Dr. Yugo Ikach said the performance will include numbers by the Cal Singers and a cappella groups Acapella Stella, Vulcanize and Isolated Incident. A string ensemble will join choir members for a rendition of Gustav Holst’s Christmas Day, a threecarol arrangement that Ikach calls, “a wonderful piece for orchestra and choir.”

Other numbers include Cal U’s own take on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra style, “a cool Christmas thing with string orchestra, electric guitar, electric base and a drum-set,” Ikach explained.

In addition to choir pieces, the concert will include a holiday sing-along.

“It’s going to be mostly holiday music,

but not all holiday music,” Ikach said.

“People want to sing Christmas carols, but the concert also will be a really good mix of many pieces our students have worked on this fall.”

Jazz combos — subgroups of the larger Jazz Ensemble — will be taking their musical talents into the community during the pre-holiday season. On Dec. 5, two groups will perform at the Fayette County Community Action Agency’s seventh annual “Magic and Mistletoe” event at the Fayette County Courthouse.

Singers also will be spreading good cheer.

On Dec. 5 and 6, the Cal U Singers will join the Washington Symphony Orchestra for Ho Ho Ho with the WSO at

Trinity High School. The Dec. 5 concert begins at 8 p.m., and the Dec. 6 matinee at 3 p.m. About 25 costumed students will carol in the lobby before performing with both the WSO and a 40-member High School All-Star Choir.

Senior David Kiss, a commercial music technology major, is among the Cal U performers with a full holiday schedule. He will be a featured vocalist at the jazz concert a performer in the WSO holiday concert — an event he’s participated in annually since his freshman year.

“Performance is an important part of my major, along with the technology and business side,” said Kiss, who has a minor — Continued on page 4

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NoV. 9, 2015

At left, enjoying the halftime festivities are (from left) 2015 Homecoming King Ernest Brackins Jr., 2014 Homecoming King JaQuan Cornish, Cal U interim President Geraldine M. Jones, 2014 Homecoming Queen Sarah Barger, and 2015 Homecoming Queen Shannon Barnett.

Above, Amelia Wisinski (left) and Maya Tomlin lead Acapella Stella during a rendition of ‘Rather Be’ by Clean Bandit at ‘Our Showcase of Stars’ on Oct. 23 in Steele Hall Mainstage Theatre.

Campus Enjoys ‘Super’ Homecoming

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al U welcomed alumni back to campus for a 2015 Homecoming celebration that featured a talent showcase and dozens of “superheroes” on parade.

The weekend opened Oct. 23 with “Our Showcase of Stars” in Steele Hall Mainstage Theatre. Some of Cal U’s most talented alumni, students and faculty performed onstage to benefit the Student Scholarship Fund for Academics, Arts and Athletics.

About 250 audience members enjoyed jazz and rock music, a cappella and gospel singing, musical theater and more. Short videos spotlighted academic programs, and appearances by Cal U’s national championship women’s basketball and cheerleading squads showcased Vulcan athletics and club sports.

For the finale, interim University

President Geraldine M. Jones joined the Cal Singers for a rousing rendition of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.

The women’s basketball champions served as grand marshals for the annual Homecoming Parade, and the Cal U Marching Band provided musical accompaniment for a lineup of floats, marching units and high school bands.

In addition to the parade, a petting zoo and other family-friendly activities brought alumni and community members to campus.

“My kids (Alex, 9, and Aurora, 6) love the parade and all the things going on before it,” said David Bastedo ’05, a sport management graduate and manager of the new Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Uniontown, Pa. “It’s always a good time here.”

Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority and Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity took

first place with their float, “Real Heroes Don’t Wear Capes.” The Technology Education Association of California (TEAC) and Delta Zeta sorority took second place with “Captain America,” and third-place honors went to Phi Sigma Pi and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternities for “Spider Man.” Alpha Sigma Tau sorority and Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity received the Spirit Award for “I Am Ironman.”

High school bands added to the festive atmosphere, with the BethlehemCenter band taking first place honors, California Area second and Taylor Allderdice third.

The fun continued with an afternoon of Vulcan football at Adamson Stadium, where Cal U rolled to a 42-28 victory over previously unbeaten Clarion.

Students Ernest Brakins Jr. and Shannon Barnett were crowned

Homecoming King and Queen during halftime festivities at the stadium.

“The campus has changed since I graduated, and it’s so attractive,” said Jodie Dovec ’03, a journalism graduate.

“When I walk around the place it still brings back memories of when I was a student. Although it took a lot of hard work to get my degree, I also had a lot of fun.”

Enjoying his first Homecoming at Cal U was sophomore Adam Andresen, a meteorology student from Steubenville, Ohio.

“I am very glad to be here for Homecoming this year, because I really love going here,” said Andresen, who lives in Smith Hall.

