Indiana University of Pennsylvania will mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on September 11 starting at 8:35 a.m. in front of the 9/11 memorial in the IUP Oak Grove.
Guests may attend this event in the Oak Grove, but must wear masks and adhere to social-distancing guidelines. A live stream of the event will be available. A recording of the event also will be made available.
Speakers for the 2020 event will include Michael Driscoll, IUP president, and Nadene L'Amoreaux, professor, IUP Department of Counseling. US Army Lt. Col. Dennis Faulkner, chair of IUP's Department of Military Science, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event.
Music will be performed by members of the IUP Wind Ensemble under the direction of Timothy Paul, director of bands.
In the event of inclement weather, the program will be moved to Gorell Recital Hall, second floor, John Sutton Hall. If moved indoors, the event will be available via live stream only.
The university's September 11 memorial in the Oak Grove is located between Sutton Hall and Stapleton Library. It includes a 13-foot remnant of the World Trade Center, on long-term loan to the university from the Kovalchick family, of Indiana.
The annual event is designed as an opportunity to reflect on and mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The program includes a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
The event also will include a remembrance of the three IUP alumni lost in the World Trade Center attacks: William Moskal, a 1979 graduate; Donald Jones, a 1980 graduate; and William Sugra, a 1993 graduate.
Jones and Sugra worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in the north tower of the World Trade Center. Jones was a bond broker from Bucks County. Sugra lived in Manhattan and worked for e-Speed, Cantor Fitzgerald's electronic trading unit. Sugra's family, of Allentown, provide the funding for an annual memorial scholarship in his honor.
Moskal, a safety sciences graduate and Johnstown native, was a risk consultant for Marsh and McLennan in Cleveland, specializing in heavy construction. He was in New York on September 11, 2001, for a meeting at the World Trade Center.
During September, the IUP Libraries offers a special display in the first floor lobby area about the attacks.
IUP students, under the direction of Distinguished University Professor Jeff Larkin and Mike Tyree, faculty member in the Department of Biology, have been involved in the reforestation project around the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville. The memorial is the site of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.