Larger. Higher test scores. More diverse. Those are the buzzwords around this year’s freshman class at YSU. Preliminary numbers show a 17 percent increase in freshmen on campus this fall compared to last year, from 1,821 to 2,125. Their average ACT scores (21.15) and high school GPAs (3.14) are the highest in the university’s history. They come from 423 high school (303 last year) and 53 Ohio counties (37 last year). Nearly 350 are from out of state (up 62 percent) and nearly 500 are multicultural students (up 47 percent).

YSUpdate welcomes the following faculty who are new to YSU this year:

Kathleen Aspiranti Assistant Professor Counseling, Special Education, School Psychology

Cara A. Carramusa Instructor Physical Therapy

Carrie R. Jackson Assistant Professor Counseling, Special Education. School Psychology

James Juergensen Assistant Professor Psychology

Lisbeth K. Justice Assistant Professor Psychology

When Ed Villone started working as a security guard for Strouss department store in Boardman in 1979, he didn’t know it would be just the beginning of a successful career in criminal justice. Villone is now commander and coordinator of the YSU Police Academy in Cushwa Hall. In 1980 he joined the Struthers Police Department as a reserve police officer and civilian police dispatcher. Later, he served as a patrol officer for the Poland Township Police Department, and then returned to Struthers, where he retired as a police captain in 2006.

YSU is the focal point of a new state program that brings together the young and the not so young. Chancellor John Carey of the Ohio Department of Higher Education and Director Bonnie K. Burman of the Ohio Department of Aging were on campus this summer to announce the start of GIVE back, GO forward, a program where area residents age 60 and older can earn free college tuition by volunteering in their communities.

The first entering class of the newly established Honors College at YSU was formally welcomed by current Honors students and alumni at a “Passing of the Torch” ceremony and picnic on Monday, Aug. 17, at the Pollock House. The new freshman class, otherwise known as the Honors College XXIII, received the torch from the previous class of Scholars and Honors students. Students started at Cafaro House and processed carrying the new honors college banner, and their academic college flags, to the Pollock House for the ceremony.

Kerry Meyers, director of YSU's first-year engineering program, brought together incoming freshmen engineering students during IGNITE for a unique project - create letters to spell out the word "ENGINEERING" using recycled newspapers and cardboard. Each team of students was assigned a letter - "E" "N" "G", etc.