Archive for October, 2008

Policy Forum

Last night the SHC hosted a foum on some key policy issues. The Collegian covered the event and, as they note, we had a sparse turn out given the competition of the Phillies, Bobby Knight, and some kick off events for THON. That being said, the forum was excellent and many stayed until the end.

POLITICAL ISSUES FORUM 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
8:00-10:00 a.m., HUB Auditorium

FACULTY PRESENTERS

Ethics – Dr. Jonathan H. Marks is associate professor of bioethics, humanities and law at Penn State University, and director of the Bioethics and Medical Humanities Program at the main campus, University Park.  His mission is to develop bioethics programs and strengthen interdisciplinary and collaborative work in the field, bringing together dynamic scholars from liberal arts, medicine, life sciences and law–within his own institution and in the academic community at large.
Jonathan’s writing has appeared in The Times (London), the New York Times, LA Times and the New England Journal of Medicine among others.  He has been interviewed on NPR, BBC Radio and Voice of America (among others) and he has recently participated in three nationally broadcast panels on law and medical ethics at Guantanamo Bay.

Energy and The Environment -  Professor  David Meredith is an associate professor of general engineering at the Fayette Campus of Penn State in Uniontown, PA.  He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University (1972) and an MS in Energy Conversion from Colorado State University.  In 1972 he spent six weeks in Europe studying environmental control methods before becoming a technical support engineer with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, OH.  He has been teaching engineering and technology courses at Penn State since 1979 when he started the first ABET-accredited Solar Heating and Cooling Technology program in the U.S. at Fayette Campus.  In 2005 he helped develop the ABET-accredited coal Mining Technology program at Fayette Campus.   In December, 2007 he participated in a Professional People-to-People Ambassador program to China to discuss Global Climate Change and Water Resource issues.

The Economy -  Dr. James Binney is a Lecturer in Political Science, offering courses in Comparative Politics.  He holds a B.A. from Penn State, and a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky.  His teaching experience includes courses at several colleges/universities, including Northern Kentucky and Norwich.  He will be offering courses at Penn State on comparative politics, politics of developing areas, and ethnic and racial politics.  Dr. Binney researched documents and literature on development assistance at key agencies and the Library of Congress for a Ph.D. Dissertation and conducted interviews with key personnel at USAID and World Bank concerning development assistance, sustainability, and evaluation issues

Healthcare -  Dr. Dennis Patrick Scanlon, associate professor of Health Policy and Administration, Ph.D., 1998, Health Services Organization and Policy – Economics Concentration, University of Michigan School of Public Health.  In 2002, Dr. Scanlon received the John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. The award recognizes a faculty member who has made significant research contributions in the health services field early in his or her career. Scanlon was recognized for his research that assesses the quality and performance of traditional- and managed-care health plans and measures the information that is available to consumers that allows them to make educated decisions about their health insurance coverage.

Student Panelists
Representatives from the College Democrats and College Republicans:
Sean M. Meloy
Sean is senior at Penn State double majoring in Secondary Social Studies Education and Political Science. Sean is originally from the North Hills of Pittsburgh and came to Penn State in 2005. He currently serves as President of the Penn State College Democrats and is working hard to lead them towards historic victories on Nov. 4.  Sean also serves as Central Vice-President of the PA Federation of College Democrats and an At-Large Representative in the University Park Undergraduate Association. Sean plans to promote educational equity upon graduating from Penn State in the spring of 2009.

Samuel Settle
Samuel is a first-year Scholar majoring in Political Science and History and is an active member of College Republicans, Students for McCain and Young Americans for Freedom, as well as a volunteer at the State College McCain Victory Center.  He first got involved in politics when he was 14 while working with the Junior State of America.  He began volunteering with his first political campaign in 2006, by helping the Philadelphia Republican Party update voter registration lists, and volunteered on his first national campaign in 2007 by phone-banking for former presidential candidates Mike Huckabee.  Samuel hails from Philadelphia.

