Alum Brings New Dining Option to Campus
Troy Bingham ’92 brought another dining option to students on the Erie campus. LUMI Café opened in the Center for Business Ingenuity this fall, offering “better for you” food and beverage menu items. Bingham originally founded and launched LUMI™ in Australia – his home country – and is bringing his business to the U.S. market with Gannon University as its launching point through the support of Gannon’s Small Business Development Center.
LUMI Café offers “better for you” menu items in the Center for Business Ingenuity.
Gannon Celebrates Record Enrollment
Gannon University celebrated a record enrollment of 4,705 total students from almost every state and 71 countries and territories across the globe, thanks to heightened recruitment efforts that saw significant success. This includes 782 global students, representing significant strides in becoming a thriving globally diverse and inclusive university.
Gannon Launches Orlando Biomedical Ethics Lecture Series
Gannon University launched its inaugural Orlando Biomedical Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching Lecture Series with its first event, “COVID-19 Vaccines: Individual Freedom and the Common Good,” presented by Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P, Ph.D., S.Th.D., professor of biology and theology at Providence College. The bi-annual lecture series in Erie and Ruskin empowers people with the knowledge and skills they need to respond to the rapidly changing contours of the biomedical sciences. It is supported by the Orlando Biomedical Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching Endowment created by Richard G. Orlando, M.D., F.A.C.S., ’74 and his wife, Cynthia.
Gannon President Keith Taylor, Ph.D.; Cynthia Orlando; and Richard Orlando, M.D., F.A.C.S., ’74.
Fall 2021 Commencement Speaker Announced
Mike Nunes ’01, senior vice president of current programming at NBC Universal Television and Streaming
Mike Nunes ’01, senior vice president of current programming at NBC Universal Television and Streaming, will be the keynote speaker at Gannon’s Commencement Ceremony on Dec. 12. Nunes is a 17-year veteran of NBC, where he has worked on some of the network’s biggest hits including This is Us, The Good Place, Superstore, New Amsterdam, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In 2017, Variety Magazine named Nunes to its annual list of new leaders, featuring him among the profiles of “the most prominent up-and-comers in the entertainment business.”
Nunes, an Erie native, graduated from Strong Vincent High School in 1997. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communication arts from Gannon University in 2001 and a master’s degree in television, radio and film from Syracuse University. Gannon will award Nunes with the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Ruskin Academic Building Renovations Continue
Work has begun on the Ruskin Academic Building’s third floor. This space will house new classrooms, laboratories and a simulation center for clinical skill development. A Gannon Learning Commons will have a study space, individual study rooms and a green screen studio. The floor will also feature dedicated interfaith and meditation spaces, a café, lecture hall and gathering space connected to an outdoor patio overlooking the mobility garden. Construction is expected to be completed in Fall 2022. Gannon formally opened the 83,000-square-foot academic building in August 2019 to support growth in programs and student enrollment.
Mary and Joseph Statues Arrive in Chapel
New statues of Mary and Joseph hang prominently in the newly renovated Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel's sanctuary.
The newly renovated Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel saw a recent addition of the statues of Mary, Seat of Wisdom and St. Joseph the Worker, which arrived this fall. The figures are made of Linden wood from Yugoslavia and hand-carved and painted in a small village in Orisei, Italy. They now hang at the front of the sanctuary to represent their relationship to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Gannon Reimagines the Liberal Studies Core
Gannon University revised its Liberal Studies Core to enhance students’ academic learning outcomes to better prepare them to meet the demands of 21st-century life, career and citizenship. The Liberal Studies Core builds on the university’s mission and Catholic identity, fusing foundational, integrative and vocational elements to engage students with traditional aspects of liberal education while connecting those learning experiences to particular fields of study. It will be introduced for first-year students starting Fall 2022.