August 2010 Archives

As the news school year begins, I wanted all of you - Fellows and Fellows aspirants alike - to know about some Paterno Fellows opportunities for service. These activities could be a part of your leadership and service commitment, and/or they could just be a source of fun and friendships for you. None of them will feel like Work, I promise you that. It's all about involvement and connecting.

I look forward to hearing from a great many of you. Here's what I need:

Bloggers
In order to facilitate communications among Fellows, I'd like to have a small corps of 4-6 bloggers who would contribute on a regular basis to this blog space. You would comment on things that you are doing (e.g., studying abroad; or searching for an appropriate place to study abroad; or registering frustration about something related to study abroad); offer news reports, so to speak, on Fellows activities--with photos or podcasts, if you'd like (we have some nifty equipment that you can try out); or share personal reflections (or responses to other blog posting or things in the news) on anything that seems relevant to you.  Think of this as a fun activity for those of you who enjoy blogging. You can commit to posting as frequently as you would like.  And note that what you contribute could go toward fulfillment of the Excellence in Communication Certificate. Some of you (e.g., Presidential Leadership Academy members) are already blogging for other groups:  if so, you could contribute those same blogs (or some of them) to the Paterno Fellows blog as well.  How about it?

You can take a look at Associate Dean Long's video on social media to get an idea of what we are looking for.

Advisory Board Members
Two Paterno Fellows Advisory Board members are continuing from last year, but I need two or three more of you to advise me on activities, make suggestions, and help to iron out matters of policy. Time commitment:  meeting every two weeks (usually 30 minutes); occasional follow up actions that are called for (e.g., in order to make a certain activity happen).  But the main commitment is in the form of advice giving, and the time required isn't large. You would be a means of ensuring that the Paterno Fellows Director hears regularly from Paterno Fellows themselves--and that he listens.

5K Run Organizers
I anticipate that Paterno Fellows will be playing a major role in helping Sue Paterno to pull off for a second time the charity 5K run for Special Olympics--the one that she organized for the first time during last year's Blue White Weekend in April. A dozen of you helped out for several hours last April; depending on your response I now envision the possibility of a more elaborate role for Paterno Fellows that would involve you in planning, publicizing, and executing the event, working directly with Sue Paterno. I hope that between 6 and 12 of you will be interested in this role: it's nothing as elaborate as THON, but there will be opportunities for you to make a significant difference by taking on roles of significant responsibility. And over time, this has the potential to grow into a major philanthropy that you can be proud of.

Paterno Ambassadors
Paterno Ambassadors (we'll need to find a better name) would assist in recruitment of new students, and they would meet on occasion with alumni "friends of the Paterno Fellows" who want to meet individual Paterno Fellows so they can understand the program better.  Sometimes you'd work individually, sometimes in groups; sometimes you'd speak with individuals, sometimes you'd speak to groups. Time commitment is not great,and it's an opportunity for you to polish your "public presentation" skills.

Please let me know by the end of next week if you have an interest in any of these activities.  Just email me at jselzer@psu.edu. You can volunteer for more than one thing, if you wish.  And if you need more information before you can make a commitment, that's fine: just let me know that you'd like to know more.

In a recent post I mentioned that 59 members of the class of 2013 have already been accepted as full fledged Paterno Fellows. Unfortunately, that number has now been reduced to 58 because Tom Richards passed away on August 16, 2010.

Tom was admitted to Penn State in the fall of 2009 as a Schreyer Scholar, and he also was a Paterno Fellow. Indeed, he had just completed a summer internship, funded by Paterno Fellows enrichment funds, when he died suddenly on August 16 after experiencing a seizure while attending a retreat with the Penn State Leadership Jump Start program.

Tom's teachers, friends, and family have been terribly shaken by this tragedy, of course. A political science and history major from North Penn High School in Lansdale, Tom was a gifted, ambitious student who excelled in the classroom and was planning a career in law.  But he was also loved for his optimistic demeanor and admired for being deeply involved in school activities and in the community, as the Daily Collegian indicates in their recent article. 

A Memorial Service for Tom will take place in Eisenhower Chapel on Saturday, August 28, at 11:00 a.m.

Please also review Dean Brady's blog entries.  If you have any recollections of Tom to share, or words of consolation--or frustration--please fell free to post them there or here.

Want to know how things are going with your Paterno Fellows Program? Here are some numbers that suggest just how remarkable has been your student response to this challenging program:

Class of 2012: Our "pioneer group" of Fellows, the first cohort that we welcomed to take up the Paterno challenge, has now completed the sophomore year.  When this group arrived, we had just unveiled the program and so it wasn't widely known.  Still, over 200 students entered the program as aspirants--and now 113 of them have qualified and been recognized as full fledged Fellows (as opposed to aspirants) and thus now belong to the Schreyer Honors College. They are also eligible for the many benefits available to Fellows.

I hope to arrange an event to recognize those 113 students for their accomplishments early in the school year. Thirteen of those students were in the honors college when they arrived, but they decided to become Paterno Fellows as well. Twenty-four qualified as Fellows after their freshman year.  Another 46 qualified after the third semester. And 30 were accepted after the sophomore year.  Congrats once again to those of you in this cohort--our 113-member "pioneer class" of Paterno Fellows!

[Incidentally, you might be asking what happened to the other hundred or so 2012 aspirants.  Answer: Some transferred to another College outside of Liberal Arts. (Remember, only Liberal Arts majors can be Paterno Fellows.)  Some decided to leave the program for one or another reason.  And some were unable to meet the requirements to keep a high GPA and  to take at least three honors courses each year.  But no one "failed": even those who have not made it to full Fellow status have benefited from the honors courses they took and from the other experiences associated with the program.]

Class of 2013 : At this time last year, 379 freshmen took up the Paterno challenge. And now get this:  already 59 of you, after just one year, are officially accepted Fellows, recognized as such by membership in the Schreyer Honors College. While over a hundred in this group have left the program, almost 200 others (in addition to the 59 I mentioned) will be working this fall and spring semesters  to clear the last hurdles that separate "aspirant" from full Fellow. This group  is already achieving at a high level and in great numbers, and I'm looking forward to seeing your continuing accomplishments this year.

Class of 2014: That goes for the class of 2014 too--of this year's freshman class, well over 400 (!) have taken up the Paterno challenge. These freshmen will be taking the required honors courses, working hard to achieve the expected GPA, and in other ways making the commitments that distinguish Paterno Fellows. (Over two dozen of them are already SHC students.) So I will be shocked if over 200 of this group are not Paterno Fellows two years from now. Best wishes for a great start when classes begin next week!

Any questions?

Welcome once again, new Paterno Fellows aspirants--the class of 2014! 

It's encouraging and exciting that so many first year students have decided to take the Paterno challenge this year. Good thinking! You are not only the largest group of Paterno aspirants that we have had so far, but you are very talented and ambitious as well, judging from your high school accomplishments. 

Throughout each year, the Paterno Fellows Program hosts a variety of events. These are designed to round out your education and to give you an opportunity to get to know one other.  We seek a Paterno Fellows community, in other words. (And we like to have fun.)

Our first event this year will be held on Friday, August 27, 2010 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State.  (While most of the PFP events are voluntary, this one is required of all aspirants in the class of 2014. Note well:  you should attend this event unless you have a class after 3:30 on Friday.)

The event is organized around the Museum's current exhibition of The Bloomsbury Group, a brilliant and iconoclastic (and colorful) coterie of artists, writers, and intellectuals who gathered in the Bloomsbury area of London about a century ago--people like the writer Virginia Woolf, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, artists Vanessa and Clive Bell, and the economist John Maynard Keynes.

Here's what we'll do: Paterno aspirants whose last names begin A-M should arrive at the museum auditorium at 3:30 to hear a lively 30-minute orientation to the exhibit put on by Penn State faculty experts. (If you belong to the A to M group but you have a class at this time, you should come with the second group.) After the orientation, those in this first group will take in the exhibition while, at 4:15, the second group (N-Z) should arrive at the Palmer Museum auditorium for a repeat of that same orientation. After students see the exhibit, they will have a chance to meet in the museum lobby (air conditioned!) to chat, enjoy some refreshments, and have some laughs--there will be good food and drink; door prizes; the chance to meet PSU faculty (and, yes, tattoos).

Also on hand will be Associate Dean Christopher Long, liberal arts staff members who can answer your questions about things like study abroad, internships, funding opportunities, and so forth. I'll be there as well because I want a chance to meet you personally. Remember, this is a required event:  unless you have a class that meets after 4:00 on Friday, August 27, you are expected to attend.

Welcome back, Paterno Fellows and Paterno Fellows Aspirants!

I certainly hope that you have had a great summer, and hope that many of you will drop by my office (15 Burrowes) to say hello and tell me what made your summer interesting. (My own best moment:  while researching my mom's life, I came across a pile of love letters written by my dad to my mom from 1938-1943, while they were courting and then later, early in their married life when he was in the Navy.  I learned an an awful lot about my parents in the years when they were in their early 20s--all of it good, I assure you.)

I'm today writing to let you know that you can expect regular blog entries from me throughout the year.  In fact, this will be the main way that I will communicate with you.  So consult this space often, even routinely. We also have a Facebook page that will keep Fellows informed and connected.

It's important:  I'll be posting information about coming events, achievements by Fellows, looming deadlines, and most of all about the special opportunities that are available to you.  For instance, in the next few days you'll read about a Kickoff Event (required!) for new Fellows aspirants (class of 2014), to be held on August 27 in the Art Museum.  And I'll make several postings that invite you to take advantage of volunteering opportunities that will be fun and valuable (e.g., Sue Paterno's 5K race for Special Olympics, or the Paterno Fellows Advisory Committee). And best of all, you will see a great many blog entries written by Paterno Fellows themselves.

You will also be able to post questions and comments.  The idea is to make it a lively and informative forum that will become a routine site for you to consult.

So stay tuned, often.  And welcome back for what we all want to be Penn State's best year ever.

Jack Selzer
Director, Paterno Fellows Program
"Paterno Fellows:  It's a Challenge!"