Jan. 14, 1987
"Hi! Do You Know Me?"
Jan Travers
He'd be a natural for an
American Express credit card
commercial. If you didn't look
at the uniform you'd never guess
who the very young, easy going,
ever smiling, bespectacled young
man was.
But look below his chin
and you see a major clue to
solving his identity. He is the
Rev. Kenneth Smith, campus
minister at Penn State at
Harrisburg. At 29, he is young
enough to relate to youth, but
after only a few words you
realize he is wise enough to
gamer respect.
There is no campus
ministry office so Father uses
public gathering places to
mingle with the students. Every
Wednesday during the semester,
from 9:30 to 4, Father sets up
shop in the Lion's Den. "I want
students to know someone from
the church is there to share their
problems, frustrations, or to be a
friend," said Smith.
"Church is not a major
part of college life, and as a
result, kids will shy away," he
continued. Therefore, the major
focus of his attention for his first
semester at PSU, Harrisburg,
was to gain the confidence of the
students. ‘ Through obvious
exposure in the Lion's Den and
library, in addition to word of
mouth among the students,
Smith feels he is beginning to
have an effect.
Engineering Surcharge
(continued from pg. 1)
in relation to the present cost of
lab equipment is an inadequate
amount. Shoup feels that while
it is an additional burden to the
student, the surcharge has made a
difference not only in equipment
but also in faculty moral.
A source of regular
funding relatively free of
bureaucratic red tape has allowed
many of the engineering faculty
to develop new programs. Some
areas of new equipment purchase
include oscilloscopes,
microcomputers, software
packages and robotics equipment
The problem with the
surcharge is in the interpretation
of the system by the departments
and the administration.
Presently the university's
strategic plan calls for expanding
and remodeling the mechanical
engineering technology lab and
continued purchase of laboratory
equipment.
Dr. Robert Graham,
associate provost at Penn State,
Harrisburg, indicates that the
administration received two
signals from the faculty to
upgrade the facility and continue
improving isjb equipment.
Accomplishing this requires
However, one drawback
of meeting in areas with a lot of
people, according to Father, is
that some may hold back because
they feel uncomfortable asking
for help in front of their peers.
For those, Father is available in
a more private setting every
Sunday evening between 6pm
and9pm, when he is on campus
to say 7:30 mass in the CUB.
"I'm not here to hit
anybody over the head, but to
reach out to theses people io
show them someone is there,
whether to offer sacraments of
the church or to direct or counsel
them," explained Smith.
According to Smith, a
campus is a place where a lot of
additional funding and the
provost feels that the surcharge
is intended to cover the cost of
the MET lab expansion.
According to Graham, the
application of the surcharge was
established by the strategic plan
as the main vehicle for
establishing the universiy's
priorities.
The strategic plan is
supposed to be developed jointly
by the faculty and
administration. Yearly
modifications are made to the
plan as specific needs arise and
are recognized in importance by
the faculty and aministration.
Presently the
engineering surcharge is
administered by the provost's
office. A freeze is in effect for
the purchase of any new lab
equipment for the Spring
semester. It is generally felt by
many in the engineering
department that the money was
intended for lab equipment and
not facility expansion.
Professor William
Aungst, mechanical engineering
department chairman, feels that it
is not the student's responsibility
to pay for the improvement of an
existing facility. Shoup said
that while he has not seen a
Capital Times
work can be done by reminding
students the church is there to
help. "Penn State is a highly
geared academic school, which in
turn creates a lot of stress.” And
even though he is of the
Catholic religion, Smith is quick
to point out that he is on
campus to help all
denominations. "I have no
means of determining the
religious makeup of the
campus," said Smith, adding that
the only way he can effectively
serve the students is to have
them respond to him.
Father has plans to
increase his campus
involvement. This includes
examining needs of an adult
campus population. "I find that
undergraduate schools like Penn
State have kept up on academics,
but are lacking in the areas of
faith and religion," said Smith.
For this reason, Father would
like, to see the addition of adult
education in scripture study,
addressing morals, ethics, and
justice.
r •' In recent years, there
has been a sharp decline in the
number of people entering the
life of service to the church. "By
the year 2000, there will be 50
percent fewer priests than there
are now," said Smith. "Young
people have a lot to offer the
church, but they need
encouragement to step forward. I
am in a postion to initiate the
process of growing closer to the
church," offered Smith.
university policy statement on
implementing the surcharge, his
impression is that it was
intended for equipment purchase.
