PARENTS FORUM YOUNGSTOWN Giving parents the tools to help their children succeed. While it’s true kids don’t come with an instruction manual, parents in Youngstown will soon have an opportunity to learn new parenting strategies thanks to a partnership between YSU, Youngstown City Schools and Head Start. With the support of a startup grant from the YSU Centofanti Center for Health and Welfare for Vulnerable Populations, Patrick O’Leary, associate professor of Human Ecology, plans to launch Parents Forum Youngstown later this year. The program will offer training and support to Youngstown

Youngstown, neighbors map out a plan for the future After three years of listening, lobbying and logistics, an ambitious plan to transform the Fifth Avenue corridor through campus is moving forward, highlighted by a new driverless shuttle that will be among the few of its kind in the world. A partnership of YSU, WRTA, the City of Youngstown, Mercy Health and Eastgate Regional Council of Governments was recently awarded a $10.85 million federal grant to complete the plan, called the SMART2 Network. With $10.9 million in local funding, the total project amounts to nearly $22 million. The project

Students, community leaders walk streets to envision future YSU is engaging students in the conversation about Youngstown’s future through a new course offered by the Honors College and the Department of Geography and Urban-Regional Studies. The Revitalizing Youngstown class, taught by former director of the YSU Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Hunter Morrison, teaches students to become citizen planners. “You can have two relationships with a city—you can consume it or create it,” said Morrison. Thirteen students in the class recently spent a Saturday morning walking through the

Gushing with potential, or our worst nightmare? “If you think that the Internet has changed your life, think again. The Internet of Things is about to change it all over again!” - Brendan O’Brien, chief architect/co-founder, Aria Systems The Internet of Things, where everything from coffee makers, washing machines and jet engines to lamps, cars and heart monitors are connected via the Internet, is growing at an incredible pace. In fact, studies show that there will be more than 24 billion IoT devices worldwide by 2020, approximately four for every human being on the planet. To heighten

Steve Katros was over-weight, over-stressed and over-eating, so he turned to students in YSU’s Kinesiology and Sport Science (KSS) program for help. Three semesters later, Katros, administrative assistant in the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services, has lost 40 pounds, decreased his blood pressure and doesn’t binge eat anymore. “My health and lifestyle have been affected in ways I didn’t even know were possible,” he said. “I have more energy, I’m less fatigued, and my stress levels have decreased significantly.” Katros is one of 23 YSU faculty and staff members serving as clients

Happiness, Hope, Huber Marsha Huber isn’t a fan of the term, but also admits that it fits her to a tee: Scrappy. That’s the latest word being used to describe people whose lives and careers can’t be neatly placed into one-size-fits-all categories, but instead are pieced-together patchworks of numerous, various and sometimes seemingly unrelated interests and activities.* “My career has been a little all over the place,” admits Huber, YSU professor of Accounting. “But my overall goal is to keep moving forward, my students, my profession, and that means going with what grabs me at the time.” An

Prieto - Mathematician, Motivator, Mentor When you ask Alicia Prieto Langarica, associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, how she finds time to mentor dozens of students on research at any given time, her response is simple—she wishes she had time for more. An accomplished scholar herself who uses math to study issues in the medical field, Prieto’s top career experiences have been working with YSU students. “I have not had a single student who doesn’t want to be here," she said. Prieto joined the YSU faculty in 2012 after earning her PhD in Mathematics from the

The Isle of Man — McLean’s cultural heritage and classroom abroad “It’s like Narnia for adults.” That’s how YSU students describe Associate Professor of Geology Colleen McLean's ancestral home of the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. Growing up, McLean felt a connection to the island via her grandfather, who was born there before coming to the United States in the 1930s. As a child, McLean even had a Manx cat, a breed originating on the island. McLean graduated from YSU in 1997 and earned a PhD in Environmental Geoscience

Alumni Art Show Welcomes artists home Meet Joshua Foster Their STORY: YSU alumna Allison Foster, 2002, went the extra mile, actually hundreds of them, to celebrate the life of her late husband, Joshua Foster, 2000, who passed away in 2018. Ms. Foster submitted a few of Mr. Foster’s paintings for the show. The one that was accepted needed some work, but the painting was in Youngstown, and the restorer was in Louisville, Ky., where Ms. Foster resides. So, she rented a 15 foot U-Haul to transport the large painting back and forth for proper preparation and safe delivery to the museum. Ms. Foster

Fight back against human trafficking Susan D. Laird, 1985, BA/1991, MSEd “I have never worked a day in my life,” says Susan D. Laird, 1985, BA, Sociology and 1991, MSEd, Counseling. “With 32 years as a counselor and 28 years as a part-time faculty member, I tell my students that if you find out what is right for you, you will feel like you have never worked a day in your life. Not to say it isn’t going to be difficult at times, but the satisfaction is amazing.” It is with this passion that Laird approaches not only her counseling and teaching but also her work as executive director of the

