This afternoon, Associate Director of Student Development & Commuter and Volunteer Affairs Shane Franzen welcomed attendees to the Dedication and Ribbon Cutting of the Falcon Community Outreach Center (formally known as the Volunteer Center) on the G-level of the Hammond Building. The Center houses the Falcon Bazaar Food and Necessities Pantry and Professional Clothing Closet. Laura A. Bayless, Vice President of Student Affairs enlightened people with some eye-opening statistics about student need at large and specifically to Fitchburg State University. President Lapidus did the honors and then toured the facility. 

The 4th Annual Go Falcons Challenge began yesterday with President Lapidus' kick-off gift to each Falcon Athletics team. With Freddy spreading the word, in the last 48 hours, 80+ student athletes contacted more than 1,500 former Falcon athletes, family, and friends to raise over $17,000 to support their respective athletic teams. 

The Biology, Chemistry, and Earth & Geographic Sciences departments held their annual science symposium this afternoon at the Lisciotti pavilion in the Antonucci Science Building. This is an event where the science faculty present posters on their research to get students interested and involved in the sciences.

Good luck to Engineering Technology Professor Hong Yu and his students who will be competing this evening at MIT IEEE Undergraduate Research Technology Conference's Micromouse Competition. Yesterday afternoon they got together in Conlon to finalize their plans.

Artist Nayda A. Cuevas discussed her solo exhibition “Status Quo: Deconstructing My Latinx Identity” at the Fitchburg State University Gallery this afternoon. The Artist shared deeply personal stories, discussed various media used to create her pieces, and took questions from students and faculty in attendance regarding this show that explores her Latinx identity. The exhibit, presented by CenterStage, will be in the gallery until October, 20, 2022. Read more about the Artist and the show here.

The 21 members of the5th Fitchburg State University Police Program's Recruit Officer Course (ROC) at Fitchburg State were sworn in as police officers on Friday before an audience of family, friends, elected leaders and public safety professionals. Most of the graduates of our groundbreaking program have already been hired by police departments across the state. As the executive director of the Municipal Police Training Committee told the assembled graduates, they are poised to be future leaders in their profession. Good luck!

Watch the ceremony here.

Lisa Lane McCarty, Director of the Fitchburg State University Police Program, program staff, and the 5th Fitchburg State University Police Program's Recruit Officer Course (ROC) held a walk-through for tomorrow morning's Police Program Graduation: 5th ROC. Expected at the ceremony are President Lapidus, local dignitaries, members of police departments from across Massachusetts, as well as proud family members.

At the culmination of today's Faculty and Librarian Research Symposium, the Celebration for Faculty and Librarian Excellence was held in the Falcon Hub. As the faculty wrapped up their sessions, Emeriti Faculty were welcomed to reconnect prior to the event. 

Today, President Lapidus is hosting a Welcome Back & Professional Development Day for Fitchburg State University faculty. The day began with colleagues gathering outside the Antonucci Science Complex, where they had the opportunity to reconnect after the summer, and before the start of the fall semester tomorrow.

It's all hands on deck today for the Fitchburg State University Great Move In 2022! This morning our athletic teams, staff, University Police, students, and more were spread out between Check-In at the Wallace Civic Center, and the dormitories on the main campus. This, all in the effort of making our newest Falcons move in process as smooth as possible. Find out Move-In information here.