On Wednesday, the State College Planning Commission reviewed a new version of a temporary use provision (which will be voted on at the nest meeting), as the Commission is considering allowing fraternities that have disbanded to live in their houses for up to two years while the chapter regains its foundation. The Daily Collegian reported:

According to the proposal, disbanded fraternities could temporarily classify themselves as a rooming house for two years, after which the landowner will decide what happens to the property. For on-campus fraternities, the university could seize the property.

The proposed policy also states that the “building ownership entity” or a “local alumni association member” that is in charge of the property itself must reside within 25 miles of State College in case any problems take place. The policy also stated that the disbanded fraternity has to apply for a permit allowing the chapter house to be temporarily used as a rooming house within 120 days of the fraternity’s disbandment.

A quartet of wealthy alumni just donated $2.5 million to the Penn State University Libraries. This gift set a new donation record and will support the Pattee Library’s new Knowledge Commons.


A major upcoming renovation, the Knowledge Commons will act as an information technology center within the library. Jeanette and John R. McWhirter and Ann and Peter G. Tombros are the generous donors behind these funds. Read the Penn State Live article for the details regrading their fascinating (and financially rewarding) career trajectories.


In addition to the joint gift of $2.5 million, the Tombros couple has offered $1.4 million to improve the University Libraries’ collections of Classics and Greek Literature.


This fortunate turn of events is excellent news for our libraries. May the manifestations of these gifts expand our knowledge as university students.

The Penn State Alumni Association has a section on their website called the Online HUB. Despite what you may assume, this site has nothing to do with the Hetzel Union Building and not a whole lot to do with Alumni. What the website does offer are “fun downloads”. This includes desktop themes, digital copies of various Penn State songs, ringtones, and the lyrics to many Penn State songs.


Thanks to this website, it appears that washed-up alumni can now relive their college glory days – on their computer! I decided to try out one of the desktop themes, so I downloaded it, unzipped the contents, and saw this text file:

This is the new Penn State University theme for Microsoft Windows 95 under the use of PLUS!

Apparently, PLUS! is a program that Microsoft discontinued with the introduction of Windows XP. So unless you’re running Windows 95 (anyone?), these desktop themes aren’t very much use to you. Oh well, at least their site doesn’t look like a 90’s Geocities page.

In December 2005, alumni and friends of Penn State donated $44.4 million. Sounds like a lot, right? This past December, those alumni and friends donated over $58 million, setting a new fundraising record (in a single month) for Penn State.


President Spanier had the following comment, according to Penn State Live: “Our donors continue their loyalty to Penn State, and we are most grateful to each of them for their exceedingly generous support, which is essential to the University’s future.”


Of the December total, 31,000 donors gave over 37,000 gifts. Eleven of these gifts surpassed $1 million.


Penn State hopes that this new record will fit into an upcoming crescendo of gift-giving, culminating in the “For the Future” campaign, a fundraising initiative beginning on April 23, 2010. The campaign emphasizes education affordability for students of modest means.


Will the recession impact this year’s donations? Slim personal budgets may cause donors to purchase necessities rather than partake in philanthropy. However, let’s hope our wonderful alumni choose to give back to dear old State.

I don’t know if you guys have heard of this movement on campus to get tree swings put up but it sounds awesome.


The idea came to Samuel Borchers and Stephanie Herbstritt after swinging around on one at a local college by Sam’s home town. Initially, the two planned on buying the materials themselves and having friends help them install the swings under the cover of night, but eventually they decided they wanted the swings to stay hung once they were up, so the duo took their plan public.

Or is the Penn State alumni association really just that expansive? The website Very Small Array recently designed a special map of Park Slope in New York City (“brave, bourgiest corner of Bourgie Brooklyn”, says Gawker), a hipster haven, music mecca, indie asylum. This map has all the streets in the Park Slope area, but the street names have been changed to the names of the colleges found on the rear windows of the cars parked there (maybe). Not surprisingly, Penn State is one of the largest names on this map, along with most of the ivies. What divine knowledge can we glean from this information?

Penn State (and a large part of Onward State’s readers/writers) has a large, under-appreciated hipster population
Penn State graduates are some of the only people who care enough to put a PSU sticker in their rear windshield
Being included with these other prestigious schools CLEARLY shows that Penn State doesn’t get the proper respect that they deserve as an academic juggernaut
This website could be a little biased

Take what you want from this map. Regardless of any revelations you come to, it’s a pretty cool project by someone with clearly too much time on their hands, and it amused me (and hopefully you) for a solid minute. Not bad.

Penn State grad Dan Shemesh has been named Director of Grounds for Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls. Shemesh graduated in 2003 from the College of Agricultural Sciences with a degree in Turfgrass Management, which covers both the scientific study of grass and also the business side, like running athletic complexes or a golf course. Basically, the Turf School grads are the biggest grass gurus this side of the Mississippi. Except maybe Willie Nelson.


