Month: October 2014

Tierney Time at Brandywine

Posted By under Campus News ,

It’s not every day that a person can show strong life resiliency when dealt a bad deck of cards. One of three Brandywine chemistry teachers, John Tierney has been able to overcome unfortunate circumstances that has turned into remarkable success thus far at the age of 64.

Tierney is very well known around the Brandywine campus, as he is in the midst of his thirty-first year as one of Brandywine’s family members. Born in London to Irish parents, Tierney moved to the United States in 1974 after teaching two years in the UK, with the hopes of advancing his teaching career.

“I wanted to teach at Temple because I knew Philadelphia was a place where I could study chemistry and grow,” Tierney said.

While living in London as a child, Tierney attended a secondary school which consisted of a school made up of students ages 11-18. As an 11-year old, Tierney began to take chemistry classes, which would later become the gateway to pursuing a career as a chemistry teacher.

“I started doing chemistry from age 11,” said Tierney. “I had good teachers. They made it enjoyable.”

Tierney first became a Brandywine faculty member in 1983. However, from 1999-2001, Tierney took a break from teaching and worked for a pharmaceutical company. He later realized that he preferred the teaching environment over working in pharmaceutics.

“There are worse politics in that industry than here (teaching),” he said. “It’s always been a pleasant experience with the students (at Brandywine).”

In choosing Brandywine, Tierney said he “fell into” a teaching position at Brandywine. Tierney was sitting in the chem department at Temple at the time when the University received a call from Ed Tomesko who was searching for an employee for a part-time job at Brandywine.

It’s been smooth-sailing for Tierney ever since – up until 2008 when Tierney had his first traumatic experience.

Something was suddenly wrong with the feeling in Tierney’s ears while sitting at home on the computer, so with the feeling of worry, he and his wife immediately headed to the hospital to figure out the problem. It was discovered that while sitting at home with the feeling that his ear was being filled with large amounts of water, he experienced sudden sensorineural hearing loss, or SSHL. SSHL happens when a person loses hearing very quickly, in which it can happen instantly or over a span of several days. In Tierney’s case, the impact was immediate.

“I realized one second I could hear and I was typing on the computer, and another second I couldn’t hear and it was like my ear was filling up with water.”

Tierney has been living partially deaf for the last 6 years, not being able to hear out of his left ear. However, the experience has made him humble and more sensitive to others who have disabilities.

“I’m much more empathetic with people with any sort of disability now, not that I wasn’t empathetic before. It has just sort of hit home.”

Being partially deaf has had no effect on the measure of success he has had over the course of his adult life. He recently started coaching rowing at Unionville High School, the school in which his youngest daughters is currently enrolled. Since he was a teenager, Tierney has been passionate about rowing, as this year marks his fiftieth year attached to the sport.

Perhaps what’s even more impressive than that is what Tierney has done in that remarkable span of 50 years as a rower. Tierney rowed at an elite level in international competitions. He has been involved in the U.S. Olympic rowing team as a team leader and team coach. Assuming the role as a team leader gives him the power to speak for the team. Tierney has participated in the Pan Am games in 1991 and the Barcelona Olympics 1992, respectively. However, one of Tierney’s most gratifying moments came when he helped someone else make it big in the Olympics.

“One of the biggest thrills was coaching a 42-year old woman (from 1990-1991) who went on to win a silver medal,” said Tierney. She competed in a two-person boat in a women’s lightweight event, won trials, and made the Pan Ams team in 1991.

As a teacher, though, Tierney wishes to educate his students that the concept of chemistry impacts how we live our lives.

“I’m hoping they show an appreciation of how much the world around them is impacted by chemistry. That’s the major thing…I’m trying to challenge students to think critically – and hopefully by the end of the semester, the students will be the ones asking me the questions.”

To Tierney, the most important thing is to see his students live in each moment, seize the day, and follow what they are most passionate about.

