INTERNATIONAL ENROLLMENT REACHES RECORD HIGH
Penn State's international student population reached 3,603 -- the largest in Penn State history and a 42 percent increase from 1996. About half of the international students are from India, China, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand and most are enrolled in engineering, business, science or the liberal arts at University Park. The 3,603 figure represents 2,258 graduate students (2,107 at University Park); 705 undergraduates (587 at University Park), and 640 students engaged system-wide in programs such as intensive English, certificate programs or practical training internships. Beverly Lindsay, dean of the University Office of International Programs, says these numbers reflect endeavors by the office to meet a growing demand from international visitors to study, teach and conduct research at the University. Increasing international enrollment was one of the goals established in 1994, by the University's International Council, which advises the president's office on international matters. For more on International Programs, go to http://www.international.psu.edu/ 

A QUESTION FOR DR. SPANIER: BRIAN HEALY ON TECHNOLOGY
Editor's Note: Each Beaver Stadium program this season contains a column in which a distinguished individuals poses questions about Penn State to President Graham Spanier. Over the next few weeks, we will include some of these on Newswire. Today, we are beginning with a question from Brian Healy, the Washington producer for the CBS News program SUNDAY MORNING, covering politics, religion and the arts. He has been at CBS since 1972. Healy is a 1967 journalism/communications graduate of Penn State.

Healy: Do you have any fears that the growing dependence on technology in our society will undermine the University's efforts to produce students with a world view of their society, themselves, and the cultures that swirl around them? ( In short, students who are technically strong but intellectually stunted?)

Spanier: I think the Internet and the other communications technologies are doing far more good than they are harming society. Through the Internet and other technologies, people are learning to communicate in different ways than we have before, but we are communicating with people around the world who we might never have been exposed to otherwise. Students have access to museums, cultures, libraries, religions and schools around the world at the touch of a few buttons. With the right technology, a Penn State student learning the German language can listen to a German radio station and communicate with students in that country who are trying to learn English.

A Penn State student can work on a complex research project with other students on several different continents -- with each student bringing his or her own cultural perspective to the problem so that it can viewed many different ways -- ways that were never possible before. When the people of a country revolt and overthrow a dictator, it is no longer necessary to get just the perspective of an American newscaster about what this event means. It is now just as easy to read the words of the citizens of that country describing firsthand what it means to have a say in the future of their own government. It is important to understand how to use the technology, but the most important thing we can do is teach students what to do with that technology. To read more about President Spanier, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/GSpanier/. 

PCT BOARD APPROVES $25 MILLION FOR BUILDINGS
The Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors approved funding today for a building program that includes construction of a College Services Center to house most of the offices on campus that provide student-related services. The Board approved a 30-year bond issue for construction of the College Services Center at the Maynard Street entranceway, extensive renovations to Lions Court and Bardo Gymnasium, continuing improvements to College West Apartments and the paving of gravel parking lots on West Third Street. In addition, offices in the Klump Academic Center and the Learning Resources Center that will move to the College Services Center will be "retrofitted" for new uses. The bond issue also will enable the College to repay the $7.65 million purchase cost of College West, which re-opened under the College’s ownership in August, and to restructure prior debt. For more on this story, go to http://www2.pct.edu/news/construction/bondissue1000.htm 

RAYTHEON GIFT CREATES SCHOLARSHIPS IN PENN STATE’S IST
Raytheon Company has committed $100,000 to create new scholarships in the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). The funds will be used to help women and students from underrepresented groups pursuing an education in the information sciences. The gift will be distributed annually over a three-year period. Raytheon recently presented a first installment of $35,000 to Penn State. "As severe as the overall workforce gap is in information technology, it is at a particularly critical level when it comes to women and minorities," said IST Dean James B. Thomas. "This gift from Raytheon Company strengthens our effort to meet this need by encouraging educational opportunities in the field." Raytheon's State College operation employs nearly 400 people and has been providing engineering and technical services for federal government and commercial customers for over 50 years. For more, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2000/raytheon.html 

HUDDLE WITH THE FACULTY ON POSITIVE ROLES OF TEENS
Popular and media stereotypes concerning adolescents often depict teens as rebellious, conflicted spirits who test the patience of their parents and others. But, Linda Burton, professor of human development and family studies and director of the Center for Human Development and Family Research in Diverse Contexts, will discuss the roles teens play as family managers, intergenerational caregivers, financial contributors, cultural brokers, and kin-keepers. She will speak at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, in the Executive Programs Building next to the Nittany Lion Inn. It is part of this fall's Huddle with the Faculty, a Penn State Alumni Association outreach program that features presentations by top Penn State faculty prior to every home football game. For more on alumni programs, go to http://www.alumni.psu.edu/ 

UPDATE ON ‘ASK PROF. SCIENCE’
Ask a question, and you might get several different answers. Spurred by a desire to offer a helping hand to high-school students and the general public, some Penn State professors have created an on-line resource, the "Ask Prof. Science," that provides answers to questions about science and engineering. Physics professors Milton Cole and Paul Sokol created and launched the Web site, in late July and have been busy ever since. They enlisted the assistance of other Penn State faculty members from several colleges and the all-volunteer, interactive Web site quickly became popular for both those asking the questions and those answering them. A total of about 40 Penn State faculty members from 10 different departments participate in the project. While all receive copies of the questions, only some faculty respond, depending on the nature of the questions -- sometimes giving the questioner answers from several perspectives or disciplines. For more on the story, go to http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Cole10-2000.htm . 

SMEAL SURVIVOR LEADERSHIP SIMULATION MAKES CEOS
Business students, most of whom are presidents and chairs of student organizations in the Smeal College of Business Administration, will have a chance to test their mettle as CEOs in an upcoming Business Roundtable Leadership Simulation, designed by students. The players must set a global strategic vision on how their company will maintain its status as an industry leader over a 15-year period in a three-hour exercise. Participants will be broken up into groups by industry and each player will play the part of CEO for a corporation in that industry. Each CEO will have to come up with a strategy for his or her company -- a bit like an ë-Smeal Survivor. Each CEO will be ranked by faculty judges. The lowest ranks are eliminated at several stages. Erik Peterson, senior vice president and director of studies at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C. will moderate. The simulation takes place , from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, in the Nittany Lion Inn Boardroom. The public is invited to observe. For more on the Smeal College, go to http://www.smeal.psu.edu. 

WKPS LION RADIO IS ROARING IN ON 90.7 FM
The Lion is roaring and staff members at the University Park student radio station plan to keep it that way. WKPS, 90.7 FM, now known as The Lion, is a multi-formatted station offering a wide variety of music and programming, including mainstream alternative, jazz, gospel and Latin mix, news and sports programs, and a public opinion show. The station also carries all home football games and other sporting events, and last month, its urban music show was broadcast from Alumni Hall in the HUB Robeson Center as part of Late Night Penn State. "We try to determine what our listeners want and what the radio station can do to fulfill those wishes," Al Bianchi, operations manager, said. "We have a responsibility to students who come from all walks of life and from different parts of the country. They have many different music tastes and we try to meet their needs." WKPS originates from studios provided by the College of Communications in James Building in downtown State College. It broadcasts from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. during the week and from 7 a.m. to 5 a.m. on weekends with a staff of about 125. The station is also on Web Radio for those living outside the listening area at http://www.clubs.psu.edu/wkps. For more on this story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2000/sturadio.html