October 2021

This fall’s Schemel Forum at The University of Scranton will include two thought-provoking Collaborative Programs slated for November.

On Thursday, Nov. 4, Steven Scheinman, M.D., president and dean of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and executive vice president and chief academic officer at Geisinger, will present “This Community’s Medical College: How Advances in Pedagogy and Technology, and the Pandemic, Have Shaped Medical Education in the 21st century.” The program will take place in a virtual format. Admission is $10. A link will be emailed to those who would like to attend remotely.

During the talk, Scheinman will explore the evolution of medical education, which for much of the past century has conformed to a template laid out in 1910 by Abraham Flexner and was heavily reliant on lectures, laboratory exercises and clinical experiences in urban hospitals. However, in recent decades, some innovative medical schools, including The Commonwealth Medical College (now Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine), have moved past this model through embracing active learning, new educational technologies and community-based clinical experiences. The lecture will also examine how, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools have pivoted to embrace online learning, telemedicine and other technologies in ways that are likely to inform medical education well into the future.

Then, on Tuesday, Nov. 9, Richard Kogan, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and artistic director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, will present the concert/lecture, “Beethoven’s Deafness: Psychological Crises and Artistic Triumph.” The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple, 420 N. Washington Ave., with a reception following. Admission is $30.

In observance of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Kogan, a psychiatrist and concert pianist, will explore the composer’s extraordinary resilience in response to medical and mental illness and illustrate his artistic transformation through performing some of his most awe-inspiring music.

The Schemel Forum was founded at the University in July 2006 through generous gifts to the Rev. George Schemel, S.J., Fund, created by friends of the beloved campus Jesuit. The program aims to provide people of all ages with the opportunity to explore the intellectual and cultural wonders of the world via a range of lectures and courses.

To register for the Collaborative Programs, contact Alicen Morrison, Schemel Forum assistant, at 570-941-6206 or alicen.morrison@scranton.edu. To pay by credit card over the phone, contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816, or to pay online, visit: www.scranton.edu/schemelforum.

For more information on Schemel Forum programs and memberships, contact Sondra Myers, Schemel Forum director, at 570-941-4089 or sondra.myers@scranton.edu.

Father Columba Stewart, O.S.B., executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) at St. John’s University, received an honorary degree from The University of Scranton at its Fall Lecture in the Humanities held on campus on Oct. 21.

“A Benedictine monk like no other, Father Columba Stewart has traveled to some of the world’s most dangerous places and used state-of-the-art digital technology to preserve early Christian and Islamic manuscripts threatened by destruction from weather, theft, unrest and wars,” read the honorary degree citation presented to Father Stewart. “Through efforts led by Father Stewart, the precious lessons contained in early religious texts are now preserved and can be widely shared for generations to come.”

Father Stewart served as the principal speaker at the lecture at which he presented “Recovering the voices of our ancestors: preserving the world’s endangered manuscript heritage.”

Father Stewart was named HMML’s sixth executive director in 2003. In that role, he travels extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and South Asia cultivating relationships with communities possessing manuscript collections from the early medieval to early modern periods. HMML has photographed tens of thousands of manuscripts in many of the world’s most dangerous and difficult-to-reach places and given priority to preserving the manuscript collections of persecuted or endangered minorities.

Under his leadership, HMML was awarded the 2011 National Medal of Honor from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the highest award a library can receive in the United States. Father Stewart was named by the NEH as the 2019 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Participating in the Oct. 21 event were Rev. Joseph Marina, S.J., president of The University of Scranton; Christian Krokus, Ph.D., associate professor of theology and religious studies; Gretchen J. Van Dyke, Ph.D., associate professor of political science; Rev. Patrick Rogers, S.J., executive director of the University’s Jesuit Center; and Jeff Gingerich, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Scranton.

“The Value of Money: Currencies, Bonds, Bitcoin” will be discussed at The University of Scranton’s 35th Henry George Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 17. The lecture, presented by Yuliy Sannikov, Ph.D., the Jack Steele Parker Professor of Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center.

The lecture is free of charge and open to members of the University community and invited guests.

Dr. Sannikov is an economic theorist whose work has not only broken new ground in methodology, but has had a substantial influence on applied theory. He has made significant contributions to the study of dynamic games, which have applications for the design of securities, contract theory, macroeconomics with financial frictions, market microstructure and collusion.

