Julie Brown, an intern
at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center,
holds a box turtle as she tells
children on a field trip all about the animals.
For information about activities at the center, see the story on this page.
Photo: Greg Grieco
Shaver's Creek Environmental Center has many activities planned for this winter. All activities will take place at Shaver's Creek unless otherwise noted. The schedule follows:
* Wreath Making, 9 a.m. to noon, Dec. 4, $25 for nonmembers, $22.50 for members.
* Holiday Kid Craft, 2 to 4 p.m., Dec. 5, $4 for nonmembers, $3 for members.
* Candle Making for Adults, 10 a.m. to noon (session one); 1 to 3 p.m. (session two); Dec. 11, $6 for nonmembers, $5 for members.
* Candlelight Holiday Contra Dance, 8:30 to 11:30 p.m., Dec. 17, State College Friends School, $6 for nonmembers, $5 for members. For more information on this event, call (814) 234-8769.
* SOLO Wilderness First Responder course, Dec. 27 through Jan. 7, $520 for non-PSOC members, $513 for PSOC members.
For more information, call Shaver's Creek at (814) 863-2000.
This year, orders for the Sylvania Alamo Bowl game involving the Nittany Lion football team may be placed by phone. There will be no postseason bowl ticket solicitation by mail.
Those wishing to place orders can call (814) 865-5555 or (800) 863-3336.
For more information check the Web at http://www.psu.edu/sports/112999tix.html.
The Penn State Golf Courses practice facility will be closed for the rest of the season. Eighteen holes will remain open until the first good snowfall. After the courses close, the golf shop will remain open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the beginning of next year's season.
The golf shop also will hold its Third Annual Balloon Party from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4. Discounts will be from 25 percent to 100 percent off retail price.
To register for or learn more about this program on the University Park campus, call Health Matters at (814) 865-3085.
* Headaches: A Holistic Approach-WEL 195
Discover all the possible causes of headaches and how to prevent them. Migraines will be addressed. Meets: Tuesday, Dec. 14, from noon to 1 p.m. in 404 Old Main. Cost: $5.
**Holiday mail service
Mail service to the University community will be suspended from 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 22, until 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 3, 2000 due to the holiday season.
Only buildings that currently receive direct delivery from the U.S. Postal Service will be eligible to receive mail during this time. To find out if your building is eligible to receive incoming U.S. mail, call Paul Fetzer at (814) 865-9171 or Gregg J. Asciutto at (814) 863-8153 before Dec. 10, or check with the facilities coordinator for your academic/administrative area. Arrangements will be made with the U.S. Postal Service for eligible buildings to receive mail if so desired. Buildings that do not receive direct delivery will receive their mail after the University resumes operation on Jan. 3.
**Interoffice envelopes
Mail Services requests that all excess interoffice envelopes be returned to 108 Business Services Building in order to equally distribute them to all departments at University Park. Also, any mail tubs that are being used for office storage should be returned. A critical shortage has occurred with these items, and your help is needed to keep them in circulation and avert unnecessary expense.
**Standard 'A' bulk mail
Because of the increase of Standard 'A' mailings sent to Addressing Services during the month of December, it may not be possible to process Standard 'A' bulk mailings that come in after Dec. 10, until the new year.
**Brown paper wrapping
Please refrain from using brown paper wrapping when sending packages through United Parcel Service. Because of the use of automation equipment, brown paper wrapping with addresses on it tears away from the packages.
The Penn State Call Center Services Office will operate on holiday hours through the winter break. The schedule follows:
* Thursday, Dec. 23: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
* Friday, Dec. 24: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
* Saturday, Dec. 25: CLOSED
* Sunday, Dec. 26 through Friday, Dec. 31: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
* Saturday, Jan. 1, 2000: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
* Sunday, Jan 2, 2000: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The office will resume normal hours of 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 3, 2000.
A message service is available through the Call Center Services Office for departments needing office telephone message support during the winter break. The service works by having the departmental phone number forwarded to a special call center message service phone number. A call center operator will answer all calls and have messages forwarded to departments by e-mail every hour. Special arrangements also can be made to handle urgent or emergency calls.
