FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 25, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — The Wilson College Veterinary Medical Technology Club will host dog washes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3 and 4, in the college veterinary building near the Park Avenue campus entrance off U.S. 11 (Philadelphia Avenue). 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 fee includes a bath, nail trim, ear cleaning and drying — 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 Wilson VMT Club President Jordan Massey at jordan.massey@wilson.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations Phone: 717-262-2604 Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu
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Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and master’s degrees in education, the humanities, accountancy, nursing, fine arts and healthcare management for sustainability. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.
Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college has a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College is seeking artwork made by area high school students for an upcoming juried art show to be held at Wilson’s Bogigian Gallery in Lortz Hall. Submissions of up to three works of art are due by midnight on Oct 13.
The exhibition, the fifth of its kind at Wilson, is an opportunity for area students to showcase their work and have it judged by the college art faculty, according to Wilson Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey.
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 given to winning students if they enroll in Wilson.
Students will also be encouraged to offer their work for sale during the exhibition, which will begin Wednesday, Nov. 11, with an opening reception at the gallery and will run through Dec. 4.
The show is open to students from Franklin, Adams, Cumberland and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania and Washington County, Md. All submissions must have been completed while the student was in high school.
There is no entry fee. Entries must be in digital (.jpg) format of up to one megabyte and should be emailed to wilsonartshow@gmail.com. Two- and three-dimensional works of art will be considered for the show. All entries must be exhibit-ready.
For more information, contact Lindsey at philip.lindsey@wilson.edu or 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305.
MEDIA CONTACT: Philip Lindsey, Professor of Fine Arts Phone: 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305 Email: philip.lindsey@wilson.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 17, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College has experienced its second year of enrollment growth under the college’s comprehensive Wilson Today plan. A total of 923 students are enrolled for the fall semester, an increase of more than 21 percent over fall 2014.
The traditional undergraduate college has added 166 new students – first-year and transfer students – a 15 percent increase from last fall, making this the largest incoming class since 1969. This class represents 16 states, 12 countries and six continents.
“It is wonderful to see the continuing growth in enrollment at Wilson. This result is a product of the entire campus community working together to make the initiatives of the Wilson Today plan a reality,” said Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick. “Now, with two large classes on campus, you can feel a new energy on campus. And the diversity in our student body truly enhances the Wilson experience for everyone.”
College officials credit the initiatives of the Wilson Today plan for the increase in enrollment. Approved in January 2013, the plan includes a tuition reduction and student debt buyback program, new career-oriented academic programs, campus improvements, coeducation in all programs and improved marketing and retention efforts. As part of these efforts, the college placed an emphasis on creating a transfer-friendly environment that has more than doubled the number of transfer students enrolling since 2013.
The largest increase at the college is seen in graduate study, with 234 students enrolled across six degree programs – a 54 percent increase over fall 2014. Wilson’s graduate degree programs include accounting, education, humanities and, new this past year, nursing, fine arts and healthcare management for sustainability. The Adult Degree Program – for those who’ve been out of high school for at least four years –increased by 19 students this fall for a total of 292 students enrolled.
“People most often think of traditional-age students when they think of Wilson, but we really serve a much wider community,” said Mistick. “And they all play an important role in the financial stability of Wilson, as well as impacting the local economy.”
Wilson College has its largest enrollment in the traditional undergraduate program – primarily residential students – since 1973. This year, 397 are enrolled in the traditional undergraduate college, a 15 percent increase of students from a year ago. Men now represent 15 percent of this population and 17 percent of the total enrollment.
“The changes at Wilson, from coeducation to new career-oriented programs like special education certification, health and physical education and nursing, have led more students to look at Wilson. And Wilson’s recent reduction in tuition has been attractive to parents as well,” said Wilson Vice President for Enrollment Mary Ann Naso. “The hard work and dedication of our program directors, recruitment staff, coaches, faculty, staff and students has made our continued growth possible.”
