On Oct. 20, 2018, the Wilson College Board of Trustees approved identifying Wilson graduates as alumni instead of alumnae/i in all institutional messaging and publications. This action brings the College’s institutional voice in line with its strategic goals and supports Wilson’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity on campus. It does not impact any requirements of the Alumnae Association of Wilson College (AAWC), which is a separate 501(c)(3) organization.
The change will be phased into all written and electronic materials as updates and reprints are needed.
The Wilson College Veterinary Medical Technology Club will hold its popular dog washes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 3 and 4, in the college veterinary building near the main entrance to campus. The dog washes are open to the public. The cost is $10 for small dogs, $15 for medium dogs, $20 for large dogs and $25 for extra-large or double-coated dogs. The price includes ear cleaning, nail trim, bath and blow dry—all of which will be performed by VMT Club members.
Owners must present a paper copy of their dog’s rabies vaccination.
For more information, contact VMT Club President Shanelle Spotts at shanelle.spotts@wilson.edu.
Wilson College will hold a reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, to mark the opening of an exhibition of art created by area high school students. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will continue through Dec. 7 in the Bogigian Gallery, which is located on the second floor of Lortz Hall.
The exhibition, the eighth of its kind at Wilson, will include 25 works of art that were accepted for the exhibition from more than 140 submissions from students in Franklin, Adams, Cumberland and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania and Washington County, Md.
Cash prizes of $200, $100 and $50 will be awarded for first, second and third places, respectively, and other works of note will receive honorable mention. In addition, monetary scholarships will be offered to winners who enroll at Wilson.
Students are encouraged to offer their works of art for sale during the exhibition, which is presented by Wilson’s Division of Arts and Letters.
Bogigian Gallery, named in honor of Wilson College benefactor Hagop Boggigian, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. For more information or an appointment, contact Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey at philip.lindsey@wilson.edu or 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305.
Speaker Chad T. Lower will discuss some of the latest developments at NASA from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, in the John Stewart Memorial Library at Wilson College. The talk is free and open to the public.
Lower, Wilson adjunct instructor of mathematics, is a volunteer with NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors Program, a public outreach effort to communicate the excitement of space exploration.
During his presentation, he will talk about NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock, a new atomic clock is planned for use on future space missions. The clock is expected to be launched into orbit around the earth on or around Nov. 19 while testing of the clock continues, according to Lower.
Lower will also discuss developments with the NASA spacecraft InSight, which was launched May 2018 en route to Mars. The spacecraft is expected to land on Nov. 26.
Wilson College will host its annual Arts Day - an educational and fun-filled day of free events that encourages everyone to appreciate and celebrate interdisciplinary arts - on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The day-long event, which is held at locations all over the campus, is free and open to the public.
One of the highlights this year is the return of steamroller printmaking, where a paving roller is used to make prints from giant woodcuts - blocks of wood in which cuts are made so the lines to be printed stand out in relief. Steamroller printmaking will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in front of Lenfest Commons.
Arts Day includes all-day events and scheduled events, including art exhibitions, pottery demonstrations, a film, vocal and dance performances, social justice display, poetry and other book readings, making a handsewn book, equestrian performances and more. A complete schedule of events is available at https://wilson.edu/wilson-college-arts-day-2018.
The Wilson community established Arts Day to celebrate the visual and performing arts and provide an opportunity for everyone to take note of the impact of the arts on our daily lives.
Wilson Instructor of English Matthew Diltz McBride will open the college’s annual Writers Series with a reading from his book of poetry, City of Incandescent Light, at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, in Warfield Hall’s Allen Auditorium. The 30-minute reading is free and open to the public. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided.
The newest member of Wilson’s English department, McBride earned his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, a Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University and a bachelor’s degree from Capital University. He is the recipient of Bowling Green’s Devine Fellowship for writing, the University of Cincinnati’s George Elliston Fellowship for doctoral studies in poetry, an Ohio Arts Council Grant and a Writers in the Heartland residency program for emerging and established writers.
A total of 1,499 students are enrolled in Wilson College for the fall semester, the most in the college’s 149-year history. Total enrollment is up more than 23 percent over last year and the number of new students entering the traditional undergraduate college increased by nearly 16 percent over fall 2017, producing the largest incoming class since 1966.
Wilson has its largest enrollment in the traditional undergraduate program since 1968. This year, 662 students are enrolled in the undergraduate college, a 19.7 percent increase from last fall. Nearly 60 percent of these students live on campus. Men now represent 19 percent of this population and nearly 21 percent of the total enrollment.
This year’s enrollment marks the sixth consecutive year of growth under the Wilson Today plan, a series of measures approved in 2013 to revitalize the college and set it on a path to economic health and sustainability. The plan included a tuition reduction and student loan buyback program, new career-oriented academic programs, campus improvements, coeducation in all programs and improved marketing and retention efforts.