HONORS COLLEGE HOSTS POLICY ISSUES FORUM-Monday, October 27

HONORS COLLEGE HOSTS POLICY ISSUES FORUM-Monday, October 27
Dean Brady and the Schreyer Honors College invite all Schreyer Scholars, friends and faculty to a Policy Issues Forum on Monday, October 27, in the HUB Auditorium from 8:00-10:00 p.m.  The purpose of the forum is to focus on the issues impacting this year’s Presidential Election. Dean Brady will moderate a non-partisan discussion with leading Penn State faculty and student representatives on three of many important issues impacting the 2008 Election:

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT – THE ECONOMY – HEALTH CARE

A pre-forum reception will be held outside the HUB Auditorium with free pizza and a beverages between 7:00-7:30 p.m.  Seating will begin at 7:30 p.m.  This forum provides yet another opportunity and venue for intellectual conversation about the social ethics of voting and issues that are important to us as citizens. For additional information about the forum discussion, please contact Scholar Assistant Anna Han anna@psu.edu.  Forum is free and open to the public.

Globalization Trends and World Issues

Yesterday and today I am in DC with IST445H “Globalization Trends and World Issues.” This is an amazing class on public policy that is coordinated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Yesterday we had a day full of presentations by directors and fellows of CSIS starting with Erik Peterson and the “7 Revolutions.” Erik is Senior Vice President of CSIS, the William Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis and Director, Global Strategy Institute. I highly recommend everyone check out the 7 Revolutions site. We had a full day of presentations and today the students will be given material and an hour to prepare a policy paper of their own. The students will spend the rest of the semester working on developing policy papers on issues such as energy, environment, and security to be presented at the end of the semester.

It really is a great experience and for a political junky like me (I grew up in the DC area) it is just a lot of fun. We offer this course every fall so if you haven’t taken it and are interested (it is open to all majors) do consider it for next year.

Congratulations to Liz Kernion!

Scholar Liz Kernion was named homecoming Queen this year! Congratulations also to the King Anthony Estes.

Who will assume the “Schreyer mantle”?

Rich Silverman of Portfolio magazine has run a piece arguing that what we need now is another Bill Schreyer.

Twenty-one years ago this month, the world’s financial markets were in a tailspin. The 508-point, or 23 percent, collapse of the Dow Jones industrial average on October 19, 1987, left investors frenzied after the worst one-day percentage drop in history.

Investors nervously monitored Wall Street in the days following the sell-off. But at Merrill Lynch, which had already bought commercial time during that week’s World Series, the communications staff hatched a novel idea. They figured it would be unthinkable to air an ad that ignored recent market events, so they approached Merrill’s chairman and C.E.O., William Schreyer, to record a new commercial, one that would address the subject on everybody’s mind.

“I knew that as the firm that ‘brought Wall Street to Main Street,’ Merrill Lynch would need to step forward and communicate with the public,” Schreyer says in his soon-to-be-published memoir. “What we did and said would have a big impact.”

Schreyer, who led Merrill from 1984 to 1993, agreed to do it. So on October 22, 1987, during ABC’s Game 5 World Series telecast of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins, and just three days after Black Monday, 38 million TV viewers saw this:

“A Message from Merrill Lynch.”

Then, Schreyer spoke.

“I’m here for some straight talk about the stock market. It’s important to everyone. It provides capital that creates jobs to make America grow.

Emotions can run high during market turbulence, just when reason should prevail.

We are confident in the markets. We’ve stayed active in them for all investors.

America’s economy is the strongest in the world, with great ability to bounce back.

At Merrill Lynch, we’re still bullish on America.”Schreyer’s “message” was a home run. And, while it’s impossible to measure its effectiveness, it’s not a stretch to believe the ad comforted Americans with a sober yet optimistic view of the markets, straight from the corner office.

In speaking with Mr. Schreyer over the last few weeks I have wondered aloud who would follow his lead, who would step up and offer our nation the reassurance that is needed in this time. Silverman argues it should be Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan.

I can’t say that I know the financial markets or the people who run them well enough to pick out a leader for this time. But I do know that we have a wonderful role model in our benefactor, Mr. Schreyer. His leadership should be emulated by all on Wall Street and Main Street.

Alumni Awards and Podcasts

The fall is always a very busy time on campus and particular for me, since two conferences that I attend annualy are always held in the fall. So please pardon the slowdown in blog posts! That being said I wanted to bring you all up to date on same exciting things that have been happening on campus.

