Education category, Page 3
The Education Department is dismantling. Here’s what that means
WASHINGTON — The Education Department is breaking off several of its main offices and giving their responsibilities to other federal agencies, an early look at how President Donald Trump could fulfill his campaign pledge to close the department entirely. Offices that serve the nation’s schools and colleges would go to...
Local news festival Newsapalooza set to return this week
Newsapalooza, a two-day local news festival in Pittsburgh, will return for another year on Thursday and Friday. The event will take place at Point Park University and its Pittsburgh Playhouse theater. Presented by Point Park’s Center for Media Innovation, Newsapalooza saw its first edition last year. Attendees can expect numerous...
Foreign enrollment at U.S. colleges holds steady, for now, despite Trump’s visa crackdown
WASHINGTON — Foreign students enrolled at U.S. colleges in strong numbers this fall despite fears that a Trump administration crackdown would trigger a nosedive, yet there are signs of turbulence as fewer new, first-time students arrived from other countries, according to a new report. Overall, U.S. campuses saw a 1%...
Bethel Park’s William Penn ranks 9th among Pa. elementary schools
Bethel Park’s William Penn Elementary School is going out in style. A U.S. News World Report ranking of the best public elementary schools in Pennsylvania has Penn coming in at No. 9. Researchers with the media company compiled data from the U.S. Department of Education focusing on state assessments of...
Shaler Area program offers educational experience for preschoolers, older students
Editor’s note: The following story was submitted for the Shaler Area Student Section, a collaboration between TribLive and The Oracle, the student newspaper of Shaler Area High School. The preschool program at Shaler Area High School is a unique experience. High school students act as the instructors alongside child development...
U.S. students studying housing, health outcomes and sustainability win 2026 Rhodes scholarships
Five students at U.S. military academies and three each from Yale University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among the 32 American winners named Sunday as 2026 Rhodes scholars. The group includes students focused on housing, health outcomes, sustainability and prison reentry programs. They include: Alice L....
$30 million gift to bolster Pitt’s honors college
A $30 million gift from a University of Pittsburgh alumnus will help bolster a scholars program. Pitt officials announced Friday the donation, from 1997 graduate Michael Rees, will create an endowed fund that will expand the number of students who are part of the David C. Frederick Honors College receiving...
Penn State schedules meeting on Commonwealth Campus progress
Penn State administration will hold a virtual meeting Dec. 9 to provide updates on the seven Commonwealth Campuses that will close in two years, and also the 13 campuses that will remain open. Fotis Sotiropoulos, Penn State’s executive vice president and provost, and Renata Engel, vice president for Commonwealth Campuses...
$5 million gift to Slippery Rock, largest in university history, names business school
A $5 million gift to Slippery Rock University — the largest in its 136-year-history — will fund scholarships, faculty research and add opportunities in Slippery Rock’s business program, officials say. Slippery Rock officials announced Thursday the university had received the donation from Rhonda and Elliott Haverlack, of Estero, Fla. Elliott...
Former Duquesne journalism professor Maggie Patterson dies
Maggie Jones Patterson, a revered journalism professor who mentored generations of student reporters at Duquesne University, returned to campus in October to help celebrate the student newspaper’s 100th anniversary. Just weeks later, the longtime educator and advocate for young journalists died Monday of a heart attack following surgery, leaving behind...
Colleges grapple with lukewarm perception of their importance
Joel Bauman has been involved in college admissions for 30 years, and he can’t remember a more challenging time than what he faces today. “It has become more cynical,” said Bauman, senior vice president for enrollment management at Duquesne University, “but you can’t blame families, given the financial situation.” Colleges...
Western Pennsylvania teachers get creative with classrooms in learning
Jessica Pilyih rarely sits at her desk. And her students don’t sit at theirs, either. “I am not a desk person,” Pilyih said as she sat at one of the semi-circular round tables inside her fifth-grade classroom at Holiday Park Intermediate School in the Plum Borough School District. “I have...
Schools starting to feel the pinch of state budget impasse
Art students at St. Joseph High School in Harrison spent a recent class learning the techniques of charcoal drawing — again. They were scheduled to be learning to use paints, but with government funding largely cut off because of the state’s ongoing budget impasse, the school doesn’t have money to...
