Maybe you’ve heard that the Ritenour Building is having a contest to rename its east wing. Maybe you’ve heard a little section of the Colbert Nation here at PSU is trying to get it named after America’s ballsiest fake pundit.
Why, you ask? Well, if you’re not an avid Colbert follower, it’s hard to explain. This guy just loves putting on a conceited act and his viewers love to encourage it by doing things like voting online to name a Hungarian bridge after him, which he won with over 17 million votes. The Ambassador of Hungary presented Mr. Colbert with a declaration certifying him as the winner of the second and final round of voting, though it was later announced that the bridge would instead be named the Megyeri Bridge, as it couldn't be named after a living person.
Most recently, Colbert won a contest to name a room in the international space station after him, with write-in votes! NASA ultimately decided to name the room Tranquility, saying that the organization always had the right to choose an appropriate name. They did, however, name a treadmill after Colbert.
If you'd like to contribute your vote to the legacy of Stephen Colbert, visit the contest website until January 25th and make your voice heard for America’s greatest American.
One caveat, though.
The winning name will then be entered into the name pool which includes faculty and staff submissions. Dean Larson will choose the name for the center out of that group in late February, so ultimately the winner's submission may be the name of the new student center.
Let's hope Dean Larson is a member of the Colbert Nation.
LaVar Arrington will be hosting the second annual Hope Gala in New York City this weekend. The event, run by alumni groups from New York and New Jersey, raises money for THON and the Four Diamonds Fund.
The event website has more information about the event.
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!
"What if that CATA bus speeds up while I'm crossing the street? What if we have a pop quiz on the one day that I skip class?" As college students, we face risks on a regular basis, but so does the university itself.
Penn State Live recently profiled Gary Langsdale, Penn State's resident risk manager. He utilizes a corporate approach called Enterprise Risk Management and leads a team of employees who strive to make Penn State a safer place--in every aspect imaginable. Langsdale defines a risk as "any impediment to accomplishing institutional goals." Such impediments can pertain to data security, laboratory environments, pandemics, student behaviors, weather emergencies, and much more.
Langsdale and his team conducted 53 interviews throughout the university and identified over 100 possible risks. The top ten include the dangers of high-risk student drinking, the unique risks presented by running an academic medical center, and maintaining Penn State's reputation and the perceived quality of a Penn State degree. Check out the rest after the jump.
The best 3-day weekend has come and gone, which allowed for ample time to party study. Yesterday, there were quite a few students, professors, and members of the community who showed up bright and early to the HUB to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday(Penn State style!). Volunteers were given the option of serving the community in two ways:
Whether volunteers opted to go out to service sites and help or stay in the HUB and do service-to-go, it helped make the Penn State community a better place to live in, even if it was just for one day. Volunteers were rewarded justly though for their efforts though as they were given free t-shirts, free breakfast, AND a free lunch. As an added bonus, RAM Squad performed during the lunch break in Heritage Hall. Who says waking up early and doing community service on a Monday morning could be a waste of time? Not I. These memories will last forever (or until I throw out the free t-shirt).
If you are looking for more ways to get free stuff commemorate Dr. King, there are still 2 more events this week.
Some of you will be disappointed when I tell you that I'm not going to talk about the childhood game Foursquare in this post. I am, however, talking about the internet service called Foursquare that "gives you and your friends new ways of exploring your city."
It turns out that Harvard has teamed up with the company to create a index of ratings and reviews of local businesses as well as to promote collaboration between the different people living in and around the University.
I've seen a handful of people get into Foursquare, especially via Twitter. It seems like a pretty cool service and looks like it could take off, particularly in a college setting. It would definitely help spread the word about State College gems like Herwig's, Margarita's Pizzeria and the State Theatre, among others.
With enough users in State College, the service could create a veritable listing of awesome places to hang out, eat and drink study. Of course, this listing would be limited to the citizens of State College that are more technologically-minded at first. But if Foursquare grows to include many demographics like Facebook and Twitter have, the service would become infinitely more useful.
You can get signed up here. Let us know what you think of the service with a comment below.
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