DECEMBER 10, 1999, THE BEHREND BEACON, PAGE 3
NEWS
Mercyhurst offers courses
for Behrend students
by Juliana Harper
staff writer
Behrend and Mercyhurst College
have developed a program that allows
Behrend students to register at
Mercyhurst and take advanced visual
and performing arts courses, all while
still being enrolled at Behrend. The
Behrend-Mercyhurst Cross-Registra
tion Program was formed to expand
opportunities for Behrend students.
The program only covers advanced
courses in visual and performing arts.
"The Behrend/Mercyhurst agreement
will allow students to take advanced
instrumental and voice studio instruc
tion. These types of courses are not
available at Behrend," said Clare
Porac, Director of Humanities and
Social Sciences. Enrollment is on a
"space-available basis," and students
must meet eligibility requirements.
In order to be eligible, one must be
a full-time Behrend student pursuing
a baccalaureate degree, and must have
a minimum grade point average of
2.0. A participating student can only
take 2 to 4 credits at Mercyhurst dur
ing any one term, and cannot take
more than Q credits during a 4-year
program.
Students planning to move to Uni
versity Park to pursue a major in the
College of Arts are not eligible to par
ticipate, as those students will be able
Five-week summer trip gives
you more for your money
by Rebecca Weindorf
staff writer
It's that time again: another study
abroad program that offers credit
courses overseas is now being offered
at Penn State Behrend.
The Study Abroad Program is offer
ing another trip to the University Col
lege of Northampton in England, this
year with even more classes to choose
from. All classes are accredited and
can be applied to a major at Behrend.
The cost of the trip will bring more
than bargained for: students get their
own dorm room, a class or two during
the day and afternoon, and evenings
and weekends free to tour local sites,
London, and all the small hiding places
that one discovers on aimless walks
around the beautiful campus. The stu
dents in the classes are from all ends
of the earth - the U.S., Canada, Italy,
Poland, etc.
Also, a week's field trip to places
such as Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and
northern France are offered as part of
the five and a half week stay at the pres
tigious English university.
"This Study Abroad program is the
best bargain of them all," said Dr. Dean
Baldwin, assistant director of Humani
ties and Social Sciences and coordina
tor of the trip. "It will be well worth
your money. I haven't heard any com
plaints about the trip; in fact, several
more people are interested in taking the
trip this year."
And just how much does this trip
cost? It will all depend on how many
courses are taken at UCN; up to three
classes can be taken, at three credits
each for a total of nine. The cost for
three credits is $2,000; six credits costs
$2,650; and nine credits costs $2,950.
The cost includes your tuition to UCN,
room and board, cooking facilities, the
one week field trip (which includes
transportation and a two-way plane
ticket), all excursions to museums and
to take similar classes at UP while
Behrend students will only have the
opportunity to take these enrichment
classes at Mercyhurst.
An eligible Behrend student would
not pay tuition to Mercyhurst, but
would pay any special course fees not
included in tuition, as well as parking
fees. Students are responsible for
their own transportation.
Mercyhurst College may use audi
tions or other assessment techniques
to determine proper placement into
Behrend students and faculty gather at last year's COURTESY PHOTO
summer trip to England.
plays, transportation, entry fees for all
excursions, and library and computer
fees for over five weeks
"All you need to cover with extra
expenses is your round-trip plane ticket
- about $650 - extra food, and any ex
tra spending money," Dr. Baldwin said.
"And rest assured, all your courses you
decide to take will be carefully counted
toward your major, elective, or as gen
ed. before you pay anything."
Scholarships are also available
through the Kochel Fund and UCN,
which are distributed yearly for the
trips. The trip is worth it, though - there
is already high interest in the trip and
one student is even taking out another
loan to cover the cost of the trip.
Last year, eighteen students from Be
hrend went on the trip. Students from
Poland, Russia and Italy also partici
pated in the program; faculty from
schools all over the world teach the
courses, including faculty from UCN.
