Eddie Howard

Mike Reagle

Some familiar faces and some new ones make up the university’s reorganized administrative team.

As part of the restructuring of the Student Affairs division, Michael Reagle, formerly associate vice president for Campus Life at Eastern Kentucky University, is the new AVP for Student Success, and Eddie J. Howard Jr., formerly vice president for Student Affairs at Augusta Technical College in George, is the new AVP for Student Experience.

Mike Hripko

Mike Hripko, deputy director for Workforce and Educational Outreach at America Makes, returns to campus as the new AVP for Research. Hripko previously was director of STEM Research and Technology-based Economic Development at YSU.

Sal Sanders

And, Sal Sanders, associate professor, Health Professions, and associate dean of Graduate Studies at YSU since 2013, is the new dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

The appointments were part of a new administrative reorganization that President Jim Tressel said will allow the university to operate more efficiently and effectively and will reduce top managerial costs by nearly $1 million.

Under the reorganization, the administration will have three vice presidents: Martin Abraham provost and VP, Academic Affairs; Holly Jacobs, general counsel and VP, Legal Affairs and Human Resources; and Neal McNally, VP, Finance and Business Operations

The YSU Board of Trustees has voted to authorize the conferral of emeritus status on the following retired faculty, administrators and staff:

Faculty
Javed Alam, Professor, Civil/Environmental and Chemical Engineering, 33 years of service.
Servio Becerra, Professor, Foreign Languages and Literature, 29 years.
Robert Beebe, Professor, Educational Foundations, Research, Technology, and Leadership, 25 years.
Carl Chuey, Professor, Biological Sciences, 47 years (posthumously).
Herve` Corbe`, Assistant Professor, Foreign Languages and Literature, 36 years.
Rosemary D’Apolito, Professor, Sociology, Anthropology, and Gerontology, 31 years.
Richard Gaydos, Associate Professor, Computer Science and Information Systems, 33 years.
Beverly Gray, Professor, Psychology, 28 years.
Vernon Haynes, Professor, Psychology, 31 years.
Louis Katz, Professor, Management, 38 years.
Robert Leipheimer, Professor, Biological Sciences, 30 years.
Anthony Messuri, Professor, School of Technology, 36 years.
Howard Mettee, Professor, Chemistry, 46 years.
Tedrow Perkins, Professor, Dana School of Music, 28 years.
Thomas Rakestraw, Associate Professor, Management, 32 years.
Regina Rees, Associate Professor, Teacher Education, 10 years.
Raymond Shaffer, Professor and Chair, Accounting and Finance, 25 years.
James Tackett, Professor, Accounting and Finance, 31 years.
John Usis, Professor, Biological Sciences, 25 years.
Maureen Vendemia, Professor, Health Professions, 35 years.
Victor Wan-Tatah, Professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, 28 years.

Administrators/staff
Jonelle Beatrice, Executive Director, Student Life, 14 years of service.
Mary Dimitriou, Coordinator, Alumni and Events Management, 14 years.
George Heller, Associate Reference Librarian, Maag Library, 21 years.
Sally Kenney, Senior Academic Advisor Coordinator, Dean’s Office – BCHHS, 28 years.
Rosemary Kent, Assistant Director, Federal Programs And Financial Aid, Financial Aid and Scholarships, 10 years.
Matthew Novotny, Executive Director, Kilcawley Center, 28 years.
Patricia Shively, Associate Director, Center for Student Progress, 10 years.
Ronald Williams, Associate Director, Procurement Services, 25 years.

Training is underway for faculty and staff as part of the university’s efforts to ensure that YSU’s website is fully accessible, including to individuals with disabilities.

Rosalyn Donaldson, Technology and Training coordinator, said employees involved with web content should register for training and click on the  “Register Now” link.

Employees may also contact the Instructional Design and Development Center in the Office of Distance Education at iddc@ysu.edu for instructions on how to access a self-paced online training course in Blackboard. Additional self-directed instruction guides and videos are found on the EIT Accessibility Compliance, Desktop Tools page.

All employees involved in any way with web content are required to attend training to learn how to ensure that the content is fully accessible to visually and hearing impaired individuals.

