YSU Magazine Winter 2023

Abstract

President Jim Tressel and wife Ellen Tressel say thank you as Jim Tressel steps down as YSU President in February. A Q & A is given with Interim President Dr. Helen K. Lafferty. Several pages highlight the recent achievements of alumni. Seven alumni were honored at the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services Alumni Recognition Dinner. The Warren P. Williams College of Business Administration honored four graduates at its 2022 Outstanding Alumni Awards reception. Colleen Clayton, 2011 graduate, will lead a discussion about her novel "What Happens Next." Senior Biochemistry major Kira Bowman received national recognition for her research on extracting COVID-19 from human excrement. Two YSU Students (Lovii Hicks and Latieya Richard) were among only 18 women nationwide selected to participate in the 2022 Focus Forward Fellowship. Students in the YSU Anthropology Colloquium have volunteered 1,000 hours in an initiative to identify and catalog thousands of arrowheads and other Native American artifacts at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society. YSU students spend the fall semester overseas in Europe and Japan. The 2022 calendar-year performance by YSU Athletics teams may go down as one of the most successful in school history with nine conference championships. Officials from YSU and Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) gathered on campus this Fall to announce intentions to establish a partnership to design and launch a national electric vehicle workforce training and innovation center. YSU Faculty and Staff earned nearly $16 million in research and service grants, the most ever in a single year. Hundreds received diplomas at YSU's Fall Commencement Ceremony in December. The YSU Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Environmental Science received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award. The textbook savings initiatives help make textbooks available for students. The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded $1.15 million to YSU to implement broadband and 5G readiness training across eastern Ohio. Fire damages the Ward Beecher Planetarium. The Rose Melnick Medical Museum celebrated its official reopening in its new home in Cushwa Hall. The new Frank and Norma Watson Team Center on campus was dedicated. The fountain area at the core of the YSU campus has been named for Daniel H. Becker and his family. YSU alumni Suellen and Michael Weir donated $1 million to provide new technology to the YSU Williamson College of Business Administration. A multi-purpose meeting and classroom in Stambaugh stadium has been named the Jim and Melissa DiBacco Family Leadership Center.