FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 18, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College students will present the results of their undergraduate and graduate research at Wilson’s 7th annual Student Research Day on Friday, April 29. The public is invited to join Wilson students, faculty, staff and administrators at all events.
Seniors will present their work, which was produced in conjunction with faculty advisers, beginning at 9 a.m. in Warfield Hall’s Allen Auditorium and the Brooks Science Center auditorium. In addition, a dance presentation choreographed and performed by students will be held at 11:30 a.m. in the dance studio in Davison Hall. Afternoon sessions will be held in the Brooks auditorium.
In addition to the oral presentations, other students will share their work graphically in a poster session, to be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m., also in Brooks. One group of posters represents the work of students in a class called “Biology of Cancer,” looking at different types of cancer.
Presentations will showcase undergraduate and graduate research projects in such disciplines as biology, chemistry, history, fine arts, psychology, English and environmental science.
“Student Research Day is an important day at Wilson College, providing a time to showcase the remarkable achievements of our students, “said Elissa Heil, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. “It’s also a celebration of our strong student and faculty collaboration, which Wilson College prides itself on.”
Student Research Day is again being sponsored this year by the NOVA Corp., a minority-owned information technology service company headquartered in Chambersburg.
The day will kick off with welcomes by Heil in the Brooks Center and President Barbara K. Mistick at 9 a.m. in Warfield’s Allen Auditorium.
Oral presentations throughout the day focus on the humanities, sciences and social sciences, and will include examinations of: factors that increase the contamination risk of pathogenic E.coli in the Conococheague Creek; effects of apiary practices on Colony Collapse Disorder in European honey bees; Chambersburg African-American Black Nationalist Martin Robison Delaney (1812-85); effects of taking the blood thinner Apixaban and fish oil together on hypertensive, stroke-prone rats; the Rights of Nature movement and women farmers in Pennsylvania engaging in activism for social or political change.
At 4 p.m., guest speaker Maria Silvia Muylaert de Araujo will present a talk on “Mitigation of Climate Change.”
Also on April 29, three Wilson seniors – Lindsey Sutton, Allison Strayer and Alexis Ankro – will host a capstone exhibition of their artwork in Wilson’s Bogigian Gallery. The exhibition will continue through May 15.
Wilson’s Student Research Day will conclude with the annual Academic Awards presentation at 6 p.m. in the Brooks auditorium.
Student Research Day at Wilson was founded in 2010 as a way to recognize and celebrate the research, scholarship and creative activities of students and their faculty mentors. For more information, visit www.wilson.edu/student-research-day.
MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations Phone: 717-262-2604 Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu
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Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and seven master’s degrees. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.
Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college had a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 14, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — Bestselling author, life coach and Emmy-winning daytime television celebrity Rhonda Britten will speak at Wilson College at noon and 7 p.m. Friday, April 22, in Thomson Hall’s Alumnae Chapel. Her 90-minute presentations, which are free and open to the public, will be based on her book, Fearless Living.
Dubbed “America’s Favorite Life Coach” by TV Guide, Britten is founder of the Fearless Living Institute and has devoted her life to teaching people how to overcome fear. She hosted the TV show, Help Me Rhonda, before becoming part of the NBC’s hit reality show, Starting Over. A frequent guest on Oprah, Britten is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and has been a frequent TedX speaker.
Her other books include Change Your Life in 30 Days, Fearless Loving and Do I Look Fat in This?
Britten will sign copies of her books – several of which will be available at the college bookstore – after the presentations, which are sponsored by the student-led Wilson College Government Association (WCGA) and Wilson’s human resources office.
For more information about Britten and her work, visit www.FearlessLoving.org.
MEDIA CONTACT: Kerry Salmi, WCGA president Phone: 717-300-0743 Email: kerry.salmi@wilson.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 12, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — Three Wilson College seniors — Alexis Ankro of Tappan, N.Y.; Allison Strayer of Carlisle and Lindsey Sutton of Greencastle — will host a capstone exhibition of their art from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, at the historic High Line Train Station on South Jefferson Street in Greencastle.
In addition to the exhibition at High Line, selections from the students’ bodies of work will be shown in Wilson’s Bogigian Gallery from April 28 to May 15. A reception for the artists will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the gallery.
Ankro is majoring in studio art, with an interest in animation. For her capstone project, she created Balloons, an animated short story of a robot’s distracted journey home after retrieving a bundle of balloons. Originally conceived as a traditional, hand-drawn, animated short, Balloons was converted to computer-generated animation through the use of state-of-the-art software.
Strayer is a graphic media major and a photographer. Her area of concentration combines graphic design with mass communications. Her capstone project is a carefully developed, web-based portfolio constructed by hand, which incorporates her knowledge of HTML5, CSS3 and Adobe Dreamweaver software. Her intention is to make her portfolio accessible to potential clients with the hope that her style, intuition and training will fit their needs.
Sutton is majoring in studio art, with a concentration in painting. Her series of paintings explores moments — obvious or not — where bonds are strengthened and happy memories are made. Her hope is to show that quality of life can be improved if the positive aspects of a relationship are given time to grow and mature.
All three students will present their scholarship in brief talks during Wilson’s annual Student Research Day on Friday, April 29.
The Bogigian Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. For additional information or an appointment, contact Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey at 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305, or philip.lindsey@wilson.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT: Philip Lindsey, Professor of Fine Arts Phone: 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305 Email: philip.lindsey@wilson.edu
Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and seven master’s degrees. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation. Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college had a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College recently launched its seventh graduate program, a Master of Science in Management geared toward managers of diverse organizations in the areas of project and program management, accounting, supply chain management, logistics and Lean Six Sigma, a business management model focused on eliminating inefficiencies and improving quality.
The management degree would benefit those working in a variety of employment sectors, such as business, industry, government and the military, according to Wilson Vice President for Academic Affairs Elissa Heil.
“A Master of Science in Management provides someone with the advantage of having the knowledge and skills to advance their organization in leadership, operations management and efficiency,” said Heil. “We were rigorously selective in our areas of emphasis, each of which is in high demand right now with employers.”
The M.S. in management is being offered online, using a dynamic videoconferencing technology called ZOOM that allows for real-time interaction between students and faculty. Students can speak to one another, engage with the instructor and share examples of their work in a virtual face-to-face classroom environment.
“The use of ZOOM technology differentiates Wilson’s program from other institutions, where taking an online course can be similar to a correspondence course,” Heil said. “We’re excited to be able to offer such a rich, interactive delivery system.”
Wilson will offer two courses per nine-week term, with five terms offered per year. A student taking the full load of courses could complete the master’s degree in as little as 14 months, according Heil.
In designing the program, Wilson’s business and economics faculty developed a degree in management or administration with a strong focus on preparing organizations to survive the demands of a growing, competitive global economy by targeting innovative and successful management practices.
The curriculum is centered on a core group of courses with various tracks that students can pursue, based on their undergraduate and work experiences, as well as their desired career paths, providing program content that differentiates Wilson’s program from traditional management and administration programs by:
Focusing on organizational sustainability and meeting the requirements of evolving global economic pressures; namely cost, quality and access; and providing specific strategies for diverse organizations to financially survive with growing global competition.
Providing a common core of required courses supplemented by electives that can be customized to meet student and employer needs. The electives may be taken from a single area of emphasis or across several areas of emphasis, enabling students to complement their prior education and work experience or prepare them for a new career path.
Providing courses not normally found in traditional management or administration programs, such as processre-engineering and Lean Six Sigma.
Allowing an organization enrolling employees to request that specific material be covered in the program, and developing a customized course or courses to meet their needs.
Wilson’s Board of Trustees approved the M.S. in management in late February. It complements six other master’s programs offered by the college, including the fairly new master’s degree in healthcare management for sustainability, as well as graduate degrees in education, humanities, fine arts, nursing and accounting.
For more information about the master’s degree in management, visit www.wilsoncollegeonline.com or contact the Wilson College Office of Admissions at 800-421-8402 or admissions@wilson.edu.
Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 31 majors and seven master’s degrees. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 7, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College will hold its annual Blessing of the Animals at noon on Wednesday, April 13, on the green in front of Thomson Hall. The blessing, which is conducted by the college chaplain’s office, is open to the public. All friendly pets in cages or on leads or leashes are welcome. Those attending are asked to clean up after their pets.
In the event of rain, the ceremony will move to Thomson Hall’s Alumnae Chapel.
MEDIA CONTACT: Emily Morgan, Wilson College Chaplain Phone: 717-264-4141, Ext. 3307 Email: chaplain@wilson.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 6, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — The Wilson College Veterinary Medical Technology Club will host dog washes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, April 16 and 17, in the college veterinary building near the Park Avenue campus entrance off U.S. 11 (Philadelphia Avenue). The dog washes are open to the public.
The cost is $10 for small dogs, $15 for medium dogs, $20 for large dogs and $25 for extra-large or double-coated dogs. The fee includes a bath, nail trim, ear cleaning and drying — all of which will be performed by VMT Club members. Owners must present a paper copy of their dog’s rabies vaccination.
For more information, contact Wilson VMT Club President Jordan Massey at jordan.massey@wilson.edu.
Chambersburg, Pa. — The Wilson College Drama Club, known as the Kittochtinny Players, will perform French playwright Marc Camoletti’s comedic farce, Boeing-Boeing, at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, in Laird Hall. The shows are open to the public. No admission fee is required but donations will be accepted at the door.
The play centers on bachelor Bernard, who couldn't be happier living in Paris with three gorgeous flight attendants — all engaged to him and all unbeknownst to each other. But Bernard’s perfect life gets bumpy when his friend, Roberta, comes to stay and a new and speedier Boeing jet throws off all of his best-laid plans.
The performance, which is directed by Wilson junior Breana Park, contains moderate sexual themes and is not suggested for children. The production is sponsored by the Wilson College chaplain’s office.
Artist and educator Alejandro Durán brings his stunning photography and installation project – Washed Up: Transforming a Trashed Landscape – to the John Stewart Memorial Library’s new Sue Davison Cooley Art Gallery at Wilson College in March. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will open with a reception and artist’s talk on the first floor of Lenfest Learning Commons at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 22.
Washed Up eloquently depicts the worldwide impact of plastic pollution through Durán’s photographs of Sian Ka’an, a tropical nature reserve in Mexico, where the natural world intersects with trash carried there from around the globe by ocean currents.
Durán, who lives and works in Brooklyn, was born in Mexico and has been returning there for most of his life. In 2010 while visiting Sian Ka’an – a UNESCO World Heritage site with more than 20 pre-Columbian archaeological sites, a vast array of flora and fauna and the world’s second-largest coastal barrier reef – Durán noticed the plastic waste that was washing up on the beach. “It was shocking,” said Durán.
He has identified refuse from 50 nations on six continents that has washed ashore at Sian Ka’an.To raise awareness of the issue, Durán began artfully arranging the debris into the natural landscape, creating color-based, site-specific sculptures, which he then photographs.
“Conflating the hand of man and nature, at times I distribute the objects the way the waves would; at other times, the plastic takes on the shape of algae, roots, rivers, or fruit, reflecting the infiltration of plastics into the natural environment,” Durán says on his website, www.alejandroduran.com.
His photo series “depicts a new form of colonization by consumerism, where even undeveloped land is not safe from the far-reaching impact of our disposable culture,” says Durán. “Although inspired by the works of Andy Goldsworthy and Robert Smithson, Washed Up speaks to the environmental concerns of our time and its vast quantity of discarded materials. The alchemy of Washed Up lies not only in converting a trashed landscape, but in the project’s potential to raise awareness and change our relationship to consumption and waste.”
At Wilson, Durán plans to display two large-scale photographs and show a short documentary film. “The last element is a small installation using actual garbage that had washed up in Mexico that I brought back to the United States,” Durán said recently. “I’m going to most likely create something specifically for the space.”
