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 Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance named its senior award winners for its music division. "All three students are very deserving of the recognition. Each of them contributed to the department in their own unique way. We will miss them," said Stephen Clickard, chair of the BU division of music. Randy Baxendale of Nazareth, Pa. was named the outstanding senior in the music liberal arts track major. In his time at BU, Baxendale has been the leader of the trumpet section of the BU marching band, wind ensemble, concert band, and jazz ensemble. He toured with the jazz ensemble through Germany and the Czech Republic in May of 2018. Baxendale has been accepted into the graduate degree program in trumpet performance at Penn State University to earn his master's degree in music performance. Earning the outstanding student senior award for the music audio recording track was Elizabeth Heimbach of Mechanicsburg, Pa. At BU, she performed with the wind ensemble, the marching band, and concert band and also served as a member of the performing arts facilities staff. She interned with Klock Entertainment and was offered a part-time job as media director with them in the Fall of 2019, before graduating. After graduation in December, she was promoted to the full-time position of director of events. Lexi Holtzman of Duboistown, Pa. is the recipient of the outstanding student senior award for the music education track. An active member of the Bloomsburg University collegiate chapter of the National Association for Music Education, she served the chapter as the vice president and regularly attended state and national conferences. In the spring of 2019, Holtzman joined a select group of music education students who presented on popular music pedagogy in higher education at the bi-annual National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division Conference. In addition to serving the Bloomsburg NAfME chapter, she was also president of the University Women's Chorale and co-conductor of the student-run acapella group "The Leading Tones."

Two Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania graduate students, Casey Roberts and Sara Wiberg, enrolled in the College Student Affairs (CSA) program, attended the MidAtlantic Placement Conference (MAP-C) in February. The two-day conference, sponsored by the Mid Atlantic Association of College and University Housing Officers, a regional association for residence life/housing staff, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The event brought together college and university employers who have vacancies in residence life departments with candidates/job seekers.

Nearly 200 students from Bloomsburg University recently completed academic internships during the 2019 fall and winter sessions. A for-credit, academic internship must meet certain requirements set by academic departments and includes a formal agreement between the university and the internship site. Students work with a site supervisor and faculty advisor throughout the internship, gaining hands-on learning and practical experience for their future career.

Bloomsburg University honored 147 student-athletes as 2019-20 Bloomsburg University Scholar-Athletes. A luncheon honoring their achievements was held Wednesday, Mar. 4, in the Kehr Union ballroom on campus. The student-athletes honored achieved a grade point average of 3.25 or higher over the past two semesters and/or have a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher and were at least a sophomore academically. In addition to the 147 student-athletes, 45 freshman or transfer students were also honored for achieving a 3.25 GPA in their first semester on campus.

Nearly 50 Bloomsburg University students participated in the intense professional development program at the Greenly Center in downtown Bloomsburg from February 28-March 1, 2020. During the two-and-a-half-day Career Intensive Boot Camp (CIBC), students learned the "soft skills" of professionalism through team building and personal branding exercises, alumni panels and employer presentations, as well as a networking lunch and etiquette dinner. Topics include everything from navigating career paths and company culture to money management, student loan repayment, and job searching. Students also had the opportunity to have their resume and cover letter reviewed and practice their interview skills in person, over the phone, or virtually. Students also got comfortable with professional networking.

Bloomsburg University recently released their 2020-2021 roster of Husky Orientation & Welcome Leaders (H.O.W.Ls.) for the 2021-2022 academic year. Often the first point of contact for incoming students and their families, H.O.W.Ls. are highly trained students who model and assist in a healthy transition to college life for fellow students. H.O.W.Ls. provide campus tours for prospective and new students and their families, facilitate the transition to college for small groups of new students, and serve as reliable sources of university information in an often-overwhelming time in a student's academic career. "H.O.W.Ls. are critical to the smooth transition to college for new students," explained Kristin Austin, Bloomsburg University Assistant Director for New Student and Family Orientation. "They are their 'go to' mentors, leaders, and role models and help with everything from homesickness and roommate adjustment to where to get the best slice of pizza downtown."

Twenty students from Bloomsburg University participated in a Husky Career Road Trip to the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pa. on Feb. 20, 2020. Students were given a tour of the brewery while learning the 190 year history of the company and met members of the Yuengling family. Students also took part in a presentation on marketing plans and strategies for product launches led by Tyler Simpson, Director of Marketing at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.

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.

Six Bloomsburg University students participated in a Husky Career Road Trip on Saturday, Feb. 8, to the Lonae A. Moore Memorial Forum. It Begins with Each of Us: Fostering Racial Understanding was sponsored by the Dennis Farm Charitable Land Trust and hosted by the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. The students attended a panel discussion moderated by Reverend Mother Jo Ann B. Jones, Associate Rector at Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Panelists focused on how "journalism, literature, the arts, and mass media shape and perpetuate perceptions of race." They included Dr. Nilgun Anadolu-Okur, Presidential Professor of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University, Lee A. Daniels, a reporter at The Washington Post and New York Times and V.P. of Publications at the National Urban League, Dr. Charles A. Gallagher, Professor of Sociology at La Salle University and Senior Fellow of the Yale Urban Ethnography Project, and Dr. Monique R. Scott, Director of Museum Studies at Bryn Mawr 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 Players will present Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins from Wednesday, Feb. 26 through Sunday, March 1 at Alvina Krause Theatre in downtown Bloomsburg. The production is directed by BU associate professor David A. Miller. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Will you go on a journey with Everybody? A journey from which you may never return? When "God" (always referred to with air quotes) summons Death to fetch Everybody to give an account of their life, Everybody begins their frenetic journey to prepare for their "presentation" and to enlist someone to go with them, if at all possible, or at very least help with the preparation. In this humorous and heartfelt modern riff on the medieval Everyman story, an ensemble of nine actors take on 26 characters. Five of the actors will not know which characters they will play until an on-stage lottery, early in the play, determines their casting for the performance. Tickets are free for BU Students/CGA activities cardholders, $6 for adults, $4 for students/seniors. Tickets for all BU Players productions may be purchased in advance in person or over the phone at the Arts in Bloom Box Office, located in the lobby of the Haas Center for the Arts. For hours and contact information, visit https://bloomu.edu/arts-in-bloom. Tickets also may be purchased starting an hour before curtain time at the Alvina Krause Theatre, if seats are still available at that time. The production features mature language and themes.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania baseball team, in conjunction with the Department of Alumni and Professional Engagement, recently hosted the program's second annual Baseball Career Night at Jamison Elementary School in Jamison, PA. The event allowed current BU baseball players to network with university alumni and other team affiliated mentors as they prepare for professional careers. The students participated in alumni-led networking exercises, panel discussions, and resume reviews. More than twenty BU alumni participated in the event, including Nick Giuffre '78, CEO (retired), Bradford White Corporation, Rick Rogers '77, Senior VP-Wealth Management, UBS Financial Services, Jason Vavra '95, Managing Member, CVM Wealth, and investment and residential realtor, Phil Stan '94. Bloomsburg University alumnus and principal of Jamison Elementary, Matt Croyle '95, hosted the event.

Two Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania students were awarded research grants from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Biologists (CPUB) for the 2019-20 academic year. Earning the awards were undergraduate student Kayla Sompel and graduate student Ian Whiteside '18. CPUB is an organization composed of faculty in the fourteen institutions of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education that foster excellence in biology education and research.

Six students from the Bloomsburg University Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders recently presented papers at the 2019 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention in Orlando, FL. The students were Cecelia Campanile (Doctor of Audiology third-year student), Kylie Connell (Doctor of Audiology third-year student), Miranda Mikelson (Doctor of Audiology second-year student), Jamie Daigle (Doctor of Audiology second-year student), Kimberly Winn (Doctor of Audiology first-year student) and Monica Amarante (Bachelor of Science third-year student). Faculty member co-authors were Thomas Zalewski, Mohsin Ahmed Shaikh, and Dong Zhang.