The training is part of an agreement that YSU entered into late last year with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to ensure the accessibility of the university’s website.

Since then, the university has formed a work group, created a website, developed non-discrimination notices and is moving forward on several other fronts to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination based on disability. The agreement stipulates that the university must be in compliance by Dec. 30, 2015.

Ken Schindler, chief technology officer and Electronic Information Technology coordinator of the project, is heading the work group.

Student artist Dan Newman installs his steel sculpture in the lobby of Tod Hall.

The artist named his creation “Interpreter,” but viewers usually prefer to call it “birdman.“

YSU junior Dan Newman doesn’t mind a bit.

An art major, Newman designed the steel rod sculpture, now on display in Tod Hall, to resemble a half-man, half-parakeet. Ten feet long, with a beaked head and four-toed parakeet-like feet, the piece has two large wings on its back.

President Jim Tressel noticed the work this spring at the McDonough Museum and asked that it be placed on temporary display at Tod Hall. Newman gladly agreed, and he recruited a friend and fellow art major, Nick Carney, to help assemble the piece.

“We’re thrilled to have Dan’s work displayed this way, “ said Greg Moring, professor and chair, Art. “We’d certainly like to see more student art work exhibited around campus.”

Newman is a native of West Middlesex, Pa. and is majoring in 3D studies, which includes sculpture and ceramics. After earning his baccalaureate at YSU, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in Fine Arts and hopes to teach art on the college level.

Michael T. Butcher

Michael T. Butcher, associate professor, Biological Sciences, along with graduate student Dylan Thomas and undergraduate research assistant Zachary Glenn, were in Costa Rica in late May and early June to conduct research on the specialized anatomy of the three-toed sloth.

“These animals are rare in the wild and having the opportunity to study their muscles is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Butcher said.

Butcher and the two students travelled to The Sloth Sanctuary in Limon, Costa Rica, and collaborated with Rebecca Cliffe, a British zoologist. They performed several experiments testing the strength of sloths. The team harvested muscle that will be analyzed in Butcher’s laboratory at YSU.

“Perhaps most importantly, assembling a set of anatomical and genomic characteristics from three-toed sloths will allow the team to further test hypotheses surrounding the evolution of mammals,” Butcher said.

Sloths are members of an assemblage of ancient placental mammals known as Xenarthrans, and knowledge of their emergence is important to understanding how and when other placental mammals like humans evolved, he said.

Helen Han-Haas

Helen Han-Haas, associate professor, Management, recently co-authored two papers that have been accepted for publication. The first, titled “Team Conflict Mediates the Effects of Organizational Politics on Employee Performance: A Cross-Level Analysis in China,” has been accepted by the Journal of Business Ethics, which is listed as among the Top 20 Business School journals by Business Week magazine. The second, titled “Good and Bad Simultaneously? Leaders Using Dialectical Thinking Foster Positive Conflict and Employee Performance,” has been accepted by the International Journal of Conflict Management. Han-Haas also recently presented a paper, titled “Can a Bad Boss Cost That Much? The Impact of Dark Side of Leadership on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions and Creativity,” at the Annual Western Academy of Management Conference in Kauai, Hawaii. She will present another paper, “Good and Bad Simultaneously? Examining Dialectical Thinking, Conflict and Creativity in Chinese Context,” at the Society of Industrial & Organizational Psychology Conference in Philadelphia.

Carl Johnston, professor, Biological Sciences, co-authored an article titled “Characterization, Sources and Ecological Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in Long-Term Contaminated Riverbank Sediments.” The article, which indicates that the Mahoning River is ranked as the second most PAH contaminated aquatic ecosystem documented in the scientific literature, was published in the journal Environmental Earth Sciences.

Daniel Van Dussen

Daniel J. Van Dussen, associate professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology, graduate director of Gerontology and coordinator of Long Term Care, was awarded the 2015 Educator of the Year distinction by the Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education at its 39th annual conference. The award recognizes outstanding individuals in Ohio’s educational institutions who have advanced gerontology education and training for students and practitioners and who have used educational programs to improve services to older adults in Ohio. Awarded annually since 1979, it is considered one of the highest honors for gerontology educators in Ohio. As part of the honor, Van Dussen has been invited to be a highlighted presenter at the association’s 40th Annual Conference in April 2016.

