December 16, 2019
Paging Dr. Doolittle
Why do we have a whole section on animals? Because we can!
A hungry black bear burgled the beehives outside the Center for Environmental Education and Research in March. News coverage of the story took off, appearing in more than 200 news outlets across the world, including CNN, MSN and TIME.
Despite the honey heist, SU beekeeping club students helped their hives recover, producing more than 150 pounds of honey seven months after the bear incident.
Have ewe herd? SU has sheep! We welcomed a flock of about 20 woolly lawnmowers to our 14-acre solar array in April. The sheep grazed around the solar array to keep the grass trimmed, ensuring the array’s efficiency. Also, they’re really cute.
We’re Nationally Ranked for Earnings, Study Abroad and More
We placed among the Top 10% of universities in the U.S. for career-long earnings, according to a report from Georgetown University, which ranks SU No. 338 among 4,500 colleges and universities nationwide for salary earned over the length of a career.
SU rose in the 2020 U.S. News Best Colleges released by U.S. News and World Report, climbing 18 places to No. 117 out of the 223 universities included on the National Liberal Arts Colleges list.
We ranked No. 1 in Pennsylvania and No. 11 nationwide for the percentage of students who study abroad, according to the Open Doors 2018 annual report by the Institute for International Education.
Fly River Hawks!
The River Hawk football team dominated the fifth annual Centennial-MAC Bowl, securing a decisive 88-24 victory over Wilkes University for the SU’s third consecutive Centennial-MAC Bowl win.
Women’s volleyball finished an historic season ranked No. 20 in the AVCA Top-25 poll.
Men’s club rugby placed third in the National Small College Rugby Organization 15s National Championships – the best finish in team history.
Research Spans the Sciences and Humanities
Faculty and student research take place across disciplines year-round and this year revealed some interesting work.
Ecology major Timothy Parks ’19 found that microplastics are present in a significant amount of smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River, revealing that it’s not just oceans that are vulnerable to the environmental problem.
Apryl Williams, assistant professor of sociology, earned a fellowship with Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society to move forward her research into gender- and race-based discrimination.
History Professor Karol Weaver’s latest research examines the ways in which Pennsylvania women cared for the dying and the dead, and how their role in this work transitioned to trained, male professionals.
Academic and Research Programs Earn Support
Susquehanna’s academic programs were bolstered by generous funding from both philanthropic organizations and motivated alumni.
A multi-million-dollar fundraising challenge was met three years early to establish the Signe Gates and Dawn Mueller Women’s Leadership Fund, which supports female students in career treks to major cities, job-shadowing experiences, and opportunities for summer research, internships or other experiential learning opportunities.
The university was awarded a $950,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation in support of expansion and research at our Freshwater Research Institute.
Three Susquehanna professors in different disciplines were awarded an $83,820 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a joint project meant to encourage civil discourse in an increasingly divided world.