Our Campus
Y’s are wild!
The YSU “Y” is popping up all around campus. From Fifth Avenue and the Eastbound Service Road to Beeghly Hall and Kilcawley House, nine large steel block-Y logos have been installed across the university. The seven-foot-tall Y’s were manufactured and donated by Boardman Steel, owned by Dave Deibel, former chair of the YSU Board of Trustees, and his wife, Holly. They’ve quickly become popular photo spots on campus!
A thousand-plus grads
Youngstown Mayor Jamael “Tito” Brown gave the commencement address and 1,020 graduates received degrees as YSU celebrated virtual Fall Commencement on Dec. 13. The ceremony was moved to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. YSU President Jim Tressel leads the ceremony, with additional remarks from Provost Brien Smith, deans from each of the university’s colleges and student speaker Kristen Thompson. Watch.
Beating the market
An investment fund managed by YSU students continues to significantly outperform stock market benchmarks as its value has grown to more than $2 million, making it one of the largest student-managed funds in the nation. The YSU Student Investment Fund, started in 2008 with a gift of $250,000 from the YSU Foundation, has outperformed the S&P 500 Index in eight out of the last nine years.
Creating a legacy
Faculty, students and others planted 600 trees on a one-acre plot of land less than a mile east of campus to launch the YSU Legacy Forests Program. “Our intent is simple - plant trees to create a better environment and help solve the climate crisis,” said Colleen McLean, YSU associate professor in Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Environmental Sciences. “We are thrilled to get this program literally in the ground.” The group’s goal is to plant micro forests to slow climate warming. The plan is to plant one tree for each incoming YSU freshman.
NSF record
Cory Brozina, assistant professor and director of first-year engineering in the Rayen School of Engineering at YSU, has received a $1 million award from the National Science Foundation, the largest YSU has ever received from the NSF. The project aims to increase the enrollment and graduation of high-achieving undergraduate engineering commuter students with demonstrated financial need at YSU. “This award has the opportunity to change the national landscape of how universities support commuter students studying engineering,” he said.
Partnering with the AF
YSU is part of a new $30 million workforce initiative aimed at increasing the security and reliability of microelectronics systems used by the military. Led by the Air Force, the program provides YSU $2.2 million to increase the number of digital design engineers with expertise in microelectronics, a need the Air Force says current academic programs across the nation are not meeting.
Workforce Innovation
And speaking of workforce development, YSU has launched the Center for Workforce Education and Innovation, a newly-formed entity that focuses on new approaches to close the skills and opportunity gaps in the community. Jennifer Oddo, who has led workforce development efforts at IBM for the past five years, is the new executive director of Center. “Traditional workforce development and hiring practices are not yielding consistent results and leading to unfilled positions, higher attrition, poor job satisfaction and increased costs for employers,” Oddo said.
Hope and comfort
YSU’s Dana Chorale joined forces with the Busan Teacher’s Choir for a moving virtual performance of “You Do Not Walk Alone” at the Busan Choral Festival in South Korea. A dozen choirs from nine countries participated. Hae Jong-Lee, associate professor in YSU’s Dana School of Music, directed the combined performance. “I hope the song we sang brings hope and comfort to all who are suffering from these uncertain times,” he said. Watch.
Mr. Secretary
The numbers are pretty incredible: 30 years as secretary of the YSU Board of Trustees; only the third board secretary in the university's 112-year history; secretary for 60 percent of the board's meetings since YSU becamse a public university; worked with six university presidents; and gave the oath of office to 47 trustees and 31 student trustees. That's the record book for Franklin S. Bennett Jr., who left his position in June. In addition, Bennett attended more than 1,000 board committee meetings and 80 commencements, and his signature appears on tens of thousands of university diplomas. “It seems impossible that 30 years have passed since I walked into that Manchester Room, first as a sub for my father and then as secretary,” he said, adding, “If that room could talk, a very, very interesting story it could tell.”
Lucky 13
YSU faculty members Ou Hu, Daniel Van Dussen, Martha I. Pallante and Amy Laurel Fluker have been named to new endowed faculty positions. Hu, with a long list of scholarly accomplishments during a 16-year career as a member of the Economics faculty at YSU, is the first Paul J. Thomas Chair in Economics. Van Dussen, professor of Gerontology and an active advocate and leader for the region’s aging population, is the first YSU DePizzo Endowed Chair in Gerontology. Pallante, professor of Early American History, author and a leading expert on local history, is the first Charles Darling Endowed Faculty Chair in American Social History. And Fluker, assistant professor of History who specializes in the study of Civil War memory, is the first Robert W. Reeder I Memorial Endowed Professor of History. YSU now has 13 endowed faculty positions.
Patently historic
A new material patented by a YSU professor and student could lead to a process to help remove the increasingly dangerous amounts of pharmaceuticals in the tap water coming into our homes. Doug Genna, associate professor of Chemistry, and Mariah DeFuria, a 2017 YSU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, received the patent for designing a material that can bind and remove pharmaceuticals from water. DeFuria, an undergraduate Chemistry student when the research was conducted, is believed to be the first student co-inventor on an issued patent in YSU history. She is now a student in YSU’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program.
Top honors
This year’s freshman class in YSU’s Honors College is the largest in university history. The college’s 337 freshmen enrolled this Fall semester tops the previous high of 328 freshmen in Fall 2017. There is currently a total of 1,277 students in the Honors College.
VIRTUAL YSU
Tired of those boring office and bookshelf backgrounds on all of those pandemic-induced Webex and Zoom meetings? Consider, instead, holding that meeting right here on the YSU campus - on the rolling mounds of the campus core, in front of a roaring crowd of Penguins fans at Stambaugh Stadium, or even right on the front lawn of President Tressel's house! Do all of that and more with one of the 44 YSU virtual backgrouds now available on the YSU website. There's even instructions on how to set the backdrops in Zoom, Webex and MS Teams. Have fun and...Go Penguins!
Five and counting
For the fifth consecutive year, the YSU chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, received the national Best Chapter Award, given to only 16 of the society’s 700 chapters nationwide. “It is a strong recognition of how great our students are that we stand out in this way,” said Adam Fuller, associate professor of Political Science.
New trustees
The YSU Board of Trustees has three new members. Joseph J. Kerola of Hubbard, president and chief executive of PI&I Motor Express Inc., was appointed to the board by Gov. Mike DeWine. The governor also appointed Galena Lopuchovsky of Poland, a YSU sophomore majoring in Biology, as a student trustee. In addition, the Board of Trustees appointed Helen K. (Lamb) Lafferty, a two-time YSU alum and veteran administrator and faculty member at Villanova University, to the position of national/global trustee.
COVID prep
Nursing students participated in a Mock COVID Testing Drive-Thru Nursing Experience in a parking lot on the west side of campus in late October. Dozens of students drove through as simulated patients to be screened for COVID by fellow students. Nurse practitioner students were also on site for simulated diagnosing and treating. No actual testing was conducted. "I tell students that we’re practicing it now, but the opportunity may come in the near future where we partner with community agencies to provide a vaccination or testing to members of our community," said Amy Weaver, associate professor of Nursing told WKBN TV.