Chase Tralka

When I sat back one night in January thinking about my time at Penn State, I tried to come up with a single word that would adequately describe my experiences here. As I attempted to determine what that magic word might be, my mind began to grasp the absurdity of that challenge. How could I possibly distill four years of my life, countless friendships, and untold numbers of memories, down to a single word? An impossible task to be sure. So instead, I took the easier road and went with three words: For the Glory.

As a graduating senior, I've been looking forward to seeing the list of commencement speakers for all the various colleges. Throughout the years Penn State has had some pretty cool cats come to send its graduates out with a bang; including famous filmmakers, corporate CEOs, and Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners. This year is no exception with some pretty big names on the docket. We've got the full list after the jump.

On April 9th, Scott Sandelin did something that had never happened at Minnesota-Duluth before. He brought home the NCAA Division I Hockey Championship. With 1 year remaining on his contract at UMD, Sandelin is looking like an ideal candidate for Joe Battista, associate athletic director for Ice Arena Operations and Hockey Development, who's currently on a nationwide search for Penn State's first varsity hockey coach.

For years, I've been hearing people mention that the University owns a private jet that Graham Spanier can use to fly to Harrisburg and other locations for university business. Most of the time it's mentioned in jest, with the the joke that the plane is used for extravagant trips for upper-level university officials. But nobody's ever been too upset about that concept of the university owning a private jet.

There's been a lot of talk over the past several weeks about Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett's proposed state budget and how it will affect Penn State. The proposed budget eliminates $188 million from Penn State's state appropriations, severely impacting Penn State's budget. But for a University with an operating budget of over $4 billion, $188 million is a drop in the bucket, right? Not exactly...

Penn State alumni Frank and Janet Dudek committed $2.5 million yesterday to the University to support several academic units. The donation will help establish scholarships, support research and purchase laboratory equipment for the College of Agricultural Sciences, the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the Eberly College of Science.

For all the successes that Penn State sports achieve, no team comes close to the continuing successes that the Penn State Fencing Team has had over the past 21 years. Since 1990, Penn State fencing has won total 12 national championships and the previous two. (Fun fact: Penn State Fencing's 12 NCAA National Championships equals the total number of championships of the second most successful Big Ten school's entire athletic department, Iowa.) Held in Columbus, Ohio the 2011 NCAA Fencing National championship saw the fencing team looking to channel their inner women's volleyball players and win their third consecutive national championship. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, it wasn't in the cards this weekend.

Starting today, when you visit OnwardState.com on your mobile phone, you’ll be able to order take out and delivery food for no online ordering fee. When you visit the site, look for the “Food” option in the nav bar. The new service comes from our partnership with StateCollege.com and is aimed at helping make Onward State your one-stop-shop for all things Penn State. Here are some of the establishments we’re offering, click through for the complete list:

• Campus Candy
• Canyon Pizza
• Grillers
• Pita Pit
• Rotelli

If you're a science nerd like I am, you've probably heard of Neil deGrasse Tyson. For the unenlightened, Tyson is an internationally known astrophysicist and director of the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium in New York City. Tyson is also host of the popular PBS television show NOVA ScienceNOW. A frequent fixture on television on and off of PBS, Dr. Tyson will be coming to Penn State to give the give the 2011 Arthur H. Waynick Memorial Lecture.

Following the successes of last October’s TEDxPSU event, the executive committee set out to plan next year’s event. They took a big step forward when they announced that Zach Zimbler will take over the post as curator for the event. Zimbler is currently a junior double majoring in Supply Chain Management and Information Sciences and Technology and served as the Official Student Liaison for TEDxPSU 2010.

“I’m elated to be working on such a fantastic event for the second year in a row and we’ll be looking to improve upon the event itself and the sustainability of the organization into the future,” said Zimbler in a press release.

The rest of the executive committee will be selected over the next 2 weeks and a general volunteer meeting will take place in mid-April.

Saturday night brought twelve local bands to Alumni Hall in the HUB for the Movin' On Battle of the Bands. The twelve bands competed for the top 4 spots and a place in the lineup for Movin' On, to be held on Friday April 29th, and open for headliners Little Big Town, Lupe Fiasco, and O.A.R. The top four bands selected by judges were So Long, Pluto in fourth, Atlas Soundtrack in third, The Zak Sobel Band in second, and 5 Cherry Lewis in first. The bands were judged based on originality, musicality, audience response, and overall stage presence.

THON 2012 officially starts today. Elaine Tanella, THON 2011 Communications Overall, was named the THON 2012 Overall Chairperson last night. Her term starts immediately with her first responsibility being selecting the rest of the Overall Committee. Overall Committee applications are due on March 25th and the committee will be announced on March 31st.

The members of the THON Overall Committee are some of the most recognizable people on campus. The 14-person committee is in charge of managing the largest student run philanthropy in the world. Each year the new committee is selected by the THON Overall Chairperson (to be announced soon) and THON's adviser, Barry Bram. The positions are open to anyone, though preference is given to those previously involved in THON, usually at the Captain level. Applications are due Friday March 25th. Candidates will be notified if they receive an interview on the 26th, with interviews running from the 27th through the 30th. The committee should be announced the 30th or the 31st. If interested, head on over to THON.org to fill out an application.

StateCollege.com and OnwardState.com, digital media leaders in the State College and Penn State communities, on Tuesday announced a new strategic partnership.

I'll admit it. I like beer, a lot. But none of that yellow fizzy crap that seems to be pervasive throughout the college drinking scene. I'm what many would consider a craft beer enthusiast, and while the amount of time that I've been enjoying "good" beer is rather limited, I've come to discover the wonders that can be found in a quality IPA or Outmeal Stout. Thanks to establishments such as Zeno's or the Z-Bar, I've been able to expand my knowledge about craft beer further than I could have imagined before turning 21. But State College is sadly devoid of a location where I could purchase quality beer for home consumption, or should I say was.

College athletics have changed in the past ten years when it comes to how much money schools are paying head coaches. It's becoming more and more clear that, in order to succeed in major college sports, you need to be willing to pay for high caliber coaches, and their salaries aren't looking to go down anytime soon. Which brings us to Penn State.

On a night many Penn Staters were stumbling down College Avenue dressed in green, music filled Alumni Hall in the HUB. The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals played host to 10 ensembles, vying for the top two spots and a place in the semifinals.

Penn State PRIDE. Sportsmanship Initiative are holding an event in the HUB today from 10am-3pm to promote good sportsmanship among Penn State fans. PRIDE. are asking fans to sign their pledge to promise to treat opponents with respect and foster good relationships with opposing fans. The organization, now in their second year, aim to perpetuate the traditions of Penn State University and ensure a welcoming environment for all fans, regardless of affiliation.

For the first time in decades, the Penn State football uniform is set for a change. According to the Allentown Morning Call, Guido D'Elia told a class at Penn State that the uniforms were likely to lose the contrasting trim on the sleeves and collar. The move brings the uniforms back to the Kerry Collins era styling and stands to make the already plain uniforms even more plain.

As it becomes more and more likely that the University will see decreased state appropriations this year, as it has in years past, the University has set out to reduce costs. As part of Priorities of Excellence: the Penn State Strategic Plan, the University has begun taking a closer look at all of its academic colleges and campuses, looking to determine underutilized resources, as well as redundancies in the system. Most of this work centers on Strategic Plan Strategy 2.4: Consolidate Academic and Administrative Programs through Targeted Reviews. Strategy 2.4 outlines Targeted Review by stating that "rigorous program review provides a vehicle for elevating the strongest academic programs and most effective administrative units of the University, an opportunity to redirect resources from weaker programs, and a way to reduce redundancies and create greater efficiencies." To put it simply, the University is looking to reallocate resources in a cheaper, more efficient manner.

In addition to working as Managing Editor for Onward State, I've had the pleasure of serving as a THON Technology captain for the past two years. My duties as a Technology Captain centered around the Pass System. The Pass System is used to control access to the event level of the Bryce Jordan Center during THON weekend, in order to maintain fire code regulations as well as to provide a reward to organizations based on their fundraising levels. Unfortunately, the system also necessitates that we limit the number of guests who have access to the floor. Because of the significant number of people wanting to get on the floor, long lines have formed historically on the concourse level of the BJC. Last year was plagued with some of the longest lines that THON had ever seen.

The finalists for the Shorty Awards were announced last night and THON has made it into the final six in the Charity category. The Shorty Awards is an international competition that aims to recognize the best content producers on Twitter and social media. The New York Times is quoted as saying "Hollywood has the Oscars. Broadway has the Tonys. Now Twitter has the... Shorty Awards."

It’s that time of the semester, when a bunch of recent alumni roll into town to relive the glory days and try to get you to apply for a job at their company. But before you dust off that suit and purchase overpriced resume paper from the bookstore, remember what career fairs are all about. Swag.

For the unaware, swag (reportedly) is an acronym for Stuff We All Get, but is basically all the junk that companies give out with their logo on it. If you’re in desperate need of a new drawstring bag, a 2GB thumb drive, or a few dozen cheap pens, the career fair is your place. We’ve worked up a few tips to help you score the best swag the BJC has to offer.

For just the second time in a decade, the Big Ten has a 2,000 career point scorer. Just five minutes into the game, Talor Battle hit a 3 point shot over Northwestern’s Davide Curletti to move his career point total to 2,002. He finished the game with a game-leading 19 points, bringing his career total to 2,015.

That proved to be the most interesting part of the game by far, as a hot-shooting Nittany Lion team quickly blew past the Northwestern Wildcats, holding them to a season low 15 points in the first half and posting a final score of 65-41. Penn State shot 49% from the field and had double-digit point contributions from David Jackson, Jeff Brooks, and Tim Frasier.

When I was invited to attend the IFC/PHC Community Coalition banquet, I was uncertain of what the event would entail. I expected to be lectured at by IFC President Dan Florencio and PHC President Paige Rothaus about how the town hates Greeks and they must do more service to better their image, but that's not at all what the event was like.

UPDATE: We've just received word that Mezzanine management and the landlord have resolved their disagreement and the club will be open for business tonight. At least temporarily. Onward State has received information from multiple sources close to the situation stating that, due to a difference of opinion between the landlord (the Herlocher Mustard Family) and the Mezzanine management, the popular club has been shut down for the time being. Our sources tell us that the liquor license for the Mezzanine is owned by the landlord, and the occupants of the property are given access to the license. Apparently, the Herlocher family became concerned about the safety of the license, in regards to compliance with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. In an attempt to ensure the status of the license, the Herlochers asked for the Mezzanine to be closed temporarily while management reevaluates its policies.

A new White House press release has announced tonight that President Obama's visit to Penn State has been rescheduled for Thursday. The change in date is the result of the impending snow storm set to hit State College overnight on Tuesday.

No, he’s not replacing JoePa. But coach Herman Boone will be coming to Penn State as part of the Student Programming Association’s Distinguished Speaker Series. The speech will take place on Feb. 22 in Eisenhower Auditorium. Coach Boone was portrayed by Denzel Washington in the tremendously successful Disney movie Remember the Titans.

UPUA President Christian Ragland looks primed for some interaction with the President of the United States during Obama's visit to Penn State on Wednesday. At least according to his this Tweet he is... What do you think they would talk about?

The White House has issued an updated press release regarding President Obama's upcoming visit to Penn State. As previously announced, the visit will focus on energy-efficient building solutions, and his talk will discuss the importance of investing in innovation and clean energy to stimulate the economy. His talk will take place in Rec Hall at 12:15, to an "invitation only" public audience. At this point in time, it is unclear who will be given an invitation.