Cornell University research funds to be restored in deal with Trump administration
Cornell University’s $250 million in federal grants were restored under a deal with President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Friday, the fifth such agreement to be struck amid a conservative crackdown on institutions. The agreement requires the university, known for its agricultural programs, to pay the government $30 million and...
Quaker Valley High School offering students new manufacturing, fabricating opportunities
A new hands-on course with recently acquired machines will soon begin at Quaker Valley High School. Pre-engineering and technology teacher Mike Santucci is gearing up to launch his manufacturing and fabrication course this month. It starts his second 12-week program this school year. Students are finishing up construction and home...
Pitt lab launches $42M project to merge latest in wheelchair, robotic arm tech
A laboratory in Pittsburgh’s Bakery Square is poised to make the next breakthrough in wheelchairs, a mostly stagnant industry with huge quality of life implications for millions of disabled Americans. Researchers at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, a collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Department of Veterans...
Point Park to help Ohio students hit by university program cuts
Students at public universities across Ohio are seeing their majors and programs disappear amid state-mandated restructuring and budget cuts. In response, Point Park University in Pittsburgh is stepping in to help. A new transfer scholarship, the Buckeye Fresh Start Scholarship, will support displaced Ohio students through additional funds and academic...
Carnegie Mellon president launches advisory board to review student mental health, well-being
A new advisory board at Carnegie Mellon University will evaluate students’ mental well-being and their academic experience. President Farnam Jahanian announced the university will roll out a President’s Advisory Board on Student Well-Being, Mental Health and the Academic Experience. Jahanian, in a letter to campus, said the board will review...
Longtime Penn-Trafford principal set to retire after 26 years in district
Longtime Penn-Trafford Principal Jim Simpson discovered his love of teaching while tutoring classmates in math at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Prior to enrolling in the university’s computer science program, the New Kensington native never considered a career in education. “I had my (general education) math courses and I ended up...
Franklin Regional in the running for billionaire’s $1M education award
Franklin Regional School District has a chance to become the first public education system to earn a $1 million prize for educators who exemplify outstanding, transformational innovation in learning. The district is among 23 contenders for the Yass Prize, a national award created by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass and his...
PennWest review aims to make programs stronger; some existing could ‘sunset’
The goal of an ongoing review of academic programs at Pennsylvania Western University is to ensure offerings meet area workforce demands in a way that’s sustainable to the college, said James Fisher, interim provost and vice president of academic affairs. PennWest, a state-owned university comprising campuses in California, Clarion and...
Enrollment drops at Penn State’s closing branch campuses in Western Pennsylvania
While overall enrollment at Penn State’s main campus remains steady, universitywide enrollment this fall decreased by 1.6% over last year, and dropped 5.7% overall at branch campuses. According to Penn State data released this week, 386 students are enrolled at Penn State New Kensington this fall. That’s a 10.6% decrease...
Does ‘6-7’ make you feel old and out-of-touch? Here’s why it’s so popular.
How are you feeling? “6-7.” How tall are you? “6-7.” What time is it? “6-7.” This week, Dictionary.com announced “6-7” (pronounced “six-seven”) as its Word of the Year, putting the nonsense internet slang trend that’s exploded among Gen Alpha and Gen Z – and frustrated parents and teachers – back...
Chartiers Valley to deploy AI school safety platform
Chartiers Valley School District will work with a Carnegie Mellon University spinout to deploy a threat detection system at district buildings. School directors on Tuesday, Oct. 28 approved a five-year contract with CurvePoint for the Wi-AI Perimeter Threat Detection system. Wi-AI transforms standard Wi-Fi signals into a real-time safety system...
AI chatbot, ‘Skilly,’ to answer prospective Point Park University students’ questions
Prospective Point Park University students may soon be asking admissions questions to an AI chatbot. Skilly, a chatbot developed by SkillyAI of Pittsburgh, will assist Point Park’s admissions office in responding to questions from potential students and their families, said Marlin Collingwood, university vice president of enrollment management. “We’re in...
