Mansfield University Blog

The PA State System of Higher Education has established the  Haiti Relief Fund to help coordinate donation efforts from organizations and individuals in the 14 state system schools.

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Bill Gates believes in the potential of online learning, as well as publishing course materials free online.   Sounds like there are grant money possibilities for those in synch with the Microsoft Man’s vision.  In his annual letter he says his foundation has “made a few grants to drive online learning, but we are just at the start of this work.”

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Remember the Dutch Pantry? which later morphed into the University Club?  Some great meals and memories.  The building was razed recently to make way for a new borough hall.  More as it progresses.

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Debra Marbaker of Troy is working in the Legislative Office for Research Liaison as part of a 15-week Harrisburg Intership Semester sponsored by the PA State System of Higher Education.  Marbaker is a senior mass communications major with a minor in women’s studies.

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Chester Bailey’s wife, Mary, passed away on January 23.  The Baileys have been involved in the community and the county for decades.  Until a couple years ago, Mary was Chester’s right-hand person in the Museum Tent at the 1890s Weekend.  You can send Chester, a 1935 MU grad,  a card  at: 413 Valley Rd., Mansfield, PA 16933.

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Groundhog Day is coming up February 2.  While the winter hasn’t been that bad, I’m hoping the fat little rodent doesn’t see his shadow, which supposedly means an early spring.  The annual tradition, located in Punxsutawney, PA, (a Delaware Indian name), has its roots in the Pagan festival of Imbolc.  Now that’s diversity.

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Here’s one woman’s take on the name of  Jobs’ new baby, the iPad, which seemed to create as much buzz as the President’s State-of-the-Union address.

(Oh, Rush Limbaugh says the controversial name is Obama’s fault).

MTV spent several days and nights on campus last semester filming student Barry Hughes for its award winning series, True Life. Barry, a political science major from Wellsboro,  is considered a master at the game  Call of Duty.  The first episode of the show will air January 25 at 9 p.m.

Thanks to everyone involved in this project, from residence life to the police and faculty.  True Life is a long-running, popular show watched around the world.  While MU wasn’t the subject of the show it certainly is an important secondary character.  And MU folks, as always, were warm, welcoming and helpful.

In a recent email,  producer Josh Haygood said:  “. . .  This really was one of the more enjoyable shows I’ve done and I owe that to the great attitude of [the students]  and to the overwhelming support of you and the entire school staff.”

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A quick peek at the new semester shows good news  with 3,300 students.  This represents a 2.96% increase in head count and a 4.56 % increase in FTE over last year at this time.  Understand that this is an unofficial snapshot of what’s happening today.  Official figures will be out in about three weeks.

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Mansfield’s  Alumni & Friends online  community is live and really cool!  Check your latest Mansfieldian for your code and join today.  Get all the news, videos, and updates on your friends and classmates.  Create your own Facebook page and even your own community!  Check it out today.  I’ll give you updates as they arrive.

For info contact Tracey Dukert at tdukert@mansfield.edu or click here.

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When a convicted terrorist was sentenced to face Jack Bauer, he appealed to have the sentence reduced to death.

I’ll always be a fan of 24, but I am having a time reconciling grandfather Jack Bauer  still beating up bad guys and getting pounded.  Next year he’ll be taking on villains with his bionic walker.  All you 24 fans, let me know your take on this season’s shows and our gracefully aging icon.

Early issues of  The Mansfield Advertiser have been digitized and are now available on the Access PA repository site.   Penn State and the State Library converted about 100 copies of the Advertiser between the years 1911 to 1929.  Pick up the juicy facts of daily life here during World War I and the years leading up to The Great Depression.

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Art thrives from the looks of art instructor Paul Bozzo’s blog that he kept last semester of his Intro To Drawing Class. Professor Emeritus prof Dick Feil might have been the oldest student in the class but the retired psych prof  still has the look of a determined young artist.

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10 Ways social Media Will Change in 2010 outlines changes the author sees coming to social media (FaceBook, MySpace, YouTube, etc) this year.  Note #9, that “Women will rule social media.”   Women make 75% of all buying decisions for the home and women ages 35-55 comprise  the fastest growing population on Facebook.

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The snow had just fallen.  I stepped outside to take a look.  Before the 2 degree air rushed me back in, I took this photo of our pavilion  and a few of the flags flying on our International Walkway.

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I think Peggy Dettwiler, director of choral activities, is the first MU prof to have her own fan page on Facebook. Some students started it last semester and it quickly grew.  While Peggy wasn’t sure what a FB fan page was at the time, she’s very familiar with it now with 214 fans around the U.S.  Under Peggy’s direction, the choir has performed around the U.S. and  Europe.  In 2008, the choir earned three gold medals at the World Choral Games in Graz, Austria.

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Condolences to the family of Jack  Plunkett ’74, a longtime football coach and teacher at Chestnut Hill Academy who died January 12 of an apparent heart attack.  He is survived by his wife, Sue, and five children.  Mr. Plunkett played football all four years at MU.

In 2007, MU custodian Steve Orner found a collection of 16 mm films.  One of them was labeled “Rod Kelchner.”  I had it digitized.  Our multimedia man Mark Polonia did some light editing.  The result is a 30-minute look at college life here in the early 20th century, complete with brand new model T’s and a cameo by William Straughn and Arthur Belknap.  This is Mansfield like you’ve never seen it.  Experience it here.

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Al Qaeda in Yemen can be defeated without sending in American troops, says Ali Soufan ’94, in a January 2, 2010, New York Times  op-ed piece.  Soufan was the FBI case agent in the USS Cole bombing in Yemen in October 2000.  He was part of a team that unraveled the Qaeda network in Yemen over the next several years.

He was also the featured speaker at our December commencement.

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The MU Podcast is included in a recent Widgetbox posting of  “fun and interesting widgets ” to add to your Facebook, Myspace, etc.

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Check out collegetimes which lists 15 Coolest college Courses.  The courses, at various colleges, run from American Pro Wrestling to Underwater Basketweaving.  My favorite:  The Joy of Garbage — and no, they’re not talking about talk radio.

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Natural gas is big news these days, from Tioga County to Tennessee.  It’s seen by some as a win-win situation in our quest for clean, efficient, domestic energy.  But there’s also a lot we don’t know, as this article points out.

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Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.  Just click on the “comments” link below.