Penn State announces Donald Birx as next chancellor of Behrend campus
CONNOR SATTELY
editor-in-chief
Donald Birx, one of two final
candidates for the chancellor
position, has been chosen as
Penn State Behrend's next
chancellor. He will replace Dr.
John "Jack" Burke, who will re
tire at the end of this semester.
The chancellor position, the
campus's chief academic and
administrative position, in
cludes the overall operation of
Behrend, including fundraising,
strategic vision of the college,
alumni and investor relations,
faculty and personnel matters,
and athletics, amongst a variety
of other duties.
"Don Birxs experience in
both academia and industry
will help open the traditional
boundaries between both
worlds, enhancing students' ed
ucational experiences at Penn
State Behrend," said Dr. John
Romano, Vice President for
Commonwealth Campuses, ac
cording to a Behrend press re
lease sent this morning. "In
Dobbins
ALLY ORLANDO
Based on initial findings, fire
officials believe that the fire
started at a temporary en
trance, which was in use be
cause Dobbins Dining Hall is
inaccessable.
On March 3rd, fire officials
reported that they believed the
fire was caused by an electrical
problem in the Gazebo, likely
due to a faulty wire associated
with the cash registers.
They also reported that there
0 Inside: Behrend
launches website for
Dobbins information
—> PdgQ3
Men's B-ball
wins EC AC
Tournament
AMANDA STETZ
senior reporter
The Lions basketball team
became a part of Behrend
sport’s history when they won
ECAC Divison 111 South Re
gion’s Men’s Basketball Cham
pionships against Alvernia
79-73, the
second time
the Behrend
men have
won it in the
history of
the pro
gram
The ECAC
Champi psblions.com
were'held at
Catholic University in Wash
ington D.C. The Lions started
the game right leading the
game at halftime 42-29.
see Basketball, page 3
Photoßeview: 2 Science: 7
News: 3 Opinion: 8
Community: 5 Culture: 10
Local/National: 6 Sports: 11
Burke to Birx
addition, his varied back
ground, with degrees in arts
and sciences, engineering and
business, has enabled him to
see the strong collaborative
possibilities that exist in these
very different fields. We re look
ing forward to his building such
programs at Penn State
Behrend.”
“I am thrilled to be
part of the team that
will shape Penn
State Behrend’s
next decade.”
Donald Birx
Future Behrend Chancellor
Birx comes from the Univer
sity of Houston, where he has
been vice president of research
since 2006. Before 2006, he
held a position as interim vice
provost/president for research
fire ruled accidental; origins likely electrical
was nobody injured during the
fire and no other campus oper
ations, including classes and
food service in Bruno’s Cafe,
were interrupted by the fire.
According to Randy Geering,
Director of Housing and Food
Services, there are no compli
cations with the other buildings
surrounding Dobbins. The fire
marshal’s official report is ex
pected to be released in about
two weeks.
news editor
"Ironically, we were installing
fire detectors and fire sprin
klers to Dobbins. When we set
out to renovate the building in
2005, we were going to have
fire detectors and fire sprin
klers in place when renova
tions were complete. Now,
Waste Management introduced single-stream
recycling to Behrend two summers ago, but re
cycling bins across campus did not label them
as such.
“Greener Behrend has nothing to do with the
current recycling system, but Greener Behrend
student members realized changes could be
made for recycling to be easier for students,”
said Keith Cerroni, a Greener Behrend staff
member.
Going “Greener”
Cerroni said that recycling bins on
o / frida V
50/41 mostly sunny
and professor of physics at
New Mexico State University,
while simultaneously serving as
president and founder of PSI, a
corporate entity at the institu
tion for technology develop
ment and incubation. Birx also
spent 19 years at Systems Re
search Laboratories Inc., in
Dayton, Ohio before his posi
tion at New Mexico State Uni-
versity.
Birx holds a Ph.D in electri
cal engineering from the Uni
versity of Dayton, as well as a
master's in bio-physics and an
MBA in finance, both from
Miami University of Ohio. He
completed his undergraduate
studies in engineering physics,
from the University of Califor
nia - Berkeley.
"I am thrilled to be a part of
the team that will shape Penn
State Behrend’s next decade as
it continues to develop as a
leader in high-quality, innova
tive programs for education, re
search and economic
development," Birx said, ac
cording to the release.
when the initial and additional
renovations are made there will
be fire detectors and fire sprin
klers in place to prevent a fire
spreading like this one. If there
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Preliminary reports state the fire was electrical and accidental.
SHAWN ANNARELLI
managing editor
■ ' A 12 Pages • Volume 56 • Issue
EACON
Who:
Donald Birx
What:
Behrend’s
next chancel
lor
When:
Summer
2010
Formerly:
♦The Vice
President of
research at
Houston.
♦Professor of
Physics at
New Mexico
University
♦President
and founder
of PSI
Earned:
♦Ph.D in
Electrical
Engineering
♦MBA in
finance
were sprinkles in place when
the fire started near the cashier
register, the sprinklers would
have stopped it there,” Geering
said.
campus are labeled to instruct students to sepa
rate paper and plastics, which is unnecessary.
“Greener Behrend student members saw a
hands-on project with attainable goals, and it is
all student-driven,” Cerroni said. “We want to
make students aware that they can single
stream recycle their products very easily.”
Greener Behrend started their project by
working with Housing and Food Services Direc
tor, Randy Geering, to sponsor new labels to re
place current ones in Niagara and Lawerence
Hall.
see GREENER BEHREND, page 3
Saturday
56/36 cloudy
UNiversity of Houston Communications Department
Donald Birx has been named Penn Slate Behrend's next chancellor.
- For the time being, the dining
hall’s kitchen and main seating
area will not able to be used be
cause of damage caused by
smoke and water.
The initial reaction after the
fire was that the Gazebo was a
complete loss and would need
to be removed. Structural engi
neers have since determined
that the existing steel structure
of the Gazebo is salvageable.
To ensure safety, the Gazebo
is likely to be boarded up until
contractors can rebuild it.
Until the fire, a majority of
the area was part of a $7.5 mil
lion dollar renovation project.
Currently, officials are working
with contractors to get renova
tions back on track. Their goal
Alternative. Spring Break club
takes a trip to New Orleans to
build a home
Who:
Greener Behrend
Why:
To educate students on
ecological benefits
Where;
Everywhere you go the
club will be looking for
ways to better use our
resources.
News | 4 ;sg*
A Penn State Behre
Student Publicati
is to have the renovations com
pleted before the fall 2010 se
mester.
"We need to renovate the
Gazebo to feed the students.
The Gazebo was added on in
1993, and we have the blue
print of what was there. We can
build it again and potentially
make improvements to it. We
can make moderations to en
hance energy usage in the
building," Geering said.
According to Geering, the
debris is already being re
moved in order to help speed
the renovation process along.
"We moved the kitchen out
faster than the contractor
continued on page 4
Men's varsity
volleyball
team added
SHAWN ANNARELLI
manag/ng editor
Penn State Behrend is going
to serve men’s volleyball as a
new varsity sport and hope for
an ace of success.
“Volleyball has been a club
sport for over 30 years, and
making it a
varsity sport What:
is what stu- Behrend s
dents have 22nd varsity
been asking sports team
for,” said When
Brian
2011-2012
Streeter, who Coach:
is Behrend’s Ph'l Pisano
Athletic Di- Conference
rector. Not named
Behrend
plans on the
team competing starting in the
Spring 2012 semester.
Streeter said that the athletic
department chose to pursue
see VOLLEYBALL, page 3
Sunday
45/3 6 c,oudy