> The Thinker
It’s been a busy year for Monica Marie VanDieren, Ph.D., but the math professor and codirector of the University Honors Program isn’t bothered by work. She even has rearranged the letters of her name into a slogan: “I am one driven American.”

Just before fall semester started, VanDieren flew to Poland to speak on theoretical concepts of infinity at a European Science Foundation research conference. In November, VanDieren gave a talk on encouraging children’s mathematical creativity at Leadership Pittsburgh’s TEDx conference. That was after getting back from Washington, D.C., where she represented RMU at the National Collegiate Honors Council’s annual conference. Presumably she got some work done on the plane for the council’s small college standing committee, to which she was just appointed.

Then last month, VanDieren was keynote speaker at the “Girls' Night Out” event at Canonsburg Middle School. The event promotes healthy lifestyles, positive self-image, and empowerment of female students.

With a track record like that, it’s no surprise the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a glowing profile of VanDieren this summer in its “The Thinkers” series. But we do hope she got a moment’s rest over the holidays.

> Equal Access to All
RMU has formed a new organization, the Council on Institutional Equity, chaired by Rex L. Crawley, Ph.D., and including both student and faculty members. The council’s role is ensuring that all members of the campus community have equal access to the university’s programs and services. Crawley, assistant dean of the School of Communications and Information Systems, was recently named a “Man of Excellence” in the education field by New Pittsburgh Courier.

> Hail to the Chief
When Barack Obama came to Pittsburgh to speak at the AFL-CIO convention in September, senior Tyler Punteteri not only met the president backstage, he even got to drive in the motorcade.

Thanks to an uncle who is active in Democratic politics, the finance major from Wampum drove a limo ferrying White House press corps from the airport. Punteteri shook the president's hand, though he admits he was too nervous to strike up much of a conversation with the commander-in-chief. "I didn't know what to say to him. I was just so excited," Punteteri said. It didn’t get any easier; at the same function, he also got to meet Mario Lemieux.

> Global Greening
Sustainablility, a key issue at last month’s climate summit in Copenhagen, is also the main concern for students of management professor Marcel Minutolo, MBA, in a classroom exercise that involves real-world business experience.

Minutolo’s students have been paired with Steward Earth LLC, a sustainablility consulting firm based in McKean, Pa., through a studentbusiness matchmaker program run by the Global Reporting Initiative. The UN-backed agency in Amsterdam sets standards for measuring and reporting environmental sustainablility for companies and organizations.

Through the matchmaker program, Minutolo’s students get to participate in the writing of a business sustainablility report, while Steward Earth gets some extra eyes and minds checking on its work.

> Honor Roll
Science students working with faculty members Maria Kalevitch, Ph.D., Paul Badger, Ph.D., and William Dress, Ph.D., recently presented the results of their summer soil research projects at the Annual Meeting of the Soil Science Society of America held in Pittsburgh.

Students in a directed study course on leadership in public relations designed by communications professor Ann Jabro, Ph.D., attended the Public Relations Student Society of America conference in San Diego in November. Jabro 's paper, "Event Planning: A Transformative Learning Experience Linking Theory to Practice," was presented at the society’s Educators Academy Division.

Rebecca Tokarsky, an environmental science major, was named the president of the RMU chapter of National Science Teachers Association. The newest student
group in the School of Engineering, Math and Science plans to be presenting at the association’s annual conference in Philadelphia in March.

> Love, Actuarially
After spending so much time thinking about fires, floods, and mortality, students of actuarial sciences must want something less disturbing to read between classes. That’s where Michael Pacolay comes in.

A senior in the university’s highly acclaimed actuarial sciences program and an intern for Highmark, Pacolay was one of two students selected nationally last year to the editorial board of The Future Actuary. The newsletter is published jointly by Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society and is read by those preparing for careers in the field.

Pacolay’s first article, which reviewed job interview tips from actuarial managers, was published in the fall. Pacolay, a West Mifflin native, practices kung fu. So when he’s “hitting the tables,” we are not sure if that means the actuarial kind, or more solid ones.

