November 2026

The University of Scranton is now more than two months into the 2026-27 academic year, which has already brought plenty of news worth celebrating.

Below are a handful of developments from October you may have missed. 

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Scranton-Led NASA Grant To Bring Space Science to Communities Nationwide

The University of Scranton has been entrusted with a nearly $5.5 million grant to lead a space education and citizen science initiative focused on space weather and amateur radio. Funded through NASA’s Science Activation (SciAct) program as a cooperative agreement, the project aims to bring scientific discovery out of research laboratories and into schools, libraries, museums and communities across the nation.

Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D., associate professor of physics and engineering, will serve as the principal investigator of the project, titled “Discovering the SPARC: Space Physics Through Amateur Radio Connections.” Collaborating institutions include the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Space Science Institute, MIT Haystack Observatory, University of Alabama and New Jersey Institute of Technology with Kera Collective as the external evaluator.

Full coverage at this link: Click here.

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University of Scranton Among Highest-Ranked Catholic Universities, Per Niche

The University of Scranton’s status as one of America’s best colleges has been confirmed in numerous publications, including Niche, which placed Scranton on more than a dozen of its rankings of colleges and universities in Pennsylvania and nationwide.

Scranton’s highest rankings include a pair of top-50 national placements in Best Catholic Colleges (No. 25 of 158) and Best College Food (No. 38 of 1,355). In addition to the national rankings, Scranton is No. 2 in the state in both categories.

Full coverage at this link: Click here.

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25th Annual U.S. Conference on Disability Draws Leaders in Advocacy, Policy

The University of Scranton marked a milestone anniversary at this year’s U.S. Conference on Disability, celebrating with an exceptional lineup of nationally known speakers and advocates who addressed one of the largest crowds in the event’s history.

In addition to the 185-plus registered participants at the 25th Annual U.S. Conference on Disability, an overflow crowd of about 75 students packed the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center for the day’s final presentation by Rebecca Alexander. Additionally, Bob Casey, former United States Senator and current Leahy Distinguished Fellow in Public Service at The University of Scranton, Lori Shapiro, Pennsylvania's First Lady and a disability rights advocate, and Rebecca Spirito Dalgin, Ph.D., professor and chair of the University's Counseling and Human Services Department, received awards for their service and efforts.

Full coverage at this link: Click here.

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Scranton Names New Dean of the Kania School of Management

 

Jess Boronico, Ph.D., was announced as dean of the University's nationally distinguished Kania School of Management.

A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University (B.S., M.S.) and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D.), Dr. Boronico brings to the role more than three decades of leadership in higher education. Since 2022, he has served as dean of the School of Business at Southern Connecticut State University, where he has led successful initiatives focused on academic development, accreditation and community engagement while overseeing strategic planning efforts and a substantial increase in enrollment.

Full coverage at this link: Click here.

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Office of Community-Based Learning Announces Student Fellows

The Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL) announced the fourth cohort of the CBL Student Fellows Program, an academic experience that involves students working with community partners — individuals, groups and local organizations — in ways that meet community-defined needs.

Full coverage at this link: Click here.

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Additional Headlines:

Office of Health Professions Provides Students a Bridge to Their Future | Click to Read More

Acclaimed Jesuit Priest, Rev. James Martin, S.J., Speaks at Scranton | Click to Read More

University of Scranton 20-Year Employees Honored at Pro Deo Event | Click to Read More

University's IMA Student Chapter Joins Elite Group of Nine Gold Winners Nationwide | Click to Read More

Jesuit Higher Education Leaders Meet at Scranton | Click to Read More

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Freshens, a nationally known casual dining restaurant that serves acai and rice bowls, blended smoothies and handcrafted sandwiches, among other items, is now open at The University of Scranton. 

Freshens opened Monday, Nov. 2, on the first floor of Montrone Hall, offering a menu that caters to a variety of tastes. Its signature items include more than a dozen smoothie flavors, including Wild Strawberry, Orange Sunrise, Tropical Therapy, Peach on the Beach and PB&J, as well as chef-created artisan melts like Chicken Bacon Ranch and Buffalo Chicken, plus various salads and “pocket dipper” tortillas.

