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CONFERENCE
TEAMS
HIGHLIGHTED
We recognize all oj
our All-Conferenct
Team athletes foi
the 2003-2004 sea
SPORTS
Page 14.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Inside
SPORTS IN REVIEW
Take a look back at the year in review of
sports, including the championship win
ning basketball, tennis, and soccer sea
sons.
SPORTS, Pages 11-14
SAY GOODBYE TO THE BEACON BUNCH
Check out the staff page to see who’s been
bringing you all you need to know for the
last year. Graduating from staff this year is
Lauren Packer, Ryan Russell and Amy
Wylczynski.
STAFF, Page 8
GREEKS REFLECT ON YEAR
The Greek community reflects on their
past year, as well as set goals and expec
tations for their new members and orga
nizations for the upcoming year.
GREEK, Page 10
THE STORIES THAT SHAPED THE YEAR
This week’s News section is packed with
the stories that shaped and effected the
year the most. From the housing crunch
to the first ever basketball homecoming,
the Beacon looks back on yet another year.
NEWS, Pages 1-6
TABLE OF CONTENTS
News. 1-6A&E. 9
Editorial 7Greek. 10
Staff- <85n0rt5......11-14
CONTACT US
Newsroom: 898-6488
Fax: 898-6019
E-mail: behrcolls@aol.com
Our offices are located downstairs
in the Reed Union Building.
REDC groundbreaking
Administrators, legislators and community members take part in ceremony
The groundbreaking for Behrend’s
largest facility and the Erie region’s
largest state financial gift took place
Wednesday, when Penn State friends and
government officials gathered in the
Smith Chapel to take turns turning over
dirt.
The $3O million Regional Economic
Development Center, commonly known
as the REDC, is the future home of the
Sam and Irene Black School of Business
and the School of Engineering and
Engineering Technologies.
The facility is expected to serve two
major purposes: increasing academic
space, and providing a single facility for
two schools that have already begun to
integrate.
Dr. Jack Burke, campus executive
officer and dean, said he believes
Behrend is the only school in the country
that has combined the two schools, and
this combination serves a realistic
purpose.
“When you get out into a corporate
setting, that’s what’s going to happen,”
said Burke, commenting on the need for
business student to know more about
engineering and vice versa.
This shared facility improves the
partnership that was fostered in
December 2000, when the GE Fund of
Stamford, Conn., gave Behrend a
$176,000 grant to integrate parts of the
engineering and business curriculums.
The schools have begun offering a new
Product Development course,
BDENG479A/MANGT 479 A,
previously called Small Product
Realization.
In that course, “teams of business,
engineering and engineering technology
students take a product idea from
A Penn State Erie Student Publication APR 3 0 2004
by Daniel J. Stasiewski
managing editor
and Jenna Dominick
contributing writer
Filippi participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Research and Economic Development Center, held
Wednesday afternoon in the Smith Chapel. The REDC building is projected to open in 2006.
conception to the development of a development for the Erie region. construction.
business ” said Dr. Bill Lasher, associate The new facility will provide a direct “The important feature is the learning
professor of engineering and engineering link to Knowledge Park as well as bridge and education that’s inside those walls,”
technology. the business and technology gap that said State Sen. Jane Earll, who was also
The 160,000-square-foot REDC will
also provide much-needed class space.
“It will get us away from the image of
temporary buildings, which makes it
hard to recruit faculty,” said Burke.
Once the facility is moved, the School
of Science and the School of Humanities
and Social Science will be able to expand
into the buildings that previously housed
the business and engineering schools.
Though the groundbreaking was a
time for Penn State community members
to celebrate, state and local officials also
took the time to commemorate the major
currently prevents Erie from getting back
on its economic feet.
State Rep. Tom Scrimenti, Erie Mayor
Rick Filippi, Erie County Executive Rick
Schenker and Harborcreek Township
supervisors Ken Springirth and Donna
Mindek were all on hand to celebrate the
investment in the future of Erie and
Behrend.
At the groundbreaking, Burke also
read a letter from former governor and
now Secretary of Homeland Security
Tom Ridge, who played an integral role
in getting state funding for the REDC
Vol. LI No. 27
held
in attendance for the ceremony.
“Employers interested in investing in this
area, one of the things they look at when
determining whether they are going to
come here or stay here, is the quality of
their workforce.”
Earll believes that the vision of both
the university and the state have come
together in support of the northwest
Pennsylvania region and that is the
support needed to prevent college
graduates from leaving the state.