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Dual Washington Monthly honors
Washington Monthly has again named Albright a Best Liberal Arts College as well as a Best Bang for the Buck in the Northeast. Albright is one of only 203 institutions appearing on the magazine’s Best Liberal Arts Colleges list for 2022. Based in Washington, D.C., Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine on U.S. politics and government. Its college rankings are based on social mobility, research and providing opportunities for public service. Specifically for the America’s Best Bang for the Buck Colleges, Washington Monthly rates schools according to “how well they help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.”

Albright named 2023 Best College by Princeton Review
Albright has again been named an “academically outstanding” Best College in the Northeast by the Princeton Review. One of only 224 schools to earn the honor for 2023, Albright has appeared on the Princeton Review’s Best Northeast Colleges list 18 times in the last 19 years. Pointing out Albright’s innovative “strong arts and theater program, as well as “prestigious pre-professional [and] sciences program,” students told the Princeton Review that internship and study abroad opportunities abound at Albright and that the college’s professors are “extremely passionate about what they teach.” Although the national acceptance rate for medical school applicants is about 40%, more than 90% of Albright graduates seeking medical school make it to that next level with the help of faculty with deep insight into the demands of top graduate schools around the country.

Student presents poxvirus workshop to virologists
Albright biology/biotechnology student Megan Keller led a discussion on poxviruses for the 41st annual American Society for Virology conference in Madison, Wisconsin. The session was convened by Albright Associate Professor of Biology Adam Hersperger, Ph.D., who is working with Keller through an Albright Creative Research Experience, researching growth factor genes to learn about their role in infection and replication of ectromelia virus (mouse pox). Keller is also working with vaccinia virus to help explain the role of the ectromelia growth factor gene.

Grant advances Albright VR education
Albright’s Game and Simulation Development program has been awarded a Create with VR grant from Unity and Meta Immersive Learning. Meta is partnering with Unity to help educational institutions and nonprofits bring their visions for immersive and collaborative learning experiences to underserved learners in technology. The grant provides 15 virtual reality (VR) headsets, as well as a complete curriculum to train faculty members in VR development

Global Scholars
Throughout their entire first year, a cohort of 15 likeminded students are living and learning together as Albright’s inaugural class of Global Scholars. Arriving on campus a day early, the group lives together while taking a series of courses together in the fall and spring semesters. Included in the program is a January study away experience during which Global Scholars explore a particular topic with faculty who are teaching the Scholars’ fall and spring courses. The first cohort will study Spanish together, aiding in their study abroad exploration of South America. Using Cuenca, Ecuador as a base, students will live with a host family for several weeks while learning from Albright faculty about comparative cultures. Future study away locations include Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Mexico and Spain. Open to students exploring any major, the Global Scholars program is designed to provide meaningful study abroad experiences for students who are often underrepresented in study abroad programs, including students of color, first-generation students and students with high financial need.

Albright team heads to Oxford
Pennsylvania school district teachers and administrators, as well as Albright School of Professional Studies graduate students, explored creativity and innovation at Oxford in August as part of a new fellowship. The graduate course fellowship is part of a special partnership between Albright’s School of Professional Studies and St. Stephen’s House, the permanent private hall of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Attendees included administrators and teachers from Berks Catholic, Governor Mifflin, Reading and Wyomissing school districts, as well as C.H. Briggs CEO Julia Klein; Albright College President Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Ph.D. ’82; Elileen Habelow, president and founder of Leadership Link; and the Total Experience Learning team of leaders.

Reading School District taps TExpL
Approved for a three-year term by the Reading School Board last summer, 50 Reading School District fifth graders are spending half of their regular school day at Albright College, taking part in a Total Experience Learning academy. The students are accompanied by a Total Experience Learning-trained Reading School District teacher. The students are using the Total Experience Learning framework to study social studies, English language arts, music, art, library research and more. Currently filled to capacity, future plans include expansion after renovation of the college’s historic Camp Building.

$3 million grant propels Innovation Corridor
Albright has been awarded a $3 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant for renovations to the Leo Camp Building — the future home of Albright’s Total Experience Learning® programs and the college’s nationally recognized music industry and fashion programs. The spacious building on Albright’s campus is being redeveloped into a state-of-the-art facility optimized for experiential learning, technological exploration and community engagement. The RACP grant will support the implementation of phase one renovation of this landmark building within Reading’s Innovation Corridor, which will include expansion of Total Experience Learning® programs, an incubation laboratory, and food and brewery science labs that will accelerate scientific exploration and foster community relationships. Renovations to the Leo Camp building will further help to establish Albright’s northeast Reading neighborhood as Reading’s Innovation Corridor — a destination and a community where residents live, work, learn and play.

Albright’s Hall of Fame
John Fotopoulos ’01 (tennis), Tanner Kelly ’10 (football) and Ralph Porrazzo ’14 (swimming) were inducted into the Lions’ Athletic Hall of Fame last fall.

New faculty join AlbrightAlbright’s newest teaching faculty span eight different departments and include an artist in residence and multiple scholar-authors. Their areas of interest range from bee conservation to sustainable fashion to virtual reality to African Bible studies, and more. They include:
Simóne J. Banks, M.F.A.,
assistant professor of English
Matthew S. Bieber, M.B.A.,
assistant professor of business: marketing
Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology
Valentin Callet, M.A.,
visiting instructor of French
Scott DeLoach, Ph.D.,
lecturer of English
Maria Escobar,
assistant professor of sociology
Silvia García Viera, M.A.,
visiting instructor of Spanish
Joe Hocker, MFA,
instructor of art
Dave Kaul, M.F.A.,
assistant professor of art
& computer science
Felix Knufinke, M.A.,
visiting instructor of German
Andrew M. Mbuvi, Ph.D.,
visiting associate professor
of religious studies and NEH chair
Laura McBride, Ph.D.,
assistant professor of chemistry
Liz Polley, M.F.A. ’07,
assistant professor of theatre
Dominic Polo Nanni, M.A.,
instructor of English
Jen Rock, M.F.A.,
assistant professor of theatre
Derrick L. Thompson, Ed.D.,
director of choral activities
Kaitlin Tonti, Ph.D.,
lecturer of English
Elizabeth Quinn, M.S.,
assistant professor of fashion