“I think students should follow their passion,” he said. “The thing is, I often see that students in programs because their parents want them to be in them and they are doing it to please their parents. You’ll end up being miserable in life if you’re not doing what you’re passionate about.”

And for Tierney, sticking to his passions has lead him pretty far in life – that and refusing to let any obstacle get the best of him.

Text Alert

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Texting has become the best way for young adults to communicate. Many people argue that it might be killing the English language. A lot of articles associate texting with a negative vibe but Penn State University has used texting to its advantage by helping out the students, faculty and staff. Penn State created an emergency text alert system that’s designed to help those who have signed up for the service.

It helps by delivering direct notifications to phones that are linked into the alert system. The messages will include everything from school closings, danger that’s happening on campus. Penn State University encourages every student to sign up for these free services. If you don’t have a cell phone number you can follow the PSUalert messages on Facebook and twitter. If you decide not to have text message alerts. You can choose to have the notifications delivered by email, or have an automated voice message delivered to the number you register with.

The alert system had helped many students in the previous years. Including a Penn State student Ayesha Siddiqua. She depended on the text alert system to notify her when the campus was closed due to weather related issues.

“The option to add three different numbers to the notification system was very helpful for my mother and father to stay notified of any emergencies that occurred on campus,” Siddiqua said.

The process to join the Penn State Emergency Alert system is fairly easy. You can log on to the webpage at www.psualert.psu.edu/psualert/ where it will show you step by step instructions on how to get registered for this free serve offered by the Penn State University. In order to sign for the service you must have a Penn state password and email. After you sign in with the email you choose how you want be notified, following with the campus you would wish to get notified by.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Irfan Qureshi, iwq5004

New Face of Brandywine Basketball

Posted By under Sports ,

New faces are constantly popping up all over campus this year. Incoming freshman, transfer students, international students, and now, a new head basketball coach.

Coach Richburg has been coaching for a long time now, both at the collegiate and high school level. The new head coach is stepping into unfamiliar shoes, considering the fact that it is his first head coaching job at the collegiate level.

Luckily, Coach Richburg had the honor to be an assistant to William “Speedy” Morris. Speedy Morris is a retired college basketball coach who led the La Salle University Explorers to four NCAA tournament appearances and has the most wins in school history with 238. Currently Morris coaches’ high school basketball for St. Joe’s PREP, where he earned the most wins in the Philadelphia Catholic League.

“Speedy was my mentor and he taught me how to manage a team,” Richburg said.

Along with Coach Richburg, the basketball players are very excited to start the season. They seem to have total confidence in the new coach.

“I think Coach understands the game,” Chris Lyons, a basketball recruit for Penn State Brandywine, said. “He probably has a couple tricks up his sleeve from coaching with Speedy at St. Joe’s PREP.”

The men’s Brandywine team will have their first home basketball game on November 23 at 3:00PM against Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Richburg is making sure his team is in peak condition for the season to start by having the team run on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.

Besides being assistant coach at a great school for basketball, St. Joe’s PREP, Coach Richburg was the assistant coach at Rosemont College. Overall, Coach Richburg seems very suitable for the job and is confident that his team will do big things this year, as long as they come to compete every game.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Terracne Quinn, tpq5004@psu.edu

iPhone 6: A Bite Out of the New Apple

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Known for its slogan “bigger than bigger,” the iPhone 6 is arguably the most anticipated Apple product of the year.

The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus are the eighth generations of the iPhone, entering the market at only 6.9 millimeters thick.  The retina HD screen and wider viewing angle make this phone’s display distinctly different from others.

Photographers can plan on getting excited about a phone that is one step closer to becoming a cellular single-lens reflex (SLR). Phase detection autofocus gives the photos a more professional feel while noise reduction will help capture polished and more illuminated photos.

Apple is known for consistently releasing new products that compete with other pieces of technology on the market. When will Apple reach the peak of its technological advances?

“Never,” Bailey Phillips, a PSU Brandywine student, said, “They’ll keep throwing products at us, and we’ll keep buying them!”

