2022

The University of Scranton welcomed a new cohort of students into its Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program. Classes for the program, which seeks to develop future executives to serve area nonprofit institutions, begin in January 2023.

The certificate program combines a rigorous academic component taught by Kania School of Management faculty with expertise in nonprofit organizations, a mentorship and experiential learning. The program includes capstone project that requires participants to form a comprehensive plan to solve a current issue faced by the nonprofit organization they represent.

Since beginning in 2017, 47 participants, representing 40 separate regional nonprofit organizations, have graduated from the program.

Members of the 2023 cohort of Scranton’s Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program and the organizations they represent are:

Kathleen Barry, deputy COO, The Wright Center;

Tiffany Benedict, Susquehanna County program manager, Women's Resource Center;

Amy Benjamin, finance director, Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission;

Laura Boyle, founder/board president, Scranton Youth Arts Coalition;

Avianna Carilli, coordinator of domestic and international service programs, The University of Scranton;

Matthew Ceruti, vice president, resource development, United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties;

Lori Chaffers, executive director, Outreach;

Andrew Chew, director of research, The Institute;

Lauren Cleveland, executive director of administration, Friendship House;

Arrah Fisher, executive director, The Cooperage;

Susan Jeffery, administrator, Hawk Family Foundation;

Glynis Johns, founder and CEO, Black Scranton Project;

Art Levandoski, coordinator of marketing and development, Jewish Family Services;

Amy Luyster, vice president, Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce;

Josh Nespoli, deputy director, Community Strategies Group;

Jennifer Passaniti, executive director, Center for Health and Human Services Research and Action;

Joan Peterson, director, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Lackawanna County;

Shane Powers, COO, NeighborWorks;

Erica Rogler, executive director, Wyoming County Cultural Center/Dietrich Theater;

John Santa Barbara, regional philanthropy officer, American National Red Cross;

For additional information visit the Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program webpage or call 570-941-4047.

A week after its beloved Noel Night, Performance Music at The University of Scranton will continue the holiday cheer at its annual Empty Stocking Fund Benefit Concert on Sunday, Dec. 11.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue.  The event is open to the public, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis. Attendees are asked to bring either a new unwrapped toy, new toiletry items (toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, comb/brush, etc.) or a cash donation. All donated items will directly benefit local families in need this holiday season.

At the concert, Performance Music student musicians will perform solo, duet, trio and small group renditions of a variety of classic Christmas songs, according to Assistant Director for Percussion Janelle Decker.

“Our students enjoy preparing for this concert – it means a lot to them to be able to use their talents to benefit families in need at Christmas time,” said Decker.

Empty Stocking’s origins go back to 1999, when Conductor and Director of Performance Music Cheryl Boga’s friend, Alan Drake, the former chairman of the music department at Georgia’s Augusta College, told her about a benefit Christmas concert held there. When Boga asked Drake if he would mind if she brought the idea back to Scranton, he responded, “Absolutely not.”

For that inaugural year, she and Drake decided to wage a friendly competition to see which concert could raise the most money. That year Scranton Performance Music’s audiences prevailed, and an annual tradition where nobody “loses” was born.

No question, the concert’s charitable mission lends it a special resonance, and Boga said it’s always extremely moving to see the generously donated items out on display the night of the concert.

Of course, the concert itself never fails to produce an abundance of yuletide cheer. Graduate accounting student Jimmy Greenfield, Scranton, says, “You can see the light of Christmas in the eyes of the audience members as they walk in the door carrying bags of toys.”

Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the concert for information regarding venue requirements for audiences, as policies regarding campus health and safety may change throughout the season.

For more information on the Empty Stocking Fund Benefit Concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music

Parag Pathak, Ph.D., the Class of 1922 Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), presented “Still Worth the Trip? Modern-Era Busing and other Lessons from Urban School Reform” at The University of Scranton’s of 36^th Henry George Lecture in November on campus. The founder of MIT’s Blueprint Labs, Dr. Pathak’s work on market design and education was recognized with several awards including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark Medal as the best American economist under age 40.

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 ten winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics: 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.

Below, Dr. Pathak, is shown with faculty of The University of Scranton’s Economics and Finance Department. From left: Jinghan Cai, Ph.D., associate professor of economics and finance; John Ruddy, D.P.S., associate professor of economics and finance; Dr. Pathak; Edward Scahill, Ph.D., associate professor of economics and finance; Pedro Monteiro, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics and finance; Iordanis Petsas, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Economics and Finance Department; and Aram Balagyozyan, Ph.D., associate professor of economics and finance.

The University of Scranton was honored to host Curtis Zunigha, an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Oklahoma) and co-founder/co-director of the Lenape Center in New York, for a keynote lecture and three-day series of campus and community meetings and engagements. At the keynote lecture at the University, he discussed the “Forced Removal of the Lenape People: History and Homecoming.”

“Zunigha shared his experience and mission to heal the wounds of forced removal and colonization and his desire to restore the circle of friendship, respect and shared occupancy,” said Julie Schumacher Cohen, assistant vice president for community engagement and government affairs at the University.

Kat Bolus of WVIA interviewed Zunigha during his visit to Scranton.

The Lenape people are among the original inhabitants of the Scranton area.

The visit was part of the Scranton's Story, Our Nation's Story project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and was a collaboration with several University and community partners including the University’s History Department and Office of Equity and Diversity and community partners including the Black Scranton Project, Lackawanna County Arts & Culture Department, The Lackawanna Historical Society, Lackawanna Heritage Valley National and State Heritage Area, Scranton Public Library, and WVIA.

Visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory for more information.

The “living wage income” required for a family of four in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties increased by 39 percent since 2019, according to findings of a 2022 Update of the NEPA Living Wage Report, which was presented to NEPA community leaders at The University of Scranton on Nov. 29.

The Living Wage Report for NEPA, first issued in 2016, defines a “living wage” as the wage rate at which a worker, employed on a full-time basis, can reach a standard of living that meets essential basic needs and allows the individual or family to live a modest but dignified life. The report outlines the living wage threshold for various family compositions in NEPA, such as a family of three, or a family of four. The report reflects principles of Catholic Social Teaching in regard to poverty, just wages and economic justice.

“While our region continues to make many gains and improvements, the study shows that too many of our neighbors experience economic hardship,” wrote Rev. Joseph Marina, S.J., president of The University of Scranton, in a message in the 2022 update. “I am especially struck by how the median income for both counties now falls short of a living wage for all households with children. Costs are rising for food and other essential needs, while wages and supports are not keeping up, and there is a serious shortage of affordable housing.”

The 2022 report compares current and previous data, details the increases in costs of living, explains some of the major challenges facing those who fall below the living wage threshold, and proposes solutions to address these challenges. The 2022 report highlights mitigating factors – in particular, racial disparities and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related policies on economic security.

 “The most recent data points to an acute need for affordable housing that calls for new policies and approaches,” said Julie Schumacher Cohen, assistant vice president for community engagement and government affairs. “The report also provides a new focus on racial disparities, with Black and Hispanic households having lower rates of homeownership and lower median incomes than white populations.” 

Other key findings of the 2022 report show the continued gap between minimum wage and living wage; the poverty rate in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties remains high and the need for services has increased; and costs for basic needs continue to rise.

“The study found the living wage amounts have increased across the board. It’s taking more funds for families to thrive in 2022 than in the previous 2016 and 2019 reports. Rising prices of food and housing are key factors driving this trend, with rental prices having increased significantly since the start of the pandemic,” said Andrew Chew, director of research at The Institute (formerly named the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development).

The 2022 update shows the living wage income for a family of two adults (one working) and two children in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties increased from $42,910 in 2019 to $59,717 in 2022 – a significant 39 percent increase.

“The findings of this year’s Living Wage Report emphasize the importance of continued community and government action to ensure that individuals and families in NEPA are able to live a modest but dignified life,” said JoyAnna Hopper, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science and co-director of the University’s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service, in her remarks.

To achieve greater economic security for families in NEPA, the report recommends a multi-pronged approach is required that involves public policy changes, economic and workforce development efforts, government programs and private charitable activities.

Recommendations presented in the report include, expanding support for housing assistance and housing affordability; promoting practices to foster equity and inclusivity; advocating for increased wages; supporting cash assistance for low-income families and expanding food and basic necessities assistance; expanding access to existing social safety net programs and supporting programs and policies that help workers to obtain and keep jobs with family-sustaining wages.

The 2022 Update to the Living Wage Report is a project of The Institute and The University of Scranton. The full report is available on the University’s Living Wage webpage.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will kick off the holiday season with its 55th annual Noel Night concert on Saturday, Dec. 3.

Beginning at 8 p.m. in the University’s Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, the concert will feature The University of Scranton Singers and Chamber Ensembles. Doors open at 7 p.m., with a prelude beginning at 7:05 p.m. Admission to the concert is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

The University’s Christmas gift to the community, Noel Night has been a beloved holiday tradition for numerous Scranton-area residents since its beginnings more than a half-century ago when it was founded by Rev. Edward Gannon, S.J.

This year’s concert will feature music by composers J.S. Bach, Randall Alan Bass, Vaclav Nelhybel, Mark Sirett and others, according to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga. Pianist and harpsichordist for the evening is Ron Stabinsky and organist is Christopher Johnson. Performance Music’s fully restored Steinway grand piano and Austin Opus 301 symphonic organ will be heard on the program, and the evening will feature the debut of the department’s newly donated and restored Zuckerman harpsichord. Remarks and readings will be offered by Rev. James Duffy, S.J., M.D., superior for the Scranton Jesuit Community; Robert W. Davis Jr., Ed.D., vice president for University advancement; Leonard Gougeon, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Department of English and Theatre; Hal Baillie, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Philosophy Department; and senior student members of the ensemble.

Outdoor instrumental caroling by members of the University Bands will greet audience members as they arrive, and the University’s Chamber Orchestra, Flute Quartet and organist Christopher Johnson will perform the prelude.     

The primary focus of Performance Music at The University of Scranton is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, 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. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.

Performance Music’s large ensembles include Concert/Symphonic Band, Concert Choir/Singers, String Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble (big band format). Smaller groups are made up of members from within the large ensembles, and include Steel Drum Band, String Quartet, Flute Ensemble, Brass Choir, Saxophone Ensemble, Jazz Combo and Percussion Ensemble, plus small vocal groups. Solo, duo and trio performance opportunities are available to members of the ensembles through general recitals each semester.

Other programs within the department, including 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.

Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the concert for information regarding venue requirements for audiences, as policies regarding campus health and safety may change throughout the season.

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

In collaboration with The Schemel Forum, The “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project, a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded initiative of The University of Scranton and community partner organizations, is hosting “The Journey from ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen”. The roundtable discussion with local resource speakers will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 5:30 - 7 p.m. in The Kane Forum, Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Hall, The University of Scranton. This event is a part of the Scranton’s Story project’s “From ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen” theme and will feature four speakers: Jenny Gonzalez Monge, STARS Program Director, Marywood University; Stephanie Longo, author of regional Italian American history; Jack McGuigan, retired English teacher and poet; and Ushu Mukelo, Congolese Community of Scranton.

The roundtable discussion will highlight myriad ways in which people have come to be members of the Scranton community and “citizens” of the larger United States, and will include sharing from those who trace their ancestry to the European immigration of the industrial era to more recent migration from across Latin America and global refugee resettlement. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in discussion and conversations around commonalities as well as differences. Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited and registration is required at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/22Roundtable

“This roundtable will be an opportunity to consider the migration journey of different Scrantonians, their families and communities – in the past and in more recent years – and discuss how immigrants and refugees may be welcomed today,” said Julie Schumacher Cohen, assistant vice president for Community Engagement and Government Affairs and project director. 

