4#C a
Professor
Spotlight
Engineering professor
takes science education
and resources to Uganda
By Kelly Nagurny
Assistant Editor
kxnl63@psu.edu
When Dr. Peter Idowu first
decided to attend college, he
applied to an engineering
school as a joke. Today, he is
an associate professor of engi
neering at Penn State
Harrisburg.
"I had absolutely no interest in
engineering," he said. Despite
his initial lack of interest, engi
neering has become a large
part of Idowu's life, and it has
led him around the world.
Engineering seems to have
sought Idowu far more than he
sought engineering. At every
level of his education, he tried
to steer himself toward a differ
ent field but somehow always
ended up back at engineering.
A Nigerian native, Idowu first
came to the United States in
1982 after earning a degree in
electrical engineering from The
Polytechnic Ibadan in Ibadan,
Nigeria. At the University of
Bridgeport in Connecticut, he
earned a master's degree in
electrical engineering and had
a doctorate in the same field by
1989.
Perhaps Idowu was not meant
only to engineer, but to help
others as well. Approximately
two years ago, Idowu was
attending a conference of the
American Society of Engineers
in Nashville. At the conference,
Please see IDOWU on 2
What's on 7
The Red Sox break
the curse, beat the
Cardinals to win the
World Series for the
first time in 180 years.
Details inside.
What's on 9
The Capital Times vis
ites Guido McNeal's.
Friendly, laid back
atmosphere waiting to
welcome PSH stu
dents. Details inside.
Cancer survivor finds new meaning for life
By Kathryn Herr
Editor-in-Chief
kah92B@psu.edu
Local resident and Penn State
professor Leigh Hurst has turned
her experience with breast can
cer into a positive awareness
campaign.
After her diagnosis at age 33,
Hurst felt she needed to send a
message to young women about
the dangers of breast cancer for
younger women. "It is thought of
as an older women's disease,
and while it is less frequent for
my age group, it is still a risk,"
said Hurst. The campaign is tar
geted at women under 40. Most
doctors advise women to begin
getting mammograms at age 40.
"Self breast exams are the pri
mary way of detecting breast
cancer for younger women," said
Hurst. With the help of friends
and family, Hurst began her Feel
Feel Your Boobies fans (left to right) Tracey, Jill and Gwen and FYB founder Leigh Hurst proudly sup
port their cause recently outside NBC's The Today Show.
Resignation takes
on Human
By Kathryn Herr
Editor-in-Chief
kah92B@psu.edu
The Communications program
is undergoing changes to its
teaching staff after a recent
abrupt resignation of one key
professor and the emergency
medical leave of another. Both
students and faculty now have to
adjust to new professors and
added classes in the wake of
these events.
Six weeks into the semester Dr.
Victor Viser resigned from Penn
State Harrisburg's School of
Humanities after being denied
tenure this year. Viser cited in an
emailed letter to his students and
colleagues that he was denied
tenure for reasons undisclosed
to him at the fault of the newly
appointed director of the School
of Humanities, Dr. Kathryn
Robinson. Robinson declined an
interview with Capital Times
reporters.
After a professor is denied
tenure they have one year to find
another job while continuing to
work at PSH. However, Viser
The stwism voiles of Pea" Skaft He rg
Itt irlunaes
NOVEMBER 8, 2004 V0L.45 N 0.5
Your Boobies campaign
September 2004. The main
focus of the campaign is on
spreading the word of the impor
tance of self-breast exams.
Hurst said she had to make the
unattractive idea of self-breast
exams appealing to younger
women. Hurst and her team
chose "fun and funky" T-shirt
styles with an unusual and atten
tion getting slogan, "Feel Your
Boobies." Two friends who work
in the art field, Liz Ammon and
Kristy Tunnel), worked together
to design the logo, post cards
and other informational materi
als. At the same time, Hurst's
father, a retired accountant, does
most of the order tracking and
financial bookkeeping. Hurst is
very busy with the public rela
tions aspect.
During her battle with breast
cancer, Hurst noticed a lack of
support for younger women with
ities De
wrote that he was unable to con
duct classes due to a clash of his
interview schedule and class
schedule. In addition Viser had
to fly to PSH from his Texas
home each week to conduct
class.
Students had mixed feelings
about Viser's online assign
ments and skipped classes.
Some liked having no classes
and others said they were not
receiving the education they had
paid for. "Students were not used
to a distance type of learning,"
said William Mahar, assistant
provost and senior associate
dean for academic affairs.
Several students made formal
complaints about the situation,
which were brought to Robinson.
Viser was then instructed to con
duct class as scheduled. "Shortly
after we took action, he took
action," said Mahar.