Shirley Keller, professor, Social Work, was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s regional meeting of the National Association of Social Work, Region IV Ohio Chapter. A 35-year member of NASW, Keller developed YSU’s Master’s of Social Work degree program, and chairs the university’s annual Social Work Day Program, which this year attracted more than 300 participants.

Michael Jerryson, assistant professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, has published an article, titled “Teaching and Learning Guide for: Buddhism and Violence,” in the spring edition of Religion Compass. A topical issue of Open Theology which Jerryson co-edited, and for which he co-authored an introduction, was also published in June.

The Rec 5 area just west of Sweeney Hall went under the blade of the bulldozer earlier this summer.

Crews are busy across campus this summer working on more than $12 million in improvements, from restroom renovations and roof replacements to expansion of the electrical substation and creating new lab space in Moser Hall.

The vast majority of the repairs are funded through state capital dollars.

The biggest project is renovations to Melnick Hall. The $4.65 million improvement will allow for the relocation of the YSU Foundation and WYSU 88.5 FM to the building, said Rich White, director of Planning and Construction. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Rec 5 area just west of Sweeney Hall has been overhauled. Retaining walls, fencing and the asphalt surface have been removed. White said grass will be planted and the lot will be campus green space. A small basketball court will be built on the northwest corner of the lot.

In Moser Hall, space on the first floor is being renovated for an advanced manufacturing lab. White said the project also includes construction of offices on the third floor of Moser, where offices for Physics faculty will move from their current location on the lower level of Ward Beecher Hall.

Other summer projects include: elevator safety repairs and replacements in DeBartolo, Ward Beecher, Bliss and Moser halls; restroom renovations in Tod, Bliss, Ward Beecher and Sweeney halls; upgrades and expansion of the university’s electrical substation; replacement of damaged concrete drives, walkways and steps; replacement of portions of roofs on Tod, Moser and Fedor halls; repairs and preventative maintenance to the Wick and Lincoln avenue parking decks; and repairs to masonry exteriors on Bliss and Moser halls and Stambaugh Stadium.

Michael Nichols, a keyboard performance major in Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, is featured in the new Music in the Morning program for the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, 10 a.m., Saturday, July 18, in Faith Community Covenant Church, 1919 East Midlothian Blvd., in Youngstown.

Admission is free and open to the public. Reservations are suggested. Walk-ins are welcomed. A good will offering will be accepted. Refreshments will be served. A 50/50 raffle will be held to benefit the society.

Nichols is a Youngstown native, attended Cardinal Mooney High School and graduated from Chaney VPA/STEM in Youngstown in 2012. He has performed in numerous Chaney VPA productions, both as a pianist and as a music arranger. Nichols plans to further pursue his education and career at Juilliard School of Music in New York. Nichols will play a varied repertoire, including Transcendental Etude #4 by Liszt, Piano Sonata Opus 31 #2 by Beethoven, and Valses Nobles & Tempest Sentimentales by Ravel.

The Music in the Morning programs are part of a community outreach initiative undertaken by the WHMHS in 2014, which also includes the Memories of a Lifetime series. The society seeks to promote the McGuffey legacy of citizenship, character, conservation, patriotism and the importance of literacy by offering high interest programs to the public. William Holmes McGuffey is known as “America’s Schoolmaster” and the author of the famous McGuffey Eclectic Readers, first published in 1836 and still in print. McGuffey’s homestead, now known as the McGuffey Wildlife Preserve, is located in Coitsville Township and is a National Historic Landmark. It was donated by the society to Mill Creek Metropark’s in 1998. For more information or to make reservations, phone Richard S. Scarsella, president of the WHMHS, at 330-726-8277.

The Annual Governmental/Not-For-Profit Seminar, designed to assist financial executives in governmental and not-for-profit organizations as well as public and accounting practitioners serving the public sector, is Friday, Aug. 21, in Williamson Hall at Youngstown State University.

