August 2012 Archives

Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, the Fall Career Days can benefit you in ways you might never imagine. If you think you are too young or too inexperienced, think again. Attending Fall Career Days on September 11-13 from 11:00-4:00 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center just may be the thing to set you ahead of the game and prepare you for future years in college and after you graduate. September 11 is devoted to full-time non-technical jobs, September 12 is devoted to internships and co-ops, and September 13 is devoted to full-time technical jobs.

Besides having the obvious goal of obtaining an internship or job, you may take advantage of speaking with potential employers and recruiters to gain insight on different types of companies, what employers are looking for in their entry-level hires, or how to conduct yourself in a professional manner. By speaking with professionals, you can learn what kinds of questions they want to know about a student's work or college experience and how to appropriately respond. If you have never held an internship before and want to learn how to make yourself a marketable candidate, what better way to find out than actually speaking with the types of people that may hire you one day?

Most students who choose to attend Fall Career Days have one objective: to obtain a position. If you have no idea where to start, please visit the Career Services website and follow their many links to tips and tricks to help you succeed. For freshmen, you can find out ways to volunteer at the fair to familiarize yourself with what happens for future years. For sophomores and juniors, Career Services and the Career Enrichment Network can help you with your search for internships. For seniors, the Career Services website gives you a list of all companies that are attending and what full-time positions they currently have open. Companies such as Bates White, Consolidated Graphics, Northwestern Mutual, and Capital One are a few examples of companies that are particularly looking for Liberal Arts students, so they may be worth exploring a bit beforehand.

The Career Services website has resources available about how to dress, what to say during your 30-second pitch, and how to approach the 400+ tables that will crowd the BJC in a week. One particularly interesting tip mentioned is that along with bringing hard copies of your resume and writing samples, you may want to also bring an electronic copy of those materials on a jump drive, as some employers may ask you to directly upload it on their computer. With the many other tips mentioned on the Career Services website, you will be surprised with the amount of preparation you can do just by going online.

An even better way to prepare is to visit the many workshops held in room 103 of the Bank of America building (where Career Services is located) in the days leading up the Career Fairs. Here are some you may want to consider:

September 4
4:00 p.m. - Effective Resumes
5:15 p.m. - Interview Prep for Non-technical Career Fields
6:00 p.m.- Dress to Impress, sponsored by Macy's

September 5
4:00 p.m. - Finding Your Top 5
5:15 p.m. - After the Handshake

September 6
4:00 p.m. - Effective Resumes
5:15 p.m. - Interview Prep for Technical Career Fields
6:30 p.m. - Career Fair Prep for International Students

September 10
11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. - Resumania (resume reviews by HR professionals)
5:30 p.m. - What Questions Should I Ask Career Fair Recruiters?*

*This event will be held in the Grandfather Clock Lounge in Atherton Hall with Lincoln Financial Group. Pizza will be provided and resumes will be accepted. All majors are welcome.

By attending these workshops, you can gather advice and information from the people at Career Services - who, by the way, speak directly with employers visiting campus and know what those employers are looking for - and also get a better sense of what to expect when you set foot into the BJC. That way, you'll know exactly what to look for and how to act when Fall Career Days roll around, and the only thing you will have left to worry is about getting your appropriate outfit dry cleaned in time.

In the next few days, upload your resume to Network Symplicity so someone from the Career Enrichment Network can review it (or have it reviewed at Career Services), attend a few workshops, make an appointment or drop by to see me or another Career Enrichment Network staff member for any specific questions (schedule appointments through your Network Symplicity account), and get started on the path to success!

This past summer, I had the opportunity to intern for Dr. Culotta at NeuroBehavioral Associates. My time at NeuroBehavioral Associates was one of the most enriching educational experiences I have taken part in. NeuroBehavioral Associates is a neuropsychology office in Columbia, Maryland, that works with children, adolescents, and adults who deal with neurobehavioral and other cognitive disorders.

Three days a week over the course of a month, I commuted from Frederick to Columbia to work as an undergraduate intern at the office. My daily tasks included observing clinical assessments with Dr. Culotta and other colleagues, and the administration of neuropsychological testing. Additionally, I attended IEP (Individualized Education Program) meetings in which I observed Dr. Culotta, various therapists, and other school board administrators interact with families to acquire funding for special education programs.
    
Aside from learning about neuropsychology through observing the clinical environment and meetings with patients, I also had the chance to learn about the field by reading through many of Dr. Culotta's books and PowerPoint presentations. By reading through these presentations, I learned a wide variety of things--from how the dyslexic brain works to neurological changes in the brain during adolescence.

While at NeuroBehavioral Associates, I also had the opportunity to work on a research project to prepare a paper for submission to the Eastern Psychological Association's annual conference in New York this March. Dr. Griffith and I examined the literature regarding symptom magnification, malingering, and adolescence. This is an important issue given the rates of juvenile crime and emerging research regarding the teen brain.
 
