Page 2a The Behrend Beacon WEEKEND WEATHER OUTLOOK SATURDAY ioo 4t, ' 'it- At. * * Snow High: 38° Low: 28° Winter closing/delay info Eventually, it will snow. And when it does, it probably won't stop. Here are some ways to touch base with Behrend during cold times: • Before 8 a.m., call (814) 898-6000 and select "class cancellations or school closings" from the voice-mail menu (press 4). • After 8 a.m., call (814) 898-6000 and speak with the switchboard operator if she is at work. Otherwise, select from the voice-mail menu. • The following TV and Radio stations will also provide coverage about delays and closings TV: WICU-TV 12; WJET-TV 24; WSEE-TV 35; WFXP-TV 66. RADIO: WFGO-FM (Froggy 94.7); WJET-FM (The Point 102.3); WPSE-AM 1450; WQLN-FM: 91.3; WRKT-FM (Rocket 101); WRTS-FM (Star 104); WXKC-FM (Classy 100); WXTA-FM (Country 98). • Check the Penn State Behrend Web site at www.pserie.psicedu and click on the new link to weather cancellations. There is a free account on Accuweather's "Cancellations.com" site. The college's information can he found by typing "behrend" and "pa" in the appropriate search boxes. Physics honor society inducts five Five outstanding physics students at Penn State Behrend were inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, a national physics honor society, on Nov 19. The 6 p.m. induction ceremony took place at Logan House following dinner and a presentation by guest speaker Richard Chromik, a 1994 graduate. New members of Sigma Pi Sigma are Kimberly Herrmann, Mark Niedermyer, Justin Crepp, Brian Sands, and Bruce Tepke. All were nominated by members of the physics faculty. Chromik is a physics graduate who recently completed his doctorate in physics at SUNY Binghamton. His talk, titled "Thermal Processes in Thin Films over Nanometer Length Scales: Everyone Wants Their Cell Phones to Work," brought students, their family members, and active and retired physics faculty up to date on his current research He will soon begin a post-doctoral fellowship at Lehigh University. Sigma Pi Sigma chapters are restricted to colleges and unive rsities of recognized standing that offer a strong physics major. Total membership in the society is more than 58,000 in 686 chapters. Did you miss them the first time? Well, here's your chance to listen to them again. Recent Behrencl speaker Peter Leyden, as well as the Music at Noon performers Ying Quartet will air on WQLN-FM 91.3 in mid- December. Leyden's speech, "The Long Boom," will air Dec. 16, at 4 p.m. The Ying Quartet will air Wednesday at 7 p.m. 08:05 The window in Lawrence Hall's east emergency door was reported broken. It appears a rock was thrown through the window. 12/01/01 09:15 An officer was informed that graffiti was spray-painted on Stadium Drive. 1 2/02/0 1 15:35 A visitor came to Police and Safety to report that another motorist struck his car while backing out of a space in the Erie Hall Lot. The complainant got pertinent information from the other driver. 1 2/02/0 1 23:45 A staff member reported a set of work keys missing 12/03/01 12:30 A complainant reported the theft of a logistics management textbook. 12/05/01 -In last week's issue, Julie Eisenman's and Jule Gardner's names w ere spelled incor rectly in the article "Comm. women go 'From College to Career'." -In the the November 16 issue, there were several errors in the 'Behrend Diversity' supplement page. Though this information was part of a submitted project from a first year seminar class, and though much of the incorrect information was obtained from the multicultural and diversity section of Penn State Behrend's Web site and from a member of the Multi-cultural council, the Beacon appologizes for the inaccuracies. Fraternities • Sororities •Clubs • Student Groups Earn $1,00042,000 this semester with the easy Campusfundraisencom three-hour fundraising event. Does NOT involve credit card applications. Fundraising dates are filling quickly, so call today! Contact Campusfundraisencomat (888) 923-3238, or , ,_.riii,llSfundraisenconi SUNDAY , 04)5.1 4 .%. rte',s:. Snow High: 40° Low: 30° BEHREND BRIEFS MONDAY Partly Cloudy High: 45° Low: 28° . . ‘,4•, , . ... ~,,,,,„4.,,,, ~ 14...' , ,,,,,, ~ , , , ' • 0., - ' . s , . • , i e'r ~,,, • > Irsio i 111 Friday, December 7, 2001 Though it sure doesn't feel like the holiday season with the weather as mild as it is, it really is here - Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, you name it. December is here and it brought the holidays along. So be merry, have some fun, have some food, and celebrate. In the words of our good friend Lord Alfred Tennyson, "Ring out the old, ring in the new/ Ring, happy bells, across the snow/ The year is going, let him go/ Ring out the false, ring in the new." Seasons greet ings and happy new year from the Beacon staff. Courses subject to faculty approval by Erin McCarty assistant news editor Although most students take for granted the classes they take, the process of creating those classes is very complicated. Every' , course,listed in the Blue Book has undergone an extensive series of proposals and reviews, and the entire process usually begins with one faculty member who feels there is an empty space in either a particular program or in general education which needs to be tilled. Two classes at Behrend, COMMU 402 and PSYCH 401, are now up for approval. That instructor must first write up a proposal detailing the course he or she wishes to add and explain why such a course is necessary. Next, the proposal must be presented to faculty who would be affected by such an addition; the same is true when a faculty member wishes to either change or drop an existing course. Advance warning is advantageous both to the one making the proposal and the faculty who would be affected by it. Failing to follow this procedure often results in complications further along in the process. "Major courses are always much easier to approve," said Dr. Rod Troester, associate professor of speech communication at Behrend. Since only a limited number of faculty are qualified to teach major-specific courses, fewer are therefore involved in the Saturday n December 15 0 Noon Junker Center °e tt % 0 a w 0 •4 9% VO o f, %/•• 94 Speaker 1 4_ Dr. Ido Millet Tek associate 1 0 professor of MIS FOCAL POINT mcmE ; 4 , , k •:„ - • • approval of a specific course. For general education courses, however, more faculty input is usually required. "Gen ed courses are as broadly conceived as possible," said Troester. " Both' , general and major courses must pass Many courses that were considered a diversity focused (DF) course have to be re-evaluated for the new international and intercul tural (GI) requirement. through an approval board at the college, campus, and university level. Each course must adhere to the guidelines set forth in Penn State's Guide to Curricular Procedures and the particular criteria required for each unique type of course. "The University decided a couple of years ago that it wanted to see more active learning strategies," said Troester. Therefore, older courses frequently come up for revision. Among the requirements for the proposal must be plans that show how the course will incorporate active educational strategies which help students learn. A main job of the curricular board at University Park is to Liz Hayes, News Editor behrcolls@aol.com ensure' that all of the courses, including general education, will contain the proper amount of depth, even though general education courses at one time focused on breadth of information at the expense of depth. The committee also must ensure thin no duplicate courses are approved. "[COMMU 4021 was Diversity Focused (DF) approved for General Education requirements and must be reviewed for the new International and Intercultural (GI) requirement," said Richard Englund, associate professor of engineering. Because it is already taught at Behrend and is a course within a major, COMMU 402, Intercultural Communications, will probably not be very difficult to approve. However, it will need to go through the GI sub-committee at University Park. All DF courses must be reviewed in this manner to ensure that they fit the new GI requirement. "I expect little difficulty with [PSYCH 4011 at any level of the process," said Englund of the other course. Although this course, which deals with evaluation, is new, its placement as an elective in the psychology major increases the likelihood that it will encounter little resistance. "It's a long and cumbersome process," said Troester, "but on the other hand, the faculty have input and representation. Faculty have almost exclusive control over the curriculum."
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