Cedar Crest College

Earlier this month, the Lutz Center hosted seven students for their "In the Valley, For the Valley" Alternative Spring Break. Michele Moyer, Director of Career Development and Community Engagement, and Takyra Batz, Assistant Director for Community Engagement and Leadership Development, coordinated and led the week of service. Alternative Spring Break offers students the opportunity to join their campus community for a week of service to a community, rather than a traditional spring break vacation. The inaugural "In the Valley, For the Valley" model used this year focuses on sharing our Greater Lehigh Valley community's needs, businesses, and sites with our students without requiring a cost to attend the program. Students can fully engage in the community for the full week. The participants received the following experiences: PPL Center Tour, Phantoms Game, ArtsQuest (5 hours of service), Zekraft Cafe - Bethlehem, SteelStacks, Fegley's Bethlehem Brew Works, Wildlands Conservancy (5 hours of service), Nowhere Coffee Co - South Mountain, Downtown Emmaus Shopping (FD Market, Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Let's Play Books Bookstore, Conversational Threads Fiber Arts Studio), Cactus Blue Mexican Restaurant, Second Harvest Food Bank (5 hours of service), Martin Guitar Museum, Detzi's Tavern, Udder Bar and the Valley Against Sex Trafficking (5 hours of service). The following students used their time off for Spring Break to serve others: Senior: Rosemarie "Rosie" Kramer, Juniors: Lyss Marino, Lataisha "Latty" Jenkins, Mary Scannell, Sophomore: Deshian Garricks, Maliha Asad, and Alexie "Alex" Blum.

The Cedar Crest College Department of Biological Sciences is proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of its research program. Fourteen students presented their data at the 98th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science this weekend. Over 100 presentations were made by undergraduate and graduate students from 31 universities, colleges, and institutions, and the twelve posters and talks from Cedar Crest College placed us at the top of the list for total number of presentations. The conference concluded with an awards ceremony where travel grants, research grants, and the Anne Spychala Presentation Awards were distributed. Cedar Crest College received thirteen total awards: 4 presentation awards (Bonser & Edwards, Jaber, Delgado & Heiney, Large & O'Donnell), 3 research grants, (Franzone, Spagnola, Wolfinger), and 6 travel grants (Bonser, Franzone, Jaber, Jones, Lay, Nemec) were awarded to Cedar Crest students, as further detailed below.

This March 23, 24, 25 at 7 p.m. and March 26 at 2 p.m., Cedar Crest Performing Arts will present Jane Martin's controversial play, "Keely and Du." Performances will be held in the Tompkins College Center & Samuels Theatre on the campus of Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA. Tickets may be purchased online at cedarcrest.edu. The cast includes: Du - Sofia Barbour Keely- Rosemarie Kramer Walter- Andrew Galindez Cole- David Lippincott Prison Guard- Mahek "Jayden" Dhawan Orderlies- Chelsi Fread, Lizbeth Parra, Ashly Rodriguez- Ascencio For information, please visit https://www.cedarcrest.edu/academics/performing_arts/events.shtm

Cedar Crest College's literary club, Preterite is pleased to announce the winners of its annual writing contest. Winners are honored at the History, Literature, and Languages Department's Celebration of Creativity, to be held this year on Sunday, April 16 from 2-4 p.m. in the TCC Conference Center. Cover photo for Onyx chapbook: Juno Thomas, for "Falling Jellyfish" Poetry 1st place: Deshian Garricks, for "Lyrics of Black History Month" 2nd place: Fatimah Abdulqaher, for "Brotherhood of Poetry" 3rd place: Tara Tevald, for "Speaking to the Inner Child" Honorable Mention: Anya Stott, for "Orphan" Fiction 1st place: Tara Tevald, for "A Visit Home" 2nd place: Mackenzie Gregory, for "In the Woods Somewhere" 3rd place: Anya Stott, for "The Circus" Creative Nonfiction 1st place: Taylor Hutson, for "Loss" Preterite wishes to thank all of the students who submitted their work for consideration.