The seminar is offered by the Lariccia School of Accounting and Finance in YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration and cosponsored by the Ohio Society of CPAs, The seminar is

Dan Bradley, seminar leader, is a principal with the regional certified public accounting firm of Young, Oakes, Brown & Co. P.C. in Altoona, Pa. He has extensive experience in performing audits of for-profit as well as governmental and not-for-profit organizations and dealing with entities subject to the requirements of Government Auditing Standards. Bradley is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants.

The seminar provides eight hours of CPE credit approved by the Accountancy Board of Ohio and Pennsylvania. In addition, the eight hours qualify for Yellow Book credits.

Registration fee is $169 if registered by Aug. 9. After Aug. 9, the fee is $209. To register, visit https://aceweb.ysu.edu. For more information, call University Outreach at 330-941-2465.

The Youngstown State University Board of Trustees today ratified a three-year contract with the union representing professional staff employees.

Members of the YSU Association for Professional and Administrative Staff overwhelmingly ratified the pact in a vote last week. APAS represents about 160 employees.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we want to thank the negotiating teams for both APAS and the administration for developing this contract,” Board Chair Carole Weimer said. “We want to particularly recognize the APAS leadership and membership for their professionalism and spirit of collegiality during these challenging financial times.”

Ed Villone, APAS chief negotiator and president-elect, added: “The constant theme of our team was job security for our members and finding creative ways to meet the needs of the university while not sacrificing our own needs and concerns. We believe these objectives were satisfied and done without having to yell, scream or even raise our voices during this very professional process.”

He said another wage freeze “is a difficult pill to swallow.” But, in light of major budget cuts announced recently by the University of Akron, Villone said APAS is “glad the administration worked well with our team to reach manageable goals.”

The contract, which is retroactive to July 1, 2015, includes a three-year wage freeze. It also includes a one-time lump sum payment averaging $1,000 per employee in the third year depending on changes to health insurance. The agreement also includes reductions in sick leave accrual payout at retirement, reduction of the top-level annual vacation accrual, reductions in layoff notice time, the ability to subcontract work, and changes to health insurance that are consistent with classified employees.

Mahoning and Shenango Valley employers are invited to learn about internship programs and related grants available at Youngstown State University, as well as at area community colleges and technical schools, at an informational breakfast set for 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11.

The event will be in Williamson Hall on the YSU campus and is presented by the Williamson College of Business Administration and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The program begins at 8 a.m. with a presentation of the Northeast Ohio Council of Higher Education “Return on Intern” program, which discusses the merits of internships as a fast and cost-effectove way to infuse talent into an organization.

For companies that fall under certain key industry categories, grants are available to reimburse employers for student wages and to provide scholarships for students completing internships.

To make a reservation for the breakfast meeting, contact Christina Costello in the WCBA Office of Professional Practice, clcostello01@ysu.edu, 330-941-1884, or Marie Meeks, STEM Professional Services, mrmeeks@ysu.edu, 330-941-2642.

For 60 Youngstown State University students, the real world learning experience gained through a paid internship was possible, thanks to a $150,000 Career Ready Internship Grant from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation.

The Williamson College of Business Administration received the grant and collaborated with local businesses and nonprofits to develop new paid internships and convert existing unpaid internships into paid opportunities. The funds were used to assist juniors and seniors who, because of financial need, could not afford to accept unpaid internships.

Several students were asked to stat with their host employers in either full-time or part-time positions following their internships

The grant was a collaborative effort involving the Williamson College, the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, the Department of Communication Studies and The News Outlet.

Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation awarded $5.2 million in new grants to 40 colleges and universities in four states to help students with financial need receive the benefits of paid internships during the 2014-2015 academic year.

In the 2013-14 academic year, Great Lakes tested the idea of a grant to fund internships with a $2.5 million commitment to 19 Wisconsin colleges and universities, then expanded the effort in 2014-15 to include colleges in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio, including YSU.

“This grant funding provided a tremendous opportunity to YSU students with financial need to have a paid internship,” said Laura Dewberry, Great Lakes grant administrator. “It also allows employers in the Mahoning Valley to host a YSU student as an intern for the first time or offer a paid internship when they were previously unable.”