My internship with Dr. Culotta and NeuroBehavioral Associates taught me a lot about the psychological field and helped me further map out my future career plans. By observing and working with families, children, and colleagues, I have gained knowledge, communication skills, and advice that will help me later in my educational and professional career.

The following speech was delivered by Debra Hawhee, Professor of English, to the Class of 2016 during the President's New Student Convocation on August 25, 2012.

Debra Hawhee, "The Unending Conversation," 2012 New Student Convocation, Penn State

Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer her; another comes to your defense; another supports what you have to say; another disagrees. The discussion, however, is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.

This scenario was offered in 1939 by a thinker and writer named Kenneth Burke to illustrate the unfolding drama of language. Burke, as it happens, has connections to Penn State. He did a little teaching here, and when he died in 1992 the library acquired his papers. If you go into the special collections room at the library, you'll see a very large bust of him.

Burke refers to this imagined scene in the parlor as the "unending conversation."  
This unending conversation can be read as a metaphor for life, in the sense that everything is ongoing, then we arrive, and after we depart, everything will still go on.

But the unending conversation is mainly about the give-and-take of discussion, of deliberation. Conversations like the one Burke describes go on everywhere in your lives, and in the next four years, they will continue to play out in your classrooms, on your Facebook pages, and  in your civic spaces. As you well know, and as Burke knew too, these conversations can get heated; they can get gritty. They also involve everyone around us, including those with whom we disagree and those who might agree with us.

A heated--very heated--set of discussions is going on, not just at Penn State, but about Penn State. Like it or not, each one of you has been drawn into that conversation. And while that conversation may be the loudest right now, it is not the only one.

Over the next four years, you will participate in all kinds of conversations, and one of the most important things your college education will help you do is to prepare you to respond, to equip you to figure out what's being said, what values are being defended or cast aside, and what you might want to say about it all.

You'll recall Burke's scenario marks out a period of listening. Learning to listen to people who think differently from you might be one of the most important lessons of higher education. Too many people flee from disagreement, thinking it's rude or scary. But disagreement is crucial for a smart, thriving citizenry.  Taking the time to listen is crucial; listening will improve the conversation; listening will help you reflect on what is really at issue in the conversation, and it will lead to more thoughtful responses when you decide to put in your oar.   When disagreement is cast in terms of good and evil and the discussion becomes so polarized that it devolves into shouting or name calling, that's when we are in trouble.

Your education will also help you become better participants in conversations, because the courses you take here and the disciplines you study will give you ways to find out what you think and help you know when to put in your oar:  in a philosophy course you might inquire into belief itself; a history course will help you examine conversations from the past; a literature course will introduce you to some of "the best that has been thought and said";  a chemistry course will show you how to test knowledge through rigorous experimentation;  a sociology course will give you tools to learn about how people interact, and so on. All, I contend, will help you be a better participant in these ongoing conversations. You will leave here knowing more stuff, sure, but the important thing is that you leave here not necessarily knowing what to think, but how to think, how to really ruminate over hard questions, and how to do this for yourself and in relation to others who are different from you. This, to me, is the lasting value of the education you are about to begin: all the knowledge you will acquire, make, and deliberate about will help you become more thoughtful, active, respectful, and emphatic citizens in your communities, your countries, and in your world. On behalf of the Penn State faculty, I welcome you to the university and encourage you to embrace the intellectual challenges of this lively, unending conversation.

If you read my previous blog two weeks ago, let's just say you came to class prepared for this week's presentation. If not, all you missed was blogging excellence about the importance of networking and how doing so can put you in a position to succeed.
 
Well, this week I'm going to expand on the importance of networking, and specifically touch upon how doing so helped me land my position at Octagon this summer.
 
There's no doubt that networking is an essential aspect to any industry. In fact, today during a presentation with our human resources director, she mentioned that a third of all job openings are filled through a referral. As high as that may sound to some people, the sports industry is even higher with conservative estimates speculating that the number may be 50% or higher.
 
Regardless of what the figures may or may not be, there is no doubt that connections play a key role in all industries. That's why today I've dedicated my writing to discuss how and what I did to use networking to my advantage, specifically through the use of LinkedIn.
 
LinkedIn, as I like to see it, is essentially the Facebook of business professionals, with some actual benefits. Not only does it spare you from the embarrassing pictures and boring statuses, but it also allows you to connect with professionals in a variety of fields.
 
When I was going through the application process, I was fully aware of the need to network to the best of my ability. Luckily, LinkedIn provided me with an opportunity to do so, and it certainly paid off.
 
To those who are not frequent users of the website, one of the most valuable aspects of it is the ability to search for a specific company and see alumni from your school that work there. For me, that was the "in" I needed to capitalize on.
 
