The Penn Stater Magazine

The Penn Stater Daily — Nov. 1, 2013

November 1, 2013 at 9:48 am Lori Shontz Leave a comment

The Godfather: The big story on the front page of today’s Collegian is a profile of women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose, who in addition to being a terrific coach is just an entertaining character. Which is why my favorite quote in the piece by Zach Neiner is the one at the end from assistant coach Steve Aird: “Penn State has let Russ be Russ, which has translated into him having the best program in the country.” The Nittany Lions have a big rematch this weekend against Big Ten foe Michigan State, which beat them in five sets in the conference opener. This match is on the road and follows a Friday match-up with Michigan.

Nice photo of John Urschel by Joe Hermitt of The Patriot-News.

Another Day, Another Honor: This is a prestigious one for offensive guard/math whiz John Urschel ’12, ’13g: as a National Football Foundation scholar-athlete, he’ll receive an $18,000 scholarship for post-graduate studies. Which should help on the way to a possible Ph.D. in math … as will his most recently scholarly publication, “A Space-Time Multigrid Method for the Numerical Valuation of Barrier Options.”

The Hayride Saga: We had no idea that hayrides had become a popular part of the fall social scene around here until one of our interns pitched a story on them. Just our luck, right at the time, this turned from a fun story into a more serious one—the owner of Nittany Mountain Trail Rides suspended hayrides after several alcohol-related incidents. The latest, from Onwrad State: The hayrides are back on, but they are now alcohol-free (even if students are 21 or older), and they’re being held at a church camp near Milroy, Pa.

Oh, those Gen Eds: I’ll admit it: For one of my science gen ed requirements, I took the infamous “Rocks for Jocks.” But my art history class turned me into someone who can happily spend all day in a museum, someone who appreciates not just the beauty of the exhibits, but the intellectual and aesthetic theories of the artists. And COMM 150, The Art of the Cinema, has made me a more intelligent consumer of the movies. (That said, when my brother and I happened to take the class the same semester, our dad wasn’t thrilled: “I paid for six credits of movie watching?!?”) Those perspectives—and more—were apparent Thursday when faculty gathered to discuss the future of general education. The Collegian’s piece gives a broad overview of the issues, and this Storify put together by Christopher Dean, associate dean for the College of the Liberal Arts, gives you a sense for how faculty reacted on social media. It’s really interesting.

Lori Shontz, senior editor

Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: Christopher Long, general education, hayrides, John Urschel, Russ Rose.