According to what he has learned
from University Park, so far
only equipment has been
purchased for the engineering
programs at Main Campus.
A possible solution to
the growing dilemma facing both
the faculty and administration
over the use of the funds,
according to Shoup, would be to
establish a divisional review for
the monies instead of the present
system of the provost's approval
of the surcharge budget He cites
the fact that the provost's
position is far removed from the
source of the need and cannot
appreciate the full potential of
the surcharge to the respective
programs.
When asked to establish
a priority, equipment versus lab
facilities for the MET programs,
Aungst pointed out the difficulty
in making a decision. "The
MET lab has been waiting for
remodeling for three years while
the Met program has gone
without equipment for 15 years.
The department has gotten by
Start Job Search Early
By Tom Boyle
Unless you're a top stu
dent you may have a hard time
getting a job offer if trends
established last year continue.
In a survey of 161 col
leges and universities nation
wide, there were 26 percent fewer
job offers in the 12-month period
ending June 1986 when com
pared to the previous year.
While the number of
job offers fell, starting salaries
rose as much as 10 percent,
according to the College Place
ment Council's (CPC's) 1986
Salary Survey.
"I saw the same
slowdown in job offers and some
increases in salaries," said Peggy
O'Hara, coordinator of Career
Services at Penn State, Harris
burg.
It was a confusing year
with cutbacks in hiring and
employers competing heavily for
top recruits causing salaries to
rise, according to H. Edward
Babbush, director of the career
development center at California
StateGhiv'ersity--Lorig Beach.'
The slowdown in job
offers was unexpected and some
say a result of concern over the
economic outlook in general
including tax reform, the
Gramm-Rudman balanced bud
get legislation, and competition
from foreign imports.
"The last year when a
lot of students had multiple job
offers was 1982," said O'Hara.
"Students who begin the job
with cramped lab space and
inadequate equipment in the past
and will continue to do so.
Professor Cheryl Ebel,
EET program, points out that
lab equipment is essential to the
program for accreditation. "The
electrical program doesn't have
its accreditation due to inadequate
equipment. If the facilities for
the mechanical department are
not upgraded they may lose their
accreditation," she said.
A general concern
expressed by the engineering
faculty and students is the lack of
controls placed on the surcharge.
Many students as well as faculty
are wondering if the application
of the surcharge funds toward the
remodeling of the MET lab may
not set a precedent. A common
joke among engineers is that the
trees and sculpture garden
appeared on campus at the same
time as the engineering
surcharge. Some students
question if the surcharge funds
will be used to help build a new
library. The general
interpretation being that. Since
engineering students use the
library they should contribute to
its expansion.
search early usually do better
than those who wait until close
to graduation."
The slowdown in col
lege recruiting had the biggest
impact on several engineering
disciplines, the computer sci
ences, social sciences and busi
ness administration.
1985 was an excellent
year for college recruiting and a
slowdown in 1986 still points to
a healthy job market, according
to John D. Shingleton, director
of placement services at Mich
igan State University in East
Lansing.
Liberal arts graduates
improved the most when com
pared with other fields in 1986.
However, employers and place
ment directors agree that the job
market is still brighter for those
with business and technical
degrees than those with liberal
arts degrees.
Masters degree graduates
face the same job market trends
as those graduating with bachelor
degrees, according to CPC's
Salary Survey. Although master
level graduates at Peon State,
Harrisburg differ from some
other colleges and universities.
"The large majority of
graduate students on campus
attend part-time while gaining
valuable job experience full-time
and fare much better when they
graduate than those without work
experience," said O’Hara.
CPC’s Salary Survey
is based on offers, not actual
hiring and reports on job offers
made from September 1985
through June 1986.
The debate surrounding
the use and purpose of the
surcharge shall continue to grow.
An initially good idea seems to
be flawed by two different
interpretations. During the
course of interviewing
administration, engineering
depart and faculty, no one could
produce a copy of the
university's policy as issued by
Main Campus. Efforts to
contact the administration and
engineering departments at
University Park prior to finals
yielded no concrete information
concerning similar problems of
interpretation.
Perhaps it is time for
the administration, faculty and
student body to reevaluate their
prioities. Before this can happen
all parties involved will have to
take a hard look at what they
want in relation to what is
needed. Resolving the conflicts
involved with the surcharge will
require all parties to
communicate their priorities,
listen to and acknowledge the
importance of differing opinions
and agree to compromise.
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