When I excitedly discovered this capability, I went to town on the emails. I combed through over 50 companies that I was looking to apply to, and I searched for alums and their emails online.
 
After channeling my inner-stalker for far too long, I managed to connect with some people regarding potential internship opportunities.
 
One of the people I was fortunate enough to reach was a high-level employee at Octagon. At the time it was probably the end of October, and I was trying to lay the groundwork for the application process in the winter.
 
He was kind enough to copy the director of human resources on the email, and he explained when I should apply and asked to let him know if I needed anything.  

Fast forward to the spring when I was fortunate enough to land an interview, and while I was at the office, I got to meet the man with whom I had originally connected with some five months prior.
 
Today that man is my boss.  He has been an immense help to me throughout the summer, and I anticipate that he will continue to be in the future, too.
 
For those that are in a similar position or will be soon, I encourage you all to use LinkedIn and other resources to network.
 
Reaching out to alums of Penn State is easy and effective, and without a doubt it helped me obtain my summer internship.
 
And I hope if nothing else, this helps you realize the potential that networking possesses and gives you an idea of what you can do to use it to your advantage.
 
Sadly, I'm beginning to sound like my parents when I say that time flies, and my internship is less than a month from completion. My last blog for the summer will be in two weeks when I wrap up my experience with an overview of my summer.

Dear Liberal Arts Student Colleagues: 

Fall semester has begun!  We are excited to welcome the Class of 2016 to the College of the Liberal Arts, and a big welcome back for all returning students!

To help get the semester off to a fun start, Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies (LAUS) has created a Social Media Scavenger Hunt that will help new students get acclimated to the College while allowing returning students to discover some new features of the College--all while connecting with LAUS through our various social media networks!  

Below is a list of locations to visit, and each location includes a challenge to complete using social media. Grab some friends together to complete the challenges, or if you're brave enough, set out on your own!  

Let us know when you have completed the Scavenger Hunt by leaving a comment on this post. 

During winter break, I decided I would take some time to set goals for the upcoming semester. Lazily lounging on our family's La-Z-Boy, somewhere between my third cup of coffee and fifth pass through my Facebook Newsfeed, I was dealt a barreling blow. Several friends posted melancholy statuses expressing ambivalence towards their impending graduations.  Most wrote of leaving behind friends and countless memories in Happy Valley. However, many uttered their hesitations towards trading in their syllabi and sweatpants for a collared shirt, tie, and a so-called "real job." Pinched by reality, I grasped the notion that in less than a year I would be in their shoes. Downing this coffee-stained truth, I determined that my spring semester's goal was to attain an internship to prepare for the transition into a "real job" and the "real world."

"Getting an internship," I thought, "can't be that hard, right?" However, I quickly discovered that landing an internship could be a challenging task. Initially, my naïve search for internships lacked the direction and savvy of seasoned job seekers. Finally, after a few unfruitful weeks arbitrarily scouring corporate websites for opportunities, I decided to reach out to my advisors in the LSER Department and the College of the Liberal Arts.  Astutely, my counselors recommended that I pursue my interests and effectively utilize Penn State's career resources. Perched on a canvas camping chair overlooking Beaver Avenue, I decided that I would narrow my internship pursuits to my two greatest interests: law and human resources. To locate internships, the next step, my advisors consulted me, was to create profiles on the College of the Liberal Arts' Career Enrichment Network Symplicity site, Nittany Lion Career Network site through Penn State Career Services, and LinkedIn.

I optimistically uploaded a refined résumé and cover letter, and I applied for a myriad of positions that fit my interests, skills, and qualifications. Shortly thereafter, I was notified by the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network that a company called Air Liquide was hiring human resources interns and would be conducting on-campus interviews. I researched Air Liquide, and I discovered they are a multinational French company whose US headquarters were based in Houston, Texas. Intrigued, I applied for the position and hoped for the best.

Fortunately, I was invited to interview with Air Liquide and subsequently was offered an employee relations internship in their corporate human resources department. Although I was excited to be offered this great opportunity, deciding to relocate to Houston was a difficult decision. Being from a small town, the move to Houston seemed daunting.  However, the city's exhilarating allure and prospects of improved opportunity dwarfed my trepidations. With the support of my family, I accepted the position, and I prepared for the 1,400-mile move to Houston.

Nearly finished with my internship, it has been an invaluable experience in my professional development. Learning from experienced human resources professionals and my fellow interns has provided a foundation for success in the business world. The projects assigned by my manager and colleagues have given me insight into a complex field, while simultaneously polishing my analytical skills. Most interestingly, I will have the opportunity to observe management negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with a labor union. The professional skills I have acquired searching for this internship and while working at Air Liquide will prove instrumental in my career development.