Wilson’s continued enrollment increase stands in contrast to national enrollment trends. Based on the most recent data available, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported a decline of 1.3 percent in higher education enrollment nationally for 2014, while showing a modest 1.6 percent increase at four-year, private colleges. Since 2013, Wilson has seen a 28.8 percent increase in traditional undergraduate enrollment, with a 39.4 percent increase overall.
Wilson students come from as far away as California, Alaska and Florida. They represent 22 states (including Pennsylvania) and the District of Columbia, as well as 16 foreign countries.
CONTACT: Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations Phone: 717-262-2604 Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu
Mold was first noticed in one of the Mac/Dav rooms during routine housekeeping. Although the mold was cleaned, the incident triggered a precautionary procedure to determine if the problem was contained to a single room or was more widespread. Wilson called in the Baxter Group—a company specializing in remediation of indoor environmental issues—to test rooms in the building and, when tests came back positive, began cleaning to address the mold.
The timing of the mold issue couldn’t have been worse: new students were scheduled to move in on Aug. 19. This meant that closing Mac/Dav—which had been renovated during the 2013-14 academic year—prior to move-in was a real possibility. But after all residence rooms had been cleaned, follow-up testing by Baxter came back negative and the decision was made to move forward with the move into Mac/Dav as planned.
About two weeks into the term, mold again appeared in Mac/Dav. The Baxter Group returned and tested on a large scale, covering 30 rooms throughout the residence hall, and included a look at the humidity levels in the building. The second half of the summer in Chambersburg had been particularly humid, and as the school year began, those conditions continued.
With the focus now on the HVAC system as the potential cause of the problem, the administration moved swiftly to bring in a number of the outside contractors associated with the residence hall’s renovation—including R.S. Mowery and Sons, the contractor for the renovation; Barton Associates, the engineering firm that designed the HVAC system; Noelker and Hull, the architect that hired Barton; Musser Mechanical, the company that installed the system; and Automated Logic Corp., which provided the HVAC monitoring system. Hagerstown Heating and Cooling was also brought in to provide an independent assessment. The group first met on Sept. 8 to begin developing a plan to fix the problem.
On Friday, Sept. 11, test results indicated conditions above acceptable levels in three rooms, with 60 percent of the rooms testing positive for lower levels of mold and humidity in the 70 percent range. Appropriate humidity levels should be around 50 percent. This result confirmed that the recently installed HVAC system was not properly controlling indoor conditions.
After consulting with the Baxter Group, Vice President for Student Development Mary Beth Williams made the call to shut down McElwain and Davison halls and relocate students to Rosenkrans, which had been taken offline pending renovations scheduled for spring and summer 2016. This represented a huge logistical undertaking, but to Williams the choice was clear. “Our students’ well-being is always our first concern, so moving our students before conditions could worsen was important. It was also obvious that work would need to be done to fix the cause of the mold and then properly remediate the area. So, clearing the space is the most efficient way to do that,” said Williams.
The Office of Student Development sent out an email to all Mac/Dav students by mid-morning to attend a meeting at 4 p.m. to discuss details of the move. Over the next six hours, the staff put those details into place in creating a plan to move 92 students. The plan included providing each student with cleaning materials and instructions to ensure that mold was not transported to Rosenkrans, clean storage bags to pack items and transportation for moving. The bulk of the planning was in reassigning students to rooms in a way that kept roommates and learning communities together as much as possible and setting up a system to check students into their new rooms.
“I can’t tell you how impressive it is that the student development staff was able to pull together the plan for relocating nearly a third of our residential students in less than a day,” said President Barbara K. Mistick. “We’ve been hearing good things from the students and look forward to having everyone settled into their new rooms.”
The administration is currently working with Baxter and the Mac/Dav renovation contractors to develop a plan to repair the HVAC system so that it properly controls humidity levels and to provide proper cleaning and remediation of the space to allow students to reoccupy the space at an appropriate time. “We expect the work to take the bulk of the semester in order to assure that we have absolutely cleared up the problem,” said Williams. “At that point we’ll look for an opportunity that allows us to move students back with the least amount of disruption.”