Founded in 1985, Freshens has more than 255 locations, including 25 airports and 200 colleges and universities.

“Food with a Purpose is our commitment to provide guests better choices through responsible sourcing of the ingredients used in our recipes,” Freshens says on its website. “Our guests can choose from a variety of ingredients to create vegetarian, gluten free and vegan lifestyle options. We want to set an example for others to follow.”

Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday; and it is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

The University of Scranton is No. 38 in the country and No. 2 in Pennsylvania in the 2027 Best College Food in America rankings by Niche. The University itself was ranked by Niche as a top-25 Best Catholic College in America, and has also been recognized in recent national rankings by U.S. News and World Report, TIME Magazine and The Princeton Review.

By Cassidy Lowman ’27, Student Correspondent

As Veterans Day approaches, The University of Scranton prepares for a day of service and remembrance, to honor and show appreciation for veterans both on campus and in the community.

The University’s ROTC Color Guard teams will be supporting ceremonies throughout the region for Veterans Day. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kyle A. Surridge, professor of Military Science, said presenting the colors at a ceremony is a responsibility his cadets take seriously.

“It gives them an opportunity to represent the Army, our ROTC program and the University while honoring the men and women who served before them,” Surridge said. “They’re preparing to become Army officers themselves, and Veterans Day gives them an opportunity to recognize the generations of service members whose footsteps they’ll soon be following.”

The Color Guard will present the colors at events at King’s College, East Stroudsburg University and a local American Legion post.

On campus, the University will host its annual Veterans Day Prayer Service on Nov. 11 at noon in the Veterans and ROTC Lounge in Hyland Hall. The service, organized through a collaboration among Campus Ministry, the Student Veterans Organization (SVO) and the ROTC program, honors and remembers those who have served in the military.

Surridge will be the event’s guest speaker. During his reflection, he will discuss the people behind military service and the sacrifices that come with it. Veterans Day is about honoring those who served, he said, but it is also important to recognize the families who serve alongside them.  

“Recognizing the spouses who pack up their lives every few years and make another unfamiliar place feel like home. The kids who leave their friends, change schools and start over again and the families who spend important moments apart,” Surridge said. “When we recognize a veteran, I think we should also recognize the people who stood behind them and made that service possible.”

This year marks Barbara King’s fifth year celebrating Veterans Day among colleagues and students at the prayer service. King, the University’s student life coordinator, said she enjoys seeing the different campus organizations participate together and the personal connection the guest speaker’s reflection brings to the service.

“Veterans sacrifice so much, and it’s one of the ways we can celebrate and honor them,” King said. “Most of us on this campus have friends and family members who are veterans and pausing for a moment to celebrate them is important.”

Get Involved on Veterans Day

With several other campus events happening next week, there is no shortage of ways for members of the Scranton community to get involved and honor Veterans Day.

• SVO is working with Paul Pearson, professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering, and his family to host a campuswide sock drive for local veterans residing at St. Francis Commons. Donation bins are located on the first floor of Hyland Hall, the second floor of the DeNaples Center and outside Loyola Science Center, room 211.
  
  
• SVO is also collaborating with the Center for Service and Social Justice's (CSSJ) We Care Meal Program to prepare meals for local veterans on Nov. 21 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
  
  
• The Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service (CEEPS) will present Col. Mark Volk, a double alumni of the University, with the David Wenzel Award for Public Service at the Royals Remember 9/11 event. Volk was at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists crashed a plane beneath his office. He will discuss his experience, for which he received the Army’s Soldier Medal. All are welcome to attend the event on Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in LSC 133.

By Cassidy Lowman ’27, Student Correspondent

University of Scranton students and faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Program proudly displayed their new facilities earlier this fall at an exhibition in Hyland Hall.

The program hosted a Mechanical Engineering Innovation Showcase on Sept. 28, unveiling the newly renovated student design and research spaces with equipment demonstrations, facility tours and research project displays.