Back row are Megan Massaro, YSU ACE member; Mary Hake, YSU ACE member; Mr. Pavlansky, father of scholarship recipient; and Linda Frattaroli, YSU ACE member. Front Row, Mrs. Pavlansky, mother of scholarship recipient; Nicole Pavlansky, scholarship recipient; Mary Dillingham, YSU ACE member; and Connie Frisby, YSU ACE president)

The Youngstown State University Association of Classified Employees has awarded a $400 scholarship to Nicole Pavlansky of Canfield, Ohio, who is majoring in Accounting at YSU.

Pavlansky, nominated by YSU ACE members Mary Dillingham and Mary Hake of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Science, works in the Office of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

An award dinner was held at Collections Cafe at the Butler Institute of American Art. Pavlansky was accompanied by her parents and surrounded by numerous members of the YSU-ACE executive committee, the selection committee, the social committee and those who recommended her.

Applicants must have completed at least 30 semester hours at YSU and have documented financial need. They must submit an essay discussing the value of his/her employment at YSU, their community service, and two recommendation letters from YSU-ACE members.

“The students are our number one priority,” said Connie Frisby, administrative assistant in the Office of Computer Science & Information and YSU-ACE president. “Many past and present YSU-ACE employees have made and continue to make contributions into this scholarship through the YSU Foundation to be able to help those hard working students a bit more. It was an honor to share this event with Nicole.”

For more information on the scholarship, contact Frisby at 330-941-3134 or clfrisby@ysu.edu. Donations to the scholarship can be sent to the ACE Scholarship Fund at the Associated School Employees Credit Union.

The YSU ACE Scholarship was established in 2003 as an endowed scholarship invested through the YSU Foundation to provide financial assistance to YSU student employees.

Pete’s Pride has hit the 1,000 mark.

The program was started a year ago by Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel as a way to get alumni, parents, faculty, staff, Penguin fans, community members and others more involved with the university.

Members volunteer for a variety of tasks and activities aimed at recruiting new students, mentoring current students and engaging recent graduates.

Earlier this summer, Joyce and Dick Dowell of Boardman became the 999^th and 1000^th members of Pete’s Pride, respectively. Mr. Dowell is retired from Chase Bank as a vice president in Commercial Banking, while Mrs. Dowell is a retired math teacher from Boardman Glenwood Middle School.

In all, there are now 1,056 Pete’s Pride members spanning in 28 states. Alumni Pete’s Pride members range in class year from Helen Wymer Manor of Bradenton, Fla., who graduated in 1948, to many 2015 graduates.

Pete’s Pride volunteers assist with enrollment, career development and outreach efforts at YSU. Activities include participation in Crash Day and Experience Y Day visit programs, representing YSU at community events and participating in community service projects. The Canfield Fair and United Way Day of Caring are examples of upcoming community events where Pete’s Pride will participate.

Volunteers also help YSU students with career development through a mock interview program called “Backpacks to Briefcases”, the Career Exploration Series, Career Fairs and Majors Fairs. Plans for a one-on-one mentoring program between YSU students and Pete’s Pride members in their career fields are underway.

Student research Assistant Alec Marsili demonstrates a 3D scanner in YSU’s Launch Lab for, from left, Philip Singerman of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, YSU Engineering professors Brett Conner and Guha Manogharan, YSU President Jim Tressel and Mike Garvey, president of M7 Technologies in Youngstown.

Using 3D printers in Youngstown State University’s new Launch Lab, engineering students are designing and creating prototypes to make hard-to-find airplane parts for the Air Force Research Lab.

“Some of the parts the Air Force needs are legacy parts, they’re no longer made, so they approached us for help,” explained Ashley Martof, a graduate research assistant in the lab. Once a prototype part is created, the students are using 3D printing technology to create tooling so the part can be manufactured in quantity.

That project and others like it helped to showcase YSU’s expanding role in teaching and researching 3D printing and advanced manufacturing when Philip Singerman, associate director for Innovation and Industry Services for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, visited the region.

Singerman’s visit came in the wake of an announcement by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan that NIST had approved a federal grant of nearly $500,000 to fund a hybrid manufacturing consortium that partners YSU with North Carolina University. The Consortium for Advanced Hybrid Manufacturing-Integrating Technologies will develop a plan for integrating additive and subtractive metal manufacturing technology, a combined method known as “hybrid manufacturing.”

The NIST official met with faculty in the College of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, visited labs and met with grad students, then toured the Youngstown Business Incubator and America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, in Youngstown.

“Dr. Singerman offered us advice on how to grow and sustain the consortium, and ways that we might go from a planning award, which is what we have now, to a project award,” said Guha Manogharan, assistant professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

He said Singerman also talked with faculty about an NIST internship program that may be available to YSU students. “This relationship could open doors for internships at the NIST lab, one of largest laboratories in the country,” he said.

Singerman questioned Manogharan and Brett Conner, associate professor of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, about how YSU compares to peer universities in the fields of 3D printing and advanced manufacturing. “It looks like YSU has put itself in a very competitive position when compared to other institutions in Ohio,” Singerman said. “Working closely with the Youngstown Business Incubator and America Makes, I can see that YSU is helping to establish a regional innovation cluster in advanced manufacturing.”

The recently awarded NIST grant is the latest in a series of developments related to advanced manufacturing at YSU. In January 2014, the university moved to the forefront of the 3D printing industrial revolution when it cut the ribbon on a new Center for Innovation in Additive Manufacturing in Moser Hall.

Six months later, YSU and the Youngstown Business Incubator were awarded an additive manufacturing grant of nearly $500,000 by the Ohio Third Frontier Commission. In the spring, the Ohio Board of Regents funded a new sintering furnace in Moser Hall that students and faculty to complete the final processing of 3D parts for aerospace, automotive, industrial, energy and medical applications, and another $365,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Defense was awarded in June to purchase another 3D printer.

A new joint initiative between the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the Ohio Department of Aging launches today in Youngstown and allows area residents age 60 and older to earn free college tuition by volunteering in their community.

Through the GIVE back. GO forward. program, elders in the Youngstown region can “give back” to their community by volunteering at least 100 hours per year at any of three local organizations. In exchange, they will earn a three-credit-hour tuition waiver at either Youngstown State University or Eastern Gateway Community College that they can use themselves or gift to a student to help him or her “go forward.”

“Our elders are valued and respected resources that are in a position to contribute to their communities in ways that will impact the state for years to come,” said Ohio Department of Aging Director Bonnie K. Burman. “GIVE back. GO forward. will allow Ohio’s elder population to feel valued in their community while they experience the health benefits that come with volunteering and helping others. And by working with youth-centered programs, they will be able to pass their wisdom and experience on to a younger generation.”

In this first year of the program, volunteers have from August 3 through May 31, 2016 to earn at least 100 hours of volunteer service with the following:

• United Way Success By 6, a United Way pre-kindergarten summer readiness program that gives children the opportunity to be successful in kindergarten and beyond.

• United Way Success After 6, a United Way program that focuses on academic success for hundreds of students in grades K-6 with the goal of improving their test scores, behavior, and motivation to stay in school.

• Inspiring Minds, which seeks to engage, inspire, and empower youth to reach their full potential through education and exposure to life-changing experiences. The program has a vision “to see every student graduate from high school, complete college or a vocational school, and become strong, successful members of our society.”

Once volunteers reach 100 hours, they will receive the tuition waiver. Volunteers may earn only one tuition waiver per year, and the waiver must be used within five years of earning it. Students receiving the tuition waiver as a gift may receive a waiver from multiple volunteers, but may utilize no more than two waivers (valued at six credit hours) per year.

“At a time when college affordability is increasingly important, GIVE back. GO forward. provides a way for students of any age to jump start their college education,” said Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor John Carey. “Governor Kasich knows the value of giving back to your community and making higher education more affordable, and this program brings both of those things together. We are glad that the Youngstown region and its college presidents have embraced GIVE back. GO forward., and we are excited to see how this first year unfolds.”

