Bloomsburg, a Commonwealth University

Ethan Sickler, a sophomore business education major at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg, took home the first place prize and $3,500 at the school's sixth annual Husky Dog Pound business competition in March.

The Forensics Team of Bloomsburg, part of Commonwealth University, won the First Place Sweepstakes trophy at the Collegiate Forensics Association (CFA) Fall Tournament held at Bloomsburg on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. It is the sixth consecutive tournament where Bloomsburg has won the first-place team award dating back to last year. Bloomsburg finished ahead of Shepherd University, Grove City College, Lenoir-Rhyne University, and the University of Lynchburg.

The Geisinger/Bloomsburg University Nurse Anesthesia Program's Class of 2022 students won the annual College Bowl at the Pennsylvania Association Of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA) Spring Symposium in Hershey, Pa. The College Bowl contestants included 11 teams from eight universities across Pennsylvania. The annual competition challenges anesthesia programs from across the region in a test of anesthetic knowledge. The winners will retain possession of the oxygen tank trophy at the BU nurse anesthesia program office until next year's event.

The Bloomsburg University speech and debate (forensics) team won the First Place Team Sweepstakes Award at the Collegiate Forensic Association's Annual Beach Tournament in Ocean City, Md. the weekend of March 4-5, 2022. BU finished ahead of Florida College, Randolph-Macon College, Shepherd University, the University of Richmond, and the University of Lynchburg. The win was the fourth straight tournament in which Bloomsburg brought home the First Place Team award. BU also won the prestigious CFA "Welch-Strine" Cup that recognizes the top speech and debate team in the Collegiate Forensic Association for the academic year. The Welch-Strine Cup is named for the founders of the CFA, Professor Emeritus, Harry C. Strine III of Bloomsburg University, and Dr. Robert Welch, Professor Emeritus of Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. This is the second time in three years BU has won the Welch-Strine Cup.

The Bloomsburg University Forensics Team won the First Place Sweepstakes Award out of six schools at the Collegiate Forensic Association's Annual "Southern Excursion" Tournament hosted by Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.V. on Feb. 11-12.

The Bloomsburg University Forensics Team won the 1st Place Team Sweepstakes Trophy out of six schools at the Collegiate Forensic Association's annual Fall Speech and Debate Tournament hosted by the University of Lynchburg on November 5-6, 2021. Thirteen out of fifteen BU students won 50 individual and team speaking awards, including first place awards in 9 of the 13 events at the tournament.

The Bloomsburg University Forensics (Speech and Debate) team won the 1st Place Sweepstakes Award out of six schools at the Randolph-Macon College Invitational Tournament held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22-23, 2021, in Ashland, Va. This is the second straight year BU won first place at this invitational tournament. Bloomsburg students brought home a total of 40 individual speech and debate awards, including seven first place trophies, and finished ahead of Randolph Macon College, University of Lynchburg, University of Richmond, Shepherd University, and Lenoir Rhyne University.

Bloomsburg University's Global Business Association (GBA) took fourth place at the 2021 SDSU (San Diego State University)-CUIBE (The Consortium for Undergraduate International Business Education) International Business Case Competition held Oct. 14-16, 2021, in San Diego, Ca.

Five members of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania's Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) club programming squad competed at the 37th Annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC)-Eastern Conference at Marymount University in Virginia on Oct. 23-24. The contest featured 17 teams representing schools in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

The Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Frederick Douglass Institute for Academic Excellence recently recognized six students for their work in the Creative Expressions Competition. This year's theme was Excellence Through Social Justice: Realities and Possibilities. The competition is intended to amplify the voices and perspectives of students from all disciplines making connections between social justice and culture, economics, education, history, and science. Student honorees were Lamia Babb, Kasey Halbleib, Abigail Frey, Jasmine Heroux-Skirbst, Damian Melendez-Andriulli, and Reilly Iles. Heroux-Skirbst was honored with the Provost's Award and a cash prize of $500 for the top submission across all mediums that best reflects the ideals of Frederick Douglass.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and the Zeigler College of Business hosted the Keystone Sales Competition in early April, featuring over 100 competitors from 15 schools. BU students Emily Pitonyak and Natalia Rodriguez placed first in the business-to-business competition, while in the role-play competition, Matthew Dalrymple finished third. The Keystone Sales Challenge is held each April. At the competition, students are challenged with several rounds of a role-play competition and a business-to-business case competition. Representatives from the 17 corporate sponsors along with faculty coaches from other universities and several BU alumni served as judges and buyers.

Bloomsburg University student Jason Stone, a senior biochemistry major from Dresher, won first place for his oral presentation on his research at the 84th Annual Intercollegiate Chemist Convention, held virtually and hosted by Lehigh University. Stone, who has been conducting research for several years in the lab of Matthew Polinski, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, was part of the (Bio)Inorganic group that also included undergraduate student presenters from Swarthmore College, Lehigh University, Ursinus College, Towson University, Messiah University, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania students Laticia Feliciano and Serenity Vidot have been chosen to participate in the Frederick Douglass Research and Debate series presented by the Frederick Douglass Institute (FDI) Collaborative. The FDI Collaborative exists across the 14 universities of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education. This series is an annual event and is being hosted virtually this year. Submissions were accepted from students across all System schools and focused on social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion from all disciplines. Only 20 submissions were accepted to present.

