newe
GAS PRICES: Commute to class
is costing students, faculty more
Continued from page 1
He also rides a Honda CBR6OORR
sport bike to work when the
weather permits and puts $lO to
$l5 in gas in that every week.
Santoriello, moved to Annapolis,
Md., because he works with the
Department of Defense. Instead
of transferring to a local college,
he chose to stay at PSH.
Santoriello said, "I decided to
stay at PSU because I wanted
the degree from Penn State and
only had one and half years to go.
Although, I regularly wonder if I
have made the best choice."
It is not just students who are
affected by the commute, teachers
are affected as well.
In one week, C. Patrick
Burrowes, Ph. D., drives 606
miles commuting from Columbia,
Md. He leaves his house by 9 a.m.
to be on time for his 11 a.m. class.
His drive is about an hour and a
half.
HEALTH: New courses offered reflect changes in interests, society
Continued from page 1
is essential knowledge in the
flattened, crowded and worried
world of the 21st century.
A recent survey by the
Association of American
Colleges and Universities found
that 137 of its 837 members, or
16 percent, now offer majors
or minors in public health. (The
number offering single courses is
unknown.) Nearly two-thirds of
the schools in that group require
students majoring in the subject to
undertake fieldwork or research.
For the past two years, the
association has offered summer
workshops for colleges that
want to add public health to
the curriculum or expand their
offerings. Representatives of 63
schools have attended.
"Today's students want
to contribute, to empower
individuals and communities to
take charge of their own health,"
said Ruth Gaare Bernheim,
who teaches health policy at the
University of Virginia. "I think
In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina
spiked gas prices, Burrowes,
began teaching at PSH. He fills
up his Honda Civic more now
than previous semesters.
"When I started, gas was
selling for about $2.40 a gallon,"
Burrowes said.
"Per week, that meant $48.50
and per month, it was about
$200," he continued. "At $3.65
in September 2008, I'm looking
at $73 per week about $3OO a
month, so it's $lOO more."
Commuting is not an issue for
Burrowes because he genuinely
enjoys working for Penn State.
Though, he saves money when
he can.
Burrowes notices gas is cheaper
in Pa., so he fills up in town when
he can. He, also has a widget on
his computer that monitors gas
prices by zip code indicating the
cheapest gas prices, and he eats
out less and packs a snack.
they also intuitively realize that
the world is their community and
that the gains of the 21st century
will be in global public health."
Several years ago, students at
the University of Virginia started
a Global Public Health Society,
which sponsors various activities
and service projects. Two years
ago, the school began offering a
global public health minor.
Many forces have converged to
make these subjects competitive
for students' attention. For
starters, global health is a huge
growth industry.
The President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief has spent about
$l5 billion in the past five years,
and funding is being nearly tripled
for the next five. Bill Gates and
Warren Buffett are channeling
billions into public health
initiatives. Malaria eradication
which failed in the 1950 s and
60s is again on the table.
Furthermore, the headlines
are full of global health news.
Today's freshmen experienced the
SARS (severe acute respiratory
syndrome) and bird flu scares in
Want to join the Peace Corps?
Plan to wait
BY CYNTHIA DIZIKES
(c) 2008, Los ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON -- The Peace
Corps boasts that it's "the
toughest job you'll ever love,"
but this year, just getting hired
may be the toughest part.
At a time when both presidential
candidates have pledged to
promote and expand national
service, the popular humanitarian
assistance program that sends
thousands of Americans abroad
annually is now planning to cut
400 volunteer positions in the face
of an unexpected multimillion
dollar budget shortfall. With fewer
spots, an increasing number of
Peace Corps nominees who were
expecting to begin service this
fall have seen their deployments
delayed at least until next year --
and in some cases indefinitely.
"There are more people waiting
this time than in years past," said
Rosie Mauk, the Peace Corps'
associate director of volunteer
their adolescent and high school
years, and they have lived their
entire lives in the shadow of
AIDS.
"It would not have happened
without AIDS," said Thomas
Coates, head of the global
health program at the University
of California at Los Angeles,
describing the new interest in
public health.
AIDS is a dramatic example
of how whole populations,
not just individuals, can be at
increased risk for disease a
key epidemiological concept. The
emergence in the mid-1990s of
life-extending treatment, which is
only now being brought to Africa
and Asia, where most AIDS
patients live, provides a lesson
in equity the principle that
underlies public health.
"It took something like HIV/
AIDS because it is so lethal
and now that it is so treatable
to capture our attention and make
us realize that there were such
inequities in the world," Coates
said.
But the benefits of studying
recruitment and selection. "The
recruiters don't like to tell people
that there isn't a spot for them. To
have to tell people that they have
gotten to know -- and they know
are passionate about the Peace
Corps -- that there is just not
room for them now is the most
difficult part."
Jen Casto, like many aspiring
Peace Corps volunteers, applied
to the program during her senior
year of college. A double major
in English and foreign affairs at
the University of Virginia, she
volunteered for years as a youth
mentor and student tutor and
speaks French and Spanish.
Last October the Peace Corps
nominated her to a secondary
education program in sub-
Saharan Africa, with an expected
departure this month.
"At the end of the interview,
(my recruiter) said that I was
Please see PEACE CORPS
on page 6
public health go considerably
beyond understanding infectious
disease.
The concepts introduced in
basic epidemiology courses
include causation and correlation,
absolute risk and relative risk,
biological plausibility and
statistical uncertainty. Nearly all
health stories in the news from
the possible hazards of bisphenol
A in plastics and the theory that
vaccines cause autism, to racial
disparities in health care and
missteps in the investigation
of tainted peppers are better
understood with grounding in that
discipline.
Other forces driving interest
in public health include the
Internet's ability to put students
in touch with far-flung people and
institutions, and the expectation
at many colleges that students
will study or work abroad.
Observers also credit a flowering
of social consciousness in today's
Please see HEALTH
on page 7
1944 - 2008
www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/
e/f/efra/churchill.htm
PSH theatre prof dies
By PHIL NARSH
STAFF WRITER
PSNSOOI@PSU.EDU
Last week, Penn State Harrisburg
lost another artist and teacher.
Eton F. Churchill Sr., a PSH
faculty member, published
novelist and playwright, died on
Sept. 10th. He was 64.
A man with a passion for
educating and a talent for
storytelling, Churchill taught
at Penn State and other schools
for over 30 years. His classes
included the fundamentals of
acting, screenwriting, playwriting
and writing short stories.
An accomplished writer himself,
Churchill published a novel,
"Mind How the Sun Goes," and
several short stories. He won
the Samuel French award for
"Nightwine," a play he wrote in
college and also received a red
ribbon from the American Film
Festival in New York in 1981 for
"Changes," a documentary about
Three Mile Island.
According to his obituary on
knox.villagesoup.com, Churchill
is survived by his wife, Lou
Schellenberg, of Mt. Gretna, Pa.,
Camden and Blue Rocks, Nova
Scotia; as well as his children, Eton
Churchill Jr. and his wife, Yukiki,
of Tokyo, Japan, Christopher
Churchill and his wife, Emily,
of Amesbury, Mass., and Abbye
Churchill; a sister, Carol Gutbroad
and her husband, Ed, of Fredrick,
Md.; and a granddaughter named
Isabelle Mai Churchill.
Mr. Churchill's memorial service
was held at Children's Chapel in
Rockport, Pa., on Sept. 19.