Today a group of over fifty faculty in the College of the Liberal Arts gathered to deliberate about how best to respond to the students we will encounter next week in our classrooms as we begin a new academic year in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal that has impacted our community.

The third iteration of the Liberal Arts Scholarship and Technology Summit (LASTS) was held on Thursday, August 16, 2012, in Foster Auditorium.  The College of the Liberal Arts again partnered with Education Technology Services (ETS) and University Libraries to provide Liberal Arts faculty and graduate students a forum in which to share insights and learn from one another regarding the use of technology for teaching and research. 

A new feature to LASTS was the addition of a pre-conference workshop held on Wednesday, August 15, 2012.  The workshop provided a forum for attendees to explore and discuss the nature of digital humanities and its role at Penn State.  More information about the pre-conference workshop can be found on the Humanities @ Penn State Libraries blog.

Thursday's event featured presenters from Liberal Arts, Education Technology Services, and the Libraries, as well as a keynote address from Cole Camplese, Senior Director for Penn State Teaching & Learning with Technology. 

The two-day event included technology presentations, breakout sessions, hands-on workshops, and panel discussions, and the conference was attended by faculty and graduate students both in person and online through live streaming video.

Pictures from the event can be viewed on the LAUS Flickr site, and below is an overview of the speakers and their topics, as well as links to their archived presentation videos and resources: 

Dawn Childress (University Libraries)
Presentation Link
Brief summary of the pre-conference workshop on digital humanities.

Cole Camplese (TLT)
Presentation Link
Keynote address from the Senior Director of Penn State's Teaching and Learning with Technology.

Christopher Long (LAUS/Philosophy)
Presentation Link
Discussion on how the research for his book, Socratic and Platonic Politics, was carried out in public through his Digital Dialogue podcast and his blog, The Long Road.

Mike Furlough (University Libraries)
Presentation Link
Overview of how some libraries around the country have supported digital humanities research, as well as one example at Penn State.

Allan Gyorke (ETS)
Presentation Link
Overview of key technology trends in higher education--including MOOCs, badge systems, learning analytics, and electronic textbooks--and how they are connected to activities occurring across the university.

Brian Young (ETS)
Presentation Link
Demonstration of Doceri, a software that allows control of a computer (podium computer or laptop) with an iPad.

Jessica O'Hara (ENGL)
Presentation Link
Discussion on how "intensive blogging" has been implemented in first-year honors rhetoric and composition courses.

Mark Fisher (PHIL) and Christopher Long (LAUS/PHIL)
Presentation Link
Description of plans for an open peer-reviewed online journal of public philosophy.  

Daniel Tripp (ENGL)
Presentation Link
Discussion on instances when the technologies that make digital scholarship possible threaten it with obsolescence, as related to the post-publication history of Red Planet: Scientific and Cultural Encounters with Mars.

Chris Stubbs (ETS)
Presentation Link  /  Presentation Resources
Overview of the creation, design, and student testing of EconU, a brand new web-based economics game.

Emily Rimland (Libraries)
Presentation Link  /  Presentation Resources
Discussion of the Research Project Calculator and the Penn State iPad User Group.


We would like to thank all of our attendees, speakers, and organizing partners for helping to make the event a success!

With the start of classes just a week away, we're all very excited for the beginning of the Fall 2012 semester.  Beginnings typically involve transitions, and advisers are ready to help, whether you're transitioning from high school to college, another university to Penn State, another campus to University Park, or even if the transition involves adjusting back to your academic life after a great summer break.  We hope to see you at least once during the semester to discuss your current and future schedules, but we also encourage you to see us if you have other questions or concerns.  And, every so often, let us know how the semester is going for you; we'd like to know how you're doing.  

The start of the semester marks the beginning of the Drop/Add period, which refers to the first ten days of the semester.  During this "crunch time," all Liberal Arts advisers will hold standard walk-in hours Monday through Friday for students who have concerns about their current schedules or need to discuss an issue that is time-sensitive and needs immediate attention.  


If you need to see your adviser during the Drop/Add period and aren't sure who your assigned adviser is, log into eLion and select "Adviser Information" from the menu on the left side of the screen.  You can also find out where your adviser's office is located.

Please be assured that after the first ten days of classes, you will be able to schedule an appointment with your adviser.

So, what is the Drop/Add period?  You might wonder why it's significant or what you can (or should) do during this time period.  Think back to when you put your fall schedule together--it was some time ago, right?  You probably made the best scheduling choices you could at the time based on your degree requirements, interests, and course availability.  The Drop/Add period gives you the opportunity to make changes to your schedule--in light of new information and new course openings-- without any penalties.  You can use the Drop/Add period effectively by:

• attending all your scheduled classes to assess their goodness-of-fit for you and your learning style.
• reviewing the syllabus for each class to better understand the instructor's expectations.
• evaluating the overall workload of the courses you've scheduled; you might view the combination of courses differently once you have more information about individual courses.
• paying attention to openings in courses that you wanted to add previously but which were full when you registered for classes.