Since its creation in 2020 with eight students, the Mechanical Engineering Program has more than tripled in size. To keep up with the growing student interest, the program’s facilities needed to “level up” — literally, as the program expanded into the newly renovated fourth floor of Hyland Hall.

This move occurred at the perfect time, as an additional 28 students joined the Mechanical Engineering Program at the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

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During the fall of 2025, according to Mojib Saei, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering, in an interview with WNEP, the program had outgrown its original location. Because of the number of new students and their projects, as well as recently acquired equipment, the program needed additional space.

Most of the projects completed in the facilities are for local nonprofits or organizations, in addition to academic work. The additional space and equipment will provide the students with more resources to bring about positive change, along with healing, safety, and hope to the community, Rev. Bret Stockdale, S.J., University chaplain, said in his opening blessing.

“We come before you with hearts full of gratitude for the calling to serve through engineering. Grant your students the clarity to see the best solutions, the strength to persevere through challenges, the wisdom to make decisions that are safe, ethical and beneficial, and the courage to innovate with faith and integrity,” Father Stockdale said.

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Cassidy Lowman '27, Dauphin, is a communications major with a political science minor at Scranton.

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The University of Scranton Jazz Band will take the stage Saturday, Nov. 7, with acclaimed woodwind performer, composer, arranger and jazz educator Victor Goines joining it as the evening’s guest soloist.

Presented by Performance Music at The University of Scranton, the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton. Admission is free and the concert is open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Goines will also offer a free woodwind masterclass for musicians ranging from 16-year-old students to adult teachers and professionals. Student musicians under age 16 are welcome to attend accompanied by a parent, guardian or music teacher.

At the concert, the University's student jazz ensemble will perform a variety of works that prominently feature Goines on woodwinds.

“The program will feature a wide variety of jazz styles, showcasing the versatility of both our guest artist and our band," said Janelle Decker, Performance Music executive director.

“I have been listening to, observing, working with and making music in one form or another with Vic since 1996, and every single time I find myself shaking my head in amazement at his virtuosity," Cheryl Y. Boga, Performance Music artistic director, said of Goines.

Goines is an internationally acclaimed saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, arranger and educator from New Orleans. A decades-long member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis Septet, he has performed and recorded worldwide, including on Marsalis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood on the Fields and Ted Nash’s Grammy-winning Presidential Suite. As a composer, Goines has written more than 400 original works commissioned by organizations and ensembles throughout the world, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School and The University of Scranton, and he has collaborated with legends across musical genres, including Eric Clapton, Dianne Reeves, Ellis Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Wycliffe Gordon and Ruth Brown, among many others.  

Education has run parallel to the bandstand for Goines' entire career — from decades of university teaching to his tenure as the founding Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School. He has taught, mentored and built programs that shaped a generation of working musicians, including numerous highly notable artists of the stature of Jon Batiste, Aaron Diehl, Yasushi Nakamura and many others. 

That work continues in three forms: workshops and clinics for ensembles and schools; curriculum consulting for institutions building or refining jazz programs; and a limited studio of private students in clarinet, saxophone and composition and arranging. Goines has also held teaching positions at Florida A&M University, the University of New Orleans, Loyola University New Orleans and Xavier University.

The University of Scranton Jazz Band is a 25-member ensemble of big band-style instrumentation, made up of University of Scranton student musicians from majors spanning the curriculum. They perform five or more times per year, and the majority of their performances are open to the public, free of admission charge and often feature a nationally or internationally renowned guest soloist.

Also, on Friday, Nov. 6, Goines will present a lecture, titled "Jazz: From the Streets and Clubs to the Schools and Concert Halls" as part of the Schemel Forum's World Affairs Luncheon Seminars at the University. For more information on that event, visit www.scranton.edu/schemelforum.

For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu, or visit scranton.edu/music. For more information on Goines, visit victorgoines.com.

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IF YOU GO:

What: IN CONCERT: The University of Scranton Jazz Band featuring guest soloist Victor Goines, presented by Performance Music at The University of Scranton
When: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton
Admission: Free
Masterclass: Same day, same place, 4 p.m., also free