News

• Lt. Gen. David D. Thompson, vice chair of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, will visit RMU on Thursday, June 13, to learn about RMU’s veterans programs and collaborations with local military bases. In particular, Thompson will hear about training exercises conducted by the 911^th Airlift Wing and 171^st Air Refueling Wing at RMU’s Research and Innovation in Simulation Education (RISE) Center, which provides hands-on education to nursing students and healthcare professionals using state-of-the-art computerized mannequins and trained actors. The RISE Center is part of the RMU School of Nursing, Education and Human Studies. 

  Thompson was commissioned in 1985 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and is a career space officer with assignments in operations, acquisition, and research and development. Air Force Space Command organizes, trains, equips and maintains mission-ready space forces and provides missile warning, positioning, navigation and timing, and communications for North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S. Strategic Command, and other functional and geographical combatant commands. 

• Eight RMU students were either winners or finalists at the 55th Annual Golden Quill Awards last month. Megan Shandel, Gage Goulding, Samuel Anthony, Michael Sciulli, and Matt Simkovic were winners in their respective categories while Katey Ladika, Logan Carney, and Mike Evans were finalists. The Golden Quills are awarded by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania and is a competition for professional journalists. 
• Journalism major Marlisa Jade Miller, will compete for the title of Miss Pennsylvania 2019 in Pittsburgh on June 15. The upcoming sophomore aspires to be a news anchor. Her platform works to instill the power of positivity in young people.

Personal Mention

• Congratulations to Christophe Groendyke, associate professor and director of actuarial science, who was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Student Government Association. 
• Sushil Acharya, associate provost of Research, Graduate Study, and International Programs was recognized by Governor Tom Wolf at the annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Dinner. Last year a handful of Nepali students were displaced after suddenly losing scholarships to the University of Texas at Tyler and Acharya stepped in to help the students find a new place to study. One student, Rupesh Koirala, now attends RMU. See what the Nepali student experience is like at RMU.
• David Jamison, professor of communication and political science, joined Steven Baicker-McKee, professor of Duquesne University Law School as co-presenters of a Continuing Legal Education program in Harrisburg on May 15. Baicker-McKee and Jamison, who is also an adjunct faculty member at Duquesne Law School, presented "Products Liability Law in Pennsylvania after Tincher v. Omega Flex, Inc." to over 40 clerks of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court at the invitation of the Court's Justices. The program reprised a December presentation on the same topic to a statewide assembly of Pennsylvania trial judges as part of the Pennsylvania Continuing Judicial Education Program.​​​

Editor's Note - The Minuteman will be published every other Friday over the summer months.