Archive for April, 2009
Making a difference
Lots of headlines today announcing Penn State’s effect on the economy of Pennsylvania.
Perhaps the Philadelphia Inquirer said it best: “A new report commissioned by Pennsylvania State University concludes that the school, which has 92,000 students at 24 campuses, is the largest contributor to Pennsylvania’s economy.”
According to the study, which Penn State paid Tripp Umbach Inc. $50,000 to do, Penn State is responsible, directly and indirectly, for contributing $17 million to the state in 2008.
You can read more in The Daily Collegian and the Centre Daily Times.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Clearing the Air
Fans going into Beaver Stadium for tomorrow’s Blue-White Game would be smart to bring seat cushions (those metal bleachers are as unforgiving as ever), hats (the folks at Accuweather are predicting 86 and sunny) and a program to figure out all the new names and faces on the field. But they can leave their cigarettes back at the tailgate.
Starting with Saturday’s game, the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act will go into effect at Beaver Stadium — meaning there’s no smoking anywhere inside the stadium gates. For at least the past few years, smokers have been able to light up in the outer stairwells and walkways; from now on, any smoking once you’ve had your ticket scanned at the gate is strictly prohibited.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Jason Yeisley’s Seasoned Perspective
Having suffered year-ending knee injuries during his sophomore and junior seasons, Jason Yeisley could be excused if he’d decided to bag this whole college soccer thing, finished school, and moved on with his life. Instead, the Nittany Lion forward — a first-team All-Big Ten honoree in 2007 despite missing nearly half of that season with the second of those blown knees — is back for a redshirt senior year. That’s great news for Barry Gorman’s squad.
Yeisley is giving Nittany Lion soccer fans something else to look forward to: The Season, a blog that debuted this week, in which Yeisley will write about offseason prep work (including the team’s trip to Brazil next month), his continued recovery from injury, and the season when it begins next fall. Should be worthing checking out.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Bringing Web 2.0—to Iraq?
You’d think Iraq has more important things to worry about than Twitter and Facebook, but in fact that country has almost zero Internet infrastructure—and developing that infrastructure could play a big role in getting Iraq back on its feet. At least that’s the idea behind a State Department-sponsored trip that’s in progress over there right now. A delegation that includes representatives from Google, YouTube, and Twitter, among others, is wrapping up its visit today.
The one and only embedded reporter in the delegation is Penn State grad Steven Levy ’74g, who is a writer for Wired magazine. You can read his initial report from Iraq, filed yesterday, here and another Wired story on the trip here.
Tina Hay, editor
Spring in Happy Valley
I was driving back from the printer in Virginia the other afternoon, and as I came up College Avenue, the light on Old Main and the daffodils in the lower Old Main lawn just seemed especially sweet. Of course, in the time it took me to go around the block and find a parking space, the sky clouded over a bit and suddenly Old Main wasn’t catching the light anymore. But still, I thought you might enjoy seeing the view; click on the photo to see a larger version.
While I was out of the car, I walked a few more yards down to the Allen Street gates, where some orange-colored tulips (those are tulips, right?) are in full bloom:
If you’re coming up for the Blue-White Game this weekend, you’re in for a treat. Some of the trees on campus are in blossom, and AccuWeather says we’re supposed to have a high of 74 on Friday and 82 on Saturday. Enjoy.
Tina Hay, editor
Just Ducky
So it turns out that we here at The Penn Stater aren’t the only ones who enjoy the ducks that hang out around the pond outside the Hintz Family Alumni Center. The bloggers at Onward State like “our” ducks, too.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
We Get a Peek at Life in Bhutan
Bhutan, a tiny country in the Himalayas, is one of those far-off places I’d love to visit but will probably never make it to. The fact that its airport has one of the scariest approach paths in the world doesn’t bode well for a fearful flyer like me. But Bhutan has at least three things going for it that raise my interest:
1) The guy in charge of Bhutan is a Penn State grad, Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley ’76g.
2) People in Bhutan treasure their rich history. They only allow about 20,000 tourists in every year so that their traditional Buddhist culture doesn’t get swept away by Western-style consumerism. Bhutan promotes a doctrine called “Gross National Happiness” that tries to balance modernization and tradition.
3) The Abominable Snowman is supposed to live there, and I’ve been terrified of him ever since I watched the Burl Ives/Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer program when I was a kid. Naturally, I want to face my fear and actually meet the yeti.
Two alums, Lisa DeSimone ’89 and Marlene Petter ’82, went trekking in Bhutan last fall while delivering books and school supplies to children there. You can see some of their photos of Bhutan in our May/June issue. Until then, here’s a preview.
Chas Brua, contributing editor
A Little Face Time with Meredith Vieira
On the one hand, Farnoosh Torabi ’02 lost her job last month. On the other hand, she got to talk to Meredith Vieira about it on the Today show yesterday.
We first learned about Farnoosh last year when she wrote a book called You’re So Money: Live Rich, Even When You’re Not (Three Rivers Press) and was working as a correspondent for TheStreet.com. I picked her to be the moderator for our roundtable on the economy, which ran in the July-August issue of our magazine. I hadn’t been in touch with her after that, until yesterday, when a friend on Facebook posted a link to her interview on the Today show. Turns out Farnoosh was laid off from TheStreet.com about a month ago. She talked with Meredith Vieira as part of the show’s “Get a Job” series, offering some good suggestions for her peers—younger workers—about how to make use of things like Twitter and Facebook to network your way back into a job.
Here’s the video clip of the Today interview.
Tina Hay, editor
Can You iHear Me Now?
This is pretty cool: Starting this summer, you’ll be able to take an audio tour of University Park using nothing more exotic than your cell phone. As this story in today’s Collegian explains, “iHear Penn State” will launch in June and allow anyone to visit a dozen popular campus sites — the Nittany Lion Shrine, Old Main, Beaver Stadium, and the Hintz Family Alumni Center, among others — and call a number that will play an audio clip about the location. The University is partnering with a company called Spatial Adventures (billed on its own site as the “Proud Inventor of Cell Phone Tourism”), and says it could expand to other campuses, as well as more locations at University Park.
The story also answers the first question that came to mind when I started reading this story: What about the Lion Ambassadors? Happily, the backpedalling-student-led campus tours aren’t going anywhere. Except backwards, I guess.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Groundbreaking on West Chocolate Ave
This artist’s rendering is your first look at the Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital in Derry Township. Officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site last Thursday. The hospital is expected to open sometime in 2010.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
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