The power of prediction—YSU alumnus brings data analytics firm ‘home’ to Ohio Abdou Ayoub, 2004, BSE Though Abdou Ayoub was born in Lebanon, he calls plans to expand his global data analytics company to northeast Ohio a homecoming - of sorts. “I associate this side of the world as being home; there is more of a sense of home here than there. This is where my adult self was formed,” he said. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from YSU in 2004, Ayoub received a master’s in Engineering and Management from Case Western Reserve University in 2005 and then worked for several

From sugar shack to sugar chalet Nate Bissell, 2008, MBA Making maple syrup is a labor of love for sixth generation maple syrup farmer, Nate Bissell, 2008, MBA. “You are literally taking tree sap and making this magical product,” said Bissell, owner of the Bissell Maple Farm in Jefferson, Ohio, which has been in the family since 1834. The Bissell maple operation now occupies a 40,000 square-foot space (that’s about the size of an average Walmart) and employs 10 people since expanding to the former General Electric bulb factory in Jefferson a few years ago. Bissell describes the business as

Puzzling Pros BOARDMAN ALUMNI NEIGHBORS CREATE CROSSWORD They've been working crossword puzzles together for 25 years. Now, neighbors in a Boardman community have written their own puzzle to share with YSU alumni and readers of the YSU Magazine. Meet Ed Kandray, 2011, ATS, Diane Kandray, 2016, EdD, and Stephanie Grameth, 1972, BSE and 1980, MSEd, a trio of YSU alumni and avid puzzlers who get together at least once a week to work the Sunday crossword in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Their children and other neighbors join them occasionally, but this core group has been puzzling for more than 25

OUR STORY Progressive, Dynamic, Serious (yet also fun) Welcome to the Spring-Summer edition of the award-winning YSU Magazine. In this issue, you will again find a variety of articles that tell the many stories of the far-reaching successes of our alumni, students, faculty and other supporters. For instance: On the opposite page is a story about Parents Forum Youngstown, a project created by faculty member Patrick O’Leary to give moms and dads in Youngstown the opportunity to improve their parenting skills, ultimately leading to fewer discipline problems among children and more success in

Scholarship support pushes campaign closer to completion YSU’s historic “We See Tomorrow” fund-raising campaign has surpassed $89 million raised towards a $100 million goal, with more than 22,000 individual gifts and 30 gifts of $1 million or more. While the campaign supports a variety of initiatives on campus, nearly half of the total raised so far is designated for student scholarships. “Scholarships are special,” said Paul McFadden, president of the YSU Foundation, the university’s fundraising arm that provided $8.3 million in scholarship assistance this academic year. “These gifts directly

Board of Trustees earns NATIONAL LEADERSHIP AWARD The YSU Board of Trustees has received the John W. Nason Award for Board Leadership from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, one of the nation’s top honors given to governing boards demonstrating exceptional leadership and initiative. “The YSU Board of Trustees has played an indispensable role in ensuring the sustainability of this institution going forward, and as a result a bright future for YSU’s many beneficiaries,” said Andrew Lounder, AGB director of programs. The board was selected for its successes in

OUR students at YSU run the gamut - local and international, young and not so young, budding scientists and social workers, soon-to-be electrical engineers and school teachers. On these pages, we celebrate their successes - in the classroom, the lab, out in the field and even in the dentist’s chair. JAMBAR: BEST IN STATE “I chose journalism on a whim,” said Morgan Petronelli, Jambar editor-in-chief. “For the majority of my life, I wanted to be a commercial airplane pilot. It wasn’t until I attended orientation at YSU that I made a last minute decision to study Journalism.” And a decision well

Penguin Women on the Move YSU celebrated Women’s History Month in March by recognizing Penguin Women on the Move, a collaboration between Alumni Engagement and the Women and Gender Studies program, now in its third year. This year’s seven recipients represent alumnae who embody the spirit of the 2019 theme, “Rise Up,” by going above and beyond in their personal, professional, academic and/or philanthropic endeavors. To showcase our successful alumnae and inspire our female students, the women selected have their photos and accomplishments included in poster displays throughout campus. They

1960's 1970's 1980's 1990's 2000's 2010's ’50s A picture of health at 82 years young John S. Ritchie, 1959, BS, Industrial Engineering, of Lebanon, Ohio, doesn’t let anything slow him down. Despite a hip replacement, arthritis and stents, Ritchie is committed to staying strong through exercise. A rocky replica Carl Antonelli, 1967, thought the structure in Natural Chimneys Park in Virginia looked familiar, but it wasn’t until he read a story about Jones Hall in YSU Magazine that he made the connection. The retired Warren City Schools teacher and his wife, Gladys, travel around the country to

Since 2013, YSU Magazine has been sharing the love stories of married YSU couples in our popular “Penguin Mates” column. We introduced the couples featured below in the Spring 2019 print edition – you can read about how they met and see all their photos here. Michael Brand, 2014, BSBA, Accounting, and Jessica (Miletta) Brand, 2016, BS, Biological Sciences, were married May 27, 2017, at Holy Family Parish in Poland. They met at the Newman Center in 2012, started dating in 2014 and got engaged within six months. He works as a senior accountant/CPA with Stark County Metropolitan Housing Authority