University News

Saint Francis University President Fr. Malachi Van Tassell, T.O.R., Ph.D. has appointed Dr. Karan Hinman Powell to serve as interim vice president for academic affairs effective June 4. Dr. Powell will assume the duties of interim vice president when Dr. Wayne Powel, the current provost, steps down at the end of the month. She will continue in the role while a national search for a permanent successor is underway. Fr. Van Tassell thanked Dr. Powel for his nearly twelve years of service as provost (and previously vice-president of academic affairs) at Saint Francis University stating, “I am

The hoop house closed its first semester with a successful harvest, producing over 100 pounds of cold-season crops. The greens were used by Torvian Dining Hall, providing farm-to-table food options for the university. The greenhouse-like structure was built in January to be used by students in the Environmental Studies program . Students in the Sustainability in Food Production course , taught by Professor Marie Olson , grew crops from seedling through harvest, and were responsible for maintaining all aspects of the hoop house. This process allowed them to put their classroom coursework into

Jim Donovan is an Instructor and the Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Saint Francis University. He was also the drummer and founding member of the multi-platinum band Rusted Root from 1990-2005. Currently, Mr. Donovan is the founder and lead singer of Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors , where their first self-titled album hit the Billboard Americana Charts. Here, he discusses their latest album, We See Through It . This is Sun King Warriors second album. What was the mindset going into the second record? This time around, I aimed at writing music that considered each of the musicians in the

Saint Francis University’s first “Become that Someone” Community Engagement Awards & Community Partner Appreciation Breakfast was held on Monday, April 9, 2018, at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Loretto. Lisa Georgiana, Director of the Center for Service and Learning organized the first of what she hopes to be an annual event. “The purpose of the event is to celebrate our community partners, faculty, staff and students who are participating in and initiating community engagement activities and embracing the mission of the University with their hearts for service.” The mission at the

Mr. David Bolt, Vice President of Cormorant Engineering, visited Saint Francis University to do mock interviews with students during the week of March 12th. Bolt has over 30 years of experience in hiring both prospective and veteran engineers. The one-on-one interviews were also filmed for further learning feedback. The purpose of filming the interviews is not for students to manage their behavior, but instead to see how they appear and to notice any nervous habits of which they might not have been aware. Mr. Bolt encourages the students to review the videos, but not have too narrow of a focus

Schlumberger , the world’s leading supplier of technology solutions in the oil and gas industry once again made a generous donation of their nearly $60 million software package to be used by Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering undergraduates at Saint Francis University. The donation provides 15 licenses and a maintenance contract for the next three years for different Schlumberger software products such as PETREL, ECLIPSE, PIPESIM, VISAGE, MEPO,INTERSECT, and MANGROVE. Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Seniors, Zach Rohland and John Sheesley, started working with the software PETREL in

Saint Francis University's nursing program has been ranked the number one nursing program in Pennsylvania by RegisteredNursing.org . Nursing programs were assessed on several factors, which represent how well a program supports students towards licensure and beyond. Past and present NCLEX-RN “pass-rates” weighted by year, were analyzed for this ranking. Saint Francis University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program recently became the only program in the state to have 100 percent of its graduates pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) for the past four consecutive

Students in the Environmental Studies program can now apply their lessons in homesteading and sustainability in a newly built greenhouse—or its proper term, hoop house. The steel-framed, tented tunnel was built on the university grounds near Torvian Dining Hall—a fitting location, as the Torvian chefs will soon be cooking with the fresh produce grown inside the modern structure. Dr. Lauri Chose , Director of the Environmental Studies program, is looking forward to the many opportunities the hoop house will provide for her students. “It allows us to work with our growing seasons instead of

Dr. Alireza Shahkarami, Assistant Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering program, received a $70,000 grant from the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund for Undergraduate Research. The three-year grant allows Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering students to conduct research titled “An Experimental Investigation of Microemulsion Phase Behavior at High Pressure and High Temperature Conditions.” Dr. Shahkarami’s research proposal aims to investigate the effect of the water/oil ratio, pressure, temperature, and oil composition on surfactant phase behavior.

A tiny house phenomenon is sweeping the nation. The typical American home is about 2,600 square feet, but more Americans are choosing to downsize into tiny homes with less than 400 square feet. Tiny houses enable people to live a smaller, simpler life in an efficient space. The idea to build a 160 square foot, tiny classroom was developed in the spring of 2017 by Allison Rohrs, Director for the Institute of Energy at Saint Francis University. “The idea is to utilize the tiny house model in order to educate students and the community about renewable energy, efficient living and producing a