Providing the strategic vision and leadership for the design and implementation of plans, policies and services to enhance the campus climate for diversity, equity and inclusiveness is the new duty of Pablo Mendoza, assistant to the president for Social Equity.

The PASSHE Council of Presidents has voted to change the Common Academic Calendar for the state system. The Spring 2014 semester will now conclude with Commencement taking place Saturday, May 10, 2014. Other academic milestones have shifted as well.

The National Guard Civil Support Team’s (CST) information management system, created by IUP and deployed to all 50 states and territories by the National Guard, provides a common operating picture, promotes information sharing and real-time collaboration in an emergency situation, and supports the CST mission of assisting and advising first responders and facilitating communications with other federal resources across the nation.

Aaron Douthit, Stump Creek, a sophomore at Indiana University of Pennsylvania majoring in Nursing, has been appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett as the student trustee on the IUP Council of Trustees.

Nationally respected for his work in disaster preparedness and emergency response, Glenn Cannon, alumnus of IUP's College of Education and Educational Technology, will bring his decades of professional leadership expertise to the IUP Council of Trustees.

Victor Garcia, professor of anthropology, has been selected as the Distinguished University Professor, formerly known as the University Professor, for the 2013-14 academic year.

Since 1969, IUP has presented these awards to honor faculty members who make significant contributions to the university. The 2013 winners are Fredalene Bowers, Human Development and Environmental Studies, Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching; Edel Reilly, Mathematics, Distinguished Faculty Award for Service; and Mike Sell, English, Distinguished Faculty Award for Research.