Archive for April, 2009
Senior Sendoff Hits All The Right Notes
The relative quiet of my office was shattered Wednesday afternoon by window-rattling bass from a huge stereo system placed almost directly below my office. For those of us who work in the Hintz Family Alumni Center, the afternoon of the annual Penn State Senior Sendoff tends to be one of the least productive of the year.
Photo by Geoff Rushton
Sponsored by the Alumni Association and Lion Ambassadors, the Senior Sendoff is just what its name implies: a three-hour party for soon-to-be alumni on the Hintz Center lawn. Walking around the lawn sampling some of the food (and there was a lot of food, including Clem’s BBQ, Diner stickies, and Creamery ice cream) and the mix of DJ’d music and live acts, I found myself wondering if the students appreciated it beyond the free grub. Based on a front-page story in today’s Collegian, it sounds like a lot of them do.
The best quote? My vote goes to senior Tyler Tarney, and I don’t think it’s particularly close.
“This is the best non-alcoholic party I’ve been to in a while,” Tarney said.
High praise indeed.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
98 Percent of Time’s Top 100
Time magazine has published its annual list of the world’s Top 100 influential people, and three Penn Staters made the list — all under the category “Scientists and Thinkers.”
Roland Fryer ’01 MA ’02 PhD Lib was honored for his groundbreaking research on whether financial incentives can improve student performance. In the magazine’s essay, written by the chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools system, Michelle Rhee, he was cited for his research, the creation of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory, and because “every chance he gets, he spends time in some of America’s most troubled classrooms, talking with students to continue learning how public education can serve them better.”
Stephan Schuster, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Webb Miller, professor of biology and of computer science and engineering, were honored together. They led a team that sequenced the DNA of the woolly mammoth, which has been extinct for 10,000 years. J. David Venter, who mapped the human genome in 2001, wrote that the duo’s “pioneering work will undoubtedly inspire many to push the limits of DNA analysis, both to explore our past and perhaps predict our future.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Title Town, USA
University Park welcomes title-seekers of all sorts over the next few days, as the campus hosts three separate conference championships.
Tonight at Rec Hall, the men’s volleyball team opens defense of its EIVA title when it faces George Mason in the conference semifinals at 7:30 pm. The winner will meet either Juniata or St. Francis on Saturday for the EIVA title and a trip to the NCAA Final Four.
The women’s lacrosse team hosts the American Lacrosse Conference tournament, which starts today with the quarterfinal round; Penn State has a bye until Friday’s semifinals, where the second-seeded Lions face third-seeded Ohio State at 5:30 pm. The ALC title game will be played on Saturday afternoon.
And the Big Ten Men’s Golf Championship will tee off Friday morning at the Penn State Blue Course, with the final round set for Sunday.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
On the Couch (and In the Kitchen) with John Amaechi
When I wrote a few weeks ago about John Amaechi’s new gig as a UK reality show judge, cross-Atlantic copyright law apparently prevented me from linking to a clip of the show. Thankfully, Amaechi ’94 Lib just posted on his Facebook page a link to his recent appearance on Something for the Weekend, a mix of celebrity chat and cooking that airs on BBC Two. The first clip features John talking about his experience as a judge on The Speaker, as well as his NBA career and his work as a psychologist, activist, and speaker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xne_5qbAQyc&feature=related
In the second, John helps a chef make something called “cheesy balls.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKaNSDcAzSo&NR=1
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Hold The Phone
A sign of the times in this morning’s Collegian: Beginning this fall, dorm rooms at University Park will no longer come with telephone landlines. The change reflects the reality that pretty much every student on campus has a cell phone, and apparently makes Penn State the first “big” school in the country to make a decision that many of its peers seem likely to follow. (So too might other Penn State locations: I followed up with Conal Carr, the director of housing at University Park, who said phone-free dorms have been discussed at other campuses; for now, the move only affects University Park.)
Worth noting: There will be one “courtesy” phone on each floor of each residence hall, and students who (for some reason) want a landline in their room can request one. Here’s guessing there won’t be many.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
From “Faculty Kid” to College Football Expert
I’ll state my bias straight up: College GameDay, ESPN’s college football studio show, is one of my favorite TV shows of any genre. I love it because Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit are experts who don’t take themselves too seriously. (Also, because mascots are very cool.) They have fun, and isn’t that what sports are supposed to be?
Fowler brought that vibe to campus last Friday afternoon when he spoke to a group of journalism students and college football fans. Malcolm Moran, director of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism (additional disclosure: I am a board member), gave Fowler a big buildup, calling him the “ringleader” of GameDay. Fowler interjected, dryly, “Babysitter.”
Partly, Fowler came to campus to give students an inside look at the TV journalism business and his road to success. He did that humorously and earnestly—to the point that he once laughed and apologized for sounding like Tony Robbins.
“You have to have that genuine passion,” Fowler said. “Never have to fake it, and you’ll be ahead of the game.”
But he also has a Penn State connection. His father, Knox Fowler, was a theatre professor at the University in the mid-’70s, and during his junior-high years, Chris lived in State College—in the same neighborhood as our class notes editor, Julie Nelson ’86, who can attest to Fowler’s early love of pick-up football.
Fowler, a Midwest boy and die-hard Chicago Blackhawks fan, learned to love college football then, too. “Faculty kids” could go to a game for $1. The kids used to pass tickets through a chain-link fence at the south end of Beaver Stadium, which was more primitive back then. So, Fowler noted, “you could get four kids in for a buck if you were pretty sly.” (Julie, daughter of a Penn State accounting professor, confirmed this.)
Other notes from Fowler’s talk:
—He was so animated and candid discussing why he thinks college football should scrap the BCS and institute an eight-team playoff that his wife, sitting in the audience, cringed.
—On college football: “There’s something unique about the passion and the way a campus builds up the week before a game.”
—On Penn State’s game-day atmosphere: “When you guys behave yourself, the Whiteout is the most tremendous display of school spirit with students supporting their team in all of college football.”
—On GameDay: “The show is almost always careening out of control.”
Lori Shontz, senior editor
A Politician’s Best Friend
E.J. Montini ’76 of the Arizona Republic
While cleaning out my office this weekend in anticipation of getting new carpet installed, I weeded some of the many piles of paper that clutter my shelves and my floor. One little gem I found was a note to myself that E.J. Montini, a writer for the Arizona Republic, is a Penn State grad (journalism, class of 1976). I apparently knew that at one time, but must have forgotten.
(See? It just goes to show you: Never throw anything out.)
I set a Google Alert to his name, so I can keep up with what he’s doing. And already here’s a nice little hit: a piece he wrote for today’s edition about dogs—it’s partly about the Obama family’s new dog Bo and partly a sweet reminiscence of a dog named Lucky from E.J.’s own childhood.
Tina Hay, editor
Dancing All The Way to L.A.
Last week, Becky Farmer ’03 A&A posted a note on the Alumni Association’s Facebook page asking fellow Penn Staters for help. She was designing costumes for the “Design A Dance” contest on the ABC hit Dancing With The Stars, and she needed online votes to help her cause. Based on the email Becky sent in over the weekend, it looks like she got the votes she needed:
“With your help I won the Dancing with the Stars Costume Design competition and I’m going to HOLLYWOOD!!!”
Becky tells us she’ll be flying out to Los Angeles soon for a taping, where she’ll see a couple outfitted in her designs dancing on a show scheduled to air May 18.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
A Fabulous Time-Waster
The Alumni Association's own John Black ’62.
This could be one of the best Penn State-related time-sinks ever. The University Libraries today officially launched the new online La Vie project: All of the old yearbooks from 1890 through 2000 have been scanned so that you can view them online. Just go to http://www.libraries.psu.edu/digital/lavie/, find the year you’re interested in, and browse away.
I’ve already located the senior photos for our senior editor, Ryan Jones ’95, our class notes editor, Julie Nelson ’86, and longtime Football Letter editor John Black ’62 (shown here). And it’s not just the senior portraits that are online—it’s the entire contents of the yearbooks.
The interface takes some getting used to—I can zoom in, for example, but haven’t yet figured out how to zoom back out. But some evening when I have nothing better to do, I plan to waste a few hours on the couch with my laptop, looking up famous Penn State alums—from Lydell Mitchell ’72 to Jonathan Frakes ’74 to Valerie Plame ’85. The possibilities are endless.
Tina Hay, editor
Caught between the Moon and New York City
Every year, the College of Communications provides students with a bus trip to New York for its “Success in the City” job fair. The trip is only for juniors and seniors so they can meet with companies looking to hire either for full-time or for internships. So, early the other day, I walked to the bus stop, feeling that once I sat down, I’d be snoozing again. Unlike my trip to the cherry blossom festival in D.C., when I contemplated wearing a kimono (or even jeans for that matter), this time I was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt, with résumés in tow. We arrived at New York on time (11:30 a.m.).
I opted to have a special lunch, set up by the organizers, at the Time Warner building. At the lunch, which came with the $25 fee that paid for the bus trip, we had a chance to meet with some recruiters.
I sat with four recruiters and four other students. Two of the recruiters worked for a network, while the other two worked for an ad agency. The lunch was interesting because it made the recruiters less intimidating. They told us about their first job and what they did to get it. They provided tips, especially about living in New York. One tip was that it doesn’t matter where in the city you live, as long as the sidewalks are well-lit and you live near a subway. Another tip that I noticed, but they never explicitly said, was that they were constantly changing and moving. I thought it was as though it didn’t matter what your first job was, as long as you found a way to stick with a job you really like.
The trip was worth the travel. I gave out nine résumés to print-related companies. I also checked out some PR firms, though I don’t think I would be venturing down that road yet. I like reporting.
The job fair feels odd in a sense because graduation is coming up for me in two or three weeks. It just feels a little too real. So far, I’m pretty much open to anything. I’d like to land a job on the East Coast, but at the same time, part of the adventure is not knowing where I’ll end up.
Angelica de Wit, intern
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