All components of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania’s emergency notification system – e-mail, voice mail, text messages and campus sirens – will be tested on Friday, Nov. 20, at 2 p.m. The sirens, installed on Elwell Hall, McCormick Hall and on the upper campus, will alert the campus community when vital emergency information is available via e-mail, voice mail and text message.

All BU students and registered faculty and staff will receive a test e-mail message on Friday. Test voice mail and text messages also will be sent to those who opted to receive notification in these formats.

BU tests the emergency notification system once each semester.

The fall dance show was added to the ensemble’s calendar this year in hopes of promoting the spring show.  As the first ever fall showcase, the November 15^th performance will act as a teaser to the larger show in the spring.  Dance Ensemble Co-President, Shannon Stahl, says, “So many people go to the see the show at the end of the year we thought it would be a great idea to give them another opportunity to see what the dance ensemble does ahead of time.”

Those who attend the performance will see a one to one and a half minute dance performance from each class in the ensemble. Each class will perform a choreographed dance on stage. With 15 styles of dance, there is sure to be something for everyone: hip-hop, Latin, musical theatre, ballet, African, tap, modern, jazz, Irish soft and hard, acro, competition, Country, and couples country.

With 160 members involved, the Dance Ensemble is one of the largest student run organizations on campus. Stahl uses the ensemble as a place to hang out with friends while doing what she loves.  Stahl says, “Dancing has always been a part of my life and I love that I have had the opportunity to continue it here at college.”  She helps to run all meetings and organize events the ensemble takes part in.  Along with the duties of being president, Stahl also teaches Advanced Jazz, is in the Latin and Ballet classes, and competes with the competition team.

The university’s competition team is composed of a group of 20 committed girls from the ensemble that compete every year at the Garden State Invitational.  For the past two years, the BU team has taken home first place at this competition, as well as a “Most Crowd Appeal” award at last year’s event. In addition to the invitational, the team has performed at the Special Olympics and in the Homecoming parade.  In upcoming weeks they will perform at Treefest, a local charity event that donates trimmed Christmas trees to less fortunate families.

If two competition titles and a “Most Crowd Appeal” award cannot convince you to come to the show, then maybe some brownies will! In addition to the dances at this fall showcase, the ensemble plans to raise funds by selling baked goods and Bloomsburg University Dance Ensemble t-shirts on the night of the performance. Come out and enjoy the music and performances Sunday, November 15, at 7 pm in the Kehr Union Ballroom!

Front page photo courtesy of http://organizations.bloomu.edu/dance/

Check out this video from last year’s spring showcase!

Professor Witte's empty Feature Writing class, Friday 9:00 a.m., photo courtesy of Matt Hartman

The obvious response to this question is why are you in college if you aren’t going to put in full effort?  If you are really here to continue your education, why would you short yourself by skipping class?  Attending class is obviously important and can be a huge help, not only to your grade, but to what you actually take out of the class- the real learning that takes place.  But let’s face it; some of the classes we take are only because the curriculum forces us to take them.  I have zero interest in science and math, but I had to take 12 credits, almost an entire semester’s worth of classes.

Bus stop, corner of Glenn Ave. and North Iron Street, photo courtesy of Matt Hartman

I decided to try to find out how some other students felt, so I put together a small little survey.  The survey included a couple simple questions about attendance and I received about 25 student responses.  Not surprisingly, the results ended up being a lot like my thoughts.  Only 1 out of 25 students thought that attending class in college should be mandatory.  Most of the 25 students said that they attend class often, but not every class.  I feel like that is typical, sometimes there are circumstances when a student cannot (or chooses not) to attend: sickness, work, studying for another class, or other circumstances.

“I knew the information and did well on the assignments, but sometimes attendance brought my grades down,” said Nick Searles, a recent BU graduate.

Another question that I asked in the survey was whether or not students thought that attending classes in upper level classes in their major was more important than attending a 100 level gen-ed intro course, and 20 out of the 25 people said yes.

I cannot speak for others, but I think that students want to be at the upper level courses, because one day, they will hopefully be a professional, working and using the information they learned in these upper level courses.

Even though I do not think attendance should be mandatory, I think that students that do not come to class should not be able to make up missed work or hand in assignments late.  If you decide not to come to class, you should not get the benefits that students that attend get, but you should not get penalized for missing.

One student waits for bus before 11:00 a.m. Friday morning, photo courtesy of Matt Hartman

According to Bloomsburg University’s policy on class attendance, “Regular classroom attendance is expected of all students.”

