Kudos

Spring 2014 Issue

Susquehanna Grad Wins Emmy Award

Susquehanna has an Emmy Award winner in its family tree. Craig Housenick ’98 was awarded a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences last September.

Led by lighting designer Oscar Dominguez and lighting director Daniel K. Boland, Housenick’s team won Outstanding Lighting Design/ Lighting Direction for their work on NBC’s The Voice.

As media server operator, Housenick uses video to create the program’s striking visual displays. “I work with the content in all of the video surfaces, as well as some elements of the lighting rig,” he explains.

The Los Angeles-based lighting designer/director, who has worked on television shows such asThe Taste and Jimmy Kimmel Live, encourages industry hopefuls to take advantage of the experiences Susquehanna offers.

“Susquehanna gave me the ability to be really hands-on with all our technical facilities within the theater,” Housenick says. “There is no finer educator than experience, and being part of such an intimate program gave me lots of opportunities to be creative and find my creative voice.”

Students Honored by the American Physiological Society

Seniors Rebecca Frazier, of Montgomery, Pa., and Katelynn Ondek, of Allentown, Pa., received David S. Bruce Outstanding Undergraduate Abstract Awards from the American Physiological Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes research and education in the physiological sciences. The awards recognize excellence in the student abstracts submitted for presentation at the Experimental Biology 2014 Conference in San Diego April 27.

The self-designed neuroscience majors presented the research each conducted with Assistant Professor of Biology Erin Keen-Rhinehart. Frazier’s research examined the impact of prenatal under-nutrition on reproductive function, while Ondek’s suggests that a low-energy maternal diet alters the neural pathway responsible for addictive behavior.

Following graduation, Frazier plans to pursue a doctorate in neuropsychology with a focus on autism and neuro- degenerative disorders. Ondek plans to study veterinary medicine, and hopes to continue her neuroscience research and complete a dual degree.

More Good News From Around “the ‘Grove”

A new university chaplain and new academic major, coupled with student philanthropy and more recognition for the GO program, are among the other noteworthy achievements Susquehanna has to crow about.

The Rev. Scott Kershner became chaplain to Susquehanna University in January, replacing the university’s longtime spiritual leader, the Rev. Mark Wm. Radecke, who retired at the end of 2013. Kershner came to Susquehanna from Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the northern Cascades of Washington state. Prior to that, he was the pastor of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., and headmaster of its parochial school. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Olaf College, a Master of Divinity from Yale University Divinity School, and a Master of Sacred Theology from the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

A neuroscience major is the newest addition to Susquehanna’s 50-plus academic programs. Students who wish to study brain function and its role in governing behavior can now choose this interdisciplinary major that blends psychology, biology and chemistry. Neuroscience will be taught by faculty with research interests ranging from dietary habits during pregnancy and their impact on offspring, to how the brain changes during the aging process, to reconditioning memory.

Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) co-ed music fraternity turned the tables on the notion of alumni support last semester. The fraternity helped Rebekah Doll ’13, who teaches music at the Title 1 Florence Unified School District in Florence, Ariz., to raise $1,000 and collect sorely needed music equipment for her classroom. “Most of the time, alumnae are the ones supporting current students. We are so thrilled that we can reverse that process and return the favor,” says SAI president Ashley Baisch ’15, a music education major from Yorktown Heights, N.Y.

Susquehanna University sent more students abroad in the 2011-12 academic year than most undergraduate-only institutions in the nation, according to the Open Doors 2013 annual report on student mobility, released by the Institute of International Education last fall. Susquehanna ranked #15 among all baccalaureate schools in the United States, up from #35 the previous year. The university’s Global Opportunities (GO) program makes Susquehanna one of only a handful of schools to require a study-away experience for all students. Since the program’s inception three years ago, more than 1,000 Susquehanna students have acquired greater cross-cultural awareness by studying in 42 countries on six continents.

Contributing writers to the departments are Mikaela Klimovitz ’16, a communications major from Baltimore; Megan McDermott ’14, a creative writing and religious studies major from Lewisberry, Pa.; and Katie Meier, director of athletics communications.

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