Summer camps, road trips, lazy days at the pool, backyard picnics, and reunions are the hallmarks of a typical summer break. Summer of 2020 was a bit different for everyone; but in some ways, very much the same. Students and faculty and staff members soldiered on with the hallmark hard work and commitment to learning and development that is the backbone of our campus. Inside hastily arranged home offices and bedrooms-turned-research labs, and with the help of infinite amounts of technology, we witnessed hundreds of successes inside this new environment.
Read on about the enterprising activities that became IUP's summer of 2020.
Student Research Continues
Academic rigor at IUP wasn't put on hold as the pandemic and its impact set in around the world. As most students adapted to learning online in the spring semester, another set of students kicked into high gear to supplement their learning with a research experience, fully virtual.
Preventing the Summer Slide
This summer, four IUP students have taken their coursework to the field, applying what they've learned in a summer camp and providing an important experience that benefits the Indiana community during a time of crisis.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
IUP Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Elise Glenn sees hope for racial justice in the protests and conversations that have risen up across the country. She answered questions about progress and challenges at IUP and elsewhere.
Police, Racism, and a Movement
Through a partnership with Indiana Borough Police Chief Justin Schawl, Abigail Adams has given multiple trainings and engaged with officers on topics ranging from implicit bias to equality and race to local police forces. She answered questions about how her research interests are relevant to the current state of race relations in America.
Fall 2020 and K-12 Education
When the coronavirus pandemic closed schools and forced learning online last spring, it left parents wondering how their kids would catch up academically. IUP school psychologists Timothy Runge and Joseph Kovaleski offer their advice.
Don't Squash that Bug!
The next time you are on a nature trail or an urban sidewalk and are tempted to squash a bug on your path, consider the cost. Are you helping? Are you hurting? Assistant biology professor, ecologist, and entomologist Ellen Yerger shows her students the scientific value of insects, how they help humans, and the ecosystem's interconnectivity.
Passion and Profession During COVID-19
Sophomore pre-med psychology major Isabelle Molina is a soldier in the fight against the pandemic at her hometown MedExpress, a COVID-19 testing site.
Passwords and Pandemics: Cybersecurity Is No Joke
Waleed Farag, a professor of Computer Science and the director of the IUP's Institute for Cyber Security, offers tips on how to keep yourself safe online.
Life and Breath in the 'Burgh
Respiratory therapist Zach Isenberg '11 talks about the breathing issues COVID-19 patients experience and his work in the cardiothoracic unit of one of the nation's largest hospital systems.