In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of days, the Wienermobile is here on campus. Or I should say one of the Wienermobiles is here (there are 6 total). The 20-foot long hot dog is in town to recruit new Hotdoggers, the recent graduates who drive the vehicles around the country. Every year, around 1,500 people apply to become Hotdoggers and twelve are chosen. Penn State has been pretty successful in getting graduates into the program, with a Penn State grad being part of the program almost every year. This year there are 2 Penn State grads in the program. One of them, Mary Kate DeCoursey (Class of ‘09) is here with her colleague John Dobson (from the University of Missouri) to hold an information session for interested parties. I was able to sit down with them yesterday and ask them a few questions about their experiences driving a giant hot dog around the country.


Want to see what hard-hitting questions I ask these Hotdoggers? Read on to find out!

I’ll be frank – I hate State Patty’s Day. I feel as though it’s an unnecessary excuse to partake in destructive decisions. That does not, however, mean that I am opposed to the actual Saint Patrick’s Day, which as a person of Irish decent, I am required to celebrate.


State Patty’s Day was created four years ago when Saint Patrick’s Day fell during spring break, which, I will admit, created an issue. However, since 2007, the holiday has safely fallen after Spring Break, allowing for us to dress in green, line up at bars for poor quality alcohol with green food dye in it, and pretend to actually like gingers. Personally, I think that one of those days is enough, and the Town of State College will agree with me.


Read on to find out more.

Anybody who has a Twitter account probably knows about the big day that the THON Public Relations committee had on Friday. For the unenlightened, THON PR has been tweeting celebrities for the past few weeks asking them to help get the word out about THON. Their hard work paid off on Friday when Khloe Kardashian, of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, first tweeted about THON. She then promised to tweet back anybody who donated to the philanthropy. Jay Sean and Lindsay Lohan also helped out the cause be retweeting Kardashian’s comments. Not surprisingly, this had a huge impact on the number of followers THON had on Twitter as well as hits on THON.org.


I was able to get a hold of Elyse Adams, PR Overall, who gave me some information about how Khloe helped out THON. “It’s extremely exciting to have the support of someone like Khloe. She is helping us spread awareness about THON and pediatric cancer,” Adams wrote in an email. She elaborated by saying that, “on Friday, January 29th, @THON gained 1001 followers on Twitter between the hours of 1:29 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. (plus a few hundred more on Saturday)! Our makeshift video to thank Khloe received more than 6,000 hits in one day. And our YouTube channel received more than 5,000 hits.”


Read on after the jump for some more statistics from the day.

Jeff Dunham and his posse of puppets brought the house down on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center with their Identity Crisis Tour. Deftly mixing classic jokes with new material, Dunham had the crowd roaring throughout the entire show. His cast of puppets created a wide variety of jokes ranging from redneck jokes, to a bit about Angelina Jolie’s breasts, to Asian jokes.


Featuring an almost certainly unscripted section with Dunham’s opening act Guitar Guy, the show slowed down a bit, but Dunham was able to incorporate that into later parts of his show, with great success. Dunham stated during his encore, after discovering that the audience knew all of the punchlines to his jokes with Bubba J., that the show was “one of the weirder shows we’ve ever done.” Weird in a good way.


Dunham’s style has been criticized for being too politically incorrect, but still had the BJC filled and the crowd in hysterics. Dunham appears to enjoy performing here and the BJC seems to like having him. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes another appearance here in the upcoming years. My recommendation: If he comes back, go see it, you won’t be disappointed.


Check out pictures after the break.

Last night, each of THON’s fourteen committees sent forth a pair of Captains to compete in the first ever Mr. and Mrs. THON pageant, held in HUB Alumni Hall. The event, true to the spirit of THON, raised money FTK– $613.42 to be precise– but more than that, it showcased the contagious enthusiasm that will permeate the BJC in just three short weeks.


Based on the opening dance and their talent performances, three Captain pairs were chosen as finalists. The Captains from the Hospitality, OPPerations and Family Relations committees were named as the final three pairs. Steve Dodge and Jeannine Bradbury (OPPerations) were chosen as runners-up, and Jony Rommel and Dave Belliveau (Family Relations) were crowned Mr. and Mrs. THON 2010.


The contestants were judged by a panel consisting of Evan Royster, starting running back for the Nittany Lions; Lou “the mic guy” Defazio from the cheerleading squad; Justin Ross, Blue Band President; and Homecoming King and Queen, Greg Tallman and Cri Cri Henry. Overall Chair Caitlin Zankowski and THON Advisor Barry Bram hosted the event. The pageant also featured performances by the Overall Committee and a speech by a former Four Diamonds child turned Penn State nursing student and Morale committee member.

A question that always leads to some interesting debates.


Do executive officers of organizations deserve the amount of money that they receive every year?


