SCSU Summer 2025: Analysis, Journey, Exploration, and the Arts

While the summer season months are comparatively quiet on Southern’s campus, many Owls benefit from this time away from lessons to delve into analysis, collaborate with colleagues regionally and overseas, or to be taught one thing new. Here is a small sampling of Southern college and college students’ actions from summer season 2025.

On Stage and Behind the Scenes

No one is aware of higher than the Theatre Department that each one the world’s a stage. This summer season, a number of members of the division shared their skills with the world off campus, taking up roles in numerous theater firms and settings. At the Ivoryton Playhouse in Ivoryton, Conn., Adjunct Professor Jill Brunelle carried out within the pit for My Fair Lady and up to date theatre graduate Alexina Cristante, ’24, led the present’s wardrobe crew.

Meanwhile, Associate Professor Larry Nye spent his summer season directing Sweet Charity, Big, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Stagedoor Manor, the celebrated theater camp within the Catskills, whereas Adjunct Professor Jeff Raab directed Animal Farm at Stagedoor Manor.

Back in New Haven, for Elm Shakespeare Company’s (ESC) Bollywood-inspired manufacturing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, senior theatre main Kira Kelly carried out within the solid, and several other SCSU college have been on the design workforce: Professor Heidi Leigh Hanson was costume designer, and the costumes have been constructed within the SCSU costume store with the assistance of Professor Richard Harding. Professor Nathan Roberts was the sound designer and introduced in pupil Bob Tait to help the sound workforce through the run. Adjunct Professor Rebecca Goodheart, producing creative director of ESC, co-directed the play.

For A Broken Umbrella Theatre’s Family Business: (A)Pizza Play, carried out throughout New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Theatre Department Chair Michael Skinner was the sound designer and audio engineer, and theatre main Bob Tait held the A2 (Audio 2) place working with Skinner and the solid.  

Considering the Legacy of the Srebrenica Genocide

CSU professor David Pettigrew, chair of the Philosophy Department, continued his work round matters associated to the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina not too long ago marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, and several other of Pettigrew’s actions over the summer season concerned his participation in commemorations and memorials. In May, he introduced a keynote lecture at a convention in Stockholm, Sweden – “Ripples of Conflict-related Sexual Violence in 21st century Europe: Experiences from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Ukraine” – co-hosted by the European Commission Representation to Sweden and the Embassies of Bosnia and Kosovo.  

In June, he participated in a web based “Roundtable on the Escalating Tensions in BiH [Bosnia and Herzegovina],” hosted by the BiH Diasporic Conference, and he then traveled to Bosnia to attend the commemoration in Kalinovik of the thirty third anniversary of the struggling of Bosniak civilians from that space. Later that month, he participated in a digital program on the University of Antwerp Faculty of Arts: “Roundtable Srebrenica Genocide, 30 years after: legacies and challenges.”

In July, Pettigrew attended the Srebrenica commemoration on the United Nations in New York City, having been invited by Bosnia’s Ambassador to the U.N., Zlatko Lagumdžija. He additionally attended and introduced a lecture on the Srebrenica commemoration in St. Louis, Mo., which happened on the steps of the historic Soldiers Memorial Museum devoted in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Later in July, Pettigrew gave a digital presentation as a part of a Srebrenica commemoration in NSW Australia after which headed again to Bosnia to attend the August 6 commemoration within the former Omarska focus camp close to Prijedor.

Gaining Hands-on Experience in Plant Science

Biotechnology main Sarah Gray was one in every of two Southern college students chosen for the Plant Health Fellows program, a summer season analysis internship co-hosted by Southern and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES). The selective program — supported by the United States Department of Agriculture — gives college students with mentored lab expertise, a $5,000 stipend, on-campus housing, and profession improvement alternatives.

Since its institution at Southern in 2017, it has skilled 80 college students from 43 faculties in 21 states. Impressively, 19 pupil researchers hail from Southern. “Our alumni have gone on to careers at biotech startups, government agencies, universities, and more,” says Elizabeth Roberts, affiliate dean of STEM at Southern. She leads the undertaking alongside Lindsay Triplett, vice director and chief scientist for the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology on the CAES.