To further highlight the many journeys to Scranton, project media partner WVIA has created a special website, wvia.org/extraordinaryjourney, which houses the three feature documentaries produced by WVIA,  available for public access for the duration of this project. WVIA's "The Extraordinary Journey" Migration Documentary Series series includes: 

• "The Extraordinary Journey," a three-episode series on the Eastern Europeans of Northeastern Pennsylvania,   

• "The Irish: Two Nations - One Heart," and

• "Paesani: Italian Culture in Northeast Pennsylvania."

   

"The Extraordinary Journey" series celebrates and preserves Northeast Pennsylvania's European heritage through a poignant blend of first-person storytelling, never-before-seen images, and insightful humanist commentary. The film contributes to WVIA's mission to make distinguished local programming and honors the courageous character our ancestors possessed to create a finer life for us today. 

Previous theme events included “All the Places We Come From: Stories, Food, & Community,” a special community story exchange with international writers panel with appetizers and sweets from Scranton's multi-ethnic restaurants hosted on Oct. 25, with130 community members joining at the Scranton Cultural Center, a story exchange facilitated with national partner Narrative 4 at Scranton High School, and a connected Hope Horn Gallery Exhibition, "Mayan Narratives: San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. Photographs by Byron Maldonado," which will remain on display until mid-December.

Upcoming Scranton Story Winter and Spring 2023 events will focus on Black history and experience, and discuss the religious and ethnic tapestry of Scranton.

For more information and to view upcoming events and recordings of past events, please visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory.

Questions? Contact community@scranton.edu or call 570-941-4419.

Follow the Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story project on social media at: Facebook and Instagram @ourscrantonstory and on Twitter at @scrantonstory

University of Scranton students volunteered to pack and deliver 150 food baskets to area families in need as part of its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive organized by the University’s Center for Service and Social Justice. The food baskets included turkeys as well as other food items needed to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

The students gathered at the Friends of the Poor warehouse in South Scranton on Nov. 20 to prepare the food baskets, which they later delivered to families at Valley View Terrace, Bangor Heights and Hilltop Manor in Scranton.

Fox-56 covered this year’s annual Thanksgiving Food Drive in a news story.

Author and historian Elizabeth Hinton, Ph.D., presented “Riot or Rebellion?: The Meaning of Violent Protest from the 1960s to George Floyd” at this year’s Slattery Center for Ignatian Humanities’ Myers Distinguished Visiting Fellow Lecture last month. Dr. Hinton is an associate professor in the Department of History and the Department of African American Studies at Yale University, with a secondary appointment as professor of law at Yale Law School. Her research focuses on the persistence of poverty, racial inequality and urban violence in the 20th century United States.

The annual lecture is named after community leaders Sondra and Morey Myers.

Sondra Myers (left), director of the Schemel Forum at The University of Scranton, was interviewed by Erika Funke (right) at WVIA about the Wienberg Memorial Library’s 2022 Distinguished Author Award dinner. The Nov. 18 dinner will honor Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated playwright, novelist and screenwriter Ayad Akhta. The event begins at 6 p.m. in McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center at the University. Proceeds from the event benefit the Friends of the Library Endowment Fund, which supports special gifts for the Weinberg Library collections and services.

For more information and to purchase tickets for the Distinguished Author Award reception and dinner, visit scranton.edu/authaward or contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

The Princeton Review recognized The University of Scranton among just 455 colleges in the world, for having “strong commitments to the environment in their campus policies, programs and practices” by inclusion in the 2023 edition of “The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges.” Most of the schools selected for the guide, which was published online in October, are in the U.S., with 26 in Canada, two in Taiwan and one (each) in Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Ireland, Mexico and Morocco.

This is the fourth year that Scranton has made this list.

The Princeton Review analyzed more than 25 data points to determine the final selection of colleges for the guide based on information from surveys of nearly 713 schools. The criteria broadly covered the schools’ academic offerings and initiatives, campus policies and practices to determine “whether students have a campus quality of life that is both healthy and sustainable; how well a school is preparing students for employment in the clean-energy economy of the 21st century, as well as for citizenship in a world now defined by environmental concerns and opportunities; and how environmentally responsible a school’s policies are.”

Scranton’s long-established sustainability efforts include academics, facilities and community education and outreach. Scranton has infused issues of sustainability in courses across the curriculum, ranging from theology, to business, to the natural sciences, to education, as well as other disciplines. Scranton uses numerous “green” procedures in building maintenance practices, as well as in building design and construction. Scranton currently has three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings: Leahy Hall, the Loyola Science Center and the DeNaples Center, which became the city’s first LEED certified structure in 2008. Further inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical titled “On Care for Our Common Home,” the University also conducts multiple community educational programs organized through its Office of Sustainability, which include Bike Scranton, a community garden, an Earth Day Essay Contest, an Earth Day Fair and an Evening of Environmental Science program for area children and families.

In addition, the Sustainability Office began a Work Study Program that engages work-study students in service-learning opportunities to help them grow in knowledge practical applications of sustainability concepts taught in their classes.

In addition to its “Guide to Green Colleges,” The Princeton Review has listed Scranton in its “Best Colleges” guidebooks for 21 consecutive years, also ranking Scranton in its 2023 edition among the nation’s “Best Science Lab Facilities” (No. 7) and “Best Campus Food” (No. 25).

The University of Scranton will host a State of Scranton presentation of the 2022 update of the Living Wage Report and a discussion on what it costs to live a modest but dignified life in Northeastern Pennsylvania in 2022. Members of The University of Scranton and greater Scranton area communities are invited to join for this event on Tuesday, Nov. 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in The Kane Forum, Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Hall, at The University of Scranton. Lunch will be provided. Registration at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2022Wage

Beginning in 2016, The University of Scranton and The Institute set out to understand better what constitutes a living wage in Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) and to produce a report that went beyond the poverty rate to analyze what is required for economic security in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The initial 2016 Living Wage report found that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 proved inadequate to enable families in the region to reach a living wage threshold where they can meet their “essential basic needs and live a modest but dignified life.”

This initial report was updated three years later in 2019 and now again in 2022. In addition to up-to-date data, the updated reports also identify key changes in the costs associated with meeting basic needs. Each iteration of the report also includes perspectives from community leaders and new policy recommendations rooted in Catholic Social Teaching on economic justice. The previous report can be found online at: scranton.edu/livingwage. 

Presenters at the upcoming State of Scranton will include Andrew Chew, director of research, The Institute; Julie Schumacher Cohen, assistant vice president of Community Engagement & Government Affairs, The University of Scranton; and JoyAnna Hopper, Ph.D., director, Center for Ethics & Excellence in Public Service, The University of Scranton.

"The Living Wage Report has become a socioeconomic gauge for our city and our region. It not only highlights challenges facing our community members in relation to jobs, housing, and food insecurity but also offers potential solutions and action steps for policy makers, community organizations, and all of us as neighbors in Northeastern Pennsylvania," said Schumacher Cohen. 

The 2022 Living Wage Report is a collaboration of The Institute and The University of Scranton Office of Community & Government Relations, the Ellacuría Initiative, the Center for Ethics & Excellence in Public Service, and the Department of Political Science. 

The University of Scranton economics professors have published an analysis of the Wyoming Valley of Northeast Pennsylvania’s job and housing market, as well as a look at the cost of living impact inflation has had on household purchasing power in the region.

The analysis, called the Brennan Barometer and completed by Aram Balagyozyan, Ph.D, associate professor of economics, finance and international business, and Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D., professor of economics, finance and international business, is the second of a series of reports published by the faculty members of the Kania School of Management that look specifically at the economy of NEPA’s Wyoming Valley. The professors plan to publish two comprehensive reports in January and July and two shorter updates: one in fall and one in spring.

“The intent of the series of reports is to make a detailed analysis of economic data specific to NEPA available to area business professionals who might be able to use the information in their industries and organizations,” said Dr. Ghosh, who is frequently quoted about trends in the regional economy in area newspapers and publications.

Data in the most recent Brennan Barometer, published Nov. 8, indicate the unemployment in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties remained relatively unchanged in the period of April to August, 2022, which is the most recent month for which official data is available. The unemployment rate for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazelton metropolitan statistical area stood at 5.7 percent in April and has fallen to 5.2 percent for July and August, following national and Pennsylvania trends.

The professors noted that the total labor force and the total number of employed workers has continued to increase, while the total number of unemployed workers has declined. Charts published in the report show the total number employed rising from 257,000 in April, 2022, to 260,800 in August and those unemployed decreasing from 15,200 in April to 14,200 in August. They noted the employment growth was in the private sector with service-providing industries in the “Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities sub-sector” adding about 42 percent of the new private service-sector jobs. 

“What is important to note is that in August 2022, the Health Services sub-sector that includes Health Care, Social Assistance, and Hospitals, reported a modest (200) gain of jobs. Normally, this should not be viewed as a significant event. However, historically, this sub-sector has been a very significant source of jobs in the region,” wrote the professors in the report.

Their analysis of the housing market indicated the “tightening of the housing market in Scranton has occurred at faster pace than in the US. Between August 2021 and August 2022, Scranton has shed roughly 25 percent of its housing inventory, while in the United States, this number has declined by only 6.4 percent.” They also noted that “housing prices in the Scranton area outpaced growth of housing prices in Philadelphia and the U.S.” However, the average price of a house in the Scranton area “is much lower than the national average and the Philadelphia market. In August 2022, the value of a typical home in the Scranton area was $178,169, around half as much as it was in Philadelphia ($338,343) or the United States ($354,986).”

In looking at the impact of inflation, the professors reviewed the Cost of Living (or purchasing power) of the average household in Scranton, as compared to the Cost of Living for Brooklyn and Manhattan.

“For example, to have the same standard of living afforded by Scranton’s median household income of $41,687, a household in Queens, New York, would require $64,456, indicating a 55 percent higher cost of living. Similarly, a household income of $103,477 would be needed in Manhattan, New York, to maintain the same standard of living afforded by the median household income of $40,505 of Wilkes-Barre, indicating a 155 percent higher cost of living in Manhattan.”

The professors also noted that “it may not be much of a consolation that the costs of living in the region may be much lower than other big cities in the area if income in the MSA fails to keep up with inflation.”

The full report is available on the University’s website.

The Human Resources Foundation in Honesdale awarded a $5,000 grant to The University of Scranton’s Autism Collaborative Center of Excellence to support enhanced advocacy and socialization programming for students with disabilities.

The Autism Collaborative Center of Excellence has collaborated with the University’s Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and Student Health to enhance and develop programing for students with disabilities to learn advocacy skills, connect and socialize with other students, and become successful leaders in our region.

The grant will support a new Game Night Advocacy Program on campus, which will create socialization opportunities through fun games in an environment that provides tools and skills to enhance student learning. The program, designed to support students with autism and other disabilities, will use popular board games in a safe environment for individuals to practice social skills and learn how to advocate for themselves and others.

The Human Resources Foundation provides financial support to the programs and services of the Human Resources Center (HRC), a nonprofit organization that provides support and services to individuals with disabilities in Wayne, Pike, Carbon, Monroe, Lackawanna, and Susquehanna counties. The Human Resources Foundation also awards public grants to nonprofit and charitable organizations in NEPA to support similar initiatives as that of the HRC.

