4 BEHREND BEACON April 30, 2010 www.thebehrendbeacon.com BEHREND BEACON YEAR IN REVIEW A look back at the stories that define the 2009-2010 academic year at Penn State Behrend (ALL STORIES PRINTED WITH AUTHOR, THEIR STAFF TITLE AT THE TIME AT WHICH THE ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED, AND DATE THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE BEHREND BEACON.) DOBBINS FIRE Midnight fire destr ALLY ORLANDO news editor March 2, 2010 For Penn State Behrend stu dents, the events of Monday night's fire at Dobbins Hall will stay in their minds forever. In a scant four hours, be tween 11:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., the Gazebo at Dobbins erupted in flames and was completely destroyed. No injuries or fatalities oc curred, as the building was un inhabited when the fire began. The "Gazebo" section of the building was completely en gulfed in flames as early as 11:45 p.m. The east side of the building, which includes the kitchen and main dining area, suffered some significant damage, but was not entirely lost. Ken Miller, Director of Stu dent Affairs, said that the dy namics of how the fire was focused became one of the most helpful factors. "When the windows blew out in the Gazebo, it acted as a sort of chimney," he said. "All of the heat funneled up the central part of the Gazebo, and pre vented a lot of heat damage in the rest of the building." It was enough damage, though, to force officials to close Dobbins Dining Hall In definitely. For many students, the fire came as a complete shock, and made for an interesting night. "I was working on my home work in the lobby of Lawrence and my friend came in and told us Dobbins was on fire," said Lindsey Masterson, a freshman resident of Lawrence Hall. "We all ran out and saw smoke. They told us to move out of the way, so we went to * *lb the apartthents and saw CAMPUS SAFETY Student rescued from Wintergreen Gorge MIKE 0. WEHRER now, editor September 18, 2009 A week after being rescued from a cliff in Wintergreen Gorge, Behrend Junior Kyle Reilly is still feeling the effects of his harrowing experience. Last Sunday, Reilly, a psy chology major, got stuck climb ing a steep section of the Wintergreen Gorge cliff called the Devil's Backbone. Emer gency crews were called to the scene and Reilly spent over an hour and a half on the cliff side before he was rescued. Reilly was hiking through the gorge with two friends and his girlfriend, Julia Kanaitis, when he decided to climb one of the steeper parts of the hill known as Devil's Backbone. "I've climbed a ton of the hills and cliffs back there before," Reilly said. "I've gotten to the top all the time. This section of the cliff looked doable, but I got to a point where there was a ninety-degree cliff. It would have been literally impossible to continue, without ropes." Looking back, a steep grade and sharp rocks prohibited him from backtracking. After SWINE FLU Four students test pos CONNOR SATTELY editor-in-chief September 25, 2009 Two more Penn State Behrend students have tested positively for Swine Flu, bring ing the college's total to four. According to a Penn State Behrend press release on Thursday, the two students were both tested at the college's Health and Wellness Center. Seven students in total tested positive for the Type A in fluenza; three were tested off campus while four were tested in the Health and Wellness Center. All students have gone Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon The fire left only the base structure of the Gazebo standing. The disaster was the largest fire in Penn State history, across any campus. the flames and heard the glass cracking." Some student bystanders, who stood in large crowds watching the flames, even helped emergency crews that were on the scene. "One fireman was trying to drag a hose up a hill," said Lind say Wagner, a junior majoring in communications. "So some students came and helped him; we were all cheering." The fire dissipated around 12:45 a.m. and was officially extinguished at around 1:30 a.m. "The fire was put under con trol at approximately 1:20 a.m. after fighting it for over an hour and 20 minutes," said Assistant Fire Chief of Brookside Fire Department Mike Carpin. The Brookside Fire Department ar rived on the scene first: At the time of the fire, stu- roughly 20 minutes of trying to find a safe way out, he decided the safest option was to call 9- 1-1. He did so, and was instructed to stay calm and stay put. The crews got to him after about a half hour, and shortly, a rescuer rappelled down to him and fit ted him with a harness. At that point, Reilly had been on the cliff for over an hour. Rope crews at the top of the hill pulled Reilly and his res cuer to the top. Since he had no major injuries, Reilly was cleared to leave after a few checks of his vitals and some paperwork. Perhaps a larger challenge than the cliff, though, has been dealing with fellow students. Since the incident, which was covered on several major news outlets in Erie, some classmates and friends have been less than kind following the event. "Some people have been pretty immature, rude, laugh ing at me and making fun," he said. Already, though, it has calmed down some, and he is returning to regular life at school. He says that prayer was a major force in keeping him home to recover. Further testing for the HINI virus returned positive