Dr. Sannikov’s work highlights how even simple and well-studied models can yield new insights. His most recent work tackled complex models in finance and macroeconomics. His methods allow models to include the most important forces and deliver results that are much more relevant. He is one of the few theorists in many years to have introduced a truly novel tool that changed the way theory is done.

Dr. Sannikov was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 2016. The Clark Medal is awarded annually to the American economist under the age of forty who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge. He received the Fischer Black Prize in 2015 and the Kiel Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs in 2014.

Dr. Sannikov’s numerous scholarly articles have appeared in Econometrica, The American Economic Review: Macroeconomics, The Journal of Finance, The Review of Economic Studies and several other journals. 

Dr. Sannikov received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Princeton University in 2000 and a Ph.D. in business administration from the Stanford School of Business in 2004. He was a professor in economics at Princeton University from 2008 to 2016.   

Considered the preeminent public lecture series on economics in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Henry George Lecture Series is presented by the University’s Economics and Finance Department and the campus chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon, an international honor society for economics. Among the distinguished list of speakers who have spoken at previous lectures are 11 winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics: David Card (2021), Paul Romer (2018), Robert Shiller (2013), Tom Sargent (2011), Peter Diamond (2010), Paul Krugman (2008), Joseph Stiglitz (2001), George Akerlof (2001), Amartya Sen (1998), Robert Lucas (1995) and Robert Solow (1987). The lecture series is named in honor of the 19th century American economist and social reformer and is supported financially by a grant from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.

For more information about the Henry George Lecture, call 570-941-4048 or email janice.mecadon@scranton.edu. For information regarding campus access and other health and safety information, visit the Royals Back Together webpage.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, Performance Music at The University of Scranton will present a concert featuring the University’s String Orchestra and guest artist John-Morgan Bush. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The concert is open to invited guests and all members of the University community. Admission is free, and seating arrangements will include provisions for socially distancing between groups attending together. All audience members must wear masks throughout the performance. University campus access and other health and safety information will be updated throughout the semester and can be seen on the Royals Back Together webpage. Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the recital for the most current information on audience COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g., masking, vaccination, distancing, etc.).

At the concert, Bush will perform as soloist on works by composers Astor Piazzola, Ennio Morricone and Alan Hovhaness, according to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga.

Bush has visited Scranton on many occasions, both as an artist/teacher with The Scranton Brass Orchestra, and as a performer in joint concerts here by the University Singers and the Manhattan School of Music Brass Orchestra.

An award-winning horn player, Bush is the director of lifelong learning at The Juilliard School, where he leads the Evening Division, the school’s continuing education wing. Prior to that, he served as director of learning and leadership programs at the League of American Orchestras, where he worked to provide innovative programming and resources for the orchestral field at the national level. There, he coordinated initiatives including the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, the Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service, the Essentials of Orchestra Management seminar and the National Conference, the largest annual convening of orchestra professionals in the world.

As a concert artist, Bush has maintained a vigorous schedule since winning second prize at the 2008 International Horn Society Solo Competition in Denver. The recipient of the John Clarke Award for Excellence in Brass Performance, he regularly performs with orchestras in the greater New York area and presents innovative solo and chamber music recitals across the region. He has two bachelor's degrees in music performance and music education from the University of Kentucky and a master's degree in classical horn performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Currently, Bush serves as an adjunct faculty member at the New School University, Mannes School of Music. He was formerly on the music faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he taught courses in applied horn, music education and arts administration, conducted the school’s string ensemble, and was selected as a Difference Maker faculty entrepreneurship fellow.

The University of Scranton String Orchestra is a 25-member string ensemble made up of students from majors spanning the curriculum. There is no music major at the University, and all enrolled Scranton students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs and string ensembles, with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Other programs within the department, including small ensemble and chamber ensemble music-making opportunities, guest artist concerts, World Premiere Composition Series, the Nelhybel Collection and Scranton Brass Orchestra, closely coordinate programming with the student ensembles and offer unique opportunities for student musicians in the ensembles to hear, observe, interact and perform with numerous world-class musicians and artist-teachers.

High school juniors and seniors who are considering applying to Scranton are encouraged to contact Performance Music to arrange to sit in on a rehearsal, meet the staff, attend a concert, or tour the building.