For additional information and pricing,
call the Penn State Call Center at (814) 863-3410 or visit the Web at http://www.otc.psu.edu/services/staff/
callcenter.asp under "Message Service."
The Center for Academic Computing (CAC) is offering free computer workshops to faculty, staff and teaching assistants from Jan. 3-7 at University Park. Most workshops are hands-on and focus on general computing, technology in the classroom and Internet topics. Go to the CAC training Web page at http://cac.psu.edu/training and follow the Winter/Spring Browse/Register link to find a complete listing of workshops, dates, times, locations and information. If you have questions concerning the workshops, send e-mail to seminars@psu.edu or call (814) 863-9522.
As part of the University's Year 2000 preparations, the Office of Telecommunications (OTC) has announced that no planned telecommunications work will be scheduled from Jan. 3-7, 2000, so that all telecommunications staff are available to attend to any Y2K-related problems which may arise.
Specifically, installations and changes to telephone, LAN and video systems will be deferred until any Y2K problems are adequately resolved. Specific scheduling questions for pending telecommunications work should be directed to the communications analyst from OTC who serves the unit in question.
Due to a problem on the Commission for Women Web site, online applications for the 2000-2001 mentoring program were not received. The problem has now been corrected.
Anyone who filled out an online application to be a mentor or a protége should return to the Web site at http://www.lions.psu.edu/CFW/mentor.html and fill out another form.
The mentoring program is a professional and personal development opportunity for all full-time Penn State faculty and staff, exempt and non-exempt, where participants develop goals to meet individual needs. For more information, check the Web at the above address.
This year's Penn State United Way golf tournament raised $11,374. The event, which featured 184 golfers, took place on Sept. 30 at the State College Elks Club.
The University Libraries on the University Park campus have some updates for patrons:
* Rare Books and Manuscripts, a unit of the University Libraries' Special Collections Library, is open in its new location in 104 Paterno Library. All collections and services are available. For more information, go to http://www.libraries.psu.edu/crsweb/speccol/rarebook.htm on the Web.
* Patrons no longer have to wait in line at the circulation desk to check out materials, thanks to the self-service check-out terminals now available in Pattee Library (in the circulation area), the Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (105 Deike Building) and the Physical Sciences Library (230 Davey Laboratory).
To use the self-service check-out, slide your Penn State ID down the slot on the right of the terminal, and then follow the directions on the screen. After the books are checked out, a receipt will appear, listing the due date.
The final results are in for the annual Penn State-Michigan State Blood Donor Challenge.
Michigan State held the lead the entire two weeks of the event, and beat Penn State by 19 pints. The final score was Michigan State, 1,769 pints; Penn State, 1,750 pints.
Penn State holds the lead in the series, winning four times in the six-year series.
Penn State is strongly recommending that first-year students own a computer or have immediate access to one by fall 2000. This recommendation, endorsed by the Faculty Senate, recognizes that information technology plays a crucial role in educating students regardless of their major. The University is now exploring ways to help students buy or lease computers at reduced costs, and to develop strategies to enhance technical support and training for faculty and students.
At Penn State, 97 percent of students are using their access accounts, and 86 percent already use their own computers.
Faculty and students are reminded of Penn State's policy regarding students' requests for absence from class for the purpose of observing a religious holiday. The University Faculty Senate Policy on "Class Attendance" (42-27) states that instructors should provide, within reason, opportunity to make up work for students who are obliged to miss classes for legitimate reasons.
As further clarification, the Academic and Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual (R-4) states that while the University makes every effort to avoid conflicts with religious holidays, when conflicts are unavoidable, the policy is to try to make special arrangements for the students affected.
The Faculty Handbook says that "Faculty members are encouraged to entertain requests for exemptions from class attendance for purposes of religious observances." A list of holy days of the major world religions that may require students to depart from their normal routine is published by the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs at http://www.sa.psu.edu/cera/relhol98.html.
Starting early in 2000, faculty, staff and students will be able to register for Human Resource Development Center and Health Matters programs online. This new system will allow users to log on to WebClassic, look at descriptions of upcoming programs and register. More information will be provided in January.