Along N. 13th St.

Pictured top right: Bill Murray ’83, Albright’s Lion, Ted Abrams ’83, SGA President Heather MacQuarrie ’19, VP of Advancement Christy Agnese and President Jacque Fetrow.

Albright celebrated the addition of Joffrey’s Coffee and renovations to both Jake’s Java coffee bar and the Student Center’s main lounge with a ribbon-cutting ceremony this fall. Led by President and CEO Ted Abrams ’83, Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Company is the official specialty coffee of Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Vacation Club.

In expressing gratitude for the partnership, President Jacque Fetrow, praised Abrams’ commitment to providing the world’s best coffee and tea with unsurpassed quality and attention to detail from seed to cup.

“Ted’s visionary leadership has fueled the growth of Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company since his arrival in 2001,” said Fetrow. And now our faculty, students, staff and visitors will be able to benefit from that vision right here on campus. It’s a proud day to be an Albright Lion!”

“It is such an honor to know that Joffrey’s is now a part of this community’s daily lives,” said Abrams. “As a student, I came to Albright not knowing what path my life might take. In fact, I started as a pre-med major and eventually switched to accounting. But thinking back now, it wasn’t about the major I chose. The liberal arts education I received at Albright enabled me to build a foundation for thinking independently, adapting to change and communicating effectively.”

The U.S. Department of Education has granted Albright College $2,246,089 over the next five years to transform the college’s approach to learning and student success in the first year of higher education.

Designed to help students develop the skills and confidence needed to achieve academically, the revamped approach more intentionally integrates student learning with personal and career goals, so that they may be better prepared to successfully complete bachelor’s degrees. In addition to Federal dollars, the college will supplement $615,000 during the grant period and approximately $575,000 annually thereafter in support of the new program.

“While Albright continues to educate a diverse population of students who exhibit strong academic potential along with engagement in a wide variety of extracurricular and service activities, many entering first-year students are unprepared for the academic and social challenges of learning in a college environment,” said Karen A. Campbell, Ph.D., acting provost and vice president of academic affairs at Albright. “This grant is an investment in faculty development, student-centered advising and infrastructure designed to strengthen teaching and learning and that will support pedagogical innovation.” The college will invest in academic programs, personnel and technology to support the envisioned and important Academic Learning Commons of the Gingrich Library.

To be eligible for Title III grants, at least 50 percent of an intuition’s degree-seeking students must receive need-based assistance under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, or a substantial number of enrolled students must receive Pell Grants and have low educational and general expenditures.

“Almost half of our first year students are the first in their family to attend college,” said Campbell. “Coupled with inconsistent academic preparation, this means that many entering students are unfamiliar with the expectations of college courses and the academic habits and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed.

*Reference: “The Condition of College and Career Readiness,” ACT.org, Sept. 2018 at http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/cccr2018/National-CCCR-2018.pdf

Announced in September, the Wall Street Journal ranked Albright College as one of the top 400 schools across the nation for 2018. Encompassing both public and private colleges and universities, this year’s rankings were based on 15 performance indicators that explored student outcomes, resources deployed on academics and student engagement levels.

In addition, Albright remains one of the top private fashion merchandising and fashion design schools in the nation. Fashion-Schools.org ranked the college No. 15 on its national list of top private fashion merchandising schools, and No. 20 on its list of top private fashion design schools. Albright was also ranked among the top 50 of all colleges and universities — public and private — for fashion design.

More than 2,500 people visited Albright College in late August, as first-year and transfer students moved in to campus residence halls. Albright’s 655 new students come from 21 states and 4 countries, while 44 students are transferring from other colleges. Eight additional international students are studying abroad at Albright this semester.

Statistically, 21 percent of the college’s new students are Hispanic, 30 percent are black, 42 percent are white, and 14 percent indicated two or more ethnic groups. About 59 percent are female and 41 percent are male. The class of 2022’s most popular major is biology, followed by business and Alpha, the college’s program to help students discover their major.

Below: Students gathered in Memorial Chapel for Albright’s 2018 Convocation — part of welcome weekend and move-in.

