Fitchburg State has long embraced the importance of supporting the city beyond the borders of campus, and this summer that included some fresh paint and a lot of artistic expression.

Several Falcons played key roles in the design and creation of a series of major public art murals that were unveiled this summer. The Community Mural Institute led the effort, which supported 12 artists in the design and creation of pieces on large public facades in the heart of the city.

A new transfer agreement between Fitchburg State University and Mount Wachusett Community College will help streamline the transfer process for students pursuing degrees in middle school or secondary education.

Under terms of the agreement, qualifying students enrolled in MWCC’s associate programs in biology, chemistry, or liberal arts and sciences will be able to take three key education courses at Fitchburg State at the community college rates. They will then be able to transfer to Fitchburg State as juniors to complete their undergraduate degrees in middle or secondary education.

“We are pleased to work with our partners at Fitchburg State to offer our students a new educational pathway,” Mount Wachusett Community College President James Vander Hooven said. “There’s an incredible willingness between Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State to bridge these divides. Our graduates stay local. Having that next opportunity to complete their bachelor’s degrees and go to work in our region is very important.”

Rebecca Hess '22 is putting her customer service and political science skills to work.

"My political science simulations taught me communications and management skills. Even if I don’t agree with you, I can understand your position so we can try to meet in the middle."

As a newly-minted university graduate, Rebecca Hess ‘22 has already made a career out of constituent service.

The Leominster native enrolled at Fitchburg State University four years ago because she wanted to stay local while pursuing a college degree in political science, and planned to keep working part-time.

“As soon as I turned 16, I had a job,” said Hess, who counts Chuck E. Cheese and Barnes & Noble among her prior posts. 

Those jobs weren’t glamorous, but Hess learned a lot about customer service from the daily interactions with patrons. “I had years of interacting with so many different types of people,” she said. “What I’ve learned is you can’t be taught those skills without having that experience in customer service.”

Fitchburg State students are seeing the world this summer, taking part in faculty-led programs to other continents while earning university credits.

Among the courses and destinations this su

mmer are peace studies in Ireland, communications in Greece, and culture and history courses in Verona, Italy. 

A newly expanded partnership between Fitchburg State University and the Fitchburg Public Schools is designed to increase the number of teacher candidates who are representative of the local community demographics, with a mixture of scholarship and experiential support and guaranteed jobs with the school district following completion of their college degrees.

Fitchburg State President Richard S. Lapidus and Fitchburg Public Schools Superintendent Robert M. Jokela signed the new memorandum of agreement for the pathway program on Thursday, May 5.

“Since our founding in 1894, Fitchburg State has been supporting our communities by preparing highly qualified educators for schools in Massachusetts and beyond,” President Lapidus said. “This partnership builds on that history, supporting the evolving needs of our communities while creating singular opportunities for Fitchburg State students.”

Fitchburg State nursing student Kayla Hall was driving home from the mall with her sister in Quincy last Wednesday when she noticed something strange: a car stopped in traffic at a rotary. She asked her sister to drive around the stopped car so she could see the driver. “We saw a man looking straight ahead, like in a trance,” she said.

Eighteen Fitchburg State students joined faculty members Jon Amakawa and Jeff Warmouth for spring break in Japan, visiting landmarks in Japanese art and game design. The nine-day trip was part of a course on games and arts in Japan, offered through the game design program.

“The trip came together better than I could have imagined,” Amakawa said. “Although short—just nine days—it combined a diverse survey of both contemporary media in Japan in the form of games, manga and anime and traditional arts and culture in Japan.”

With Mars in the news this week after researchers described evidence of liquid water on the Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor, we look at some Martian research taking place on our own campus.

Kayla Kress spent her summer vacation on Mars. The budding interplanetary scientist, a junior majoring in Earth Systems Science, worked under the guidance of Assistant Professor Reid Parsons on his NASA-funded geospatial technology project analyzing topography data and satellite images of the red planet.

Where did you complete your academic studies?

I completed my undergraduate bachelor of science in mathematics (with minors in dance and computer programming) at Springfield College in 2006. I completed my graduate degrees (both Master of Science and PhD) in mathematics at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.

What are your research interests?