Wilson College

Members of the Franklin County (Pa.) branch of the American Association of University Women recently donated money that was used to purchase six psychology laboratory microscopes for Wilson College. The AAUW's gift was made in memory of branch member Sally Madison and was matched by Marguerite Brooks Lenfest, Wilson class of 1955, and her husband, H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest.

Wilson College honored faculty members at its annual Academic Awards Banquet held April 15 in Jensen Dining Hall. Four faculty members received the Donald F. Bletz Awards for Teaching Excellence:   Senior faculty member — Melanie Gregg, associate professor of French and chairwoman of the foreign languages department. She lives in Carlisle, Pa., and began teaching at Wilson in 1999.  Junior faculty member — Two professors won the award this year: Aimee-Marie Dorsten, associate professor of mass communications, who lives in Chambersburg and joined the Wilson faculty in 2007; and Laura Altfeld, assistant professor of biology, also of Chambersburg.

View all of the photos for purchase! CHAMBERSBURG, Pa.-- The sounds of clapping and cheering floated out of Laird Hall and across Wilson College's rain-soaked campus Sunday as the college celebrated its 140th annual commencement. Six master's degrees in education, 78 bachelor's degrees and 11 associate degree diplomas were awarded, as well as 64 teaching certificates. Graduates applauded their classmates as each name was called. Among the graduates were many adult learners who said Wilson College accommodated their work schedules and family life.

Three months before she takes the helm as Wilson College’s 19th president, Barbara K. Mistick spoke Thursday to a packed auditorium at the college’s new science center. She will assume Wilson’s presidency on July 1, succeeding Lorna Duphiney Edmundson, who will retire June 30 after 10 years of leadership. Mistick will leave her current position as president of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, a position she’s held since 2005. “My heart has really been in higher education.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Wilson College the fifth-best value college in its category in the 2013 “America's Best Colleges” issue, according to a news release from Wilson College. “It is the 12th straight year Wilson has earned top ranking in the category for regional colleges in the North,” the news release states. The magazine also recognizes the Chambersburg college as a leading regional college focused on undergraduate education. The magazine and a related guidebook will be available Sept.

The annual Arts Day at Wilson College on Wednesday was a day to celebrate and do hands-on study of the arts within the campus' liberal arts curriculum. “You don't have to paint like Raphael (the Italian Renaissance painter) to be able to express yourself,” said associate professor of fine arts Philip Lindsey. It's all about fun, raising awareness of art and self-expression, Lindsey said. The free, day-long event was open to the students as well as the local community and included demonstrations on sand art, tie dying, alternative photographic processes and an architectural tour of the campus.

Students from the Wilson College Political Science Association attended oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in the spring. The cases for argument were Microsoft vs. i4i, a major case on intellectual property; and Tapia vs. United States, which involves the role of rehabilitation in criminal sentencing. Jill Hummer, assistant professor of political science, was accompanied by students Hayley Glass, Ian Irvin, Christina Shick and Brie-Anne Asbury.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The Wilson College Career Development Center and Environmental Studies Department will host "Environmental Career Day" from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, in room 128 in the Brooks Complex. The career day is open to Wilson students, prospective students and community residents who want to find out more about jobs in the field of environmental science. A panel featuring representatives from a number of local companies, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, will discuss job opportunities, and information highlighting environmental career options will be provided.

An exciting, educational, fun-filled day of free events that encourages everyone to appreciate and celebrate interdisciplinary arts will be held Wednesday on the Wilson College campus. “Arts Day is a day established by the Wilson community to celebrate the arts across the curriculum. It is an opportunity to take note of how the arts play an integral part in our lives and study,” said Wilson Associate Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey. Community members will have the opportunity to see exhibits, participate in a number of art activities, and to consider the numerous ways in which the arts impact our lives.”  All events are free and open to the public.

Wilson College's Class of 2013 is poised to make a great impact on the natural world because the next 10 years will be key in protecting the planet, the class' graduation speaker said Sunday. Sylvia A. Earle said that just last week, the Earth passed a milestone in which carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere passed the 400 parts-per-trillion mark. She also said half the coral reefs are gone, as she witnessed during a dive at the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia this month.

