> Top Notch for Top Jobs
Joining some very exclusive company, the university has been designated a Center of Actuarial Excellence by the Society of Actuaries. The professional association grants the distinction after a rigorous on-site evaluation of faculty, curriculum, graduates, and the program’s connection to industry.

RMU is one of only 10 American universities with the designation; others include the University of Wisconsin- Madison, Georgia State, and Temple University.

Launched in 2001, the program readies students for a career that
The Wall Street Journal ranked as the No. 1 job in the country, based on pay, future prospects, and stress levels. More than 80 students are majoring in actuarial science at RMU, including a freshman class of 38 that was the largest in the program’s history.
To be admitted, prospective students must score at least 650 on the math portion of their SAT, placing them in the top 25 percent.

> Changing lives
For its commitment to student volunteering, service learning, and civic engagement, the university has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the third year in a row. The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that selects schools for the honor, credited three RMU student projects for the recognition:

• A community needs survey to aid revitalization in nearby Coraopolis
• A marketing plan and kickoff event for Storehouse For Teachers, which provides supplies to low-income schools
• A mentoring program for elementary schoolchildren in Moon Township

> Decade of Nonprofit Leadership
An original theatrical piece by downtown arts group Bricolage was the centerpiece of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management’s 10th anniversary gala at the August Wilson Center in downtown Pittsburgh in May.

More than 3000 nonprofit organizations have benefited from the training workshops, classes, and consulting services the center provides. Its mission is ensuring that nonprofits spend their resources efficiently to advance their charitable goals. “I always say that nonprofits build strong communities. We help to build strong nonprofits,” said executive director Peggy Outon

> Women’s work
Girls thinking about careers that may require a calculator or a lab coat spent a day on campus in March for the university’s fourth annual Expanding Your Horizons Conference. An outreach effort of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, the conference for 6^th to 9^th graders featured RMU professors and others presenting workshops on cryptography, air pollution, computer programming, and other subjects. One session examined the process of natural adaptation, with some animal guests from the Pittsburgh Zoo as visual aids.

> Honors Prof Headed to Germany
Philip Harold, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science and co-director of the RMU Honors Program, has received a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to study this fall at the Catholic University in Eichstätt, Germany. Harold will conduct research at the university's Center for Marriage and Family Studies for a book he plans to write about the language of values in politics. The book will explore what politicians mean when they use phrases such as "family values," and what the implications are for political discourse.

> Real techno whiz
Congratulations to Chief Information Officer Ellen Wieckowski, nominated for the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s “CIO of the Year,” which was awarded in April. Fellow nominees included chiefs for Heinz, PPG, Alcoa, American Eagle Outfitters; the only other higher education nominee was from Carnegie Mellon University, a school known for its technology.

> A credit to the institution 
Overseeing more than 100 university administrators, faculty, staff, and students in a major two-year initiative is no simple job, but Ann Jabro, Ph.D., is up to the task. The university professor of communication is chairwoman of the university’s comprehensive preparation to earn reaccreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 2011.

The process measures RMU’s progress in 14 standards, from educational offerings and student support services, to planning, leadership, and governance. Working closely with Jabro is David Majka, director of institutional research; they are steering the work of seven university subcommittees.

"Our students, parents and a number of other people have made an investment in RMU, and they deserve the confidence that that investment is well placed," said Provost David Jamison, J.D.

> No tuition tax
When Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced in November that the city would close a $16 million budget deficit by taxing college tuition, President Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D., and the presidents of the nine other accredited institutions in the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education fought back.

Through weeks of public hearings, press conferences, intense media scrutiny, and high-pressure negotiations, the presidents maintained a united front, until eventually Ravenstahl withdrew his proposal.

For the council’s “stunningly effective political leadership in a crisis with huge implications for higher education around the commonwealth and around the nation,” the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania gave the council its Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement on Behalf of Higher Education. It is the first time the medal has not been given to an elected official.