In 2025, Gray, together with biology main Erik Galvin, spent 9 weeks gaining hands-on expertise in plant science. Gray centered on defending crops — like soybeans — from dangerous UV rays utilizing carbon dots, tiny particles constituted of leaf waste. She labored within the CAES lab of scientist Washington da Silva and on the CSCU Center for Nanotechnology positioned at Southern to check how the particles take up and re-emit gentle.

More at SouthernCT.edu/plant-health-fellows

Fieldwork and Fossils

Associate Professor of Biology Jonathan Weinbaum led graduate college students Adé Ben-Salahuddin, ’25, and Danielle Hill, ’23, on a area expedition to the Chinle Formation in Arizona, a fossil-rich web site courting again to the Late Triassic Period greater than 200 million years in the past. The area’s distinctive geology reveals an historical panorama shifting from a moist, rainforest-type setting on the backside to a full-blown desert on the very high. “We have some dinosaur material, but the majority of fossils we find are early relatives of crocodiles,” says Weinbaum.

It was the second web site go to for Ben-Salahuddin, whose ardour for paleontology was ignited by childhood documentaries and honed by way of work as a curatorial assistant on the Yale Peabody Museum. “The most challenging part was finding too many fossils,” he says of the bountiful finds and delicate excavation work.

For Hill, who grew up in an setting the place evolution was a taboo topic, the fieldwork was transformative. Yes, the solar was relentless. But “when you unearth bones that haven’t seen that same sun in 213 million years, the discomfort goes away,” she says.

The journey additionally included collaboration with colleagues from The Texas Tech Museum and visits to iconic landmarks together with the Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, and the Grand Canyon. Weinbaum, who has led excavations to the quarry for greater than a decade, stresses the significance of each journey and hands-on analysis: “Being in the field is life changing.”

Introducing Local High School Students to the Nursing Field

For the fifth 12 months, Southern as soon as once more partnered with Yale New Haven Hospital to introduce space highschool college students to healthcare careers by way of the Summer Nursing Symposium. The two-week program, designed for rising sophomores and juniors, was decidedly hands-on. During the primary week, many actions have been based mostly in Southern’s state-of-the-art College of Health and Human Services building, which incorporates areas designed to simulate a real-world hospital ground in addition to an in-home care setting. Students studied healthcare matters starting from maternity to elder care, practiced lab abilities, realized CPR, explored digital actuality, and extra.

Next, the excessive schoolers shadowed healthcare employees at Yale New Haven Hospital. The excursions included the emergency affected person transport helicopter and touchdown pad, the trauma room ER, the maternity ward, and extra. The individuals even suited up, studying methods to prep for surgical procedure.

This initiative is very well timed, because the nation faces a essential nursing scarcity; the Health Resources and Services Administration has projected nationwide shortages by way of 2037.

The program additionally displays Southern’s ongoing dedication to excellence. The School of Nursing was as soon as once more acknowledged as a College of Distinction for the 2025–26 tutorial 12 months.

Southern Joins Global Leaders in Charting a Sustainable Future for Oceans

Southern Connecticut State University was represented on the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, the place international leaders, scientists, and practitioners gathered to advance sustainable ocean stewardship and local weather resilience. Dr. Miriah Kelly, assistant professor of environmental science, and Suzie Huminski, sustainability coordinator, led the college contingent of school and pupil researchers.

As a part of the delegation, Southern gained insights and connections that may form future analysis and tutorial engagement. A spotlight of the week was a go to aboard the OceanX vessel, co-led by Dr. Vincent Pieribone, professor of neuroscience at Southern. Participants noticed cutting-edge applied sciences used to watch ocean well being, underscoring the significance of scientific innovation in addressing pressing environmental challenges.

Conference classes additionally provided methods for adaptation, from designing cities within the face of sea stage rise to values-based coastal administration. These approaches emphasised resilience, group well-being, and environmental well being—rules intently aligned with Southern’s mission.

