When summer reaches the UPG campus, most students have already headed home for jobs and family time. But that doesn’t mean the campus is empty.  In addition to four Summer Orientation and Registration sessions for incoming freshmen and their parents, national conferences, corporate meetings, and sports and academic camps for youngsters fill the campus throughout the warm months.
Many conferences are directly related to education.  The Children’s Literature Conference is an annual event that brings authors, illustrators, and national experts together with local teachers and educators.  This year more than 150 attendees eagerly shared ideas to enrich curricula in elementary schools around the area. Dr. Mary Beth Spore and faculty librarian, Evan Cornell, have been responsible for the conference since its inception seven years ago.

A three-year grant from the Grable Foundation of Pittsburgh is underwriting workshops organized by Dr. Ted Zaleskiewicz for high school science teachers.  This year 16 teachers from western Pennsylvania attended the workshops to learn ways to integrate contemporary physics concepts in their courses.
 Businesses and organizations seeking a quiet place that fosters growth and good fellowship find UPG a wonderful meeting place in the summer.  State-of-the-art housing and outstanding cuisine by Chartwells Dining Service mean UPG is a very busy summer destination.  UPG’s camps offer an exciting and fun way for youngsters to learn new skills from coaches or computer experts.  According to Admissions Director Brandi Darr, many entering students first saw UPG when they attended a camp as a child. 
 

Summer sounds like fewer classes and lots of Rest and Relaxation for faculty.  But in fact, R and R usually means Research and Retooling.  Manuscripts, unplumbed libraries, and visiting scholar positions at prestigious universities all vie for those precious summer months.

For Associate Professor of Engineering and Mathmetics Estella Llinás this summer offered two exciting possibilities:  to return to the University of California at Berkeley as a visiting professor, a post she’s filled many times, or to teach in Guanajuato, Mexico.  Dr. Llinás served as UPG’s first exchange professor at the University of Guanajuato in the spring of 2002 and eventually decided to accept their offer to return this summer.

In 2001 UPG’s educational compact with Guanajuato brought the first Fulbright Scholar, Juan-Rene Segura to campus and later an exchange student.  Many UPG students have visited and studied in the beautiful provincial town, and Dr. Nancy Estrada, Director of the International Village,  continues to recruit Mexican students to UPG.

UPG’s prize-winning faculty just keep earning more well-deserved praise for their scholarship and teaching.
 

Dr. Diane Marsh will spend this academic year in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Jeffrey Sposato, Assistant Professor of Music, has been awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship from the  American Council of Learned Societies to complete his book The Price of Assimilation:  Felix Mendelssohn and the Nineteenth-Century Anti-Semitic Tradition. Dr. Sposato will be on leave through the next academic year to complete this project. 

Dr. Anthony Boldurian, Professor of Anthropology, received a grant from Pitt’s Innovation in Education Awards Program to pursue a project using resin casts of Paleolithic stone artifacts to create teaching materials for universities.  Dr. Boldurian’s innovative classroom techniques have earned him many awards, including the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, Pitt’s highest honor.

For a dedicated teacher and scholar, nothing provides greater pleasure than sharing one’s love of a subject with talented students.  For that reason, Associate Professor of Engineering and Mathematics Dr. Guy Nicoletti was delighted to work with freshman Jon Berkepile to prepare two papers  for presentation at regional meetings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.  As a result of their collaboration, Jon has twice received  special commendations from the society and $500 book scholarships. 
 
 

Jon’s academic excellence in his freshman year also merited a leadership award from the Engineering club and membership in Phi Eta Sigma, a national freshman honors society.  Jon modestly commented, “ All in all, my freshman year at UPG went very well” and thanked his UPG professors for their help and encouragement. Jon graduated from Norwin High School in 2002.

For dedicated teachers, the highest praise always comes from former students.  If you’d like to let your professors know how much you value their influence on your lives, just send them an email. 

 (The UPG website lists e-mail addresses.) 

If you send a copy of your message to us, we’ll include it in a future edition of the Blue & Gold.

	Entering students concentrate on choices during SOAR.
Carl Rossman, Vice President for Administrative Affairs, takes aim at the recent YMCA Croquet Tournament.
Mark Bruener, #87 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, (center) Ron Magnuson, Chair of UPG Advisory Board, (left)  and Frank Cassell enjoy the Bobcat Benefit Golf Outing at Totteridge Golf Course in Greensburg.  Signature event sponsor was Repal Construction, Inc.	Joseph Lee of United Parcel Service presents a gift of $3300 to UPG President Frank A. Cassell for the President’s Scholarship Fund.  This is the fourth year UPG has supported the scholarship fund.  UPS also offers part-time employment to UPG students in a special referral program.
	Dennis Yablonsky, (left) Secretary of the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, and Senator Allen Kukovich (third from left) present an award to North Huntingdon Township for its work in “developing and adopting a Comprehensive Plan for land use and growth stratagies” at the first annual Smart Growth Awards Dinner.  Accepting are (left-right) Bill Chapman, Planning Commission Chairman and Tom Kerber, Chairman, Board of Commissioners.