It's important to note that although there is no limit on how many changes you can make during the Drop/Add period, you should be mindful of how dropping courses may affect your financial aid.  With that in mind, please familiarize yourself with the Federal Student Assistance Satisfactory Academic Progress Standard.  

As you make changes to your schedule, you may be working quickly to adjust your schedule, so make sure you are dropping and adding the correct classes.  If you inadvertently drop a course, especially a popular course, the likelihood of re-adding it may be slim.
 
And--this is important--what happens after the Drop/Add period ends?  You should view your schedule as a fairly completed project at that point.  Any changes to your schedule after November 16 will involve a $6.00 fee, and dropping any courses will involve using your late-drop credits. 
 
We have also compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions that we often hear during the Drop/Add period.  We hope the responses to these questions might clarify a few of your own concerns. 

The Drop/Add period can be a bit stressful, and we hope to help you manage it as smoothly as possible.  Coming to see us during our walk-in hours is the best way to connect with us at this time.

Wishing you a safe, energizing, and successful semester!

Washington, D.C. is an amazing place to spend the summer. It is especially great when you are able to find an internship. I am a senior at Penn State, and I am currently interning for the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM). Not only am I working on projects that are related to what I want to do in the future, but I am also meeting a bunch of new people and exploring the city.

I found the internship through the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network Symplicity system.  I applied to at least 50 different internships throughout the school year, and the one at AAM was exactly what I was looking for.  I am their Social Media intern, and I work with their Digital Media person as well as with others throughout the office.

AAM is a bi-partisan, non-profit organization and partnership that is working to strengthen manufacturing in the United States.  They employ their social media to inform and open people up to the idea that both ends of the political spectrum should be in support of American manufacturing and American made products.

There are two Penn State alumni working at AAM, and it is beneficial having people who know exactly where I'm coming from as a Penn Stater. Alumni can be a very important factor in finding an internship or job, but they can also help you make your transition into a company that they are already very involved in.

My internship has me involved in all aspects of Social Media.  I am blogging, organizing and improving their YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter accounts, as well as providing input on the creation of their Tumblr and other Social Media outlets that could be valuable to AAM's cause. I have also spent time on Capitol Hill and at several conferences that have completely opened up my mind to the way the political world functions.  That may seem a bit odd, but until I had these experiences, it had never fully occurred to me that these are the people who are in total control of our country.

As for my future after this internship, I want to attend graduate school for Marketing with a focus on Digital and Social Media after I graduate in December. The work I am doing and experience I have gained at AAM will definitely set me apart from other applicants in the field for both college applications and future job opportunities.   

The most important part about having this internship for me is the involvement in and out of the office.  Working in front of a computer and with professionals has taught me a lot about what I am pursuing as a career and how to pursue it. At the same time, I have gained a new perspective on the professional world that I think all college students would benefit from acquiring.

Washington, D.C. is definitely a great place to spend a summer when it comes to experiences outside of the working world. I am officially a self-declared professional commuter, by metro and car, and I have learned how to establish myself in a community outside of the two places I am most comfortable, my hometown and State College.

My time at the Alliance for American Manufacturing has solidified my goals for future jobs as well as improved my professional and life skills.  It is a great environment to work in and I would most definitely suggest that anyone interested in politics or social media look into the organization.

The third iteration of the Liberal Arts Scholarship and Technology Summit (LASTS) will be held on Thursday, August 16, 2012, in Foster Auditorium.  The College of the Liberal Arts is again partnering with Education Technology Services (ETS) and University Libraries to provide Liberal Arts faculty and graduate students a forum in which to share insights and learn from one another regarding the use of technology for teaching and research. 

A new feature to LASTS is the addition of a pre-conference workshop to be held on Wednesday, August 15, 2012.  The workshop will provide a forum for attendees to explore and discuss the nature of digital humanities and its role at Penn State.  More information about the pre-conference workshop can be found on the Humanities @ Penn State Libraries blog.

Thursday's event will feature presenters from Liberal Arts, Education Technology Services, and the Libraries, as well as a keynote address from Cole Camplese, Senior Director for Penn State Teaching & Learning with Technology.  Below is an overview of the presenters and their topics:

9:05-9:15: Dawn Childress (University Libraries)
Brief summary of the pre-conference workshop on digital humanities.

9:15-9:50: Cole Camplese (TLT)
Keynote address from the Senior Director of Penn State's Teaching and Learning with Technology.

9:50-10:05: Christopher Long (LAUS/Philosophy)
Discussion on how the research for his book, Socratic and Platonic Politics, was carried out in public through his Digital Dialogue podcast and his blog, The Long Road.

