On campus

PSU Altoona fall performance series calls for local artists

Penn State Altoona will host a performing arts series this fall featuring community artists.

The cabaret-style events will take place at 5 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 16 and 30, in the Titelman Study of the Misciagna Center for Performing Arts. Apple cider and cookies will be served.

Regional artists over the age of 18 interested in participating may apply online.

Vocalists and instrumentalists are asked to prepare about 20 minutes of repertoire. They will need to have their own accompaniment, accompanist or instrument, aside from a piano which will be provided. All genres are welcome.

Playwrights must submit an excerpt of their script between five and 10 pages for review and may read for 30 minutes or less at their performance. Readers and actors are not provided.

The events are free and open to the public through the support of the Kjell Meling Arts for All Initiative.

For more information, call 814-949-5452.

PSU Altoona’s Ivyside Dance Ensemble sets fall performance

Ivyside Dance Ensemble, Penn State Altoona’s student dance company, along with Allied Motion Dance Company, comprised of adult dancers from the area, will offer a fall performance at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-14 in the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts.

Performances feature pieces by KT Huckabee, performing arts coordinator, teaching professor, and director of both dance companies, along with guest choreographers Ruth Packard and Ana Rossi-Lanzendorfer. Choreography includes themes of whimsy, the influence

of AI and a dinner party with historical

women of influence.

Performances are free and open to the public thanks to the Kjell Meling Arts for All Initiative. For further information, call the box office at 814-949-5452 or visit www.altoona.psu.edu.

IUP graduate gifts $50K to college of osteopathic medicine

INDIANA, Pa. – John Ninosky, a 1993 criminology graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania from Harrisburg, has gifted $50,000 to IUP for its proposed college of osteopathic medicine in honor of his late wife, Tammy Beale Ninosky, a 1993 IUP child development and family relations graduate.

The donation will establish the Tammy Beale Ninosky Memorial Scholarship, designed to provide scholarship support to future IUP students pursuing a degree offered by the IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine, with preference given to students who have experienced the loss of a parent.

Tammy Ninosky was a native of rural Huntingdon County and raised by a single mother after her father unexpectedly died when Tammy was 5 years old.

A first-generation college student, she completed an internship at the Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital to become a Certified Child Life Specialist; Child Life Specialists are healthcare professionals who provide support to children and families to process the stress associated with injury or illness.

Tammy Ninosky spent the majority of her professional life as a Certified Child Life Specialist working within the Emergency Department of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey. She passed away in 2021.

“Tammy was well respected by her colleagues who marveled at how well she was able to connect with and provide needed support to patients, and their families who were receiving treatment in the Emergency Department,” John Ninosky said.

“I believe that the IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine will be transformative for IUP as an institution by elevating its academic status by being the only public school of osteopathic medicine in the commonwealth,” he said.

“I also believe that the proposed college of osteopathic medicine will produce doctors who will provide medical care to individuals who live in Pennsylvania’s rural areas which are so medically underserved. One of the reasons that my wife received such excellent medical care during her illness was because we lived in an area of the state with relatively easy access to medical facilities and specialists. Hopefully, the IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine will produce excellent physicians to increase medical care to rural Pennsylvanians so that we all will have access to quality medical care regardless of one’s zip code,” he said.

Ninosky, originally from Irvona, has been active with IUP as a past president and current ex officio member of the IUP Alumni Association. He is an attorney.

“In addition to being an outstanding Child Life Specialist, Tammy was also a very devoted mother to our two children, Kristen and Johnny, for whom we have had so much pride. One of Tammy’s proudest moments was when Kristen entered IUP as a graduate student to be the next member of our family to obtain a degree from IUP.”

In December 2022, IUP’s Council of Trustees endorsed the exploration of a possible development of a college of osteopathic medicine at IUP. With Ninosky’s gift, IUP has secured more than $34.3 million in private and government funding for the initiative.

In addition to Ninosky’s gift, funding advancing the proposed college of osteopathic medicine includes a $50,000 gift from IUP graduate Thomas Smith, of Hollidaysburg (June).