May 2010 Archives

As finals week rolled around, I was soo ready to be done with school. Not that I didn't love Penn State or my new-found best friends, but I was certainly ready for a break from the work. Well, the school work was over of course, but "work"? Not so much. When I arrived home, I immediately went back to full time work as a waitress. I enjoy waitressing, though; it's nice walking out with money every night!

This week, my other work began: my internship at the Blair County Historical Society. I am a History and Spanish major, and because I am uninterested in teaching, I knew that experience in historical research was essential to discovering what my potential future in History could be. The Historical Society has a set of letters and papers of a local war veteran named Jacob Higgins. Higgins was a participant in the Mexican and Civil War, and the documents they have also contain pieces of his diary and memoirs from the Mexican War. Soo cool! It was incredible to actually get my hands on this stuff and read through some of the events that took place in Higgins' war life.

When I started two days ago, I began by skimming through the box, trying to acclimate to the script and language. On Thursday, I began to sort the the papers by separating Mexican and Civil War articles, and from there, organizing the many military orders that Higgins' saved throughout the years. Along with my service to the Historical Society, I also have some work to do on my own. At the end of the summer, I have to write a 20 page research paper, on basically any subject that I feel I can successfully research in relation to my Higgins and his duty in the Mexican War.

In conclusion, it's going to by an eventful summer: lots to do in only a few months. We'll see what happens!

For the nature of the work, it seems that internships in the Criminal Justice field are few and far between. As others in the major that want to enter Policing know, even harder to find are internships for those in the Crime, Law, and Justice major that are related to the field of policing and criminal investigation. Because of all of the specialized training and hazardous conditions that are involved in the duty of Policing, interning for a police department is a practice that is often uncommon.

For this reason during the course of the previous winter I had started the search for something productive to add to my resume the following summer. After applying for a number of different positions, I was able to secure my current internship with the local district attorneys office, who had forwarded me to the office of Detective Sergeant Dave Hodges. After I had contacted Det. Sgt. Hodges, he had informed me about the opportunity to intern with the county detectives at the Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division (CID).

The Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division is the investigative affiliate of the District Attorney's Office. The division consists of thirteen full-time detectives, one full-time evidence coordinator, two full-time support staff persons and one full-time intelligence analysis, whose salary and benefits is paid by the Pennsylvania National Guard Counterdrug Program.

The Detectives are all sworn police officers certified by the Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission. The Detectives have full police powers, will investigate all violations of the Pennsylvania law and respond to incidents twenty-four hours a day, if necessary. Our investigative staff has combined law enforcement experience of over 250 years.

The Divison investigates all criminal offenses that occur at County owned or operated facilities including the County Prison. CID Detectives also actively investigate criminal activity that occurs at an location in Dauphin County, and often shares jurisdiction with local and State Police as well as federal agencies such as the FBI and ATF.

The Division also coordinates all extraditions for Dauphin County. The Division investigates over 1000 cases per year, with an ever-increasing demand on the staff because of the office's investigative ability and neutrality. The Division also coordinates and participates in various law enforcement task forces and initiatives in the County as outlined below:

1. Drug Task Force
   
2. Crisis Response Team
3. DUI Enforcement
4. Capital Area Forensics Unit
5. Child Abuse Unit
6. Dauphin County Crime Stoppers
7. United States Marshal's Fugitive Task Force
8. Domestic Violence Task Force
9. Intelligence Unit
10. Fire /Arson Investigation Unit
11. Terrorism Task Force
    
12. Tobacco Compliance Program
13.  Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force

As an intern for Dauphin County CID I have the opportunity to correspond with detectives on local developing cases and aid with information gathering as well as suspect apprehension. During a ride-along with a Harrisburg City Police Officer for the 2200 - 0700 shift, I gained first hand knowledge of the typical weeknight of crime and civil disorder. Through observation and interaction with persons who had called the Police for assistance as well as suspects that were stopped on the street, I was able to witness and assist with several arrests due to criminal activity stemming from drug related activity, as well as public disarray.

Travis R. Stotelmyer

Intern, Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division

trs5082@psu.edu

This summer you will be able to follow numerous Liberal Arts undergraduates as they study abroad and intern across the country and around the world. Check out our exciting list of bloggers:

Follow our CLA interns on our LAUSatPSU blog:

• Amanda Craig, SOCBA - Interning at Capitol Associates, Inc. in Washington D.C.