The University of Scranton is one of five Autism Collaborative Center of Excellence hubs that serve 13 counties in Northeast Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., The University of Scranton's Commuter Student Association (CSA) in partnership with the Office of Community and Government Relations will host the 2nd annual Java Journey event. This year’s event will expand to offer 70 University students the opportunity to explore seven of the many cafes in Scranton. Each participating student will be assigned to one of the participating Scranton cafes and receive a voucher worth up to $8. This event is open to all University of Scranton students, and registration can be found in Royal Sync or at https://tinyurl.com/27rd7k4n

CSA’s Java Journey is a part of the club’s larger efforts to engage Scranton students with the greater Scranton community and to support local businesses.

“Java Journey is a fun way to get the Scranton community together and support local coffee shops,” said Makenzie Bell ‘23, biology major and CSA president. Other CSA programming events include an annual Restaurant Fest that takes place each spring and will celebrate its third offering this year.  

At the core of the CSA mission: Promoting the many businesses in and around the city of Scranton to residents and commuters students at the University. CSA members created this event in the knowledge that local cafes present ideal spots for college students with offerings of free Wi-Fi, specialty coffee and tea drinks, snacks, and in some cases, free parking. 

 “Java Journey is a way to explore downtown cafes and support small businesses within our community,” said Disha Patel ’24, biology major and CSA community outreach co-chair. 

She noted that members love the city and hope to share this concept with students new to Scranton who call the city home during their time at the University.  The participating cafes are equally excited to welcome Scranton students. During last year’s inaugural event, they greeted students with balloons, University of Scranton-themed cookies, signs, and more to inspire the students to visit again.   

"CSA loves being able to support the local downtown businesses and create a fun way to interact with friends,” said Himani Patel ’24, biology major and CSA community outreach co-chair. 

Participating cafes this year will include: Adezzo, the Blackwatch Café, Commonwealth Coffeehouse, Downtown Deli Café, Heaven and Earth Gift Shop and Café, Northern Light Espresso Bar and Café, and Zummo's Café.  

Many cafes offer college student discounts. For a listing of Royal ID discounts, The University of Scranton students can visit the Office of Community and Government Relations Royal Card Downtown website at https://www.scranton.edu/about/community-relations/downtown-engagement/downtown-info-discounts.shtml 

Curtis Zunigha, an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Oklahoma) and co-founder/co-director of the Lenape Center in New York City, will share the story, experiences, music and legacy of the Lenape at a series of events on Thursday, Nov. 17, and Friday, Nov. 18.

Zunigha will present “Forced Removal of the Lenape People: History and Homecoming” at a Keynote Lecture Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center on the University’s campus. The talk is free and open to the public. Zunigha will share his experience and mission to heal the wounds of forced removal and colonization and his desire to restore the circle of friendship, respect and shared occupancy. This lecture is part of the Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and supported by a Diversity Initiatives Grant through the University’s Office of Equity and Diversity.

On Friday, Nov. 18, a noon Diversity and Inclusion Lunch and Learn for University faculty and staff will feature a special presentation and musical performance by Zunigha. He will share his traditions and the present-day culture of the Lenape people. Reservations are required to attend the luncheon hosted by the Office of Equity and Diversity in the Kane Forum. Faculty and staff may contact diversity@scranton.edu or call 570-941-6645 with questions and to register.

During his visit to Scranton, Zunigha will also speak to students at Northeast Intermediate School, in addition to meetings with local government officials and University and community stakeholders. The intent of the events and meetings is to foster deeper learning and engagement in ways that honor Indigenous peoples and cultures, and the history and ongoing legacy and impact of colonialism.

An expert on Delaware/Lenape culture, language and traditional practices, Zunigha has more than 35 years of experience in tribal government and administration, community development, telecommunications and cultural preservation. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

The Lenape Center promotes the history and culture of people through the arts, environmental activism, social justice and agricultural practices. The Lenape Center’s work represents the return of the original Indigenous people to their original homeland of Lenapehoking, which includes areas of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

“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 250th anniversary of the United States. The ongoing, two-year project incorporates eight themes, including how Scranton has been portrayed in the popular imagination, 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.

The University of Scranton’s Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program seeks to develop future executives who will serve at Northeast Pennsylvania nonprofit institutions. Since beginning in 2017, 47 participants, representing 40 separate regional nonprofit organizations, have graduated from the program.

 “The Nonprofit Leadership Certificate is a unique credential that can help graduates advance to executive leadership positions at nonprofit organizations,” said Ryanne Jennings, president and CEO of the Wayne County Community Foundation and a Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program graduate.

“The coursework in not hypothetical. Participants can apply concepts learned in class immediately. That is very powerful and inspiring. The experience in this program was well worth the investment.”

“The courses were very thorough in educating participants in all the aspects involved in managing a nonprofit, from financial best-practices to board cultivation and grant writing and everything in between. The program provided a depth of knowledge that was extremely beneficial to me and the other students,” said Ron Prislupski, president of NativityMiguel School of Scranton and graduate of the Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program.

Prislupski and Jennings valued greatly the colleagues and mentors they met through the program.

“I moved here from Philadelphia,” said Jennings. “The program allowed me learn about the landscape of fundraising in NEPA and to develop a cohort of peers locally who have been a great source for discussing challenges and successes. They have served as sounding boards for ideas and as professional references.”

“The instructors are absolutely wonderful and, three years later, I still keep in touch with them on a regular basis,” said Prislupski. “Also, the 15 members of my cohort share the same career paths. Through this program, you connect with individuals who have their hearts in the nonprofit sector.”

The certificate program combines a rigorous academic component taught by Kania School of Management faculty with expertise in nonprofit organizations, a mentorship and experiential learning. The program includes capstone project that requires participants to form a comprehensive plan to solve a current issue faced by the nonprofit organization they represent.

“My project was to create an annual fundraising plan, which, subsequently, I also developed and implemented at NativityMiguel,” said Prislupski. “What I learned in the program, specifically through the capstone project, has helped a local nonprofit organization develop a stabilized financial plan.”

The University of Scranton is accepting applications for the Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program for the 2022-2023 academic year. The deadline to apply is Nov. 11 for classes that begin in January 2023.

For additional information, visit the Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program webpage or call 570-941-4047.

AllOne Charities has awarded a $25,000 grant to The University of Scranton to support free physical therapy services offered by Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students to vulnerable populations in the region.

The University’s Physical Therapy Community-Based Outreach Program seeks to improve women’s health access in the refugee community. This is done through evidence-based preventive health education, risk assessment for disease, and health promotion wellness services, particularly for those who are unlikely to access the University’s free, campus-based Physical Therapy Clinic.

The grant will support the equipment and supplies, translation services and transportation needed for DPT students to conduct faculty-supervised physical therapy and health education clinics for uninsured and underinsured members of our community, particularly refugee or resettled women and families, in their own neighborhoods or community spaces.

The Physical Therapy Community-Based Outreach Program will focus on: reducing maternal mortality and morbidity; improving cognitive, mental and physical health outcomes; and preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among our region’s vulnerable populations.

AllOne Charities supports local and regional non-profit organizations, whose initiatives help to address some of Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania’s most pressing health challenges.

Scranton’s graduate-level, three-year, 111-credit Doctor of Physical Therapy Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).

Members of the Wienberg Memorial Library’s 2022 Distinguished Author Committee are planning a Nov. 18 dinner to honor Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated playwright, novelist and screenwriter Ayad Akhta. At the event, which will be held in McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center at The University of Scranton, Akhta will receive the 2022 Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award from the Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library. Proceeds from the event benefit the Friends of the Library Endowment Fund, which supports special gifts for the Weinberg Library collections and services.

Gretchen Welby, Pharm.D., is chair of the 2022 Distinguished Author Committee, whose members include George J. Aulisio, dean of the Weinberg Memorial Library and Marian Farrell, Ph.D., president of Friends of the Weinberg Library and professor of nursing at the University.

Current and retired University employees, as well as members of the greater Scranton area community make up the rest of the committee. Other committee members are: Geri Botyrius, Diana Collins, Deputy Title IX and Equal Employment Opportunity coordinator/investigator, Office of Equity and Diversity; Roy Domenico, Ph.D., professor and chair of the History Department; Donald Drasba, manager of the University bookstore; Kym Fetsko, administrative assistant for the library; Erika Funke, WVIA; Annettte Kalwaytis; John McInerney, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Department of English and theatre; Lisa Mekilo, course materials manager for Follett; Sondra Myers, director of the Schemel Forum; Jennifer Pennington, administrative assistant for the Office of Equity and Diversity and enrollment management; Adam Pratt, Ph.D., associate professor of history; Sheli Pratt-McHugh, associate professor and chair of Weinberg Memorial Library; Phyllis Reinhardt; Rosemary Shaver, Ed.D.; Kara Stone, Ph.D.; Bonnie Strohl; and Narda Tafuri, professor emeritus, library.

Akhtar was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013 for his play “Disgraced,” which also received a Tony Award nomination. The play examines the role of religion, politics and identity in post-9/11 America. His play “Junk,” about junk bonds and Wall Street culture of the 1980s, won the 2018 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History. His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages.

Named in honor of the late Rev. Royden B. Davis, S.J., who served in many roles at the University and as rector of the Jesuit Community, the Distinguished Author Award was established in 1997. The Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library envisioned the series as a way to honor notable fiction and non-fiction authors, and to give them the opportunity to share their literary pursuits and impressions with Northeastern Pennsylvanians. Past recipients of the award have included best-selling authors Madeline Miller, Lorene Cary, Colum McCann, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Jay Parini, Steve Berry, William Berhardt, Mary Gordon, Phillip Margolin, James Grippando, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Scottoline, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Malachy McCourt, Jack Palance and Scranton native Stephen Karam.

Prior to the reception, a book signing with the author will take place from 5 to 6 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the DeNaples Center. The book signing is free of charge and open to the public. A selection of Akhtar’s books will be available for sale at the event.

For more information and to purchase tickets for the Distinguished Author Award reception and dinner, visit scranton.edu/authaward or contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

“Still Worth the Trip? Modern-Era Busing and other Lessons from Urban School Reform” will be discussed at The University of Scranton’s 36^th Henry George Lecture on Tuesday, Nov. 8^. The lecture, presented by Parag Pathak, Ph.D., the Class of 1922 Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center. The lecture is free of charge and open to the public.

“What I sometimes find frustrating in conversations about student achievement is they often get sidetracked from the issue of school quality,” said Dr. Pathak in a 2018 Wall Street Journal interview about his research. “At least for disadvantaged children, we see that what helps is what you might expect: smaller class sizes, longer school days, an environment that emphasizes mathematics and reading. They are schools that are attuned to data – they use assessments to see where they’re at.”

Dr. Pathak’s work on market design and education was recognized with several awards including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark Medal as the best American economist under age 40.

Dr. Pathak is the founder of MIT’s Blueprint Labs and the found­ing co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Group on Market Design. Blueprint Labs is a research laboratory which uses tools from market design and research to produce evidence that helps decision-makers design and implement social policy. Dr. Pathak has contributed to the design of school choice systems in several cities including New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C.

Dr. Pathak has authored leading studies on charter schools, high school reform, exam schools, vouchers, affirmative action and school choice.

Recently, together with Tayfun Sönmez, M. Utku Ünver, and M. Bumin Yenmez, Dr. Pathak has been working on a program that applies ideas from market design to the rationing of vital medical resources, such as ICU beds, ventilators, anti-viral drugs, convalescent plasma and vaccines. This has introduced the concept of a reserve priority system for the allocation of vital medical resources, a concept that is now part of several allocation frameworks in the field. 

Dr. Pathak has served as an associate editor at the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy and Econometrica. He was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute for Innovation in Public School Choice from 2007-2019.  He is a co-founder of Avela Education. 

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 ten winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics: 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.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will present a concert featuring The University of Scranton Jazz Band and acclaimed drummer Carmen Intorre Jr. on Saturday, Oct. 29. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

Performance Music Conductor and Co-Director Philip J. Kuehn says, “Carmen is one of the first musicians I met when I moved to New York. He is a great human and musician, who has worked with a ‘who’s who’ of musicians. It is always a joy to work with him.”

According to Cheryl Y. Boga, Conductor and Director of Performance Music, “I first got to know Carmen in 2001 when he was 18 and a member of the very first class admitted into The Juilliard Jazz Studies program. He impressed me from our first meeting with not only his musicianship but also the way he exudes happiness when making music, cheerfully perseveres when undertaking hard work, and supports and champions his peers.”

A drummer since the age of 5, Intorre has performed and recorded with numerous musical luminaries such as George Benson, Larry Coryell, Wynton Marsalis, Monty Alexander, George Coleman, Eric Alexander, George Cables, Benny Golson, Richie Cole, Joe Locke, Lew Tabackin, Bobby Watson, Ira Sullivan and Bucky Pizzarelli. He currently serves as the drummer for legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino, touring extensively throughout the world with the guitarist’s trio and quintet.

A 2011 Grammy nominee for co-producing the late Joey DeFrancesco’s critically acclaimed album, “Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson,” Intorre also performed alongside DeFrancesco and Dr. Lonnie Smith on the PBS show “Legends of Jazz,” hosted by Ramsey Lewis.

Receiving both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, Intorre has always been eager to uncover and share new approaches to drumming.

“This is my job. I have to give back what I was given a chance to do,” he says in a statement on his website. “Music is an opportunity for me to give up my soul, while in the process connecting with the audiences’ souls as well. I want the musicians on the bandstand and the members of the audience to feel uplifted after a performance, to feel great about themselves through the experience that they encountered.”

Intorre proudly endorses Craviotto, DW, Sabian, ProMark, Evans and LP products.

The University of Scranton Jazz Band is made up of 24 students and alumni from majors throughout the curriculum – none of them majoring in music - all brought together by their love of music making. The primary focus of Performance Music at The University of Scranton is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles, there is no major in music at the University, and all enrolled Scranton students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University Bands, University Performance Choirs, University String Orchestra and Ensembles and Steel Drum Ensemble. A number of members of the faculty and staff, as well as alumni from the region, also perform with the groups. Each year, hundreds of students participate in the ensembles.

Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the concert for information regarding venue requirements for audiences, as policies regarding campus health and safety may change throughout the season.

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

The U.S. midterm elections are fast approaching; the General Election is on Tuesday, Nov. 8, with Pennsylvania polls open from 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania is Monday, Oct. 24. The University of Scranton recognizes the importance and duty that we each have to ourselves and our nation to participate in the civic process of voting for our elected officials. The campus-wide non-partisan Royals Vote initiative is here to help ensure that everyone on campus is registered and ready to vote. 

Royals Vote Dedicated Voter Information Resource Website 

The key to being election ready is to ensure an understanding of the democratic process of voting, including registering to vote or updating voter registration, knowing what to expect and what’s on the ballot, and being informed about the candidates and issues, along with voting rights. To offer education and resources, the Office of Community and Government Relations, in partnership with Student Government, created the Royals Vote dedicated voter information resource website at www.scanton.edu/royalsvote. 

This website provides a step-by-step guide to ensure that everyone on The University of Scranton campus is ready and registered to vote. University of Scranton students may vote in Pennsylvania using their campus address. This page will offer the guidance and resources to help voters walk through the process of registering (check status and register today at www.vote.gov), researching the candidates and what’s on the ballot, reflecting on personal values and how they impact a vote, and providing information on  voting rights. This site will continue to be updated with additional information and upcoming events leading up to Election Day.  

Presidential Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation 

This July, University of Scranton president Rev. Joseph G. Marina, S.J. signed the ALL IN Democracy Challenge’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation. The University is committed to:

• striving toward full student participation,
• acknowledging the importance of student voice in all elections,
• preparing students to be informed active citizen, 
• creating experiences to help students become lifelong voters, and
• empowering campus stakeholders to come together and determine solutions to the problems communities face. 

PA House and Senate Debates Hosted on Campus 

The University of Scranton’s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service (CEEPS), in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County, will host debates for PA House and Pennsylvania Senate candidates in October. All debates are presented free of charge and will take place in the PNC Auditorium of the Loyola Science Center on the University’s campus. 

The remaining dates and times of the debates and the candidates (listed alphabetically) are listed below. 

The 114th Pennsylvania House seat: Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 6:30 p.m.; David Burgerhoff (R) and Bridget Kosierowski (D). 

The 118th state House seat: Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m.; James Haddock (D) and James May (R). 

The 22nd state Senate seat: Thursday, Oct. 27, at 6:30 p.m.; Thomas Bassett (R) and Martin Flynn (D). 

For more information, email ceeps@scranton.edu. 

Drop-in Virtual Voting Information Sessions 

Students with questions about registering to vote, voting using their campus address, or any other election-related questions can join a virtual drop-in session with Carolyn M. Bonacci, Community and Civic Engagement Coordinator on Friday, Oct. 21 from 3:30 – 4 p.m. Registration via Zoom required at: https://scranton.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYldOusqjgtHdBXjvGhSRZpgf2OuUJWIoBa
After registering, students will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting directly from Zoom. 

There will be an additional drop-in session hosted on last-minute voting questions with Dr. JoyAnna Hopper, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and CEEPS co-director on Friday, Nov. 4 from 1 – 1:30 p.m. Registration required via Zoom at: https://scranton.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAuc-uhqDkjEtQlLwLM1KeB8Q4tidcPuRC1
After registering, students will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting directly from Zoom. 

Pre-election Examen 

Students are encouraged to reflect on their values, the issues that matter most to them, and to consider which candidates can best represent them. On Monday, Nov. 7, the evening before the midterm elections, Daniel Cosacchi, Ph.D., Vice President for Mission and Ministry will lead an “Examen for Civic Life” in DeNaples 405 at 7 p.m. for University of Scranton students. This open session will offer an opportunity to pause and reflect before election day and light refreshments will be provided. 

Additional Ignatian on civic and democratic engagement, including resources from our national partner The Ignatian Solidarity Network, can be found in the tab at the bottom of the Royals Vote dedicated resource page at www.scanton.edu/royalsvote. 

Campus Celebration of Voting 

This year on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Office of Community and Government Relations in partnership with Student Government will host a “Celebration of Voting” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on The DeNaples Center Patio (inclement weather location, the Fireplace Lounge, 2nd floor, The DeNaples Center). University of Scranton students are encouraged to stop by to celebrate Election Day and make their voices heard. Whether students plan to vote by mail or in person, it’s important to honor participation in the democratic process of voting. Students are invited to stop by to enjoy refreshments, take a photo, and get an “I Voted” sticker.
More information will be posted in the coming weeks on the Royals Vote website and on the Office of Community Relations (@uofscommunity) and Student Government (@uofssg) Instagram accounts. 

Motivation to Vote

The University of Scranton recognizes the importance and duty that we each have to ourselves and our nation to participate in the civic process of voting for our elected officials. Remeber that your voice matters and it's important that you make it heard by voting!

"I'm voting this year because of the importance of doing so in a swing state. For this midterm, all eyes are on Pennsylvania. I know that as young people, it feels like we've heard this again and again... but this one really feels like the election of our lifetime," said Karla Schaffer '24, intern in the Office of Community Relations and Civic Engagement and work study for the Office of Sustainability. 

Author and historian Elizabeth Hinton, Ph.D., will discuss “Riot or Rebellion?: The Meaning of Violent Protest from the 1960s to George Floyd” at this year’s Slattery Center for Ignatian Humanities presentation of the Myers Distinguished Visiting Fellow Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 20. The lecture, presented free of charge and open to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. in the PNC Auditorium of the Loyola Science Center.

Dr. Hinton is an associate professor in the Department of History and the Department of African American Studies at Yale University, with a secondary appointment as professor of law at Yale Law School. Her research focuses on the persistence of poverty, racial inequality and urban violence in the 20th century United States. She is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on criminalization and policing. Her books include “From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America” and “America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s.”

At the Myers Distinguished Visiting Fellow Lecture, Dr. Hinton will discuss “a troubling journey from Detroit in 1967 and Miami in 1980 to Los Angeles in 1992 and beyond to chart the persistence of structural racism and one of its primary consequences, the so-called urban riot.” Her discussion “will present a new framework for understanding our nation’s enduring racial strife.”

Dr. Hinton’s articles and op-eds can be found in the pages of the Journal of American History, the Journal of Urban History, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Boston Review, The Nation and Time. She also coedited “The New Black History: Revisiting the Second Reconstruction” with the late historian Manning Marable.

Dr. Hinton earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University and her master’s degree and doctorate from Columbia University. Her many academic awards include being named a Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation Fellow.

The Myers Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Lecture, presented by The Gail and Francis Slattery Center for Humanities, is named in honor of esteemed community leaders Sondra and Morey Myers, J.D. Sondra Myers serves as director of the Schemel Forum at The University of Scranton.

Immediately following the lecture, a cocktail reception will be held for faculty and staff.

Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated playwright, novelist and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar will receive the 2022 Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award from The University of Scranton’s Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library on Friday, Nov. 18. The award will be presented at a reception and dinner in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center. Reservations and tickets are required for the dinner and award presentation, which begins at 6 p.m. Proceeds from the event benefit the Friends of the Library Endowment Fund, which supports special gifts for the Weinberg Library collections and services.

Akhtar was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013 for his play “Disgraced,” which also received a Tony Award nomination. The play examines the role of religion, politics and identity in post-9/11 America. His play “Junk,” about junk bonds and Wall Street culture of the 1980s, won the 2018 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History. His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages.

Akhtar is the author of “Homeland Elegies,” which The Washington Post called “a tour de force” and The New York Times called “a beautiful novel…that had echoes of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and that circles, with pointed intellect, the possibilities and limitations of American life.” His first novel, “American Dervish,” was published in over 20 languages. In addition to “Junk” and “Disgraced,” his plays include “The Who & The What” and “The Invisible Hand,” which received the Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award and Olivier, among other accolades.

Among other honors, Akhtar is the recipient of the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Steinberg Playwrighting Award, the Nestroy Award and the Erwin Piscator Award, as well as fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, the Sundance Institute and Yaddo, where he serves as a board director. Additionally, Akhtar is a board trustee at New York Theatre Workshop and PEN America, where he serves as president. In 2021, he was named the New York State Author, succeeding Colson Whitehead, by the New York State Writers Institute.

Named in honor of the late Rev. Royden B. Davis, S.J., who served in many roles at the University and as rector of the Jesuit Community, the Distinguished Author Award was established in 1997. The Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library envisioned the series as a way to honor notable fiction and non-fiction authors, and to give them the opportunity to share their literary pursuits and impressions with Northeastern Pennsylvanians. Past recipients of the award have included best-selling authors Madeline Miller, Lorene Cary, Colum McCann, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Jay Parini, Steve Berry, William Berhardt, Mary Gordon, Phillip Margolin, James Grippando, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Scottoline, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Malachy McCourt, Jack Palance and Scranton native Stephen Karam.

Prior to the reception, a book signing with the author will take place from 5 to 6 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the DeNaples Center. The book signing is free of charge and open to the public. A selection of Akhtar’s books will be available for sale at the event.

For more information and to purchase tickets for the Distinguished Author Award reception and dinner, visit scranton.edu/authaward or contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times best-selling author, Annette Gordon-Reed, J.D., will discuss her book “On Juneteenth” at The University of Scranton’s Values In Action Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 12. The lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Byron Recreation Complex. It is open to the general public, free of charge. The lecture is part of the University’s annual Royal Reads program, which introduces incoming students to Ignatian values through a shared reading experience of a selected book, in addition to programming in courses and extra-curricular activities throughout the semester that expands discussion on themes first encountered in the book.

The book selected for members of Scranton’s Class of 2026 is The New York Times best-seller “On Juneteenth,” a 144-page history and memoir by the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University.

“Juneteenth refers to June 19, 1865 when U.S. Army Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that slavery was over in the state. It was originally celebrated as Emancipation Day by former enslaved people and their descendants,” said Prof. Gordon-Reed in an interview about the book published by The Harvard Gazzette. She said she wrote the book during the height of the pandemic, after she “had just written an essay on Juneteenth for The New Yorker, talking about the origins of the holiday and the way we celebrated it during my childhood. And in the previous year, I had done a big review — five books — for the New York Review of Books about Texas. The topic had been particularly on my mind.”

Prof. Gordon-Reed won the Pulitzer Prize in history in 2009 and the National Book Award in 2008, for “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.” In addition to articles and reviews, her other works include “Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy,” and “Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History Publishing,” among other books. Her numerous awards and honors includes a Guggenheim Fellowship in the humanities, a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Humanities Medal, the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, the George Washington Book Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011 and was a member of the Academy’s Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Prof. Gordon-Reed earned her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and her J.D. degree from Harvard. She was the first African American editor for the Harvard Law Review.

Dru Johnson, Ph.D., director of Center for Hebraic Thought and associate professor of biblical and theological studies at The King’s College in New York City, will present “Does the Hebrew Bible have a Unique Philosophy?” at The University of Scranton’s Judaic Studies Institute Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall. The lecture is free of charge and open to the public.

Dr. Johnson teaches Biblical literature, theology and biblical interpretation at The King’s College. He is an editor for the Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Biblical Criticism series, an associate director for the Jewish Philosophical Theology Project at The Herzl Institute in Israel and a co-host for the OnScript Podcast.

Dr. Johnson has held research fellowships at the University of Saint Andrews, Scotland, the Shalem Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, and the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He currently serves on the steering committee of the Scripture and Church Seminar in the Institute for Biblical Research and was formerly the chair and co-founder of the Hebrew Bible and Philosophy Program in the Society for Biblical Literature. He has taught in Western Kenya, Brazil and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Johnson is ordained as a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, a Master’s in Divinity  degree from the Covenant Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Andrews – Scotland.

The Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute was created in 1979 through an endowment funded by the local Jewish community. The Institute fosters a better understanding and appreciation of Judaism, Israel and their histories. It supports visits to the University by Jewish scholars and writers and supports library acquisitions, publications, faculty research, travel and other scholarly endeavors. The work of the Institute was further enhanced by a $1 million gift from Harry Weinberg in 1990.

For further information, contact Marc Shapiro, Ph.D., professor of theology/religious studies and the Weinberg Chair of Judaic Studies at The University of Scranton, at 570-941-7956 or marc.shapiro@scranton.edu.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will present a solo recital featuring acclaimed modern and historical performance viola and violincello da spalla player Andrew Gonzalez on Saturday, Oct. 15. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

According to Cheryl Y. Boga, conductor and director of Performance Music, “Andrew has performed at Scranton many times with our student string orchestra and his own quartets and trios. We are very excited to welcome him back to present a solo recital – our hall loves his sound.”

Passionate about historical performance, Gonzalez frequently performs on baroque viola and the violoncello da spalla. A student of Cynthia Roberts from the Juilliard 415 program, he has performed in festivals and series such as the Washington Bach Consort, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, American Bach Soloists, the Boston Early Music Festival, Helicon and many others. Gonzalez is one of the few people in the world who plays the violoncello da spalla, a five stringed mini cello that is played on the shoulder.

Hailed by the Strad Magazine for his ‘warm hearted playing and mellow tone’, Gonzalez enjoys a full career as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing in prestigious venues throughout the United States, as well as halls throughout Asia and Europe. As a sought-after chamber musician, his playing has allowed him to collaborate with respected ensembles such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Sejong Soloists, as well as members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Tokyo, Orion, Borromeo and Vermeer quartets. In the fall of 2020, he became the new violist of the Jasper String Quartet.

Also an accomplished teacher, Gonzalez served as a fellow of Carnegie Hall’s ‘Ensemble Connect’ from 2016-2018 and teaches chamber music in the Heifetz Institute’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted.

Originally from Chesapeake Virginia, Gonzalez attended the Governor’s School where he was introduced to chamber music and symphonic music. This led to his affiliation with the Hampton Roads Chamber Players, an ensemble that he has since performed with and offered masterclasses for, as well as a concerto appearance with the Virginia Symphony. An avid orchestral player, Gonzalez performs frequently with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, New York Classical Players and Novus NY.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Gonzalez holds both a master’s and bachelor’s degree under the direction of renown violists and pedagogues Michael Tree, Heidi Castleman, Steve Tenenbom and Hsin-Yun Huang. He performs on a 1930 Frederick Haenel viola modeled after a Gaspar da Salo.

Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the concert for information regarding venue requirements for audiences, as policies regarding campus health and safety may change throughout the season.

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

The University of Scranton’s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service (CEEPS), in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County, will host debates for PA House and Pennsylvania Senate candidates in October. All debates are presented free of charge and will take place in the PNC Auditorium of the Loyola Science Center on  the University’s campus.

The dates and times of the debates and the candidates (listed alphabetically) are listed below.

The 112th Pennsylvania House seat: Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 6:30 p.m.; Kyle Mullins (D) and William Torbeck (R).

The 114th Pennsylvania House seat: Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 6:30 p.m.; David Burgerhoff (R) and Bridget Kosierowski (D).

The 118th state House seat: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, at 8 p.m.; James Haddock (D) and James May (R).

The 22nd state Senate seat: Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, at 6:30 p.m.; Thomas Bassett (R) and Martin Flynn (D).

For more information, email ceeps@scranton.edu.

A virtual lecture series in October will examine career opportunities in the changing workplace, ways of embedding Equity Diversity Inclusion and Accessibility in an organization to promote the success of the business, employees and the surrounding communities, and the resources available through the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment (VRTAC-QE). The Edward R. Leahy, Jr., Virtual Speaker Series, presented by The University of Scranton’s Panuska College of Professional Studies and the Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Endowment, is free of charge. Registration is required to participate and can be made by visiting the lecture series website.

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, from 1 to 3 p.m. (E.S.T.) Kathy West-Evans, director of business relations at National Employment Team (NET), will lead a panel discussion of business partners from the private and public sector to discuss current trends shaping the workplace and ways their companies are working together with the Vocational Rehabilitation NET to ensure that their talent pipeline includes candidates with disabilities as well as supporting employees with disabilities throughout their employment life cycle.

Panelists are Andrea Eselunas, director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for UnitedHealth Group; Ethan Idzior, software developer, for Dell Technologies; and Duronne Walker, Ph.D., departmental selective placement program manager for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Panel moderator, West-Evans, who leads the NET is a certified rehabilitation counselor. A sought-after consultant and presenter on topic areas related to serving individuals with disabilities and business through a dual-customer approach, West-Evans first started in the field of rehabilitation in 1978.

On Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 3 p.m., Hattie McCarter, CEO/founder of McCarter’s Equitable and Distinctive (M.E.N.D) Consulting Solutions, L.L.C., and Stephanie Perry, a licensed social worker with a diverse educational and professional background, will discuss a human centered Equity Diversity Inclusion and Accessibility approach that creates a safe space for individuals to be authentic and perform to their full potential. McCarter is a Certified DEI Professional, with more than 13 years of experience in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging as well as more than seven years in recruitment and retention. Her company, MEND, specializes in DEI program development, employee resource groups, diversity recruitment and how to have BRAVE conversations. With more than 20 years of experience, Perry is completing the last year for a doctorate in social work. She earned her bachelor’s degree in behavioral counseling from Drexel University and a Master of Social Service Management degree from Bryn Mawr College.

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 1 to 3 p.m. Catherine Anderson, Ph.D., director of research for the University of Wisconsin-Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) and Dr. Emily A. Brinck, Ph.D., also a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the WCER, will discuss the array of resources and training available through VRTAC-QE, as well as the types of technical assistance offered. The presenters will highlight specific examples of innovative and effective practices, opportunities to learn more and tools that can be implemented in practice.

Dr. Anderson has more than 25 years of leadership experience with numerous research, demonstration and systems-change grants. Her research interests include: understanding and improving employment, career and financial post-secondary outcomes for youth with disabilities; transition-age youth and families; interagency collaboration between education and vocational rehabilitation; cultural responsiveness with low-income and marginalized disability populations; and use of evidence-based practices within vocational rehabilitation. Dr. Brinck’s research interests include: interagency collaboration between schools, vocational rehabilitation, and employers; transition-age youth with disabilities towards successful postsecondary outcomes; and overcoming barriers to employment for people with disabilities.

Registration and additional information is available online or by contacting Rebecca Spirito Dalgin, Ph.D., director of the Rehabilitation Counseling Program, at rebecca.dalgin@scranton.edu; or Lori Bruch, Ed.D., chair of the Counseling and Human Services Department, at lori.bruch@scranton.edu. The University’s annual U.S. Conference on DISABILITY will return next year on Oct. 4, 2023.

Representatives from NASA met with high school and University of Scranton students, as well as local business owners and manufacturers, to discuss career paths, space technology and ways companies and individuals can support Artemis, a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by NASA.

Campus events, which spanned two days, included a panel discussion on NASA careers with Niki Werkheiser, director for Technology Maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters; Jason L. Kessler, program executive, Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Program, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters; and Stephanie Yeldell, education integration lead, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. University of Scranton physics professor Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D., moderated the panel discussion on Sept. 22. Earlier that day, Werkheiser met with Scranton students at an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) meeting.

On Sept. 23, NASA hosted the NASA Northeast Pennsylvania Industry Day, a networking event focused on collaboration opportunities with local businesses. The event at the University’s DeNaples Center included national and local speakers, presentations, and networking opportunities in collaboration with the Keystone Space Collaborative, Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center, and Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance Procurement Technical Assistance Center. Local business owners, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and university representatives attended the free event. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright also participated in the event.

The “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project, a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded initiative of The University of Scranton and community partner organizations, will be highlighting two themes with major upcoming events this fall. One will feature international writers with an interactive story exchange as a part of the project’s “From ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen” theme, and the other, the return of an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe to his ancestral homeland as a part of the project’s “Indigenous History of NEPA” theme.

To celebrate and pay tribute to the histories and stories of Scranton’s immigrants, past and present, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, the University and partners will host a special interactive event, “All the Places We Come From: Stories, Food, & Community.” The evening will begin with appetizers and sweets from Scranton's multi-ethnic restaurants, include story-sharing around the theme of migration, and feature nationally- acclaimed writers Anna Badhken, Angie Cruz, Chinelo Okparanta, and Joseph O’Neill. The program will be facilitated by the artist-driven international empathy building organization, Narrative 4, and will provide an opportunity to consider the place of culture and migration in our local and national identity. Doors will open at 5:30 pm and the event will run from 6 - 7:30 in Shopland Hall, Scranton Cultural Center. Register at: www.surveymonkey.com/r/placeswecomefrom.

The migration theme also includes a connected Hope Horn Gallery Exhibition, "Mayan Narratives: San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. Photographs by Byron Maldonado," which runs from Oct. 7 - Nov. 18. Then, on Dec. 5, a roundtable discussion,“The Journey from ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen” will feature local resource speakers from a range of backgrounds, in collaboration with the Schemel Forum.