Schreyer Honors College Recognizes Outstanding Alumni

Each year we recognize an outstanding Scholar alum and alumna. This year our recipients were John Woerner ‘91 Bus, president of insurance and Chief Strategy Officer for Ameriprise Financial, and Dr. Stephanie M. Hulina ‘92 Lib, founder and president of GDA Corp. You can read more about them and their awards at the SHC website.

Schreyer Honors College Honors Faculty for Teaching, Advising Excellence

At the same luncheon as the Alumni awards we recognize faculty for teaching and advising excellence. Dr. Lester C. Griel, Jr., a professor of veterinary science in the College of Agricultural Sciences, received the 2008 Excellence in Honors Advising Award. Dr. The-hui Kao, professor biochemistry and molecular biology in the Eberly College of Science, was named the recipient of the 2008 Excellence in Honors Teaching Award. Students currently enrolled in the Schreyer Honors College nominate faculty for these awards.You can read more about them and their awards at the SHC website.

Alumni Fellows Awards

This award is the highest honor bestowed upon Penn State alumni by the Alumni Association. This year we had two Scholar alumni honored at this event.

Louis J. D’Ambrosio ‘86, Bernardsville, N.J., past president and CEO of Avaya Inc., a Fortune 500 technology company and leading provider of communications solutions;

Mary Beth Long ‘85, Alexandria, Va., assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy for the Middle East, Arabian Gulf, Africa and Europe;

Secretary Long was interviewed by WPSU  for both TV and radio and you can view the Pennsylvania Inside Out program here. The Collegian also ran an article about Secretary Long’s lecture. I interviewed both Secretary Long and Mr. D’Ambrosio for our Stammtisch Podcast. The podcast show can be found here at iTunes and directly to Lou’s interview here and Mary Beth’s here.

This week is homecoming and we stopped by last night to see the work progressing on the float. The theme for homecoming is “Inspired by Tradition” and our float is an homage to the Peanuts. We also have faculty and students on the 2008 Homecoming Court and Faculty Court! On the faculty court is Scholar Alumnus Dave Rachau (Scholar Alumnus) and on the Homecoming Court are Ann Marie DiPietro, Elizabeth Kernion, George Khoury, Kristin Schappell.

Congratulations everyone and beat Michigan!

Coping with college costs during the financial crisis

Lauren Young is the Personal Finance Editor for Business Week and a Penn State Scholar alumna! She has written an excellent article in this week’s issue: College Costs: Coping with the Meltdown The article includes “savvy moves to make now” including:

Hit the Financial Aid Office

If you have your college savings in a 529 plan, you should be in decent shape, since the asset allocation models in these programs direct most college savings in cash and bonds as college nears. But if you are winging it and have the bulk of your educational savings tied up in stocks, there’s not much you can do now. “Leave the current investments alone,” says Jamie Milne, an adviser at Milne Financial Planning in Saint Johnsbury, Vt.

In fact, if you have a 529 account that has lost a lot of money and you have more than one child, consider switching the beneficiary on the 529 plan for a college-bound child to a younger sibling. “It will buy you more time,” says William Jordan, president of Sentinel College Funding , which offers financial planning advice in Laguna Hills, Calif.

If you need alternative sources of funding, experts say your best bet is to try your school’s financial aid office first, even if you didn’t qualify for aid in the past. “What I’ve learned from my experience working in financial aid offices [at Brown University and Columbia University] is that there’s a lot of flexibility involved,” says Rod Bugarin, a financial aid adviser at ApplyWise, which offers online college admissions guidance.

Emergency Loans Available

It’s a little-known fact that many schools offer emergency loans to needy students. While these loans won’t cover the entire tuition bill, they can provide some immediate relief: The biggest emergency loan Bugarin awarded when he was working in a university financial aid office was several thousand dollars.

SHO Time Recap

It has been a very busy couple of weeks and the pace isn’t slowing down! I will post a few more updates shortly, but I wanted to share with everyone the video montage of SHO Time that was just completed. In two weeks several of us from Penn State will be headed to the National Collegiate Honors Council annual meeting and will share with our colleagues all about our unique orientation. Here is a quick recap: