One of the many benefits of the safety management program at Slippery Rock University is opportunities for students to visit workplaces where alumni are applying what they are learning in the classroom.
Field trips like the one that SRU safety management students took earlier this year to the Vistra Nuclear Power Plant in Shippingport are a valuable extension of classroom learning, connecting theory to real-world practice.
Safety management alumna Jennie Stiefel, ’23, who is Vistra’s offsite emergency preparedness specialist, led a tour of the facility in Beaver County for students and faculty from SRU’s Haverlack College of Business.
“It’s very important to have that education and what Slippery Rock ends up teaching us prepares us for success in any industry,” Stiefel said.
“After doing this tour I was able to see the many different levels of management,” said Gallo, a junior safety management major from Canfield, Ohio (Columbiana HS). “More than that, I was able to see how a positive attitude around the safety culture is able to further help make this place safe for all the workers. The Haverlack College of Business has prepared me, just from going to classes and labs will translate to the things I saw in the plant.”
“Field trips are a great way to apply classroom learning,” said Dave Renz, assistant professor of safety management. “Students get to see the equipment firsthand, they get to see operations and they have an opportunity to talk to professionals in the field and it’s a great way to learn about, in this particular case, nuclear energy.”
More information about safety management at SRU is available on the program’s webpage.
