Last night's UPUA meeting was nothing short of extraordinary. It was the last meeting for the 7th Assembly, and they made sure to make the most of it by passing fifteen pieces of legislation.
Onward State introduced Sneezy the Penn State Squirrel to the world last fall and it's been Sneezy mania ever since. Penn State's favorite squirrel has taken the world by storm, appearing in international media and running a popular Facebook fan page. But I guess they say you haven't really made it until they write a song about you.
As a new program for the Class of 2017, University Park is implementing a common reading program, called Penn State Reads. The first book of the program will be Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times, by author Eyal Press. Students will be expected to be prepared for discussions and events planned around the book when they arrive in the fall. But here's the thing: It's not as part of a class, and there is no real way of making a program set up like this mandatory. So will anyone actually do it?
What's HackPSU? Think of the hacking scene -- minus the tequila shots, sorry -- from the from the Social Network; add 160 (and counting) entrepreneurs from Penn State, UPenn, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Illinois, and Pitt; and, for good measure, throw in Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman along with other Silicon Valley big shots as judges for the event.
With the Penn State Board of Trustees election coming up next month, it's anyone's guess as to which three candidates of the 39 running will win.. The most powerful group aimed at reforming the Board of Trustees -- Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship -- is likely to have significant influence on the outcome of the election. The group claims more than 18,000 members worldwide, and considering that just over 37,000 ballots were cast last year during an election that will most likely have the highest voter turnout ever, the group's endorsement should hold some weight.
TEDxPSU is heading into its fourth year of existence, but the organization has already established itself as an annual "must attend" event for active members of the Penn State community. Yesterday's third annual TEDxPSU: "Yesterday's Frontiers, Tomorrow's Horizons" reinforced that statement more than ever before.