“We’re thrilled to welcome the largest number of students to Wilson in our history,” said Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick. “The work and commitment of everyone associated with the college—faculty, staff, the board of trustees and alumnae—has paid off and we are dedicated to continuing the positive trend in enrollment.”
Wilson’s second-largest student population is in graduate programs, with 455 students enrolled this year in 10 master’s degree programs—a 16.6 percent increase over fall 2017. A total of 382 students are enrolled in the college’s adult degree program and other programs such a dual enrollment, up nearly 40 percent since last year.
Wilson students come from as far away as California and Florida. They represent 24 states (including Pennsylvania), as well as 17 foreign countries.
“The energy and excitement of having more students on campus is palpable,” Mistick said. “They bring a new vitality, not only to our campus but also to the entire community.”
Wilson’s continued enrollment increase contrasts with national enrollment trends. Based on the most recent data available, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported a decline of 1 percent in higher education enrollment nationally for 2017, while showing a 0.4 percent decrease at four-year, nonprofit private colleges.
Since 2013, Wilson has seen a 115 percent increase in traditional undergraduate enrollment, with a 126 percent increase overall.
Wilson College, which held or reduced tuition for a total of eight years through the 2018-19 academic year, was recently recognized in U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 “Best Colleges” guide, which ranks the college ninth in the “best value” category for regional colleges in the North. The value designation is an indication that the college provides a high-quality education at a reasonable price.
Wilson College is committed to providing students with an affordable education that offers real value and successful outcomes. The college held tuition steady for three consecutive years before reducing it by $5,000, or 17 percent, to $23,745 for the 2014-15 academic year, followed by four more years without an increase for traditional undergraduates. Wilson has announced plans for a 3 percent tuition increase in 2019-20.
Wilson College has been awarded nearly $300,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Campus Program to strengthen the college’s ability to respond to crimes of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking on campus.
The grant will enable Wilson to create Phoenix Against Violence, a comprehensive, coordinated program to prevent sexual and dating violence in the Wilson community and to enhance victim safety and support. The college plans to hire a full-time coordinator and implement an in-depth training program for students, faculty and staff, as well as work closely with community partners such as Women in Need and the Chambersburg Police Department to coordinate responses.
Wilson is one of three Pennsylvania institutions of higher education to be awarded the competitive, three-year grant in 2018. The college applied for the funding, in part, because of Wilson’s growth over the past six years, according to Vice President for Student Development Mary Beth Williams.
“It’s actually a proactive grant,” said Williams, who is also the dean of students. “At Wilson, we have a growing population, which positions us nicely for re-evaluating our procedural training and education.”
Wilson had a total enrollment last year of 1,216 students–the largest in the college’s 148-year history and a 75 percent increase from 2012. Fall 2018 enrollment numbers, which are being finalized, are expected to increase again.
“We know that sexual misconduct and domestic violence are the most underreported crimes, and we know that it happens on every college campus. One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college,” Williams said. “This grant will allow us to dedicate a full-time staff member to training and implementing policy and procedure on our campus that will help our students stay safe and to help one another with regard to domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking.”
Williams calls the grant “a game changer” for institutions of higher education like Wilson. “It will impact every area of the college,” she said. “It will change the college culture to be more educated about domestic violence and sexual abuse. Through this education, I hope students will feel more empowered to help and support one another.”
Wilson’s Phoenix Against Violence (PAV) program encompasses the following objectives:
• Create a coordinated community response (CCR) team that brings together Wilson’s on-campus student safety and support resources, and community-based partners in order to ensure students’ access to well-coordinated, effective responses to sexual violence and dating violence. • Provide mandatory sexual violence/dating violence prevention education for all incoming students by implementing a new web-based online prevention education tool, enhancing the existing prevention education session provided in person during new-student orientation, and implementing a universal education program using “Green Dot for College,” a bystander intervention model that engages all students, staff, administrators and faculty as allies to create a safe campus culture that is intolerant of violence. • Establish an annual collaborative program to train all Wilson Department of Safety officers to respond effectively to sexual violence/dating violence using victim-centered, trauma-informed best practices. • Establish an annual collaborative program to train all Wilson Joint Honor Council members–which includes students, faculty and staff–to respond effectively to sexual violence/dating violence using victim-centered, trauma-informed best practices.
Wilson’s grant is part of $18 million awarded to 57 higher education institutions this year by the justice department to address sexual violence on campuses. In addition to strengthening the response of higher education institutions to sexual and domestic violence and stalking, the grant program aims to “enhance collaboration among campuses, local law enforcement and victim advocacy organizations,” according to the DOJ website.
“This will allow us to do some really great bystander intervention programming with Chambersburg Police Department and Women in Need,” said Williams, who is on WIN’s board of directors.