10:05-10:20: Mike Furlough (University Libraries)
Overview of how some libraries around the country have supported digital humanities research, as well as one example at Penn State.

10:20-10:35: Allan Gyorke (ETS)
Overview of key technology trends in higher education--including MOOCs, badge systems, learning analytics, and electronic textbooks--and how they are connected to activities occurring across the university.

10:55-11:10: Brian Young (ETS)
Demonstration of Doceri, a software that allows control of a computer (podium computer or laptop) with an iPad.

11:10-11:25: Jessica O'Hara (ENGL)
Discussion on how "intensive blogging" has been implemented in first-year honors rhetoric and composition courses.

1:20-1:35: Mark Fisher (PHIL) and Christopher Long (LAUS/PHIL)
Description of plans for an open peer-reviewed online journal of public philosophy.  

1:35-1:50: Daniel Tripp (ENGL)
Discussion on instances when the technologies that make digital scholarship possible threaten it with obsolescence, as related to the post-publication history of Red Planet: Scientific and Cultural Encounters with Mars.

1:50-2:05: Chris Stubbs (ETS)
Overview of the creation, design, and student testing of EconU, a brand new web-based economics game.

2:05-2:20: Emily Rimland (Libraries)
Discussion of the Research Project Calculator and the Penn State iPad User Group.

More information on the presenters and their topics can be found on the complete schedule.

For those unable to attend in person, we invite you to join us online, where we will be streaming live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/lasts-12. 

The event can also be followed on Twitter at hashtag #LASTS12.

Videos and slide handouts will be posted here after the event, so be sure to check back for additional resources.

As a new of era of change begins for Penn State, the many complicated and unsatisfying details of the Freeh report have unfolded and shocked students, faculty, and alumni alike. We hear outbursts of disgust from the media and the public, often directed at the wrong people, to pinpoint blame on the university as a whole and thus also on the student body for crimes committed by others. We know we are not responsible for the actions of a select few, but it is often very hard to communicate such distinctions to a person who only finds updates via social media or breaking news reports. In the few conversations I have had with people about the trial verdict and recent dismissals, the name Paterno rolls off everyone's tongue in a disappointing tone that renders it as though he committed the acts himself. It becomes obvious through the opinions of both Penn Staters and non-Penn Staters that the Paterno legacy today is different than it was just a short year ago. The connotations associated with his name are unsettling and undefined; some believe the name still stands for the value of hard work and ethical leadership while others believe that it stands for unchecked authority and moral failings. Places like Nike's Joe Paterno Child Development Center and Paternoville have already taken action in removing the name from their titles as a result. The statue has been taken down, the NCAA has imposed heavy sanctions on the Penn State football program, yet the University Library continues to bear the Paterno name. However, these changes are not of particular interest to me. What I am concerned with is the Paterno Fellows Program.

As a senior entering my final semester at Penn State, my concern is, understandably, I hope, self-interested. My worries center around my own future, and I question myself if the incidents of the past nine months will impact my ability to obtain interviews and ultimately a full-time position after I graduate. Up until the past few weeks, I have had the title "Paterno Fellow" on my resume right under The Pennsylvania State University, B.A. English and French, Schreyer Honors College, three elements of my student character that I say with pride. I hadn't realized until very recently that my association with the Paterno Fellows program could become something of an issue as I apply for full-time jobs this fall. Just the other day my mother texted me, "You should take Paterno Fellow off your [email] signature for a bit....Many will question it." As disturbed as I was by this comment, I believe it was sound advice. For now.

In removing Paterno Fellows from my resume and email signature, I felt torn between two feelings - fear and pride. I feared what potential employers might think when they see the "Paterno Fellow" line on my resume, but I am enormously proud of what I've accomplished through the program. One such achievement includes the research position I held this summer for a non-profit organization in New Canaan, Connecticut, called Voices of September 11th. I applied by writing a simple email inquiry with my resume attached back in December of 2011, asking if any internship positions were available for summer 2012. There was no cover letter or writing sample attached with it. This inquiry led to a phone interview with my current boss, Frank, in which we briefly discussed my involvement within several organizations on campus and previous job experience. His final question involved Paterno Fellows. "I see you are a Paterno Fellow here. That looks impressive. Mind telling me what that's all about?" Fifteen minutes later I was hired.

As Fellows, we know the quality of the program for which we have worked so hard throughout our college careers. For some students, myself included, gaining access to the Schreyer Honors College first became a real possibility because of the Paterno Fellows Program. In becoming a Scholar, I have set out to do exactly what the Paterno Fellows program encourages: to enrich my Penn State experience by integrating my classroom education with advanced external opportunities. My upper level honors courses in English and French have deepened my relationships with faculty in my departments. Studying abroad and declaring a second major - choices I made in order to become a Fellow - have influenced my education and character in ways I would never have imagined. I have received priority scheduling every semester since my acceptance so that I can register for classes that further my personal and professional goals. Even beyond the $4,500 I have received to date through the program to relieve out-of-pocket expenses for traveling and internships, my educational experience as a Fellow has made all the difference in my college career.

