— LION’S EYE — Delco’s Nittany Christian Fellowship Seeks Disciples September 21, 1995 Page 3 _ Doing 5 ) Dil : a * Umm | A bulletin board in the Commons Building displays the wide variety of ‘campus clubs available to Delco students. By Nicholas Felici A not-quite-new campus club is presently trying to regroup and revamp for the "95 school year and promises to make a great impact on campus. The Nittany Christian Fellowship Club hopes to be stronger than ever. Vowing to hold true to two main purposes, encouraging united prayer among all students and allowing meetings for religious discussion and commentaries, the Christian Fellowship has arrived with a different way to promote spiritual unity. The club will have two separate operations. The first is to have group prayer available for anyone on campus willing to join in ‘this universal experience. The second is to conduct - professional debates and discussions on the topic of world religions. Currently, the group lacks a chairperson, leaving a void which needs to be filled. Some members are interested, though are not sure how much support and cooperation they will be given. “There is somewhat of a problem concerning dates and times when people propose the club should assemble,” said (will get name by layout), a strong member of the Christian Fellowship. “There is also disjointed communication among potential members and executives.” As with all new clubs, there are still gliches to be worked out. With a promise to commitment, however, the Nittany Christian Fellowship Club will be off the ground soon. Sign-up lists for anyone interested will be placed around campus shortly. People of all religious faiths are welcome. Kirker and Betts, Around the World and Back Again By Bill Campbell After a semester abroad, last spring, two faculty, Dr. Richard Betts, Assistant Professor of English, and Mrs. Connie Kirker, Assistant Professor of Integrative Arts, have returned to Delco. Dr. Betts spent a semester teaching in Slovakia while Mrs. Kirker gallivanted around the globe teaching art aboard the ocean cruiser Universe. Dr. Betts’ trip to Slovakia was spurred by Dr. Tomeszko, the campus CEO, who according to Dr. Betts, “had been to Slovakia soon after the revolution of 1989 looking for relatives, and wanted to establish a relationship between Penn State and some institutions of higher education in: Slovakia”. Dr. Tomeszko was directed to P.J. Safarik University in Presov and Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica. “I think,” said Dr. Betts, “it was in 1993 that a representative from those campuses came here, and they were primarily interested in establishing American studies curriculum in their English departments. Communist Influence “Much of the English they [Slovakians] know comes from British English,” said Dr. Betts. “But under the Communist regime English was not given any priority at all. Once the ht regimes in all of Eastern Europe fell, everyone wanted to learn English, so there is tremendous pressure to arm the universities to turn ~ out teachers of English.” Grants from the Open Society were obtained by the Slovakian universities to fund the programs. Dr. Betts was involved in an exchange program with Matej Bel University in which he taught in the English department of Katarina Fetkova. Professor Fetkova was here at Delco “for about six to eight weeks last fall taking and observing classes, doing research, and sitting in on conferences to prepare to teach American Literature at her own university. “Matej Bel University is in the mountains of central Slovakia, very beautiful country,” said Dr. Betts. “I was one of actually four Americans and two other ‘Brits’ teaching English to Slovak students. I was asked to teach a load of five classes. They meet once a week for thirteen weeks for usually ninety minutes. There were two [classes] in American studies, one was American History, and one was a writing course. The students are bright, well motivated, and conscientious,” said Dr. Betts. “I enjoyed the hell out of ‘em!” Dr. Carol Kessler is involved in an exchange with the Fullbright program to visit and teach at P.J. Safarik University in Presov, Slovakia this fall. Student Sur vey By Janine Furillo Should sexual preference be asked on the form for housing? Lisa Colucci (first semester, exercise sports science): “Yes, because | feel that some people are uncomfortable with the idea of homosexuality, and it isn’t fair for them to be blinded about their living conditions.” Bill Brannick (first semester, commun- ications): “No, because it’s the person’s right and their freedom to their own sexuality and sexual experience. Se- condly, if a question like that was asked on a form, | don’t think people would answer honestly because they wouldn’t want people to know.” a RR Dr. Kessler departed for Slovakia August 28. Cruising and Learning Mrs. Kirker taught for a Semester at Sea sponsored by the Institute of Shipboard Education in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh. “We started in the Bahamas,” said Mrs. Kirker. “The ship goes all the way around the world and has twenty-five faculty; students are from 175 different universities. There were about fifteen to twenty Penn State students from the - main campus on the ship. “We stayed for about a week at sea and then a week in port,” said Mrs. Kirker. “And I'm teaching the whole time three courses. And while you're - at sea you teach, and on the shore there are trips into the country that the teachers arrange. “I arranged to visit Dr. Lui who was our visiting professor last spring. He's from Hong Kong. My students all got to meet Dr. Lui, and he took us on a tour of Hong Kong. One of the faculty members had been in prison with Nelson Mandela, so all his students got to meet Nelson Mandela. It was spectacular.” Other stops included Venezuela; Salvador, Brazil; Cape Town; Mombasa; Kenya; Madras, India; Vietnam; Ho Chi Min City; and Taiwan. ~~ “You become totally different people,” said Mrs. Kirker. “Something like seventy-five percent of the students liberal Sajda Brown (first semester, arts): “Yes, because | would need to know how to handle the person | was dealing with, and | wouldn’t want to be shocked by their sexuality.” change majors to how-to-change-the- world kind of majors. You start looking at more possibilities for yourself, thinking about international business, thinking of a diplomatic service, or the state department or working with NGO's, non-governmental organizations, and that was really the amazing thing, to watch the students grow. “I've always taught with a lot of stuff outside the classroom,” said Mrs. Kirker. “Because that [the classroom] is not where you do very much learning. Most of it is done when you are on your way home thinking about it, or in my case, I teach art, so when you are doing it. On the Ship twenty percent of your grade had to be doing. You used Brazil as part of your resource; you used South Africa as a resource. ~“This summer I came home and taught a course using Philadelphia, and every day of the week we went to a different part of the neighborhood from nine to five and met people in the neighborhood. I don’t know if I would have taught that way if I hadn’t been on this trip. You can learn about the the Chinese by looking at a book about China or you can go downtown [Philadelphia], and if you go downtown you'll learn more. “So 1 think now I'll try incorporate much more life experience in my teaching.” arts): “No, because it’s nobody else’s business and it does not allow many people’s prejudices to be corrected. It gives people the chance to live as they are, instead of people placing charac- teristics on them that society has formed.”
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers