This morning an AP story has been picked up around the country about our innovative fundraising initiative that was begun by several of our students’ parents to help other Scholars who are in financial need. This special appeal encourages parents who are able to do so to make a gift equivalent to the $3,500 Academic Excellence Scholarship their son or daughter is receiving from the Schreyer Honors College or in any amount that they may choose. Each year even after the AES and other scholarships are counted, many of our Scholars have significant financial need. Last year at this time there was well over $1 million in unmet need.
Some history about this fundraising initiative: Over a year ago parents of current Schreyer Scholars approached us and said that while they have been happy to give back to the SHC to help other students they realized that there are likely many other parents in similar financial situations who could help others. So last year a letter went out from one of our parents and the result was over $200,000 dollars raised, including a $100,000 endowment for a Trustees Scholarship. For the 2008-09 academic year, $120,000 was given out to 34 students who had high financial need.
The appeal has gone out again this year with a letter sent from another parent. It is important to note that in neither campaign have students ever been asked to “give up” their scholarship. This appeal is directly to the parents of students who have not applied for financial aid. It is very exciting and encouraging that it in such times of financial difficulties for so many there are those who are in a position to donate who come forward and enable us to support our students.
You can read the entire AP story here.
I apologize for not having posted in a while! It has been a truly hectic time. Looking back over the last few weeks, let me bring you up to speed on a few things and point to a couple of interesting articles.
- Scholars Day on Oct. 1st we held our annual “Scholars Day” where 296 students and their parents joined us for a day at Penn State with the SHC. It was great to meet so many students and Assoc. Dean Ozment and I stuck around until 6:30 talking with amazing students. This process always reminds me of how fortunate we are and how frustrating it can be with so very many, many talented, smart, and engaging young people applying for college. If only we could take you all! It certainly gives me hope for our world to know that these vibrant folks are excited about making this world a better place.
- Scholar Athlete – Aubrey Ade-Buie was featured recently in a “Success with Honor Feature.” I mentioned her last year and she is again making headlines for her superb play, but the athletic department is also featuring her for her character and honors. She is a great young woman.
“Value every moment. Life is such a gift; every moment is so precious.”
No, that’s not a quote from a Nobel Peace Prize winner, or a nationally known scholar. It’s not even something that your mom said to you last night when you hung up the phone. This is a quote from 21-year-old Aubrey Aden-Buie, a senior on Penn State’s women’s soccer team.
- External Advisory Board This board is made up of alumni, friends, and supporters of the SHC and meet once every semester. This past week we met and I delivered my regular report, including an update on the success of our new SHOtime orientation. (I hope to have a copy of this presentation up soon.) It is always a great opportunity for me to meet with people who have been a part of Penn State for so long, have been extremely successful in their own fields, and continue to support our vision for the future.
- Scholar Alumni Awards During this same time we also awarded our second annual Scholar Alum/na Awards. Give each year to an outstanding Scholar alum and alumna this year we honored Prof. Richard Spontak, now of NC State, and professor of Chemical Engineering and Ann Hsu, founder and president of Rival Watch, LTD in Shanghai. It was a great luncheon with Ann joining us via videophone!
- Finally, I want to leave you (off to another event!) with an AP article about the priorities that the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke places on investment in education:
“Education — lifelong education for everyone — from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers — is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole,” said Bernanke. He spent most of his professional life as a teacher and is married to one.
Economists have long recognized that the skills of the work force are an important source of economic growth, the Fed chairman said in a speech.
I will post more later (and sooner, I promise!) since this is homecoming weekend and I get to drive the float! Now oft to honor another well-deserving PennStater and SHC supporter. More on that soon!
Saturday morning my colleagues and I flew out for Boston and a whirlwind trip that I am calling “The Patriot Tour.” We are taking our campaign case to some of our most ardent supports of the College. Our first night was at the Colonial Inn, established in 1716. They had a great sign explaining that their display in the lobby was down, “as we are re-write our history.” If only it were so easy.
Today we head down to Princeton, NJ and then tomorrow we will have two meetings in Philly. I have to say that I enjoy these times immensely. It is important that we get different perspectives, thoughts, and ideas. Three couples last night are also parents and I promised I would tell their students that they are very cool and great parents. They are! 