The current issues are not expected to impact the renovations set to take place in Rosenkrans.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 22, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — The Wilson College 2015-16 World Travel Dinner and Film Series kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 6, with a “trip” to Bhutan, featuring dinner at 6 p.m. in Laird Hall, followed by the film, “Bhutan: The Cloud Kingdom,” at 7 p.m. in Thomson Hall's Alumnae Chapel.
Dinner, prepared by of SAGE Dining Services, will include: pork fing, tshoem, ema datshi, hapai hantue, cucumbers with onions and cheese red rice, long grain sticky rice, watermelon and mango salad, and daisee.
Following dinner, armchair travelers will watch the film, which is narrated by Tom Sterling.
Dinner tickets are $20 per person and film tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for children ages 10 to 18. To reserve tickets, call 717-262-2003.
MEDIA CONTACT: Joel Pagliaro, Director of Conferences and Special Events, Sage Dining Services Phone: 717-262-2003 Email: conferences@wilson.edu __________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 11, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — A dinner to celebrate Wilson’s College’s Fulton Farm, as well as to raise money for the farm and its programs, will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 in the farm’s Owens Barn. Tickets for the family-style dinner, “People, Place, Plates: Growing for the Future,” are $30 per person or $50 per couple.
The dinner, which is limited to those age 21 and older, will feature organically grown food from the farm and other local partners, plus music and conversation. Those attending will meet and learn about present and past Fulton Farm crew members, as well as other sustainable food businesses and their contributions to the community, according to Chris Mayer, director of Wilson’s Fulton Center for Sustainable Living.
Proceeds from the event will support “ongoing development and education of our future farmers, stewards and leaders at the Fulton Farm,” Mayer said.
Tickets for the fundraiser must be purchased by Sept. 20 and can be purchased online at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/people-place-plates-growing-for-the-future-tickets-18100631476
For more information, contact Chris Mayer at 717-264-4141, Ext. 3247, or christine.mayer@wilson.edu
MEDIA CONTACT: Chris Mayer, Fulton Center for Sustainable Living Director Phone: 717-264-4141, Ext. 3247 Email: christine.mayer@wilson.edu
Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and master’s degrees in education, the humanities, accountancy and nursing. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.
Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college had a spring 2015 enrollment of 805, which included students from 17 states and 14 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College will host a “Community Adventure in Healthy Eating” again this year, kicking off with a lecture and dinner at the college on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The program is a 28-day, heart-healthy, plant-strong diet program based on the one introduced by Austin firefighter Rip Esselstyn in his bestselling book, The Engine 2 Diet.
The program will begin at 6 p.m. in Wilson’s Laird Hall with Mercersburg physician Elizabeth George presenting the results of Dr. Esselstyn’s life-changing work with his cardiology patients and speaking on the topic, “A Research-Based Revolution in Healthy Eating.” The lecture is free.
At 7 p.m., a plant-based dinner featuring produce from Wilson’s own Fulton Farm will served. Tickets for the dinner are $15 and can be purchased at the door or by contacting Patti Peck at 717-352-3046.
People who participate in the healthy eating program will have a coach and the support of a series of weekly potluck dinners where they will share dishes based on the Esselstyn diet. A how-to “kitchen makeover” session will be held at 6:30 Sept. 29 in Laird Hall, followed by weekly potluck dinners to be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6, 13 and 20 in the Brooks Science Center atrium. A final dinner will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 in Laird Hall to celebrate success.
The program is sponsored by Wilson College’s Fulton Center for Sustainable Loving, the Penn National Golf Course Community and the Mercersburg Area Council for Wellness, and is supported by a grant from Summit Endowment.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 10, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — Internationally acclaimed artist Patrick Dougherty will work with the Wilson College community and local volunteers to create a one-of-a-kind environmental sculpture on the Wilson campus over three weeks in October, with the completion of the project expected on Friday, Oct. 23.
Dougherty, whose swirling, inventive sculptures are made of natural materials such as tree saplings, was featured in a recent segment of “CBS Sunday Morning” and is the subject of the feature-length 2013 documentary, Bending Sticks, as well as a monograph-memoir - Stickwork - published in 2010, which features 38 of his stunning creations.
