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King’s turns to past for the future

<p>On the one hand, Wilkes University is nearing completions: Completion of a major capital expansion that included a new art gallery, engineering center, and outdoor improvements; completion of the long-sought goal to be designated as a doctoral institution; and completion of Patrick Leahy&#8217;s tenure as president.</p><p>But as usual Leahy, the university&#8217;s cheerleader-in-chief for the last six years, sees beginnings and opportunities as the school prepares for his departure at end of July &#8212; and they extend deep into the community.</p><p>Take that doctoral designation, one Leahy predicted as far back as 2017. In January, the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning fulfilled the goal by reclassifying Wilkes as a &#8220;doctoral/professional university.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Why does that matter?&#8221; Leahy asked. &#8220;Okay, big deal, you&#8217;re a doctoral university, what does that mean for this university and the community?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;This is evidence the scale of the institution is expanding, is growing. It means that, yes, we are serving more students than ever before, but it means we have more faculty engaged in the life of Wilkes University than ever before. And those faculty members all come with their own interest in scholarship and research and spawning entrepreneurial activity, so that grows the kind of impact we can have.&#8221;</p><p>It all spurs interdisciplinary cooperation in the school, which can mean more programs adapting to &#8220;needs in the marketplace.&#8221; It means more improvements to the physical facilities. It means more emphasis on research and what Leahy likes to call &#8220;discovery.&#8221; It means more support for other community programs, such as the SHINE after school program, the Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, the Small Business Development center and the Family Business Alliance.</p><p>Besides, the new programs and projects will keep coming after he leaves. A new master&#8217;s degree in pharmacology and medicinal chemistry begins this fall, while renovation of the athletic fields across the river and more streetscape renovations around the Wilkes-Barre Campus are slated for this summer.</p><p>Leahy points out much of the work on sidewalks is funded with grant money from the state that would not have come to the area if Wilkes didn&#8217;t provide matching funding.</p><p>While the new doctoral designation doesn&#8217;t automatically mean more doctoral program, it should make it easier to add programs at any level.</p><p>&#8220;I won&#8217;t kid you, it&#8217;s not likely any time soon we&#8217;re going to be offering a PhD in English, but there might be doctoral programs in other health fields, doctoral programs in other professional fields like business, if the market presents the opportunity,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Now we feel we&#8217;re in a better position to move on that opportunity. As a doctoral university we just have more range.&#8221;</p><p>Wilkes will also continue to support faculty research, and include undergraduates in that research. &#8220;We have pretty interesting innovations emerging that you wouldn&#8217;t think Wilkes-Barre would be contributing toward, such as early cancer detection,&#8221; Leahy said.</p><p>The goal, both in traditional research and in supporting entrepreneurship and business development, is always the same. &#8220;We want to figure out how the assets of our university can be expanded into the community.</p><p>Leahy leaves Wilkes with the school on target to meet all the goals of the current strategic plan by 2020, but he doesn&#8217;t see Wilkes stopping at that point.</p><p>&#8220;There will always be the next project at a university that&#8217;s hungry,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I think this university is hungry: Hungry to improve hungry to extend our mission, hungry to have a positive impact. And if that&#8217;s the culture of a place, there will always be other projects.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">New students at Wilkes University are greeted by staff member Alex Reynolds. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_wilkes3_faa-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>New students at Wilkes University are greeted by staff member Alex Reynolds. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL07xx18bizjournal-colleges-mg_2CMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy shows the renovations made to the Stark Learning Center courtyard. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL07xx18bizjournal-colleges-mg_2CMYK.jpg</photo1><caption1>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy shows the renovations made to the Stark Learning Center courtyard. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_wilkes1_faa.cmyk_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader Wilkes University students are lead by bagpiper Butch Modzelewski and members of the faculty through the school&#8217;s Gateway that connects South Main Street and South Franklin Street portions of the campus. The Gateway project is just one of several improvements the university has made around its campus. Its latest project is a streetscaping project on second block of South Main Street. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_wilkes1_faa.cmyk_.jpg</photo2><caption2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader Wilkes University students are lead by bagpiper Butch Modzelewski and members of the faculty through the school&#8217;s Gateway that connects South Main Street and South Franklin Street portions of the campus. The Gateway project is just one of several improvements the university has made around its campus. Its latest project is a streetscaping project on second block of South Main Street. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL052317groundbreaking1CMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Charles Fuller of Latona Construction jack hammers a bit of the sidwalk along South Street at a ground breaking ceremony Monday morning May 22, 2017 . Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL052317groundbreaking1CMYK.jpg</photo3><caption3>Charles Fuller of Latona Construction jack hammers a bit of the sidwalk along South Street at a ground breaking ceremony Monday morning May 22, 2017 . Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>As some projects come to fruition, others are just beginning</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

New beginnings at Wilkes