Daily Brief

Alumni Plaza Fountain Turned On for Season

The fountain at Alumni Plaza was turned on for the season Friday, April 15. A beautiful oasis for study, mingling, and reflection, the Alumni Plaza provides a pathway through the heart of campus for students. It represents the soul of KU - our alumni, faculty, parents, and friends. To those who travel across the KU campus, the Plaza welcomes and inspires through the peaceful sound of water cascading down the wall of hand-carved stone. The many inscribed bricks create a footprint of memories and sustain the tradition of giving at Kutztown University. The Plaza stands as a vibrant symbol of encouragement between past, present, and future KU students.

University Relations

Out of the Darkness Campus Walk

Hope walks at Kutztown University. Please join The National Alliance on Mental Illness Kutztown University Chapter (NAMI KU) for the eighth Annual Out of the Darkness Walk on Sunday, April 24, on the DMZ.  Our opening ceremony begins at 3 p.m., and the walk will start at approximately 3:45 p.m.  Register your team online at www.afsp.org/. All proceeds from the walk will go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Established in 1987, the AFSP is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education, and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death. AFSP is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide.  AFSP creates a culture that’s smart about mental health by engaging in the following core strategies:
- Funding scientific research
- Educating the public about mental health and suicide prevention
- Advocating for public policies in mental health and suicide prevention
- Supporting survivors of suicide loss and those affected by suicide

https://afsp.org/

Patricia Ann Brenner, NAMI KU

EEC Does NYC

Emerging Educators of Color (EEC) traveled to New York City for a social and historical field excursion. College of Education students Dominique Headen, Akello Mosby, Giana Green, Jesenia Vizcaino, Kyree Generett and Ishmail Ebo joined Dr. Amber Jean-Marie Pabon (Secondary Education) and Dr. Haroon Kharem (Brooklyn College, Education) in studying African-American and Indigenous histories at the African Burial Ground National Monument, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The faculty led students in examining accuracies, distortions and omissions of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) cultures in exhibited art and artifacts. EEC completed their excursion as participant-observers in a community walk in Brooklyn. They investigated intersections of local infrastructure, demographics and cultural norms relative to urban public schools in diverse, multicultural neighborhoods.

Amber Jean-Marie Pabon, Secondary Education/EEC

Geology Students Present at Pa. Council Professional Geologists

Five Kutztown University geology students presented research at the Pennsylvania Council of Professional Geologists annual meeting in Harrisburg, Pa. on April 13.  The students participated in a competition that involved several interrogatory interviews with licensed professional geologists.  Kutztown University student Noah Workman (’23 – pictured here) won second prize ($750) for his work with Dr. Sarah Tindall.  Kahlan Tripp (’22), Marissa Loftus (’22), Lauren Delong (’22) and Pamela Edris (’22) also presented their research results.  Students also participated in a workshop on professional practices, as well as learned from presentations from professional geologists.

Kurt Friehauf, Department of Physical Sciences

Employee of the Month

Now is the time to submit nominations for the April 2022 Employee of the Month.

https://fs7.formsite.com/kutzuniv/EOM/index.html

Alexis Martin, Human Resources

Dr. Albert Fu Wins ASA Award for Excellence in Teaching

The department of Anthropology and Sociology is pleased to announce that Dr. Albert Fu is the winner of the American Sociological Association's Community and Urban Sociology Section’s inaugural Excellence in Teaching in Community and Urban Sociology award. According to the award committee, Dr. Fu’s approach to teaching is interactive, integrative, and engaging and his excellence in teaching in urban sociology is evident in his rewriting the department’s curriculum in urban sociology, his leadership in revamping the major requirements and introducing a portfolio requirement that serves as both a capstone requirement and a key assessment tool and in writing the five-year evaluation for the sociology program. He also has a very strong commitment to teaching students from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds and to combating structures of social inequality and is committed to having his classes engage with the community around them, going on field trips, for example, to urban gardens.  Dr. Fu’s excellence in teaching also extends beyond Kutztown to the profession, where he served as an area editor for ASA TRAILS for Community, Environmental Sociology, Urban Sociology and Human Ecology. His teaching is also entwined with his research, with Dr. Fu receiving the 2016 ASA Carla B Howery Enhancement of Teaching Grant for his project "Assessing a Sociology Living Learning Community: Curriculum, Co-Curricular Activities, and a Culture of Good Writing" and publishing on pedagogy, for example, in his co-authored article "Sociology Portfolio Assessment and Curricular Review" published in 2018 in Teaching Sociology. In recognition of his teaching he received the 2020 ASA Political Economy of the World-System Section's Distinguished Teaching Award.

