Archive for June, 2010

Now that summer's kicked into high gear, your skin is probably darker than normal, maybe even just an incidental tan. Hopefully it's less than certain Mid-Atlantic youth of Italian extraction. Regardless, researchers at Penn State have actually come up with a new theory as to why our skin tans in the first place. Read on to see what they found...

This past April, Penn Stater magazine editor Tina Hay rented a helicopter from Cherokee Helicopter in Ford City, Penn. She brought Penn State Live photographer Andy Colwell along with her in a flight above Penn State’s University Park campus. Rather than pursue my dream of performing helicopter wheelies, she chose a more practical mission of capturing beautiful aerial shots of the campus for alumni to enjoy. Read on to see more of their shots...

It seems like every time we turn on SportsCenter, they’re reporting about another school committing some sort of NCAA violation. Several major college athletics programs have been hit with sanctions by the NCAA, but over the years Penn State athletics has stay free of scandal involving violations of NCAA policies. One of the big reasons for that is Penn State President Graham Spanier’s commitment to running a clean athletic department. In an interview with BlueWhiteIllustrated.com, he discussed how he goes about keeping Penn State athletics an example for other schools in how their departments should be run.


Read on to find out how he does it…

Penn State's Catholic Campus Ministry is seeking $6.5 million worth of funds to construct a 22,000-square-foot Student Faith Center. The campaign started as a quiet phase in 2007, but has been recently been open for public support. The Center will include a library, game room, chapel, study, and residential space to house Benedictine monks. Read on to find out where the center will be located and how you can help out.

With one very successful year under his belt, Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson and Lions wrestling team will be looking to build upon that success this upcoming winter. He now knows the competition standing in the team's way as the 2010-2011 schedule was released last week. Read on to see who the Nittany Lions will face...

U.S. News & World Report is one the foremost authorities on college rankings, which most of you probably have an old, thumbed-through edition from your senior year. But, the go-to-guide is adding some changes for this upcoming year’s placements.


Click through to find out the changes…

If you have been watching the FIFA World Cup lately, then you are all too familiar with the cacophonous blaring of the cylindrical horn known appropriately as the vuvuzela. Unsurprisingly, a group of Ohio State students want them at the PSU-OSU game. Read on to find out if they'll be present at the game...

College expansion has come to an end with nothing more than a whimper, far from anything we were all expecting. The Big Ten (or Twelve maybe?) added a major piece by inviting the University of Nebraska.


Now that all the hubbub has died down, let’s take a look at the conference’s newest member…

While summer is here and the school year has created disdain for reading and for books in general, the Chronicle of Higher Education just released a list of the top 10 books purchased on college campuses during the month of May.


Read on to learn what made the list. You might be surprised.

Tally up another one!  Megan Hodge added another trophy to her mile-long showcase with the Honda-Broderick Cup, presented annually to the best woman in collegiate athletics. Hodge will be sharing the award with University of Connecticut basketball standout Maya Moore, who has dominated the hardwood with 3 All-American selections in her first three years. It is only the second tie in the cup's 34-year history. Read on to learn more about this great honor.

Just a short while ago we wrote about UPUA's summer plans and their agenda for the coming semester. CCSG is also gearing up for a productive summer and working their way toward laying the groundwork for a phenomenal fall. Read on to learn what they're up to.

It is a small world, and an even smaller nation that we live in. Everyday, people are moving from old homes to new homes, on from one thing to the next. It happens everywhere, but especially with the mobile population of a town like State College. It is tough to get a handle on just where people are moving to next, or where they may be coming from however. Until now... Left Of Centre recently posted a Forbes graphic detailing just that. Read on to learn more...

Seniors, set your alarms because football season starts Monday! Student season tickets sales begin this week with seniors set to buy at 7am on Monday. Juniors will follow on Tuesday and sophomores will buy on Wednesday morning. The sale goes until 2pm, but odds are there will be a sellout in the first 10 minutes, so don't try living on the edge! Incoming freshmen will buy on Thursday at 8pm and graduate students buy on Friday, again at 7am. Read on for a rundown on how to succeed in your ticket purchase.

