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January 23, 2006 ......
Vol. 46 No. 7
Profes a so i r
S (o)tr,rid
Professor
Steven S. Funck
By Heather Coleman
Staff Reporter
HMCSO2I@PSU.EDU
Don't judge a book by its cover.
It's a frequently used saying when
first meeting a person. But, what
exactly does the phrase mean? It
means you should get to know
someone fully before an opinion
is formed. Yet, how many students
get to know their teachers before
they get to know them? For many,
the first day of class is a tithe to
get to know your professors. But,
how many students give a teacher
a second glance and look past their
role in class?
Professor Steven S. Funck is one
of the many teachers at Penn State
Harrisburg who is more than just a
teacher lecturing on neutrons and
electrons and grading our papers
on his days off; he is a teacher with
many more chapters in his life.
In high school, Funck mostly
enjoyed math and sciences but it'
was not until his senior year that
he decided to major in chemistry.
"Up till that point I was planning
on majoring in engineering," said
Funck. At the time, he was taking an
advance chemistry course and says
his teacher that year was great.
Nonetheless, his first career was
not as a teacher but as a Naval
Officer. "I had always wanted to
go into the Navy since elementary
school," said Funck. While a Naval
Officer, Funck was assigned to a
variety of positions including: Stock
Control Officer, Supply Officer,
Fuels Officer, and Seas and Air
Energy Requirements Officer.
During his Navy career, Funck
traveled many times to Europe
and the Far East. Funck also found
himself traveling throughout the
United States. "We always tried
to take every opportunity to see as
much of that section of the country
as possible," said Funck. He
cannot recall a favorite spot, but he
comments on enjoying seeing new
things and looking at historical sites.
After being in the Navy for
twenty years, Funck retired as a
Commander and moved with his
family back into the area where he
grew up. He knew he wanted to do
something completely different and
remembered enjoying the academic
community as an undergraduate
and graduate student, so he thought
he would try to get back into a
university setting. But, he never
really thought he would get back
into the setting as a professor.
He was then offered an adjunct
teaching assignment at HACC.
"When the opportunity to come here
'was offered I was very happy to do
so," said Funck.
Please see FUNCK on page 4
INDEX: SGA Update
Editorial 2
5
A 70 year history of
ow is a re
New technology battles plagarism
By Lisa Stone
Staff Reporter
LCSTONEOGMAIL.COM
In today's highly digital world,
Universities have had a growing
problem with plagiarism among
students. Plagiarism has been
defined at Penn State Harrisburg as
"the fabrication of information and
citations; submitting others' work
from professional journals, books,
articles, papers, electronic sources of
any kind, or the submission of any
products from commercial research
paper providers regardless of what
rationales a vendor uses; submission
of other students' papers or lab results
or project reports and representing
the work as one's own; fabricating,
in part or total, submissions and
citing them falsely. Note: Copying
and pasting any materials from the
World Wide Web is plagiarism."
A very long, detailed definition for
From
ampus newspaper on
something that is in essence very
basic: plagiarism is taking credit for
work that is not your own.
With the ease students can gain
access to information, it is all
too easy for a professor to miss a
resource students used. It can be an
unintentional slip on the student's
part or a deliberate attempt to
fool the professor, either way, it is
plagiarism. It is also a sure ticket for
trouble due to the University's new
enforcement on cheating as a whole
and plagiarism in particular.
One of the tools professors are now
using to catch plagiarism is turnitin.
corn. This website allows faculty to
run written assignments through a very
advanced plagiarism screen and single
out students that seem likely to have
stolen ideas, concepts, whole sentences,
paragraphs, or even entire papers.
With resources such as turnitin.com
available to instructors, plagiarism
Culturally Inept 5 Entertainment 9
Sports 7 Hot Spot 9
past to present
Penn State Harrisbur
remained the campus
newspaper until the fall of
1982 when its name became
the now infamous Capital Times. The
new name accompanied a new layout
that took the "tabloid" approach and
"va.tly improved" the style.
In fall of 1984, the editors became
brave and invested in using a spot
of color on the front page, though it
was only for their banner and only
on rare occasions.
In 1994, the Capital Times started
using color for their banners every
time they printed, and it wouldn't be
until spring 2001 that color would be
used on two full pages, the front and
back pages.
In fall of 2004, the Capital Times
underwent its most drastic change yet.
Under the direction of Editor in Chief
Kathryn Hen, the newspaper went
from tabloid format to true newspaper
format and finally shifted from being
printed on a small sheet to a broadsheet
the size of The New York Times.
The newspaper also decided to
eliminate elements that made it seem
more like a magazine, such as "Speak
Out" (a section where students were
asked a question and their answers
were posted), horoscopes, and comics,
though it did run the occasional
has become a serious concern for
many students. The departments
on campus have made it clear to
professors that they are expected to
look for students who plagiarize and
bring charges against them according
to the University's plagiarism
policies. While some policy dealing
with plagiarism has been in place for
as long as the University has existed,
increases in the amount of plagiarism
has forced the issue in a big way.
