Mansfield University Blog

Happy birthday Chester Bailey who celebrated the big  1-0-0 April 29.  Chester, who graduated from Mansfield Sate Teachers College in 1933, has been the Mansfield historian for decades and was a key player in getting Rt. 15 to run through Mansfield.  It was Chester who kept alive the fact that the world’s first night football game was played here, which eventually gave birth to the 1890s Weekend.  Not resting on his laurels, he recently completed the volume Bits & Pieces: Mansfield From the Beginning. It’s available from The History Center on Main St., Marge’s Country Corner and Northwest Savings, all in downtown Mansfield.

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A big thanks to senior Kris Dumschat who has been working furiously on the new MU Facebook Timeline which highlights milestones in our history from 1857 to the present.  Check it out and “like” us if you haven’t already.    The timeline is on the right.

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Judith Sornberger, English, stopped by the studio for a podcast interview about her new chapbook, Wal-Mart Orchid. As always with Judith, it was a fun, insightful and enlightening discussion.  She also read several poems and talked about their inception.  We also have a couple videos of her reading.

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Congratulations to the seven-member Concert Choir who performed in The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall with Brooke Shields.  Scroll down to the last shot to see them.

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New head football coach Graham Johnsen is featured in WBRE’s PA Home Page.  Graham talks about the types of players he’s looking for, values and the nature of sprint football.

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Congratulations, too, to Emily Rose Cole and Christine Rinnert, English, who returned with honors from the recent Sigma Tau Delta Annual Conference in New Orleans.   When MU students are awarded scholarships and honorable mentions from an international conference this large,  we need to take a moment to appreciate the high quality of our students and our faculty.

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One of the latest scams on Facebook involves supposedly leaked sex tapes, including Miley Cyrus which is viral now.  Don’t succumb to the temptation because it takes you to a page designed to look like FB which contains malware.

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The Mountie was out and about recently and paid a visit to North Hall and our creed.

More than 45 students will give presentations during the Showcase of Student Scholarship Day, Tuesday, April 10 in Alumni 317 and 307.  Included will be posters, oral presentations, poetry reading, art exhibit, videos and research i n progress.  This special scholarship day is being coordinated by members of the faculty staff.

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English prof Jimmy Guignard’s latest blog, “Thinking Like a Rock,” uses  The Sierra Club’s acceptance of $25 million from the natural gas industry to explore the dangers of short term thinking. His graph is a startling reminder of just how short-term humans might be.

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Ali Soufan ’94 has been awarded the ninth annual Ridenhour Book Prize which honors acts of truth-telling and outstanding works of social significance in publishing.  The award is made by the Fertel Foundation and The Nation Institute. “At a time when our nation hungers for integrity in public life, The Ridenhour Book Prize shines a bright light on a man who is dedicated to the hard, often lonely work of truth-telling,” said Andy Breslau, president of The Nation Institute.  “Ali Soufan is a tonic against easy cynicism and a call to all of us  to do better.”  In his 2011 memoir The Black Banners, Soufan chronicled his life as a counter terrorism agent with the FBI as well as his interrogation methods, making a compelling argument that “enhanced interrogation techniques” do not work.

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Judith Sornberger, Linda Rashidi, Louise Sullivan-Blum and I will read from our latest works in the Traditional Reading Room , Friday, April 13 at 2 p.m.  The readings are part of the North Hall Library’s National Library Week activities.  If you have time to catch all or part of it, stop by.  It will be fun.

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Our painter Al Cole has been invited to serve as Spontaneous Judge at the Odyssey of the Mind 2012 World Finals at Iowa State University May 23-26.  Al has been a judge at the local Odyssey of the Mind for several years.

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Congratulations to Mike Crum and Richard Soderberg on being given faculty emeriti status during the most recent meeting of the council of trustees.  Mike taught theatre and Dick directed the fisheries program.

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And the latest Terry’s Take (filmed in a noisy place.)

Here are a couple of photos from The Sound of Music, on stage this weekend in Straughn.

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Actually, you can catch a video preview of the show on this week’s Terry’s Take.

Kenneth Sarch, just back from a successful conducting stint in Panama, teams up with Lycoming prof Gary Boerckel for a violin/piano recital this Sunday in Butler.

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Congratulations to Dr. Judith Sornberger whose recent chapbook Wal-Mart Orchid won the Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press for best chapbook published in 2011.

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Louis Lantz ’58 played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and other bands but it was a small part of his legacy.  Farewell to another prominent alum who gave to the world in many different ways.

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The North Hall Library is sponsoring two contests for National Library Week.  a bookmark design contest and a photography contest.

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We talk a lot about retention here, as do other schools.   According to a recent article in the Chronicle, a third of students transfer before graduating.

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What makes a remarkable employee?  According to an inc.com article, there are eight qualities, at least half of which are going to surprise you.  If you’re a supervisor, it might shake up your world just a bit.