> Focus on the Arts
Jon Radermacher, MFA, interim head of the media arts department in the School of Communications and Information Systems, is among 31 international artists whose work — salt and pepper shakers (above) from his “Consumption” series — is being shown in "Paper or Plastic?" The exhibition at the Luke & Eloy Gallery in Lawrenceville runs through Jan. 16.

Media arts professor Hyla Willis, MFA, traveled to Spain's Basque country in the fall to participate in Soft Power, a program about art and the politics of biotechnology. Willis went with subRosa, a feminist art collective she is part of.

Media arts professor Carolina Loyola-Garcia, MFA, participated in “Transfer Lounge,” an exhibition featuring Spanish and American artists in the Space Gallery in downtown Pittsburgh in the fall.

For his body of work as a writer, English professor John Lawson, Ph.D., was honored by St. Andrews Presbyterian College with its Ethel N. Fortner Award in the fall. Lawson once taught creative writing at the Laurinsburg, N.C., college, and St. Andrews College Press published Lawson’s first collection of poetry, Generations, in 2007.

> Movers and Shakers
Maria V. Kalevitch, interim dean of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, served as evaluator on a National Science Foundation panel in Washington D.C. in November, where she reviewed proposals submitted to the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program.

"The Doctor Is In," a Moon Community Access TV program co-hosted by computer and information systems professor Robert Skovira, Ph.D., and Coraopolis physician Marc Schneiderman, has received its second consecutive national Communicator Award.

Connie Serapiglia ’99 M’01 D’05, director of information technology customer services, presented her paper, "Factors Affecting Women's Decisions to Pursue an IS Degree: A Case Study," at the Information Systems Educator Conference in Washington, D.C., in November.

Science education professor Matthew Maurer, Ph.D., and Lauralee Zelesnak, a biology teacher at Mowhawk High School, teamed up to discuss the university’s “college in high school” program at a regional conference of the National Science Teachers Association in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in November.

Donna Fetterman, director of the Office of Student Civic Engagement, gave the invocation at the 140th Anniversary Symposium of YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh in October.

Paul Spradley ’03 M’06,
assistant director of student life for multicultural affairs, has been named to the board of directors of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council.

> On the Big Screen
The latest film by the university’s Center for Documentary Production, “What Does Trouble Mean? Nate Smith’s Revolution,” premiered in October to a packed theater at the new August Wilson Center for African American Culture in downtown Pittsburgh.

With archival footage, interviews, and dramatic reenactments, the 56-minute film tells how an African American crane operator evolved into the charismatic leader who forced integration of Pittsburgh’s construction trade unions in the 1970s. The film was written and produced by Erica Peiffer ‘05 and Alexander Wilson ’05 M’07 and edited by Brad Grimm ‘07.

Academic Media Center Director Michael DiLauro screened his awardwinning documentary, “Prisoners Among Us,” at the University of Miami in September for the school’s motion picture program. DiLauro’s film, about the emergence of the Italian-American identity during World War II, won the Best Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the New York Independent Film Festival in 2004.

> In Print

Valentine J. Brkich, senior writer for public relations and marketing, recently published Bridgewater: A Narrative History of a Pennsylvania River Town. In the book, Brkich shares tales of his family’s history in the town, as he touches on the meaning of place in one’s life.

You can order the book here: www.BridgeStBooks.com

> Official Business
Morgan O'Brien '82 M'85 joined the university board of trustees this fall. O’Brien is president and CEO of Duquesne Light Holdings. His wife is Kathleen Flavin O’Brien ’81.

President Gregory G. Dell'Omo, Ph.D., has been named to the Division I board of directors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, as the representative for the Northeast Conference. Dell’Omo is also a member of the NCAA President’s Advisory Group.

> Rock On
This shot by Justin Zuccarelli ‘08 of guitarist Fred Mascherino playing at the 2008 Warped Tour won a Photo District News/Billboard magazine Year in Music Moment award in the crowd category.