Viser wrote in his letter, "The
Director of the School of
Humanities has informed me
that I may not utilize the long
standing cooperative tradition of
having course coverage by my
well qualified faculty colleagues
the disease. "Not only do you
feel different because you have
this disease, but now you're dif
ferent because you are younger,"
said Hurst. Although she con
nected with other women, she
still felt a void of support for her
age group. One of the main
plans Hurst has for Feel Your
Boobies is to "create a network
of young women to provide sup
port for each other after they are
diagnosed." Another goal of
Hurst and her team is to possibly
expand her services to one hour
seminars for college students
discussing the benefits of self
breast exams.
Hurst was diagnosed with stage
one breast cancer in March. She
had a lumpectomy in April, which
was followed by four rounds of
chemotherapy and seven weeks
of radiation. The cure rate for
early stages of breast cancer is
97 percent. "If I had waited until I
Photo courtesy of Feel Your Boobies
toll
pt.
during necessary absences for
prospective job interviews. That
in fact, I may not attend any
interviews that would necessi
tate classroom absence for the
remainder of the semester. I
have a Monday/Wednesday
schedule and some of my inter
views planned thus far overlap at
least one of these days. The
equivocality and inherent unfair
ness of her baseless reasoning
is both perplexing and disturb
ing. Therefore, sadly, I am left
with no alternative but to resign
my position as Assistant
Professor of Humanities and
Communication, effective imme
diately."
Viser was the main public rela
tions and advertising professor
for the Communications pro
gram.
In the wake of Viser's resigna
tion the faculty met several times
to decide how to remedy the sit
uation. "Everyone contributed to
come up with a solution," said
Professor Eton Churchill,
Communications program coor
dinator. "The program is in good
shape." Churchill had the
was 40 I would be in a whole dif
ferent situation right now," said
The team began the campaign
in September 2004, and within
four weeks Hurst said they had
sold over 600 T-shirts nation
wide. After celebrating the end of
her treatment on October 7,
2004, Hurst and some friends
traveled to New York City for the
Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
Sporting the T-shirts, Hurst
arrived prepared with a big back
pack full of t-shirts and postcards
to sell to other walkers.
During her stay in New York
City, Hurst and some friends vis
ited the Today show set holding
"Feel Your Boobies" signs and
wearing the shirts. Hurst was
able to hand Katie Couric a post
card, and Couric later showed it
to her co-hosts on the air, mak
ing the campaign nationally
known.
The feel your boobies Web site,
designed by Sharon Colombo,
had received 940 hits before the
NYC walk, and over 2,000 in the
wake of the Avon walk and the
Today show publicity. The Web
site has now received over 5,800
hits. Entries in the Web site
guest book come from every cor
ner of the U.S. and into other
countries such as Germany and
Italy. The Web site is an easy
way of placing T-shirt orders and
making donations. The Web site
can be found at
O, 1 0 I
$2O plus $2 for shipping. The
team is now gearing up for pos
sible increase in orders during
the Christmas season. "They
make great gifts," said Hurst.
Each T-shirt comes with two or
three post cards that have the
Web site for Feel Your Boobies
Visit
for more information.
The school of Humanities office is a busy place in the midst of a
semester of change for students and faculty. Any questions or prob
lems wth the Humanities dept. should be brought to this location.
unpleasant task of finding emer
gency replacements for Viser's
classes not only for the remain
der of the semester, but also for
the already scheduled spring
semester classes. "Our main
concern for all of this is for the
students and that they get the
best education possible," said
Mahar.
Please see VISER on 2
Leigh Hurst founded Feel Your
Boobies after her experience
with breast cancer at a young
on the back. "The post cards are
a key component in the cam
paign because they help keep
the message going," said Hurst.
T-shirts can be bought locally at
some shops and boutiques in the
Harrisburg area. Locations are
listed on the Web site. The Feel
Your Boobies team is working on
other products such as magnets
and stickers with the logo on
them to raise awareness.
The team recently held an
event at Noma in Harrisburg
named "Think and Drink Pink."
"It was a great way of getting
people out in support of the
cause," said Hurst. The event
raised $1,600 and sold 50 T
shirts in two hours.
Approximately 200 people
attended the event and the bar
tenders wore the T-shirts in
honor of the occasion.
T-shirts cost
Hurst is working to make Feel
Contents
World View
Election Followup 5
River Voyages
NBA Preview...
World Series...
Hot Spot
CD Review
Movie Review.
Campus Calendar 11
Photo by Kathryn Herr
Please see FYB on 2
Photo by Kelly Nagurny