GE CEO
to visit
Behrend
CONNOR SATTELY
editor-in-chief
CEO and President of GE
Transportation Lorenzo Si
monelli will visit Penn State
Behrend to speak with students
this week.
His presen
tation will in
clude advice
to students
on "making
it in the real
world." Si
monelli will
also share
his experi
ences in
managing a
multi-faceted
$5 billion
business.
Behrend Marketing
Who: Lorenzo
Simonelli, CEO
of GE Trans
portation
The event,
which will be
held in the
Samuel P
"Pat" Black
111 Confer
ence Center
in the REDC,
will be held
Monday. It is
a campus
only event,
according to
a release by
the Office of
Marketing
Communica
tions.
Where:
Samuel P "Pat"
Black 111 Con
ference Center,
REDC
When: Mon
day, Feb. 15 at
7:00 p.m.
Who cares: Si
monelli is con
sidered one of
the most influ
ential leaders
in business, as
he is named
one of For-
Ralph Ford,
Director of
the School of
Engineering,
says that the
event will
likely draw
students
from various
studies.
tune's "40
under 40" and
runs a $5 bil
lion corpora
tion employing
approximately
10,000 employ
ees worldwide.
"He's under 40 years old, the
CEO of a major corporation,
has been all over the world, and
probably has a ton of great ex
periences to share," he said.
"Really, I expect not just en
gineering students, but stu
dents in any study across the
college to show up."
Simonelli, named in 2009 as
one of Fortune's "40 under 40,"
originally began his studies not
in engineering, but in business.
continued on page 3
In Shuster, a
drive for success
ERIC PEIRCE
assistant news editor
At Penn State Behrend, not
only are we filled with talented
athletes, but also with talented
scholars. .
These academically-talented
students are distinguished by
accepting the honor of being a
Schreyer scholar, a title that
does not come easily.
A Schreyer scholar must not
only have high SAT scores, but
must also maintain a 3.33 GPA
each semester and take at least
three honors courses each year.
Luckily, Matt Shuster was
ready to step and take the chal
lenge. Shuster, a senior gradu
ating this spring with a
Software Engineering major,
made the whole process look
easy. Yet this was not the case.
"I had to set my goals and
2 Opinion:
3 H&SS:
4 Business:
5 Sports:
Culture:
News:
Community:
Local/Nat'l:
Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Jack Burke attended the Feb. 10 SGA meeting and participated in a Q&A with the senators. He spoke on issues of maintaining diversity at
Behrend, the advantages and disadvantages of online classes, and his retirement from the position of chancellor.
Chancellor
The future of education at Behrend may be online, he says
On Feb. 10, the Student Government
Association met with Chancellor Jack
Burke and spoke about his retirement,
what he has seen during his years at
Behrend, and what he expects to see in
future years.
To keep the student body diverse,
Burke believes that it largely depends on
the effort of the students. Students have
to feel comfortable enough to introduce
themselves to others and be friendly.
A few outside factors that he feels
might help with this effort are more
classes that deal with ethnic relations
and breaking down barriers. He also said
that from the get-go, Student Affairs en
courages students to interact with one
another through the many orientation ac
tivities that are offered.
On a day-to-day basis, Burke feels that
groups like SGA are helping because stu
dents have to get to know each other.
On a larger scale, Burke believes that
this generation is diverse in nature and
much different than what he experienced
when he was this age.
"I came from a town that had one
African-American family, and actually it
was mixed, and that was the only
African-American student I saw until I
was in college," Burke said. "I lived
through the Civil Rights era when all of
"[Don't] be afraid to
ask for help from
your professors."
Matt Shuster
Shreyer Scholar
stick by them," Shuster said.
"Dedication is probably the
secret to succeeding."
Shuster, a member of both
the Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta
Nu Honors Societies, has not
only received a Chancellor
Scholarship, but has also been
on the Behrend Honors pro
gram here for two years.
For these programs he per
formed feats that involved "a
couple long nights," Shuster
said.
It isn't just his strong dedica
tion to his college career that
Mit t
friday
0
2.5/19
0 0 0 o
snow shower
this was changing and all of that is be
hind us now."
ALLY ORLANDO
news editor
Burke says that after he retires, he will
miss the people, the interaction, and
keeping updated with technology.
"It was pure hell in the 905," he said.
"We literally sat around a table like this
and said, 'What's a network? We gotta
get a network but we don't know what a
network is.' So then they talked about
different protocols, so we had to figure
out what a protocol was and it was really
difficult. There were times when you had
to jiggle the wires to get the network to
work. Obviously we've come a long way
since then."
