​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​System Success stories

State System universities continue to innovate and grow as they prepare generation after generation of students for success. ​​​​

Success Highlights​​​​

The Professional Sales Center of the Zeigler College of Business at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg has been approved for full membership status in the University Sales Center Alliance. The announcement was made at the organization's annual meeting in Ogden, Utah, last month. 

Through a partnership with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania, Cheyney University students have been interning in labs alongside the nation’s top immunotherapy cancer researchers and clinicians. Faculty members recommended Michael Ikpe, Natalie Brown, and Ositadimma Ugwuanyi last year to be part of the internship program. The students were selected based on their enthusiasm for experimentation in the lab and academic performance, and successfully completing the Life Sciences & Technology (LSAT) Hub's trainee program.

Games of all kinds enjoyed something of a renaissance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the lengthy lockdown provided the impetus for a new card game. David Mazure, East Stroudsburg University professor of art + design, assembled a creative team of students to help bring his idea for Devour, a new card game, to life.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania has received $4.98 million from the Department of Defense for the first three years of a novel project to enhance cybersecurity and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in Pennsylvania. This is the largest single grant that has ever been awarded to IUP.

At an early age, Alex Racosky ’15 was rock solid about wanting a future in geology, and Kutztown University helped her unearth the confidence to lead more than a mile below the surface. Today, Racosky is a mining geologist with Resolution Copper, a proposed copper mine near Phoenix, Ariz., that could meet nearly 25 percent of the United States’ copper demand.

Five Commonwealth University faculty members, representing each of the main campuses, Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, and Mansfield, are collaborating to create a Watershed Ecology Center. In addition to creating a resource to help preserve Pennsylvania watersheds, this Center of Excellence expands students’ research opportunities and career networks. 

Commonwealth University-Mansfield recently received a donation of four incubators from Corning Incorporated. The incubators were distributed between two labs with Drs. Maegen Borzok, Kristen Long, and Elaine Farkas. With Dr. Borzok, two of the incubators will be used by students in a biochemistry course to introduce them to foundational biochemistry and molecular biology techniques.

It takes a lot of coordination, smarts and a rather large shredder to take post-consumer plastic, like plastic water or soda bottles, and repurpose them into something more permanent. But that’s exactly what’s happening at Millersville University. The impetus behind the recycling project was to give the students an authentic experience in plastics recycling.

The nationally accredited bachelor’s degree program in exercise science from PennWest Global Online earned the No. 1 ranking in the U.S. from a top program analytics website. This month EduMed – a leading higher-education healthcare consultant – praised PennWest for accreditation, internship opportunities, and practical and theory method delivery in the Best Online Exercise Science Degree Programs of 2023.

Shippensburg University and the Shippensburg University Foundation announced the newly named Milton and Doreen Morgan School of Engineering and Laboratory. The naming honors the couple’s transformational gift that will impact university students today and well into the future.

There are many ways to ease the ongoing stress to the world's supply chain, and one way is by developing better manufacturing techniques, especially ones that can be used by small businesses. A faculty-student research team at Slippery Rock University is working on a project using a conveyor belt 3D printer in a process known as additive manufacturing.

West Chester University​ was selected for the third consecutive year to receive the 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The HEED award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.​