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Final plans OK for alumni center
By Chris Koleno and
Lisa M. Rosellini
Public Information
In just 30 days, people will be ringing in a new year, a new century and a new millennium -- the year 2000. Amid the buzz in 1999 of Y2K catastrophes that could bring the civilized world to a halt, there also were stories of a very bullish stock market; the near impeachment of America's 42nd president; a countrywide drought; a school shooting in Littleton, Colo.; a war in Kosovo; and the birth of a new global economy.
For Penn State, 1999 marked a year of new scientific discoveries, a new fund-raising campaign with a billion dollar goal and the dissolution of the two-year-old merger that created one of the largest rural health plans in the country.
Accomplishments of the past year were overshadowed in November by a tragic bus accident that claimed the lives of a Penn State student and a bus driver (see story on this page). A digest -- certainly not a complete listing -- of these stories and others that have graced the pages of Intercom over the last 12 months follows:
January 1999
* Storm kept students, many employees home
Pennsylvania was pounded with a two-day winter storm on Jan. 14 and 15 that dumped ice, sleet and snow from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and caused the cancellation of classes at Penn State locations across the Commonwealth.
* Major study to examine effects of welfare reform on children, families
Penn State researcher Linda Burton is part of a four-year, $19 million study to determine the effect of far-reaching changes in U.S. welfare laws will have on children and families living in poor urban neighborhoods. Eight universities are involved in the project.
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Final plans OK for alumni center
The University Board of Trustees gave the nod to plans for the construction of the Hintz Alumni Center, a 30,900-square-foot addition to the 1864 University House on the University Park campus.
* Knowledge Park The Knowledge Center at Penn State Erie.gains first tenant
Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, the industrial/research park being developed on 200 acres on campus, has its first tenant. Aalborg Industries moved into a large section of the park's first 70,000-square-foot corporate building.
* Team of scientists discover most distant known quasar
The discovery of the most distant quasar ever observed was announced by the scientists of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, including Penn State's Donald Schneider, associ ate professor of astronomy and astrophysics. Quasars are starlike objects that emit powerful light; they are the most luminous objects in the universe.
* Study shows campus infuses $437 million into local economy
Penn State's University Park campus contributes
more than $437 million each year to the Centre Region economy, and generates
directly or indirectly nearly two-thirds of all jobs in the region, according
to a recently completed economic impact study commissioned by the University.
* Study
shows turtles are next of kin to
crocodiles, alligators
Turtles, not birds, have been found to be the closest relatives of crocodiles and alligators, according to research by S. Blair Hedges and associates in the Eberly College of Science. The study's conclusions contradict decades of research based on anatomical and fossil studies, which had firmly positioned birds as the reptile group most closely related to crocodiles and alligators.
* State releases building funds
Gov. Tom Ridge released nearly $18 million in state capital budget funds to build a multi-purpose activity center at Penn State Erie and for the design of a new chemistry building at University Park.
* New portable
unit increases mobility for patients
In another national first for the College of Medicine,
on Feb. 10, surgeons placed a 55-year-old Pennsy lvania
woman on a portable device the size of a briefcase that will help her stay alive
and allow her to leave the hospital while she awaits a heart transplant.
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| Andrew from Elizabethtown gets a ride on the back of Dance Marathon participant Jason Meiers during last year's 'THON, which raised more than $2.5 million. Photo: Greg Grieco |
* THON breaks record, again
The Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, held Feb. 19-20, raised more than $2.5 million for the families of children with cancer and for cancer research at The Hershey Medical Center.
* Navy awards ARL $25 million
Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory signed a five-year, $25 million cooperative agreement with the Navy to establish a national research and training center in electro-optics, a fast-growing new technology with applications ranging from night vision systems, to phone lines, to interior submarine lighting.
* Erickson gets nod as provost
Rodney Erickson, vice president for research and dean of Penn State's Graduate School, was named the University's executive vice president and provost, replacing John A. Brighton, who retired from that position.
* Master plan gains approval
The Campus Master Plan for University Park was approved by the Board of Trustees. The plan is expected to guide the development of the campus over the next two to three decades.
* University aims to raise $1 billion
Penn State launched a campaign to raise $1 billion in private support to strengthen its mission of teaching, research and service. The campaign will run through June 30, 2003, and involve all 24 Penn State locations.
* Alumnus gives $20 million more
Verne M. Willaman, a 1951 Penn State graduate, committed a gift of $20 million to Penn State's Grand Destiny Campaign to endow the dean's chair in the Eberly College of Science and to add significant additional support for numerous faculty endowments, need-based scholarships and graduate fellowships that he had previously established. Willaman's total commitment to the University exceeds $27 million.
* University receives record $151 million in gifts
Penn State received $151 million in private gifts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1999 -- the highest level of philanthropy in its history.
* University garners contract worth up to $42.5 million
The U.S. Marine Corps awarded Penn State the first Marine Corps Research University contract, worth up to $42.5 million over five years, to provide research and educational services to help the Corps transition into the 21st century.
