November 9, 2001 The Lion’s Eye £ By ERIC MAYER Staff writer In 1967, there were 13. In 2001, there are only three. The Penn State Delaware County campus was established in September of 1967. A year earlier, associ- ate professor of journalism John D. Vairo was appointed as the Campus Director for a new Penn State campus in Delaware County. Dr. Vairo arranged many interviews with prospective faculty and staff in the spring of that year. Several of the 13 hired staff members still remain with the campus to this date: Elizabeth Buckmaster, Priscilla Clement, and Robert Ginsberg are the only remaining members from this original group of Vairo- hired teachers. Dr. Priscilla Clement, hired initially as an instructor of English, was one of the 13 to teach at the rented supermarket that was Penn State Delco's original home. Today, Dr. Priscilla Clement is a professor of histo- ry and women's studies as well as the division head for the Arts and Humanities in the commonwealth college. Seated in her office on the first floor of the Vairo library, Dr. Clement appears as a thin, well-dressed woman with an auburn helmet of hair. Her office is adorned with books and photographs, two pieces of history in a virtual competition for visitors' attention. She begins to speak of her life as a woman in her 20's, using the phrase "an interesting experience" to describe the first makeshift days of a rented campus located under a roller skating rink. : "Classes. were always. Se upiniede with the sound of roller skaters above. Despite this unfortunate fact, the first couple of years we spent in that small building were _ fun. That supermarket was about the size of the Vairo library, though our classrooms were far more circum- scribed than they are now," Dr. Clement comments. Dr. Clement moved from Los Angeles, California to the Delaware County area because of her husband's Spotlight on Clement reflects on the way transfer with the now-extinct Scott Paper Compapy. . She arrived prepared with a B.A. and M.A. in history from Stanford University. "When I moved to the area, there weren't many col- leges in the vicinity. I had taught at a California com- munity college, but at this time, there were neither com- munity colleges nor public universities in Delaware County. I saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a new Penn State campus, so I called up the office and interviewed with John Vairo." The Penn State Delco campus began its move to its current home at Yearsley Mill Road in December 1970 and was dedicated in May 1971. Despite the dramatic physical and educational changes that the campus has undergone in its many years of operation, Dr. Clement still believes the spirit of the school has remained the same since its 1967 opening. ~ "We still have a lot of closeness among faculty mem- bers as well as between teachers and students. We still provide the same close attention to student's needs. However, now we have four-year undergraduate pro- grams that were nonexistent until recently. The future will indefinitely bring a greater percentage of four-year students as well as an enhanced integration with technol- ogy. Nevertheless, classes will remain small and inti- mate - the freedoms will remain. "I stayed at this campus since its inception because I like it here. I like the students a lot. Penn State has been very good to me in my career. They paid for my doctorate, promoted me from instructor to associate pro- fessor, and gave me a lot of freedom to teach the way I wanted. This is an extremely tongetial place to work," Dr. Clement says. In addition to her numerous titles and achievements with Penn State, Dr. Clement was the first faculty mem- ber in any campus to have a pregnancy. "When I was having my first child, no one in the administration knew what to do. The matters of responsi- bility, leave of absence, and pay associated with a work- it was Dr. Clement has been a part of this campus since it first started in 1967. ing pregnancy hadn't been discussed or decided upon by the university with regards to a member of the faculty. Pregnancies with staff members like secretaries, on the other hand, were familiar to the University and polici had been written in preparation. The whole encounter. said a lot about the perception of women's roles in the" 1960's." When asked to summarize her life at Penn State Delaware County, Dr. Priscilla Clement respondzd: "It's been an interesting experience." Simon Burns: Profile of a future hero The Profiler: Meredith Becker The Profiled: Simon Alexander Burns Stats: Sex: Male Age: 18 Major: IST Marital Status: Single This feisty red-head can only be described as, worldly. Simon’s sense of humor about the idea of the Lion's Eye writing a story just about him left me often looking at him like he has three heads. He's an all around great guy who was born in Germany in 1983 on a British Royal Air Force Base in a German hospital. Simon's family then moved to England where they all resided until his move to the states in 1995. When he first moved to our lovely country he and his parents (he's an only child) lived in Springfield, PA, where he graduated from Springfield High School in 2000. Simon is cur- rently a sophomore at Penn State Delco, aiming for an IST degree. He is also currently an SGA senator "cru- sading for free virus protection for everyone." In case you never heard, the school suffered quite a few virus hits this year which kept our computer staff very busy. Currently residing in the Upper Chichester/ Boothwyn area, Simon enjoys spending his time at the firchouses in the area. He is an active member with two of the three fire houses in the area; 55 Ogden and 61 Reliance. According to Simon, he is not a member of the third because it is basically an EMT unit, dealing with bodily traumas and he is not the biggest fan of blood; I believe the word he used was "icky." Simon's hobbies include tinkering with comput- ers and acting as an announcer for local hockey games at Family Fun Spot. Once in a great blue moon you might actually catch him playing hockey but he usually spends his time tending the goal. As you can see from the pic- ture, his goal tending sometimes leaves a tad to be desired. Simon is currently in the process of adopting a kitten from the Pet Adoption and Life-care Society (PALS). P.A.L.S. is an organization that rescues strand- ed animals and then puts them up for adoption. Simon plans to name his kitten Jess. I also noted as I was interviewing him that Simon is very particular about his Skittle eating. He sep- arates the Skittles by color and then proceeds to toss them into his mouth color by color. Then the crowning glory was when he decided enough was enough of that and he (ewww) tossed them all into his root beer. Trying to balance school, life and being a fire- man all at the same time must be very difficult. When questioned about just that Simon replies with an exam- ple, "I found myself wandering through a smoke house the other night during my annual training, thinking to myself I have a French mid-term to study for!" Not to say that this guy was side tracked from his duties, he just has the innate ability to think about everything at once without losing his focus. This great guy is definitely going places with his life. So keep an eye out for prin on campus, he's always willing to chat. Photo by Anteia Consorto In his spare time Simon enjoys playing hockey with his friends. He is seen here playing goalie, or at least attempting to. ,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers