On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, Congressman Tom Holden presented Kathy Ozment, chair of the Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures Department (far left) and Betsy Kiddy, assistant professor of history and director of the Johnson Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, with a $120,000 Title IV grant.

The grant will be used to integrate teaching about Latin America into a broader range of disciplines in the College and to more fully integrate the Caribbean into the interdisciplinary Latin American Studies Program.

Project funds will be used to inaugurate study abroad programs in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, develop faculty, and expand course offerings.

The project supports the College’s strategic goal of enhancing Albright’s unique strengths in interdisciplinary education with innovative programs that expand opportunities for students to think beyond traditional disciplinary approaches.

Did you know that there are 1,000 species of bats and they make up one-fourth of the Earth’s mammals? High school freshman Chip Schwartz does, thanks to the guidance of Karen Campbell, Ph.D., associate professor and P. Kenneth Nase M.D. ’55 chair of biology.

Schwartz has been enamored with bats since he was a child. So when this Life Scout needed a project to help him earn the rank of Eagle Scout, he went to Campbell for assistance. The duo, with help from Albright College and the Berks County Parks and Recreation Department, set out to construct an informational kiosk to be located at the Berks County Heritage Center.

The kiosk displays facts about Pennsylvania bats, of which there are nine species, and the little brown bat, Myotis lucifungus, which resides in Wertz’s Bridge at the Heritage Center. The display also resolves several myths associated with bats.

“When Chip was eight or nine years old,” says Campbell, “he would come to my talks at the Heritage Center. I would ask a question and his hand would shoot straight up. He always knew the answers.”

After helping Campbell tag bats at Wertz’s Bridge with her undergraduate students a few summers ago, Schwartz says his interest in the creatures grew even more. “Bats are mysterious,” he says. “They’re so interesting with their sense of sound. Not many people know about them.”