Brownstone Pittsburgh Supper Club, April 22, 2026: Mike Costarell

DeBlaze at 131 | 131 E Main St., Carnegie, PA 15106

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 6:30 – 9 pm 

$50 includes appetizers and dinner

Pittsburgh Brownstone Supper Club is pleased to have Mike Costarell present “COVID‑19 at Youngstown State University: A Faculty Account”.

In this talk, Costarell recounts events at Youngstown State University from March 2020 through February 2022, including his address to the Academic Senate. Drawing on firsthand experience, he examines how COVID‑era policies reshaped academic governance, sidelined disciplinary expertise, and narrowed the space for debate within a public university.

The presentation concludes with twelve questions for higher education to confront as it reckons with emergency powers, institutional conformity, and whether universities remain capable of open inquiry under crisis conditions.

Mike Costarell was born in the Youngstown, Ohio area, graduating high school in 1985 and then Youngstown State University in 1989 with a degree in civil engineering.

He then spent the next 5 1/2 years in the United States Navy nuclear propulsion program, earning qualification as in engineering watch officer, submarine officer, and achieved the nuclear engineer qualification.

For the next 10 years he worked as a production supervisor, process engineer, and energy management consultant. During that time, he also completed the requirements for the Ohio professional engineer credential and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

His subsequent 20-year academic career had many dramatic periods, including DEI hiring processes, negative promotion experiences, and a departure from the OEA/NEA union. Fortunately, that contrarian attitude came in valuable during the 2020 campus discussions on Covid 19. As part of his actions and several others, YSU was one of only two public institutions to not require a vaccine to work or attend classes.

He remains unvaccinated and an unashamed supporter of the Great Barrington Declaration.