• Eli Glazier, INTPL - Interning at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

• Sean Healy, PL SC - Interning at The Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C.

• Caitlin Sellers, ENGL - Interning with Good Housekeeping Magazine in New York City

• Travis Stotelmyer, CLJBS - Interning with the Dauphin County Sheriff's Office in PA.

• Jordan Zilla, L A - Interning with the Blair County Historical Society in Altoona, PA.

Follow our CLA undergraduates abroad on The Education Abroad Experience blog:

• Jill Armington, ANTH - Studying abroad in Turkey

• ToriLynn Bell, INTPL - Studying abroad in Maastricht, The Netherlands

• Stefan Nagy, ECLBS - Studying abroad in Pforzheim, Germany

• Arianna Simpson, INTPL - Studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain

Make sure to stay tuned throughout the summer.

The College of the Liberal Arts congratulates Robin Becker, acclaimed poet and professor of English and women's studies, for being named the 2010-2011 Penn State Laureate.  The Penn State Laureate is charged with bringing increased social, cultural, artistic, and human perspective and awareness to a wide variety of audiences.   Becker is the third Penn State laureate, and the first from the College of the Liberal Arts:  she succeeds Anthony T. Leach, associate professor of music and music education; and Kim Cook, professor of music in cello.

For additional information on Professor Becker's impressive publication and teaching record, check out her bio on the Department of English Web site.

A lot of excellent work went in to making today a wonderful celebration for our graduates from the College of the Liberal Arts. Of course, our students did an enormous amount of work to earn their degrees. And they earned a celebration worthy of their accomplishments.

The Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies staff gave them just such a celebration today!

Robin Robinson is the master organizer of graduation for the College of the Liberal Arts. She and her staff on the Records side of our office, Andrea Crews, Tanya Hockman and Sarah Derber, organized all the tents, food, diplomas, ceremonies and celebrations that we enjoyed so thoroughly today.

There were also a number of other members of the LAUS staff who worked today during the graduation celebration, including Holly Dickey, Mary Fleming, Ashley Tarbet, Earl Merritt, and Jillian Balay (aka @LAUSatPSU).

We also had a number of student advisors helping with the graduation ceremony itself at the BJC: Mary Cameron, Julianna Chaszar, Shery Crater, Rebekka Egger, Tracey Melnick, Whitney Merinar, Maureen Mulenga, Courtney Orr, Charlene Peters, Katelyn Perry, Karen Sones, Marie Villefranche.

Before I became Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies at the College, I came to graduation and enjoyed the spirit of celebration and accomplishment. Now that I see all the work that goes into putting such an event together, I am struck by how lucky we are to have such a professional, organized and talented staff.

A sign of their success is the degree to which no one notices all the little things that are done behind the scene to make the event run smoothly. The danger of this sort of success is that the hard work and excellent organization that goes into it will not be recognized.

So, on behalf of all the graduates of the College of the Liberal Arts and for the faculty and administration too, I would like to thank Robin first and foremost, and also the rest of my excellent staff, who made this truly a day to remember.

It was wonderful to have Robin join us on Liberal Arts Voices episode 9 to talk about graduation. On that episode, you can also hear Nikki Hatza, our College Marshal, who gave a marvelous valedictorian speech this evening, talk about her Penn State experience. If you want to learn more about Ron Suskind, who also gave a well received speech tonight, take a look at his personal website and his wikipedia page. 

Personally, I am grateful for the help Robin gave me with the names of the student marshals I had to read (I hope I did justice to them this evening) and for her tips about how best to keep an excited crowd in order.  I am also grateful to Ashley and Jillian for helping me practice the World Campus Graduation talk I gave today. 

In all, it was a beautiful day for a celebration of excellent students.  Congratulations to all our graduates and thank you to the staff that made this day a great success.

Here are some images from the day:

 

This episode of Liberal Arts Voices features all things related to the College of the Liberal Arts commencement.  CLA graduation coordinator extraordinaire Robin Robinson joins the program to discuss what we should be expecting at the Liberal Arts undergraduate commencement ceremony that will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010.   Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Ron Suskind is the 2010 Liberal Arts commencement speaker and will also be receiving an honorary degree from the college. 

