All this week we will be highlighting the Interfraternity Council’s rush events. This is part four of a five part series.

With Thursday comes Zone 4 of the Interfraternity Council’s Rush Week.

The chapters in Zone 4 are: Alpha Rho Chi, Alpha Zeta, Beta Theta Pi, Delta Theta Sigma, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Kappa Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Lambda Beta, Sigma Nu, Triangle
Sigma Nu
340 N Burrowes Street
Slip & Slide, BBQ
www.SigmaNuPennState.org

Sigma Alpha Epsilon
200 E. Beaver Ave.
BBQ Meet and Greet
www.saepsu.com

Alpha Zeta
360 N. Burrowes
Ag Fraternity Hosting Cook-out and Horseshoes
http://www.greeks.psu.edu/ifc/az

Triangle Fraternity
226 E Beaver Ave, State College PA
Casino Night
www.psutriangle.org

Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI)
319 N. Burrowes St.
BBQ, Football, Music
www.psufiji.org

Delta Theta Sigma
101N Patterson St
Home cooked dinner (6p), tailgating games
www.greeks.psu.edu/ifc/dts

All this week we will be highlighting the Interfraternity Council’s rush events. This is part three of a five part series.

Wednesday brings us to Zone 3.

The chapters in Zone 3 are: Pi Kappa Phi, Delta Chi, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Delta Rho, Phi Kappa Tau, Phi Kappa Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Chi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Delta Chi, Tau Phi Delta

Below are some of the houses in Zone 3 having events tonight.

Tau Phi Delta
427 East Fairmount Ave
BBQ, Horseshoes, open house
Tauphidelta.org

Kappa Delta Rho
420 East Prospect Ave
Open house/ meet & greet
www.kdrpennstate.com

Theta Delta Chi
305 East Prospect Ave.
Rushapalooza
sigmatriton.org

Pi Kappa Alpha
417 East Prospect Avenue
BBQ & House Tours,  Outdoor Games
psupikes.com

Delta Chi
424 E. Fairmont ave
Cookout, wiffle ball, cornhole
Greeks.psu.edu/ifc/dx

Delta Sigma Phi House

All this week we will be highlighting the Interfraternity Council’s rush events. This is part two of a five part series.

The second day of Rush Week brings us to a new group of fraternities, and with it a new series of events.

It is important for us to point out that attendance at events being put on by fraternities during the Zone process does not require registration or attendance at an information session. They are open to all interested parties and can be viewed as open house events. However, in order to be considered for a bid, rushes must be registered with IFC and have attended one of the information sessions.

The following fraternities are in Zone 2: Acacia, Alpha Phi Delta, Beta Sigma Beta, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Delta Sigma Phi, Kappa Sigma, Phi Mu Delta, Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Tau Gamma, Theta Chi, Zeta Psi.

Zeta Psi
225 East Foster Avenue
Open House meet and greet BBQ
www.pisigmazetes.org

Phi Sigma Kappa
501 South Allen Street
Food, football, music, and volleyball
www.psu.edu/greeks/ifc/psk

Delta Kappa Epsilon
232 East Nittany Ave
BBQ, Volleyball and Lawn Games
www.psudke.com

Acacia
234 Locust Lane
The Ultimate Tailgate
www.acaciapennstate.com

All IFC fraternities have been split up into 4 zones, with each night (Monday-Thursday) being designated to a specific zone. The zone system was designed to allow rushes to get maximum exposure to fraternities, helping to ensure that rushes have the opportunity to see as many chapters as possible.

The following fraternities are in zone 1 and will be holding events this evening: Alpha Chi Rho, Alpha Gamma Rho, Alpha Kappa Lambda, Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Upsilon, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Pi Lambda Phi, Sigma Pi, Tau Delta Phi, Zeta Beta Tau, Phi Kappa Theta.

We’ve been given some information on a few events taking place tonight;

Phi Kappa Psi
403 Locust Lane
BBQ and Volleyball
www.phipsipsu.com

Alpha Gamma Rho
322 Fraternity Row
Open House/cook out
http://www.agr-gamma.com

Delta Upsilon
229 Locust Lane
BBQ, Ping Pong and Football
http://www.pennstatedu.com/

Check back tomorrow for more information on events at other fraternities.

Baver, a Class of 2003 graduate of Penn State Berks, won the bronze medal in the 3000-meter short track relay event at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Dj Ryan, Alumni Relations Director, said in a press release that “She was chosen not only for her athletic accomplishments, but for her willingness to continually give back to aspiring young athletes.”

Every year, one distinguished alumnus is selected to represent the university during Homecoming Week as the Grand Marshal. The Grand Marshal is the highest honor given to an alumnus as part of the Homecoming celebrations.

Campus leaders such as Christian Ragland (University Park Undergraduate Association president), Max Wendkos (Interfraternity Council president) and Kirsten Kelly (THON overall chair) spoke about their respective organizations and how they fit into the fabric of the University. Attendees were entertained with performances from the Penn State Blue Band, the Glee Club, the cheerleading team, and the Lionettes dance team.

The keynote speaker of the event was the head coach of the women’s volleyball team, Russ Rose. Rose spoke about the importance of getting involved on campus and encouraged students to attend volleyball games. All in all a fine introduction for the class of 2014.

Following the Nittany Lions in the top five are Nebraska, Texas, Stanford and Hawaii. Big Ten foes Illinois and Minnesota are tied for 6th. Below are the complete rankings.

Blue Ridge Communications and Armstrong Communications remain the only major cable providers in Pennsylvania that have yet to offer the Big Ten Network. The offer for those switching to DirecTV is below.

• $85/month for the first 5 months for 225 channels, including Big Ten Network, NFL Sunday Ticket and HBO
• $108/month for months 6-24.
• 2 regular free receivers, 2 HD receivers with DVR
• No start-up costs, equipment to buy or installation fees.
• Local channels included

If someone is interested in signing up for DirecTV, but isn’t sure, the local DirecTV retailer should be able to offer:

• 32-inch HDTV
• Refer a friend program. New customer will receive $100 gift card if he or she refers a friend who also signs up. The friend also will receive a $100 gift card

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Executive vice president and provost of the University, Rod Erickson, told Penn State Live that, “in the process of searching nationally, we found that we had an outstanding leader already at the helm. Dr. Hall has done an exemplary job as interim dean. He has the right vision, values and drive to enhance the college in the years ahead.”

Hall has been with the IST since 2001, and has served as associate dean for research and graduate programs and was the founding director of the Center for Network-Centric Cognition and Information Fusion. Prior to joining the IST faculty, he headed the Information and Network Systems office within Penn State’s Applied Research Lab.

O’Keefe served as Associate Professor of Business and as the Dean of the Graduate School at Penn State from 1993-1996, and is currently the CEO of The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) North America. O’Keefe is one of the most well known former Penn Staters, having served as the Secretary of the Navy, NASA administrator, and Chancellor of Louisiana State University.

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President Spanier spoke to CNN about why the US rate is so low compared to other developed nations. He believes that the US isn’t lagging, but that the rest of the “world is catching up to us.” He also notes that “90% of the 4000 colleges and universities in the Unites States will admit practically anyone with a high school degree, which means that many students are unprepared for college.” Which would attribute to low graduation numbers.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates weighs in saying that he believes that “place-based college education will be 5 times less important in the future.” President Spanier agrees stating that “the single greatest unrecognized trend in higher education is hybrid learning, melding web-based learning with traditional classroom based teaching.” His opinion is easily shown by the number of web classes offered by Penn State, both at the physical campuses and through the World Campus.

“Rarely has the award been made to someone who has personified sportsmanship on the field of play and academic achievement in the classroom,” Thompson wrote in the letter.  “It is our hope, that this year the Medal of Freedom does just that by honoring Joe Paterno for his contribution to the coaching of football, his commitment to the academic integrity of the young men under his charge, and his deep dedication to education in general.”

Seventeen additional bipartisan signatures were included in the letter, mainly from the Pennsylvania delegation. Thompson listed Paterno’s many accomplishments in the letter.  “He has amassed nearly 400 wins, more than any other coach in Division I history.  His program has never been on probation.  There has never been an accusation of corrupt recruiting and, in what is depressingly rare, his players stay in school and graduate.”