For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more info on Bush, visit https://www.johnmorganbush.com.

The University of Scranton will host two in-person Open House events for prospective students and their families on Sunday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Nov. 7., allowing prospective students and their families to see first-hand the Jesuit school’s state-of-the-art labs in the sciences, physical and occupation therapy, nursing, engineering, kinesiology and other programs. Participants can also see the University’s cyber forensics and cyber security labs and its Alperin Financial Center.

At the Open House, participants can learn about Scranton’s 69 undergraduate majors, meet with faculty, students, admissions counselors and financial aid representatives. Student-led campus tours will be conducted throughout the day and will include residence halls, dining halls, computer labs, science labs and academic facilities.

In addition, representatives of student organizations, athletic teams and Scranton’s programs of excellence, such as the undergraduate Honors Program, Faculty-Student Research Program, Special Jesuit Liberal Arts Honors Program, Magis Honors Program in STEM, Business Honors Program and Business Leadership Honors Program, will also be available. The full schedule for Open House can be seen here.

The University of Scranton has been consistently recognized among America’s best colleges in numerous college guidebooks and national rankings. For 27 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Scranton among the 10 top Master’s Universities in the North. The Princeton Review included Scranton in its list “Best Colleges” for 19 consecutive years and in its ranking of the nation’s “Best Science Labs” (No. 8) and “Best Campus Food” (No. 7) for six consecutive years, among other rankings.

For additional information, contact Scranton’s Admissions Office at 1-888-SCRANTON or visit Scranton’s Open House webpage.

“All public service is a trust given in faith and accepted in honor,” words inscribed over the front door of the Finance Building in Harrisburg, remind U.S. Senator Bob Casey of the promise and expectation of public servants, and, now, can be words to inspire and guide the work of the new Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service at The University of Scranton.

Senator Casey was among the speakers at the opening of the Center that will serve 13 counties in Northeast Pennsylvania. In his remarks, he quoted from the mission of the Center “to advocate for and promote the common good of all through programs that support the development of ethical and competent public officials and of civically knowledgeable, responsible and engaged community members,” noting that the region– and the nation – need both competent and ethical leaders now more than ever.

JoyAnna Hopper, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science and co-director of the Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service, said in her remarks that “according to Pew Research Center, public trust in government has been near to historic lows for more than a decade.” She said the work of the Center “will reach out to local community members, providing them with the tools and resources they need to hold their elected officials accountable. We plan to engage with public officials or those who hope to run for office to help educate and provide support, through workshops, certificate programs and opportunities for networking.”

Dr. Hopper, who will co-direct the Center with University Political Science Professor Jean Harris, Ph.D., also said the Center will provide internships, research opportunities, mentorships and training that will allow University students to “become competent and ethical leaders in our local communities.”

Clara Downey, a junior political science major at the University who is serving as an intern for The Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service, said in her remarks that she has seen “first-hand what Dr. Hopper and Dr. Harris are working to offer students, and similarly how important it is for students, most especially Jesuit educated students, to be active and knowledgeable voters. The work we are starting here in the Center will enable my peers and I to not only be better people, but to enact real change in our world, because locality is where that has to start.”

Downey, Easthampton, Massachusetts, is also a Student Government Senator at Scranton.

Also speaking at the opening were Jeff Gingerich, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, and Michelle Maldonado, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service will be housed in the University’s Political Science Department of the College of Arts and Sciences. The 13 counties served by the Center are Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Montour, Pike, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne and Wyoming.

Members of the Center’s Steering Committee are Michael Allison, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Political Science; Julie Schumacher-Cohen, assistant vice president for community engagement and government affairs; Michael Jenkins, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Criminology and executive director of the University’s Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Crime; Matthew Meyer, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy and faculty director of the Gail and Francis Slattery Center for the Humanities; and Donna Witek, professor, Weinberg Memorial Library.

The University offers a new major in public policy and service.

Additional information about the Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service can be seen on its website (www.scranton.edu/ceeps), or by contacting Dr. Harris or Dr. Hopper at the Political Science Department at CEEPS@scranton.edu or 570-941-6326.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will welcome back acclaimed cellist Mark Kosower, principal cellist of The Cleveland Orchestra, for a solo performance as part of his unique recital series “Bach for Humanity,” on Sunday, Oct. 24. The recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The concert is open to all members of the University community and invited guests. Admission is free. Seating arrangements will include provisions for socially distancing between groups attending together and masks must be worn by audience members at the recital.