Shemesh will head all operations pertaining to both the field at Red Bull Arena, set to open this year, which is one of the few, new soccer-specific stadiums in the U.S. He will also be in charge of the planned massive six-field training facility. The field surface of the Arena is a natural Kentucky Bluegrass, as opposed to artificial AstroTurf or FieldTurf surfaces that seem to be the prevailing trend with newly-constructed as well as existing stadiums. The team played in Giants Stadium through the end of the 2009 season.


Shemesh has already racked up an impressive résumé to this point. Not only has he served for the past seven years as the Sports Field Director for the Philadelphia Eagles, but he has also worked for the Phillies and the denizens of Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots and New England Revolution.


So maybe this will give you all a reason to actually watch the oft-neglected MLS for once.

Two senior lecturers from the the College of Communications, Maura Shea and her husband Rod Bingaman, have produced a film called Chasing Butterflies ,coming to DVD December 22.
This film  follows a run-away bride, Nina (Amy Brienes). Her mother (Maria Cellario) shockingly winds up marring the groom (Gabriel Vaughan) in her place, then the two newly-weds hit the road to search for the missing bride. What a zany romp!
The HD film was actually shot locally in 2006. The entire crew of “Chasing Butterflies” was comprised of Penn State alumni and students. How cool is that?
The film will be available for purchase and rental from most …

This coming Sunday (December 13th), 14 new members will be initiated into the Penn State chapter of Delta Upsilon. This new membership reinstates the chapter at Penn State after the chapter’s alumni corporation closed the fraternity this past summer due to party violations.
On July 28, 2009, the members of Delta Upsilon were officially evicted from the chapter house by their alumni corporation. The eviction was the result of a 2 year investigation by the alumni, after DU member Justin Parent died in his off-campus apartment from a drug overdose.
This fall, members of Kappa Delta Rho occupied the house while the …

Over the weekend, Jeffry Picower, 67, was found at the bottom of his mansion pool in West Palm Beach Florida by his wife, Barbara. She and her house keeper were able to pull the man accused of making more than $7 billion off of the infamous Madoff ponzi schemes from the water and get him to the hospital where he died shortly thereafter. Monday’s autopsy report revealed Picower suffered a heart attack before drowning. Toxicology reports pending, the Palm Beach Police Department has closed the case and suspects no news.
Picower is said to have been the biggest beneficiary of Madoff’s …

Showing your Penn State pride always looks good, no matter if it’s in State College or Karbala.
Do you have a picture of Penn State students or alumni representing the Blue and White somewhere cool? Send it to tips@onwardstate.com with the subject ‘Penn State Everywhere’.

The Collegian is at its worst during summer session, when the candidate corps is an avowedly less academic group of summer session students and the bulk of its editing army is off in exotic locales such as New York and Washington.
But the Collegian’s worst is our favorite. There’s nothing better than a nice fluff piece to enjoy over a morning cup of coffee.
Last week, the Collegian published an especially good story about an alumnus living in Bar Harbor, Maine. From one of my preppy sources up north, I found out that Bar Harbor is a natty enclave tucked within Acadia …

The blog at Penn State’s alumni magazine had a post about Steve McCurry, the alumnus photographer who shot the famous Afghan Girl picture… it got us interested in the whole story, so here it is.
Kodachrome
First, some technical stuff… see, the photograph was shot using Kodak Kodachrome film. Kodak announced the discontinuation of that film type on Monday. To honor the famous film, Kodak asked some famous photographers who had used it to shot the last remaining rolls.
Since Steve McCurry’s picture of the Afghan Girl is one of the most iconic images of our time, he was one of the selected …

Steven Levy, who got his Master’s Degree from Penn State in 1974 recently returned from a trip to Iraq.  Serving as the embedded journalist for a delegation made up of executives from major technology companies, Levy published an article about his experience.
His article describes how representatives from Google, Twitter, YouTube, Wordpress and AT&T among others were outfitted with body armor and helmets to travel outside the Green Zone (the part of Baghdad heavily fortified with military forces).
The idea is to use the brains of this small collective to give ideas to Iraqi government officials, companies and users that will help …

This Saturday, just after 4 PM, the 2009 NFL Draft will begin. The eight Penn State players who attended the NFL Combine in February have some expectation of getting drafted. But what exactly goes on as these players’ pro aspirations hang in the balance? We caught up with former Nittany Lion and current NFL linebacker Tim Shaw to get an insider’s look at the draft.
Tim originally came to Happy Valley as a running back, was converted to linebacker to play alongside Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor, and eventually worked as a speed-oriented defensive end during his senior season. He was …