In November, the project will return to the theme of “Indigenous History of NEPA” with a very special event, “Forced Removal of the Lenape People: History and Homecoming,” a keynote talk with Curtis Zunigha. He is an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma and co-director and co-founder of the Lenape Center in New York. Now living and working in Lenapehoking, the Lenape ancestral homeland, Zunigha will share his experience and mission to heal the wounds of forced removal and colonization and his desire to restore the circle of friendship, respect, and shared occupancy. This event will take place on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in The DeNaples Center Ballroom at The University of Scranton. It marks the first return of Zunigha to this part of his ancestral homeland. Registration required at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Zunigha. This visit will coincide with Native American History month and is also sponsored by the University’s Office of Equity and Diversity.

For more information and to view upcoming events and recordings of past events, please visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory.

Questions? Contact community@scranton.edu or call 570-941-4419.

Follow the Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story project on social media at: Facebook and Instagram @ourscrantonstory and on Twitter at @scrantonstory

The University of Scranton, a nationally recognized Jesuit university in northeast Pennsylvania, will host two Open House events for prospective students and their families on Sunday, Oct. 23, and Sunday, Nov. 6.

“Best 388 Colleges,” “Best Buys in College Education,” “America’s Best Colleges,” “A Focus on Student Success,” “Best Undergraduate Teaching,” “Best Catholic Colleges” – these are just a few of the ways that the nation’s leading college rankings and guidebooks consistently refer to The University of Scranton. For 29 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 21 consecutive years and in its ranking of the nation’s “Best Science Labs” (No. 7) for six years, among other rankings.

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, Special Jesuit Liberal Arts Honors Program, Magis Honors Program in STEM, Business Honors Program and Business Leadership Honors Program, will also be available.

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

The Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL) announces the creation of the Faculty Fellows in Community-Based Learning Program at The University of Scranton. This program seeks to recognize, reward, and support exemplary faculty who are eager to fully integrate Community-Based Learning as an intentional pedagogical strategy into their courses and/or curricular-based projects. This academic experience involves students working with individuals, groups, or organizations in ways structured to meet community-defined needs. The Faculty Fellows program seeks to expand, strengthen and institutionalize Community-Based Learning at The University of Scranton as a demonstration of our commitment to the common good.

The inaugural cohort of the Community-Based Learning Faculty Fellows for Academic Year 2022-2023 are:

Ovidiu C. Cocieru, Ph.D.

Ovidiu C. Cocieru, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship. His research interests are mainly focused on experiential learning. Dr. Cocieru has co-authored six peer-reviewed journal articles. He earned a doctorate in management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Cocieru worked as a manager in the event management industry. Dr. Cocieru plans to strengthen his Community-Based Learning engagement in two sections of Management 352 Principles of Management and Entrepreneurship II to support an ongoing collaboration with the Children’s Advocacy Center of NEPA during National Child Abuse Awareness Month.

“The Ignatian pedagogical paradigm matches very well the theory of experiential learning that is described in the management education literature. Community-based learning is a wonderful opportunity to create empowering, meaningful, and rewarding learning experiences for our students, in which they grow as people and impact the world.”

Gerard G. Dumancas, Ph.D.

Gerard G. Dumancas, Ph.D., came to the University of Scranton as an Associate Professor of Chemistry and as the Director of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program in Spring 2022. Since coming to the university, he has published 11 manuscripts in high-impact factor journals and has generated more than $1 million in external funding. He is presently the lead guest editor of "Sustainability," focusing on the applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in sustainable chemistry. At the university, he teaches Instrumental Analysis lab, General and Analytical Chemistry, and Graduate level Analytical Chemistry. His research area is in chemometrics, environmental chemistry, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence as applied to analytical chemistry. Dr. Dumancas’ Community-Based Learning project’s goal is to implement a community-based learning experience in a higher-level chemistry laboratory course in collaboration with the Lackawanna River Conservation Association (LRCA) on analytical chemistry projects.

"This CBL opportunity will allow me to integrate my teaching, research, and service interests that will impact students at the University of Scranton as well as the local community. This CBL initiative will provide an opportunity for my students to develop critical thinking skills, experience the process of scientific discovery and investigation, improve communication skills and scientific literacy, and explore real-life applications of advanced analytical chemistry instrumentation to real-world scenarios."

Brian J. Snee, Ph.D.

Brian J. Snee, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Communication and Media. He earned a B.A. from The University of Scranton, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Penn State University. He is the author of "Lincoln Before Lincoln" and the editor of "Michael Moore and the Rhetoric of Documentary". His TEDx Talk is titled, "How the Virtue of Eloquence Became a Vice." Dr. Snee will be matching his COMM 240 Communications Research Methods course with the needs of non-profit organizations.

“Community-Based Learning brings the ‘real world’ into my classrooms by connecting my students with professional clients. Rather than completing homework assignments for a professor, my students are able to work both with and for professionals in communication and media long before graduation. It is, in my opinion, higher education at its most challenging and rewarding.”

Patricia A. Wisniewski, Ed.D., OTR/L

Patricia A. Wisniewski, Ed.D., OTR/L, is a faculty specialist in the Department of Occupational Therapy at The University of Scranton. Over the past 10 years, she has taught an occupational therapy course that has Community-Based Learning as a component/requirement within the course. She earned an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Educational Technology from the University of South Carolina and is a certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Specialist and a CarFit trainer, event coordinator, and technician. Dr. Wisniewski partners with multiple organizations, and during her fellowship will be focusing on building upon an ongoing Community-Based Learning collaboration with the Autism Collaborative Center for Excellence for her OT 575 Community Practice in Occupational Therapy course. Graduate occupational therapy students provide community-based skill development groups for pediatric and/or adolescent/young adults who have autism or other related disabilities.

“Engaging in CBL projects transformed my occupational therapy students' worldviews about existing societal issues that prevent individuals and populations from achieving health and wellness, provided actionable insights for the community partners, and gave the students a new perspective on what navigating spaces may be like for community members with diverse needs. The occupational therapy students learned about the importance of resolving health and social disparities in the community and embraced their moral civic and professional responsibility to promote occupational justice by advocating for occupational rights that respect individuals’ and populations’ dignity, humanity, and inclusion.”

Participation in the Community-Based Learning Faculty Fellow program is open to all full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members with up to four faculty fellows selected each academic year. The selection of faculty fellows is based on the merit of the Community-Based Learning component of the proposed course or project, the service/scholarly/teaching credentials and/or promise of the faculty member, the ability of the faculty member to contribute to strengthening the university’s Community-Based Learning initiative, the degree to which the faculty member will benefit from the fellowship, and the extent to which it benefits the external community.

Community-Based Learning Faculty Fellows commit to attending a series of monthly meetings and presenting on their course/project. The fellowship offers faculty an opportunity to modify an existing course, design a new course, or creae a curricular-based/discipline-oriented project with a Community-Based Learning component. Over the course of the year, faculty fellows have opportunities to build strong relationships with their community partner organizations, engage in scholarship on Community-Based Learning, present on their experiences, and serve as Community-Based Learning mentors to other faculty members.

Applications will be available again in winter 2023 for the 2023-2024 academic year. For more information on the Office of Community-Based Learning and the Community-Based Learning Faculty Fellows program, please visit www.scranton.edu/CBL or email Community-Based Learning Faculty Coordinator, Dr. Debra Fetherman at debra.fetherman@scranton.edu.

The University of Scranton recently hosted a Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) “On the Road” College Election Roundtable to discuss the highly contested Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Senate races. Panelists for the event, co-sponsored by the University of Scranton’s Political Science Department, were JoyAnna Hopper, Ph.D., director of The University of Scranton’s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service; Jeff Brauer, professor of social and behavioral sciences at Keystone College and University of Scranton alumnus; and Borys Krawczeniuk, investigative reporter for the Scranton Times-Tribune. Francine Schertzer, senior vice president and chief content officer for PCN, moderated the discussion.

Several questions posed to the panel sought to determine what salient issues will likely motivate citizens to vote, and how specific candidate attributes will affect the election outcomes.

Prof. Brauer highlighted the struggling economy as an important factor that will drive people to vote. Dr. Hopper agreed, but expanded, noting that some polls find the issue of abortion, a topic of intense conversation since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022, to be of larger importance to voters than the economy and inflation. She also referenced Kansas voters’ rejection of a referendum that would have restricted abortion rights as evidence that this issue may bring more women and independents to the polls in favor of Democrats.

Other questions examined if the panel expected the Pennsylvania midterms to defy typical midterm election expectations. For example, after successful primaries, candidates usually shift their rhetoric more to the center of the political spectrum to attract more voters. The party opposite of the president also tends to win more seats in midterm elections. Krawczeniuk responded, explaining that Fetterman, Oz (candidates for the U.S. Senate), and Shapiro (Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Governor) have all moved their positions closer to the middle, but Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for Governor, has not. Dr. Hopper attributed this to a recent trend in which candidates are being “rewarded for being on the extremes.” Krawczeniuk also pointed out that although early data pointed to voters favoring Republican candidates, the Democratic candidates have since taken the lead in the polls. However, Krawczeniuk expects the polls to tighten as they usually do after Labor Day.

Dr. Hopper said that the relevance and influence of a former president (Donald Trump) this long after the conclusion of their term is not typical, but will likely have an effect on the midterm results. Prof. Brauer noted that although midterm elections typically act as a referendum on the president’s party, this election still seems to focus on, in a way, the choice between two presidential candidates – a notion exemplified recently as both President Biden and former President Trump visited Northeast Pennsylvania. Dr. Hopper underscores that the state garners so much attention because “Pennsylvania, I think, it is really truly split.”

The panelists also fielded questions about the importance of debates, social media and endorsements and discussed each of the candidates more specifically.

The panelists concluded the event with advice on how to identify legitimate polls, highlighting the importance of poll timing, poll sample-size, the poll’s margin of error, the poll’s potential partisan leaning and the importance of referencing several different sources. The panelists also noted that polls tend to become more accurate the closer to the election.

The panel discussion can be viewed on PCN’s website.

The University of Scranton’s Asian Studies Program will host two events that examine transnational migration in Taiwan and its cultural impact on the country’s literature and cinema.

Hsin-Chin Evelyn Hsieh, Ph.D., will present “Bringing the World to Taiwan: Border Crossing and Transnational Cultural Flow in Contemporary Taiwan” at a public lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 5, in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall. The event begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and the lecture beginning at 6 p.m.

A screening of the award-winning film “The Good Daughter” and Q and A with the director Yu-Ying (Sally) Wu will be held on Thursday, Oct. 6, in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall. The event also begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m., and the film presentation beginning at 6 p.m. immediately followed by a Q and A with the film’s director.

Both events are free of charge and open to the public.

Dr. Hsieh is an associate professor of the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature at National Taiwan University. She formerly taught at Wesleyan University and was a visiting scholar at University of Tubingen, Germany. At the Oct. 5 lecture, she will discuss how Southeast Asian migrants and their experiences have reshaped the cultural landscape of Taiwan. Dr. Hsieh’s research interests include contemporary Taiwan literature, film and documentary and migration studies, particularly related to the contemporary cultural production and the inbound and outbound migration of Taiwan.

Director Wu has collaborated with David Sutherland on his FRONTLINE series and other films that aired on PBS. Her debut feature documentary, “The Good Daughter,” won Best Documentary and Best Editing at the 2020 Taipei Film Festival. The film looks at the complicated marriage of a disabled Taiwanese man and his Vietnamese wife, portraying her struggle to balance her family obligation to support her relatives in Vietnam with her duties as a mother and wife to her impoverished family in Taiwan.

The lecture and film screening and Q and A are sponsored by the University’s Asian Studies Program and its College of Arts and Sciences, and the Taipei Cultural Center in New York of the Taiwan Ministry of Culture.

