Youngstown State University

Youngstown State University awarded graduate and undergraduate degrees and certificates to more than 1,500 students for at commencement earlier this spring.

Youngstown State University's student media dominated the Society for Collegiate Journalist's annual student media awards competition. The Jambar, YSU's student newspaper, placed first in Newspaper Overall Excellence, the second prominent recognition for The Jambar this year. In February, The Jambar was named top student newspaper in Ohio by the Ohio News Media Association. Also taking home SCJ awards were YO Magazine, second place for overall excellence in the Magazine General Interest category, and Rookery Radio, third place for overall excellence in Internet Radio. Several students also won individual awards.

Youngstown State University placed third out of more than 40 teams at the 2019 National Student Steel Bridge Competition. The YSU team consisted of Spencer DeSalvo, Matthew Hone, Kenneth Anderson, Drew House, Thomas Carnes, Mohammed Khan and Luis Vindel. YSU qualified for the national competition by winning the Ohio Valley regional contest in April. The national competition was at Southern Illinois University. The contest, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction, requires teams to develop and build a scale-model steel bridge. Teams must determine how to fabricate their bridge and then plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction at the competition. Bridges are then load tested and weighed.

Victoria M. Woods, a Nursing major from Warren, has been named a student member of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees. Woods, who graduated from Warren G. Harding High School in 2017, was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine and will serve a two-year term.

Youngstown State University students are working at an array of nonprofits through a summer internship program designed to provide students with career-related work experience in a nonprofit or public sector organization. The program, offered through the YSU Center for Nonprofit Leadership and funded by the Raymond Wean Foundation, runs from May 20 to Aug. 9.

Fourteen Youngstown State University students traveled to Italy earlier this spring as part of the Williamson College of Business Administration's Global Learning Experience program. GLE introduces students to Italian entrepreneurs and international businesses and explores the resources available to startups in the global marketplace. Students attended meetings with executives of Italian companies, visited international businesses and government development agencies in Rome and Florence, and embarked on several other education sessions, including a local market immersion experience. Tours of well-known landmarks in and around Florence and Rome were also part of the credit-bearing trip that counts as an upper division elective course.

Students in the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Youngstown State University participated in an immersive consulting project with the Akron Symphony Orchestra earlier this spring.

The YSU Honors College has recognized more than two-dozen student leaders who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of leadership and engagement or volunteerism.

Five students receiving Master of Accountancy degrees at Youngstown State University's Spring Commencement earlier this month are the recipients of SAP Appreciation Awards. Students are being recognized for satisfactory completion of a program of study by the SAP product portfolio, as offered by YSU. SAP, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, is the market leader in enterprise application software and serves 437,000 customers in 180 countries, including 92 percent of Forbes Global 2000 companies and 98 of the world's 100 most valued brands.

A team of three Youngstown State University students have won a Meritorious award in the international Mathematical Contest in Modeling, placing the students in the top 8 percent of more than 25,000 participating teams worldwide. Three other YSU teams received Honorable Mention honors.

YSU student Elise Eckman has been awarded a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation that will finance PhD studies in Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University starting this fall.

Youngstown State University's American Society of Civil Engineers Student Chapter claimed several top honors during the recent Ohio Valley Student Conference, including first place finishes in the Steel Bridge, Geotechnical and Concrete Frisbee competitions.

Three YSU organizations have been recognized as part of the annual student awards program. The Orion Award was presented to an outstanding student organization, the American Society of Civil Engineers. Luis Vindel is president. The Constellation Award was presented to an outstanding university-wide program, the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers' 2019 IISE Great Lakes Regional Conference. Jonathan Bennett is president. The Nova Award was presented to the most promising new campus organization, Students for Sight. Saidah Yusuf is president.

Five YSU students have been awarded the YSU Pin Award, recognizing graduating seniors who have achieved academic success and demonstrated outstanding leadership, motivation and creativity in university and community activities. This year's recipients include Diana Bodrogi-Podoaba, Tyler Carver, Ashley Labatte, Lexi Rager and Jenna Roesch.

YSU students were recognized for serving as Presidential Mentors, a programs that allows students to connect with university leadership and share insight regarding the student experience at YSU. The mentors meet monthly with President Jim Tressel throughout the academic year.

YSU students were recognized for completing the Emerging Leaders Program, which is designed to strengthen student leadership, knowledge and skills. Students completing the program receive a special leadership designation on their transcripts.

YSU students were honored with a variety of individual awards and scholarships at the annual Student Awards Banquet.

Youngstown State University undergraduate students Jared Vanasdale and John Berndt received the Best Seminar Presentation Award at the 10th annual Midwest Graduate Research Symposium. Berndt and Vanasdale placed first among more than 120 presentations from students, mostly master's and PhD graduate students, at universities across the Midwest.

YSU Journalism students will share their culminating projects at the senior project showcase 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, in the atrium of Bliss Hall on campus. Projects explore a wide range of local and state issues.

YSU students recently participated in an international case competition in Savannah, Ga. The NASBITE International Student Competition brought the best business students together to develop a global expansion strategy for AdEdge Water Technologies. YSU's team developed an international expansion plan for the company in the Australian market.

Ten YSU students have been chosen to serve as student marshals during for Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 11. The Honorary Student Marshal program recognizes graduates who have worked with excellence and distinction throughout their college years.

Artwork from graduating students in Youngstown State University's Department of Art is featured at two exhibits opening this month at the McDonough Museum of Art on campus. The Spring Graduating BFA Exhibit and the MFA Thesis Exhibit run April 26 through May 11, with a public opening reception 5 to 7 p.m. April 26 at the museum.

The YSU chaper of Phi Kappa Phi inducted more than 80 students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members at the annual spring initiation ceremony.

Anna Henkels, senior Advertising and Public Relations major at Youngstown State University, won the Best Presenter Award, and the YSU Ads Club came in third overall at the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition.

Fifteen YSU students were recently inducted into the Order of Omega, the Greek National Honorary Society. Membership is open to juniors and seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or better.

Eleven YSU students recently recognized with Greek Awards during the annual Greek Sing event. The program recognizes outstanding chapters and individuals in the Greek community. Awards celebrate chapter growth, membership development, building bonds of brotherhood/sisterhood and chapter adherence to mission.

Jonathan Creed and Jared Latone of the Youngstown State University Bass Fishing Club earned a berth in the 2020 intercollegiate national bass fishing championship after placing sixth in the FLW Yeti College Open at Kentucky Lake.

A dozen YSU students in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics studied abroad in Ambergris Caye, Belize, as part of a new course called Ecosystems Field Ecology.

The world premiere of an orchestral piece composed by YSU students in the Dana School of Music will be featured at a Gala Concert Wednesday, April 24, in celebration of the school's 150th anniversary.

Several YSU students have created their own musical arrangements as part of a series of spring concerts presented by the Dana School of Music Jazz Studies.