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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

PRESS RELEASE (May 10, 2018) A new Saint Francis University program offered in partnership with Nulton Aviation Services of Johnstown will allow students to earn a bachelor's degree and a private/commercial pilot's license at the same time.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (PNGE) program at Saint Francis University was founded in fall 2014. On May 13th, the first two students in the four-year undergraduate program, Zachary Rohland and John Sheesley, graduated. Now that the first students have graduated, Saint Francis University will be seeking accreditation by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET . Future graduation classes expect to be comprised of roughly 15 students per year. Both PNGE graduates have secured positions in the field of Engineering. Zachary Rohland has accepted a summer internship position as

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

A unique partnership between local organizations and the Saint Francis University Shields School of Business is providing students opportunities to learn outside the classroom and engage in community outreach. Facilitated by the Shields’ Backpack to Briefcase Program , students from Dr. Tricia McFadden’s three upper-level marketing classes teamed up with local business owners to provide client-consultant marketing services. Students enrolled in the MKTG 404: Marketing Management, MKTG 321: Marketing Research, and MKTG 325: Integrated Marketing Communications courses engaged a praxis-approach

Sydney's Story Sydney Petro is a junior marketing major from Johnstown, Pa. and currently works as a Resident Assistant on campus. Outside of life on campus, Sydney also works as a Survey and Resume Coordinator for Nurse Navigators Solutions in Johnstown, is an independent consultant for Sabika Jewelry, and is a singer for weddings and other special events. Sydney is a talented singer that has performed since she was just nine years old. At that time, she was performing at church as a cantor and part of the choir. This was just the start to her musical career though; in seventh grade, Sydney

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

Ashley Rovder, an Environmental Engineering major, took part in a unique full-immersion study abroad experience in Bolivia. The experience was made possible through a collaboration between Saint Francis University and the University of Dayton’s Engineers in Technical Humanitarian Opportunities in Service Learning (ETHOS) project. Below, Ashley discusses her experience abroad. What service project did you work on while in Bolivia? I volunteered for SODIS (short for Solar Water Disinfection), a nonprofit organization in Cochabamba, Bolivia, that focuses on providing clean water for the community

Four students in the Environmental Petroleum Engineering course presented their final class project on the explosion and oil spill that occurred from the massive, mobile oil rig, Deepwater Horizon. Nicholas King, Connor Witman, Jan Vit Suntar, and Jonathan Bruno presented a petroleum engineer's perspective explaining what happened during the catastrophic BP oil spill in 2010. They examined what went wrong, what the environmental impacts were, and what lessons can be learned from this disaster. The students reported eight things that went wrong causing the oil well to leak for 87 days spilling

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