The joyful noise - the jokes, shouts and general commotion that comprise the soundtrack of Penn State Abington - has dropped a few notches in volume. The raucous laugh is gone, retired along with its owner after echoing around the campus for portions of six decades.
Bob Barton, senior instructor of kinesiology, called it a career at the end of the spring semester, leaving behind indelible traces of the infectious optimism that he first brought to Abington as a student in the late 1960s.
When Joan Robbins was 3, her mother asked why she was climbing behind the television in their Northeast Philadelphia home. "Because I want to be in television," little Joan firmly replied. Today, Robbins, a 1971 Penn State alumna, is definitely in television, and she just acquired the ultimate piece of TV-industry bling: a Daytime Emmy award, the happy outcome of her first nomination in a 40-year career.
Most Americans learn about the military reaction to disasters like Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 11 and The Deepwater Horizon oil spill from websites and media outlets. But P.J. Capelotti experienced them first-hand. Capelotti, associate professor of anthropology at Penn State Abington, stood on the unsteady decks of U.S. Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico and painstakingly recorded the experiences of these first responders to be shared with future generations.
If the employment climate for recent college graduates looms as a dark cloud, then the story of Caterina Moreira may just be its silver lining.
Caterina Moreira graduated from Penn State Abington on May 14, 2012. Along with her full health benefits, she will earn between $30,000 and $50,000 this year. She also will be eligible for up to $10,000 to repay her student loans or to finance graduate school.
Penn State just beat its own record. With at least 70 students signed up to Teach for America this year (the organization will have the final numbers by fall), Penn Staters are showing their commitment to expand educational opportunities for elementary and secondary school students in low-income areas.
Penn State Abington Chancellor Karen Wiley Sandler has announced that the campus No Place for Hate (NPFH) initiative has been honored by Penn State University with the prestigious Educational Program of the Year Award.
Penn State's Center for Sustainability held a faculty workshop to develop a consistent curriculum for a new course, Foundations of Leadership in Sustainability (Sustainability 200), on Wednesday, May 23. Faculty and staff from seven Penn State campuses were represented at the workshop: Abington, Beaver, Erie, Lehigh Valley, Shenango, University Park, and York.
Penn State Abington Athletic Director Karen Weaver announced last week that 65 student-athletes earned coveted places on the Director's List for academic excellence during the Spring 2012 semester.
On a sunny morning in early May, 10 nurses walked in their coveted caps and gowns and received their bachelor's degrees from Penn State Abington Chancellor Karen Wiley Sandler. Quite an accomplishment for these newly minted nurses considering the degree program at Abington campus was launched only nine short months ago, during the fall semester in 2011.
Penn State Abington Continuing Education has announced that is offering the state Department of Public Welfare-approved standardized training course for personal home care administrators.