GIVE back. GO forward. is open to 100 new volunteers in its first year. Youngstown State and Eastern Gateway each will provide 50 three-credit-hour tuition waivers for those volunteers. Director Burman and Chancellor Carey said ultimately, the idea is to continue GIVE back. GO forward. in Youngstown for years to come as well as replicate the program in other communities around Ohio. To learn more about GIVE back. GO forward., visit www.ohiohighered.org/gbgf.

The Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University will offer continuing education courses in accounting and real estate previously offered by the YSU Metro College.

Upcoming continuing education courses include:

• Annual Government and Not for Profit Seminar, Aug. 21
• Annual Accounting and Auditing Update, Sept. 18
• Annual Tax Update, Nov. 6.
• Real Estate Law, beginning Sept. 28
• Real Estate Principles and Practices, beginning Sept. 29
• Real Estate Finance, beginning Nov. 2
• Real Estate Appraisal, beginning Nov. 3

For registration information, visit web.ysu.edu/wcba. For inquiries regarding the accounting continuing education courses, call the Lariccia School of Accounting and Finance at 330-941-3084. For inquiries regarding the real estate courses, contact the WCBA Office of the Dean at 330-941-3064.

The Williamson College of Business Administration will be adding additional seminars and courses in 2016 as a part of a strategic initiative to bring high quality, in-demand professional development and continuing education programming to the region.

The Youngstown State University Veterans Resource Center, in collaboration with the Mahoning and Trumbull County Veterans Service Commissions, will sponsor a Veterans Resource Fair, noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15 on the lawn of the Pollock House at YSU.

Various support services will be on hand to assist local veterans with health care issues, housing, emergency funding, continuing education, employment and other benefits.

The event is open to the public and parking is free. Veterans in attendance are encouraged to bring their DD Form 214s.

For more information call the YSU Veterans Resource Center at 330-941-2503.

The first entering class of the newly established Honors College at Youngstown State University will be formally welcomed by current Honors students and alumni at a “Passing of the Torch” ceremony and picnic on Monday, Aug. 17.

The event at the Pollock House on Wick Avenue will conclude the weekend freshman Honors College orientation activities.

The new freshman class, otherwise known as the Honors College XXIII, will receive the torch from the previous class of Scholars and Honors students. YSU President Jim Tressel, Provost Martin Abraham and Honors College Director Amy Cossentino will welcome the students and provide brief remarks. Alumni, deans and faculty will also to take part in the celebration.

Freshmen students will assemble on Elm Street near the Cafaro House at 11 a.m., where they will begin their procession carrying the new honors college banner, and their academic college flags. Upon their arrival at the Pollock House, the former banner will be retired and the new one presented. The torch, signifying a new era in honors at YSU, will pass to a freshmen and represent a bond among all honors students.

Established in 1977, the Honors program at YSU became vibrant in the early 1990s with the institution of the Leslie H. Cochran University Scholars Program. In December 2014, the YSU Board of Trustees approved the formation of the Honors College. The College is positioned to offer the continuation of a strong foundation enhanced by greater opportunities and collaboration in academics and research, leadership, service and engagement, study abroad and interdisciplinary perspectives to increased numbers of academically-talented students. The programs had 326 members in 2014-15 and has swelled to 424 for the upcoming year.

More than 750 students have registered for Youngstown State University’s first IGNITE, a two-day experience designed to help incoming students get acclimated to the campus.

IGNITE is 1 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18. Fall semester classes start Wednesday, Aug. 19.

First-year students will rotate among a variety of sessions to learn about campus, relationships, academics, involvement and Penguin Pride. Students will spend time in teams led by returning YSU students, who will serve as resources and guides over the two days.

All first-year students are expected to attend this mandatory event.

Beeghly Center is the check-in location for each day. Dinner on Monday and lunch on Tuesday will be provided.

Among the sessions are: “Are Penguins and Zebras Compatible?” (Gender Based Violence); “When Penguins Collide” (Conflict Resolution); “March of the Penguins” (Student Success & Class Find Tours); “Are there really 17 different species?” (Diversity); and “What’s a “Waddle”? (Student Engagement).

Information and registration.