News in Brief
Penn State Intercom......November 29, 2001

Alumni Center open house

All University faculty and staff may attend a holiday open house at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus. The open house will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7.

The Alumni Center, which was dedicated on April 20, is the home away from home for all Penn Staters, and is a physical reminder of the important role alumni play in the life, vitality and future of the University.

For more information, check the Web at http://www.alumni.psu.edu/.

Project showcase

Engineering students, ranging from first-year undergraduates to seniors, will bring out their best for everyone to see at the Learning Factory Project Showcase from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.

More than 200 students from mechanical, industrial and electrical engineering will present their solutions to real-world engineering problems.

The event is free to the public.

Records management

Jackie Esposito, University records manager, and her assistant, Robyn Dyke, will present a series of free, 90-minute seminars on file organization.

The seminars are scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesdays on Dec. 11, Jan. 15, Feb. 19, March 19 and April 16 in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, University Park.

Esposito and Dyke will explain the details of University policy AD-35, explain how to use retention schedules (General Forms Usage Guide Appendices 18 and 21) and offer time-saving tips for organizing and coordinating records. They also will cover the advantages of using the Inactive Records Center and the University Archives.

Registration is required. E-mail Esposito at jxe2@psu.edu or Dyke at rdd3@psu.edu with a preferred date.

Holiday mail service

Mail service to the University community will be suspended from 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21, until 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, for the holidays.

Only buildings that currently receive direct delivery from the U.S. Postal Service will be eligible to receive mail during this time. Arrangements will be made with the U.S. Postal Service for eligible buildings to receive mail if desired. Buildings that do not receive direct delivery will receive mail on Jan. 2. For information, call Paul Fetzer at (814) 865-9171 or Gregg J. Asciutto at (814) 863-8153 before Dec. 7, or check with the academic/administrative area's facilities coordinator.

* Interoffice envelopes: Mail Services requests that all excess interoffice envelopes be returned to 108 Business Services Building in order to facilitate equal distribution to all departments. Also, return any mail tubs that are being used for office storage. A critical shortage has occurred with these items.

* Standard A bulk mail: Because of the increase of Standard A mailings presented to Addressing Services during December, it may not be possible to process Standard A mailings that come in after Dec. 7 until the New Year.

* UPS and brown paper wrapping: Please refrain from using brown paper wrapping when sending packages through United Parcel Service. Automation equipment is causing addresses affixed to brown paper wrapping to be torn from packages.

ANGEL arrives at Winter-Fest

The University's Course Management System (CMS), A New Global Environment for Learning (ANGEL), will be the focus of Winter-Fest 2002, Jan. 2 to 4 on the University Park campus.

Winter-Fest, an annual workshop series tailored toward faculty and teaching assistants, is offered through the Center for Education Technology Services .

ANGEL is a program used to place course components on the Web. A particularly popular element of the system, according to Marilynne Stout, director of Education Technology Services, is the automatic updating of course rosters through the University registrar.

Online registration for Winter-Fest will open Dec. 3 at http://cac.psu.edu/training/. Descriptions, dates and times of each Winter-Fest course will be listed at that time on the Web. For those unable to attend Winter-Fest, handouts from the ANGEL training courses may be accessed at http://cms.psu.edu. Under the "Help" heading, click the "Seminars" folder.

Early catalogs on microfilm

The University Archives, with the assistance of the Libraries' Preservation Department and University Libraries-funded research grant, has converted Penn State Course catalogs from 1859-1950 to microfilm.

A second grant, provided by the Office of the University Registrar, will be used to convert catalogs from 1950-2000 to microfilm.

The microfilm versions are available in Microforms and Newspapers, 24 Pattee Library, University Park. The original paper copies are available in University Archives, 104 Paterno Library, University Park.

For information, call Jackie Esposito at (814) 865-7931 or e-mail jxe2@psu.edu.

Campus history online

The University Archives' "University Park Campus History Digital Archives" Web site is now available at http://www.psubldg.libraries.psu.edu/.

Using a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Education, staff of the University Archives created a visual history of the University Park campus. The site features floor plans, development plans and maps from 1855 to the present.

For information, call Jackie Esposito at (814) 863-3791 or e-mail jxe2@psu.edu.

Faculty/Staff Club

The Faculty/Staff Club on the University Park campus has a number of events scheduled for December and January.

For a full listing, check the Web at http://www.psu.edu/dept/fsc/yearly.html.

Absence policy reminder

Faculty and students are reminded of the University'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.

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/relhol.html.

Renaissance dinner

The 25th annual Renaissance Scholarship Fund dinner, which honored Martha "Marty" Lewis Starling as the Renaissance Woman of the Year, raised $111,960 for the Renaissance Fund. The dinner raises funds for the University's Renaissance Scholarships, which are awarded to academically talented students who have great financial need. Money raised at the dinner will be used to endow roughly five new scholarships.

Since the Renaissance Fund's inception in 1969, more than $5.3 million in private contributions has been raised.

Use pedestrian call buttons

The Office of Physical Plant reminds pedestrians to use the call buttons at the North Atherton Street crosswalks.

Not only do pedestrian call boxes alert the traffic light system to a walker's presence, but the response also lengthens the amount of time allocated to safely cross the street. For example, pushing the pedestrian crossing buttons when crossing North Atherton Street will increase the crossing time from five seconds to 25 seconds.

The new traffic lights at both Curtin Road and White Course Drive can detect the number of vehicles waiting, but receive no input about pedestrians unless the buttons are pushed.

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