Mansfield University Blog

We hear the name Frederick Douglass a lot, but don’t know much about him.  So I  asked  English professor Lynn Pifer to talk  about the Civil Rights pioneer.   Lynn,  director of the MU Frederick Douglass Institute, is a great storyteller and brings this important historical figure to rousing life.   If you have educator friends, send them the link.   It would be a great teaching aide for Black History Month.  Here’s the podcast.

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News Director Terry Day has a new vid cam and shot the February 10 snow storm from his fifth floor window before classes were canceled at noon.  Any of you MU folks in the south or southwest, this is what you’re missing.  If you’re in Washington, DC, Virginia or Philly, this is a mere dusting, isn’t it?

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By the way,  If you want a two-minute look at what’s coming up at MU, click on Terry’s Take, our news director’s weekly video blog.  Subscribe to it.

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Marching Band Director Adam Brennan will give the keynote address at the Youth Leader of Tomorrow  Banquet on Feb. 22.  Adam is a great motivational speaker.  The Youth Leader program was created by MU alumnus Bruce Dart  29 years ago years ago.

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Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about Valentine’s Day from the first posted Valentine (earlier than you might think) to a video on how chocoloate is made at  the Hershey plant where kisses are forever.

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I’m one of the few males in the U.S. who did not watch the Super Bowl.  However, being a PR guy I do love the creativity many of the ads.  I took the lazy way out and watched them all here.

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I made a vow to be one of the few bloggers not to joke about the Sara Palin method of cribbing notes.

Ok?  No jokes.  My hands are clean.

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I did a Face Book poll, asking folks what their favorite romantic movie is.  Mine remains Casablanca. Take a few seconds and tell me your favorite.  Right now.  Share.

I had coffee in Jazzman’s with Chris McGann, who earned two degrees at MU before being accepted at American University in Washington, DC where he’s also assistant director of the Campaign Management Institute.  Chris , a former reporter for the Wellsboro Gazette, will get his master’s this spring and plans to shoot straight into the PhD program.  Earlier this year his class was featured on C-span.  Fast forward to 22:50 to see our Mountie Man in Washington.

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Joyce Tice was a recent guest on Conversations, talking about the mid-19th century diaries of Rosina Smith, who lived a few miles up the road from Mansfield.   Life back then was very different in many ways and not so different in others.  It’s a candid look at local life in the mid 1800s.

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Art prof Paul Bozzo is taking full advantage of social media with his blog, Bozzo Art, displaying works of his and others with photo stills and video.  His latest is Faculty Choice Student Art Show.  Take a tour and see what our students are doing and what our faculty like.

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I interviewed retired professor emeritus Dr. Verne Lapps a couple years ago about his college days with actor James Earl Jones at the University of Michigan.    Verne gives some fascinating insights into the times and a young, shy pre-med student who went on to become one of the great actors of our time — and the voice of Darth Vader.  Here’s In College with Darth Part 1 and Part 2.

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I rummaged through our archives to find this shot of Jones at a press conference during his visit to MU in 1997.  Adoring media members came with their copies of Star Wars to be autographed.

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Speaking of Black History Month, the  NBC cafeteria served a special lunch of fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread.  I’m guessing employees partaking of the special had to sit at the back of the cafeteria.