Ten students from the Bloomsburg University Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences attended the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey Primary Care Day. The students attending Primary Care Day were Kaitlyn Beechay, Allison Coffey, Casey Donahoe, Emily Gerek, Xiane Goda, Nicole Harper, Catherine Maniscalco, Aashana Patel, Allison Sowers, Ayushi Umrigar, and Tristen Wade. The annual event introduces students to primary care medicine and its specialties, internal medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine. In addition to a keynote speaker panels on medical school admissions, students had the opportunity to observe a delivery simulation and musculoskeletal and newborn exams. Workshops were held on suturing, vital signs, and ultrasound imaging.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania congratulates the more than 1,900 students who were named to the Fall 2019 Dean's List. A full-time student whose semester GPA is 3.5 or higher in 12 or more semester hours of course work for which a grade or grades are received will be named to the Dean's List.

Bloomsburg University has announced the names of 153 Professional Experience Grant (PEG) recipients for the 2019-20 academic year. Professional Experience Grants (PEGs) help students defray the cost of professional development activities and applied learning outside the realm of the academic classroom. Without PEGs, students may be forced to decline opportunities such as national conference presentations, study abroad experiences, internships, or independent research because of the substantial expenses that can accompany these experiences.

The Bloomsburg University Alumni Association awards Alumni Legacy Scholarships each year to current Bloomsburg University students who are a child or grandchild of a Bloomsburg University graduate. The scholarship has been a longstanding tradition of the Alumni Board of Directors, and has provided $216,059 in scholarships since 1998. BU alumni can register their child or grandchild every fall that their student is registered for Spring classes at the university.

Nineteen Bloomsburg University students from seven different fields of study participated in a Husky Career Road Trip on November 5, 2019. The students visited Eurofins and Eurofins National Service Center, a national laboratory in Leola, Pa., that provides environmental testing, monitoring, and consulting services.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania held its First World Graduation Ceremony on December 5 sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The bi-annual First World ceremony congratulate the achievements - academic and leadership roles - of BU's multicultural students at the baccalaureate and graduate degree levels. This class was among the largest ever, according to Madelyn Rodriguez, director of the Multicultural Center.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania sent 10 students and six faculty members to the sixth annual Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) S.T.E.M Conference in early November. The conference showcases research done by students across the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and included both oral presentations and poster sessions.

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.

Bloomsburg University Players will present "Be More Chill" from Thursday, Oct. 31 through Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019 at the Alvina Krause Theatre in downtown Bloomsburg. This musical features Music and Lyrics by Joe Iconis, Book by Joe Tracz, and is based on the novel by Ned Vizzini. The production is directed by BU assistant professor of Theatre, Carrie Winship, Ph.D. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are Free for BU Students/CGA Activities Card Holders, $12 for adults, $8 for students/seniors. Tickets for all BU Players productions must be purchased in person at the box office or over the phone at the Arts in Bloom Box Office. Contact information and hours for the Arts in Bloom Box Office can be found at https://bloomu.edu/arts-in-bloom. Tickets also may be purchased starting an hour before curtain time at the Alvina Krause Theatre, if seats are still available at that time.

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.

The Bloomsburg University women's swimming team has chosen its captains for the upcoming 2019-20 season. Leading the Huskies will be seniors Becca Cubbler and Kiera Wadsworth along with junior Lindsay Mooney. The Huskies open the 2019-20 campaign when they travel to West Chester to face both the Golden Rams and the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks on Friday night, October 18. Start time is scheduled for 5 p.m.

The Bloomsburg University men's swimming team named senior Kyle Dix, redshirt junior Matt Rocchi, and junior Noah Cancro its captains for the 2019-20 season. The Huskies open the 2019-20 campaign when they travel to West Chester to face both the Golden Rams and the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks on Friday night, October 18. Start time is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania held its sixth annual Nursing White Coat ceremony on Sept. 14, at the Haas Center for the Arts on campus. The White Coat Ceremony celebrates sophomore nursing students who are entering the next phase of their education. In all, 108 students pledged their commitment to quality patient care. The most important element of the ceremony is the oath that students take in front of family members, faculty, school leaders, and peers.