It was a school of fisherman - not fish - that huddled in one area of Conococheague Creek at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., on Saturday. Those anglers, like all of the others standing in the water, were after one thing - the elusive tagged fish that come with prize money. Every year, thousands of fishermen from the Tri-State area come to Chambersburg for the annual Noontime Lions Trout Derby. This is the 16th year for the event, which offered nearly $50,000 in cash and prizes this year.

Wilson College will observe World Labyrinth Day on Saturday by creating a temporary labyrinth on the campus green and hosting activities. Those who walk the labyrinth are said to “find” themselves rather than getting lost, as they might in a maze, according to a news release about the labyrinth. The event is free and open to the public. At 11 a.m. in Warfield Hall's Allen Auditorium, the Rev. Margee Iddings will present “Preparing to Walk a Labyrinth,” where participants can learn more about this ancient practice before experiencing it themselves.

Wilson College students will present the results of their undergraduate research at Wilson's fourth annual Student Research Day on Friday, May 3. The public is invited to join Wilson students, faculty, staff and administrators at all events.  Twenty-one seniors will present their work, which was produced in conjunction with faculty advisers, from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. in the Brooks Complex auditorium and Warfield Hall's Allen Auditorium. A number of students will also share their work graphically in a poster session to be held in the Brooks Complex from 1 to 2:15 p.m. An art opening is also scheduled for students' capstone art projects in the Bogigian Gallery.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The following area students were named to the dean's list for the fall semester at Wilson College: Tracey Artz of Sharpsburg Courtney Bernecker of St. Thomas, Pa. Dionne Donghia of St. Thomas Marissa Feldberg of Greencastle, Pa. Charlotte Flood of Mercersburg, Pa. Jeaneva Gagne of Frederick, Md. Joanna Gardner of Hagerstown Tonya Grissinger of Mercersburg Kira Hernandez of Greencastle ...

A National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) matching grant has been awarded to Wilson College, allowing the addition of a full-time athletics communication/sports information director to the college athletics department. The NCAA Division III Strategic Alliance Matching Grant, which will be distributed over three years, is highly competitive: Wilson is one of just six institutions nationwide to receive the grant, according to a Wilson news release. Wilson College applied for the grant after the Board of Trustees' decision to expand coeducation across all programs, according to Wilson's Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lori Frey.

Franklin County Friends of Legal Services volunteers are preparing for their benefit book sale on Mothers Day weekend on the Wilson College campus. The sale will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on May 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 11, and from noon to 4 p.m. on May 12. Most paperbacks cost 50 cents. On Saturday, all books will be half-price starting at 3 p.m., and on Sunday, a grocery bag of books of their choice costs $5. “Our book drive was a tremendous success, and we have tens of thousands of terrific books for our sale,” Ellen Gigliotti, the group's president, said in a news release.  This is the group's 29th annual sale.  Proceeds benefit local nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to low-income residents and survivors of domestic violence.

Thumbs up to all those who leaped into action Monday to help the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon. We expect and acknowledge heroics from first responders who regularly put their lives on the line for others, but were impressed by the actions of scared bystanders and runners who helped victims until emergency crews arrived.  Thumbs down to the person who recently strung a wire across a hiking trail at Wilson College in...

Living skeletons hugged and kissed Glenn Schultz, and fainted at his feet, as the young man joined his Army comrades in liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp. Schultz, now 87, shared his remembrances from 1945 with hundreds of people who packed into Congregation Sons of Israel Sunday for the 35th annual Holocaust Memorial Service sponsored by the United Churches of the Chambersburg Area. Schultz said what he saw at Dachau “has had a lasting effect on my person ever since then.” “We need to hear its story again and again,” said Schultz, who is pastor emeritus of Chambersburg's St. John's United Church of Christ.

Train show and sale The Bunker Hill (W.Va.) Train Club will host a train show and sale. Today, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ranson Civic Center, 431 W. Second Ave., Ranson, W.Va. $4; free for ages 11 and younger. Call 304-671-0568. Transportation museum opening A grand-opening celebration of the Washington County Rural Heritage Transportation Museum and museum open house. Artifacts include two Hagerstown-built Dagmar automobiles, Crawford bicycles, Dahlgren carriages, Pope Tribune automobiles, an Astor taxicab and more.