For more information or questions about the events, contact Ann A. Pang-White, Ph.D., director of Asian Studies and professor of philosophy at the University, at ann.pang-white@scranton.edu or 570-941-7643

Catholic Music Missionary, John Angotti, will visit Scranton from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 for a series of events involving student liturgical musicians organized through Campus Ministries at the University. The students will have the opportunity to participate in a retreat weekend with Angotti which will include masterclasses, worship, reflection, celebration of the Eucharist, and a concert at the Church of St. Gregory in Clarks Green.  

John Angotti in Concert, featuring University of Scranton music ministers, will take place Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Church of St. Gregory, 330 N. Abington Road, Clarks Green, Pennsylvania. All are welcome to attend. A free-will offering will be accepted.

The next day, Oct. 2, Angotti, along with University students, will lead the music at the 11 a.m. Mass in Madonna della Strada Chapel at the University of Scranton. All are welcome.  

Since his teen years, Angotti has been writing Christian music. He is a graduate of West Virginia University with a degree in marketing; a graduate of the Naval School of Music, where he majored in voice and minored in piano; and a graduate of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, from which he holds a Master of Arts in pastoral studies. He has composed countless original songs for worship through World Library and GIA publications.   

Angotti spreads the Gospel message through word and song, taking a special interest in reaching today's youth and stressing the importance of finding God in the everyday experiences. He is the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as a full-time music missionary, spreading the message of Jesus throughout the country at conferences, parishes and schools. Conferences include: National Catholic Youth Conference, National Conference for Youth Ministers, National Pastoral Musicians Conference, Los Angeles Religious Education Conference, The East Coast Religious Education Conference, The NCCA Conference, The Hofinger Religious Education Conference in New Orleans, and the NCEA.    
 
For more information, please call 570.941.7589 or email: michael.omalley3@scranton.edu. More information about John Angotti's music is available at johnangotti.com.  

The University of Scranton’s Schemel Forum will present two eclectic Collaborative Programs this fall.

On Thursday, Oct. 13, Julie Byerley, M.D., dean of the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), president of Geisinger College of Health Sciences and executive vice president and chief academic officer, Geisinger, will present “Threats to Equity: The Influence of Social Determinants on Human Behaviors that Promote Well-being.” Co-sponsored by GCSOM, the program will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Brennan Hall’s Rose Room, and will also be streamed remotely.

A pediatrician by training, Byerley’s former clinical practice was focused on the care of adolescents with fatigue, chronic pain, anxiety and depression. Combining her interest in health habits that help combat these conditions with a drive to enhance overall health equity, she’ll examine how social determinants influence behaviors that improve well-being. Attendees will be encouraged to consider how daily habits influence the health of individuals and communities alike.

Admission to the program is free for University students, faculty and staff and Schemel Forum members. For non-members, the fee is $25 per individual and $50 per couple for in-person, and $10 per individual and $20 per couple for remote-only. To register, contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu. Or, to pay online, visit www.scranton.edu/schemelforum.

Then, on Friday, Nov.18, the Schemel Forum will partner with the Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library to present the Royden B. Davis, S.J. Distinguished Author Award Event honoring Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated playwright, novelist and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar. The event begins at 6 p.m. in the DeNaples Center’s McIlhenny Ballroom. Reservations are required to attend, and ticket prices vary.

Akhtar is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of “Homeland Elegies,” which The Washington Post called “a tour de force” and The New York Times called “a beautiful novel…that had echoes of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and that circles, with pointed intellect, the possibilities and limitations of American life.” His first novel, “American Dervish,” was published in over 20 languages. His plays include “Junk,” “Disgraced,” “The Who & The What” and “The Invisible Hand.”

For more information on the Distinguished Author Award Event, visit scranton.edu/authaward or contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

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

The University of Scranton’s Office of Community Relations hosted its 12th Annual Scavenger Hunt in downtown Scranton, offering students an opportunity to explore the city during their first weeks at the University.

The hunt on Sept. 2 and 3 included businesses, historical sites, landmarks, and murals. For many incoming students, this event is their first chance to explore the downtown area. This year, it fell on First Friday, a self-guided art walk that celebrates local works, and the first day of La Festa Italiana. 

Over 30 participating locations from across downtown hosted “Iggy” posters, featuring the University mascot, in their windows for students to find. Students could scan QR codes on the posters, shown below and at bottom, to receive a clues with more information about the next locations; they could participate completely outdoors and asynchronously. 

In addition to the Scavenger Hunt, this year’s event included two photo contests: one focusing on downtown landmarks and artistic murals, and the other honoring the most creative photo overall. This year’s hunt also included a First Friday event with free Scavenger Hunt T-shirts for the first 100 registered students, and decorative, Scranton-themed sugar cookies by Lynn Sandy’s Bakery. 

Meet The Winners

* Scavenger Hunt Winners: 
Grand Prize: Shaye Idema ’26 and Rowan Cann ‘26 
Runners Up: Julianna Straub ‘26 and Alice Vyskocil ‘26 

* Downtown Murals and Landmarks Photo Contest Winners: 
Grand Prize: Edward H. Fargis ‘23 

* Creativity Photo Contest Winners: 
Grand Prize: Anthony R. Santos ‘26 and Johnathan Fisher ‘26 
Runners Up: Quentin Pegan ‘26 and Sheldon (Ciggy) Meyers ‘26 

Over 150 students registered for the event and 32 downtown businesses and cultural and city venues offered students a chance to experience different facets of the city. 

This event was held in collaboration with The Center for Student Engagement, The University of Scranton Small Business Development Center, The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce & Metro Action, and Scranton Tomorrow/Main Street Scranton. 

Meet the 12th annual Scavenger Hunt Sponsors

Adezzo 
Amendolaro Boutique 
Backyard Ale House 
Boden 
Chef Von & Mom 
City Market Café 
Commonwealth Coffeehouse  
Coney Island Lunch 
Coney Island of Scranton 
Crunch Scranton 
Downtown Deli 
Eden-A Vegan Café 
Electric City Bake House 
Fork N Bowl 
Freedlove 
Heaven & Earth Café 
Hilton Scranton & Conference Center 
New Laundry 
Northern Light Espresso Bar & Café 
Osaka 
Over the Moon 
Peculiar Slurp Shop 
Pilgers' Pastries 
Pink Pedal 
Pizza by Pappas 
Scoops on Spruce 
The Daisy Collective 
The Garden 
The Giving Tree Wellness Center 
The Railyard 
The Salad Shop 
Tusk 

“Once in office, compared to male colleagues, women sponsor more legislation in the U.S. Congress, bring back nine percent more federal funding to their districts, and are more responsive to their constituents back home. In both Congress and state legislatures, women are more likely to collaborate with other legislators,” wrote JoyAnna S. Hopper, Ph.D., director of the Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service and Assistant Professor of Political Science at The University of Scranton, in an editorial in the Scranton Times-Tribune, published Sept. 11.

In the editorial, Dr. Hopper spoke of the need for more women to serve in elected office and highlighted a training program, Ready to Run Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA), that encourages and trains women who are interested in becoming more involved in government. The Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service at Scranton, in collaboration with the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, offers the non-partisan, campaign training programs that target women in in Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Pike, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

The next Ready to Run NEPA program is set for Saturday, Oct. 1, at The University of Scranton. Participants will gain insight into establishing themselves as credible and viable candidates as well as inspiration to launch a campaign. Topics covered include presentation and messaging skills; what makes women qualified candidates; and how to get started with your campaign. Participants will also gain an understanding of what the underrepresentation of women in Pennsylvania's state and local governments means for women, their families and our communities.

The session begins with check-in/registration at 9 a.m. on the fifth floor of Brennan Hall on the University’s campus and ends at 2 p.m. Refreshments, lunch and materials are included with the registration fee. The event is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County. WNEP is the media partner.

Registration is $30 for the general public or $10 for students with ID. A limited number of partial scholarships are also available. Registration is required to attend and can be completed online. (https://www.scranton.edu/academics/ready-to-run/registration.shtml).

For additional information visit the University’s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service website or contact Sharon Olechna, administrative assistant for the Political Science Department, at 570-941-6326 or sharon.olechna@scranton.edu or readytorun@scranton.edu.

Update: Due to a situation beyond his control, Vincent Grana will be unable to perform in recital Saturday evening. Carlos Avila will instead be joined by recent Grammy-nominee cellist Michael Nicolas.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will welcome pianist Carlos Avila and bass vocalist Vincent Grana for a recital scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17.  The recital begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue.  Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

According to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga, Avila has been a favorite performer at the University for the last decade, having appeared here both as a soloist, as well as with a variety of ensembles. Boga said, “As he serves as pianist for a number of renowned and ‘rising star’ operatic voices, I asked him to select the vocalist for this performance from among his favorite young artists on the national scene, and he is looking forward to introducing our Scranton audience to Vincent Grana.”

One of the most in-demand pianists on the classical music scene, the New York City-based Avila has played concerts across North and South America, Europe and Asia. He has performed at festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Tanglewood, Sarasota, Aspen, Banff, Music Academy of the West, Pianofest, Holland, ChamberFest Dubuque, Lake George and the Carnegie Hall Workshops.

An avid collaborator, Avila has maintained a 20-year partnership with acclaimed violinist Jay Oh, with whom he has given over 80 recitals across Asia and the United States. He has played at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s All-Access Chamber series and the New York Philharmonic’s Leonard Bernstein salon series, and has been showcased on New York’s WQXR, where he gave an all-transcription recital broadcast as one of the winners of The Juilliard School’s prestigious Gina Bachauer Piano Competition.

Avila serves on the collaborative piano faculty at the Heifetz Institute, and is a highly in-demand studio pianist at conservatories throughout the NYC area. A proud Filipino American, Avila is a graduate of Juilliard, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal.

Based in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Grana debuted at Dayton Opera performing the role of Zuniga in their production of Bizet’s Carmen. He has performed with the Castleton Festival under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel, covering such roles as Alcindoro and Benoit (“La Boheme”), Simone (“Gianni Schicchi”) and Escamillo in a concert performance of “Carmen.” In addition, he has performed in the Crested Butte Music Festival’s production of “L’elisir d’amore” and has worked with such renowned artists as Samuel Ramey.

A Philadelphia District winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Grana has sung with Sarasota Opera as an apprentice artist and performed the role of Simone in Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” with Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance program in the summer of 2017. Some of his more recent roles include Gardiner in Opera San Jose’s production of “Moby Dick,” Il Priore in Bellini’s “La Straniera” and Podestà in Rossini’s “La Gazza Ladr,” both with Teatro Nuovo, and Rafael and Adam in Haydn’s “The Creation and Colline in La Boheme” at the Dayton Opera.

Grana received his bachelor’s degree in music education and master’s degree in vocal performance from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. 

Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the concert for information regarding venue requirements for audiences, as policies regarding campus health and safety may change throughout the season.

For further information on the recital, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more info on the performers, visit vincentgrana.com and artsglobal.org.

This fall, the “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project, a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded initiative of The University of Scranton and community partner organizations, continues. A full lineup of community programming centers on three project themes: “From the Industrial Revolution to Act 47 and Beyond,” “From ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen,” and “The Indigenous History of NEPA.” 

