New labs o
In 1963, when the chemistry labs
at Behrend were first built, only one
current chemistry faculty member
was alive, the Beatles' "She Loves
You" was on top of the charts and the
Rolling Stones had just released
their first single "Come On." Iron
Man made his
first appearance
in Marvel's
Comics and
Martin Luther
King Jr., deliv
ered his iconic "I
have a dream"
speech as over a
quarter million
people marched
on Washington
D.C. in a civil
rights move
ment. This was
also the year
that John F.
Kennedy was as
sassinated.
A lot has
Chem Lab
Dedication:
At a glance
WHAT: Dedication of
the brand new
chemistry labs at Penn
State Behrend. Guided
tours for those who
haven't seen the new
labs available.
WHERE: 101 OBS
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 15
RSVP: RSVP to Amy
Wittman at
alw6@psu.edu or in the
School of Science office.
changed since
then. Over
25,000 alumni have graduated from
Penn State Behrend. Iron man has
been made into a motion picture
starring Robert Downing Jr., who
wasn't born until 1965, King's
speech has been memorialized
amongst America's greatest move
ments, Kennedy has been succeeded
by nine presidents and the Rolling
Stones have released over 90 singles.
Now it is Behrend's turn to reap the
benefits of change: a 6.1 million dol
lar renovation to the original chem
istry labs in the Otto Behrend
Science building, set to be dedicated
Leering sett
CAROLYN ZAFFINO
staff writer
After graduating from Uni
versity Park in 1988 with a de
gree in Hotel, Restaurant and
Institutional management, Mr.
Randy Geering applied to
work in the Housing and Food
Service department at Penn
State Berks campus. His wife
worked in the &veil:Talent
department
and told him
about a
manager po
sition, he
was turned
down for
manager but
hired to be
an assistant
manager.
He worked
there until
Contributed Photo February
Randy Geering. 2001, when
Cardboard City applications no
CAROLYN ZAFFINO
staff writer
Come the last week of Au
gust, a large amount of
Behrend students will find
themselves living in nothing
more than a pile of cardboard
and tape.
These students won't be
evicted or forced to live on the
street: it's Behrend's yearly
Cardboard City event.
Cardboard City is an event
with an effort towards helping
students understand a small
taste of homelessness. Each
year, clubs and student organ
izations sign up for a location
on campus where they build a
shelter out of cardboard. They
then send their members to
"live" in the shelter in shifts
over a 24-hour period, collect
ing donations as they sit in the
brisk October air.
The event is part of the
yearly Hunger and Homeless
ness Week at Behrend.
Applications are now open
for organizations to claim a
spot. Forms will be available
Friday afternoon at the RUB
Desk, or under the "forms"
znonday
TOBY KELLER
staff writer
on October 15, 2010.
The five old labs, over 9,000
square feet of space, have been com
pletely gutted and consolidated into
four larger, more accessible and ac
ademically conducive areas- all of
which are ADA compliant. Two labs
will be used for general chemistry
and lower level analytical courses,
while the other two will house higher
level chemistry such as advanced in
organic and organic chemistry. The
renovations also include a large
preparation room, a separate storage
area for chemicals with its own secu
rity, and a dedicated instrumentation
lab that is accessible for students
who may need time outside of their
ing in as Operations Director
he left to become the man
ager/director of Penn State
Behrend's Housing and Food
Services in June 2001.
He is very excited and anx
ious over the promotion, "this
is a great opportunity and a
unique time for the univer
sity." Penn State Behrend is
poised to have a growth in en
rollment, which would lead to
I d.'n4ectiot more facilities and
student services and build
ings. "I think of myself as a
life-long learner, I am always
open to learning new things,"
Mr. Geering said. He is in
charge of making sure that
the facilities stay clean and
well maintained, oversee the
new construction and renova
tion and plumbing in build
ings. Mr. Geering also plans
for future growth and how to
add to the current space, and
whether or not a new resident
hall needs to be built. He was
Keegan McGregor / The Behrend Beaco
During the Cardboard City event, clubs raise money by spending a day in a cardboard shelter.
section of the OrgSync group
"Behrend Service."
All donations from Card
board City go towards Second
Harvest Food Bank. Dona
tions given through this event
have been so efficient in the
past that it has been estimated
that every dollar given pro
vides $l7 of food for the bank.
tuesday
i.„..„.,,,....., ..,.
4 ,,,,, L .,,,, ~..
.
