Controversy Over PSU Expansion Continues By Paula Marinak Capital Times Staff Writer Despite angering many admin istrators at local colleges and prompting claims that Penn State receives special treatment from state lawmakers, State Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok recently approved a plan allow ing several satellite campuses to include the freshman and sopho more years in their curricula. Hickok authorized the expan sion of 11 Penn State locations from two to four-year schools in January 1997. They included Altoona, Berks, McKeesport, and York. The university revised their plans for growth last fall, accord ing to Dan Langan, press secre tary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The school froze enrollment at the expansion sites and limited the number of degrees available. However, presidents at rival colleges and universities statewide continue to harshly crit icize Penn State. “Their attitude is expansionist, imperialist and indifferent to the well-being of other colleges and universities,” said Katherine Henderson, presi dent of Point Park College, in an interview with The Patriot-News. Christy Rambeau, manager of University Park’s news bureau, said the media have overly dra matized Penn State’s plans to expand academic programs at 17 of their 23 locations, and many PSH faculty agrep. “Penn State’s philosophy is to serve all regions of the state more or less equally, not to compete with state schools or private uni versities,” said Dr. William J. Mahar, director of the School of Humanities. “We just want to offer pro grams that will meet the needs of certain areas of the state and cer- Continued on Page 5 Interior work of the new library is continuing. Book shelves and other fixtures are being installed. Story and more photographs, page 3. The Astronaut's Life By Ken Lopez Capital Times Staff Writer When Penn State professor James Pawelczyk teaches stu dents about how to conduct experiments in space, he applies his own out of this world experi- ences to convey his points. The 39-year old former astro naut was never content to dream up goals. He wanted more than anything else to live them. Pawelczyk worked as a pay load specialist on a mission of the space shuttle Colombia in PSH Student Killed In Accident By Matthew McKeown Capital Times Editor Michael A. Herner a Secondary Education/English major, was killed Oct. 1 in Conewago Twp., York Co., as a result of a motorcycle accident. He was 22 years old and lived in Dover. Herner was traveling north on Susquehanna Trail at approxi mately 5:30 p.m. when his motorcylce hit a guardrail. He was thrown from the cycle. He was pronounced dead at the scene by York County Coroner Barry Bloss, according to Northern York County Regional Police. This was Herner’s first semes ter at Penn State Harrisburg. He Earthquake Shakes Professor Volume XL, No. 4 Wednesday, October 6, 1999 April, 1998 The seven-member crew spent more than 10 hours each day conducting various research experiments in space about the physical effects of space travel on the human body. Altogether, Pawelczyk and his team logged 16 consecutive days and 6.4 million miles in space circling the moon and conduct ing research experiments. By participating in the Bight, Pawelczyk became the third Penn State alum to ever travel previously attended Penn State York. Herner’s death stunned the campus community. Jill Cunningham, Herner’s girl friend, said, “Mike was the kind of guy that you would talk to for five minutes and you’d fall in love with him.” “He was sweet and the best listener I’ve ever met. He was constantly stunning me with his wit, charm and intelligence.” Laura Lawson, a friend of Hemer’s, said, “The first time 1 met Mike he was genuinely interested in getting to know me. I found that he was the type of person I felt I knew already.” Another friend, Leslie Kermick, said, “When you first Elect To Read Results page 4 Students can take off their galoshes. Before Penn State Harrisburg’s “Library of the Future” opens in early 2000. contractors will correct the land scape problem causing runoff to collect on library sidewalks. According to Penn State Harrisburg’s Director of Physical Plant, Ed Dankanich, into space. Pawelczyk talked to students, faculty, and staff at Penn State Harrisburg about his adventures in space during a brief lecture presented at the Oliver LaGrone Cultural Arts Center. Afterwards, he presented a special type of turf grass pro duced by developers in Penn State's division of agriculture to John Leathers, dean of PSH. He is currently researching meet someone, you either love them or hate them. Mike was Stormy Whether Or Not page 7 Redesign Will Correct Sidewalk Puddles By Cathie McCormick Musser Capita] Times Staff Writer Continued on Page 6 Continued on Page 2 Photo eourte. vy of Jill Cunningham Michael A. Herner Mumford Is The Or Not page 7 the construction company added the drainage problem to their “to do” list in a meeting on Sept. 9. Landscape contractors will •create an additional swale, or low-lying area, to drain the side walks. The drainage changes will happen along with other landscaping scheduled for later this fall. “A lot of things are being redesigned,” Benchmark Con struction Company Project Manager Chris deVitry reports. Grading is one of the things scheduled for redesign. Much of the existing site grade was unchanged in the original land scape design according to deVitry. One reason to retain existing grades is to protect mature trees on the site. “Changing the grade can kill the trees,” deVitry said. However. deVitry also admit ted that the existing grading of the library site is “very flat” with "less than a one percent slope to a yard drain." In a phone interview on Sept. 9, Dankanich summed up the sit uation by saying. “The project is not final.” Dankanich also made it clear that the drainage and any other problem is "all still the contrac tor’s responsibility.” PSH Public Information Manager Steve Hevner is confident the library opening is on schedule. The grading problem became obvious after the first significant rainfall in August. Huge puddles flooded both convenient paths between the Olmsted building and the library. Without correction of the problem, a skin-soaking detour to drier sidewalks would dampen library visitors. The puddles would also create what Library Director Dr. Harold Shill called a “skating rink” in the winter. 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