Although the brand new Apple products most likely do not surprise the public, they always excite the public. Many customers camped outside of Apple stores across the country for days before the scheduled release, with hopes of becoming the firsts to own the brand new iPhone. Selling over 4 million phones within the first 24 hours of sale, Apple has raked in over $800 million.

In spite of its record-breaking sales, not everyone is elated about the new technology advance.

 

“If you buy the new iPhone, they’ll just update it next year and you will fall into the trap of needing another,” Anthony Felizardo, a quantum cosmology major at PSU Brandywine said, “Apple hasn’t been revolutionary since (Steve) Jobs unraveled the original iPhone.”

Regardless of conflicting opinions over the newest release, when the iPhone 6 comes back in stock on September 19, there is no doubt that Apple will continue to rake in millions of dollars from customers who are desperate to get their hands on the ripest new Apple.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Jaden Bedwell, jhb5228@psu.edu

 

 

New faces on Campus

Posted By under Campus News ,

Penn State University is a leader of college education and graduate readiness, for the working world, according to U.S. News and the Wall Street Journal. A huge reason for the success can be attributed to the devotion and excellence of the professors.

This semester at Brandywine, to add to that list of exceptional professors, are some new faces on campus.

Professor Karen Theveny is an instructor of communications. She graduated from West Chester University and got her MBA from Widener University.

Her decision to go into communications was assisted by her college advisor, who helped her evaluate her weaknesses and strengths. Loving writing and wanting to do corporate work, but not knowing this would translate into corporate work, led to the selection of communications as a major.

The administration at Neumann University, which is where she worked before coming to Brandywine, needed someone to teach communication courses. Because her daughter was young and she wanted to come away from working full time in the public relations area, Professor Theveny took the position. She loved it, and that is what led her to teach.

“Looking back on my path, I see that from the beginning, my path led me to where I am now and because of this, I am well rounded and provide students with real world examples to round out the theory.”

When asked what she would like her students to remember through life, Professor Theveny said, “Learning is life-long and meant to be enjoyed.”

Professor Michael Sturm is an instructor and internship coordinator for the human development and family studies program. He graduated from Messiah College with a degree in family studies, and earned his master degree in family therapy at Drexel University.

What inspired him to go into human development and family studies (hdfs) the introduction of hdfs at Messiah College. From here, he became interested in the courses of:  family dynamics and relation, family in the Community and Social environment and cultural background and economics.

Before working at Brandywine, professor Sturm worked at Bowling Green State University as a human development and family studies professor and internship coordinator.

“I hope students continue to develop their self-awareness in relation to their values, beliefs, and biases.  Self-awareness is a career long process.  As time passes our perspectives shift and society evolves.” Professor Sturm, said. “Human service work will always challenge professionals and requires one to be fully in touch with themselves.  A high degree of self-awareness allows for one to manage their thoughts and feelings and ultimately work with difference more effectively while upholding ethical standards.”

Dr. Valerie Mendez-Gallardo is an instructor of psychology. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus, and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

She pursued research in Puerto Rico. Dr. Mendez-Gallardo was grateful to be involved in the field of research and development at the University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa.

Just prior to joining Brandywine, Dr. Mendez-Gallardo worked at the University of Idaho teaching psychology as she does at Brandywine.

“I want my students to have a clear understanding of what was taught to them and then apply what they have learned, and continue to want to learn more.” Dr. Mendez-Gallardo, said.

Penn State Brandywine has been fortunate to have a long list of professors who hearts’ are dedicated to what they do and who carry excellence within them. These new professors appear likely to carry on the tradition.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Latech Murphy, lnm107@psu.edu

Safety and Police Services

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Campus security is felt at Penn State Brandywine. The reasons aren’t surprising. Being a commuter school we aren’t used to seeing this much officers on campus.

The campus used to employ the Allied Barton Security Company and now switched to Penn State’s own Police officers. There two new faces on campus: Officer Joseph Williamson and Officer Matthew Cerasuolo.