While PAV will focus on Wilson’s traditional student population living on campus, it will extend to all students, including women, men and LGBTQ students. “Over half of our campus don’t live on campus and many of them already live with domestic partners,” Williams said.
Wilson officials plan to begin implementing the PAV program in October.
Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage crisis is amping up interest in teaching careers. In response to the growing demand for teacher certification programs, Wilson College has expanded its former Teacher Intern Program (TIP), now offering an online-only certification program and a program for foreign language teachers, as well as the traditional program.
Now under the umbrella of the Teacher Certification Pathways (TCP) program, the certifications are aimed at those who already hold bachelor’s degrees in virtually any major but lack the requirements to become certified to teach in the Commonwealth. All three offerings are eliciting a lot of interest, according to TCP Director Beth Byers. “The (teacher) shortage is upon us,” said Byers. “Students are coming now because they’re seeing the articles, they’re seeing the statistics.”
A recent flurry of news reports about Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to pump $2 million into grants to develop education residency programs at eight universities cited statistics such as a 71 percent drop in the number of new teaching certificates issued in the state between 2009 and 2016-17, down from 14,247 to just 4,412. In addition, the number of students majoring in education at Pennsylvania colleges and universities has plummeted 55 percent since 1996, state officials said.
Interest in teaching careers began to wane in the Great Recession of 2007-09 – and continued for several years after the recession ended – when Pennsylvania and other states were forced to slash education money from their budgets and cut back on public school hiring and teacher pay. “It is really cyclical and it is really market-driven,” Byers said of enrollment in Wilson’s teacher certification program.
Despite a minor name change, Wilson’s Teacher Intern Pathway (TIP) remains the same as the former teacher intern certification program, which is geared to people who live within an 80-mile radius of Chambersburg, according to Byers. Courses are offered in the evenings.
She said the Foreign Language Intern Pathway (FLIP), which was launched in 2017, is for those who are already teaching a foreign language and have passed required tests, but are not yet certified to teach in Pennsylvania.
And the Teacher Online Pathway (TOP) is designed for those who live outside an 80-mile radius of the college. For now, the online option is limited to all secondary (7-12) certifications, as well as the Spanish and business certifications. “We’re testing the waters,” said Byers.
She said Wilson’s online program has a number of big advantages that other higher education institutions don’t offer, including the lower cost and a compressed schedule in which courses are completed in eight weeks instead of 15. Other significant selling points include the ability for Wilson students to request the location of their student teaching assignment, as well as the ability to transfer credits for five of their courses to the college’s Master of Education program – putting them halfway toward their M.Ed.
How far away a student lives is not an issue, since the TOP classes are all offered online. However, teaching candidates must perform their student teaching in Pennsylvania, Byers said.
TOP, which was just rolled out this summer, has already enrolled about 20 students – a few of whom switched from the TIP program because they were commuting a great distance – but as word spreads, Byers expects it to keep growing. “We have inquiries from far away – places like Pottsville, West Chester and Philipsburg,” she said.
For information about Wilson’s TCP programs, visit www.wilson.edu/teacher-certification-pathways.
Pennsylvania Executive Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Michael Smith visited Wilson College Friday, Sept. 7, and toured Fulton Farm as part of the agriculture department's ongoing Planting the Seed initiative. Smith met with President Barbara K. Mistick before touring the farm with Fulton Center for Sustainability Studies Director Chris Mayer.
“The Fulton Farm is an excellent resource, not just for Wilson College, but for the surrounding community,” said Smith. “Its commitment to stewardship, sustainability, education and outreach provides students and their neighbors the chance to pursue and explore all of the opportunities available in agriculture.”
Dedicated to environmental stewardship, the seven-acre organic farm's goals include using a minimal amount of non-renewable resources; minimizing pollution of the soil, water, and air on the farm and “downstream”; promoting biodiversity; ensuring farm worker safety and health; and providing healthy, locally produced food for the campus and community. The farm is part of a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, providing produce to more than 125 community members. The farm is part of the Fulton Center for Sustainability Studies, which teaches students how to promote sustainability in food production, energy, transportation and land stewardship. “We are so pleased to have Deputy Secretary Smith visit Wilson College and Fulton Farm,” Mayer said. “Our farm has been a model for community-supported agriculture at since 1996 and as Wilson’s hands-on home for environmental education, we continue to educate students of all ages for humane stewardship of our communities and our world.” Pennsylvania agriculture is a $135 billion industry with a lot of opportunity, but is also one that is facing several challenges, including an aging workforce, according to the agriculture department. It said attrition and advancing technologies will result in a workforce deficit of nearly 75,000 over the next decade. The Planting the Seed Tour aims to engage and educate the next generation about the many education and career opportunities available in Pennsylvania agriculture.
