Penn State Intercom......August 29, 2002

University to observe
Sept. 11 anniversary

University officials have planned a University-wide observance of the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, including a remembrance of the 10 known Penn State alumni who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., and the hijacked airline crash in Shanksville.

The solemn interfaith ceremony, organized by a committee of students, faculty, staff and local officials, will begin at noon Wednesday, Sept. 11, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m.

"The impact of the devastation of Sept. 11 continues to echo around the world and our lives have all been changed forever," said Sharon Mortensen, interim director of Penn State's Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs and chair of the commemoration's organizing committee.

"We wanted to develop an event that recognizes the 10 Penn State alumni who died that day, but also the many other Penn Staters who were touched in personal ways by those events."

Two student leaders will begin the program with an invocation, followed by a series of spiritual readings by various members of Penn State Campus Ministries and hymns led by a University choral group.

Speaking at the ceremony will be U.S. Navy Cmdr. David Hulse, a 1982 alumnus who was in the Pentagon at the National Military Command Center when the attack took place. A member of Penn State's NROTC, Hulse is presently on the JCS Staff. Hulse was in the Pentagon at the National Military Command Center when the attack took place. His wife, Elizabeth '83 Edu, also is a Penn State graduate.

Also speaking will be Anne Prosser Warrell, a 1994 alumna, who is an international finance manager for Clearstream Banking. She is an international finance manager for Clearstream Banking, which was located on the 90th floor of the north tower. Warrell was in the building when the first plane hit and was able to get out. She continues to work for Clearstream Banking in Manhattan.

The event will conclude with the choir leading a group singing of "America the Beautiful."

The commemoration is intended to be a centerpiece to many other events taking place at University Park and other campus locations and their surrounding communities. The University has set up a Web site -- http://www.psu.edu/ur/sept11/ -- that will catalog the different programs and activities taking place to remember last year's tragic events.

"Our goal is to complement the many other events scheduled that day and that week, both nationally and around the commonwealth of Pennsylvania," added Mortensen.

The University anticipates that many students, faculty and staff will want to participate in the remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11. The officers of the University Faculty Senate, along with the executive vice president and provost of the University, have requested that faculty show consideration to students who wish to attend the ceremony at Eisenhower Auditorium at noon on Sept. 11 by excusing their absence from class and not scheduling exams at that time. All faculty who are teaching on that day are encouraged to set aside a few minutes of class time to consider the significance of last year's event.

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