Features

Reflections from beloved professor Maureen C. Stefanini Dr. Stefanini was hired at Worcester State by Helen Shaughnessy in 1967 to train student teachers. She reinvented her career in the 1980s after serving as one of the first female Sloan Fellows at MIT and went on to teach accounting, entrepreneurship, and business leadership for women. At […]

With their parents’ unwavering commitment to education, the Karanja brothers are stacking up college degrees as a first-gen family. Photos by Matt Wright ’10 A chorus of cheers erupted from around the DCU Center as Ryan Karanja’s name was called during Commencement 2024. His fan club—parents Phil and Phylis, three brothers, and various relatives and […]

Since 1874, Worcester State has provided an economic stepping stone for those who are first in their families to attend college. The idea of “first-generation” or “first-gen” college students is a modern construct of higher education—but Worcester State’s history of inclusion and opportunity is a long and storied one that goes back to its founding. […]

For generations, alumni have built, strengthened, and led the Greater Worcester community. Working with addicted youth, Cheryl Donahue ’22 goes home every day knowing she is making a difference in the lives of struggling teenagers. The young people she works with at Motivating Youth Recovery often face enormous obstacles, yet, no matter what, Donahue believes […]

The American Library Association documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship in 2023. When Enlish Professor MaryLynn Saul sees this list of novels, memoirs, fiction and nonfiction, she can’t help but wonder: What’s in this book that people don’t want others to know? That’s one of the questions Saul is asking the students in […]

Like much of Southeast Asia, Nepal is plagued by some of the globe’s worst air pollution, and it is causing serious health problems, from respiratory and cardiovascular damage to reproductive and gastrointestinal malfunctioning. Worcester State physicist and air pollution expert Dr. Nabin Malakar, who was born in Nepal, has been tracking air pollution in Southeast […]

When Patrick Sweeney ’20, M.S. ’21 was an undergraduate at Worcester State, he had an internship at an accounting firm where he was given menial tasks no one else wanted to do. “When I got out of school and started working, I realized, ‘This is nothing like school,’” he says. Today he is the supervisor […]

Worcester State students can now reach for the stars thanks to a recent long-term loan of modern and antique telescopes that promise to offer a stellar opportunity for learning and research. The collection was amassed by the late Charles Blumsack, a lawyer and avid amateur astronomer, and includes 18 telescopes, most of them antiques, as […]

As Chief Operating Officer of United Fray, Brittany Rheault ’07 has made a career of bringing fun into other people’s lives. Through inclusive social sports and virtual and in-person programming, Rheault helps build community, strengthen teams, and foster positivity. We spoke with Brittany about the impact of her time playing on Worcester State’s women’s basketball […]

Education Department graduate students journeyed to Kenya last summer for a transformative experience filled with cultural connections, profound reflections and of course, lions, zebras, and giraffes. Led by Christina Kaniu, professor of education, the group included 10 students, mostly teachers working in Central Massachusetts schools, who immersed themselves in the local community while in Kenya, […]