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Members of the 2012 Psi Chi International Honor Society were inducted on April 11 at a candle light service.

Welcomed into Psi Chi at the event were Rachel Burke, Adrian Ceresa, Danielle Cook, Kelly Kovalsky, Kimberly Owens, Ramon Rivera, and Erika Vasques. Current members Aleksandra Evstiounina and Karry Smith helped with the ceremony. Also inducted were Andrew Pollman, Jordan Patil, Sherri Smith, and Carrie Ulakovic.

Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. Since the 2007 installation of our campus chapter, membership has been open to PSUGA students who are at least second-semester sophomores, majoring or minoring in psychology with at least 9 credits in psychology completed, who rank in the upper 35% of their class in general scholarship, earn an overall GPA of at least 3.0, and a psychology GPA of at least 3.0.

Our Penn State chapter not only recognizes academic achievement by granting membership in the Society, but also sponsors programs, often in collaboration with the campus Psychological Association, that augment the regular curriculum, offer service to the campus and the community, develop leadership skills, and provides opportunities to meet other students with similar interests and goals.

For more information about Psi Chi on our campus, contact adviser Dr. Elizabeth Mazur at emazur@psu.edu. For more information about grants, awards, and service programs, go to the national Psi Chi Web site at www.psichi.org. Psi Chi is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and an affiliate of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.

ABSENCE: Penn State Greater Allegheny's Literary & Visual Art Review announces its 2012, “Celebration of the Arts: A Reading and Reception for Volume 14,” from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, in the Ostermayer Room of the Student Community Center.

The event will feature the best literary and visual art produced by members of the campus community during the past year. The event will also celebrate the arts with live performances, featuring: a preview from the campus' spring play, "How King Solomon Met the Queen of Sheba," which takes place at 7:30 p.m. April 26 to 28, in the Fitness and Cultural Center theatre space; performances by the campus choir and the drama club, and a presentation of the Seventh Annual Chancellor’s Prizes for the Best Literary and Visual Art. This event is free and open to the public. Copies of this year's issue, volume 14, will be available at the event.

Penn State Greater Allegheny hosted its spring commencement at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 5, in Wunderely Gymnasium. Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter presided as diplomas were conferred to 33 individuals receiving baccalaureate and associate degrees. The keynote speaker was John Lydon, chief executive officer (CEO) at the Auberle and Pauline Auberle Foundation.

Lydon has served as the CEO at the foundation in McKeesport since 2004. Auberle is a nonprofit social agency serving over 2,000 at-risk children and families in eight southwestern Pennsylvania counties. Many Penn State Greater Allegheny have interned at Auberle. Lydon has been involved with the nonprofit for more than 20 years as a volunteer, board member and board chair.

Prior to working at Auberle, Lydon practiced law in the Pittsburgh area and was founder and president of the Lydon and Schubert law firm. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law.

Since serving as the CEO at Auberle, Lydon has transitioned the agency from a heavily residential organization to 16 diverse program areas; renovated existing facilities and designed and built new $2 million and $1 million facilities, and increased development revenue from $300 thousand per year to over $1 million per year annually.

Under his direction, the agency received a variety of awards and recognitions such as the Wishart Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management and the 2008 Top Ten Performer in the Nation by the national Alliance for Children and Families.

Lydon received his juris doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and recently completed an Executive Leadership program with the University of Michigan School of Business and Social Work.

Lydon serves on a variety of organizations and boards in the region including the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership and The Tropman Fund Research Committee of The Forbes Funds.

Junior wrestler Soham Salvi has been named to the USCAA Non-Sport National All-Academic Team.

The National All-Academic Award is designed to recognize all student-athletes (Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors at 4 year institutions and Sophomores at 2 year institutions) and have an overall (cumulative) grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.00 point system) or greater.

The Non-Sport All-Academic Award is for those student athletes that participate at a member institution in a sport that is not recognized by the USCAA.

Noon – 1 PM

Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus – Frable Building, Room 120

Ninth grade English teacher, Ms. Desiree Cherepko, will be on campus to share information about her career path with an English degree and what her job is like as a teacher in secondary education. Dr. MaryEllen Higgins, Associate Professor of English, will also be speaking about her career path in higher education.

All interested students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to attend this session.

Pizza and beverages will be provided.

The theatre production classes at Penn State Greater Allegheny (Theatre 208 and Theatre 282) are preparing for their spring production, "How King Solomon Met the Queen of Sheba," at 7:30 p.m. April 26-28, in the Fitness and Cultural Center theatre space, as part of the campus Teaching International program.  

Given the sparse details about the circa 950 B.C. encounter between these two leaders provided in the Torah, Bible and Koran, the working script for the production (developed through class research, discussion, and improvisations) relies largely on Jewish and Arabic folk lore and period history to create what we hope is a plausible, sometimes humorous, lead up to their climactic meeting. 

The production also features a chorus of time-travelling Djinn (Genies), who provide a frame for the story, offering frequent commentary and transitions between scenes. The period costumes being constructed in the class will be enhanced by traditional attire graciously loaned by parents of some of the students.

This production is free and open to the public.

Students in the art course, Introduction to Drawing, at Penn State Greater Allegheny have joined the Memory Project, a nationwide initiative in which art students create original portraits for children around the world who have been orphaned, neglected, or disadvantaged (www.memoryproject.org).

Given that children in such situations often have few personal keepsakes, the purpose of the portraits is to provide them with a special memory of their youth, to honor their heritage and identity, and to help them build a positive self-image, according to the Memory Project website. The site goes on to say that the project also provides an opportunity for young Americans to open their hearts to children who have endured many hardships, and to promote the value of sharing kindness with others.

To do this, the students receive photos of children who are waiting for portraits, and then work in their art classroom to create the portraits.  Once finished, the Memory Project delivers the portraits to the children.  “Later this year, we look forward to getting a photo of a smiling child, with the actual portrait in hand,” stated Barry Shields, adjunct instructor of the art course who is overseeing the project on campus. Students participating in the project include Brianna Clark, Dara Trail, Brittany Emerick and Sara Payo. This is the second year that Penn State Greater Allegheny students are participating in the project and will be creating portraits for four children in the Dominican Republic. “This project puts us in a global state of mind and provides an emotional charge to our drawing session," stated Shields.

The Memory Project is a program of the nonprofit organization My Class Cares based in Madison, Wisconsin.  Since the project began in 2004, more than 30,000 portraits have been produced by art students around the country.    

Over the weekend of 24 March 2012, 42 students and 2 faculty embarked on a marathon voyage by bus to New York City as part of a Teaching International and Honors Program trip to see the Islamic Art exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in mid-town Manhattan.

The exhibit included pieces of Islamic art from Africa, the Middle East, India, and elsewhere. The display, called "Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition," will be at the New York City museum through July 8, 2012.

Afterwards, students spent the day exploring the sites of the city.

The faculty members who accompanied the students were Douglas Charles, assistant professor of history, and David Seitz, assistant professor of communications, both members of the Teaching International committee.

As part of the Teaching International initiative, Penn State Greater Allegheny has adopted each year a country or region of the world, and a theme, as a common focus to inspire teaching and scholarship.  The region for the 2011-2012 academic year is the Middle East and the theme is the Millenium Development Goals. Teaching International works closely with the campus sustainability project, Greener Allegheny, and the Honors Program to sponsor events that raise awareness of global issues.

Sara Payo, a first-year Penn State Greater Allegheny student in the Division of Undergraduate Studies, has been elected to serve as one of the two 2012-13 student senators representing University College at the University Faculty Senate. The announcement was made recently by Nancy L. Herron, associate dean for academic programs, Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses.

This summer the physics lab in Frable Building will be undergoing a major renovation and upgrade.

Beth Lindsey, assistant professor of physics, drew on research in physics education in designing the new look for what has been a traditional and increasingly outdated facility in Frable 223.

Lindsey's proposal upgrades the lab into a Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) style classroom (see www.ncsu.edu/PER/scaleup.html and scaleup.ncsu.edu).