“I saw some video about the President’s Showcase, which really caught my eye, so I went to that and saw the parade. I thought it all was all great.”

Writer Discusses Search for Community

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ward-wining author, poet, critic and playwright Jewelle Gomez reflected on things that moved her to understand, create and find community when she spoke at Cal U on Oct. 26.

The talk, sponsored by the Lambda Bridges LGBTQA Programs Office, concluded Cal U’s celebration of LGBT History Month.

Originally from Boston, Gomez lived and worked in New York City for 22 years before relocating to the West Coast.

She recalled traveling by subway to 14th Street, in the city’s West Village, with a little dog named Wink. She was hoping to find the Salsa Soul Sisters, now the oldest black lesbian organization in the United States. But even after calling a “gay hotline,” Gomez could not uncover the group’s headquarters.

“I was looking for a community,” she said. “I knew then who I was, but I did not want to spend my life in isolation without whoever my people were.”

Gomez’s writing reflects her involvement with political and social movements, as well as lesbian feminist activism.

“Early on I did not have role models, but I had an impulse to reach out. I made an organized effort to find people I wanted to be with — people who were interested in theater, activism and books,” she said.

Throughout her career, this former president of the San Francisco Public Library Commission has written seven books of her own. Among them is The Gilda Stories (1991), a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award that reframed the traditional vampire mythology from a lesbian feminist perspective.

Bones and Ash, a play adapted from that work, has been performed in 13 U.S. cities.

“My book is older than most of the people in this room,” Gomez joked. “My vampire novel was going to be representative of what I believed in. It’s about accepting … extraordinary and predatory natural powers and being responsible for them.”

Gomez has taught creative writing at universities in New York and California.

She and her partner were litigants in the first marriage equality law suit against the state of California; now they are married.

Gomez said she believes that contemporary culture makes it challenging for students find the community they desire.

“If you want a community, you have to work hard to find it and sustain it. And I fear we might be too afraid at times to do that,” she said.

“It’s harder to make connections today. It puts more of a burden on students to be present for their own life.”

Following her talk, award-wining author Jewelle Gomez (top right) poses for a photo with Sheleta Webb, director of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Education; and Cal U students (from bottom left) Imani Walker, Adaeze Ogbonna, and Claudia Pehowic.

NoV. 9, 2015

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Admissions Office Expands Hours

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Cal U’s Dr. John Cencich will appear in Hunting Hitler, an eight-part television series scheduled to air beginning this week on HISTORY.

Professor on TV’s ‘Hunting Hitler’

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r. John Cencich, of the Department of Criminal Justice, will appear in Hunting Hitler, an eight-part television series scheduled to air beginning this week on HISTORY. The investigative series is based on recently declassified documents from the U.S. War Department, the State Department, the Office of Strategic Services and the FBI. These so-called “FBI files” may call into question the established view that Adolf Hitler died by suicide on April 30, 1945, at his command bunker in Berlin.

Some theorists believe the documents suggest that Hitler survived and fled to South America after the fall of Nazi Germany.

Cencich, a former United Nations war crimes investigator, will appear as a commentator with military intelligence expert Bob Baer, a 21-year veteran of the CIA. Together they

lead a team of international military experts and investigators, Nazi hunters, forensic scientists and journalists on what HISTORY calls “the ultimate manhunt.”

“I’ve analyzed the declassified documents in relation to other evidence,” said Cencich, who appears in the program’s “situation room” for all eight episodes of the show.

“What happened in that bunker in 1945 isn’t entirely clear. Was it suicide? Murder? A staged death? From a criminal investigative standpoint, the evidence is almost equally compelling either way.”

In addition to filming in Los Angeles, Cencich traveled to Colombia with a HISTORY team that visited a number of the sites mentioned in the declassified files.

Hunting Hitler is scheduled to premiere at 10 p.m. Nov. 10 on HISTORY, which now reaches more than 96 million homes in the United States and around the world.

Artists Consider ‘Dystopia’

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rtworks by students, faculty, staff and alumni will explore “Dystopia” in a juried award show Nov. 12-24 in the Vulcan Gallery, on the first floor of Vulcan Hall.

The Department of Art and Design welcomes submissions until noon Nov. 10. Artists should bring paintings (framed or matted and wired to hang), sculptures, written works and abstracts for performance or musical pieces to the Vulcan Painting Studio on the second floor of Vulcan Hall.

Artworks depicting scenes of dystopia or addressing dystopian themes will be considered. Two entries per person are allowed.

Students from Advanced Drawing and Painting courses will install and curate the show. Faculty members will judge the submissions, and exhibited works will be eligible for prizes and purchase awards.

The student-run Associated Artists of

Katz Speaks on Gender Violence Artworks by students, faculty, staff and alumni will explore “Dystopia” in a juried award show Nov. 12-24 in the Vulcan Gallery, on the first floor of Vulcan Hall.

