Penn State Abington is reaching out to students who are struggling to find their place in the college community with the formation of two new support groups, according to Donna Monk, director of health services at Abington.
Students, alumni, community members, faculty and staff came together throughout the Philadelphia region to remember Coach Joe Paterno on Thursday, Jan. 26 as the three area Penn State campuses each live-streamed the two-and-half hour tribute, "A Memorial for Joe," that took place on the University Park campus.
Penn State Abington students launched Discover Service week by making and delivering hundreds of sandwiches to the homeless, writing letters to international leaders, and getting dirty while cleaning up the exterior of a Philadelphia worship center.
Penn State Abington Chancellor Karen Wiley Sandler last week fulfilled her promise to expand the sexual harassment resource team at the campus with the appointment of two new members.
It could have been 1963. It appeared as if civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., with his powerful presence and message, was exhorting a room full of college students with "I Have A Dream." In reality, it was 2012, and the Penn State Abington students were actually being mesmerized by Jim Lucas, a presenter who bears a traffic-stopping resemblance in looks and speech to Dr. King, as he reminded them that the dream is still a work in progress.
Brenda Holtzer, the first coordinator of the Penn State Abington registered nurse (RN) to bachelor of science (B.S.) degree in nursing program, has spent more than 30 years studying, teaching, managing and caring for critically and chronically ill patients. She brings a wealth of education and experience to Abington's new program for registered nurses who previously have earned either an associate's degree or a diploma in nursing.
"At Abington we have a strong core faculty group to attract RNs to earn their bachelor's degrees," Holtzer, an assistant professor of nursing, said. "They are a diverse group in terms of their life and work experiences."
Linda Patterson Miller, the 2011-12 Penn State laureate and professor of English at Penn State Abington, is sharing her thoughts and observations of her laureate experience as she journeys across the Commonwealth aiming to engage people in the beauty of the humanities; specifically early 20th-century American literature and art. "Literary Landings" is a travelogue scheduled to appear periodically during the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters on Penn State Live and in Penn State Newswires. In her entry "The Diary is Not Dead." Miller reflects on her various encounters with audiences, including one poignant interaction with an audience member who struggled with his own moral dilemma regarding diaries. In video link http://bit.ly/AgtlEW see Miller discuss how Americans have fanatically attempted to tell their own stories during America's 400 years of diary keeping.
Linda Patterson Miller, the 2011-12 Penn State laureate and professor of English at Penn State Abington will be speaking at 7 p.m. on Jan. 19 at the Penn State Learning Center in Lewistown. Miller's presentation "Hemingway in Letters, Literature and Life" will be offered in conjunction with the Learning Center's community lecture series, "Lobby Lectures." The public is invited. To register, call 717-248-9618. Then at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 20 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus, Miller will deliver a talk titled "Searching for the Lost Generation" as part of the Penn State Forum Speaker Series. This event is open to the public and the charge is $18 per ticket. To register and for more information go online to: http://pennstateforum.psu.edu. Miller will continue her travels and speaking engagements in the eastern part of Pennsylvania during the spring. Stay tuned for schedule updates.
This fall, three teams of engineering students at Penn State Abington worked to build 3-D printers. While the term "3-D" is popularly associated with movies and games, "printing" in three dimensions has become critical to professional engineers. It allows them to create prototypes rapidly and relatively inexpensively, which decreases the time it takes for a product to move into the marketplace, according to Howard Medoff, associate professor of engineering at Abington campus.
The students in Medoff's EDSGN 100 class worked to build the printers from a kit. The class, required for all engineering majors who often refer to it as e-design 100, is typically populated with first-year students who "are assigned fun projects to see what engineers do," he said. "The students have the opportunity to create, build and break things."
Kevin Szafranski -- baseball player and fan of country music -- was always smiling. Ask his Penn State Abington baseball coach, Joe Pavlow: "Kevin always had a smile on his face."
Kevin's friend and Abington teammate Patrick Moran elaborated: "Kevin was always smiling. And I mean, all the time. Even if he was having a rough game or complaining, he was smiling. I will never forget his smile. I don't think anyone could -- his smile was truly one of a kind."
Kevin, 23, died suddenly in his sleep last month, and his friends and teammates at Abington are struggling to process their loss and honor his memory.