Chief Lewis W. Sweigart, Jr. is the new chief of Penn State Brandywine Police and Security.

Chief Sweigart attended Eastern University and graduated in 1995.  After college he went to the Allentown Police Academy where he became a Pennsylvania certified police officer otherwise known as, ACT 120.

He then worked for the Pennsylvania Boat and Fish Commission.  Later, he worked for the Pennsylvania State Parks as a seasonal state park ranger and for the Pennsylvania State Capitol police in Harrisburg.

In 2003, Chief Sweigart began his Penn State career while working as a part-time police officer for Penn State Harrisburg.  He was hired full-time and began working for Penn State Mont Alto Police in 2009.   With ten years of service working for Penn State police departments, he was hired as Chief of Police for Penn State Brandywine Safety and Police Services this year.

His duties as Chief include running the police and security division of Penn State Brandywine.  Although he is the only police officer at this moment at Penn State Brandywine, he is currently looking to hire another full-time police officer.

Chief Sweigart is also looking to hire more Penn State security.

“I want to fade-out the current Allied Barton (the private security contractors that currently work at Penn State Brandywine) and hire Penn State staff for security,” Chief Sweigart said.

A current goal for the new chief is to make the campus safer with access cards on doors for certain areas in preparation for the future residence halls.

“My goal right now is to form and build the police department and bring us into compliance,”  Chief Sweigart said.

Chief Swigart has been a field training officer, firearms instructor and Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) instructor.  His office is located on the top floor of commons if anyone has any problems or concerns.

Eric Warner

Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, ehw5023@psu.edu

Dr. Kristin Woolever started her first official day in office as the new Chancellor for Penn State Brandywine on Tuesday, February 4.

Dr. Woolever took over the position from Dr. George Franz, who served as interim chancellor after Dr. Sophia Wisniewska left Brandywine to accept a position with the University of South Florida.

After just 90 minutes into her first day on campus, Dr. Woolever spent a half hour sitting down for an interview regarding her new position.

So who is Dr. Woolever? She joins Penn State Brandywine from Arizona, where she acted as President of Prescott College. Before that, she had high leadership roles in multiple colleges and universities in New Hampshire, Washington and elsewhere. However, she grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“It feels as if I’ve come home,” Woolever said.

When asked why she chose this campus for her next career move, her answer was easy.

“It’s Penn State for heaven’s sake!” Woolever said.

While Dr. Woolever is excited to join the “We Are!” family, she also commented that she likes the fact that Brandywine is “small but not too small,” and that the campus “has the potential to really fly.”

It’s without a doubt that a campus like Brandywine needs strong leadership to help it grow.  Dr. Woolever is excited about new challenges.

“Uniting folks here in a common purpose, building a team, and moving the campus to its fullest potential,” she said are her goals.

What direction is Brandywine headed? When asked about a 5-year plan, Dr. Woolever said that she hopes to grow the enrollment to 2,000 students. She is also eager for  campus housing at Brandywine.

Perhaps just as exciting for the students will be the addition of the Student Union Building that Dr. Woolever plans on adding to the campus. This building, similar to commons, will be a larger scale version containing a new cafeteria, a game room and probably most exciting to the students who participate in the larger clubs and organizations on campus such as THON and Student Government Association (SGA), a lot more large-sized meeting rooms for students to use.

“I want this to be a campus we are really proud of,” Dr. Woolever said.

Further commenting, she said she also wants to attend a lot of the sporting events to further that pride.  Dr. Woolever seems to have the right track mind for Brandywine.

“I really look forward to making this not just a 8:30-6 p.m. campus,” she said. “I want people to be here 24/7, and participate in things and make this a home for people.”

For the vast majority of students who usually don’t know who our campus Chancellor is, you should expect that to change.

“I intend to walk around and eat in the cafeteria as much as I possibly can,” she said.  “I want to meet at least once a month with the SGA. I’m going to force the students to know who I am.”

Dr. Woolever was eager to state her enthusiasm of joining the Brandywine family and she’s focused on teamwork.  She’s already hard at work.

Rosemarie Owoc

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Dr. Timothy Niiler is an exciting per­son with an impressive life resume.

From the University of Delaware, he earned a Ph.D. in Biomechanics and Move­ment Sciences and a B.S. in Physics. Addi­tionally, he earned an M.A. in Astronomy from Boston University.

Dr. Niiler continues his ties with Del­aware via A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, where his research involves determining the effects of various orthopedic interventions.

Dr. Niiler is a jack of many trades here at Bran­dywine, teaching students in the fields of Physics, As­tronomy and Tai Chi. The last is a course designed to introduce students to a traditional Chinese system of personal cultivation and self-defense. Of the courses Dr. Niiler teaches, the class he enjoys teaching most is the one that is not so common – Tai Chi.

“This is the one where I am interacting with students the most,” Niiler said.

Niiler enjoys this particular course because it involves more hands-on teaching, which makes it easier to con­nect and receive feedback from his students.

“I like it the best because you can see imme­diate progress and you are able to see day-to-day im­provements,” Niiler said.

A father of an 8-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter, Dr. Niiler has invested more than a decade in becoming a family man. His wife of 11 years is an in­structor as well at West Chester University. Of the many memories together, taking a trip to Spain and walking the Camino remains one of his fondest. Dr. Niiler’s life on a daily basis is generally busy and chaotic. However, being able to experience living life in another country, in a place where there are no obligations, Dr. Niiler was able to see life differently.

“You’re living day-to-day. You don’t have a calendar. When you are on the Comino…nothing.” Ni­iler said. “You’re carrying all the belongings you need. It sort of makes you wonder about all the other stuff.”

Dr. Niiler knows it is a luxury having been able to walk the Camino once, and being able to one day take another trip there is a future goal he hopes to ac­complish. But above all, having kids is his biggest ac­complishment in life.

“The fact that my kids seem to be mostly all right, I consider myself fortunate,” Niiler said.

Looking forward, Dr. Niiler not only wishes for his two children to be successful, he also hopes to improve his teachings and research.

“I want to communicate the enjoyment I find in a lot of material to students and become more of an accomplished researcher,” Niiler said.

Dr. Niiler expressed his interest in one of the more famous, motivating quotes in recent years.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond mea­sure.”

A quote meant to shed inspiration and light for people to become leaders and help those around them become leaders, Dr. Niiler certainly seems to have closely paid attention to the true meaning.

Daniel Hernandez, the intern who has been credited for saving the life of Congress­woman Gabrielle Giffords, stopped by the cam­pus on October 18 to speak to students about leading through adversity.

Hernandez began his conversation with the students by providing background about his life. He grew up in Arizona, and was born to a working class family. His mother was a Mexi­can immigrant who did not speak English well. His father was born in California.

Hernandez described his father as a, “Mexican redneck” because of his hardworking nature.

Hernandez knew from a young age that he wanted to help people; he originally thought he would do this by working in medicine, most likely as a doctor or a nurse.

After completing a high school nurs­ing course, Hernandez thought that to get into a good medical school he would need to diver­sify his resume. This was during the Presiden­tial primary races in 2008, so Hernandez joined the Hillary Clinton campaign, and made calls on the candidate’s behalf.

This was Hernandez’s first time work­ing in politics and he enjoyed working on the campaign, but took the loss hard, swearing to never work in politics again.

Two days later, Hernandez was con­tacted by people who worked for Gabrielle Gif­fords; he was initially reluctant, but accepted an internship on her campaign. This time the cam­paign was a success.

Eventually, Hernandez became an in­tern for Giffords’ office, and that is when Her­nandez’s life would change forever.

On January 8, 2011, Giffords planned to have an event in her Arizona district called Congress on Your Corner. The event was a chance for people who lived in her congressional district to come see their congresswoman in person, and get a chance to speak to her.

“[The event] was important to Gabby,” Hernandez said.

January 8, 20l1, however, would not be a normal Congress on Your Corner. Short­ly after the event started, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on the crowd. Loughner shot the congresswoman and 18 others before he was detained. Six of those people died.

After the shooting Hernandez ran over to the congresswoman, who had been shot in the head. He tried to get her to communicate, however, she couldn’t. He asked her to squeeze his hand if she understood him. He did every­thing he knew to do to keep her conscious.

Hernandez even looked out for her publicity in this desperate time. When the EMTs got to Giffords, they had to cut away her clothes to properly treat her.

“I covered her up,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t want someone to take a picture of her like that.”

After the shooting Hernandez became somewhat of a celebrity, and honored as a hero.

Hernandez told the students that the shooting did not change his political opinions, but it did change the way he handles certain sit­uations. He said he has less animosity towards people who disagree with him now, and he ap­proaches situations more calmly.

Hernandez’s message to the students at Brandywine was an interesting one. He did not give out any direct advice, but rather, left it up to students to take what he said and apply it to their daily lives.

Keith Petersen

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, rkp5118@psu.edu

October wrapped up Fair Trade month.  And while many people have no idea what fair trade entails, the work of some Brandywine students and facility members is hoping to change that.

Penn State Brandywine became a Fair Trade Campus on May 12, 2012.

Fair Trade is an organized social movement that intends to help producers in developing countries to make better trading conditions and promote sustainabil- ity. According to those who promote Fair Trade, goods are exactly what it says–fair.  Proponents want farmersand workers justly compensated.

According to www.fairtradeusa.org, “Fair Trade USA Fair Trade is a nonprofit organization that certifies transactions between U.S. companies and their international suppliers to guarantee that the farmers and workers producing Fair Trade Certified goods are paid fair prices and wages.”

On campus, this Trailblazer group started from the independent study of one student, Abbey Dufoe and Associate Professor of Earth Science, Dr. Laura Guertin. It was then decided to get more students, faculty and admin­istrators involved so that the Brandywine campus could gain Fair Trade Status as a University.

Head of Fair Trade at Penn State Brandywine Christina Olear describes the work she’s most proud of when it comes to educating other students.

“The event that we are most proud of on campus was when the Trailblazers hosted an event with a speaker from Di­vine Chocolate (A Fair Trade Organization) with choco­late samples for the audience,” Olear said.

“Also, last year our two day t-shirt swap of gently worn t-shirt for brand new Fair Trade Penn State T-shirts (Alta Gracia).

We re­ceived over 237 t-shirts which were donated to those in need. We helped spread the word of Fair Trade while also helping those in our own country who are less fortunate.”

Olear says there are a number of different reasons why students, not just from Brandywine campus, but all over the nation, should get involved with this service club. She says club positively impacts the lives of others by simply choosing one product over another. Fair Trade awareness helps students to comprehend important issues happening all over the world.

“While learning more about the world, we hope to facili­tate a passion to help others and to promote gratitude for the blessings in our own lives,” Olear said.

The on-campus group hopes with Fair Trade, the money people spend on day-to-day goods can improve an entire community’s day-to-day economy. To help Penn State Brandywine with this cause, go to: www.facebook.com/ psubwfairtrade. The Penn State Trailblazers group also has a blog: pennstatebrandywinefairtrade.wordpress.com

 Victoria Marotta

Lion’s Eye Editor, vim5121@psu.edu