California will host an opening reception with food and live music from 6-9 p.m.

Nov. 12. Thereafter, “Dystopia” will be open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays.

For more information, contact faculty

members Maggy Aston (aston@calu.edu) or Todd Pinkham (pinkham@calu.edu), or Art Club officers Jackie Pedicord (PED3082@calu.edu) or Erica Yohmen (YOH3307@calu.edu).

Posters Summarize Student Research

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osters summarizing Cal U students’ research will be displayed, discussed and judged on Nov. 17, Student Scholarship and Creativity Day. Sponsored by the Research Subcommittee of the Faculty and Professional Development Committee, the poster display is presented twice a year, during the fall

he Office of Undergraduate Admissions has expanded its hours to better spread the word about the Cal U experience.

Located on the second floor of Dixon Hall, the office will now have its admissions counselors available from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays.

Clerical staff will work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays to answer questions and schedule meetings with the counselors.

“This is to better serve prospective students and accommodate their parents because of work schedules and activities,” said Dr. William “Bill” Edmonds, dean of Undergraduate Admissions.

“The students come first here, and we wanted to provide a service and be available for them. We hope this is just the beginning of their relationship with Cal U.” Undergraduate admissions counselors are assistant directors Barry Bilitski, Paul Burns, Amanda Magdic, Eric Tarpley and Amy Woodward. All are looking forward to meeting students and their families who drop by after work or after school, as well as during typical business hours.

“This is just another way we can provide more convenience and be more effective to meet the needs of our students and families,” Edmonds said.

For more information about undergraduate admissions, call 724-938-4404 or e-mail admissions-ug@calu.edu.

Graduate students can visit the Office of Graduate Admissions in Room 202B, Eberly Hall, call 724-938-4187, or e-mail gradschool@calu.edu.

and spring semesters.

Event coordinator Dr. Mark Tebbitt, associate professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, said the posters displayed in the Performance Center inside the Natali Student Center will represent all four Colleges on campus.

“This is part of the students’ professional development and helps

prepare them for future academic conferences that many will attend and participate in,” Tebbitt said.

All posters will be judged, and the winners will be presented with certificates at a ceremony later this semester.

For information on this fall’s Student Scholarship and Creativity Day, e-mail tebbitt@calu.edu.

— Continued from page 1 Katz’s appearance on campus is sponsored by the Linda and Harry Serene Leadership, founded by alumni Linda ’64 and Dr. Harry ’65 Serene.

“We would like to take an active role in educating our students to help prevent and discourage all forms of violence on and off campus,” said Institute director Dr. Beverly Ross, a faculty member in the Department of Modern Languages, Philosophy, and Socio-Cultural Studies.

“We hope that California University can serve as a role model for other institutions by sharing Dr. Katz’s message.”

The presentation is open to the public.

Admission is free, and all members of the campus community are encouraged to attend.

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NoV. 9, 2015

Coach Reaches Out to Medical Students

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ill Brown has proven adept at So Brown, who is experienced at coaching medical students, as well motivating basketball players, started off by as basketball players. joking with his shy and serious audience.

Because of complications from Type 1 “After they loosened up, it took almost diabetes, the head coach for the 50 minutes to shut them up,” Vulcan men’s basketball team Brown recalled. “They asked had his right leg amputated many questions and were very below the knee in February engaged.”

2006. This June, surgeons After the talk, one student amputated his left leg, also approached Brown to describe a below the knee. friend who had been injured in In early October, just four an accident and was unwilling months after his second to trade his crutches for a amputation, Brown teamed up prosthesis. with Dr. Eric Hager, associate “I told him that after surgery, Bill Brown professor of surgery in UPMC’s my question was, ‘What’s the Department of Vascular Surgery. quickest way to get me back on my feet?’”

After Hager gave a slide presentation, said Brown, who passed his driving test in Brown told his story, “Life Without an September and is back behind the wheel Extremity,” to 150 first-year medical after a 10-year layoff. students in a human anatomy class.

“It’s amazing what you can do when Brown’s surgeon, Dr. Michael Sing, you stay in the game of life.” referred the 65-year-old coach to the Hager already has asked Brown to UPMC professor. Sing also mentioned repeat his speaking engagement. that 60 percent of people age 60 and older “Our students were really excited to die within the first year after an listen to his story. They need to see and understand the emotional side of this amputation.

“I was shocked by that fact,” said (procedure),” Hager said.

Brown, who also has endured a kidney “Coach Brown was absolutely transplant, two rotator cuff operations and wonderful and really did a great job. He was so inspirational.” eye surgery.

