School of STEAM

Remembering Anne Crusan ’73

09/26/2018
The Saint Francis University theatre community lost one of its brightest stars in Anne Crusan ’73 when she recently passed away on August 26, 2018. Anne had a huge presence in the theater department during her time at SFU. After graduation, Anne pursued an acting career in New York City and New Jersey before returning to Pennsylvania to continue her craft. Through the years, Anne acted in many productions and held many roles including Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mother Superior in Nunsense, Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha, and many others. A

Free meeting for Cambria County Solar Co-op at Saint Francis University

09/12/2018
Neighbors in Cambria County have an opportunity to go solar in a group as part of the Cambria County Solar Co-op with the help of Solar United Neighbors . The co-op provides technical support and bulk purchasing power to help participants get a great deal while also building a network of solar supporters. Vision 2025 Johnstown and the Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania Chapter are the co-op sponsors. There are currently 22 participants in the group. Interested community members can still join. The group will hold its final public information session September 12 at 6 p.m. at Saint Francis University

Adopt a Site Internship Program 2018

07/20/2018
The Saint Francis University Environmental Engineering Department recently launched an Adopt a Site Internship program where students restore and maintain watersheds in Pennsylvania. Rising Junior, Andrew Ferko, was the first student to participate in the experience. Through the Adopt a Site program, Andrew was able to get valuable hands-on experience working with the Shade Creek Watershed Association to maintain an efficient treatment system. The internship was paid for though grant funds from the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds . The Environmental Engineering Department has plans to

Students Participate in Domestic Dental Mission Trip

05/23/2018
Ten Saint Francis University students, faculty and staff dedicated their time and talents volunteering to help nearly 2,000 patients in need of dental treatments at a weekend-long domestic mission trip in Reading, Pennsylvania this past weekend. The Mission of Mercy in Pennsylvania organization (MOM-n-PA) is a large-scale, two-day dental clinic where treatment is provided to individuals at no cost. Each year, MOM-n-PA travels across the state with their mobile clinic treating under-served dental patients in need of care. The inaugural two-day mission took place in Philadelphia in 2013. Since

PNGE Program Graduates First Class

05/15/2018
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (PNGE) program at Saint Francis University was founded in fall 2014. On May 13th, the first two students in the four-year undergraduate program, Zachary Rohland and John Sheesley, graduated. Now that the first students have graduated, Saint Francis University will be seeking accreditation by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET . Future graduation classes expect to be comprised of roughly 15 students per year. Both PNGE graduates have secured positions in the field of Engineering. Zachary Rohland has accepted a summer internship position as

SFU Hoop House Produces 100lbs of Vegetables in First Semester

05/10/2018
The hoop house closed its first semester with a successful harvest, producing over 100 pounds of cold-season crops. The greens were used by Torvian Dining Hall, providing farm-to-table food options for the university. The greenhouse-like structure was built in January to be used by students in the Environmental Studies program . Students in the Sustainability in Food Production course , taught by Professor Marie Olson , grew crops from seedling through harvest, and were responsible for maintaining all aspects of the hoop house. This process allowed them to put their classroom coursework into

Jim Donovan Discusses His Band's Latest Release

04/25/2018
Jim Donovan is an Instructor and the Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Saint Francis University. He was also the drummer and founding member of the multi-platinum band Rusted Root from 1990-2005. Currently, Mr. Donovan is the founder and lead singer of Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors , where their first self-titled album hit the Billboard Americana Charts. Here, he discusses their latest album, We See Through It . This is Sun King Warriors second album. What was the mindset going into the second record? This time around, I aimed at writing music that considered each of the musicians in the

Ashley Rovder: Engineering Edible Algae in Bolivia

04/23/2018
Ashley Rovder, an Environmental Engineering major, took part in a unique full-immersion study abroad experience in Bolivia. The experience was made possible through a collaboration between Saint Francis University and the University of Dayton’s Engineers in Technical Humanitarian Opportunities in Service Learning (ETHOS) project. Below, Ashley discusses her experience abroad. What service project did you work on while in Bolivia? I volunteered for SODIS (short for Solar Water Disinfection), a nonprofit organization in Cochabamba, Bolivia, that focuses on providing clean water for the community

The 2010 BP Oil Spill: A Petroleum Engineer’s Perspective

04/18/2018
Four students in the Environmental Petroleum Engineering course presented their final class project on the explosion and oil spill that occurred from the massive, mobile oil rig, Deepwater Horizon. Nicholas King, Connor Witman, Jan Vit Suntar, and Jonathan Bruno presented a petroleum engineer's perspective explaining what happened during the catastrophic BP oil spill in 2010. They examined what went wrong, what the environmental impacts were, and what lessons can be learned from this disaster. The students reported eight things that went wrong causing the oil well to leak for 87 days spilling