SCALE-UP is research-based learning environment developed by the Physics Education Research Group at North Carolina State University and since then successfully implemented at scores of other universities, including Penn State Behrend.

The new design will allow instructors to reduce lecture content of the physics courses and instead format the courses to be more interactive, integrating lecture, laboratory, and problem solving components. A SCALE-UP environment has repeatedly been shown to lead to improvements in students’ conceptual understanding, problem solving skills, and attitudes about physics (Beichner et al., 2007).

Recently, Lindsey and her colleagues Hsu, Sadaghiani, Taylor, and Cummings published research in Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research (2012, vol. 8) in which they showed improvements in student attitudes about physics and problem solving when taught using curricula based on the principles of guided inquiry. Lindsey et al. (2012) describe this method as involving small groups of students doing experiments, developing models to try to explain the results, and then doing further experiments to test and refine their models.

Lindsey has also published research with colleagues Heron and Shaffer in the American Journal of Physics (2012, vol. 80, no. 2) demonstrating improvements in students’ conceptual understanding of specific physics topics associated with the use of tools that promote interactive engagement.

The redesigned physics lab will facilitate the use of such methods in the courses offered at Greater Allegheny, such as PHYS 211 and PHYS 212. The anticipated completion date for the lab is the start of Fall 2012.

Getting a look behind-the-scenes of a live television newscast is something TV watchers rarely get to see. The talent and hard work that goes into bringing a live 30 minute broadcast to life twice a day is more than it appears.  From the director, producer, and cameraperson, to the on-air talent and the technical crew in the control booth, this team makes it look seamless and perfect when the on-air talent begins to deliver the news each day.

For the students in the Advertising and Sales Promotion Management class that toured WTAE television station, behind-the-scenes meant more than watching what goes on in the control booth, it meant discovering the strategy behind the Neilsen Ratings, why particular commercials are placed at particular times, and producing quality commercials for broadcast.

“This field trip to WTAE television station provided an opportunity for the students in the Advertising and Sales Promotion Management class to learn about the strategy and research that goes into the timing and placement of commercials based upon a targeted demographic and market,” said Andrzej Kobylanski, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State Greater Allegheny. “It also demonstrated the importance of team work and good communication skills.”

The class (Advertising and Sales Promotion Management) is a projects based course, where students apply theoretical knowledge into practice. Some of the projects that the students are currently working on include designing a billboard for Penn State Greater Allegheny; working with the Environmental Club, under the supervision of Dr. Eric Lipsky, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to design posters, fliers, and informational labels that will be posted on recycling bins on campus; and taking part in the worldwide competition, “Google Online Marketing Challenge 2012.”

In addition, four other students, who are members of the campus’ Marketing Club, are also competing in the 2012 Smeal Case Competition, sponsored by the Kohl’s Department Stores. The Smeal Case Competition is an undergraduate competition that challenges students' knowledge, problem solving abilities, and teamwork skills to solve realistic business problems in a demanding twenty-four hour format. As a team “Penn State Greater Allegheny,” students Ben Michaux, Steven Pro, Luiza Sarbu, and Michael Vay have been chosen as one of the 16 teams that would compete in this challenge on March 22-24 at University Park, chosen from 40 teams that submitted entries (160 students, 31 teams from UP and 9 from Commonwealth campuses).

“The Smeal Case Competition is an excellent way for students to test their business knowledge in a competitive and challenging environment,” said Kobylanski, who advised the campus team along with Michelle Hough, associate professor of business administration. “Hopefully, the time spent working with the other clubs on campus and the trip to the television station will remind the students of the challenge that it takes to remain competitive.”

Teaching International 2011-12 presents Dr. Audrey Maretzki as the next speaker in a series of events focusing on The Middle East and the Millenium Development Goals.

Dr. Maretzki is Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Food Services at Penn State University. Her discussion is entitled,Building on Indigenous Knowledge to Reduce Poverty and Increase Food Security.

This event and free and open to the public and will be held on Tuesday, March 20 at 12:15 p.m. in the Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center.

