PAGE 4, THE BEHREND BEACON, OCTOBER 8, 1999 NEWS Meet me at the by Erin McCarty stall v,riter All students could use a little bit of help now and then. Whether it's tu toring in an especially difficult sub ject, reading and offering suggestions for a paper or providing information about Behrend's Study Abroad pro grams, the staff of the Learning Re source Center (LRC) is eager to as sist students in any way they can. And the cost? Absolutely nothing. Although the Learning Resource Center, located on the uppermost floor of the Behrend library in the Academic building, is not new to Be hrend, some of its programs are. Just last year advising for study abroad was made available through the LRC; prior to that it had to he done through the Provost's office. An extra empha sis has been placed on international studies of late. "It is becoming more and more beneficial for students to study abroad," said Ruth Pfleuger, Coordi nator of the Learning Rescource Cen ter. "Businesses look very highly upon international experience when interviewing new emploees." In keeping with this theme, lan- Sigma Tau Gamma to celebrate 10 year anniversary by Angela Nlajoris staff v‘riter Starting today, the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity will he spending the weekend celebrating their 10th year anniversary. (her lOU alumni members have planned to return for the weekend's festivities. Many ar rived Wednesday and Thursday evening Current members and alumni began :3 their celebration at 100 a.m. by meeting at Gospel Hill Golfers Club for a golf tournament. Also planned for the day is an I 1:00 arm tour of Franken continued from front pag This provoked Franken to lapse into the character that he was most famous for on Saturday Night Live, the I 2 step un-licensed therapist Stuart Smalley. The audience roared with laughter as the student and Frankel' performed their take on this ex tremely popular character, \vhich ended with Franken hugging the stu dent, just as his character did on the show. After the lecture, Franker V, as available for a hook signing in the Erie Hall lobby. The bookstore had a stand set up for people to purchase Franken's books on the spot and ha% e QUIET STUDY TIME: A peaceful moment at the LRC guage tutors for French, Spanish and German have been added to the LRC. this year. Tutors in other subjects have been added as well, to the point that all four academic schools at Behrend are amply represented. Students seek ing help with writing can drop into the LRC at the appointed times. and students who could use a few point ers in math can go to the Math Lab in the Behrend Science Building w hen the campus anal a Euchre tournament that will take place at the chapter Saturday's e‘ cuts include breakfast at Jimm) Z's, mountain biking. an Alumni Association meeting. and Chuck) Cheese's for the children of the alumni. The main event of the v eekend is the Tenth Annit ersart Dinner and Dance celebration. The formal will he held at a hotel in dim n town Erie and will begin at 6:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon current members and alumni tt. ill gather for a "goodbye - lunch at lie Delta Upsi lon chapter house. them stifled Franken's appearance at Behrend got the Speaker Series off to a good start. His lecture Was \ cry \yell received the Behrend audi ence, as could he gauged by the amount of laugh ter and applause ema nating from Erie Hall. One Day Only! Tuesday October 19th it is open) "Most of the math classes are on that side of campus. - explained Pfleug.er, "and there are always math teachers around. "this makes it very convenient for the students.- Students \N. ho need tuioring in other areas must male an appointment by phone (8-60 Or through the \\ chN,ite \ The wellite \\ ill Non include lists of \\(.‘" e been planning it for a se: rf \\ C hcen planning it for about lour mrwth.. - ,tirf 1 alumni presi dent find loundin;.; Italic' . Richard Britt (A ho did a lot of the planning fur the celebration. Britt plcdrrcd in 1989. graduatcd vv rth a def,lrec in Bu,iness Economic, in 1991. and 1, currently cd a, a mortg, 2 c hanker. It vvu, only ficult planning because ha c to fo. Ile (lid a lot o 1 the vf.klll‘.* ()thcr nicinbk..l , ~ tit tAtc Cut: alumni Scott Waiiilka anti R‘ (iill)crt. and Brian PHOTO BY JEFF MILLER Kris Motta, Assistant Director of Student Activities, has Al Franken sign one of his books. 