My apprehension about the title of the program is, again, fundamentally selfish. In any other context, most non-Penn Staters right now see the name Paterno and do not think of the values of discipline, hard work, ethical leadership and academic excellence for which the program was created. Will they do the same when I advertise to potential employers that I am a part of an academic program named after Joe Paterno?

I am also concerned about incoming classes and the freshmen and sophomores who are currently aspiring to be Fellows. Just the other day I had a friend question whether she should continue aspiring and whether or not it "was all worth it." I hope that she continues to pursue the Paterno Fellows program, because regardless of the title, the program sets Liberal Arts students up for success. It motivates us to do more and to want to do more during our time here. It makes us realize that the power of education can be multifaceted, and that enrichment of all kinds is most certainly accessible right here on campus. I only hope that the rest of the world gives students in the Paterno Liberal Arts Undergraduate Fellows Program a chance to explain that rather than flipping to the next resume as soon as they read the name Paterno.

For now, "Paterno Fellow" stays off my resume. I have made this choice because the current situation is so uncertain. The turmoil is ever-changing, unfortunately. I cannot predict what will happen this semester or by the end of this year, and I do not believe that I need to make a personal sacrifice and risk missing an opportunity because an opinionated recruiter reads that name and dismisses my education and my association with Penn State. I have acknowledged that unfortunately, those people do exist, and I will do my best to educate them and defend the education I received at Penn State. I can defend the Fellows program created for Liberal Arts students, but as wonderful as the program is, I cannot defend its current name.

One of the most nerve-racking challenges every college student must face is finding a worthwhile career after graduation. In today's tough economic climate, the competition can be stiff. Events like Fall Career Days give Penn Staters a chance to connect with potential employers and find out about their hiring needs, but to be successful at these kinds of events, where you're competing with hundreds of your fellow Penn Staters, you should do some pre-event preparation. Today, I offer my advice on how to convince an employer that you are in fact the right fit for that dream internship or career. I largely credit successful career fair networking for the two internships I've completed with New Pig Corporation, so I hope that you can learn something useful!

I am spending very little time discussing appropriate attire and appearance.  This is NOT where you want to stand out from the crowd; be sure to look the cleanest, sharpest, and most professional you possibly can.  Try to dress like the best looking business executive you've ever seen.  Enough said.

Even though you may only spend an hour or two at the career fair speaking with recruiters, the process is in fact much more detailed if you actually want a job.  As countless other career resources will say, be sure to research each company you plan to visit and take some detailed notes.  I recommend listing a brief summary of the company, noting what they list as major accomplishments and why they think they are a good company.  This will be a talking point for something I will bring up a bit later. 

Most importantly, make a (potentially hefty) list of bullet points that portray your value to their company.  You may be the brightest political science major ever who will someday sit on the Supreme Court, but a financial services firm will tell you to take a hike.  Think of your skills and education as a brand that requires effective marketing and salesmanship to succeed.  Sell your brand by knowing the product (yourself), why it will work best for the company, and precisely how it can outperform other products (the kids standing behind you in line to talk to the same recruiter).   Remember: this bulleted list will be different for each company you visit.  Lastly, prepare at least two or three thoughtful questions to ask the company representative, even if you may already know the answer.  Curiosity and a will to learn are huge and will only help you.

This next piece of information is the most crucial to landing your job, in my opinion.  It's not something many career services professionals will mention often.  Heck, it doesn't even have anything to do with your education or experience.  What seems to work wonders is the simple ability to talk with recruiters like normal human beings as opposed to being sweaty-palmed robots extending résumés as fast as they extend handshakes.  These poor souls have to stand at a booth for 8 hours, regurgitate the corny company mission and history they heard when they were hired themselves, and then listen to nervous college students go through their rehearsed routines like clockwork: "Hi, I'm _____ and I'm a _____ studying _______.  Here's my résumé; what can you do for me?"  I like to go to the BJC when things slow down a bit and it's not a madhouse, but not so late that the recruiters are staring at their watches for the last hour counting down until they can pack up the booth to leave.  Approach the person confidently but with a humble smile.  Then simply go on with a tiny bit of small talk such as: "Hi there!  I'm Luke; it's great to meet you.  So, did this place get busy today?  How was the food?  I thought it looked pretty tasty."  Talk about anything that you feel is suitable to the personality of the recruiter.  Make her laugh if it seems appropriate, or keep it at "hello, how was your day?" for someone who looks a bit sterner.  Regardless, don't let the small talk go on forever.  You're there for a reason and having casual conversation is only a smooth segue to getting down to business. 