* X-ray camera launched on NASA's Chandra Observatory
The world's most powerful X-ray eye on the universe, NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, was launched from the space shuttle on July 23. The observatory, which contains an extraordinary X-ray camera for viewing high-energy objects in our galaxy and beyond, was conceived and designed by Penn State Professor Gordon Gasmire.
* New HUB-Robeson opens
The new HUB-Robeson Cultural Center on the University Park campus, a $34 million project, opened for use this month.
* New no-fare bus plan ready to roll
In partnership with the Centre Area Transportation Authority, Penn State began offering a new "no-fare" service on the University Park campus. The no-fare service is part of the University's Transportation Demand Management plan -- a strategy that gives high priority to bicycles and pedestrians and encourages alternative transportation.
* Nation's governors to convene at Penn State in summer 2000
Gov. Tom Ridge invited America's governors and their families to visit Pennsylvania -- selected as the host state of the 92nd Annual Meeting of the National Governors' Association (NGA) in 2000. State College, home to the University Park campus, will serve as the host city for this gubernatorial summit from July 8-11, 2000.
* Schools join national ad campaign to curb binge drinking on campus
Penn State took the lead in a national campaign involving more than 100 institutions that is aimed at raising public awareness of the dangers of high-risk and binge drinking by young people. The campaign, launched Sept. 10, involves a variety of awareness tactics.
* IST School opens
The University's new School of Information Sciences and Technology opened this month with 100 incoming freshmen. The school offers baccalaureate degrees at University Park, and baccalaureate or associate degrees at other Penn State locations.
* University signs contract with Microsoft
A contract between Penn State and Microsoft will allow thousands of faculty, staff and students at all University locations to have access to some of the latest and most popular computer software. The contract allows the University to provide software, without charge, to students and academic, service and administrative departments.
* NCAA survey shows athletes keep excelling in academics
Penn State student-athletes posted one of their finest graduation rate performances overall since the NCAA began publication of institutional rates in 1990, according to statistical information released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association as part of its annual survey. Penn State student-athletes had a graduation rate of 78 percent compared to a mark of 58 percent for all Division 1 institutions. The survey documented the entering freshman class of 1992-93 who earned degrees within six years.
| Renovations under way |
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Now that the last game has been played this season at Beaver Stadium
on the University Park campus, the heavy machinery has moved in to begin
renovations. In September, the project benefitted from a $3 million gift
from Philadelphia insurance executive and Penn State alumnus Alvin H.
Clemens and his wife, Valerie, For information about the project, check
the Web at http://www.psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_1999/Sept16/stadium.html.
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* Beaver
Stadium expansion
receives
$3 million gift
Philadelphia insurance executive and Penn State
alumnus Alvin H. Clemens and his wife, Valerie, gave $3 million to support Penn
State Beaver Stadium expansion and renovation project. The project will add
more than 10,000 seats and make major improvements to the stadium's infrastructure.
The project, which carries a total cost of $93 million, is expected to help meet a growing demand for tickets and contribute significantly to the fans' enjoyment of the game. A two-floor, all-sports museum is ao part of the plan.
Scientists from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State are part of a team selected by NASA to build the next MIDEX Explorer satellite. Over the next seven years, $26 million will be spent at Penn State for this project. The satellite, scheduled for launch in 2003, will study gamma ray bursts -- intensely brilliant flashes of gamma radiation that briefly outshine every other object in the sky. The total cost of this satellite is $163 million.
* New heart-assist device is designed
On Oct. 26, physicians for the first time implanted a new kind of heart-assist device to help a seriously ill patient survive. The surgery was performed in Germany by a team that included Dr. Walter E. Pae Jr., a physician in the Penn State College of Medicine. The device is called the Arrow Lionheart device and was developed at the College of Medicine in conjunction with Arrow International Inc. of Reading, Pa. It is hoped that the device, which is totally implantable, will be permanent therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure who are not candidates for heart transplant.
* Growth in research program
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M. Mercedes Marato-Valar, research associate in the Energy Institute,
above, is working to find both fuel and non-fuel uses for coal and coal
by-products. Total expenditures for organized research such as this at
Penn State reached an all-time high of $393.4 million in fiscal year 1998-99. |
Total expenditures for organized research at Penn State reached an all-time high of $393.4 million in fiscal year 1998-99. Research expenditures are an indicator of the volume of research activity undertaken by the University. In 1997-98, Penn State realized a figure of $374.1 million in research expenditures.
* Merger
dissolves
Penn State and the Geisinger
Health System agreed to restructure their relationship. The two entities began
the process of unwinding the 1997 merger that created the Penn State Geisinger
Health System, which created the nation's largest rural health plan.
* Bus accident on I-80 claims two
A four-bus accident around 1 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, on a foggy stretch of Interstate 80 near White Haven, Pa., left two dead and more than 100 injured. Four of six charter buses, bringing about 280 Penn State students back to campus from a trip to New York, were involved in the accident that killed senior Denise Orndorff, 23, of Ohiopyle and bus driver Robert Clifford Burge, 50, of Altoona.