The following senior nurse anesthesia Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students presented their DNP projects at the Annual Philadelphia Advisory Group of Nurse Anesthesia Programs, Spring CRNA/Nurse Anesthesia Resident DNP Projects Professionalism Symposium held on Thursday, March 9, 2023, at Villanova University Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. This event was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA). The four NAP seniors will graduate in August 2023. Pear Murphy, BSN, SRNA, CCRN Mitchell Dent, BSN, SRNA, CCRN Quinn Luckenbill, BSN, SRNA, CCRN Peter Caruso, BSN, SRNA, CCRN

Cedar Crest College's Performing Arts Department presents: COMPANY February 23-25 at 7 p.m. February 26 at 2 p.m. Starting off the new year, Cedar Crest College's Performing Arts Department will present Stephen Sondheim's musical "Company" at Samuels Theater. The production, featuring music and lyrics by Sondheim and written by George Furth, delves into the themes of modern dating, marriage, and divorce. "Company" employs a non-linear plot, depicting the life of bachelor Bobby through a series of amusing vignettes, as he mingles with his married friends who have arranged a surprise party for his 35th birthday. The Cedar Crest production is directed by William Mutimer, head of the Northampton Community College Theatre Department. Songs include "Another Hundred People," "Side by Side by Side," "Being Alive," and the title song. The cast features Patrick Mertz (Bobby), Rosemarie Kramer (Sarah). Nik Georgievski (Harry), Lydia Walker (Susan), Max Wetherhold (David), Cindy J Lozada (Jenny), Josh Raub (David), Amelia Illingworth (Amy), Connor Sternberg (Paul), Kimberly Mertz (Joanne), Josh Crowley (Larry), Noel Cruz (Marta), Zaria Berry (Kathy) and Olivia Byrne (April). Chad Miller is music director, and choreographer is Joey M Schubert. For information, please visit https://www.cedarcrest.edu/academics/performing_arts/events.shtm

Nalan Lawson, a student in the Didactic Program in Dietetics, has received the Jane Hartman Award from the Maryland Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (MAND) Foundation. Scholarships in Jane Hartman's name have been established by both the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation and the MAND Foundation, honoring her vision of the expanding field of dietetics and nutrition. The award is for outstanding students pursuing an undergraduate degree in dietetics or a dietetic internship.

Congratulations to the following students for making the Dean's List for the fall 2022 semester. The Dean's List recognizes students who have earned a grade point average of 3.65 or higher in the academic semester.

Delphi is the college's honor society for undergraduate students. Students who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 at the end of their junior or senior year are recognized as members.

In Spring 2022, Cedar Crest College named Giovanna Sodano as the winner of a four-year, full-tuition scholarship. Sodano competed against more than 80 students from 14 different states at the College's 13th Annual Scholarship Competition held in February 2022.

Cedar Crest College is recognizing 58 students who received their degrees in January 2023.

On Thursday, November 10, nineteen students were inducted into the Zeta Chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha (Tri-Alpha), a national honor society for first-generation college students. Dr. Jill Purdy, professor and Education Department chair, and Lynnsae Powers, director of persistence support resources, were inducted into the honor society along with the group of students. The mission of the honor society, which was founded at Moravian University in 2018, is to encourage and reward academic excellence among first-generation college students pursuing a bachelor's degree at accredited institutions of higher learning. Tri-Alpha chapters provide members opportunities for personal growth, leadership, and campus and community service. The ceremony and reception were held in the Tompkins College Center.

"I chose to become a nurse because I love science, I love medicine, and I love helping others," says Genevieve Ashley '23, a senior in Cedar Crest College's School of Nursing. Genevieve was recently selected to receive an Award for Excellence as a Student Nurse from the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). She was among a group of nurses and health care professionals across the Lehigh Valley honored for their exceptional care - and one of only two students to receive an Award for Excellence as a Student Nurse. Genevieve accepted the award last month at the 2022 LVHN Friends of Nursing awards program at the Steel Stacks in Bethlehem. "Genevieve exemplifies what it means to be a transformational leader through her compassion for each and every client under her care, her active engagement in lecture, the peer mentorship she provides, her desire to learn more, and her passion for change," says Christine Batchelor, MSN, RN, CNE, who nominated Genevieve for the award. "She is a professional, collaborative, and productive team member within her personal community, on campus, in the School of Nursing, and in the health care facilities."