McCarthy led the Greater Allegheny men in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game.  He also averaged 4.2 assist per game, and shot 39% from the field.  Byrd averaged in double-figures as well, at 10 points per game.  He shot 40% from the field, and also averaged 7.0 rebounds a night.

Rachel Halaszynski returned to Penn State Greater Allegheny for her senior season, and led the women in scoring at 13.8 points per game.  She shot 42% from the field, and collected 7.6 rebounds a game.  To highlight her season, Halaszynski collected her 1,000th career point.  Megan Brinkos was a strong, late addition to the women's team, averaging 12.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.  Christina Floyd was stellar on the glass all season, leading the conference in rebounding at 12.8 per game.  She also averaged 7.8 points per contest.

International Women's Day agenda:

• Dr. Douglas Charles, “International Women's Day in Historical Perspective”
• Dr. David Seitz, “Are You A Feminist?”
• Dr. Mildred Mickle, readings of: “Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)” by Nikki Giovanni (1943-).  “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou (1928-).
• Reading by poet Angele Ellis
• Reading by poet Kelli Stevens Kane (www.kellistevenskane.com)
• Penn State Greater Allegheny Drama Club presents: “A Gender Bending Scene from Shakespeare ‘As You Like It’.” Actors: Courtney Handlovitch, Tim Tolbert and Briana Toth. Dr. Jay Breckenridge, Drama Club adviser.
• Dr. James Jaap, Amy Guthrie, and Dr. Verónica Montecinos, “Marie Antoinette, Queen and Icon of Feminist Struggles.”

The program will begin at 12:15 - 1:30 p.m. in the Crawford Building, room 102  

Douglas M. Charles, assistant professor of history at Penn State Greater Allegheny, will speak on the topic "The Real J. Edgar Hoover" from 6 to 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, Monday, March 12, in the Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center on campus.

Charles will also be on the History Channel's alternate channel, called "H2," on Monday, March 5, as a commentator for their show "Ten Things You Don't Know About J. Edgar Hoover."

Charles is the author of J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-interventionists, which describes how FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover catered to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s political interests in order to preserve his position and to expand FBI authority. In his effort to service administration political goals, Hoover employed illegal wiretaps and informers, collected derogatory information, conducted investigations, forwarded political intelligence to administration officials, and coordinated some activity with British intelligence. This all occurred within a crisis atmosphere created with the onset of the Second World War, and it was this political dynamic that permitted Hoover to successfully cultivate his relationship with President Roosevelt and expand FBI authority.

In his latest book, The FBI’s Obscene File, Douglas Charles reveals how, for more than 70 years, FBI officials placed obscenity, pornography, and the politics of morality among their utmost concerns. By illuminating this largely neglected aspect of FBI history, Charles charts the evolution of the bureau’s efforts to combat the spread of obscenity and its perceived insidious effects. He contends that, especially during the five decades under J. Edgar Hoover, these efforts became a surprisingly high priority and at times were expressly wielded for political ends, even as Hoover hid the file from public view in order to preserve the Bureau’s squeaky-clean image.

Charles’s appearance is a part of the Globalization and Sustainability Speaker Series sponsored by Penn State Greater Allegheny’s Teaching International, Greener Allegheny, and Honors Programs.

For more information about the J. Edgar Hoover event, contact academic affairs at 412-675-9052.

The event, which was held on February 16, 2012 from 12:15-1:15 p.m., was developed by Hussain and Dr. Mildred Mickle, associate professor of English and a member of the Teaching International program committee.

Hussain introduced participants to the Arabic alphabet. He began by writing the Arabic letters and numbers that were projected onto a screen for the audience. As he wrote the letters, he taught the audience how to pronounce the sounds. Then he asked the audience for specific words that he wrote on the screen. Participants felt free to ask Hussain questions about Arabic culture and holidays and requested he sing the Arabic version of "Happy Birthday." Hussain complied graciously and then gave participants time to practice writing words in Arabic.