“I tried to tell the medical students that Brown said he hopes he gave the it has more to do with activity, and living medical students a clearer look into the challenges that amputees must face. life on life’s terms. (After my second amputation) I was getting up. I wasn’t go “If nothing else was accomplished, to lie there and melt away. It was they saw a former patient walk in, show important for me to continue to move vulnerability, stand up the entire time and forward. I just felt I had more to give.” walk out. They saw someone who understood and dealt with a difficult Before Brown’s address, Hager cautioned that the medical students likely challenge. would be reluctant to discuss such a “Now they know there is a light at the personal and unfamiliar topic. end of the tunnel.”

Students Preparing Holiday Tunes — Continued from page 1 in marketing. “There can’t be too many schools where you’re able to sing with a professional symphony orchestra and where there are so many people at the holiday concerts.”

Ikach, chair of Cal U’s Music Department, is WSO music director and principal conductor. Cal U students are admitted to WSO concerts free of charge with a valid CalCard.

“This is another nice vehicle for high school students to rub elbows with us and see what we are doing at Cal U,” he said.

“We want kids to come here, sing with us and have a great time.”

For details about Cal U musical performances, contact the Department of Music at 724-938-4878 or e-mail ikach@calu.edu or stetar@calu.edu. For information about the Magic and Mistletoe event, call the Fayette County Community Action Agency at 724-430-3026.

Tickets are available at the agency office and at other locations in Uniontown. Tickets for the Washington Symphony Orchestra are available online at www.washsym.org or by calling 1-888-71-TICKETS. Advance tickets for “Ho, Ho, Ho with the WSO” also are available at Citizens Library and Peters Township Public Library.

Members of Cal U’s men’s basketball team prepare to help out at the Autism Awareness Funfest at Southpointe, in Canonsburg, Pa.

Brown’s Players Learn About Giving Back

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en’s basketball coach Bill Brown wants his team to “walk the walk” and take part in at least one community-oriented project each semester.

So earlier this fall, players helped out at the Autism Awareness Funfest at Southpointe, in Canonsburg, Pa. Event proceeds benefitted Pressley Ridge and Autism Speaks Pittsburgh.

“I want our guys to understand that they need to give back,” said Brown, a Vulcans coach for 20 years.

“Because they are athletes, by the time they get here they’ve been told they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. So you have to sort of deprogram them, because you want to equip them with life skills and give them

opportunities to grow and become responsible young men.”

The basketball team has joined other Vulcan student-athletes at various community clean-ups, and they hope to return to the Center in the Woods, where they’ve helped out in the past.

Brown believes that responsibility comes with the sports spotlight. Many of his players are recognized on campus, he said.

“Because of that, they must be positive and represent. Basketball, like sports in general, is not all about instant gratification.

“They need to reach out to those less fortunate. Once they get out and do this, it’s amazing how good they feel about themselves. It never fails.”

Campus BRIEFS ‘Tech Tuesdays’ Scheduled The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is offering three “Tech Tuesday” general open house events: 8 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Nov. 10, Nov. 17 and Dec. 1.

Located in Keystone Hall Room 411, the TLC is a resource for Cal U faculty and staff members as they explore effective uses for instructional technologies. It also offers face-to-face and virtual support by appointment; call 724-938-4168 or email tlc@calu.edu. More information is available online at www.calu.edu/tlc.

Native American History Month The public may attend a free presentation by Rick W. Hill Sr., Tuscarora of the Beaver clan, at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 in Eberly Hall, Room 110.

“Indigenous Magna Carta – Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace” celebrates Native American Heritage Month. An artist, writer, photographer

and curator, Hill is recognized as a leading authority on contemporary Native American art and Indian images depicted in mass media.

For more information, contact Dr. Clarissa Confer at confer_c@calu.edu.

Basketball Alumni Day The Vulcan men’s and women’s basketball teams will mark the annual Basketball Alumni Day during the doubleheader against Lock Haven Nov. 21 in the Convocation Center.

The men’s alumni game will begin the event at 12:30 p.m., followed by a joint reception in the center’s North Conference Wing. Before the varsity women’s game tips off at 3 p.m., a ceremony will honor the 2015 NCAA Division II National Championship team and the National Championship banner will be unveiled. The men’s varsity game against the Bald Eagles will conclude the event. Tipoff is at 5 p.m.

For more information, contact Jenni Morrison at 724-938-5790 or morrison@calu.edu.

The California Journal is published by California University of Pennsylvania, a member of The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Geraldine M. Jones Interim University President

Robert Thorn Vice President for Administration and Finance

Christine Kindl Editor

Dr. Bruce Barnhart Acting Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dr. Nancy Pinardi Vice President for Student Affairs

Bruce Wald, Wendy Mackall, Jeff Bender Writers

Office of Communications and Public Relations

250 University Avenue

California, PA 15419

724-938-4195

wald@calu.edu