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.
Continued on Page 3
page 8