Campus celebrates history and future in 60th year
With Duke Building complete, new field and lacrosse on the horizon
When the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford celebrates its 60th anniversary this academic year, the campus community will reflect on the university’s rich and colorful past, but it also will look forward to an exciting future.
“This year will be an exciting one,” said Rick Esch, Pitt-Bradford’s president. “Not only are we celebrating the 60th anniversary of our founding, but we have new facilities and new programs on campus that will help to enrich the experiences of our students this year and many years into the future.”
It’s no secret that many colleges and universities are struggling, including schools in Pennsylvania and neighboring New York state. High school graduating classes are smaller. More high school graduates are heading straight to work to take advantage of the strong job market instead of attending college. As a result, some institutions have closed, others have merged or cut programs.
Esch is well aware of the complicated and precarious landscape; however, he’s optimistic.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he said, “to strengthen our enrollments, enhance our students’ experiences here, and prepare them for graduation and successful and fulfilling lives, which will ensure the viability of our campus and our region.”
Doing all of that requires a rather long to-do list for faculty and staff. Part of that list includes tactics that are more behind-the-scenes: working with consultants to enhance recruiting and messaging, examining current spaces to determine how best to configure them, and pursuing grant opportunities to fund more projects.
Other new initiatives are more front and center, including enhancing new student orientation so incoming students are well-engaged and prepared, purchasing new equipment for labs and programs to provide new and enhanced research opportunities for faculty and students, and offering more academic support services to help students succeed.
One significant new project that came to fruition earlier this year was the opening and dedication of the George B. Duke Engineering and Information Technologies Building. The 40,000 square-foot building houses several majors, including mechanical engineering technology, energy engineering technology, and computer information systems and technology.
Since the building opened in January, students from those majors have been working on projects in all of the building’s unique spaces, from the machine shop to the virtual reality lab.
Additionally, within weeks of its opening, many students discovered the building, including the makerspace, was available for any student from any major and began spending time there. They used the laser engraver and 3D printers to create unique and interesting pieces and screened T-shirts and sewed outfits for special occasions.
“I’m in the building almost every day,” Esch said, “and I am so happy to see students using all of the spaces, including the study rooms, which are almost always full.”
The building, along with the new engineering technology programs, received broad support from business and industry leaders in the region who look forward to hiring graduates of the programs to fill vacancies and enhance their workforce.
“Having this new facility and these new programs is a win-win for our entire region,” Esch said. “When regional businesses and industries hire our well-prepared graduates it will bolster their workforce, and these talented young people will begin exciting new careers and stay in our region, which will benefit all of us.”
Down along Campus Drive at the Kessel Athletic Complex, work has begun on a new turf field, which is expected to be completed later this fall.
The new field will give student-athletes the kind of playing field they need and will help coaches and admissions counselors recruit more student-athletes, many of whom in the past enrolled at other schools to play on better facilities.
“Without an artificial field, the weather often made the grass field unusable, which forced practices inside and delayed games,” said Bret Butler, director of athletics. “Our athletes and our coaches deserve better.”
“This new field will be a game-changer,” Butler said. “Our student-athletes can’t wait to play on it.”
In addition to providing a better and safer surface for soccer players, having a new turf field will enable the university to expand its sports offering, which includes adding lacrosse.
Last month, Pitt-Bradford hired its first men’s lacrosse coach, Scott Gwyn, who had served as head lacrosse coach at Concordia University Chicago for two seasons. While at Concordia, he coached one player to All-Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference honors and helped his team increase its overall average GPA.
Pitt-Bradford’s men’s lacrosse team will function as a club sport for the 2023-24 academic year then will begin intercollegiate varsity competition the following year. A women’s team will follow, first as a club sport in 2024-25 then as a competing varsity team in 2025-26.
While having new facilities and programs is important, Esch is the first one to acknowledge that having a community of dedicated faculty and staff is essential to the viability of the campus.
“We have been very fortunate to hire – and retain – excellent faculty and staff members who are committed to helping our student flourish,” Esch said.
Two recent hires will fill vice president positions and serve on the President’s Cabinet.
Dr. Jeffrey Johnson assumed his role as vice president and dean of academic affairs on July 1. Previously, Johnson was the dean of the Insalaco College of Arts and Sciences at Marywood University, a private Catholic University in Scranton.
Judith Bodamer has accepted the position of vice president for business affairs, which had been vacant since Esch, who had served in that role for nearly 20 years, assumed the presidency. Bodamer had served as the director of finance for the Bradford Area School District and will begin her new role at Pitt-Bradford in October. And, like Esch, she is a Pitt-Bradford graduate.
“With our hard-working faculty and staff, our new facilities, and our new and enhanced programs, it’s going to be a great year, Esch said. “I invite all of our friends in the community to visit campus as often as they can, and I hope to see them at our upcoming 60th anniversary and arts events.”