President Lewis E. Thayne, on behalf of Lebanon Valley College, signed a dual-admissions agreement with Reading Area Community College (RACC), which was represented by its president, Dr. Susan D. Looney. The partnership will make it more seamless for RACC students to pursue specific majors at LVC, including actuarial science, music business, and the accelerated accounting/MBA program. This is the second dual-admission agreement LVC has made with a community college, having been partners with Harrisburg Area Community College for many years.

Dr. Laura Eldred, assistant dean and director of Constellation LVC, was interviewed for “The nitty-gritty of college student success.” Referencing an LVC research project regarding how concussions affect student-athletes, Eldred saw potential toward helping all students, noting “Should we teach grit as a way for students to better achieve their goals?”

Comics Unstripped, the current exhibition in the Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, was featured in stories by the Carlisle Sentinel and PennLive. This exploration of comic art and its impact on society incorporated research from a course on comic art taught by Professor Michael Pittari, professor of art & visual culture, in spring 2018.

Thomas Yantis ’22, business administration, and his eSports teammates were featured in a piece by WMPT Fox 43 reporter Jack Eble. LVC’s team, the first varsity intercollegiate team in Pennsylvania, competed against Penn State and Ohio State at a tournament in Harrisburg. Yantis, from Harrisburg, is a member of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania eSports Coalition, a non-profit that advocates for the eSports industry.

Matthew Randall, associate dean, Edward and Lynn Breen Center for Graduate Success, published “A Lost Art: How to make small talk even if it scares you” on the career guidance site Quartz at Work. Among his starting principles were to Be Curious, Scan for Nonverbal Cues, and Conduct Research.

Dr. Thomas Dompier, associate professor of athletic training, had a second op-ed published in USA Today this year. USA Today published “I’m donating my brain to science for the sake of football and facts. Really,” August 27. In the piece, Dr. Dompier noted that with football season now underway, “Let’s not exaggerate the risk of brain damage from sports. Instead let’s study more brains, including mine.”

President Lewis E. Thayne was elected to the Board of Trustees of Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School, his high school alma mater, for the 2018–2019 academic year.

The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra once again held a free community concert on LVC’s Academic Quad, this time on July 2. Tony-winning Maestro, Stuart Malina, a former Lazin Distinguished Resident, led the orchestra as it performed for an appreciative audience.

Career guidance site Zippia identified LVC as #1 among all U.S. colleges and universities in its listing of “The Best Colleges in Each State for Getting a Job 2018.” The placement rate for the College was 96.185%. Zippia used the College Scorecard Data to search “for the college in each state with the highest listed job placement ratings, looking specifically at employment levels at year 10 after students have graduated.” The listing was picked up by national and international media outlets and WGAL TV (NBC) did a feature story that garnered more than 75,000 views.

Dr. Lou Manza, chair and professor of psychology, was quoted in a Lebanon Daily News story regarding an unsolved murder from half-a-century ago. He was interviewed Daniel Walmer ’10 and discussed how the moral attitudes of the time could have affected the investigation.