Tyler Stoney, of Blandon, Pa., has been named the 2017-2018 winner of the $1000 Liquid Interactive Award for Achievement in Data Analytics at Kutztown University. Tyler's project, "Data Mining Charities," set out to determine whether there is a correlation between the type of a charity in terms of class of recipients, and its effectiveness in distributing funds to recipients.

Two juniors from the Kutztown University Department of Communication Design (KUCD) were recently named winners in the Society of Publication Designers (SPD) 2019 Student Design Competition. Keri Stefkovich of Vernon, N.J. received sixth place for her feature spread on the END IT Movement, and Heather Leiby of Lancaster, Pa. received an honorable mention for her feature spread on hot cocoa. Stefkovich and Leiby worked hard to not only create intricate layouts for their features, but also each shot original photography and created hand-drawn typographic solutions for their spreads - a highly impressive feat. This year's competition required students to design feature spreads that aligned with the competition categories such as News Magazine, How-To Magazine and Fashion/Lifestyle Magazine. Competition judges included Sarah Garcea, art director of Inc.; Rob Hewitt, creative director of Dwell; Nathalie Kirsheh, creative director of Allure, Glamour, Self; Tala Safie, lead designer of AIGA Eye on Design; and Mike Schnaidt, creative director of Fast Company. Since 1965, the SPD's mission has been to empower the future of visual storytelling and set the standard for editorial excellence by bringing together and supporting the most talented creative individuals across all platforms and disciplines to learn, inspire and collaborate. The SPD includes anyone contributing to the creation of visual stories, from art directors to coders and data miners, from major publications to independent zines, and from seasoned professionals to students.

Kutztown University has been named as a finalist in the nationwide 2017 Community Bank Case Study Competition, facilitated by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Student members of the KU team include Stephen Hilborn, Chris Kane, Jim Pyne and Connor Tait. Dr. John S. Walker served as the team's faculty advisor.

Sara Wingert presented a poster at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology on Saturday, April 8. She won first prize in the student poster contest. The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc. was organized in 1929 to promote the study of the prehistoric and historic archaeological resources of Pennsylvania and neighboring states.

Stephen Hilborn, a senior finance and accounting major from Shoemakersville, Pa., was named a semi-finalist in the State System of Higher Education Business Idea Competition. He had previously been awarded the grand prize at the 2016 Kutztown University Business Idea Competition for his mobile application concept, Virgil. Virgil, an app that aims to help young people during the credit card application process, was awarded a $1,000 grand prize in the KU competition.

Samantha Kronstadt, a graduate student at Kutztown University receiving her Master of Education specializing in student affairs in higher education at graduation this May, has won the National Career Development Association's (NCDA) annual poetry contest. For the contest, NCDA puts out a theme during National Career Development Month each November; this year's theme was "Re-Imagining Your Career: Celebrating First Jobs through Encore Careers."

Kutztown University Radio (KUR) took home the gold at the 74th annual International Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Radio Awards on Saturday, March 8, 2014 in New York City. KUR received "Best Use of Social Media" for their innovative use of social media, which include between five and ten daily posts, such as news alerts (local weather, accidents, closures, stories, etc.), promotional updates on radio programming and reporting on timely and informative topics.

The Kutztown University Model United Nations Club traveled to Milan, Italy on May 19 to represent Kutztown University at the Milan International Model United Nations Conference at Bocconi University. Kutztown University's delegation was among the most highly awarded at the conference.