“Patrick Dougherty is an enormously talented, world-renowned artist and it’s an honor to have him come to the Wilson campus to create one of his remarkable sculptures,” said Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick. “His works are cooperative efforts that bring the community together, which reflect the ethos of our campus culture and community. We couldn’t be more excited.”
The college is seeking volunteers to assist Dougherty, who will begin work on Oct. 5 to collect natural materials for the installation at two different sites – the former Wolf Lake area on the Wilson campus and the Shippensburg Township Park Wetland Preserve at Burd Run, where the bulk of the material will be gathered, according to Philip Lindsey, Wilson professor of fine arts.
“He’s looking for 15 or 20, maybe more, volunteers to assist with the harvest,” said Lindsey. “He’s got to collect a 53-foot tractor-trailer full of saplings.”
After the materials are gathered, Dougherty will need about half a dozen volunteers for each of two daily shifts that will work between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Lindsey said.
Those interested in volunteering should contact Lindsey at philip.lindsey@wilson.edu or 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305.
A public opening of Dougherty’s stick sculpture is being planned and will be announced at a later time. In addition, he will present an “artist’s talk” during Wilson’s annual Arts Day, which will be held Wednesday, Oct. 14. Details are forthcoming.
Dougherty visited the Wilson campus last December to scout locations for his sculpture, eventually choosing Wilson’s main green in front of the library. Exactly what his creation will be is a mystery.
“We do not (know),” Lindsey said. “He’s working on designs and he’ll show up with some sketches and an idea and off he will go.”
If Dougherty’s previous works are any indication, though, it will be something spectacular. His sculptures made of natural materials, which are designed to be as inviting and as interactive as possible, are in great demand – at any given time, he has a more than two-year waiting list. Recent installations of his interactive stick sculptures include the Arte Selia Sculpture Park in Valsugana, Italy; Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France; Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.; Brooklyn Botanic Garden and a number of colleges, including Swarthmore, Bowdoin and Middlebury.
"I am looking forward to building at Wilson College and working with the volunteers,” said Dougherty. “It will be invigorating to work in the center of campus life, near the library, and I hope to create a sculpture with compelling views that will lure students and visitors in to explore.”
Dougherty has received a number of prestigious awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, North Carolina Artist Fellowship and a Factor Prize for Southern Art.
Dougherty, who lives in North Carolina, began studying primitive building techniques in the early 1980s, including his first experimentations using tree saplings as construction material. His work quickly evolved from small pieces on conventional pedestals to monumental scale, site-specific environmental works. Using green saplings of various sizes and weaving them together, Dougherty creates organic sculptures that are designed to be reclaimed organically several years after they are constructed.
Impermanence is a major theme of his art. “Often the public imagines that a work of art should be made to last, but I believe that a sculpture, like a good flower bed, has its season,” Dougherty says on the Bending Sticks website. His sculptures, like the sticks they are made from, begin to fade and decay after about two years, he says.
For more information and to see more examples of his work, visit Dougherty’s website, www.stickwork.net.
MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Mentzer Phone: 717-262-2604 Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu
Photo credits: Just for Looks, 2006. Max Azria Melrose Boutique, Los Angeles, CA. Photo: David Calicchio
Sortie de Cave/ Free At Last (2008). Jardin des Arts, Chateaubourg, France. Photo Credit: Charles Crie
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 1, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College will hold a reception from noon to 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7, to mark the opening of an exhibit of works by sculptor Aaron Treher called New Ground. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will continue through Oct. 25 in the Bogigian Gallery on the second floor of Lortz Hall.
The recipient of numerous public commissions for his work, Treher has been exhibiting since 2006 and has shown in venues such as the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown; the Manayunk Art Center in Philadelphia; and the Circle Gallery in Annapolis, Md. A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and trained at the University of Zagreb in Croatia, Treher is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at University of Colorado Boulder.