I just had a wonderful conversation with a very proud mother. The mother of Mike Knuff, a 2005 Engineering and Scholar graduate and a 2007 M.Eng. graduate, called to thank me for the opportunities that her son has had at PSU and SHC and the inspiration he received to “shoot for the stars.”
Why did she call today? Because last night she saw the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Mike, who has since gone out to Hollywood to work in special effects, was in the credits! (And you can see his name in the credits here.)
Congratulations Mike! And we recognize the you had nothing to do with the tortuous plot lines.
The last two days I was in DC meeting prospective students, alumni, parents, and friends. It was a great trip. The centerpiece was an ice cream social (on the coldest day of the year down there!) with 20 or so recent alumni. It was wonderful and I want to thank all those who helped, especially our lead volunteer Christine MacAulay.
This was a great showing and all there expressed an eagerness to connect, both with other alumni and with students. Part of our facilitating that is our new (drumroll please) Alumni Blog! We are looking for a few alumni from each region to join as contributors (email me if you are interested!), posting news of events in the region (just click on the “Category” for the region you are interested in, see the right side of the blog), comments on university and SHC doings, and any other relevant information!
I hope you will enjoy and use the blog and thank you all for a great trip!
Last week I had the great privilege of meeting with the parents and siblings of many of our students. Thank you so much to all of you who came by! Last Saturday began with a the viewing of a new video about the SHC (we will have the video up on the web in a few weeks time (I hope!) and I will be sure to post it here) and a panel discussion titled, “Honors Education: Transforming Penn State.” I want to particularly thank Gary and Patty Snyder, parents of current Scholars Kelly and Kristina, for their support in producing this video and being a part of our panel. Angelo Intorre and Meg Krenz were our student panelists and the panel was rounded off with faculty represented by Susan Mohammed, Associate Professor of Psychology, College of the Liberal Arts, and Greg Pierce, Director of the Honors Core Program and Instructor of Finance, Smeal College of Business, and finally Amy Stacy Frank, ’97 Com, Scholar Alumna.
It was an excellent discussion. A few of pertinent questions that bear answering here are:
- How does advising work at Penn State for Scholars?
All of our Scholars are assigned an advisor in their intended major as soon as their PSU career begins! This is in addition to any other advising their college may offer and is a real benefit for our students.
- When does travel abroad begin for scholars?
Most students will take formal study abroad in their junior year. Many of our Scholars also take advantage of other travel programs specific to the SHC including travel grants for research and H courses that include travel abroad.
- Are you going to increase the size of the college? It appears as if honors programs are being watered down at other schools like (University Name Withheld).
No, we will admit 300 freshmen each year. We maintain this smaller size in order to ensure that we will be able to provide each student with at least the minimum Academic Excellence Scholarship (worth $3500) and to ensure that the Honors courses remain at a small size to facilitate discussion and learning.
After the panel I met many more folks during our open house at Atherton. It was a pleasure for me and helpful to many since we were able to discuss some concerns that parents had (Is my daughter’s advisor helping? What should my son take this spring? Etc.)
Feel free to use the comments section above (look for the little balloon) to ask more questions! And I look forward to meeting more of you in the future, perhaps at Homecoming?
The last week has been very busy. Monday was our Scholars Day with 499 students in attendance and enough parents to bring our totals to close to 1,000. Many thanks to all the staff and students who made it a great success!
Last Thursday we had our inaugural scholar alumni award ceremony. Ms. Mary Beth Long and Mr. Douglas Evans were our first winners of this prestigious award for service. More information about both award recipients can be found on the official announcement page.
We then had our External Advisory Board meeting on Friday. It was my first board meeting and I think it was a very useful meeting. You can find a summary of my “State of the College Address” as a podcast here.
On Tuesday evening Judge Rendell, the “First Lady” of Pennsylvania, gave an engaging lecture. You can read more about that in my previous post.
Other events continued to perk along. Several students joined me for lunch in Simmons (if you see me, come join me!), the Round Table on Thursday with Dr. Philip Jenkins on the clash of civilizations was well attended and very engaging; do keep looking for those each week.
I also began recording podcasts with some of our students this week. I am working the kinks out of the mic but hopefully next week I will have our first student interview up with one/week following. So be sure to check iTunesU and subscribe to it now!
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