By Maurisa Warren

WCU Foundation and University Student Housing

Christopher Mominey has been appointed CEO of the WCU Foundation and University Student Housing, LLC. The WCU Foundation supports the goals of the university through fundraising activities, the management of donated resources, and the promotion of WCU’s needs to prospective contributors.

“The opportunity to join the team at such an outstanding university and to lead the dedicated staff of the Foundation is something that I am eager to begin in earnest,” said Mominey. “I am looking forward to learning from them, listening to their experiences, and leading them into a future filled with growth and innovation.”

Mominey holds a bachelor’s degree from Saint Bonaventure and a master’s degree from John Carroll University.

Pat Gallen

The reporter at CBS3 Philly who received his bachelor’s degree in Communications Studies from WCU recently visited his alma mater to check out the new additions on campus. Gallen pointed out his favorite spots to study and shared stories of his time as an undergrad.

“Spent a lot of time here, Main Hall,” he said. “Being a communications major and journalism minor, this is where a lot of my classes were. “

He later stopped at Saxbys, the student-run café that opened on Aug. 6, and spoke with President Christopher Fiorentino.

Summer Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI)

This summer, 19 WCU students worked one-on-one with faculty as they undertook research projects through the university’s SURI.

This is the fifth year of the program, in which participants spend 40 hours a week for five weeks conducting research and scholarly or creative work under the direct supervision of a faculty member. The opportunity is open to all students, and they can initiate their own projects or can assist professors with current research.

Three juniors won honors for their work:

• First Prize: Education major Marissa Elizardo examined “Teachers’ Perceptions of Technology’s Impact on Lesson Planning and Student Behaviors” with professor Jacqueline Van Schooneveld.
• Second Prize: Spanish and English major Lisa Patrick translated a story from Spanish to English and suggested, “The response of the reader to the translation of a work should be the same as a (person who reads) the story in the original Spanish.” Under the tutelage of professor Maria-Eirini Panagiotidou, Patrick studied “Putting Thought into Translations: Exploring the Role of Cognitive Poetics in Translation Studies.”
• Third Prize: Aamir Amanullah studied “Understanding Gene Expression in Plant and Human Diseases” with professor Teresa Donze-Reiner, who collaborates with Dr. Benjamin Reiner at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Amanullah was able to work both at WCU and at Penn.

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