1. Vied:Vain Pizza with Cheese 136 'Pepperoni 29 9 plus tax Minimum 2 pizzas purchased for delivery. Harborcreek Location • 899-6660 Not valid with any other offer. M 1 414 scholarships and fellowships that stu dents might be interested in. Also in the works is a directory of the tutors available, which would include each tutor's name, semester standing and major. All but one of the tutors are students. A 3.0 GPA and two recom mendations are required to become a tutor, and many of the LRC tutors have also won University awards. Sonie of these tutors are also serv ing as Supplemental Instruction (SI) leaders. This program is designed to help students in historically difficult courses by providing them with the voice of experience. SI leaders have already taken the course in question and take it along with the current class. They then conduct study ses sions three times a week. Studies have shown that students who faithfully participate in these study sessions are likely to raise their grade by one full letter. Supplemental Instruction is currently being offered for Chem 12, Ph) sics 211, Econ 2 and Math 140. "Our long-term goal for the Learn ing Resource Center is to service stu dents at all levels for all of their needs," said Pflcuger. "We are very open to student suggestions: we're here kw them." "The planning actually went rather smoothly, - said Lindner. In reference to Sigma Tau Gamma's history, ,, Lindner explained. "We were colo nised April 9th 1989, and chartered April Bth 1990. This year we paid off the house, we finally own it.'' Many of the very first Sigma Thu Gamma members arc planning to re turn or already have returned for the eekend. "This first person initiated, Chris Dean, will he hack. It's neat for these guys to meet the people that they c been hearing of,'' said Britt. should he a good time.- I I I L a CaeTN N> - t'Ap• BENNIE!' DAY Acer 266 Laptop with Ethernet card n New in box. $llOO Dell 124 Desktop with monitor. $395 Students 'star-struck' at Astronomy Open House by Nicole C. Greene stall' writer On Thursday, September 23, Be hrend held the first Open House As tronomy Night for the 1999-2000 school year. The guest speaker for the evening was Dr. James Kastings, pro fessor of Geoscience at University Park. His topic was "Searching For Life on Extras°lar Planets.'' The lecture, which was held in the Otto Behrend Science Building, brought a large crowd. The lecture hall was filled to capacity and had several people sitting in the vestibule of the building, watching the presen tation from a television screen. Dr. Kastings spoke about the many attempts to find life on planets out side of our solar system. Thus far, 18 planets have been discovered; yet, none of them remotely compare to Earth. Questions have constantly arisen as to whether or not there are chances of finding planets similar to Earth. Included in the presentation were several slides, one of which gave in formation on the site of the 18 plan ets that have heen discovered. It is noted that most of these planets are larger than Jupiter. Another slide pro vided the reasons why Mars is a non habitable planet. There were two prominent reasons: the first being that Mars has an ex tremely cold temperature of -55 C. Because there is no internal heat: the Free Beacon Classifieds for Behrend students, faculty and staff. behrcoll4@aol.com 9 I I Compaq 133 Laptop $670 Call 474-3594 planet has no way of recycling car bon dioxide—a necessary component of existing life. A second reason is that it has a high energy UV radia tion. There was, however, a geologic history showing evidence of a flow ing liquid that is believed to be water. Of the 18 planets that have been discovered by astronomers, none look a hit like ours. What have been dis covered thus far are mostly giant plan ets that are orbiting small distances. Dr. Kastings explained that, "We can't see anything like Earth yet, but we hope to do so in the very near future." Chances of finding an earth-like planet in another solar system are pretty good. According to the pro fessor, NASA thinks they can look for earth sized planets 30-40 light years away. Visions of these could develop by the year 2012. Dr. Kastings brought a lot of in teresting information to the students and faculty of Behrend. After the lec ture, he responded to questions raised by the audience and invited all those who were interested to observe the night sky through the telescopes in the observatory. Both students interested in astronomy, as well as those in as tronomy courses, enjoyed the presen tation and information provided by Dr. Kastings Be sure to attend the next Open House in Astronomy Night on Octo ber 25. where the topic will he, "The Nature of Space.- Lynsys Ethernet Microtek Flatbed Scanner $3O cards $4O
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