. 8
. -.
t , -few shoWers
en in OBS after long construction
New Labs in Otto Behrend Science Building include state of the art equipment and various safety upgrades
also pleased to announce that
Behrend has purchased
Gospel Hill golf course, he
served as the liaison between
University Park and Behrend
in that deal.
Mr. Geering said that he
misses the interaction that he
had with the student workers
and the Resident Assistants
(RA) when he was the director
of Housing and Food Services.
He says that now he techni
cally oversees less people now
than he did as the director, but
he oversees all full-time work
ers now. He is now in charge
of police services and their
secretaries, maintenance, and
human resources and their
secretaries. "I don't know
what I would do without my
secretary, she is a huge help
for human resources" Mr.
Geering told me. He says
also that they are going to try
to develop the Reed Union
wednesday
5 9 / 5 2
few showers
regular class period.
The work is not entirely com
pleted. There remains a "Punch List"
of odds and ends that will keep con
tractors on call as faculty and stu
dents encounter problems.
Halmi says that the feedback from
students has been overwhelmingly
positive so far.
"This is really state of the art
stuff," said Chuck Yeung, Interim Di
rector School of Science. "[The new
labs] are gorgeous. They are a real
upgrade and I think the students will
really like them too. I know the pro
fessors are enjoying them."
Since one in three Behrend gradu
ates will have taken a chemistry lab,
Building into more of a stu
dent union building. The
biggest changes are the reno
vations that happened down
stairs and the convenience
store. "This is a very good
way for the students to see
where the Student Activities
Fee from their tuition goes,
that is where we have gotten
the money to do these renova
tions."
He is very proud of the ren
ovations of Perry, Lawrence,
and Niagara that happened
while he was Director, and
also of the construction of
Senat hall. His main goals are
to do the campus justice, keep
students wanting to come and
stay on campus, and be a pos
itive influence on the campus
environment.
"Just remember, good
things take time," said Geer
ing.
thursday
60A2
the faculty and staff of the Chemistry
program did everything they could
to ensure that students were not in
convenienced by the remodeling.
"We were creative and cut a little
bit of class time but it did not cut any
content," Halmi said. "The one sig
nificant impact that we really
couldn't figure out anyway around
was that we did not have summer
session labs.
"Chem 111 and 113 typically enroll
10-12 students, but these are usually
freshman classes and we really
heard no complaints. Any kind of in
convenience felt by students is minor
compared to the benefit for all of us."
The new design will be more affec
open
showers
Raffle raises over
$lOOO to benefit
student's family
ADAM FRACASSI
r i latiaying edam
On July 24, 2010, tragedy
struck the students here on
campus. Many lost who they
considered to be a good
friend.
In July, Amber Heeter
passed away and the students
at Behrend came together to
help Amber's family out.
Over the past month, greek
life, along with Student Activ
ities, has been raffle tickets to
students all over campus.
Over the
past month,
students in
greek life
have been
selling raffle
tickets to
help the
family.
"The point
of the raffle
was to show
the Heeter
Contributed Photo family how
Amber Heeter. much their
daughter
impacted so
many lives on this campus,"
said Lindsey Hopkins Hall,
Coordinator of Student Or
ganizations and Programs.
Tickets were sold for $5 a
piece with the winner of the
tive for students and faculty alike,
and will no doubt be a point of pride
for Penn State Behrend.
"When we designed the labs, we
thought about what we could do in
the future," Halmi said. "One of the
extra benefits will be that the Uni
versity will now be able to host
things we otherwise could not. The
American Chemical Society has an
Olympiad once a year where high
school students come and perform
labs.
"We couldn't host them because
we didn't have sufficient facilities.
Now we can host them, or summer
camps, in a really nice environment,"
she said.
drawing getting a $5OO cash
"At first, I didn't believe I
won when Lindsey called me
Monday afternoon," said raf
fle winner Chris Desmond.
"After she responded 'no, you
actually won' I realized that I
did actually win the money. I
never planned on winning, I
just wanted to support the
Heeter family and the sisters
of Alpha Sigma Alpha."
Overall, the raffle is consid
ered to be a success. The stu
dents raised over $l2OO that
will go directly to the family.
"My hope is that they will
that everyone on campus
came together because that's
just how important Amber
was to so many people on this
campus," said Hopkins Hall.
In addition to the money
raised by the raffle, Desmond
is planning to give a portion of
his winnings to the family as
well.
The raffle is just one of the
events that is planned to help
the family. This coming Fri
day, there is an event planned
to help the family even more.
The event will feature stu
dents being able to Pie a
sweetheart or Lindsey Hop
kins Hall in the face outside of
Bruno's from 11 -- 2 with all
proceeds going to the family.