College of the Liberal Arts marshal Nikki Hatza also sits down with Liberal Arts Voices to discuss her role in this weekend's graduation ceremony.  She talks about the speech she will be giving to her fellow Liberal Arts graduates tomorrow.  Nikki also points out some of the most transformative experiences she had as an undergraduate student in the College of the Liberal Arts, including a study abroad trip to Ecuador and her involvement with the Race Relations Project. 

Lastly, Jillian Balay reminds all Liberal Arts graduating seniors to complete the CLA Graduating Senior Survey. 

Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 9

To subscribe to Liberal Arts Voices through iTunes, click here.

We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices.

In this episode of LAUS Radio, educational technology project manager Allan Gyorke joins the program to discuss the Liberal Arts Office of Undergraduate Studies social media campaign.  In particular, Allan helps to highlight some issues with the bi-weekly Liberal Arts podcast.  The group considers the general goals, discussion topics, targeted audience, and ways to increase the number of subscribers to the podcast.  They suggest that the name of the podcast be changed to "Liberal Arts Voices" in hopes of broadening and expanding the podcast's audience and participants.
 
Sam Loewner and Geoff Halberstadt also join the podcast to announce next year's Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council officers.  Sam, this past year's LAUS president gives some advice and words of encouragement to the new officers, including the new LAUC president Geoff.  Geoff talks a little about his plans for LAUC next year and what Liberal Arts undergraduates should expect.

LAUS Radio: Episode 8

To subscribe to LAUS Radio through iTunes, click here. 

We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of LAUS Radio.

The College of the Liberal Arts recently had a practice for all the students who will be representing the College and departments in our commencement ceremony. Each spring, our departments nominate a student to represent their students in the commencement ceremony. These students are chosen for this honor not only on the basis of their excellent scholarship but also on other factors such as: academic enrichment opportunities (study abroad, research, and internships), extracurricular activities, and community service/volunteering. We are always excited and awed by the caliber of these students and their commitment to their education and their community, and this year is no exception.

The student representing the entire college is Nikki Hatza. Nikki is receiving degrees in Women's Studies, Spanish, and International Studies as well as a Business/Liberal Arts minor. She studied abroad in Ecuador and completed two internships, one with the Washington Peace Center. She was a facilitator for the Race Relations Project, fundraising chair for Amnesty International, and co-founder of Knitivism, a student group that organizes events related to human rights. Ms. Hatza will work for Teach for America before pursuing a graduate degree.

Our department marshals and their faculty escorts are:
 

• ANTHROPOLOGY--Melody Hollinger, accompanied by Claire Milner
• ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM--Michelle Farkas, accompanied by Gregory Smits
• CLASSICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES--Ashley Dolla, accompanied by Aaron Rubin
• COMMUNICATION ARTS AND SCIENCES--Anthony Hemming, accompanied by Aaron Rubin
• COMPARATIVE LITERATURE--Sarita Mizin, accompanied by Sydney Aboul-Hosn
• CRIME, LAW, AND JUSTICE--Jessica Welsh, accompanied by Michael Massoglia
  
• ECONOMICS--Thomas Conkling, accompanied by David Shapiro
  
• ENGLISH--Claire Slagis, accompanied by Robert Caserio
  
• FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE STUDIES--Arielle Hesse, accompanied by Bénédicte Monicat
  
• GERMANIC AND SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES--Anna Kulik, accompanied by Galina Khmelkova
  
• HISTORY (including RELIGIOUS STUDIES, MEDIEVEL STUDIES, JEWISH STUDIES, AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES)--Edward Schwab, accompanied by Benjamin Hudson
  
• LABOR STUDIES AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS--Michael Wasser, accompanied by Paul Clark
  
• PHILOSOPHY--Tony Arnold, accompanied by Michael Paradiso-Michau
  
• POLITICAL SCIENCE--Boris Veltman, accompanied by Suzanne Chod
  
• PSYCHOLOGY--Zachary Infantolino, accompanied by Kenneth Levy
  
• SOCIOLOGY--Carolyn Weber, accompanied by David Baker
  
• SPANISH, ITALIAN, AND PORTUGUESE--Max Freeman, accompanied by Giuli Dussias
  
• WOMEN'S STUDIES--Farnaz Farhi, accompanied by Alyssa Garcia
  

Please take the opportunity to congratulate these deserving individuals for being chosen from the approximately 1,350 students who are graduating this semester.