Kosower has performed at the University several times in recent years. In 2018, he launched “Bach for Humanity,” a three-year commitment to bringing the composer’s cello suites and arrangements of his violin sonatas and partitas to both conventional and nonconventional venues, including concert halls, educational institutions, community centers and senior residences, through Ohio, the region and the nation.

Kosower will also offer a masterclass for members of the University’s string orchestra during his visit.

Currently the principal cello for the Cleveland Orchestra, Kosower has been called “a virtuoso of staggering prowess” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. From 2006 to 2010, he served as the solo cellist of the Bamberg Symphony in Germany.

Kosower has performed as soloist with symphony orchestras throughout the world, including Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, China National Symphony in Beijing, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and is a frequent guest at international chamber music festivals, including Santa Fe, Eastern Music, North Shore Chamber Music, Japan’s Pacific Music Festival and Colorado’s Strings Music Festival.

He has recorded for the Ambitus, Delos, Naxos International and VAI labels, and was the first cellist to record the complete music for solo cello of Alberto Ginastera, which he completed for Naxos. From those recordings, he was described as a “powerful advocate of Ginastera’s art” by Music-Web International, and Strings Magazine noted of his Hungarian music album (also with Naxos) that “the music allows Kosower to showcase his stunning virtuosity, passionate intensity and elegant phrasing.”

A member of the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Kent Blossom Music Festival, Kosower also teaches a week of classes at California:s Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel Valley each summer, and has served as a visiting distinguished professor at the University of Oregon. He has given masterclasses around the world, and served as professor of cello and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2005-2007.

Kosower’s June 2020 appearance on Performance Music’s “Scranton Isolation Informances” series can be viewed at: https://fb.watch/8CQacWoKHI/.

All audience members must wear masks throughout the performance. University campus access and other health and safety information will be updated throughout the semester and can be seen on the Royals Back Together webpage. Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the recital for the most current information on audience COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g., masking, vaccination, distancing, etc.).

For more information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more on Kosower, visit clevelandorchestra.com/discover/meet-the-musicians/cellos/kosower-mark.

Portrait of Scranton, Portrait of a Nation: Scranton in the Popular Imagination Keynote Lecture with author Jay Parini & Panel and Audience Discussion will be held Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Scranton Cultural Center.

The event will open with a keynote lecture from Jay Parini, Scranton-born prolific author, followed by a panel discussion with humanities faculty and community leaders from Northeastern Pennsylvania. They will explore the forces that contributed to the celebrity of Scranton as "The All American City," and consider how and if Scranton in the popular and national imagination, reflects the Scranton of today.

Registration is required here.

Featured panelists are Jay Parini, D.E. Axinn, professor of English and creative writing, Middlebury College; Glynis Johns, founder & CEO, Black Scranton Project; Joseph Kraus, Ph.D., professor & department chair English and theatre, The University of Scranton; and Maria MacDonald, executive director, Center for the Living City.

For more information on all programs, please email community@scranton.edu or call 570-941-4419.

COVID-19 Protocols: Masks are required indoors regardless of vaccination status.

Scranton's Story, Our Nation's Story, has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This event is a collaboration of The University of Scranton, along with the Black Scranton Project, Center for the Living City, Lackawanna County Department of Arts &. Culture, Lackawanna Historical Society, and WVIA, with the support of additional project partner organizations.

Father Columba Stewart, O.S.B., executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) at St. John’s University, will deliver The University of Scranton’s Fall Lecture in the Humanities on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 5 p.m. in the Moskovitz Theater of the DeNaples Center. He will present “Recovering the voices of our ancestors: preserving the world’s endangered manuscript heritage.”

The University will bestow an honorary degree upon Father Stewart at the lecture, which is open to members of the University community and invited guests.

“Through his drive and initiative, Father Columba has rescued, saved, digitally archived and shared with the world ancient religious texts that were in jeopardy of being lost forever,” said Rev. Joseph G. Marina, S.J., president of The University of Scranton. “We are delighted to recognize his lifelong commitment both to the Church and to the preservation of the world’s religious history by bestowing upon him an honorary degree.”