In October, Cedar Crest College Performing Arts presented a pair of one-act plays: Ghost Stories and Approaching Lavendar. Both plays were directed by Clair M. Freeman and focused on women in the midst of sorting out their lives. The audience shared the stage in an intimate black box setting. In Ghost Stories, by Annie Evans, three college friends find that a story told around a campfire's glow leads to bitter truths about the lives they've created for themselves. The cast included Carter Reichard, Madison Paige Anusky, and Anjolene Johnson. Approaching Lavendar, Julie Beckett Crutcher's charming comedy, concerns two sisters who come face to face with the newest member of their extended (and extensive) family. The cast included Katie Moyer, Chelsi Fread, and Sofia Barbour.

At the recent annual meeting of the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists, three Cedar Crest students garnered awards for academic and research excellence. Recipients included: Megan Dunkle '23 - Recipient of George Neighbor Memorial Scholarship Nancy Lay '23 - Recipient of Peter De Forest Research Award for best undergraduate research poster Skyler Williams, MSFS second year student - Recipient of $2,500 Carol De Forest Memorial Research Grant. Congratulations to all!

A Lehigh Valley shelter will benefit from the consulting work of eleven Cedar Crest grad students. As part of their capstone course, students in the Master of Business (MBA) and Modular Master of Science (MMS) programs served as a consulting group this summer for the Sixth Street Shelter, an Allentown nonprofit providing short-term and long-term transitional housing programs for those experiencing homelessness. Over the six-week project, the group was able to give back to the local community, while getting valuable hands-on experience working with a real organization. The students provided marketing and operations recommendations for the organization with the goal of improving community awareness, donor engagement, the volunteer pipeline, and more. "My professional background has primarily been in the Medical Device and Biotech space," says John Nedick '22, who served as the team captain for the project and graduated from the MBA program in August. "[This project] provided me the opportunity to further explore areas of leadership and organizational change management and to use my business acumen to positively impact my community for the greater good of society. The friendships and networks created because of this experience will certainly pay dividends far into the future." Learn more about Cedar Crest College's MBA and MMS programs.

Rachel Rodriguez and Jordyn Miller, graduate students in the Integrative Exercise Science program, presented their research, "The Effect of Pre-Exercise Carbohydrate and Protein Ingestion on Repeated Sprint Times in a Group of Female College Track Athletes," at the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) in Orlando, FL, on October 9. The students also won an Outstanding Abstract award. The research study was conducted on the Cedar Crest College track athletes this past spring. Faculty involved in the oversight of the research included Dr. Dianne Babbitt, Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Health Sciences Department, and Tara Miltenberger.

The Art Department is pleased to announce the inclusion of works by Cedar Crest Art majors Mary Jo Scannell and Leanna Pittman in the juried exhibition The North American Hand Papermakers - 8th Collegiate Paper Art Triennial. Artwork for the triennial was selected from a total of 138 submissions from 83 students at 17 schools. This exhibition was juried by prominent paper artists and writers: Mina Takahashi, Editor of Hand Papermaking Magazine; Karen Kunc, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Erin Zona, Artistic Director, Women's Studio Workshop. The exhibition is on view at Cedar Crest College in the Center for Visual Research, Miller Building, until October 14. After leaving Cedar Crest College's Center for Visual Research the show will travel to the following locations: Evanston Art Center (Evanston, Illinois): January 14 - February 19, 2023 Morgan Conservatory (Cleveland, Ohio): June - July 2023 (final dates TBD) Lyndon House (Athens, Georgia): October 7, 2023 - January 13, 2024

Delphi is the college's honor society for undergraduate students. Students who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 at the end of their junior or senior year are recognized as members.

On Thursday, December 9, the Education Department had six students present their thesis projects as part of the Master of Education in The Art of Teaching. The department would like to recognize the following: Veronica Bocian: Teacher Perspectives and Student Success Christina DeJesus: How is Student Behavior and Teachers' Perception Impacted by the Implementation of Trauma-Informed Schools on Children who have Experienced ACEs and Trauma? Amy Drabic: The Emotional Impact the STAR Testing Program has on Learning Support Students, Relating to Student Affect and Student Confidence Daniel Lugo: The Effects of Virtual Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Teachers and Students in Grades K-12 within the United States: A Systematic Review Fatima Somji: The Impact of Mindfulness on College Students' Cognitive, Mental, and Physical Health Zackery Wilson: Physical Activity and How it Influences Mental Health and SEL

Delphi is the college's honor society for undergraduate students. Students who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 at the end of their junior or senior year are recognized as members.