Kim Shively, Anthropology and Sociology

Honors Student Awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Kutztown University Honors student Vanessa Maybruck, Allentown, Pa., has been selected as an award recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) in recognition of her high levels of success in her future academic and professional careers. Maybruck is a mathematics and secondary education dual major with a biochemistry minor. She is the former president of Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society IOTA chapter, as well as a member of KU Association for Women in Mathematics and Kutztown University Honors Program. During her time at KU, she has won numerous awards and honors in the areas of her study, leadership and academic achievement. She is receiving the GRFP fellowship in the category of Mathematical Sciences/Mathematical Biology.

https://www.kutztown.edu/news-and-media/news-releases/april-2022/honors-student-awarded-national-science-foundation-graduate-research-fellowship.html

University Relations

KU Inspires

Join us for an inspirational day of undergraduate research as we celebrate KU Inspires, a celebration of undergraduate research and creativity. Posters and artwork will be displayed 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, Wednesday, April 20, on the first floor of Rohrbach Library. Click for the link to electronic program.

Lynn Kutch, Coordinator of Undergraduate Research and Creativity

Well-Being is Fire

The university well-being committee is excited for our next event, "Well-Being is Fire." On April 20 we will host a university-wide event filled with activities to make sure our overall well-being is in check. Events like Drink and Draw, Mindfulness, goat yoga and goat therapy, “Find your Perfect Insta Shot”, Massages, DIY Potted Plants, Rock Climbing Wall, Food Trucks, Music from the Hip Hop Club, "Brothas Cookin'" food competition between faculty and staff, international food tasting and so much more. Check out the full list of activities on our website.

https://www.kutztown.edu/events/university-well-being.html

Erica Stratton, University Well-Being Committee

Pinchas Zukerman Masterclass

World renowned violinist and conductor, Pinchas Zukerman will be giving a masterclass for the KU Department of Music, 3:30-5 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in Schaeffer Auditorium. With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman reigns as one of today's most sought after and versatile musicians - violin and viola soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. He is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of more than 100 albums for which he gained two Grammy® awards and 21 nominations.

https://www.kirshbaumassociates.com/artist.php?id=pinchaszukerman&aview=bio

Peter Isaacson, Department of Music

Employment Opportunities

These are the non-instructional positions open on our online job board at http://employment.kutztown.edu (Menu to OOC postings):

Job Number	Job Title	Job Term	Advertise To
2022-0053 (internal)	NEW-Anthropology & Sociology Department Secretary (internal)	Full Time	4/26/22
2022-0052	NEW-Starfish Program Manager	Full Time	5/8/22
2022-0009	MR2-Carpentry/Painter	Full Time	Continuous
2022-0011	Groundskeeper/Laborer	Full Time	4/24/22
2022-0025	IT Contracting and Executive Support Manager	Full Time	Continuous
2022-0032	Applications Developer 2	Full Time	4/24/22
2022-0033	Systems Analyst	Full Time	Continuous
2022-0035	Assistant Director of Admissions Hispanic/Latino Recruitment	Full Time	Continuous
2022-0046	MR2 HVAC/Plumbing (Sunday - Thursday)	Full Time	5/1/22
2022-0051	System Administrator	Full Time	5/1/22
2022-13 & 14	2022 Summer Painter - Temporary	Temp Full Time	4/24/22
Asst Coaches	2021-22 Assistant Athletic Coaches	Part Time	6/30/22
Clerical Pool	2021-22 Clerical Pool	Full Time	6/30/22
Custodial Pool	2021-22 Custodial Worker 1 Pool	Full Time	6/30/22
OOC 22-006	Assistant Director for Health Care Program Administration	Full Time	5/1/22
OOC 22-007	TEMP Payroll Specialist	Temp Full Time	5/1/22
OOC 22-008	Senior Microsoft Systems Engineer	Full Time	5/1/22

 

Jeanette Forster, Human Resources