YSU dedicates Fok Hall, recognizes Honors College graduates

Fok Hall, an historic house on the Youngstown State University campus and home to the university’s burgeoning Honors College, was formally dedicated Friday, May 4.

The two-story building at the corner of Wick Avenue and University Plaza, built in 1865 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is named after the late Thomas D.Y. and Maria M.L. Fok, who donated $2.5 million to the university. Thomas was a faculty member and a trustee for both YSU and the YSU Foundation, while Maria was a family physician.

“We are honored to have the Fok name permanently memorialized on the YSU campus,” President Jim Tressel said at the dedication ceremony.

Amy Cossentino, director of the Honors College, added, “We try to instill in our students the importance of giving back to the people and places that helped them along their life journey. There is no better example of that here at YSU than the Fok family. We are thrilled that students will see the Fok name every time they walk by the building.”

Originally the Myron Israel Arms home, the house was purchased by First Christian Church in 1959 and used as its Disciple House. In 1976, the structure was purchased by YSU and renamed Alumni House in 1983. The YSU Honors College took up residence in 2015. The YSU honors program now includes 1,008 students, up from 357 in 2010. In 2013, 79 freshmen were enrolled in the program; this year, there were 333. In that same period, the average ACT test score for all incoming freshmen jumped from 20.5 to 21.8.

For more information on the Honors College, visit www.ysu.edu/honors.

After today’s dedication ceremony, the Honors College hosted an event in Bliss Hall across Fifth Avenue to present Honors Medallions to 49 Honors College students who are graduating at spring commencement Saturday in Beeghly Center on campus.

Among the Honors College graduates are:

• Vincent Gray, who will pursue graduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia under the UVA Engineering Distinguished Fellowship and the UVA Engineering Dean's Scholar Fellowship.
• Natalie Halavick, who will pursue graduate studies in Mathematics at Purdue University under the Clare Boothe Luce Fellowship.
• Allan Metz, who will pursue a medical degree at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
• Anthony Peterson, who has accepted a position as staff accountant at Novogradac & Co. in Dover, Ohio.
• Daniel Price, who has accepted a position as project engineer with R.G. Steel Corp., Pulaski, Pa.
• Victoria Silvis, who has received a full scholarship to attend the Penn State College of Medicine (Hershey) Biomedical Science PhD program.
• Tayah Turocy, who will pursue a PhD in Chemical Biology at Yale University.
• Zack While, who will pursue graduate studies in Computer Science with a full graduate assistantship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

YSU Spring Commencement is Saturday, May 5, 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., in Beeghly Center.