Spring 2005
After one year of planning,
approval of the Ten Year Master
Plan is in its final stages.
Campus CEO David Gnage has
invited faculty and members of
SGA to look at the schematic
once more and offer any
opinions or suggestions. :
With Penn National and
Waynesboro building new
homes, the addition of Wal-
Mart and Lowes in Waynesboro
by the end of the year, and a
shopping center coming to Mont
Alto, Gnage claims that we are
“at the early stages of a
population boom.”
Included in the Master Plan
are improvements in parking
and landscape, additional
buildings, preservation of the
arboretum, and expansion of
offered programs. Traffic will be
directed around the campus,
rather than through it. In
cooperation with Penn National,
Orchard Road may be
permanently closed.
Instructor Nancy Funk asked
about the addition of a pool.
Gnage stated that the cost of
upkeep is too great and is not
feasible. SGA President Matt
Hass asked if a walking track
could be built. Gnage agreed that
it was good idea and he would
look into it. Although there will
most likely be an increase in
enrollment, there will not be an
increase in the number of parking
spaces. There were concerns
about the availability of land that
could be used for parking lots in
the future.
Once everything has been
approved, the next step is to
search for funding. Gnage
expects funding for allied health
will be first because the demand
in this area is so great. There are
still many unanswered questions
about what services will be
offered in which buildings; these
details will be addressed at a later
time.
Sherille Nelson and
Vanessa Lugo
A meeting held by the food
service advisory board (F.A.B.)
addressed student concerns and
requests regarding the
Millstream’s hours of operation,
menu selection and certain
policies. December’s issue of
“The Fourth Wall” reported that
many Mont Alto students are
dissatisfied with the weekend
hours and the limited food
choices.
Millstream managers Curt
Wengert and Leisha Henderson
explained that MSC closes earlier
on the weekends because of the
labor cost and lack of business
during later hours in the past.
They have extended weekend
hours in the past with little
success. The managers agreed to
review the current schedule and
consider changes.
Students are also concerned
about healthier food choices on
the weekends and would like to
have the salad bar open. This is
See Millstream page 4
Master Plan
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Alice Royer
I love this job; it never gets
tedious. The faces change every
three or four months and the
thoughts that I get to read on
essays and quizzes are those of
the active minds behind the
faces. My response has to be a
grade but these written offerings
and class discussions also
constantly challenge me to think
over a given premise and listen
to a new theory. Within this
framework, I am privileged to
instruct in two of the most
exciting disciplines in academe,
English and Women’s Studies,
and to share these new ideas
with Penn State Mont Alto
students from a variety of
backgrounds, ages, religions,
ethnicity, and frames of
reference. It’s the good life.
Several years ago when the
Campus Theme program was
a series of invited speakers,
I was sharing a post-
presentation cup of coffee
with a speaker who was a
philosophy instructor from
another university. During our
conversation, he was most
curious about this haven in the
mountains that was far from
any city yet seemed to attract
a variety of students and
asked me if 1 knew our
students’ goals. This was a
hard question to address so I
evasively asked him if he
wanted a coffee refill; surely
[ could come up with
something that would satisfy
his request while I purposely
strolled over to the coffee
machine. 1 mentally
enumerated the Forestry
majors, the Undecided, the
Nursing, Physical Therapy,
Occupational Therapy
majors, and a myriad of other
majors in my classes and in
those of my colleagues. Yes,
I knew several of my students’
stated academic goals but I
also quickly realized that the
goals of which he spoke
meant more than just where
our students hoped to work
upon graduation from Penn
State (did I mention he was a
philosophy instructor?). He
apparently thought this was a
unique place because I told
him that we knew our
students’ names.
See Desk page 7