Father Stewart was named HMML’s sixth executive director in 2003. In that role, he travels extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and South Asia cultivating relationships with communities possessing manuscript collections from the early medieval to early modern periods. Although HMML’s original efforts targeted primarily Christian collections in various European locations, under Father Stewart’s leadership, HMML’s non-European manuscript preservation projects have increased from one project in Lebanon to projects located in more than a dozen countries. During this time, HMML has photographed tens of thousands of manuscripts in many of the world’s most dangerous and difficult-to-reach places and given priority to preserving the manuscript collections of persecuted or endangered minorities.

“Father Columba believes it is important to preserve these early Christian and interreligious and intercultural documents, manuscript and artifacts from our past because they help us understand not only those specific societies and cultures, but also because they help us understand more fully our connectedness as human beings,” said Gretchen J. Van Dyke, Ph.D., associate professor of political science at The University of Scranton, who first met Father Stewart when she was a Resident Scholar at the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research in Collegeville, Minnesota, during the 2018-2019 academic year.

Since 2003, Father Stewart has secured more than $11 million in funding from leading private foundations and government agencies, including the Arcadia Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. These funders have fueled HMML’s increased field operations and supported the creation and expansion of HMML’s online platform, the largest and most comprehensive digital collection of manuscripts ever created. The online collections are available to registered users to browse through tens of thousands of manuscripts at no cost. Under his leadership HMML also completed a record-setting capital campaign in 2017 that raised more than $20 million to support HMML’s digital manuscript preservation goals and renovate HMML’s facilities in Collegeville.

Under his leadership, HMML was awarded the 2011 National Medal of Honor from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the highest award a library can receive in the United States. Father Stewart was named by the NEH as the 2019 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Fr. Columba has been featured on many national and international media outlets, including the CBS News program 60 Minutes, BBC World News, PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly as well as in The Economist, Harvard Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, NEH’s Humanities Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education. In December 2019, he wrote a cover story for America specifically highlighting the long Benedictine determination to preserve ancient texts around the world.

Father Stewart has published extensively in his research field of early Christian monasticism and is much in demand as a presenter and lecturer. He has received numerous grants and fellowships for his own scholarship, including being named a Guggenheim Fellow and a resident member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, among others.

Father Stewart earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his master’s degree from Yale University. After further studies at Saint John’s University School of Theology, he earned his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, England. He professed vows as a Benedictine monk of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, in 1982 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1990. In 1989, he joined the faculty of the graduate School of Theology and undergraduate Department of Theology at Saint John’s University. He also currently serves as the Benedictine in residence at the Collegeville Institute.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will welcome back acclaimed N.Y.C. organist and composer Alexander Pattavina for a recital on Friday, Oct. 15. The recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The concert is open to invited guests of Performance Music and all members of the University community. Admission is free and seating arrangements will include provisions for socially distancing between groups attending together.

At the recital, Pattavina will perform works by Bach, Dupre, Ireland, Swinnen and Widor on the Houlihan-McLean Center’s completely restored Austin Opus 301 symphonic organ. Since restoring the organ, Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga has made it a point to bring world-class organists to the University.

“We’re delighted to have Alex back. He’s not only an amazing organist, he’s also a truly nice guy, and the kids enjoy having him around,” Boga said. “What’s especially interesting is that he’s not only an organist, but also a composer and advocate for the organ and organ music – he’s so passionate and so articulate.”

“There’s just something about Paul Jacobs’ students; I want to know what his “magic pill” is. They’re like preachers for the organ,” Boga continued. “There’s something about how they craft these really interesting programs that have this way of all hanging together. They really explain to the audience in very interesting ways about how and why they crafted the program without being condescending.”

A native of Stoughton, Massachusetts, Pattavina is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School, having earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance under the tutelage of Paul Jacobs. He is the director of music at the Church of Saint Agnes in New York City. Pattavina is the first-place winner of the 2019 Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival. He also received first place in the 2014 L. Cameron Johnson Competition in Storrs, Connecticut, among other awards. Formerly, he worked as organ scholar of Christ Church in Bronxville, New York, under conductor Philip Stopford. An avid composer, his choral work, All in a Stable Cold and Bare (2016), is published by Hal Leonard.

