Daily Brief

Taliaferro Inaugural Recipient of the PASSHE "Keepers of the Flame" Award

At the 2022 PASSHE DEI Summit, an inaugural award "Keepers of the Flame" was presented to highlight the contributions of State System employees and students for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in their communities. "Keepers of the Flame" are people who embody a commitment to creating and promoting diverse and inclusive environments that cultivate a sense of belonging. For the inaugural year, we recognized “Foundation Builders” at each of the 14 campuses. "Foundation Builders" are past or present employees, alumni or community stakeholders who are longstanding contributors to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at each campus. Their work has contributed to the solid foundation that undergirds and motivates DEI work at each university. Kutztown University nominated Barbara Taliaferro who retired in 2010 after serving KU for 21 years. She started as coordinator of minority affairs and then became assistant to the president for human diversity, associate vice president for diversity and inclusion and finally, vice president of diversity and inclusion. During those years she was a consistent voice for diversity and inclusion at KU. Taliaferro supervised the Office of Human Diversity, overseeing the Women’s Center, Affirmative Action, Minority Affairs and the coordination of the ADA. During her tenure as vice president, she oversaw the expansion of the Office of Disability Services, the creation of the Multicultural Center and PASSHE's first LGBTQ Resource Center. Award winners were announced at the November virtual summit and Taliaferro was presented the actual award at a small luncheon in her honor Monday, April 17, MCC. Some of her past direct reports were present along with current staff and students of the Diversity and Inclusion Centers and FDI.

Jerry Schearer, Assistant Vice President & Dean of Students

SSHE Open Enrollment

Open enrollment for non-represented (management), nurses, faculty and police is April 17 through April 28. If you do not have changes, no action is required during open enrollment. View the Open Enrollment website for increased employee premium information for the 2023-2024 plan year. There are no plan changes, but you can find full information on the OE page. Please reach out to Jeanette Forster with any questions.

​Open enrollment website

Jeanette Forster, Human Resources

Ninth Annual Out of the Darkness Campus Walk

Please join NAMI KU for our ninth annual Out of the Darkness Walk. A ceremony will be held 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23, on the DMZ at the stage area near the Health and Wellness Center and the Multicultural Center. The walk takes place immediately after the ceremony. Local organizations including the Berks County Suicide Prevention Task Force, Tower Behavioral Health and Robbie's Hope will be on hand providing resources and information to walkers. All funds raised go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. AFSP is the leader in the fight against suicide. Out of the Darkness Walks allow AFSP to fund research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy, raise awareness and support survivors of suicide loss. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has local chapters in all 50 states.  Even if you are unable to attend the walk, please consider a donation which can be made on KU's walk page here.

9th Annual Out of the Darkness Walk

Patricia Ann Brenner, NAMI KU

Small Business Internship Initiative at KU

Sign up for this free training 10 a.m. Monday, April 24, 274 MSU. Topics will include accounting/budget, business financing, business plan, business start-up/preplanning, customer relations, internet/web training, managing a business, marketing/sales and social media technology. We are excited to introduce you to our Small Business Internship Initiative. This innovative program helps small businesses and college students connect and get the most out of their collaboration. At our in-person events, you have the opportunity to meet Kutztown University students who are looking for part-time and full-time employment. At this event, you have several options to help you expand your business. You can hire a student-intern for course credit, part- or full-time employee(s), or a May graduate. If you are looking to take your business to the next level but are not financially secure yet, consider hiring a summer worker. Summer positions provide students a great opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in the job market, while not requiring a long-term commitment or salary from the employer. We look forward to helping you find the perfect candidate for your business.

Small Business Internship Initiative at Kutztown University

Rachael Wolfe, KUSBDC

Steinway & Sons Spirio Demonstration

Kevin Heinselman with Jacobs Music and KU piano students will demonstrate the Steinway & Sons Spirio, the world's finest high resolution player piano. Join us for this free show 3-6 p.m. Monday, April 24, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, Center for Mallet Percussion.

Maria Asteriadou, Department of Music

Chamber Ensemble Recital

Come out to the Chamber Ensemble Recital 8 p.m. Monday, April 24, Schaeffer Auditorium. KU music students will perform works by Bolling, Dvorak, Mozart, Schumann and a KU premiere by a young composer from Allentown, Ava Bloomfield.

Maria Asteriadou, Department of Music

A Semester with Chat GPT

This joint CEL and Comp Conversations event considers how ChatGPT is influencing our teaching and impacting student learning. Some faculty are experimenting with AI in their courses or looking at the impact on student work. Feel free to bring in examples, questions, concerns; we’ll even have ChatGPT up to help answer them. Face-to-face conversation and actual (not virtual) cookies will be available 11 a.m. Thursday, April 27, 6 Rohrbach Library or you can join us via Zoom.

CEL Events

Amy Lynch-Biniek, Center for Engaged Learning

Herr Food Presentation in Murshed's New Product Management

Herr Food Inc. executives, Bob Clark, vice president of Marketing; Bob Landry, vice president; and Bob Landis, senior vice president of Human Resources, presented in Dr. Murshed's new product management class. Students heard about and sampled the Sandwi-Chips, a new product recently introduced in a certain B2B setting. In an interactive session, students learned about the entire new product development process - from idea development, product concept, market testing to commercialization. Successful introduction of a new product is considered a daunting task and they shed light on this process and the role of various other elements. In this class, every student individually presents a new product idea and gives a group presentation predicting the success/failure of a recently introduced product based on diffusion theory. New Product Management is a restricted elective for marketing majors.

Feisal Murshed

Feisal Murshed, Business Administration

Faculty Student Course Assistant Requests Due Friday, May 5

Faculty can request a Student Course Assistant. SCA’s can both support classroom content as well as provide study sessions. To learn more about the SCA position click here to review the full job description. Please complete the Student Course Assistant Request Form by Friday, May 5. When we receive your request, Student Success will reach out to the student identified to confirm interest in the position.  If you have questions, email success@kutztown.edu.

Tutoring Services

Nancy Brynildsen, Student Success & Academic Excellence