The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) has selected English major and Pitch senior editor Melissa Mahadeo '22 to be a reader for the 2022 Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature for the best books of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry and the best literary magazines in the categories of debut and general excellence. CLMP is a national nonprofit organization that has supported the work of independent literary publishers for more than 50 years. https://www.clmp.org/programs-opportunities/firecracker/

On Friday, November 19, fifty students were inducted into the Zeta Chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha (Tri-Alpha), a national honor society for first-generation college students. The mission of the honor society, which was founded at Moravian College in 2018, is to encourage and reward academic excellence among first-generation college students pursuing a bachelor's degree at accredited institutions of higher learning. Tri-Alpha chapters provide members opportunities for personal growth, leadership and campus and community service.

This summer, graduate students in the business department's Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Modular Master of Science (MMS) program worked together to assess marketing and operations for Bloom, a volunteer-based non-profit that provides assistance to victims of sex trafficking in the Lehigh Valley. In addition to running several emergency shelters for women in the area, the Bloom organization has two retail locations that help generate revenue for the organization: My Sister's Closet in Bethlehem, and Bloom Creative Studio in Bangor. Two teams of students in the business department master's capstone, BUA 650 Integrated Practicum, met with representatives from Bloom to assess their retail operations and provide recommendations to improve the marketing and operational efficiency of each. The students gained valuable hands-on experience working for a crucial local advocacy organization while at the same time giving back service to the community. Team One worked with My Sister's Closet, led by Team Captain Adena Mertz, the team included Tiffany Crush, Valerie Downing, Kyle Elsasser, Andrea Mackiewicz, Karina Ruiz, and Breanna Young. Team Two worked with Bloom Creative Studio, led by Team Captain Daria Warner, the team included Samuel Ajayi, Elizabeth Gwynne, Erika Hanna, Brittany Mokshefsky, Lynn Staples, and Caitlyn Unger. Dr. Michael C. Zalot, assistant professor of business and the director of both graduate programs in the Business Department supervised the student teams. The teams each provided in-depth written recommendations as well as a formal online presentation to Bloom.

Amber Rose, G'21 was the lead author on a manuscript entitled "Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry of Eight Aminoindanes: 2-AI, NM-2-AI, MEAI, MMAI, 4,5-MDAI, MDAI, 5-IAI, and Rasagiline." The manuscript was recently published in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, a leading peer-reviewed journal in analytical chemistry. The publication, which was the product of Rose's Master of Science in Forensic Science thesis, can be accessed via the following link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rcm.9207

Congratulations to Brianna Gregory '22, a senior in the forensic science program, who was awarded the Peter De Forest Research Award at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists held recently in Newport, RI. A panel of forensic science experts selected Gregory's presentation as the most outstanding presentation given at the conference by an undergraduate.

Breille Duncan '22, a senior mathematics major, recently had an article published in a peer-reviewed journal. The article, titled "Exceptional Totient Numbers," was published in the open-access journal INTEGERS: Electronic Journal of Combinatorics and Number Theory. You can access the article at http://math.colgate.edu/~integers/v87/v87.pdf.

Loren Williams, a student in the Master of Science in Forensic Science program, recently had a manuscript accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The manuscript titled "The Potential Use of Principal Component Analysis and Mahalanobis Distance in Handwriting Comparison" will be published in Problems of Forensic Science which has been published continuously since 1960 by the Polish Institute of Forensic Research. Problems of Forensic Science is one of the leading forensic science journals in eastern Europe. The article will be published in English and in Polish and will be freely available on-line on the journal's website.

The screen dance "the skin you're in" by Assistant Professor of Dance, Sarah Carlson, was presented at the Pennsylvania Dance Education Organization's virtual conference on June 22, 2021. The film was created this Spring and featured the artistry of Cedar Crest dancers Arline Almeter, Ashlyn Auriemma, Cassondra Daveler, Brenna Desborough, Megan Fink and Cindy Lozada. "the skin you're in" meditates upon the outer layer of the body, a permeable barrier called skin that comes in many textures & shades. Dancers were invited to reflect upon how their skin has contributed to their self-worth instilling a sense of privilege or oppression.

Cedar Crest College celebrated the Class of 2021 at its 151st Commencement Exercises on Friday, May 14, and Saturday, May 15. The ceremonies were held at the PPL Center in Downtown Allentown.