Bloomsburg’s policy on attendance does excuse a student if he or she misses class as a result of extenuating circumstances beyond a student’s control, including personal illness, death or critical illness in the immediate family, participation in a university-sponsored activity, or participation in a short term, obligatory military or military reserve activity.  In these cases, a student that misses an assignment should be allowed to make-up the work within a reasonable amount of time.

“I believe that it is the teacher’s responsibility to make class more valuable for the student than whatever else they could be doing,” said Professor Oliver Witte, an instructor in the Mass Communications department.

I understand why the university and professors would want us to attend class; if students attend class more often, participation will be higher and classroom discussions can be held creating a better learning environment.  But, as long as the students are doing the homework and passing quizzes and tests, should they really receive a lower grade for not being in class?  I don’t think so, at least not until the professors or university start paying the students’ tuition bill.

What do you think?

Here are a couple links of other people’s opinions

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/01/absent/

www.csmonitor.com/2002/0129/p15s01-lehl.html

RateMyProfessors.com is a review site founded in May 1999. The website allows college and university students and even anonymous people to assign ratings to professors of American, Canadian and British institutions. The site contains more than ten million ratings, for about one million professors.

The main criticism of RMP is that there is little reason to think that the ratings accurately reflect the quality of the professors rated. RMP itself admits that the ratings are “not really” statistically valid.

Bloomsburg University has a total of 610 professors on the website. The top five highest professors were found using the ‘total ratings’ and ‘overall quality’ options. Here you can find the top five highest rated professors on campus, anoymous comments and a comment from the professor themselves.

1. Thomas Aleto – Anthropology

Anonymous Comment: “Cultural Anthropology with Aleto was a very interesting class. He gave assignments where you had to read articles about different cultures, and they were all interesting. There was no textbook. We also watched a lot of video clips. You need to go to class in order to get the notes, since there is no text, and take notes on the videos. Very fun.”

Professor Comment: Not Available

2. Eileen Astor-Stetson – Psychology

Anonymous Comment: “General Psychology was a lot of information for a one semester course. She makes it fun and keeps you interested. You need to workbook in order to do assignments. I used the book sparingly. Make sure you take down all her notes. And you have to study for the test, or else you will not do well. You need to go to class in order to get the notes.”

Professor Comment: Not Available

3. Peter Bohling – Economics

Anonymous Comment: “Extremely nice guy, funny, and helps you a lot over the course of the class. Class is actually fun, and he goes out of his way to make sure you understand it. While the material is somewhat hard, he makes sure you understand it so you can get an A if you do some work and pay attention. One of the best teachers in Bloom, hands down.”

Professor Comment: “As far as that website is concerned, it is a very bad website in my opinion. It allows people to put comments and rating in even if a person is not in the class. Also, I think people use it only when they are either pleased with a class or upset with a class so the ratings are not representative of the class or the instructor.”

4. Cynthia Surmacz – Biology

Courtesy of BU Communications Department

Anonymous Comment: “Having her for A&P1 and A&P2 she was extremely helpful! Even though the class was difficult, including the tests, she made the class fun and easy to learn new concepts. She was ALWAYS available and was willing to help! She takes attendance randomly and puts it towards your grade so you need to go. Make sure you take it with her and no one else!”

Professor Comment : Not Available

5. Kurt Smith – Philosophy

Anonymous Comment: “This guy is funny. I did not want to miss class in fear of missing him say something funny. Good teacher has a story to explain everything… Grades somewhat tough but its easy to get a B or better.”

Professor Comment: “I believe that it’s a good idea for students have a forum (consisting of just students) to vent their frustrations and it’s not a bad idea for there to be some resource they can tap to see what their fellow students think of professors. But, if the only students who are evaluating professors are those who take themselves to either really love or hate the professors being evaluated, then the resource isn’t going to be all that informative. That, I’m afraid, is really what we have with Ratemyprofessor.com. The voice of the LARGE majority of students (in the emotional-middle) simply isn’t being heard.”

* Honorable mention: Alan Baker – Music

Anonymous Comment: “From a music-illiterate person’s perspective: SO MUCH FUN. The atmosphere is great and I feel as though my lack of skills does not matter anymore and I could possibly be learning something…”

Professor Comment: “I know of the website but I, intentionally, stay away from it. I have colleagues and friends (even a wife) who look at the site with some regularity, but I don’t. My reasoning is that I don’t really know what kind of sample one is getting of their entire class, nor does one really know what criteria is being used to make the evaluation. Perhaps I’m rated the way I am because my class is considered “easy.” If so, that’s not  particularly flattering. Do the disgruntled “weigh in” on their professors more than the complimentary? I know I am more likely to “go the extra mile” to complain about something than I am to “praise” something. Not a great self-realization, but we’re all busy and I suspect lots of others behave in much the same way.”