Washed Up has been exhibited at the Galería Octavio Paz at the Mexican consulate in New York, Hunter’s East Harlem Art Gallery and Montréal’s Art Public. Ville de MontréalthetheeThe series was also chosen to exhibit for The Fence 2015, an annual, summer-long photographic exhibition on display in Brooklyn, Boston, Atlanta and Houston.
The exhibit at Wilson will run through May 27. The Cooley Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays.
Durán is a multimedia artist working in photography, installation, and video. His work examines the fraught intersections of man and nature, particularly the tension between the natural world and an increasingly overdeveloped one. He has received numerous awards, including: En Foco’s New Works and Center’s Project Launch Juror’s Prize. He was Hunter College’s Artist-in-Residence for 2014-15. Durán’s work has been featured in Land Art, Art & Ecology Now and Unexpected Art. Articles about him have been featured in Wired, Huffington Post and ABC News, among others.
As an educator, Durán has taught youth and adult classes in photography and video since 2002 and has worked as a museum educator at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography. He is a founding board member for the New York City Charter School of the Arts and is a video producer whose clients include MoMA, the Museum of Arts & Design and Columbia University.
Durán’s appearance at Wilson College originated with Associate Professor of Spanish Wendell Smith, who had learned about the Washed Up project from a textbook he uses in his Spanish classes. Smith, who was part of a planning committee for a lecture series this year on climate change, contacted the artist about bringing his work to Wilson. “Because I’m a member of the global studies department, I thought we needed somebody with a perspective that this is a global problem that will require global solutions,” Smith said.
A second art exhibit is also opening at Wilson on March 22. The Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition will open with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Bogigian Gallery in Lortz Hall.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 1, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College will host an information session about its master’s degree program in the humanities at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in Norland Hall. The session will cover how to apply and provide an overview of the program, including new courses and concentrations now available; financial aid; career opportunities; graduate assistantships and more. Registration may be completed at www.wilson.edu/MAHum. For more information, visit the website or contact Master of Humanities Program Director Michael Cornelius at michael.cornelius@wilson.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Cornelius, Chair, Department of English and Communications Phone: 717-262-2712 Email: michael.cornelius@wilson.edu
Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college has a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | March 31, 2016
Chambersburg, Pa. — Author and journalist A’Lelia Bundles will address the senior class at the 146th annual Wilson College commencement ceremony, which begins at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.
Bundles — a former ABC News producer, chair of the National Archives Foundation and great-great-granddaughter and biographer of African-American icon Madam C.J. Walker — currently is at work on her fourth book, The Joy Goddess of Harlem: The Life and Times of A’Lelia Walker, a biography of her great-grandmother. Her previous books about her great-great-grandmother, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker, Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur and Madam Walker Theater Center: An Indianapolis Treasure have received a number of awards, including the New York Times Notable Book award and the Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize.
Bundles had a 30-year career as an executive and producer in network television news, most recently as director of talent development for ABC News in Washington, D.C. and New York. She was deputy bureau chief of ABC News in Washington from 1996 to 1999, after 20 years as a network television producer with ABC and NBC News. From 1989 until 1996 she was a producer with ABC’s “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.”
Bundles is a vice chair of the Columbia University board of trustees. She also serves as president and chair of the board of the National Archives Foundation, the nonprofit partner that provides funds and support for the exhibitions, programs and educational materials of the National Archives. She is also a sought-after speaker on entrepreneurship, philanthropy, financial literacy, women’s history and African-American history.
Among Bundles’ journalism awards are a du Pont Gold Baton and an Emmy. She has been inducted into the Black Memorabilia Hall of Fame and the North Central High School Hall of Fame in Indianapolis. She is a recipient of a 2002 Harvard Alumni Association Award for outstanding service through alumni activities, a 2004 Radcliffe Distinguished Service Award and a 2007 Columbia University Alumni Medalist.
In 2003, she created the “100 Books, 100 Women” campaign to expand the library at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. She also spearheaded the national campaign that led to the 1998 U. S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage stamp of Madam Walker.
Bundles graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and Radcliffe College, and received a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an honorary doctorate from Indiana University. She is a member of the Alpha Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She lives in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.aleliabundles.com.
Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and seven master’s degrees. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation. Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college has a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
