Thiel Happenings

Athletics reunion weekend makes history

Rendering from ThenDesign Architecture.

It’s been a busy summer for Thiel College athletics. The track and field and wrestling programs both had major announcements recently during the College’s inaugural Athletics Reunion Weekend in late May.

• Thiel College officials broke ground for a new track and field facility.
• The largest gift in the history of the athletics program was announced when alumni Rod Wilt ’86 and his wife, Jill (Gardner) ’85, made public their $500,000 gift to endow the head wrestling coach position. The endowed coaching position is the first and only one in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

Alumni make gift to support faculty/student research institute

Thiel athletics was not the only department with exciting news. Thiel College alumni Fred Haer ’65 and his wife, Jill (Shackett) ’66, have pledged more than $400,000 to fund a faculty/student research institute. Student apprentice researchers are set to partner with faculty principal investigators on most projects.

The research institute begins this summer and research projects are set to begin in January.

• Read more about the institute
• Biology professor doing listeria research
• Professor, two students studying dance's impact on the brain

Read the new edition of The Bell, the College's alumni magazine

The latest edition of The Bell is out. Find out what our students, faculty and alumni are up to on and off campus in the latest edition of The Bell. The spring 2015 issue contains stories about the College’s new Neuroscience Department and its partnership with the world-renowned Greenville Neuromodulation Center. Find more information on the neuroscience department or like it on Facebook.

• Read The Bell online

Among the other stories are a feature of cancer-survivor Ryan Hart '15, who helped start and organize Thiel's Relay for Life event, and a faculty profile of Professor of Biology Delbert Abi Abdallah, Ph.D. 

Student News

Thiel College students experiencing the world

You can keep up with rising junior Amanda Hautmann (right) during her trip to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, London, and Barcelona. The Crofton, Md. resident has been in Europe since May and is posting photos and entries on her blog “Time to go on an adventure!”

• Read her blog
• ​Keep up with the Thiel College study abroad program on Facebook

Amanda is not the only student studying abroad. Twenty-one Thiel students made a trip to Paris and London, and Professor of Sociology Cynthia Sutton, Ph.D., in May led a trip to Italy that included six Thiel students along with Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Chemistry and Chemistry Department Chair Anna Reinsel, Ph.D. '06 and Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Neuroscience Department Chair Greg Butcher, Ph.D. Several more intrepid souls are off to international locales flying solo. Ivey Shorts (above left), of Saegertown, Pa., and Katie Allgeier (above right), of Erie, Pa., are traveling internationally this summer due to Thiel College’s connection to the prestigious Vira I. Heinz  Scholarships for Women in Global Leadership. Shorts, a rising senior who is studying psychology and philosophy, is in India. Read her blog "My Life Began in India" to learn about her experiences. She was awarded a $5,500 scholarship to help pay for the trip. Allegeier, a rising senior who is studying English writing and English literature, is taking a five-week course in Galway, Ireland. She was given a $5,000 scholarship to make the trip.

• Read Shorts' blog
• Read more about the Vira I. Heinz recipients in the Thiel College Newsroom

Thiel College summer media camp

Thiel College's inaugural summer media camp for high school students is July 13-17. Camp attendees will work with Thiel College’s high-definition television equipment and editing software in the new, state-of-the-art James Pedas Communication Center to produce television and radio public service announcements.

• Read more about the camp

The camp is open to students in grades 9-12.

• Register online