Treher works in a variety of media, “examining the multifaceted relationship of humans and the natural world … investigating the co-evolution of humans and their environment,” according to his artist statement. He is interested in the distinctions between man-made objects and the natural world, and how those distinctions are made in contemporary society.
The Bogigian Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. For additional information or an appointment, contact Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey at 717-264-4141, Ext. 3305, or philip.lindsey@wilson.edu.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Aug. 6, 2015
Chambersburg, Pa. — A year after the successful launch of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for existing registered nurses, Wilson College this fall is adding a new bachelor’s degree program that provides a pathway to becoming an RN.
The new Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (BSN) program is open for registration now for the fall semester. It builds upon two programs that began in fall 2014 — one that allows existing registered nurses to get a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and one that leads RNs to a Master of Science degree in nursing.
The new program is appropriate for recent high school graduates, as well those already working in health care and/or nursing but who are not registered nurses. Although a bachelor’s degree is not required to become an RN, the health care industry is moving in that direction, according to Carolyn Hart, program director for Wilson’s Department of Nursing. “Generally, registered nurses with at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing will have better job prospects than those without one,” she said.
Nursing is the overwhelmingly the most requested program among college-bound students nationwide, according to Wilson Vice President for Enrollment Mary Ann Naso. That interest is being fueled by strong demand for nurses in the region, as well as across the country, Hart said. “The need for well-educated nurses continues to grow, with opportunities for employment steadily increasing,” she said.
A 2009 Highmark Foundation report describes Pennsylvania’s nursing shortage as “severe” and cites the Health Resources and Services Administration as predicting a 41 percent vacancy rate for nurses in Pennsylvania by 2020, which means an additional 54,000 nurses will be needed to provide adequate patient care.
“Employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 19 percent from 2012 to 2022, faster than the average for all occupations,” Hart said.
The Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing gave preliminary approval for Wilson’s new BSN program on June 25, but the college could not begin enrolling students until final approval, which came July 15 after a site visit. As of Aug. 3, 19 students had enrolled in the program and another 10 are in the process of applying, according to Hart.
Wilson’s new BSN program is innovative in a number of ways, including its emphasis on liberal arts. “The American Association of Colleges of Nurses recommends that nursing education include a broad liberal studies background,” said Hart. “It helps nurses have a better understanding of patients and makes them more empathetic.”
Another innovative feature of Wilson’s nursing program is the college’s interactive practice labs, where students will get hands-on experience with such things as IV therapy, wound care and physical assessment.
Students will have access to mock hospital rooms with low- and medium-fidelity mannequins, where they can practice critical thinking with skills such as checking blood pressure, starting an IV, inserting a catheter or nasogastric tube, and positioning a patient.
“All of these modalities allow you to practice in a safe environment where you can learn from your mistakes without affecting a real patient,” said Hart.
In addition, students enrolled in the program will benefit from Wilson’s partnership with several area health care organizations seeking to address their need for RNs, including Summit Health, Keystone Health and Menno Haven. Hart said those organizations have agreed to provide clinical sites where students can work with patients and put what they learn in the classroom into practice on actual patients.
“That will make our graduates much more skilled, much more confident and achieve better outcomes for the patient,” said Hart, who noted that most nursing programs only offer skills practice to students during clinical sessions late in their education. “We’re including the first nursing class in the first semester, so students will have four years to learn and practice skills. By the third nursing class, they will be working with real patients.”
Sherri Stahl, senior vice present of hospital services for Summit Health, said today, hospitals across the country are admitting patients with more serious and chronic conditions. “The need for highly trained and knowledgeable registered nurses is evident,” she said. “We’ve worked with Wilson closely on other important nursing opportunities and we’re happy to be a part of what we feel is a great addition to the already top-quality educational programs offered in Franklin County.”
For information about Wilson’s BSN program or to register, contact Hart at 717-262-4853, 717-414-6184 or carolyn.hart@wilson.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT: Carolyn Hart, Program Director of Nursing Phone: 717-262-4853 or 717-414-6184 Email: carolyn.hart@wilson.edu
Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college had a spring 2015 enrollment of 805, which includes students from 17 states and 14 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
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