As there was considerable interest in the workshop, the organizers will present a second session on April 24, 2012 from 12:15-1:30 p.m. in the Ostermayer Room, Student Community Center.

As part of the Teaching International initiative, Penn State Greater Allegheny has adopted each year a country or region of the world, and a theme, as a common focus to inspire teaching and scholarship.  The region for the 2011-2012 academic year is the Middle East and the theme is the Millenium Development Goals. Teaching International works closely with the campus sustainability project, Greener Allegheny, and the Honors Program to sponsor events that raise awareness of these global issues.

For more information, contact Nancy Conway (412-675-9143 or nle10@psu.edu).

SCHELL GAMES:  Meet the Video Game Writers

Writers from Schell Games will be on campus Wednesday, February 22 at noon in the Frable Bulidng, room 122 to share information about their career paths with an English degree and their jobs as video game writers.

Schell Games is a full-service game design and development studio specializing in creating innovative interactive experiences.

All interested students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to attend this session. 

Pizza and beverages will be provided.  Though not required to attend, RSVPs would be appreciated:  psuga-careers@psu.edu

One of the profiled artists, Sherin Neshat, is the director of our first screening of the semester, Women Without Men.

There will also be a panel discussion after the screening with additional guests to explore issues raised by the film.

The screening is free and open to the public.

The program will be offered at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry. The hybrid format combining monthly classes with online instruction makes this program a feasible option for anyone in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

Interested students can attend information sessions in Cranberry on Thursday February 16 or Monday February 27 at 6 p.m. Please see the Pittsburgh MBA page for more information and to register online for a session.

Contact Behrend's Graduate Admissions Office for more information at 814-898-6818 or email PSBehrendMBA@psu.edu.

Dr. Leigh-Ann Bedal, assistant professor in anthropology at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, will present "Constructed Paradise: Conspicuous Consumption and the Petra Garden and Pool Complex" at 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, in the Ostermayer Room of the Student Community Center.  Bedal received her degrees from California State University, University of California, Berkley (master's degree) and the University of Pennsylvania (doctoral degree), and specializes in Near Eastern archaeology, urbanization and garden archaeology.  She has excavated in Iraq, Syria, Israel, Italy and Jordan, and is the project director of the Petra Garden and Pool-Complex Excavation in Jordan.

Bedal’s appearance is a part of the Teaching the Middle East 2011-12 speaker series sponsored by Penn State Greater Allegheny’s Teaching International, Greener Allegheny, and honors programs.

A memorial service for Joe Paterno will be broadcast from the Bryce Jordan Center at University Park on Thursday, Jan.26 at 2:00 p.m. You can watch live coverage on the Big Ten Network, at BTN.com and BTN2Go.

You can also view the memorial service in the Cafe Metro dining room in the Student Community Center on the Greater Allegheny campus.

Students at Penn State Greater Allegheny held a candle light vigil to honor Joe Paterno last night in front of the Lion Shrine.

“Our students often do not realize all of the resources available to them, such as the Vault Online Career Library and My Plan, a career exploration product. These tools can help them through this exploration process,” said Bridgen. 

Other ways in which such information can be found include the following:

• Radio (KDKA-1020 AM); 
• Television (KDKA-TV Channel 2; WTAE-TV Channel 4; WPXI-TV Channel 11) or the Internet (http://www.kdka.com/, http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/, http://www.wpxi.com/); 
• The front page of the Penn State Greater Allegheny web site (http://ga.psu.edu/); 
• PSUTXT, which provides updates via text message and/or email. To receive PSUTXT messages for Greater Allegheny, go to http://newswires.psu.edu/ and follow the instructions to subscribe.

Cancellation of day classes does not automatically mean cancellation of evening classes or vice versa.

For information about individual class cancellations, you can also consult the cancellation list online.

Weather FAQ

Q. Why doesn’t the campus delay classes on the mornings local school districts announce delays?
A. Local school districts typically start classes for all students around 7:30 a.m. We have just a few classes at 8:00 during the winter semester. Also, K – 12 students must wait along the area roads in the bad weather to catch their buses. Area schools also have the ability to make up lost days. We are an institution of higher education, whose curriculum is supported by direct tuition; hence, cancelling classes eliminates the class time for which you have paid. We also have students living on campus who walk to class.