It was a record-breaking RNMKRS College Sales Skills Competition last fall as more than 2,100 college students from 59 different schools from across the globe completed over 45,000 role-plays. A handful of competitors got within striking distance of a perfect score. Among them was Dakota Carroll, a Bloomsburg University professional sales and marketing major, who finished just out of the top 1% of the competition.

Several Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania professional marketing and sales students competed in the virtual Redbird Regional Sales Contest in February. Senior Autumn Hawk advanced to the semifinals in her first-ever sales competition contest. Joining Hawk in the competition were Molly Groff, Mia Kosoglow, and Ethan Burns. BU faculty member Mike Huben is the team's coach.

Bloomsburg University's Global Business Association took first place at the 2021 University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) Consortium for Undergraduate International Business Education (CUIBE) International Business Case Competition, held virtually in March. Bloomsburg scored higher than teams from Michigan State University, Temple University, University of Oklahoma, Washington University in St. Louis, and five others to claim the top honor.

Bloomsburg University won the third place team sweepstakes award out of seven schools at the Collegiate Forensic Association's Third Virtual (CFA) Tournament held Feb. 12-13, 2021.

The Bloomsburg University forensics team finished third out of seven schools at the Collegiate Forensic Association's (CFA) first online tournament held Oct. 16-17. Bloomsburg finished ahead of the University of Lynchburg, Shepherd University, the University of Richmond, and Wilkes University. Randolph-Macon College and Florida College took first and second, respectively.

The Bloomsburg University Forensics Team won the Collegiate Forensic Association's (CFA) 2019-20 Welch-Strine Cup Championship Sweepstakes Award at the CFA Beach Tournament on March 6-7 in Ocean City Md. The award recognizes the Collegiate Forensic Association's most accomplished speech and debate team for the 2019-20 academic year. This is the first time BU has won the prestigious award since its inception in 2005. The Welch-Strine Cup is named for two of the four founders of the Collegiate Forensic Association, Robert Welch, professor emeritus at Fitchburg (Mass.) State University and Harry C. Strine III, professor emeritus at Bloomsburg University. The late Clarence Johnson, professor emeritus of New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the late Warren Gasink, professor emeritus at East Stroudsburg University, were the other founders of CFA. The Collegiate Forensic Association was founded in 1969 for the purpose of providing a forum for forensic competition to institutions with small budgets and has an educational focus. The results for the Welch-Strine Cup and "Year-Long" awards are calculated from the performances from the students' and universities' top four of seven CFA tournaments in 2019-20. In addition to winning the overall CFA Team Championship, six BU students won both "Year-Long" and "Runner-Up Year-Long" Awards for being the best speaker in their particular event for the 2019-20 year. It's the most BU students ever recognized by CFA for year-long awards. Additionally, BU won the second place Sweepstakes Award out of eight schools at the CFA Beach Tournament. Ten out of 15 BU students won a total of 24 speech/debate awards. Notably, Bloomsburg won the first through fifth place in After-Dinner Speaking and won the first, third and fourth place awards in Parliamentary Debate out of a total of 17 Teams at the tournament. BU narrowly lost to Randolph-Macon College in overall tournament sweepstakes, but finished ahead of Florida College, Shepherd University, Hampton University, University of Richmond, Lenoir-Rhyne University, and Lord Fairfax Community College.

The Bloomsburg University Forensics team won the Second Place Team Sweepstakes award out of nine schools at the annual CFA/Harold Cox Wilkes University Speech and Debate Tournament the weekend of Jan. 31-Feb. 1. BU narrowly lost to St. Joseph's University, a school with a nationally recognized forensics program, by just 1.5 sweepstakes points. BU finished ahead of Shepherd University, George Mason University, James Madison University, the University of Scranton, Wilkes University, Kings College, and Misericordia University. The team will return to Wilkes University during the weekend of Feb. 15-16 for the Pennsylvania Forensic Association's Annual State Championship Tournament.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania senior Brittany Zipovsky placed in the top 16 at the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC), held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition was originally to be held in Georgia.

The Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Sales Team competed at The International Collegiate Sales Competition in Orlando, Fla. from Nov. 6-9. Dylan Cohen and Mackenzie Jackson reached the quarterfinals in the role-play category and Sidney Blashock and Marcus Bearfield successfully completed the sales management simulation to qualify for the sales management case competition. Jacob Caralle also competed for Bloomsburg. The International Collegiate Sales Competition hosted by Florida State University is the largest sales competition in the country with 80 colleges and universities competing with the Bloomsburg University team finishing in the top half of the competition.

The Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania soil judging team finished sixth at the 2019 Northeast Regional Soil Judging Competition in October in Easton, Md. Bloomsburg University was represented by Erin Boulger, Auston Hummel, Ian Martinez, Nick Sherwood, and Al Sriharsha under team leader coach Rebecca Bourgault, Ph.D., a BU faculty member in the Department of Environmental, Geographical and Geological Sciences. The Soil Judging Competition involves entering a soil pit, identifying soil horizons (layers), describing the morphological properties of each horizon, and then interpreting the soil for taxonomic classification and land uses such as septic systems. On the first two days of the competition, students were judged on 12 practice pits around the Easton area. On day three students, were judged on three soil pits individually and two soil pits as a team. This part of the competition took place at Remington Farms near Chestertown, Md. Throughout the competition students were able to learn and explore the properties and development of soils on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

The Bloomsburg University Forensics Team (Speech and Debate) captured the First Place Team Sweepstakes Story at the Randolph-Macon College/CFA Invitational Tournament in Ashland, Virginia, the weekend of Nov 2-3. Fifteen of sixteen BU students competing this weekend won at least one speech and debate award. In total, BU students brought home 38 awards, including five individual first-place event awards. Bloomsburg University was represented by at least one student in every final round at the tournament. Neil Strine, Ph.D., director of forensics and associate professor of political science, served as a speech and debate judge at the tournament. Erin Brummett, Ph.D., communication studies and Michael Martin, Ph.D., English, assist with coaching the team.

The Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Forensics (Speech and Debate) team took home the second-place Team Sweepstakes award at the Collegiate Forensic Association's Annual Fall Tournament held at Bloomsburg University on Oct. 12-13. Overall, 11 of BU's 15 competitors won individual speech and debate awards.

Topics ranging from drone efficiency to translating neglected Viking sagas to the art of healing through color among those presented by Bloomsburg University students at the 9th annual Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium (SVURS) at Bucknell University in early August. The projects were a part of BU's Undergraduate research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity (URSCA) program that funded nearly 30 projects this summer. URSCA provides an opportunity for Bloomsburg students to engage in a focused research or creative experience within their academic discipline to enhance their competitiveness for jobs and graduate school. The program provides summer student employment for work on the proposed project.

Twelve members of the Bloomsburg University Chapter of Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) and their advisor, Mark L. Usry, associate professor of business law, joined more than 1,000 other students at the PBL National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas the week of June 24-27. The twelve students qualified to attend the national conference by placing first or second in their competitive events at the Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference this past spring. Competitive events include analyzing cases in areas such as forensic accounting and entrepreneurship, sales competition, help desk and customer service, impromptu speaking, and competitive examinations. Several members of the BU group captured awards at the conference. Marc Yeager earned first place in retail management and was second in management concepts. In information management, Zackary Bennett took second place; while in marketing concepts Brittany Zipovsky also took second. Harry Emery earned second place in business decision making and was sixth with Austin Robbinson in business presentation. In cost accounting, Collin Schutjer was fourth. Finally, in business sustainability Krysta Hower and Mackenna Shively, took home eighth. Also in attendance for BU were Bryson Cromley, Allison Honabach, Rachel Miller and Joseph Kinek.

Students from the Bloomsburg University College of Science and Technology presented their research to an audience of students, faculty and alumni on April 26, during the COST Research Day at Bloomsburg University. Over 80 students from 11 fields of study showcased with their work in the Andruss Library throughout the day on a wide range of topics, from Cosmic Ray Activity at the Dusk of the 24th Solar Cycle to Evaluating the Neurological Phenotype of 15q13.3 Deletions. Research Day began in the morning with candidates for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) exhibiting their work, and continued with a poster session in the Harvey A. Andruss Library where 58 students presented their research and were judged by a panel of alumni and faculty. Mr. Duane Greenly '72 of Stella Point Capital gave the keynote address The Importance of Search in Research, where he highlighted the importance of curiosity in research and experiences that lie outside the academic classroom. "Research Day embodies two primary elements of the scientific enterprise: inquiry and communication" explained Dean of the College of Science and Technology, Dr. Robert Aronstam "Science is not an academic subject, knowledge, or even truth; rather, it is an iterative process of observation, experimentation, and hypothesis formation and by which we advance our understanding of the world around us." COST Research Days is part of the Professional U experience at Bloomsburg University which connects students with alumni, employers, and opportunities that integrate academics with experiential learning. Through professional development experiences, students build the skills and confidence that prepare them for personal and professional success in an increasingly complex global environment.

Six computer science majors from the Bloomsburg University Department of Mathematical and Digital Sciences competed in the programming contest at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges - Northeastern Region (CCSCNE) 2019 conference at the University of New Haven (Conn). The annual conference brings together computer science educators and students. The BU students, members of the school's student chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), were entered as two teams among 28 from schools across New England and the northeast. ACM team adviser Robert Montante also presented a "Lightning Talk" on computer networking and parallel and distributed computing. The talk described the use of Raspberry Pi single-board computers to assemble a "Beowulf cluster" for use classroom use.

The Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania professional sales team recently finished fourth out of 75 teams competing at the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) in Kennesaw, Ga. It was BU's best finish ever. Monica Favia, Ph.D., is the team's adviser and sales program director. The NCSC is a university sales role-play competition for more than 400 of the top university sales talent along with college sales professors during the three-day event.