With these new anti-plagiarism
resources, it is very easy for
professors to find cheaters, or even
people working together when
they have been instructed not to.
Similar concepts, ideas, wording, or
formatting are all found and flagged
by turnitin.com, and any one of these
issues can be used to bring charges
of plagiarism against a student.
"I can understand that they need
to crack down on plagiarism, but
Rosario
Assistant Editor
MXR3OO©PSU.
The adjacent
segment gave
readers ahistory
of the campus
newspaper until
spring 1975, during
the heart of that
newspaper's reign.
However, the history
continues just a bit
longer than those editors
could have imagined
back then.
The C. C. Reader
Now, it
reformatted of
with inspirati4
among oth(
Patriot-News
sophisticated
campus no
has seen its
share of m
throughout
sixty year hiss
though, thirty
belong to the
under the name
Olmsted and
When the OP
last issue on "
it politely do
to the staff
were transformin)
college, and wr
editor Harold
his editor's c
with that it'
Meanwhile, the Roundtable had
already begun covering events at the
fledgling college of 400 people and
they were major stories. The Student
Government Association had met with
opposition from students who, angry
with the way the SGA was doing their
jobs, organized their own party, the
Freedom Assembly, and held a vote
of the student body to see which party
the school would rather have in power.
The count was 122 in favor of the
Freedom Assembly to the 88 earned
by the SGA. In a democratic society,
the Freedom Assembly would have
been put into power, however, Student
Activities refused to accept the win,
stating that all powers of government
belong to the SGA and so did the
money. A disgruntled student body
wrote letter to the editor after letter to
the editor and filled the majority of the
Roundtable's early issues.
In 1969, the Capitolist appeared
and added its slogan, which it kept
until the 80s, "All the news that
fits....we print."
In June 1969, the paper saw its first
graduating class and had this to say
about that event, "Last June, Capitol
Please see PAST on page 6
bringing charges up on people
who work in study groups but do
their homework separately is a bit
ridiculous. They need to be more
careful to check out the situation
before bringing up charges against
students," one student who had a run
in with plagiarism charges said.
So while the new system has
definitely aided the professors, it has
created its share of problems as well.
Why is it such a big deal?
"The first reaction I have to
plagiarism is that it is dishonest,
and as a teacher that just angers me.
On a more rational level, plagiarism
hurts the students. If they cheat on
an assignment, then they won't gain
the skill or concept that assignment
is designed to teach. In the end the
students hurt themselves when they
plagiarize," Prof. Paul Eppley of the
computer science department said.
Considering the fact students
Geek Corner
Media Virus..
its news
and
with an instant
fabrication of the Nittany Lion,
"fiercest beast of them all," which
could overcome even the tiger.
In 1907 Mason wrote "Every
college the world over of any
consequence has a college emblem of
some kind—all but The Pennsylvania
State College... Why not select for
ours the king of beasts--the Lion!!
Dignified, courageous, magnificent,
the Lion allegorically represents all
that our College Spirit should be,
so why not 'the Nittany Mountain
Lion?' Why cannot State have a
kingly, all-conquering Lion as the
eternal sentinel?"
Over the next few years, Mason's
"Nittany Lion" won such widespread
support among students, alumni, and
fans that there was never any official
vote on its adoption.
The Nittany Lion pictured above
left is from 1975. The current mascot,
shown above, has been through many
changes in appearance over the years
but it still remains the same; it is an
essential part of Penn State's tradition
and pride and stands to remain the
symbol of our legacy for many years
to come.
Material was obtained from
gopsusports.com and psu.edu.
are paying thousands of dollars to
learn, by cheating on papers and
projects, they are in fact cheating
themselves. With that view in mind,
the University has started enforcing
its plagiarism policy far more in
recent semesters.
The number of students accused
of plagiarism has gone up in recent
semesters, and the incidents of
failing, either the assignment or
the course, due to plagiarism have
also increased. With products
such as turnitin.com providing a
detailed report on what exactly was
plagiarized and where it was likely
taken from, it is easier for professors
to prove a student is cheating, in turn
making it simpler for the university
to take disciplinary action.
So, between your future and the
fact that the University has so many
effective tools at its disposal to catch
you, plagiarism is a bad idea.
9 Calendar
10 Puzzles....
Nittany
on
story
Nittany Lion, Penn
mascot, was started
Earrison D. "Joe"
At a baseball game
Princeton in 1904,
i and other members
'ern State's team
shown a statue of
;eton's famous
tgal tiger as an
'cation of the
iless treatment they
expect on the field.
tte lacked a mascot,