ESports will be Albright’s 24th varsity intercollegiate athletic program and its first coed sport, made possible through a gift from the Joyce Family Foundation, led by Albright Board Chair Jeffrey Joyce ’83.

Albright will compete as a member of the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE), the country’s most prominent organization dedicated to competitive collegiate video gaming. Students will take part in national competitions beginning spring 2019.

“We are thrilled to add eSports to our roster of varsity sports for current and future Albright gamers,” said Athletic Director Janice Luck. “This is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and helps Albright position itself as a technology leader. Interest in eSports is growing rapidly on college campuses.”

Joyce said the addition of eSports is a response to market research on the interests of students.

“Esports is one of the top requested activities by prospective students, and it’s a natural fit with the interests of our current students, particularly those in the Gamers Guild club. The Joyce Family Foundation is pleased to support this initiative.”

“We anticipate some great synergies between eSports and our program in game and simulation development, one of our signature interdisciplinary majors that integrates computer science, digital media, mathematics, music and physics,” said Karen Campbell, acting provost and vice president for academic affairs.

As the Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported, Albright’s student body population is among the most diverse in the state. “Yet many of these students don’t actually come from neighborhoods that host such a myriad of people, and can be initially unprepared for such diversity of people and thoughts,” said President Jacque Fetrow. “So with that in mind, we are working to educate our community in inclusivity. We know that our campus is a microcosm for our vast global society, and so we want our graduates to be well prepared to live in tomorrow’s interconnected world. Really, it’s part of educating the whole student.”

In keeping with this year’s theme of “Understanding Diversity: A Community’s Conversation,” a number of faculty members have incorporated a new common reading into their courses. “Between the World and Me,” by Ta Nehisi Coates describes the experience of a black man in America — in the form of a letter from a father to his son. The reading is intended to create a common foundation for timely discussions on racial justice.

In addition, Albright’s 2018-19 arts programming is exploring the impact the arts can have on issues of social justice. A popular Freedman Gallery showing by artist Susan Crile, titled “Incarceration in the Era of Impending Fascism,” focuses on awakening a global consciousness regarding inhumane practices of prisoner torture. An early fall theatre performance, “Mosiac” celebrated the resiliency of the human spirit, contrasting with a November showing of “A Raisin in the Sun,” exploring the issues of economic justice and systematic racism.

Students on campus celebrate their differences during our annual Diversity Week.

Albright alumni Adam ’03 and Meghan ’06 Owenz have kicked off a project aiming to stem the decline of childhood creativity with a new drawing game.

“Psychologists have measured childhood creativity since the 1970s and it was steadily increasing until the 1990s. Since then it has been declining,” explains Adam, also an instructor of business at Albright.

Because technology is one possible cause of the decline, the Owenz couple teamed up to use Meghan’s psychology background and Adam’s marketing background to help parents better manage technology in their children’s lives. Their blog Screen-FreeParenting.com, which offers background and off-screen activities, has more than 20,000 followers. And their new “Starting Lines” game project, featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer and on WITF.org, exceeded its $20,000 Kickstarter goal within one month.

Game players use their creative minds to turn simple starting line prompts into creative or funny drawings and captions that relate to ideas such as “things people do for money.” Although players begin with the same task, the simple creative process results in wide-ranging outcomes.

For scores, schedules, highlights and more, visit www.albrightathletics.com

Lauren Haley ’21 is among this year’s MAC Commonwealth leaders in goals scored

Donors go to bat for Kelchner

Thanks to a number of key donations, Kelchner Field features a new and improved look this fall.

Home to the Albright Lions baseball team since 1947, Kelchner Field received more than $500,000 in renovations this past spring and summer that include a new press box, seating for 200 spectators, rest rooms and storage. Albright alumni Kenneth Gross ’81, Robert Jones ’60 and John Scholl ’69 were honored by the baseball program for their contributions to the project.

Kelchner Field is named after Charles (Pop) Kelchner who was the first coach in program history and coached the Lions from 1897-1918.