The Houlihan-McLean Center’s Austin Opus 301 symphonic organ was built in 1910 by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut, for Scranton’s Immanuel Baptist Church. Restored and re-dedicated by the University in 2006, the organ is one of the few rare surviving original examples of early 20th-century organ building, possessing a total of 3,178 pipes, 45 ranks and four manuals. The instrument is maintained by artist/technicians from Emery Brothers/Dieffenbach organs.

All audience members must wear masks throughout the performance. University campus access and other health and safety information will be updated throughout the semester and can be seen on the Royals Back Together webpage. Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the recital for the most current information on audience COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g., masking, vaccination, distancing, etc.).

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

On Saturday, Oct. 23, at 1 p.m., The University of Scranton and the Center for the Living City with community partners will host a special “Jane Jacobs Walk Downtown Scranton – a Living City” event. This Jane Jacobs Walk will encompass different parts of downtown Scranton, offering participants an opportunity to observe architecture, streetscape and city life with a focus on Lackawanna Avenue. This Jane Jacobs Walk will draw on themes in the recently published Jane Jacobs’s First City by Glenna Lang to consider questions around Scranton’s history, development, place, and identity.

The walk will begin at AFA Gallery located at 101 Penn Ave, Scranton, is free and open to the public. This walk will be led by guide/host Wayne Evans, broker and owner Wayne Evans Realty. Evans is an active Scranton community member and former Mayor of Scranton (2019). He currently serves on several Boards of Directors, including the Architectural Heritage Association, Scranton Tomorrow and Neighborworks.

Space is limited. Registration is required at: surveymonkey.com/r/JaneJacobsWalk. The event will utilize wireless headsets, in collaboration with the Scranton Fringe Festival, to ensure that participants can hear the guide’s comments and maintain comfortable distancing. COVID 19 Protocols: Masks are not required outdoors but are required inside the AFA Gallery.

The Jane Jacobs Walk is a part of the first theme, “Portrait of Scranton, Portrait of a Nation,” in the multi-year National Endowment for the Humanities grant project “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story.” Additional theme events include a special keynote talk by author and native Scrantonian Jay Parini with respondent panel and audience Q&A on Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7 pm at the Scranton Cultural Center. This event is also free and open to the public with registration required: surveymonkey.com/r/ImagineScranton 

This Jane Jacobs Walk is a collaboration of The University of Scranton, the Center for the Living City, the Lackawanna Historical Society, Scranton Fringe and WVIA with the support of additional project partner organizations. This Jane Jacobs Walking Tour has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Follow “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” on Facebook and Instagram @ourscrantonstory and on Twitter @scrantonstory. For more information on all programs, please email community@scranton.edu or call 570-941-4419.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this walk do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Scranton is the hometown of the President of the United States, and the hometown of the father of a former First Lady. It is the location of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in NBC’s The Office. It’s the where the Pennsylvania Polka started. It is also the place where anthracite coal was mined and where a miner’s strike in 1902 led to national labor reforms. Scranton is like Boston - only without the clams, if the description mentioned in an episode of HBO’s Sopranos is accurate. Scranton makes cameo appearances in the movie Home Alone and in the Harry Chapin song, 30,000 Pounds of Bananas.  

On Tuesday, Oct. 19, a program will examine “Scranton in the Popular Imagination,” and consider how and if Scranton in the popular and national imagination reflects the Scranton of today. The event is the first public event of “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story,” a multi-year project led by The University of Scranton in collaboration with community partners, and supported through a grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities.

“Scranton in the Popular Imagination” features a talk by author and Scranton native Jay Parini, Ph.D., followed by a panel discussion with community leaders and University humanities faculty. The event, which begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 19 at the Scranton Cultural Center, is offered free of charge. Reservations are required to attend and can be made at: surveymonkey.com/r/ImagineScranton. Additional events around this theme include a Jane Jacobs inspired walking tour on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. in downtown Scranton.

An award-winning poet, biographer, fiction writer and educator, Dr. Parini is the Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College in Vermont. He has written is volumes of poetry and biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost and William Faulkner. His books include “The Last Station” about the last year in the life of Russian author Leo Tolstoy that was made into a film in 2009, which received two Oscar nominations. His most recent book is “Borges and Me: An Encounter,” published in 2020.