for the four tested at Behrend; the school does not know the re sults of the other three stu dents' tests. No additional students have returned tests positive for Type A influenza; as of press time, the total remains at seven. Many students, though, have inundated the Health and Well ness Center with complaints of flu-like symptoms. Students who have influenza like illness (ILF) symptoms are being advised to follow self-iso lation guidelines, as well as Gazebo at Dobbins dents in Lawrence and Porcu pine Halls were evacuated and moved to different locations. Associate Director of Student Affairs, Kelly Shrout, said that 275 students were evacuated from the buildings primarily because of smoke. At the time of the evacuation students in Lawrence Hall were instructed to go to Niagara Hall. Dobbins was undergoing ren ovations before the fire and is going to need more extensive renovations after the fire. "The west end of the building [the Gazebo area] is a total loss," Carpin said. "The interior kitchen area is a total loss due to smoke from the fire and water from extinguishing the fire." Further information on the conditions of Dobbins will not be known until later this week. Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon Firefighters in the Ohio parking lot following the rescue of Behrend student Kyle Reilly calm on the cliff side, and that "People have climbed that cliff his faith will play a big part in before, but not on that section. moving onward. If I could do it again, I just "In retrospect, I overesti- would have chosen a different mated my abilities," he said. route." ive for H 1 N 1 fight the illness through "bed rest, fluid intake, and the use of over-the-counter medications to reduce pain, fever, coughs and other symptoms." When students complain of ILF symptoms, they are tested for Type A influenza, which can either be seasonal flu or the HI NI virus, otherwise known as "Swine Flu." If students test positive for Type A influenza at this point in the year, Erie County Depart ment of Health estimates they have about a 90 percent chance of having the HINI strain, be cause usually the seasonal in fluenza will not "The building has been deter mined to be too unstable to enter" Carpin said. "Further in vestigation of the building will be held when the fire marshall is here [Tuesday]." "It is unusable, and it remains to be seen if the building can be accessed by the students that work in our dining hall," Gonda said. "That will be up to the fire inspectors. "Our first priority right now is that students need to be fed. There is no doubt that our Housing and Food Services team will accommodate them." According to Ken Miller, the Director of Student Affairs, the Dobbins food service will be run out of McGarvey Commons until further notice, and classes will run as scheduled all week until Spring Break. reach its peak until January or February. Swine Flu is thought to be spread the same way as sea sonal influenza, according to the CDC: coughing, sneezing, or transmittance of viruses to nose or mouth. Behrend continues to pro mote prevention as the best method of avoiding influenza. CDC lists the highest priority as taking everyday steps to protect one's health, including good hy giene, avoiding contact with sick people, and not touching one's eyes, nose, or mouth. CHANCELLOR SEARCH Burke to Birx University of Houston Communications Department Donald Birx will be Behrend's next chancellor in the fall semester. CONNOR SATTELY editor-in-chief March 19, 2010 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 l'e 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 Birx's 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 John Ro mano, Vice, PresiOnt forcm monwealth Campuses, according to a Behrend press release sent this morning. "In 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 WA ELECTIONS Burger and White take the reins Stephen Burger and Hannah White will be next year's SGA president and vice president. CONNOR SATTELY editor-in-chief April 16, 2010 A race which saw 14 students running for only ten spots as upperclassmen senators has drawn over 600 votes, nearly a 30 percent increase from last year's total. Stephen Burger and Hannah White, both juniors, won the uncontested race for President and Vice President, respec tively. They ran on the same ticket. Burger is a finance major, and White is a biology major. Briana Newstrom, a junior psychology major, was elected to the position of Secretary. Harshal Patel, a sixth semes ter supply chain and informa tion systems major, was elected ews programs at Penn State Behrend." 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 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. to the position of University Faculty Senate Representative. Elected to the contested posi tion of Senator were Ryan Frankowski (freshman - Indus trial Engineering), All Heitzenrater (sophomore - Creative Writing), Cassie Kos mal (sophomore - Business), Aaron Morelli (freshman - Business), Devin Pierre (sophomore - Undecided), Jake Randolph (junior - Marketing), Aharon Robinson (freshman - Business), Jennifer Slane (freshman - Psychology), An drew Sywyj (freshman - Busi ness), and Ryan Voris (freshman - Computer Sci ence). "Steve and Hannah are going to do a great job next year," says current SGA President Brad Kovalcik.
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