> Changes on the board
Gary R. Claus ’74, a CPA and retired partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Pittsburgh, succeeded Joseph Nocito ’70 as chairman of the university board of trustees in March. The university also added three new board members: Carrie Coghill-Kuntz ’08, president of D.B. Root & Company Wealth Management; David Lancia, ’78, M’08, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Kolia J. O’Connor, head of school at Sewickley Academy.

> Helping Haiti

> Broadway babies
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s  PNC Pops! All Star College Chorus this year featured four RMU students: English major Samantha Koch, manufacturing engineering major Nikki Rodgers, actuarial science major Brad Perciavalle, and finance major Paul Berard. They performed a selection of Broadway tunes at Heinz Hall in February.

> Big time honor
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival selected RMU’s production of “Rent” as one of nine semifinalists for Region II, which includes Pennsylvania and seven surrounding states. Director Ken Gargaro said performing at the festival, held at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in January, was the theatrical “equivalent of  being invited to a bowl game.”

> Faces of the Barrio
After two visits to Nicaragua with an RMU professor to volunteer in a poor barrio clinic, David Lee Folk was
honored with the Robert Morris University Rising Star Award.
The new award is for a graduating senior who demonstrates academic success, individuality, determination, passion and potential in his field of study.

University professor of nursing Carl Ross, Ph.D., praised Folk for documenting the work students do in Nicaragua, both through an online journal and through “La Resistencia,” a video slide show of his original photography from the trips.

Nursing students have to pay $2000 of their own money to go on the trip, and many of them worry – as do their parents – about going to a Third World country, Ross said. “My job has gotten easier thanks to the work of one special young man: David Lee Folk,” he said.

Read about Lee's experience on the RMU News Blog entry - A Trumpet for David

> Faculty notes
Heritage Valley Health System added Lynn George, Ph.D., to its board of directors in January. The associate dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, George said she is impressed with the electronic records system in use by Heritage Valley, which includes two hospitals, four physician groups, and a foundation.

Associate professor of organizational studies Beatrice Gibbons, Ed.D., has been named to the board of trustees of Pittsburgh Public Theater. The theater in the downtown Cultural District presents contemporary drama and comedies.

Professor of accounting James Rebele, Ph.D., has been named the head of the new department of accounting and taxation.

Associate professor of media arts Jon Radermacher, M.F.A., , has been named head of the department of media arts.

> Bookshelf
Len Asimow, Ph.D., professor of actuarial science and mathematics, co-authored the textbook, Probability and Statistics with Applications: A Problem Solving Text. His collaborator is Mark Maxwell of the University of Texas-Austin, the former director of RMU’s actuarial science program.

Matthew Maurer, Ph.D., assistant professor of science and coordinator of the biology teacher certification program, has written a chapter for the book, Telementoring in the K-12 Classroom: Online Communication Technologies for Learning.

> Conferences
More than 60 professors from other institutions attended the February conference, “Teaching Economics: Instruction and Classroom Based Research,” on campus. Organized by associate professor of economics Mark J. Eschenfelder, Ph.D., and sponsored by RMU and McGraw-Hill/Irwin Publishing, the event featured lecturers from RMU, the University of North Carolina, Middlebury College, and others.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Network for Growth of Service Learning’s Third Annual Symposium and Showcase in March featured talks by RMU faculty members Ann Jabro, Ph.D., Angela Bires, Ed.D, and Donna Mason.

> Close your eyes
Research by an RMU psychologist suggests that people who read a lot are more likely to get less than 8 hours sleep at night. In a paper published in the journal Reading Improvement, associate professor of psychology William E. Kelly, Ph.D., said a study of 223 college students found significant correlation between reading for pleasure and insufficient rest.

"La Resistencia" - by Lee Folk
Folk's moving portraits of the residents of a Nicaraguan barrio and the RMU nursing students, led by Prof. Carl Ross, who visit every year to give medical assistance. 

Greg Mortenson at RMU
RMU students gave $3,000 to "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson to help build schools in Afghanistan. He talks to students here about his inspiring work helping to educate the poorest of the poor.