In Behrend's near future, Burke sees
"hybrid classes"—a combination of on
line and face-to-face instruction—becom
ing a part of our system.
Burke explained that the online por
tion of these hybrid classes is meant to
supplement the face-to-face portion. For
example, a student may apply knowledge
from face-to-face instruction to an online
lab.
"It isn't just lecture; it isn't just discus
sion, but if it's done right, then it is a
combination of all those things.
"The more approaches there are, the
more chances there are that you're going
to learn something and learn what your
strengths are.
"There's no one way for one person [to
learn]," he said.
Connor Sanely / The Behrend
Matt Shuster has received a Chancellor Scholarship and is part of the Behrend Honors program.
helps him succeed.
"It's suprising, but asking my
professors for help probably
was one of the most important
factors to my success," Shuster
said.
"If I were to offer any advice
to students, it's to not be afraid
Burke meets with SGA
to ask for help from your pro
fessors during or after classes.
They are more than willing to
help you understand a point
that they made in class."
After completing an intern
ship with PPG (an international
manufacturing company) last
Saturday
00 0
00 24/21
mostly cloudy
Kay Johnson, who teaches several
courses in finance at Behrend, is cur
rently on medical leave and teaching her
classes online. Burke was surprised to
find that the students taking her online
class had better test scores than those
whom she taught face-to-face. In the
course over all, there were fewer Fs,
fewer Ds, and fewer withdrawals.
Burke said that we currently have 402
students from all over the world who are
taking online courses at Behrend. The
classes are taught by a "virtual faculty"
and students must purchase a seat in the
course to take it online. Burke said that
as many as $50,000 worth of seats in
these classes can be gone in a heartbeat.
Burke was surprised to learn that last
year the use of our computer labs went
up 32 percent. He assumed that since
nearly every student owns a computer, it
would have went down.
However, he attributed this increase to
group projects that require computers
and the collaborative learning involved in
using computers.
Advice that Burke offers to the new
chancellor of Behrend would be to be
prepared to work long hours, fight the
fight, take care of students, take care of
the faculty, and to get the government to
give us more money.
Burke also thinks that a useful trait for
the job of chancellor is a good sense of
humor.
summer, Shuster has taken an
offer to work full-time this sum
mer as a programmer analyst, a
job that entails software and
application development.
It will be a promising career
starter for Shuster, who will
continue to succeed.
Andy lams to
revive PSB
homecoming
Senior Andy lams is giving
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
to Homecoming at Behrend.
Plans for this year's Homecom
ing were cancelled.
"I think a lot of people were
disappointed that it fell though
this year," lams said. "We had a
lot of success with Homecom
ing two years ago."
Jams' is "100 percent sure"
there will be a Homecoming
dance next October. With eight
months to prepare, time is on
his side.
"We are planning for a
week's worth of activities with
a dance on
night," Lams
want to do
something
fun that will
campus to-
gether and
promote
school
spirit."
his commit-
tee of five
will explore
every possi-
ble option
Homecoming week.
In addition to a dance, they
would like to plan a pep rally
for Behrend varsity athletics
and a campus parade featuring
clubs and organizations. They
will also consider bringing in
bands and comedians for enter
tainment.
"We are looking into every
thing, but we are in the begin
ning stages of planning," lams
said.
"We want to get as many stu
dents, clubs and organizations
involved as possible," lams
said. "We've got big expecta
tions for this event, and we are
going to need some real help."
Planning for and participat
ing in the events will extend to
Behrend Alumni, too.
"I think it is critical to get
Alumni involved," lams said.
"They helped make Behrend
what it is today. This is a great
opportunity to get everyone en
gaged with campus activities."
SGA seeks
new name for
Aquarius Dr.
What's in a name?
The Government Affairs
Committee of SGA is seeking
input as to
whether or Some student
not Aquar- suggestions:
ius Drive 'Jack Burke
should be Way
renamed. •Chauncey Dr
"When •Institution Dr
the street •Nittany Lane
was first
'Lion Crossing
named stu
dents did .Innovation Dr
not have •Inspiration Rd
any input,"
said SGA Governmental Affairs
Director Zach Goncz.
"We think it's important for
students living on the street to
have a say, because we have
gotten complaints that it seems
out of place."
- -,:-..-A sun ay
25/22.
snow shower
SHAWN ANNARELLI
managing editor
"We want
to do
something
fun to bring
the campus
together."
lams and
Andy lams
Homecoming
Committee President
SHAWN ANNARELLI
managing editor
continued on page 3