News in Brief
Penn State Intercom......March 15, 2001

Penn College Open House

Campus tours, information sessions and other activities will be held during the annual spring Open House on Sunday, March 25, at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Demonstrations and displays will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and general information sessions for future students will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Activities are planned at Penn College's main campus in Williamsport, the Lumley Aviation Center at the Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville, the Schneebeli Earth Science Center near Allenwood, the Advanced Automotive Technology Center in Logue Industrial Park in Williamsport and the North Campus near Wellsboro.

For information, call (800) 367-9222 or register online at http://www.pct.edu/openhouse.

Ag open house

The College of Agricultural Sciences will hold its Eighth Annual Open House for prospective students from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, in the Agricultural Sciences and Industries (ASI) Building on the University Park campus.

The event will begin with an informational fair at 8 a.m., followed by a general session at 9 a.m. and academic advising sessions at 10 a.m. Other activities include a luncheon and advising session for students who already have started their education at a Penn State location other than University Park at noon in 101 ASI; an information session for minority students at noon in 107 ASI; and a panel discussion at 1:30 p.m. in 101 ASI.

To register for the open house or for more information, go to http://www.cas.psu.edu on the Web, call the Office for Undergraduate Education at (814) 865-7521 or e-mail Marianne Fivek at mafivek@psu.edu.

Diversity Appreciation Weekend

The Minority MBA Association in The Smeal College of Business Administration will hold Diversity Appreciation Weekend 2001 from April 5-8 at the University Park campus.

The event is to encourage qualified minority students to attend Penn State by familiarizing them with Smeal College's facilities, faculty, staff, students and alumni, according to Tony D. Scott, chairman for the event.

A number of events have been scheduled for the weekend including a reception, banquet, opportunities to sit in on MBA classes, meetings with corporate representatives and an alumni panel workshop.

For information, call Tony Scott at (814) 235-6922 or e-mail tds163@psu.edu.

Telecommunications deadlines

The Office of Telecommunications (OTC) reminds the University community to plan now for any telecommunications work that needs to be completed before the beginning of the fall semester.

Depending on the type of services requested, lead times can range from two weeks to more than 12 weeks for more complex services. To have telecommunications work completed before the start of fall semester, be sure that a signed Telecommunications Service Requisition (TSR) is submitted to the OTC Business Office by May 4.

If telecommunications work that needs to be billed from 2000/2001 fiscal year funds requires a signed TSR submitted to the OTC Business Office on or before April 6. OTC's communications analysts are available to assist departments in submission of the necessary paperwork in order to ensure timely completion of projects. A listing of area communications analysts is available at http://www.otc.psu.edu/staff/analysts.html.
See http://www.otc.psu.edu/policies/leadtime.html for more information on estimated lead times for OTC work.

Web conference presentations

Presentation proposals are being sought for the Web 2001 Conference which will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 26 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, University Park.

The conference is open to University employees who support an official University Web site as a server administrator, writer, designer, programmer or manager.

To submit a proposal, check the Web site at http://cac.psu.edu/web2001/surveys/call.html. The proposal must be submitted by Monday, March 19. For more information about the conference, check http://cac.psu.edu/web2001.

Behavioral studies

The food lab needs overweight women ages 18-45 to participate in a study of food-related behavior which consists of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in the lab in Henderson Building one day a week for three weeks.

The lab also needs women ages 25-45 to participate in another study of food-related behavior in which participants will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Henderson Building lab one day a week for three weeks.

Participants will be compensated. If interested, call Angie at (814) 863-8482.

Holy day calendar

Occasionally students request exemptions from class attendance and other University obligations for purposes of religious observance. Most University faculty and staff are willing to entertain such requests, but many are unsure as to which holy days may merit excusable absence.

In consultation with campus and community religious leaders The Center for Ethics and Religions Affairs has compiled a listing of those holy days of the major world religions for which observance may require a student to depart from his or her normal routine at the University. Only those holy days which occur when classes are in session have been included. This is not, therefore, an exhaustive list of all major holy days in each religious tradition.

The Penn State Holy Day Observance Letter has been distributed to the University community. The information also is available on the Web at http://www.sa.psu.edu/cera/relhol.html

For more information, call Kenneth I. Clarke, director Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs, at (814) 865-6548.

Carpoolers sought

Charlie is looking for carpoolers to share the driving from Lock Haven. Call (814) 863-4459.

New references available

Four new resources -- The AMICO Library, The Dictionary of Art, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera Online and The New Grove Dictionary of Music Online -- have been added to the FastTrack database on LIAS.

The AMICO Library is an annually updated database of more than 65,000 digital images of art from more than 30 North American museums. The Dictionary of Art is a written history of all forms of the visual arts -- including architecture, ceramics, sculptures, drawings and many others. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera Online covers the history of opera providing detailed information about composers, operatic works, singers, writers, conductors, choreographers and directors. The New Grove Dictionary of Music Online is a general source on the history of music.

For information, check the Web at http://www.lias.psu.edu:80/alall.html

New booklet available

The Office of University Relations has published an updated and redesigned edition of the Penn State Facts booklet, containing a summary of information about such topics as enrollment, finances, physical plant, research and athletics.

University Relations also has available the recent brochure, 19 Ways Penn State is Making Life Better. For copies of either publication, call (814) 863-1073 or e-mail csg10@psu.edu.

For the Record

Albert L. Stiehl was associate professor engineering at Penn State McKeesport before his retirement. His title was incorrect in a listing of retirees on page 8 of the Feb. 15 issue of Intercom.

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