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Autocorrect can turn the banal into the embarrassing.  It  can also close down a school. A good reminder to read your message before you send it to make sure autocorrect doesn’t get you into hot water.

The Sound of Music, the Rodgers & Hammerstein II hit that first hit Broadway in 1959, comes to the Straughn stage  March 1-4.

The MU production celebrates the 45th anniversary of the movie, which won five Oscars. It is directed and designed by Mike Crum with musical direction by Sheryl Monkelien and assistance from Peggy Dettwiler.

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Judith Sornberger, English, read from her newest collection of Poems, Wal-Mart Orchid, to a full classroom of students and colleagues this week.   We have a couple more videos that we’ll be saving for National Poetry Month.

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Though Ali Soufan ’94, has been featured on 60 Minutes, Frontline and the Colbert Report among others, most people agree that you are really there when you appear on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

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Three generations of MU folks are featured in Pamela Parker’s Southern comedy Second Samuel opening this Friday at the Warehouse Theatre in the Deane Center, Wellsboro.  The cast includes English Professor Emeritus Larry Biddison, Math Prof Linda Iseri and student T.J. Maro.

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In case you missed it, here are five things that President Obama’s 2013 Budget would do for higher education.

On the other end of the spectrum, the classroom, Moshe Kai Cavalin,  has written the book We Can Do. Moshe is graduating from UCLA this year at age 14.

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Joe Gilbert, who was head coach at MU during the 2000 season, has been named the Indianna Colts’ assistant offensive line coach.

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Here’s the latest episode of Terry’s Take.  See if you recognize his surroundings.

If you’re interested in  MU alumni, local history or college garb in the 1920s, the yearbook The Carontawan, 1918-1990, is now online.  In a short time undergraduate catalogs, alumni directories and selected local history books will also be available.  The project was headed by Sheila Kasperek, reference and electronic resources librarian, with the help of Librarian Fran Garrison and Archives Technician David Guinn.  Here’s a stately photo  of North Hall from the 1926 yearbook.

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The Mansfield University Women’s Center was rededicated Monday in memory of Margaret Launius, a much beloved faculty member who recently died after a long battle with cancer.  President Loeschke led the dedication and Judith Sornberger, professor of English read a poem she wrote, Snapshot of Margaret in the Sunroom.

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The French Club brought a touch of spring and the South to MU this week with their Mardi Gras. The food, music and dancing, for a few hours, took the chill out of a frosty March evening.

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A newly designed website, months in the making, will go live March 11.  While most schools hire an outside firm, the new site was designed and produced in-house by the Campus Technologies  in collaboration with Admissions & Public Relations.  Brian Barden, director of admissions, said the main page will focus on recruitment and promoting MU to prospective students and parents.  “It features the best of our University — our students and academic programs,” Brian said.  A team of randomly selected students also gave it the thumbs up.

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A WikiLeak like site devoted to higher ed whistle blowing may coming to a campus near you, so reports The Daily Pennsylvnian.  The site, Unileaks, aims to expose “corruption and mismanagement” in U.S. colleges, it said in an open letter to college presidents earlier this week.  Unileaks already operates in Australia and the United Kingdom.

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Will the IPad2 revolutionize education?  Will it democratize learning?  Will it become the Watson of the classroom?  This writer thinks so.  As always, read the comments; bright folks hungry for innovation.

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“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology is not enough.  It’s tech married with the liberal arts and the humanities.” Steve Jobs, introducing the iPad 2.

Poet Judith Sornberger, professor of English and Women’s Studies, was contacted by composer/performer Lori Laitman who asked if she could set Judith’s poem “Pioneer Child’s Doll” to music and include it on her CD Within These Spaces. The CD is now nominated for a Grammy in five different categories.  I interviewed Judith about her poetry and the poem that was set to music in this podcast.

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PASSHE Chancellor John Cavanaugh was on campus last Friday to talk about the economy and the challenges for the System over the next three years.  After his presentation, he spent time answering questions from students and faculty concerned about the French and German programs.  To listen to the two-part podcast  of the event, click here.

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The students, carrying protest signs, were models of political activism.  They were energetic in making their feelings known outside.  Inside they asked thoughtful questions in a mature,  respectful way.

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Beyond The Obvious, a photographic journey presented by the Photo Keller Group is on display in the North Hall Gallery, first floor.  This is one of the most colorful, dynamic and accessible photo exhibits in the area in a long time.  The gallery is open five days a week.  Here’s another sample of the  photos on display.

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Between gas drilling, windmills and new retail outlets, this region is going to be growing fast.  It’s a good time to listen to franchise expert Lou Lavetan, Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. in Allen Hall to see how to get in on the economic boom.  For details, click here.  It’s free & open to the public.

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I’ll bet you take that cell phone in your pocket for granted.  At the very least, most of us don’t realize what a lightning fast evolution this ubiquitous device has experienced since the first cell phone call was made in 1983.  Here’s the cell’s  lively history in less than three minutes.

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Saint: n. A dead sinner revised and edited.  Ambrose Bierce