Fall events begin with a focus on the area’s industrial heritage and how this continues to shape our region today. The first fall 2022 event, “The 1902 Anthracite Strike: Causes and Consequences, A 120th Anniversary Evaluation,” is a keynote lecture. It features anthracite historian and sociologist, Dr. Robert Wolensky, with respondent panelists, Dr. Melissa Meade and Mayor Paige Cognetti and discussion on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the Lackawanna County Courthouse. Registration is required at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/1902Strike

Industrial theme events continue will highlight the role of women in industry. “A Shop on Every Corner: Memories of the Garment Industry Film Screening & Discussion,” will feature historian Dr. Ken Wolensky and filmmaker Maureen McGuigan on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 7-8:30 p.m. at the historic Ritz Theater & Performing Arts Center. Registration required at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Garment2022

On Saturday, Oct. 15, “Weaving the Past into the Future: Scranton Lace Tour,” will tour the new Scranton Laceworks Village, considering its historical use by the Scranton Lace Company and its transformation into current residential housing. Resource speakers will include: Steve Friedman, University of Scranton History alumnus; Maria MacDonald, Executive Director of the Center for the Living City; and Donald Rinaldi, Builder & Developer, BEDA Construction. Event check-in begins at 1:30 p.m. with the tour from 2-3:00 p.m., at the Laceworks Village, 1315 Meylert Ave., Scranton, PA in collaboration with the Center for the Living City.  Registration required at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LaceTour2022

The Hope Horn Gallery also features a connected exhibition “Time and Lace: A History of the Scranton Lace Company,” open now through Sept. 30, 2022. A Curator’s Lecture takes place on Friday, Sept. 16, in Brennan Hall 228, The University of Scranton, from 5 to 6:00 p.m., followed by a Public Reception in Hyland 407 from 6 to 8:00 p.m.

In October, the project begins its next theme, "From "Immigrant" to Citizen” on Tuesday, Oct. 25 with “All the Places We Come From: Stories, Food, & Community.” This event will be an evening of story-sharing around the theme of migration, featuring nationally-acclaimed writers Anna Badhken, Angie Cruz, Chinelo Okparanta, and Joseph O’Neill. The event will begin with appetizers and sweets from Scranton's multi-ethnic restaurants, and a story-exchange facilitated by the artist-driven international empathy building organization, Narrative 4. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and event from 6 - 7:30 p.m. in Shopland Hall, Scranton Cultural Center. Registration will open in late September. Please visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory for updates.

Additional theme events include a connected Hope Horn Gallery Exhibition, Mayan Narratives: San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala, Photographs by Byron Maldonado, from Oct. 7 - Nov. 18. On Friday, Oct. 7 there will be a First Friday Scranton opening, an Artist’s Lecture from 5 - 6 p.m. in Brennan 228, The University of Scranton and Public Reception to follow from 6 – 8 p.m. in Hyland Hall 407, The University of Scranton. On Dec. 5 at 5 p.m., a roundtable “The Journey from ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen” will feature local resource speakers from a range of backgrounds, in collaboration with the Schemel Forum in Brennan Hall, The University of Scranton.

In November, the project will return to the theme of “Indigenous History of NEPA” with “Forced Removal of the Lenape People: History and Homecoming.” The keynote talk will feature Curtis Zunigha, enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma and co-director and co-founder of the Lenape Center in New York. Now living and working in Lenapehoking, the Lenape ancestral homeland, Zunigha will share his experience and mission to heal the wounds of forced removal and colonization and his desire is to restore the circle of friendship, respect, and shared occupancy. This special event will take place on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in The DeNaples Center Ballroom at The University of Scranton.

In December, the fall events will conclude with a roundtable discussion, “The Journey from ‘Immigrant’ to Citizen,” Dec. 5, 5 p.m., Brennan Hall, University of Scranton Campus, featuring local resource speakers from a range of backgrounds, in collaboration with The University of Scranton's Schemel Forum.

For more information and to view upcoming events and recordings of past events, please visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory.

Follow the Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story project on social media at: Facebook and Instagram @ourscrantonstory and on Twitter at @scrantonstory

Questions? Contact community@scranton.edu or call 570-941-4419. 

The University of Scranton’s Schemel Forum will offer three stimulating evening courses as part of its fall programming.

Taught by University faculty members, the courses will be presented in six weekly sessions from 6 to 7:15 p.m. in the Weinberg Memorial Library. The courses are free for University students, faculty, staff and Schemel Forum members. For non-members, the fee is $75 per individual and $125 per couple.

Billie Tadros, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and theatre, will present “Crossing the Line(s): Reading and Writing Contemporary Poetry” on Monday evenings Sept. 19 and 26 and Oct. 3, 17, 24 and 31.

During the sessions, Tadros will help students develop a vocabulary for the shared practice of close-reading forms of poetry, from the traditional (e.g., the sonnet, the villanelle, the sestina, the pantoum) to the newer forms invented by living poets (e.g., the Golden Shovel, the duplex, the pecha kucha).

Participants will be invited (though not required) to write their own poems, and there will be time for sharing and discussion during each course meeting.

“I aim to provide participants with the confidence and the vocabulary to read and to talk about contemporary poems,” Tadros said. “I’ll invite participants to experiment with poetry themselves and to consider what poetry can do for them in their own lives as readers and writers. In a 1994 interview, award-winning poet Adrienne Rich described poetry as ‘a portable art,’ saying that ‘it travels.’ In my course, I hope to provide participants with something portable, both something they can carry with them and something to help carry them forward.”

Roy Domenico, Ph.D., professor of history, will present “What is Fascism?” on Wednesday evenings Sept. 21 and 28 and Oct. 5, 12, 19 and 26.

For decades, historians have struggled to define fascism – has the word become so unwieldy that it has lost its meaning, or does it still convey something that informs us about our world? With those questions in mind, Domenico will use the course to examine fascism, or something that resembles it, starting with its French and Italian roots and its Nazi variations, and concluding with the global populist and mass-surveillance phenomena.

“Has there ever been a clear definition of fascism?” Domenico said. “We'll explore the various angles of fascism, something that went away in 1945 ... or not?”

Stephen Whittaker, Ph.D., professor in the University’s Department of English and Theatre, will present “How a Masterpiece of Medieval Irish Art Bridged the Classical & Christian Worlds” on Tuesday evenings Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25 and Nov. 1 and 8.

In this look at the origins and legacy of the Monogram Page of “The Book of Kells,” commonly known as “the chief relic of the Western world,” Whittaker will examine how an Irish treasure from the year 800 unified science, religion and art.

“During the golden age of classical Greece, Plato articulated a unity of scientific, theological and artistic perspectives. This coherence of ways of thinking about human experience lay obscured for a millennium, but it surfaced again in the Chi Rho page of ‘The Book of Kells,’” Whittaker said. “This medieval Irish masterpiece embodies and transmits to us a vision of the deep unity of sacred, natural and artistic modes of human experience.”

To register for the courses, contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu. 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.

Additional Schemel Forum events scheduled for the fall semester include luncheon seminars collaborative events and a bus trip. Myers talks about the fall programming in an interview with Erika Funke for WVIA. The full schedule events can be found on the Schemel Forum’s webpage.

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will kick off its fall season Friday, Sept. 2, with a concert by the Matt Marantz Quartet. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

According to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga, Marantz is a friend and longtime colleague of Scranton’s new Co-Director of Performance Music Phil Kuehn.

A Texas native, Marantz grew up in a musical family and, during the early years of his saxophone studies, became an admirer of the music of Charlie Parker, Phil Woods and Cannonball Adderly.

While a student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Marantz nurtured his love of playing in different types of ensembles under the tutelage of his father and then-director of the jazz bands, Bart Marantz. There, he also learned about the jazz greats who served as his musical foundation, among them Keith Jarrett, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Some of Marantz:s peers at the school, most notably pianists Sam Harris and Frank LoCrasto, additionally had a big impact on his playing and composing.

In 2004, Marantz moved to New York City, beginning a musical journey that has taken him as far away as the Middle East, Europe and Asia for tours. Along the way, he has had the chance to perform live with Herbie Hancock, Michael Bublé, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Jason Moran. His 2010 album, “Offering,” received three and a half stars in Downbeat, while his self-released title “Aura” is available on Bandcamp.

Please check Performance Music’s website, scranton.edu/music, within 24 hours of the concert for information regarding venue requirements for audiences, as policies regarding campus health and safety may change throughout the season.

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

The “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project, a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded initiative of The University of Scranton with the support of community partner organizations, continues this fall with a series of community programming. The first fall 2022 event, “The 1902 Anthracite Strike: Causes and Consequences, A 120th Anniversary Evaluation,” will feature a keynote lecture with Anthracite historian and sociologist, Dr. Robert Wolensky, a respondent panel and discussion. It is planned for Thursday, Sept. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the Lackawanna County Courthouse. Registration is required at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/1902Strike

This event will take place in Courtroom 3 of the Lackawanna County Courthouse, the historic location of the arbitration for the 1902 strike that had President Theodore Roosevelt in attendance. Dr. Wolensky's keynote on the 1902 labor strike in Scranton, Pennsylvania, will be followed by remarks from respondent panelists, and a moderated conversation with Q&A. 

Dr. Wolensky will provide insights into the history of labor and industry of the region by highlighting factors that led to the 1902 strike, resulting labor laws, and the experiences of marginalized groups within the labor movement. A Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Dr. Wolensky also serves as Adjunct Professor History at King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and has published several books on the area’s history and culture. 

After the keynote presentation, respondents will discuss how the complexities surrounding the 1902 strike can provide insights into the present and future of labor, and the economy for Scranton and the nation. Respondent panelists are Melissa R. Meade, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication, Allegheny College and founder of "The Anthracite Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania Digital Project," a public digital humanities forum that she continues to maintain, and Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, Mayor of Scranton.

This event, the first in the theme "From the Industrial Revolution to Act 47 & Beyond,” begins a fall slate in continuation of the “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project.

Additional theme events in Scranton will include:

• “A Shop on Every Corner: Memories of the Garment Industry" Film Screening & Discussion, with historian Dr. Ken Wolensky and filmmaker Maureen McGuigan, on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Ritz Theater & Performing Arts Center, 
  
  
• “Weaving the Past into the Future: Scranton Lace Tour,” in collaboration with the Center for the Living City, on Saturday, Oct.15, at the Laceworks Village,1315 Meylert Ave.; check-in,1:30 p.m., event, 2 to 3 p.m., 
  
  
• a connected exhibition “Time and Lace: A History of the Scranton Lace Company,” at The Hope Horn Gallery, Sept. 2 through 30, with an opening during First Friday Scranton, Sept. 2, from 5 to 9 p.m., and
  
  
• a Curator’s Lecture, on Friday, Sept. 16, at The University of Scranton, Brennan Hall 228, from 5 to 6:00 p.m., followed by a Public Reception in Hyland 407 from 6 to 8:00 p.m.
  
  

Fall events will continue with an additional theme launching late fall: "From "Immigrant" to Citizen."

About 'Scranton's Story, Our Nation's Story' 

The "Scranton's Story, Our Nation's Story" project launched in October 2021, with events focusing on the inaugural them "Portrait of Scranton, Portrait of a Nation," including a Jane Jacobs Walk on Scranton's downtown Lackawanna Avenue, and a keynote lecture with prolific Scranton-born author Jay Parini.

Events continued through winter 2022, with the project's second theme, "The U.S. Citizen and the American Founding," featuring a book discussion, humanities discussion with scholars Annelein De Dijn and Aziz Rana, and a community dialogue.

The project launched its third theme, "The Indigenous History of NEPA" in spring 2022, and will continue with events in November, including a special keynote lecture. Curtis Zunigha, enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and co-founder/co-director of the Lenape Center will speak on Nov. 17, at The University of Scranton, DeNaples Center Ballroom, at 7 p.m.

For more information, and to view upcoming events and recordings of past events, please visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory.

Questions? Contact community@scranton.edu or call 570-941-4419.