Party Honors UPB's 'Brand Champions'

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on Wednesday celebrated faculty and staff who “go beyond” and chose winners among the student body who submitted homemade Pitt-Bradford videos.

At the 4th annual Go Beyond Brand Party, the Athletic Training and Sports Medicine programs, under the direction of Jason Honeck and Mark Kelley, and the Admissions Office, directed by Alexander Nazemetz, were honored as this year’s Brand Champions.

Selected by Dr. Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford’s president, the Brand Champions are those people who best outwardly live the university’s brand promise, which includes providing a safe, friendly and personalized campus environment.

The athletic training and sports medicine programs were recognized for several reasons: The athletic training program received five-year accreditation during its first accreditation visit, which is usually unheard of for brand new programs; athletic training graduates get very high passing rates on the boards and very high retention and graduation rates; Mark Kelley volunteered to take over the directorship of the Freshman Seminar program; and Kristin Asinger, visiting instructor of sports medicine, created the Pitt Improvers, who have performed several shows in the area and have donated the proceeds to many local charities; explained Pat Frantz Cercone, director of communications and marketing.

In addition to Honeck, assistant professor of athletic training, and Kelley, instructor of sports medicine, those honored were Angela Honeck, head athletic trainer; John Eaton , assistant athletic trainer; and Asinger.

The Admissions office was recognized for recruiting the largest freshman class in Pitt-Bradford’s history with 418 freshmen in Fall 2009, which is an 11 percent increase over last year; helped the university reach its longstanding goal of 1,500 full-time equivalent students; and have enhanced its recruiting methods to target areas where counselors know they’ll have success.

In addition to Nazemetz, members of the Admissions staff are Bret Butler, head men’s baseball coach and admissions representative; Stacey M. Colosimo, administrative assistant; Bob Dilks Jr., director of transfer and nontraditional student recruitment; Tad Haight, assistant director of admissions; Shawn Manning, admissions counselor; Cindy Nowacki, transfer and nontraditional student counselor; Vicky Pingie, associate director of admissions; and Gerry Vogt, coordinator of off-campus programs.

Also during the brand celebration, the campus community viewed and voted on the videos the students created, which highlighted the sweet life at Pitt-Bradford. This was the third year of the video contest, which is sponsored by the Department of Communications and Marketing.

The first-place winner was Chris Hooks, a health and physical education major from Elmira, N.Y., whose video, “Motivation of My Friends,” won him a 32 gigabyte iTouch.

The second-place winner was Immanuel Diamant, a biology and psychology major from New Hope, who won a $200 visa gift card for his video, “I Taste the Sweet Life.”

Finally, the third-place winner was Alicia Kubecki, a psychology major from Irvine, who earned a $150 Amazon gift card for her entry, “My Muvee – Outdoor Club.”

To view all nine of the entries, go to Pitt-Bradford’s YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/uPittBradford.