ATHENA Award Winner
This past fall, English major Gabi Watson was chosen to receive the 2023 ATHENA Young Professional Award, celebrating emerging women leaders in Erie. During her time at Behrend, Watson, a self-described introvert, grew from observer to participant to executive director of the Lion Entertainment Board, helping to advance the club from four to more than thirty members while developing event planning skills. She was also active in Alternative Spring Break, served as a Welcome Week Leader, and mentored LGBTQIA+ students.
Student Presents Research Work
This summer, Haley Altadonna, a senior Biology major, traveled with Dr. Lynne Beaty, assistant professor of biology, to present her research at the Animal Behavior Society meeting in Portland, Oregon. Altadonna presented her work, supervised by Beaty, looking at how surface winds influence behavior and predator-prey interactions in aquatic environments.
Scholar Athletes
Penn State Behrend’s men and women’s swimming and diving teams were recently honored with a Scholar All-America award from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. To be chosen, the team must have achieved a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
Jonas Bruno, a sophomore majoring in Finance and Accounting; Brad Dalton, a senior majoring in Management Information Systems (MIS) and Project and Supply Chain Management; and Michael Paul, a senior majoring in MIS and Finance, with Juice Jar owner, Holly McMaster.
Innovating Through Collaboration: The Juice Jar
One will find few shortcuts at The Juice Jar in Erie, where owner Holly McMaster uses fresh ingredients for the made-from-scratch items on her cafe’s menu. Offering high-quality products and top-notch customer service are McMaster’s priorities, so she wanted to find ways to streamline other time-consuming business tasks.
McMaster reached out to the Black School of Business, which formed an Innovation Through Collaboration project to address her business challenges. By the end of the 15-week project, the team—Jonas Bruno, a sophomore majoring in Finance and Accounting; Brad Dalton, a senior majoring in Management Information Systems (MIS) and Project and Supply Chain Management; and Michael Paul, a senior majoring in MIS and Finance—had accomplished all of the project objectives, and then some.
McMaster has implemented most of the suggestions and said the digitized customer loyalty program the students created has been a tremendous hit with her customers.
Putting Pieces Together in Petra
Archaeology magazine named Petra Pool and Garden Complex in Jordan one of eight ancient sites around the world that exemplify humanity’s accomplishments in harvesting and managing water. Dr. Leigh-Ann Bedal, associate professor of anthropology, has been leading excavations of the site since 1998.
Bedal and a team of eleven students, including four Behrend undergraduates—Sean Dailey, Michael Deutsch, Olivia Prevost, and Brandon Way—along with Dr. Gregory Bondar, lecturer in history, were at Petra this summer to continue work on the project.