Q. If the campus is open, am I required to come to class?
A. It is your decision on whether or not you are comfortable driving on the roads to campus. If you do not make it to class, it is important for you to contact your professor as soon as possible to let him or her know why you were not in attendance. Ultimately, it is up to each professor to determine how he or she will handle these types of absences, but we believe they will be reasonable and understanding.

Q. Why isn’t the campus closed on some days when the news is reporting hazardous road conditions?
A. We view and listen to the weather and traffic reports, but we also depend on first hand reports of road conditions received through our campus maintenance and police persons to determine whether or not they are passable.

Q. If the start of classes is delayed, how do I know which class to attend?
A. We follow the existing schedule no matter what time we start. For instance, if the start of classes is delayed until 10:00 a.m., you would attend your scheduled 10:00 a.m. class at the regular time and follow your schedule through the rest of the day. Thus, on days when a delayed opening is appropriate, a two- or four-hour late opening will be announced through the normal emergency announcement procedures.
1. If there is a two-hour delay on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday schedule, classes will start with the class scheduled to begin at 10:00 A.M. We will keep the normal class times for the remainder of the day.
2. If there is a two-hour delay on a Tuesday or Thursday schedule, we will start at 10:00 A. M., one-third of the way through any classes that begin at 9:25. We will keep the normal class times for the remainder of the day.
3 . Similarly, if there is a four-hour delay, MWF classes would start at 12 noon and continue on a normal class schedule for the rest of the day.
4 . If there is a four-hour delay, a Tuesday, Thursday schedule would resume at common period (12 noon) with the next classes occurring at 1:35 pm.

Q. Are day and evening classes treated differently?
A. They are, with decisions made on day classes by 6:30 a.m. and for evening classes (starting times of 6:00 p.m. or later) by 4:00 p.m. It is possible to have any portion of the schedule cancelled.

Q. If my class if cancelled, will it be made up?
A. Some instructors may attempt to set a make up session when students are available, or use other means to make up the work. The form of make-up will depend on the nature of the class.

Q. What happens if there is problem during final exam week?
A. In the event that, during final exams week, weather causes the closing of the campus or the postponement of a scheduled final exam, make up exam procedures will be arranged by instructors in consultation with Academic Affairs. Stay in close contact with your instructors should weather problems develop during finals week..

Q. Why aren’t the sidewalks always clear?
A. If the snow is occurring during the day it is sometimes impossible to keep up with clearing the sidewalks. The maintenance crew will continue to make multiple passes to keep them as clear as possible. At times, the temperatures are low enough that salt* will not melt the snow and ice so it is important that everyone is careful when walking across the campus. As temperatures warm and/or the sun comes out, the salt is able to melt the snow and ice.
* “Uncured” concrete sidewalks, due to the nature of their recent pouring, cannot be salted. In these instances, sand is considered the best alternative, though it is not as good as salt in providing stable walking surfaces. All campus members are reminded to be very careful when walking about the campus during inclement weather situations.

Student-athletes who participated in cross country, golf, volleyball were eligible for the awards. Those being honored from Greater Allegheny include: Megan Carroll, Samantha Clark, Helena Vasser, Alyssa Finocchi, Corinne Wilson and Desiree McClain for volleyball; Peter Subosits, Brandon Jacobs, and Jared Reesman for cross country; and Michael Ericson for golf.

On Monday, January 16, nine students from Penn State Greater Allegheny will travel to Penn State New Kensington to join students at New Kensington, Fayette, Beaver, Dubois, and Shenango for the Martin Luther King, Jr., NOT A DAY OFF, BUT A DAY ON community service.  Students will arrive at New Kensington about 9:00 a.m. After a welcome and keynote address, they will disperse to Habitat for Humanity Restore, the Alle-Kiski Valley Historical Society, Tri-City Life Center, Valley Community Services and other sites.  Students could be doing anything from cleaning, organizing, working with the elderly, and/or children. This is the fourth year that these campus’ have provided community service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  This year 62 students will participate.