All courses are in English, but many
of the students participating are speak
ing English as second language.
the desired courses. Mercyhurst will
provide grades for all coursework
completed by the student. The stu
dent will receive a course grade from
Mercyhurst after enrolling in the ap
propriate Penn State course.
Although the Mercyhurst academic
calendar is based on three terms in
stead of two, Penn State students
would only he allowed to participate
in the Fall and Spring programs, and
would be prohibited from taking part
in the Winter term program. Students
"These students [from overseas]
know how to speak three, four, even
five languages - and sometimes talk
better English than yourself," remarked
Dr. Baldwin, smiling. "All the same,
the diversity in the classes is amazing
- it's quite an experience."
UCN is located in a rural setting, al
most like Behrend's : lots of land, many
trees, spacious, and full of places to
explore. Weekends can be spent ex
ploring campus or surrounding cities.
Each class chosen has a recom
mended field trip to go along with it;
one week out of the five will be spent
away from UCN and used to study on
location information taught in that par
ticular class. Again, the above cost
covers this week-long field trip.
More information on the trip is avail
able through Dr. Dean Baldwin, Aca
demic 127, x 6214, dxb 1 1 @psu.edu.
You can also contact Ms. Ruth Pflueger
at the Learning Resources Center in the
Library, x 6418, rep' @psu.edu.
The Old Main
Building at
Mercyhurst College.
Behrend students
have the opportunity
to take courses at
the local College.
The Old Main
Building is the focal
point of the
Mercyhurst College
campus.
must also be aware that these 10-week
courses are more intense than the nor
mal 15-week schedule to which
Behrend students have grown accus
tomed.
Students interested in participating
in the Behrend-Mercyhurst Cross-
Registration Program can get a sched
ule of available courses in the
Registrar's Office. The Behrend
Registrar's number is 898-6104, and
the Mercyhurst College Registrar can
Lie reached at 824-2250.
Got Books?
SGA Book Sale Sells your books
Drop off books you want to sell:
Monday (Reed 113) & Tuesday (Reed 3, downstairs)
January 10-11, 11am-7pm
Buy Books Cheap:
Wednesday and Thursday (Reed 113)
January 12-13, 1 lam-7pm
And If We Don't Sell Your Books??
You am still sell them to the bookstore!
Pick up unsold books Friday Jan.l4, 11 am-3pm (Reed 113)
Behrend to welcome
first international scholar
to live on campus
Dr. Pavel Zemcik will soon become
Behrend's first international scholar to
reside on-campus. Zemcik is currently
a faculty
member in
the Depart-
ment of Sci-
ence and
Engineer
ing at Tech
nical Uni-
versity in
Brno,
Czech Re
public. At
Behrend, he
will teach
computer
engineering
during the
spring se-
mester
Zemcik also plans to work with stu
dents and faculty in research.
Some of his research interests in
clude human machine communication,
real-time imaging, and video "He has
excellent research and teaching creden
tials," said Ralph Ford, Assistant Pro
fessor of Electrical and Computer En
gineering. Dr. Zemcik has also worked
at universities in the United Kingdom
and Finland.
"Dr. Zemcik is a great programmer
and will bring vast experience in this
at your price.
sss Make Money sss
sss Save Money sss
by Juliana Harper
staff writer
may also in
lec-
Almy Hall will be the residence of formally
ast-
Behrend's first International Scholar to live time on E
ern European
on campus. politics.
area to the programming course that he
is teaching - CMPSC 201. In addition,
he will he teaching a senior level elec
tive, El: BD 473 - Digital Signal Pro
cessing. which is currently an area of
interest in industry and academic re-
Arrange
ments have been made so that Zemcik,
his wife. and their two sons will reside
on-campus in an apartment in Almy
Hall, Behrend's residence hall for
Schreyer Scholars and Honors students.
Behrend hopes to host a scholar each
semester for its International Scholar in
Residence program. The plan is to ro
tate the position between schools to ex
pand opportunities to students in all di
visions of study at Penn State Behrend.
search," said
Ford.
Computer
Engineering is
not the only
subject with
which Dr.
Zemcik is fa
miliar. For the
Division of
Humanities
and Social
Sciences, he