University News

Red Flash Star Lorenzo Jerome Awaits Word on 2017 NFL Draft

04/28/2017
Saint Francis is on the brink of sending its first Red Flash player to the NFL since 1945, thanks to Lorenzo Jerome. The Criminal Justice major is graduating next weekend with his fellow seniors, but it's his plans this weekend that are sure to rack his nerves. Lorenzo is eligible for the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia, and is hoping be picked up by Day 3. Prior to his impressive collegiate career at Saint Francis , Lorenzo was raised in Florida and born in New York City. “My favorite team growing up was the New York Giants because I was born in Manhattan,” Lorenzo told the Altoona Mirror . “I

Biology Flash Winter 2017 Newsletter Published

01/26/2017
What's going on in the SFU Biology Department? The Winter 2017 edition of the Biology Flash was just published! Stories include a feature on new equipment in the department, new relationships with local wildlife rehabilitation centers, and a feature on Marine Biology senior Stephanie Wilson. View the Winter 2017 Biology Flash Newsletter!

Allison Rohrs receives Energy Leadership Award

11/02/2016
Allison Rohrs, director for the Institute for Energy at Saint Francis University, recently received the Women in Energy Leadership Award by the Pittsburgh Business Times . Rohrs was one of 26 women in the region to receive the 2016 award. The honorees were selected by a panel of industry experts and honored at an event and in a special edition of the Pittsburgh Business Times in October. Rohrs has served as the director for the Institute for Energy at Saint Francis for nearly four years. In her role, she works with local small businesses and farmers to help assess their properties for

Biology Alumnus Nikki Nastasi becomes bone marrow donor

10/07/2016
Nikki Nastasi, a 2011 Saint Francis University Biology graduate, who is a stem cell lab specialist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC for the bone marrow transplant team, recently became a bone marrow donor herself. Prior to her studying biology at Saint Francis, Nikki had done a mouth swab in 2006 through Be The Match , operated by the national marrow donor program. It wasn’t until after she began her career at Children’s hospital that she was contacted as a donor match. Her bone marrow transplant goes to a 3 year old boy with acute myeloid leukemia, a rare blood and bone marrow

Students intern at National Conventions

10/06/2016
Two students, two different majors, two different passions, two different goals, and the same experience of a lifetime: interning at the National Conventions. Meet Amanda Schiavo and Harry Olafsen and see how they experienced the National Conventions, gaining knowledge that will shape their futures. History & Political Science at SFU Interning at the Republican National Convention Amanda Schiavo, a senior majoring in communications and minoring in pre-law , spent two weeks in Cleveland, Ohio completing an internship perfect for her studies: an intern for Fox News at the Republican National

Saint Francis welcomes Fulbright Scholar Dr. Ruben Mamani

09/06/2016
The Saint Francis University School of Science, Environmental Engineering Program , and Center for Watershed Research & Service is pleased to welcome Fulbright Scholar Dr. Ruben Mamani to campus. Dr. Mamani hails from Bolivia and has expertise in air quality and international development projects. He has contributed to research projects investigating air pollution and climate change in the high Andes of Bolivia. He studied the transport of aerosols from Amazonian biomass burning reaching the glaciers of the Andes mountains as an associate researcher at the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory of

2016-17 academic year kicks off

08/30/2016
The move-in dust has settled, and students are getting down to business with the first week of classes under their belts! Compiled here, you will find statistics, video links and photo galleries from the kick-off of the 2016-17 academic year. 2016-17 Fast Facts 2,290 total student population Undergraduate Students We have 1,702 undergraduate students. Of those, 62% are female, 38% are male. 1,309 are Pennsylvania residents; 393 come from outside of PA - with 348 of them coming from 31 different U.S. states. We have 46 international students from 22 countries outside of the U.S. 303 (or 17.8%)

First-Year Convocation insightful

08/22/2016
A First-Year Convocation was held on August 19, and all first-year students were in attendance. The Deans from the Schools at Saint Francis alongside the Provost Wayne Powel, President Father Malachi Van Tassell, T.O.R., current student Gabrielle Beck, and alumna Elisha Fleig processed into the filled auditorium to officially welcome students academically to the University and offer words of wisdom. After a welcome and opening prayer, Fr. Malachi expressed his confidence in the first-year students’ ability to succeed, and current student Gabrielle Beck (double major in psychology and Spanish )

McHenry named 2016 Graduate Commencement speaker

04/17/2016
Heather N. McHenry, PA-C, ’08, MPAS, ’09, has been selected as the speaker for the 2016 Graduate Commencement ceremony on May 8. About Ms. McHenry Heather McHenry says she knew immediately—on her first trip to Honduras as a Saint Francis undergraduate—that she was hooked on medical missions. “It opened my eyes,” says McHenry of the experience. Even though she was not a licensed provider at the time and could only assist the physical therapy team in charge of the trip, she says she found the work immensely gratifying. After earning her master’s in physician assistant science and licensure

A journey from the Humane Society to Veterinary School

03/31/2016
Graduating with the class of 2015 were two unordinary “students:” Maizie and JoJo. These “students” came to Saint Francis University from the Central PA Humane Society where they had been given up by previous owners. As part of a psychology course on animal behavior, a group of students guided by Dr. Stephen Gilmour, now professor emeritus of psychology, applied classroom theory in training these “hard-to-adopt” dogs. The end goal was simple: prepare both dogs to find a loving, forever home. Work hard, train hard. Four students—Ann Beliles ‘15, Anna Fielding, Nathan Herdman and Meghan Studds