With increasing pressure from the public for Congress to focus on more substantive legislation, the question becomes, should the Pennsylvania delegation be requesting an award for JoePa in times like this?

[Press Release | Pic]

Last April, State College Police Sergent Bill Muse was driving down Beaver Avenue when Penn State student Kevin Ignatuk jumped out into the street. Sgt. Muse was traveling at 36 miles per hour (in the rain) on Beaver Avenue, which has a speed limit of 25mph, and was unable to stop his police SUV, hitting Ignatuk. Ignatuk had to be airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries.

Shortly after the crash, Pennsylvania State Police charged Sgt. Muse with driving too fast in poor conditions. Yesterday however, a Blair County judge found Muse not guilty of the charges, following the testimony of two crime scene reconstructionists. Both experts, one from the State Police and the other privately hired by Muse’s defense, came to the conclusion that Sgt. Muse would have struck Ignatuk even had he been traveling at 20mph, 5mph below the posted speed limit. Based on the testimony, District Judge Fred Miller decided to throw out the charges against Sgt. Muse.

The ruling angered many, who accused the courts of protecting the State College Police in an instance where they were blatantly at fault. The ruling that Sgt. Muse would have hit Ignatuk even if he hadn’t been speeding doesn’t change the fact that Sgt. Muse was still speeding. Does the fact that Ignatuk was drunk and acting stupidly clear Sgt. Muse of the fact that he was still breaking the law as well?

[Photo Credit: Tom Provenzano]

According to Cleverly + Associates, a health care consulting firm, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center can be considered one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States. Cleverly + Associates uses a proprietary methodology called the Community Value Index to rank hospitals which considers the value the hospital adds to its community. The Index takes into consideration factors such as financial strength and reinvestment, cost of care, pricing and quality. Penn State Hershey was also awarded the Community High Value Five-Star distinction by scoring in the top 20 percent among high-intensity teaching hospitals. The hospital was one of six from Pennsylvania to make the list.

The ranking is good news for one of the primary hospitals in the Central Pennsylvania region, but unfortunately the numbers don’t quite match up with the recently released US News and World Report Best Hospitals report. According to US News, Penn State Hershey cannot be considered one of the top 100 hospitals in any specialty. This includes, surprisingly, pediatric oncology, which is of course where all of the funding from THON is directed.

That being said, the US News report did show that Penn State Hershey rates above the national average in regards to patient satisfaction, which is what should be really considered. Our city slicker neighbors to the east and west, however, can both boast hospitals named to the Honor Roll, having achieved Top 100 rankings in at least 6 specialties. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia was ranked the 9th best hospital in the United States with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center coming in at 13th. For the 20th year in a row Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore was ranked as the best hospital in the US.

Either way you slice it though, Penn State Hershey continues to offer a level of patient care that is above the national average, and only stands to get better with the completion of the new Children’s Hospital building.

[Source]

Photographer Steve McCurry is known as one of the world’s finest image makers, whose pictures have graced the cover of dozens of magazines. One such image is Afghan Girl (below), regarded by many to be the greatest image ever published in National Geographic Magazine. McCurry is a graduate of the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture. When McCurry heard that Kodak would be ending production of Kodachrome, he and National Geographic contacted Kodak and asked for the last roll to come off the production line. McCurry spent 2 months capturing 36 images in New York City, India (where some of McCurry’s most iconic images were made) and Parsons, Kansas.

You might be asking, “Why Parsons, Kansas?” The answer lies with the film. Kodachrome is a notoriously difficult film to process, so much so that there is currently only one place in the entire world that still develops it. Dwayne’s Photo Service in Parsons, Kansas is that one place. The last 3 frames of the roll were shot in Parsons. “It’s definitely the end of an era,” McCurry told the Wichita Eagle. “It [Kodachrome] has such a wonderful color palette … a poetic look, not particularly garish or cartoonish, but wonderful, true colors that were vibrant, but true to what you were shooting.”

The photos, and the journey behind them, will be published in National Geographic sometime in spring 2011.

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