According to Paulina Jones, a THON PR Captain, Tucker Haas, who's rendition of the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" had the BJC going crazy at THON, will be performing on Fox and Friends, the morning news show on Fox News Channel, this week. Tucker is scheduled to be on the show Tuesday, June 22nd, at 8:50am. If you're up getting ready for the day and want to give someone near and dear to Penn State some support, check it out. For those that don't remember Tucker or maybe just need a refresher, a YouTube video of his THON performance, found after the jump, has almost 400,000 views.

Two very different athletic careers have concluded in a very similar fashion. After dominating their sports for four straight years, Penn State volleyball player Megan Hodge and soccer star Jason Yeisley have been crowned as the 2010 Penn State Athletes of the year.


Read more about their accomplishments after the jump.

Former Cornell University Men’s Lacrosse coach Jeff Tambroni has become the newest member of Penn State Athletics. In the 10 years that Tambroni was the head coach of the the Big Red, he led his team to a record of 109-40, eight Ivy League Championships, and three NCAA Final Four appearances. Under his tenure, Cornell shot to the forefront of college lacrosse and became a national powerhouse. Tambroni’s departure from Cornell was a complete shock to many, including his star player at Cornell Rob Pannell, who told the Elmira Star Gazette that he was “kind of in shock a little bit. Kind of upset, but coach Tambroni, he has his reasons for doing it. I’m behind him and support his decision.”


Read on to find out what this means for the Penn State Lacrosse program.

Making movies is not what students at the Penn State College of Medicine signed up for. However, it has proven a unique tool in truly understanding patients' diseases. Dr. Dan Shapiro chairs the Department of Humanities at the College of Medicine in Hershey. In order to get more in touch with patients, he has his students interview and make documentaries about their own lives with their chronic disease, and those of their family. Said Shapiro of the project's philosophy, "I wanted our medical students to learn from patients who had serious chronic diseases or ailments. These patients would be teachers and our students would be filmmakers." Read more about this cool initiative after the jump.

Joe Paterno was slated for an appearance today in Philadelphia, but could not make it due to illness. It appears that our beloved coach/local deity is suffering "lingering effects of an adverse reaction to antibiotic treatment for dental work," says GoPSUSports. He is also recovering from a bout with the flu which caused him to cancel the last two "Evening with Joe" events held (These events are sponsored by the alumni foundation and Nittany Lion Club). All ticket holders can get refunds to these events in the same way they were purchased, and it should be all taken care of within four weeks, according to a press release issued by Penn State. Fortunately, JoePa is feeling much better now. His doctor is advising him not to leave State College until he's fully recovered, but it's definitely still great news!

Texas saved college football from further major expansion on Monday as it announced it was staying with the Big 12 after the conference came up with a new TV deal. The Longhorns dispelled Pac-10 and even some Big Ten rumors and became the de facto emperors of the now 10-team conference by securing $20-25 million dollars a year in TV revenues (with help coming from the school's own network). Oklahoma and Texas A&M will make around that number, with the other seven teams making a "measly" $14-17 million a year in the uneven revenue sharing system. So what does this mean for the rest of the country? Find out after the jump.

The University of Michigan has had one of the most dominate and respected college football teams since they began playing in 1879. Their dominance came into question, though, when Coach Lloyd Carr was replaced by Rich Rodriguez in the 2008 season. This year, their respect may also be compromised. In May, the school admitted that the football program violated NCAA rules by exceeding limits on practice and training time. The school also imposed sanctions on the team, including two years probation. Rich Rodriguez and six others were reprimanded and a staffer was fired. The school plans on reducing playing time by 130 hours over the next to years as well. These sanctions may seem detrimental, but they may not be all the school faces. The NCAA will hold a hearing August 13-14 with a decision coming 6-10 weeks later. NCAA sanctions would most likely be harsher and could involve things like scholarship reduction. More about how this will adversely affect Michigan after the jump.

Who would leave a cushy job with a big corporation like IBM? Who would leave a lavish lifestyle filled with an attractive income, a handsome expense account, and the ability to travel the globe, all while working alongside a team of incredible people? The answer to these questions would be none other than Robert Shedd. This forward-thinker climbed the ladder of success only to jump off into the unknown. Learn more about this Penn State grad's success story after the jump.

Recently, some Penn State professors in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences wrote an updated report on the economic impact of Marcellus Shale, a sedimentary rock formation on the east coast with lots of natural gas reserves, and how it could affect Pennsylvania’s economy. You may be wondering, “What does Marcellus Shale look like?” According to the study, it looks like $20 billion and 200,000 new jobs by 2020.


You can check out the full report after the jump.

On Friday, Penn State police found a naked man outside of Beaver Stadium, StateCollege.com reports. The man had been seen by staff earlier on the field, and after the police arrived, he was taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center for evaluation. This is the latest finding in a "streak" of recent indecent exposure incidents. While this most recent incident seems less malicious than the others, it's still interesting that there have been this many cases in the last few months. In the meantime, that's all we know about the case so far. The police are currently investigating, and more details will be released as they come.

The first two dominoes of college expansion and, in turn, dissolution has been knocked over. Today, the University of Nebraska formally decided to move to the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-10 Conference announced Thursday that Colorado will be added as its 11th member. There are also reports out that Texas and Texas A&M will bail on their Pac-10 offer and seek to join the Big 10.


Read on to find out more about the potential changes, and how they will effect all sports, not just football…

After a record-setting junior year at Penn State the Houston Atros selected catcher Ben Heath with the 153rd overall pick and made him the highest picked Nittany Lion in 34 years. Heath led the baseball team this spring in every meaningful offensive statistical category and did it with class, but his remarkable 19-home run season is what caught Houston’s eye and broke Penn State’s all-time home run record.


Heath wasn’t the only Nittany Lion selected in the draft, read on to find out who else was picked up…

As I sat down to write this article this morning, I pulled my headphones out from my bag and found the wires in a huge knot. Ten minutes later, they were finally ready for use. After some deeper thinking, I found that the case with my headphones is exactly what is happening in the college football landscape right now.

Follow the jump to find out how…

"No days off" is what UPUA President Christian Ragland will tell you if you talk to him about the time he has currently spent in office. Trust me, I have seen him working tirelessly over the summer, always dressed in his suit dashing from meeting to the other. However, I did recently get a chance to talk to him and discuss the direction UPUA hopes to take once the fall semester starts and what measures they have been taking over the summer to improve the lives of students on campus. Read on to find out what Mr. Ragland has been up to...

You know the nights you're downtown and you have really got to go, but it's too late that you can't make a b-line to the bathroom in Chili's, what are you to do? Hold it in? Risk a semester of teasing and go in your pants? Find a nice dark place behind a parked car or healthy foliage? It's a tough decision to have to make, but fret no more! The Borough Council of State College has decided to open up public bathrooms 24/7 downtown. Read through to find out where the new bathrooms will be located...

Last week we reported on the possibility that Penn State had misfiled its Right-To-Know report, a document required by the Commonwealth. The main issue at hand has to do with a section of the report that asks if any family member of a trustee or board member received over $10,000 in compensation from the University. Penn State answered "yes" but failed to acknowledge who might fall into that category. After getting an earful from Left of Centre, the University has announced that it will be refiling the report to include the names of those omitted. Read on to learn more...

The acquisition of the legendary Cael Sanderson continues to pay off for Penn State wrestling as the 2010 recruiting class was recently ranked No. 2 nationally by InterMatWrestle.com. The leading media outlet for college wrestling ranked the Nittany Lions behind conference foe the Iowa Hawkeyes. Wrestling fans believe the combination of this recruiting class, which sports 5 wrestlers in the nation's top-100, and 2009's will create a potent championship cocktail that will put Penn State wrestling back on the map. Read on to find out more about the class of 2010...