Education category, Page 45
Aloha! Mt. Pleasant Area hosts luau for life skills students from around the county
Westmoreland students didn’t need to go to Hawaii to enjoy a luau Friday morning. Staff at Mt. Pleasant Area Junior High School hosted a luau-themed party for life skills students from high schools throughout the county. “I think that being around kids just like them makes them feel comfortable,” said...
Washington & Jefferson to start offering bachelor’s degree in nursing
Washington & Jefferson College plans to start offering a bachelor’s degree in nursing starting in the fall of 2024. W&J leaders say the move makes sense, with nurses in high demand and the school able to partner with nearby Washington Health System’s Washington Hospital. The college plans to enroll 24...
Carnegie Mellon artificial intelligence institute to receive $20M in federal funding
Carnegie Mellon University will use $20 million in federal funding to establish an artificial intelligence institute that will look for ways to use AI to deal with public health, disaster management and other societal needs. The AI Institute for Societal Decision Making will develop “human-centric AI tools” that can respond...
Republicans continue push to restrict teachings on race in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Republicans are one step closer to restricting how teachers discuss race in K-12 classrooms. As conservatives nationwide push bans on so-called “critical race theory,” the state Senate passed a likeminded effort Wednesday in a late-night 27-10 vote after nearly six hours of debate. Parents could...
Annual health fair in Unity livens up wellness, safety education
The excited shouts and laughter of third graders filled the halls of Charter Oak Church as students from four area school districts gathered Wednesday to learn from local health care professionals and community members at the annual Latrobe Area Hospital Aid Society Children’s Health Fair. The event, which began in...
Duquesne now allowed to recruit students to planned osteopathic medical school
Duquesne University is allowed to begin recruiting students to its planned college of osteopathic medicine, a significant step toward opening in the fall of 2024. The college rising along Forbes Avenue on the Bluff now has pre-accreditation status from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, campus officials said Wednesday. The...
Revised Hempfield middle school redistricting plan approved
Hempfield Area School District now has a final answer to where students will attend middle school next year, after approving a revised plan for redistricting. The plan defines where students will go to school in the wake of a February vote to condense the district’s three middle schools into two...
Westmoreland, Allegheny teachers will study how to enhance STEM programs
Educators in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties are seeking out teaching practices that best prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Faculty and staff members from five school districts in Westmoreland and six in Allegheny will participate in partnership with intermediate units, the Consortium for Public Education and...
IUP initiative garners $1.5 million grant for multi-country STEAMSHOP spaces
INDIANA, Pa. — Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been awarded a $1.5 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant to develop an entrepreneurial makerspace ecosystem with Pittsburgh-based company Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing that’ll benefit a local business. The school will lead the effort for the STEAMSHOP (science, technology, engineering, arts...
Teacher appreciation? Try better pay, more governors say
HARRISBURG — As schools across the country struggle to find teachers to hire, more governors are pushing for pay increases, bonuses and other perks for the beleaguered profession — with some vowing to beat out other states competing for educators. Already in 2023, governors in Georgia and Arkansas have pushed...
Security measures upped at Hempfield after threat concerns
Students at Hempfield Area School District will continue to be screened with metal detectors before entering school buildings. The decision was made after a student last week reported seeing a threatening message in a bathroom that referenced guns. The screening and other security measures began Friday. According to an email...
To improve kids’ mental health, some schools start later
DREXEL HILL, Pa. — In the hours before he’s due at Upper Darby High School, senior Khalid Doulat has time to say prayers, help his mother or prepare for track practice. It’s a welcome shift from last year for him and thousands of students at the school, which pushed its...
Oprah tells class of 2023 to follow ‘still, small voice’
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Oprah Winfrey delighted graduates at her alma mater Tennessee State University on Saturday, telling the story of how she fell one credit short of graduating as she launched the media career that would make her a household name. Giving the commencement address at the historically Black university,...
Bill Cowher talks leadership, Steelers draft, Pickett at Duquesne graduation as he receives honorary degreeVideo
Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach and Crafton native Bill Cowher has a life full of accomplishments. He coached the Steelers for 15 seasons, leading them to two Super Bowls and winning one. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Since retiring from the Steelers, he has successfully...
Duquesne’s new grant match program targets transfer students as way to boost enrollment
Transfer students — long an afterthought when colleges had plenty of teens to recruit straight out of high school — these days are being courted by four-year campuses to keep enrollments healthy. The latest example comes from Duquesne University. Beginning this summer, Duquesne says it will match up to $20,400...
New Kensington-Arnold elementary students create robot pets, learn coding at Digital Foundry
New Kensington-Arnold elementary students turned cardboard boxes into robotic animals over the course of an eight-week program at the Digital Foundry. A giraffe, a chameleon, a dragon and a capybara were among the animals a group of fourth and fifth grade students from Roy A. Hunt Elementary in Arnold created...
History, civics scores of U.S. students dipped amid pandemic
Test scores in history and civics have declined slightly for eighth grade students in the U.S., according to results that show an increasing number of children lack a basic understanding of either subject. The scores were released Wednesday by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The same assessment reported in...
HBCUs get donations 178 times lower than Ivy League: study
The average historically Black college and university received 178 times less funding from foundations than the average Ivy League school in 2019, according to a new report on the underfunding of HBCUs released Tuesday. The study — conducted by the philanthropic research group Candid and ABFE, a nonprofit that advocates...
Man who gave $1M to IUP’s osteopathic medicine school explains why he donated
Rich Caruso was skeptical when he learned his alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, wanted to boost rural physician access by opening the commonwealth’s first school for osteopathic medicine on a state university campus. Then his 101-year-old mother, Margaret, got sick. What happened next to the woman who lives in...
Gainey appoints new education coordinator for Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has named Alexis Walker to be the city’s new education coordinator. The appointment, announced Monday, will be funded through a $175,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments. Walker, 26, of the North Side, previously served as the GirlGov program manager at the Women and Girls Foundation. In...
‘Waste of time’: Community college transfers derail students
First came the good news. After taking classes at a community college, Ricki Korba was admitted to California State University, Bakersfield, as a transfer student. But when she logged on to her student account, she got a gut punch: Most of her previous classes wouldn’t count. The university rejected most...
Grant will support students completing college education through Seton Hill online program
Between 18 and 20 Pennsylvania residents who have fallen short of fulfilling their college goals will have a chance to finish their education through a grant-supported program at Seton Hill University. Seton Hill is partnering with the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board to identify potential students for a Near Completer program....
Penn State University trustees to weigh spending $70 million for first phase of Beaver Stadium renovation
Penn State University appears poised to move forward with the first phase of renovating Beaver Stadium, a closely watched project to extend the life of one of the nation’s largest and most familiar college football venues. University trustees, due to meet Friday, May 5 at University Park, are expected to...
Commencement season gets underway
A friend asked Katy Nesbitt what’s more stressful: Being second-guessed by thousands of screaming World Cup soccer fans in a gigantic stadium or giving the commencement speech at her alma mater. The first American woman to referee at a men’s World Cup, Nesbitt laughed at the thought, knowing she will...
Woodland Hills district makes historic effort to cut property taxes
Homeowners in the Woodland Hills School District will get a break on their property taxes under a preliminary budget approved on Wednesday. The school board voted 8-1 to approve a 0.5 mil reduction on their tax bill for the 2023-2024 school year. Woodland Hills says its the first tax cut...
