Dennis Richard Hock, a biology education graduate student who has served three tours overseas, was awarded the Beverly Sue Clark Scholarship.
Beverly Sue Clark, from Armagh, Pa., died in Iraq during the Gulf War. This scholarship is awarded to a student preparing for a career in teaching who has prior military experience, good academic standing, and determined by a vote by a board of faculty members.
Hock is the first person in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics to receive this award. He was also accepted into the Honors Science Program, where he could do research to gain a further understanding towards his degree.
Hock, who resides in Westmoreland County, attended California University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, and CCAC North Campus before coming to IUP. He is an enlisted member of the USAF-SF, but many of his schooling and deployments were through the Army and Marine Corps units. He has conducted military service in Afghanistan, Southern Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Qatar.
A transition from coming overseas to a college setting is not easy, but IUP has helped make this switch an exceptional experience for Hock. The diversity of the faculty and curriculum was what first attracted Hock to IUP, and with a smaller student to faculty ratio than other universities, his professors were able to help him become a very well-rounded student in his field.
“I have met some of the best professors I ever had here at IUP, and I am greatly impressed by the quality of teaching I have experienced,” Hock said.
When he graduates, Hock would like to teach at Freeport School District or the Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy.
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