The Accounting option provides "Preparation for positions in business with an emphasis on the areas of financial and managerial accounting, systems and controls, auditing, and taxation” (Undergraduate Degree Program Bulletin).

Joining Management/Marketing and Individualized Business as choices for students, the new Accounting option provides a third area of concentration possible in the business major.

For more information about the business major and the new option, contact the campus program coordinator, Dr. Andrzej Kobylanski, at 412-675-9455 or auk20@psu.edu.

An anonymous donor has made a $2.2 million estate commitment to Penn State Greater Allegheny. The bequest will institute a scholarship fund, two professorships and a chancellor’s excellence fund.

“This commitment is a tremendous gift to the campus,” said Curtiss E. Porter, chancellor of Penn State Greater Allegheny. “It is historic in its size and scope, as well as in the impact it will have on our students, faculty and community. Private philanthropy is a major driving force behind the growth and enhancement of our campus. Gifts from alumni and friends allow us to fulfill Penn State Greater Allegheny’s mission to care for the success of our students and communities.”

The anonymous bequest establishes a scholarship fund with an initial endowment of $700,000.

“This fund will help us address the growing need for student assistance,” said Porter. “Ninety-one percent of Greater Allegheny students qualify for some kind of financial aid. Most of this aid takes the form of loans. The scholarship fund will help us continue to keep a university degree accessible to future Penn Staters.” Annual scholarship awards will be made from the endowment’s income, which will total approximately $31,500 in support each year. Preference will be given to students from the Pittsburgh region who demonstrate financial need.

The bequest will also establish two professorships at Penn State Greater Allegheny, one in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology and an Early Career Professorship in the Department of Business. These two professorships will be the first faculty endowments ever established at the Greater Allegheny campus. They will provide the support necessary to recruit and retain some of the nation’s best faculty members. In addition, Early Career Professorships provide junior level faculty with a stable, dependable source of income for needs such as specialized teaching and research materials, library acquisitions, salary supplements, and travel assistance.

“The most innovative research initiatives must often produce results before greater funding can become available,” said Porter. “The professorships have the potential not only to support the careers of our faculty, but also to fund breakthroughs that will transform their disciplines.” The early career award will rotate every three years to a new recipient who has completed his or her terminal degree within the preceding decade.

In addition, $500,000 of the bequest will create a new chancellor’s excellence fund at the Greater Allegheny campus. These designated funds will provide the chancellor with flexible financial resources to respond to the evolving needs of the campus. The interest from the endowment, approximately $22,500 each year, will be directed to areas in need of support that enhance the campus’ academic and community environments, including faculty research, student projects, start-up funds for new community engagement programs, facilities support, or other steps toward enhancing education at the campus.

“This bequest is a tremendous asset to our campus. The donor’s generosity will enable us to strengthen the most important areas of Penn State Greater Allegheny’s land-grant mission,” said Porter. “Thanks to the incredible commitment represented in this gift, our donor helps us to ensure we keep a Penn State degree affordable during difficult economic times, launch the careers of our newest, most promising faculty members, and continue the Greater Allegheny campus tradition of excellence and engagement.”

For more information about supporting the Greater Allegheny campus or its students, contact Dale DiSanto, executive director of development for Commonwealth Campuses, at dad23@psu.edu. Gifts to Penn State Greater Allegheny count toward the campus’ goals in For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. This University-wide effort is directed toward a shared vision of Penn State as the most comprehensive, student-centered research university in America. The University is engaging Penn State’s alumni and friends as partners in achieving six key objectives: ensuring student access and opportunity, enhancing honors education, enriching the student experience, building faculty strength and capacity, fostering discovery and creativity, and sustaining the University’s tradition of quality. The campaign’s top priority is keeping a Penn State degree affordable for students and families. The For the Future campaign is the most ambitious effort of its kind in Penn State’s history, with the goal of securing $2 billion by 2014.