Finance Club’s investments to assist deserving students

Members of Penn State Harrisburg’s student Finance Club will soon gain real-world experience in investments while raising funds to support deserving students.

The generosity of friends and alumni of the School of Business Administration has resulted to this point in a fund of $5,000 which the Finance Club members will use to invest in the stock market with profits supporting an annual award presented to an undergraduate student majoring in Finance.

Olmsted window replacement project

The college Office of Physical Plant reports the project to replace all windows on the south face of Olmsted Building will begin Friday, May 16. In order to be ready for fall semester, the contractor is under a very tight schedule.

2007 Alumni Fellow to deliver commencement address

Shelley Clark Nickel, associate vice chancellor for planning and implementation for the Board of Regents, University System of Georgia, will deliver the keynote address at Penn State Harrisburg’s spring commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 17 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

A native of Stroudsburg, Nickel earned an undergraduate degree in Community Development in 1978 and a master’s in Public Administration in 1982 from Penn State. She was named a Penn State Alumni Fellow in 2007.

Faculty member awarded fellowship at Smithsonian museum

Penn State Harrisburg Assistant Professor of Humanities and Art History/Visual Culture Robin Veder has been awarded a senior fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

In the fall of 2008, Dr. Veder will be researching “embodied modernism” by looking at how exercise and dance contributed to American modern art aesthetics in the period of 1880-1940.

Faculty member co-edits study of business improvement districts

Business improvement districts, initiated and governed by property or business owners under the authorization of local or state government, have received mixed reviews.

To some, they are innovative examples of self-government and public-private partnership. To others, they are yet another example of the movement toward the privatization of what should be inherent government responsibilities.

Penn State Harrisburg Associate Professor of Public Affairs Goktug Morcol and three colleagues have co-edited the first comprehensive scholarly work on the subject, just published in book form by CRC Press.

Barbara Sims named Academic Leadership Program Fellow

Penn State Harrisburg Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Barbara A. Sims is one of only five University faculty members to be named a Fellow of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation’s Academic Leadership Program.

The CIC is the academic consortium of the Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago.

Through its leadership program, participants who have demonstrated exceptional ability and administrative promise are aided in further developing their leadership and managerial skills. Those selected from Penn State for the 2008-09 program have been chosen because of their significant contributions and potential to undertake leadership responsibilities at the University.

$10,000 grants enhance faculty research partnerships with business

Penn State Harrisburg faculty research involving the creation of biodiesel fuel from a plant native to Central America, a single shower head which permits bathers with special needs to soap, shampoo, and rinse, and outer packaging for an infrared sensor have all earned grants from the region’s Innovation Transfer Network.

The grants of $10,000 each enhance the partnerships between three private companies and the faculty expertise to further develop the innovative products for commercial use.

Photo exhibit studies 35 years on a family farm

An area family farm and the people it has touched over 35 years are the main ingredients in a photographic exhibit open to the public through June 30 at Penn State Harrisburg.

The work of Shiremanstown photographer Robert Willis is on exhibit in the main central lobby of Olmsted building from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Career in criminal justice is far from Korea, economics degree

When Joongyeup Lee earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in his native South Korea, he had no inkling that a career in criminal justice was in his future.

But two years in the South Korean Army and master’s degree study at Penn State Harrisburg have put him on a new path that has already resulted in academic honors and a full scholarship.

Creative students demonstrate senior projects

What do a solar-heated pet shelter, a realistic race car simulator, and a go-kart which can negotiate land and water have in common?

They and others were created by Penn State Harrisburg Mechanical Engineering Technology students as part of their course requirements for the senior design project.

The student efforts were put on public display Friday, May 2 with the seniors first explaining their projects in the Olmsted Auditorium and then actually demonstrating the inventions at the MET lab on campus.

Student’s winning business concept aimed at assisting cancer victims

The annual College Venture Challenge sponsored by the Capital Area Economic Development Corp. normally involves teams of students competing for cash prizes and startup assistance for their business plans.

Penn State Harrisburg walked away with the top prize in the Graduate Challenge April 29, but the winning “team” consisted of one person – MBA student and Hershey resident Maricarmen Planas-Silva, who earned $5,000 to support her BioCells2Cure concept.

Grad’s generosity provides financial seminars for students

Through the generosity of Alumni Society Board member Ron Bittner ’86, Penn State Harrisburg students took advantage of April campus seminars during which guest speakers share information on how to make informed financial decisions.

Bittner, senior pension compliance consultant with Trollinger Consulting Group in Allentown, provided the funding for the series with the donation to the sponsoring student Finance Club and the Alumni Society.

Data Center director elected to national post

Sue Copella, director of the Pennsylvania State Data Center on the campus of Penn State Harrisburg, has been elected vice chair of the Federal/State Cooperative Program for Population Projections (FSCPPP).

Elected at the organization’s annual meeting in New Orleans, Copella will serve as chair in 2009.

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