On Wednesday, the Collegian reported that Penn State President Graham Spanier was ranked 6th nationally among public university presidents in terms of annual base salary for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. In total pay compensation Spanier ranks 18th among the same group.


My question to the Onward State community is whether his $590,000 salary is too much.

On Wednesday night in Eisenhower Auditorium campus leaders and members of the community celebrated the dynamic figure that was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Onward State was on hand for the celebration. Check out the photos from the event.

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to sit down for a few minutes with Women’s Volleyball Coach Russ Rose. Having grown up in a volleyball family, Coach Rose has always been somewhat of an idol for me. Being able to ask him some questions was pretty awesome.


But enough of me waxing poetic here, let’s get down to the good stuff. Read on if you want to find out about “the look”, the difficulties of recruiting volleyball players to chilly State College, beach/sand volleyball, and much more!

Yesterday we ran a story regarding Graham Spanier possibly being considered a candidate for the NCAA Presidency. However, the Centre Daily Times is reporting today that Spanier has ruled himself out as a candidate. He states in an email to the CDT, “I am aware that my name has been mentioned, and I have been approached about the possibility by a number of people, but I am not a candidate for the position.”


This is a good thing for Penn State… Spanier has done great things and losing him would be a blow to the school. And it’s not as if the NCAA doesn’t have plenty of other Presidents to choose from!

Penn State President Graham Spanier hasn’t been here for as long as JoePa has, but he’s become such a recognizable part of the University that I have a hard time envisioning Old State without him. Spanier has been University President since 1995 and was a member of the faculty from 1973-1982 before leaving for several administrator positions at other universities across the country.


Yesterday though, the Associated Press ran a story discussing who will succeed Myles Brand as NCAA President. Brand died of pancreatic cancer on September 16. The report names Dr. Spanier as a potential candidate for the NCAA Presidency. One of the main reasons is based on the fact that Dr. Brand had served as a University president before taking over the NCAA (University of Oregon [1989-1994] and Indiana University [1994-2002]). Brand’s tenure was marked by a commitment to improving the student-athlete experience by focusing more on academics and education (something Penn State has never had a problem with). Oregon State University President Ed Ray, who is in charge of finding a replacement for Brand, has hinted that his committee is leaning towards a University President.


The report names University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, NCAA executive Bernard Franklin, and Graham Spanier as possible candidates. Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman (a contemporary of Spanier’s), Hampton University president William Harvey, Molloy College president Drew Bogner, Widener University president James Harris and Weber State president Ann Millner make ou the rest of the committee in charge of selecting the new president, and are not considered viable candidates themselves.

It’s my sad duty to inform you of the death of a fellow Penn Stater.


Jaime Haney, 20, was killed on Monday afternoon while driving back from her Baltimore home to Penn State for the start of Spring Semester. The Bio-behavioral Health major wrote on her Facebook page that her lack of Monday classes was her reason for leaving for University Park on Monday instead of over the weekend. Facebook has subsequently pulled Miss Haney’s profile page, as per their policy.


She was traveling on Route 322 East when her car left the road and collided with a tree in Howe Township. She was pronounced dead at the scene by responding authorities. It is currently unknown why her car left the road, but authorities did say that she was wearing her seat belt. It is never enjoyable to write about the death of anyone, let alone someone so young in their life. The hearts of everyone here at Onward State go out to the friends and family of Miss Haney.

Everybody subscribed to PSUTXT  got this text message this morning. Do you think that this is the kind of thing that PSUTXT should be used for?

On Friday, award-winning and nationally-syndicated radio program This American Life aired a special on Penn State entitled “#1 Party School.” The program focused primarily, as the title would suggest, on Penn State’s recent “honor” of being named the number one party school in America, and the culture of drinking that has permeated the University and the State College community. The hour-long program interviews several prominent members of the Penn State community, including University President Graham Spanier and Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims, as well as several Penn State students and State College residents.
The report begins with one of the show’s …

For the third season in a row, Penn State’s Women’s Volleyball team is national champion. Going undefeated for the second straight season, the team won their record-setting 102nd straight match in a new fashion. Down 0-2 to #2 seed Texas, the team battled back to win the final three sets to take home the championship. The team hadn’t been down 0-2 since losing to Nebraska on September 2, 2007. Sporting 5 All-Americans and Player of the Year Megan Hodge, the team began the season ranked #1 and never let it go.
The victory gives Coach Russ Rose his 4th national championship. …

Last January, the New York City and Northern New Jersey chapters of the Penn State Alumni Association and the Dance Marathon Alumni Interest Group paired up to host the Hope Gala. The Hope Gala is a black tie optional dinner that helps raise money for the Penn State Dance Marathon (THON). Hosted at the legendary Capitale on Bowery Street, the $175/plate event will include a cocktail reception and silent auction in addition to a 3-course dinner. Last year, the event raised over $10,000 for THON.
This year the Gala has announced that former two-time All-American and three-time Pro-Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington …