Based on a conservative economic multiplier developed by the Pennsylvania Economy League, Susquehanna University’s economic impact on the region exceeded $90 million for the year ended June 30, 2004. A national liberal arts college enrolling nearly 1,900 students, Susquehanna also contributes significantly to the educational and cultural resources of the Central Susquehanna Valley. The university is proud to be part of a region that offers a high quality of life for residents and visitors alike.
Susquehanna as Consumer and Business Generator
The university's total annual budget exceeded $41.9 million. Spending for contracted services, supplies and general administration, occupancy and other costs, and capital expenditures for the year totaled $25.1 million, the majority of which was spent in the region. The university held more than $1.4 million in local checking accounts during the 2003-2004 fiscal year. In addition, Susquehanna University’s 1,895 full-time students spent an estimated $2.3 million in the area.
Combined salaries, benefits, local wage taxes, direct expenditures, investments, local checking accounts and student spending brings the total spent in the region to more than $52.6 million for FY2003-2004. This figure does not include the amount of money spent locally by the more than 79,000 people who visited campus last year. Visitors spent an estimated $2 million in the region on such things as gas, lodging and food, bringing the total amount spent/invested in the region to nearly $55 million.
When the “multiplier effect” is calculated – that is, the figure used to estimate the additional money generated from initial expenditures being used over and over again, this number climbs even higher. Using the conservative multiplier of 1.64, developed several years ago by the Pennsylvania Economy League, Susquehanna University’s total economic impact on the region was about $90.2 million.
Among the investments not included in this calculation are the voluntary local contributions Susquehanna made to Selinsgrove borough and Dauntless Hook & Ladder Company. During the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the university gave $18,000 to the borough and $7,000 to the fire company for a total of $25,000.
Susquehanna as Community Servant
Approximately 60 percent of the student body participates in volunteer service each year. Last year, they contributed more than 48,000 hours of service to community, national and international projects. According to calculations used by the Independent Sector, an organization supporting the non-profit and philanthropic community, these community service contributions equaled more than $775,000.
Susquehanna's Office of Volunteer Programs coordinates assistance to more than 30 charitable and civic organizations in the region. The university’s Project House System, in operation since 1976, comprises 17 community service projects undertaken by a group of students living together and dedicated to a particular cause. These projects include:
- Big Brothers/Big Sisters, serving as role models and providing appropriate camaraderie, support, guidance and understanding to local children.
- Participating in the Lives of America’s Youth (P.L.A.Y.), mentoring youth and assisting with programs at the local YMCA. Volunteers participate in programs with the intent to educate children in athletics and to provide them with positive role models.
- The Phoenix Mentoring Program, providing students of the Selinsgrove Area School District with an outlet of appropriate friendship, support, guidance and understanding. Mentors of the Phoenix Program mentor and assist the students in improving their academic, social and emotional needs.
- Selinsgrove Center Project, providing meaningful friendships and recreational opportunities for mentally-challenged residents of the Selinsgrove Center, for the Alzheimer’s disease and assisted-living residents in local retirement communities.
- Study Buddy, a tutoring program designed to improve the study skills, self-esteem, academic achievement, attendance and overall attitudes of Selinsgrove Area Middle School students.
- Senior Friends, creating and sustaining relationships between Snyder County senior citizens and Susquehanna students. Relationships are fostered through numerous activities and social interactions with those who attend the Selinsgrove Senior Citizens Center.
In addition, fraternity and sorority members hold fundraisers and volunteer their time for a variety of community service initiatives. These initiatives benefit such causes as local child abuse prevention, the Ronald McDonald House at Geisinger Medical Center, Alzheimer’s disease research, multiple sclerosis research, Special Olympics, breast cancer awareness and various environmental preservation and protection projects.
Each year, hundreds of students, faculty and staff join together for a day of volunteer service throughout the central Susquehanna Valley. In August 2003, more than 500 volunteers, including the incoming class, worked at 38 sites in 10 local communities for Freshman Community Service Day. These sites included Kids! Grove, Penn Lutheran Village, Selinsgrove American Youth Soccer Organization, Selinsgrove Community Library, Second Street Community Center, Haven Ministry, Shikellamy State Park and Degenstein Community Library.
Susquehanna as Community Partner
Susquehanna University's Public Safety Office has a long-standing mutual aid agreement to provide 24-hour assistance to the Selinsgrove Borough Police Department when requested. The university also shares maintenance equipment with the borough on an as-needed basis. Similarly, Susquehanna University and Selinsgrove Area School District have a reciprocal agreement to provide use of their respective facilities to one another without facility charges. Susquehanna University also serves as an emergency evacuation site for unpredicted disasters which force local residents from their homes. In addition, the university provides the building site for the Susquehanna Children's Center, a community childcare facility independently operated by Snyder, Union, Mifflin Child Development Inc.
Susquehanna annually donates in-kind services and hosts the local Relay for Life. The June 2004 event netted $297,000 for the American Cancer Society. In addition, the Susquehanna community routinely supports the American Red Cross and the United Way of Central Susquehanna Valley. Last year, the SU community raised $15,200 for the United Way campaign and donated 240 pints of blood to the Red Cross.
In May 2004, Susquehanna University graduated its first SU4U students. Made possible through a partnership between the university and the Charles B. Degenstein Foundation, the program is designed to encourage regional students and their families in the pursuit of higher education, offering mentoring and financial support to students who are in the first generation of their families to consider college. Recipients come from families with limited financial resources in Snyder, Union, Northumberland and surrounding counties.