First TESOL Practicum Abroad in Colombia

Graduate college students Mark Tomasino and Julie Pelland turned the primary individuals in a faculty-led research overseas program in Pereira, Colombia, the place they accomplished their practicum for Southern’s TESOL master’s program.

Accompanied by Dr. Angela López-Velásquez, professor of inclusive education and behavior science, the scholars engaged in hands-on instructing and cultural trade, gaining invaluable skilled and private expertise. This pioneering alternative not solely strengthened their abilities as educators but additionally deepened Southern’s international connections in language studying and instruction.

Exploring Health and Longevity in Italy

Public health and psychology college students traveled with Public Health Professor Jean Breny to Rome and Sardinia, Italy, to check the “Blue Zones” — areas of the world the place individuals dwell considerably longer, more healthy lives. The group explored how the Mediterranean weight loss plan and Italian life-style, epitomized by “la dolce vita,” may encourage more healthy practices again dwelling.

In Rome, college students visited cultural landmarks whereas additionally attending a lecture on the Mediterranean weight loss plan’s well being and environmental impacts. In Sardinia, they immersed themselves in native traditions—swimming, climbing, making pasta, and even sharing contemporary ricotta with a shepherd after assembly his goats and sheep. The journey concluded with a day on the ocean, cooking and having fun with the catch alongside native fishermen.

Students returned with classes that reach past diet: group connection, each day motion, engagement with nature, and a powerful sense of function—all precious insights for selling public well being.

Designing Their Future

Rising highschool juniors and seniors taken with graphic design engaged in an immersive five-week graphic design course, 2025 Summer Studio, led by co-founder Melanie Uribe, director of Summer Studio, and assistant professor of art and design at Southern. Founded by Connecticut designer DJ Haddad in partnership with AIGA Connecticut, Summer Studio equips highschool college students with hands-on expertise in Adobe Creative Suite, weekly publicity to new design challenges, and entry to college-level instruction — all for gratis to individuals. Last 12 months, 2024, was the primary 12 months that Summer Studio was held on Southern’s campus.

Uribe spoke to this system’s influence: “Make sure you praise yourself,” she instructed college students on the closing showcase. “The Summer Studio was a place to gain skills and create a portfolio, but it was also a small universe where students could practice being designers.”

Anthropology Students Dig into History

Southern anthropology college students joined SCSU Anthropology Professor Kathleen Skoczen and Kevin Cootes, college member at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, for an excavation undertaking in northwest England, working at websites spanning the Roman by way of Medieval durations. Students fastidiously uncovered artifacts that make clear centuries of human historical past whereas honing archaeological abilities within the area.

Among the highlights was a lighthearted second when pupil Alyana Petroski unearthed what she jokingly described as a “rare 21st-century arrow”—playfully attributed to a band of invading anthropology college students. Aside from a startled hare that darted away, the dig was all achieve and no casualties.

Through this fieldwork, Southern college students contributed to a deeper understanding of cultural heritage whereas constructing precious skilled expertise.

National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions Collaboration

Southern college and college students are advancing analysis on the ecological impacts of aquaculture in Iceland, the place fish farming is quickly increasing. The undertaking, launched in 2022 by EGMS Professor Emma Cross and supported by EGMS Professor Patrick Heidkamp’s research overseas program, collects biodiversity and water high quality knowledge every summer season.

In summer season 2025, the work expanded by way of the Lindblad Expedition National Geographic Voyage, which invitations scientists to sail, gather samples, and interact with expedition visitors. Graduate college students Katie Wagner, ’24, and Olivia Vallejo, ’25, traveled with Cross to Iceland and joined her at sea, navigating logistical challenges and unpredictable climate whereas extending sampling throughout western and japanese fjords. Wagner and Vallejo led water-collection methods, whereas Cross demonstrated lab strategies for visitors. Along the way in which, they even linked with alumna Marylou Blakeslee, ’78, a naturalist, on board ship — proof that Southern’s attain extends far and extensive.

Graduate college students Katie Wagner and Olivia Vallejo joined EGMS Professor Emma Cross on the Lindblad Expedition National Geographic Voyage in Iceland, the place they linked on board ship with SCSU alumna Marylou Blakeslee, ’78, a naturalist.