Here is when you may pull out your research and résumé to say something like, "I was checking out your company and thought that ________ is really interesting.  Could you tell me more about it?" (Keep eye contact, listen intently, pay attention) "Wow, that's cool.  I actually did something very similar for a class I had last semester."  There you have it.  You're officially "in" with the recruiter and viewed as, at the very least, a person they wouldn't absolutely hate to work with on a daily basis.  Now it's up to what your brain has been capable of in the classroom and in previous work environments.  If you can essentially just elaborate on your résumé, you're home free.  Don't get discouraged if companies are not immediately interested in you.  They are ultimately trying to make money, so if you won't bring profits, they will pass on you.  The point is to try this method on many firms so your chances of success greatly increase.  Have no fear!

Thanks for reading this lengthy post in addition to my previous entries this summer.  It's been a pleasure writing for LAUS and I truly hope I could provide you with useful help or at the very least a bit of entertaining insight.  Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at ldp5042@psu.edu.  I am happy to speak with anyone and everyone.  Finally, don't forget to go out there and show the world who we are and what Penn State is.  Best of luck in everything you pursue.   

The College of the Liberal Arts has selected Evelyn Mugge as the Student Marshal for the summer 2012 commencement ceremony.  She has chosen Donna Bahry, Professor of Political Science, as her faculty marshal escort. 


Originally from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, she is the daughter of Nanette
 Mugge-Alden and John Mugge.  Evelyn graduates with a Bachelor of Arts in 
International Politics and a minor in History.  She received the 
President's Freshman Award, Sparks Award, and Evan Pugh Scholar Award, and she was a
 member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society. She interned with Congresswoman
 Allyson Schwartz, edited The Dialectics: Journal of Leadership, Politics, 
and Society, and volunteered with the Centre County SPCA.

  Her future plans include law school where she hopes to study
 international or employment law.

The summer undergraduate commencement ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, August 11, 2012, at 10:00 a.m., in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Hey everyone! I am Jessie Maynor, a junior Schreyer Scholar and Paterno Fellow. I am majoring in Crime, Law, and Justice, and have two minors, one in Human Development and Family Studies and the other in Disability Studies. Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to study abroad for six weeks in Florence, Italy. I participated in the College of the Liberal Arts program at the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai, an amazing school for international students. I took two classes, both of which count as general education courses I need to graduate. These classes were taught by Italian professors, which gave me a very interesting insight into how education differs in Italy. Classes were 3 hours and 15 minutes long and held two days a week, which left Fridays free. This allowed for travel on the weekends, something I took full advantage of! I visited Venice, Pisa, the five towns of Cinque Terre, Siena, San Gimignano, Sorrento, Capri, Positano, Rome, Bellagio, and Lake Como in Italy, Interlaken and Bern in Switzerland, Cannes, Nice, St. Tropez, and Antibes in France, and Eze and Monte Carlo in Monaco.

In my first class, the Art of Florence, I learned about Florentine artists and their works during the Renaissance. This class consisted of a half hour to hour of lecture followed by visiting various museums in order to see the artwork I was learning about in person. It was a perfect way to learn about the city I lived in and what makes it famous. My favorite museums were the Uffizi and the Accademia, both of which house works by my favorite artist, Michelangelo. I gained understanding and respect for Renaissance art and my date memorizing ability was definitely put to the test! For the final paper, I wrote about three different depictions of The David by the artists Michelangelo and Donatello. The biblical story of David and Goliath is well loved by the city of Florence because, like the young, courageous boy, the city of Florence stood up to its rivals, the cities of Milan, Rome, and Naples. Through writing this paper, I learned more about the history of the city in which I lived and also more about very famous, influential Renaissance art.

My second class, Identity and Culture in Italy, was a sociology class that focused on the main differences between American and Italian morals, beliefs, and ideals. A lot of the class was reflection based, and the teacher allowed us to talk about our personal experiences in Italy and compare them to what we are used to at home. This helped everyone in the class to better understand what they were seeing and feeling in this foreign place, and I think we all had a more positive experience because of this. In class we learned about the importance of travel and the concept of liminality. I chose this as my final paper topic and wrote a biographical type essay in which I discussed how one cannot grow without being put in an uncomfortable situation where one is forced to adapt and better him or her self.

Overall, I only have positive things to say about my study abroad experience in Florence. I not only learned about another culture and history, but I also learned about myself, my values, and my ideals, which has made me a better person and citizen. Schreyer Honors College and the Paterno Fellows Program make studying abroad easy, and I could not be more grateful for the experience I was able to have because of these two programs. I urge all Penn State students to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad. It is truly a life changing experience! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about my experience in Florence or about studying abroad in general. My email is jlm6010@psu.edu.