Month: April 2016

Brandywine: new and improved

Posted By under Uncategorized

By: Deja Footes, Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, dmf5475@psu.edu

Coming in August 2017, Penn State Brandywine will have two new buildings: a residence hall and a student union building.

The campus’ new residence hall will be located behind the Vairo library and the student union, an improved version of the student lounge in main, between Vairo and Tomezsko.

The residence hall will feature double bedroom suites and study lounges, along with two apartments for full-time residence staff said Stephanie Jones, associate director of student affairs. In the student union building there will be dining services, a bookstore and The Lion’s Den. The buildings will also include fireplaces for those cold winter days on campus and to provide a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.

During the campus renovations, Penn State kept its commitment to the environment by keeping sustainability a factor in the design and construction plan. High quality stone is used for construction, including glass and light sensors that are essential energy savers. Lighting and storm water control were all terms that lead to leadership in environmental engineering when the buildings were designed. The residence hall and student union were designed with life-long durability in mind.

Safety was also a key factor in the design of the residence hall and student union. The campus will be adding four emergency blue phones. The locations will be: the fountain in front of Commons, the gazebo, the student union building and at the intersection of the main building parking lot.

The addition of residence halls means that the campus will no longer be solely a commuter campus. Because of that, changes to parking have also been taken into consideration. With the nearly 900 existing parking spots, there will be enough room for the residents and commuters on campus.

For now, construction will not disrupt classes. Penn State stickers will be given to construction workers to identify them to students, staff and faculty. Construction workers went through an orientation and have their own entrances, locations for food and restrooms so the impact on the campus community is minimal.

“Their goal is to stay out of the campus’ way as much as possible,” Bill Tyson, director of marketing and communications, who spoke to a Penn State Brandywine audience regarding the construction.

The new and improved campus will officially be done and ready for students to start moving in August 2017.

Updated by the Lion’s Eye web staff

 

Speed Networking

Posted By under Advertising, Alumni, Campus News, Entertainment, Networking , , , , , , , , , ,

By: Ciera Britton, Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, clb434@psu.edu

Penn State alums at the Speed Networking with Alumni event offered students the unique opportunity to practice before the real interview.

The event was an opportunity for the students to network with the alumni and practice their ‘‘elevator speeches.’’ The Speed Networking with Alumni saw a total of 14 alumni and 27 students attend. The feedback received from both the alumni and students was encouraging and very positive.

The collaboration of the Student Government Association (S.G.A), Blue and White Society (B.W.S), Career Services and Alumni Relations made the event a success. The event was open to all students; for two internship prep classes (CNED 280 and BA 420), participation was mandatory. For the first half of the Speed Networking with Alumni, the students rotated from one alumni station to another after every four minutes.

“I attended the event because it was an excellent opportunity to network and meet knowledgeable and experienced PSU alumni,” senior Jodi Mitchell said.

Jim Callagher, who is employed by Hotel and Restaurant Management, shares his reasons why he is always there to help the students of Penn State.

“PSU is what it is all about,” Callagher said. “It is important to share our business experience with future students in the business world. It can help them with better interviewing skills.”

Penn State alum Michael Cappelletti works at Warfel Construction Company.  He was honored to attend.

“Penn State has the best students,” Cappelletti said. “They are always present for events and great at networking. I am here to help the students learn to reach out, to communicate and to network.”

After lunch, Penn State Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Harrison explained how she could not miss the event.

“I am the adviser to the Blue and White Society and in the campus alumni relations office,” Harrison said. “I came to see and help alumni and students network and interact.”

Numerous connections were made for potential opportunities, and students are better equipped and more confident as they prepare for upcoming job opportunities.

Breaking ground on building Brandywine

Posted By under Uncategorized

f10ddcf5-65b2-42e6-acf5-b55851d04eb0
By: Sara Piatetsky, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, svp5316@psu.edu

The Penn State Brandywine community came together to celebrate the beginning of Building Brandywine, the official tagline of the growing campus.

As Chancellor Kristin Woolever said in her opening statement on Tuesday, March 29, this day has been a long day coming. The campus community came together to commemorate the groundbreaking of the student union and residence halls. The location of the buildings is between the Tomezsko building and Vairo library and behind the library.

The ceremony marked the official start of construction for the residence halls and student union, though the construction started to impact the campus in February.

“[The residence hall and student union] propel our campus to new heights of achievement within the Penn State system,” Dr. John Tierney, a chemistry professor on campus, who was one of the many speakers from the ceremony, said. “Our hats go off to all those individuals who believe in us as a campus and who made this dream come true.”

In addition to faculty, staff and students who attended the ceremony, members of the Penn State and Middletown communities also came to show their support. Those in attendance also included State Representative Tom Killion, Delaware County Council Chairman Mario Civera and Jerry Parsons of the Brandywine advisory board and a member of Penn State Brandywine’s first graduating class.

The groundbreaking ceremony was the celebration of the campus taking final steps in becoming a complete campus with residence halls and also to thank those who supported the campus through the process.

Dr. Madlyn L. Hanes, Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses, who originally began her Penn State career at Brandywine’s campus, was on hand as well to commemorate the occasion.

“This campus has every reason to celebrate as it reaches its full potential and ability to grow and serve an increasing number of students,” Hanes said. “The residence halls and student union are a reflection of confidence the university has in the Penn State Brandywine community.”

The campus community will be able to witness the progress as the construction continues. The hashtag #BuildingBrandywine will be used to provide updates on social media.

The expected completion date for the dorms is August 2017, which will be celebrated with an official ribbon cutting ceremony.

New path to scheduling

Posted By under Uncategorized

By: Najla King, Lion’s Eye staff writer, nxk5136@psu.edu

As the end of the semester approaches, Penn State students are already getting ready for the fall semester.

Scheduling classes is the first step and this year, students are using new software to do it. Lion Path was introduced to students to replace eLion, and adjusting to the new software may take a little time for some.

Since the beginning of fall 2015, news about a new platform for students to register for classes circulated around campus. Although registration for summer 2016 classes is still through eLion, scheduling for the fall semester has begun, and some speculation about the new platform concerns some students.

“I’m just still a bit confused, I guess,” Launa Andrews, a soon-to-be senior at Penn State Brandywine, said. “It’s still new, and this is everyone’s first time using it, so we just need to be patient and get familiar with navigating the website and using its functions correctly.”

Lion Path features a new way to search and save classes students wish to take the following semester. Similar to shopping at one’s favorite store online, courses are chosen and added into a student’s shopping cart, where then, students are registered into the classes that are in their cart. It sounds fairly simple.

With the majority of Penn State Brandywine’s student population millennials, it can become a challenge to explain a new online platform to students who are accustomed to things running quickly and smoothly. Also, most students have previous knowledge of how eLion worked and they expected Lion Path to operate the same, if not better.

Change may not come easy to some but for others, the new system doesn’t seem to cause them much concern.

“I haven’t even looked at the website yet,” Ayesha Smith, another Penn State student said. “I know I should because I need to schedule my classes but I’m not in a rush. Pretty much all of my teachers have been reminding us about it but I don’t think it’ll be that difficult to use.”

Whether the change is accepted right away or not, Lion Path is here to stay and some students are working on familiarizing themselves with the new site. Although others are adjusting more slowly than others, scheduling for fall 2016 semester is well under way.