Each year, the Susquehanna University chapter of Habitat for Humanity partners with Union-Snyder Habitat for Humanity to raise money and construct homes for underprivileged families in the area. In 2003-2004, a fundraiser prompted by university President L. Jay Lemons’ newly grown beard raised more than $1,100 for the cause. It was combined with an additional $2,100 previously raised by the campus Habitat for Humanity chapter toward a goal of $20,000 for the construction of a new house in Wedgewood Gardens.
Another successful fundraiser in 2003-2004 was a commemorative banana split reconstruction, recognizing Selinsgrove's place in the Guinness Book of World Records for making the longest banana split in history. Held during Homecoming weekend, proceeds from the event, totaling $1,730, benefited two scholarships given annually to students of Selinsgrove High School - the Future Business Leaders Award, presented by the Selinsgrove Chamber of Commerce, and the Community Service Award, presented by Selinsgrove Projects Inc.
The Sigmund Weis School of Business regularly sponsors programs and provides faculty-directed student consulting services to small businesses in the area. These services include preparing marketing plans for local businesses and providing free tax filing assistance to elderly residents of Snyder County. Last year, SU SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) – the university’s chapter of a global non-profit student organization focused on teaching the principles of free enterprise, and in doing so, improving the standard of living around the world – undertook numerous community outreach endeavors. These projects included an in-depth survey for Sunbury Community Hospital & Outpatient Center, an essay contest for sixth graders in 19 area school districts, an educational program on personal finance skills for children ages 3 to 9 and the development of an ongoing relationship with the Mount Carmel Cornerstone Community Center, which provides assistance to under-privileged members of the Greater Mount Carmel Area.
The Department of Modern Languages has a long-standing commitment to providing strong links between Susquehanna University and the Hispanic community in this region. The Spanish program’s Latino Initiative is a multifaceted program of outreach activities that has united Latinos and Anglos on and off campus. The program includes the annual Latino Symposium, an oral history project conducted with Latino high school students, community dialogs and reading circles, and numerous volunteer efforts to provide recreational and academic support for Hispanic children living in the region. The department also has strong partnerships with nearby high school French programs and the region’s Pennsylvania German population. It has also developed a weekend enrichment program, called The China Club, for regional families from China or those who have adopted Chinese children.
Numerous members of Susquehanna’s faculty and staff serve as community leaders. Their leadership roles include seats on the Selinsgrove Borough Council, Selinsgrove Area School District Board of Directors, Selinsgrove Area Youth Foundation, United Way of Central Susquehanna Valley, Evangelical Community Hospital Board of Directors, Sunbury Community Hospital and the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Susquehanna as Community Educator
Outreach programs to schools in the region include classroom program assistance by students and faculty from the university's Department of Education and other departments. Local teachers also attend in-service programs at the university, and can receive free or reduced tuition to attend college courses on campus.
Susquehanna's Science in Motion program regularly sends teachers and vans outfitted with the latest laboratory equipment to area high schools to assist with science instruction. The program also loans equipment to high school teachers and provides them with on-campus educational opportunities.
The Saturday Science program provides children in grades K-12 with constructive weekend educational opportunities in the natural sciences at no charge. In the same vein, Susquehanna’s Music Preparatory Program offers reasonably priced preschool through adult music instruction to area residents. Scholarships are made available for low-income individuals.
The university hosts numerous one-day events for students attending Pennsylvania schools. For example, Susquehanna University serves as the site for the annual Pennsylvania High School Speech League’s state tournament and state drama festival, as well as the annual Honors Band Festival for high school students.
Susquehanna University's Office of Continuing Education sponsors a wide variety of computer training, as well as credit and non-credit classes to serve employers and individuals. The office's evening program enables area residents to earn associate degrees for professional and occupational advancement. Other programs under the direction of the Office of Continuing Education include:
- The Computer Training Center at Susquehanna University, offering a range of individual and corporate educational opportunities from introductory word processing, spreadsheets and file management to courses that explain what kind of computer software may be right for a particular home or business environment.
- Susquehanna SPECTRUM classes offer area residents the opportunity to partake in affordable noncredit classes in an informal, noncompetitive atmosphere.
- Susquehanna University’s Institute for Lifelong Learning, designed for local retired residents who appreciate the opportunity to investigate stimulating topics. Participants gather Wednesday afternoons on the first and third weeks of the month.
Campus rental facilities range from computer labs and video studios with downlink capabilities to meeting and banquet facilities. In addition, the Blough-Weis Library provides low-cost library borrowing privileges to area residents.
Susquehanna as Cultural Asset
Susquehanna University offers a host of cultural activities to the public each year through numerous lectureships, educational series and programs. Most of these events are free of charge. They include the Visiting Writers Series sponsored by The Writer’s Institute, annual events sponsored by the Arlin M. Adams Center for Law & Society, the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program, the annual Alice Pope Shade Lecture directed by the Chaplain’s Office, and the Stella Freeman Weis Concert. New additions to these cultural events in 2003-2004 were the Distinguished Lecture in the Sciences Series and the Edward S. & A. Rita Schmidt Lectureship in Ethics.
Susquehanna University has been bringing professional music, dance and theatre productions to the central Susquehanna Valley for more than 100 years. Tickets for Artist Series events are reasonably priced and discounts are offered to students and senior citizens.
The Lore Degenstein Gallery at Susquehanna University supports the cultural life of central Pennsylvania by displaying numerous art exhibitions each year. These exhibitions and the opening lectures that accompany them are free and open to the public. Moreover, the gallery participates in the educational and research programs of other institutions with which it establishes mutually supportive relationships through the exchange of scholarly inquiry and the development of cooperative projects.