>World Wise
The university's new executive director of international programs, Ida Mansourian, has an impressive global track record. The Iranian native has been to almost 40 countries, on every continent except Antarctica, and speaks four languages. Mansourian has been working on international programs at Mesa Community College since 1996, including the last five years as director of international education. One of the country's biggest community colleges, the Arizona institution sends about 150 students abroad each year, and enrolls some 2,000 international students from more than 100 countries.

“When I saw how much emphasis the president places on global learning, I told myself that this is a place where international education programs can get a lot of support and many things can happen,” Mansourian says of RMU.

Titi Adewale M'00, RMU's former director of international student services and study abroad, has moved to Charlotte, N.C. Associate Provost Lawrence Tomei, Ed.D., praised her service to RMU: "Titi's leadership and personal commitment to international exchange and study abroad has personified the RMU core value of global perspective."

> RMU Welcomes the World
Denmark's top evening news anchorman and three other European professionals visited campus in October to discuss the G-20 summit and American and European politics with distinguished faculty and an influential alumnus.

The meeting was the second visit to RMU by a delegation from the German Marshal Fund of the United States. The Washington-based organization arranges month-long transatlantic study fellowships for Europeans and Americans selected as potential future leaders. This year's group also included directors of nonprofit organizations in Turkey and Romania, and the director of a cultural center and museum in Slovakia.

Professors Daria Crawley, Ph.D., and Patrick Litzinger, Ph.D., gave presentations to the group, as did Dewitt Peart ‘81, executive vice president for economic development at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. The fellows also met with President Gregory G. Dell'Omo, Ph.D., who explained the U.S. system of higher education and his guiding philosophy and strategy for RMU.

> Their Final is in Hardcover
Students in the documentary photography course taught by media arts professor Christine Holtz, MFA, made something lasting out of their class project. The book, Community, features the best photos by students Samantha Cuddy, Stephen Inman, Ryan Matteo, Juliane Sandora, Nicole Storey, and Cassandra Weinzierl.

Preview it on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/rmuphotos/sets/72157622715548905
Purchase a copy: www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/976470

> Welcoming the World, Part 2
When throngs of foreign diplomats and media from around the world poured into town in September for the G-20 Pittsburgh Summit, RMU stepped forward to make them feel at home.

Students from nine countries translated the script for a one-hour guided walking tour of the downtown area into their native tongues. With the help of Douglas Derda, web/social media designer, the students and Mark Houser, university editor and the tour’s writer, recorded the audio as downloadable podcasts. The podcast tours were advertised in the G-20 media center and in major hotels, and were downloaded more than 2,000 times that week.

VisitPittsburgh, the region’s tourism bureau, is working with RMU to link to the downtown walking tour podcasts on its main Web page. If you’d like to download the free MP3 walking tour of downtown Pittsburgh in English, French, Turkish, Chinese, or six other languages go to http://www.rmu.edu/web/cms/g20/Pages/g20-tour.aspx

> Conferences
The annual Sport Management Conference promises each year to bring top sports executives to campus to offer students career advice and networking opportunities, and this November’s program was no exception. Speakers included former New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi and Murray Cohn ‘88, senior director of team ticket sales for the NBA.

The Greater Pittsburgh Nursing Research Conference, held on campus in October, brought nearly 300 people including clinical nurses, nurse educators, and nursing students from across the Pittsburgh region. This year's focus was on evidence-based practice.

> Scholarships
The university’s chapter of Alpha Chi National Honor Society inducted 69 new members in the fall. Student members are juniors and seniors who have completed 60 credits, at least half at RMU, and who carry an A-average with a QPA of 3.7 or higher.

Brendan Methers, a sophomore studying mechanical engineering, won a $2,000 Myrtle and Earl Walker Scholarship from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, one of 143 scholarships awarded nationwide this year by SME

> Swinging for the fences
Among all NCAA Division I softball teams throughout the country, the RMU Colonials boast the highest average grades, according to he National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Five smartest softball teams - GPAs are for the 2008-09 academic year.