A graduate of West Scranton High School, Dr. Parini received an honorary degree from The University of Scranton in 2005 and was awarded the Weinberg Memorial Library’s Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award in 2012.

Panelists for “Scranton in the Popular Imagination” are Joseph Kraus, Ph.D., professor and chair of the English and Theatre Department at the University; Glynis Johns, founder and CEO of the Black Scranton Project; and Maria MacDonald, executive director of the Center for the Living City. Hank Willenbrink, Ph.D., Theatre Program director and associate professor in the Department of English and Theatre at the University will moderate the panel and audience discussion.

“For the first set of events as part of this larger project, we thought we should begin at home and focus discussion around our identity.  What makes Scranton unique? How does its portrayal match our lived experience? What does it mean to be a Scrantonian, as we look ahead to the 250^th anniversary of the country? Authenticity and authentic portrayal are integral parts of any city’s ethos and our experience of where we live,” said Willenbrink, also a member of the project’s steering committee. 

“Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” seeks to capture the unique narrative of Scranton and relate it to the history of the United States prior to the commemoration of the 250^th anniversary of the United States. The project incorporates eight themes, starting with how Scranton has been portrayed in the popular imagination, and continuing to its industrial era growth, Indigenous history, religious tapestry, diverse immigrant populations – past and present – and the role it played in the Underground Railroad and Black history. Throughout, civic engagement, founding debates, and local and national identity will be explored by considering how the Scranton, and American, story may be understood anew 250 years later and the roles and responsibilities of local citizens.

The programs, which begin in Oct. 2021 and end in fall 2023, will involve lectures with question and answer interactive sessions, panel discussions with audience responses, public facilitated dialogues, and story exchanges, as well as walking and bus tours, youth writing workshops, and an oral history story collection that will provide new humanities material for discussion.

University offices coordinating the project include: Office of Community Relations, Schemel Forum, Slattery Center for the Humanities, and the Weinberg Memorial Library. Community organizations collaborating with the University on the project include: Black Scranton Project, Center for the Living City, Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department, The Lackawanna Historical Society, Lackawanna County Immigration Inclusion Committee, Narrative 4, the Scranton Area Ministerium, United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania and WVIA.

Jane Jacob's First City: What Comes Next?

Mayor Paige Cognetti, City of Scranton, will discuss Scranton's reputation as a city, as seen by Jane Jacobs in the 1930s. The Mayor will then address some of the issues facing the city, and her visions for Scranton's future.

Live online program from Noon to 1:30 p.m. A remote link will be emailed to registrants.
RSVP to Alicen.Morrison@scranton.edu

Free to University of Scranton Staff, Students, Faculty and Schemel Forum Members; Others $10 per person.

The University of Scranton received a $2,500 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation to support its We Care Wednesday’s program, which is an initiative to provide meals to those most in need in the Scranton area. The program is unlike other food giveaway projects in that the ready-to-eat meals are delivered to those without transportation or the means to prepare food.

The program, organized by the Center for Service and Social Justice and EFFORT (Excess Food For Others Recovery Team), was started in 2020 as a way to bring members of campus together for a service project while meeting the health and safety requirements established during the pandemic.

The program was so well received that it surpassed its original plan of preparing five grab-and-go meals a week. In September alone, 240 grab-and-go meals were organized and distributed to local agencies including the Community Intervention Center in Scranton. During the fall semester, members of the University community provided more than 600 meals, including a roast beef holiday lunch at the end of the semester. During spring semester, the program expanded to include a meal on Thursdays. In total, more than 2,000 grab and goal meals were prepared during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, University faculty, staff and students donated time and funding to prepare salads, meals and desserts. A team of students volunteered for one-hour shifts in small socially distant groups to make the final preparations for the meals, which often included cards with inspirational messages and homemade gifts like bracelets and keychains from students. Meal bags also often included a variety of snacks (cereal, fresh fruit, granola bars) and COVID- care items such as masks, paper products or hand sanitizer, collected by the Center for Service and Social Justice and EFFORT.

Support from the Spitz Foundation will be used support the continuation of the successful program for the 2021-2022 academic year.

The Robert H. Spitz Foundation is a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization that supports initiatives and programs serving the residents of Lackawanna County and Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Scranton Area Community Foundation serves as the administrator of the Robert H. Spitz Foundation.