Brandywine’s chief of police Lewis Sweigart explained the reason for th change in security and the increase in officers. He also said “it’s make sure people feel safe here while studying.”

Sweigart also said the additional officers are due in part to the proposed dorms, with a possible completion date in 2017. As far as qualifications to be a police officer, one must have:

Bachelor’s degree, an act 120 certification which is a criminal justice training academy which takes about four and a half months to complete, one year of police experience, must be 21 years of age, and no “disqualifying” history.

Now being a commuter school one might think that there isn’t much crime on campus. But the officers of Brandywine campus have a big job to up hold.

Sweigart said the officers must “patrol the campus, provide customer service, provide community service, enforce Pennsylvania crime code and security code, university regulations, and maintain vigilant presence on campus,” Sweigart said.

A couple of Brandywine students commented on the recent increase in security.

“I don’t think that our campus needs any more security, but it can’t hurt to have an actual security guard with a firearm on campus,” Derek Emlet, a senior business major, said.

“I think this is a small campus and I’ve seen from 2 through 4 officers walking around and I don’t think that there’s a lot of things going on at this campus, so it’s fine.” Grace Kang, a junior nursing major, said.

Even though this is a commuter campus there is no telling what emergencies can happen on campus. With the addition of the proposed dorms coming in 2017 Brandywine would need extra security nonetheless.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Avery Smith, acs5678@psu.edu

 

The Granite Run-Down Mall

Posted By under Campus News

The Granite Run Mall is now in a state of gloom.

What once was a vibrant shopping area in a quaint Philadelphia suburb, is now a desolate landscape.

Storefronts that were staples at the Granite Run Mall, are now nothing but empty rooms.  Looking at all of the boarded up storefronts reminds you of what the Granite Run Mall once was:  a consumer’s paradise.  The Granite Run Mall was two floors of shops, department stores, restaurants, etc.  If you were looking to buy something, anything, you could find it at the Granite Run Mall.  What has happened?

The plans for the future of the mall have been kept very quiet.  In the fall of 2013, Middletown Township revealed sketches at its council meeting of the possible path the mall will follow.  In these sketches, the three major department stores, J.C. Penny, Boscovs and Sears, will remain standing.  Everything else, however, will be demolished.

Rumors are the just that, rumors.

“We would like to stay open through the holidays.” JP, an employee at Master Cuts said.  “I heard they are planning on having a lot of outdoor shopping and will build multiple luxury living apartments for citizens that are 55 years of age and older.”

It does appear as if the Granite Run Mall is heading in a different direction.

The existing businesses in the mall are the ones that are affected the most by lack of foot traffic.  When opening a business inside a building like the Granite Run Mall, one would expect the high price of rent to be counteracted by consumer awareness of your business.  That is no longer the case.

“We have to be the draw for our customers,” Jim Vankoski, manager of The Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum, said.  “We can no longer rely on the mall bringing us the business.”

The museum opened in March of 2013 as a non-profit museum with a focus of famous Delaware County athletes.  Since it is a non-profit, they measure the success of their museum by visitors on a monthly basis.  In the year and a half that they have been open, they have seen the number of visitors drop by close to 50-percent.  In June of 2013, the museum counted 404 people through its door.  In June of 2014, that number dropped to 232.

“Traffic is down because as stores shut their doors, there is less reason to visit the mall,” Vanksoki said.  “I do believe that business will pick up during the holidays, but it’s not a guarantee.”

To keep the museum afloat, Vankoski must take matters into his own hands and plan different events such as athlete visits and sports appraisals.  Next month, Vankoski will be holding the “Athletes of Authors” exhibit in order to draw people to the museum.  The exhibit will be open by mid-October and be held inside the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum.

Until plans are finalized, no one knows exactly what is going to happen with the Granite Run Mall.  One thing is for sure: things will be looking a little bit different then what residents are accustomed to.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

James Berridge, jrb1055@psu.edu