All photos courtesy of Google Image Search

Ruben Britt

Britt averaged a team-high 13.2 points per game last season and was second in rebounds with 4.3 a game. He scored a career-high 21 points against Pitt-Johnstown and scored in double figures in 15 of the 21 games he played in during the season.

“Ruben has done a great job leading our young team on and off the court,” said Sanow. “He is a very mature young man who is well liked by his peers, faculty, and staff. It is easy to see why he was chosen by our team to be a captain.”

Elliott is a transfer from Champlain College-Saint Lambert Prep School in Quebec, Canada. Elliott sat out last season after transferring and will be a senior this season.

“Greg’s work ethic in the classroom and on court is at a high level,” Sanow continued. “He does a great job setting a positive example for all our players. He will make a tremendous impact on our team this year.”

Jesse Betar

Betar came on strong for the Huskies in the second half of the season starting 16 of the 24 games he played in. He averaged 7.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and a team-high 2.7 assists per game. He scored a career-high 19 points at East Stroudsburg and had 18 against Mansfield late in the season. He was named the PSAC East Rookie of the Week on Jan. 24 after averaging 16.5 points and four assists in two games, while shooting 77 percent from the floor.

“Jesse is a vocal leader for us and is like a coach on the floor,” said Sanow. “He is a very good student who always gives maximum effort In the classroom. He is one of the hardest workers on the team and excellent choice as a captain.”

Bloomsburg opens its season on Saturday, Nov. 14 when it goes on the road to face Division I Binghamton University at 2 p.m.

Photos courtesy of www.buhuskies.com

Tyler Phillips

Freshman Tyler Phillips (Ephrata/Ephrata)scored two goals to lead Bloomsburg University over Chestnut Hill College 3-0 in non-conference men’s soccer action on Tuesday night.

Phillips put the Huskies up 1-0 in the 30th minute when he scored off a rebound. Phillips scored his second goal with less than six minutes to play when he took a pass from Marcus Valeriano (Oley/Oley Valley) to put Bloomsburg up 2-0. Matt Henry (Flourtown/Springfield Township) added an insurance goal for the Huskies in the final minute of the game.

Goalkeepers David Leiendecker (Easton/Easton) and Eric Solymar (Carp, Ontario/All Saints) combined for five saves in the shutout.

Bloomsburg, 8-5-2, will host Shippensburg this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Chestnut Hill Colleg (2-10-2) vs. Bloomsburg Univer. (8-5-2, 3-2-1 PSACE)

Date: Oct 20, 2009  Attendance: 45

Weather: Cool crisp evening

Goals by period       1  2  Tot

——————————-

Chestnut Hill Colleg  0  0 -  0

Bloomsburg Univer…  1  2 -  3

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.  30:07 BLOOM-M Tyler Phillips (unassisted)

2.  84:18 BLOOM-M Tyler Phillips (Marcus Valeriano)

3.  89:40 BLOOM-M Matt Henry (unassisted)

Shots: Chestnut Hill Colleg 6, Bloomsburg Univer. 15

Saves: Chestnut Hill Colleg 8 (GOLDSTEIN, Mike 8), Bloomsburg Univer.

5 (David Leiendecker 3)

Chancellor John Cavanaugh of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) came to BU for a brief student forum, while also appearing on President David Soltz’s television show, “Husky Connections.”  Below contains additional questions that the student representatives from varying majors asked the chancellor at the forum.

PASSHE Chancellor John Cavanaugh (left) and BU President David Soltz (right) attend a student forum, photo couresty of Justin McDonald

Question: “What separates Bloomsburg University from other schools in the system…where do you see us fitting in within the system?”

-Joe Arleth, senior, mass communications major

Answer:

“I think that what is wonderful about the state system is each institution has something unique about it.  Most people know us for teacher education, Bloomsburg has managed to build on that strength on a number of different areas.  I made a comment earlier about the ”French Fry Bus,” said Cavanaugh.  “That would be something that most people may not know about Bloomsburg.  It relates to science, technology, engineering, and math…Well if you’ve got a program that shows people you can take french fry grease and turn it into biodiesel, renewable fuel–most people like to eat french fries, but what do you do with the grease?”

“Another area, audiology.  Audiology is a long-time, powerhouse program here at Bloomsburg.  It actually stimulated  conversation within the system about how we can provide more opportunities for doctorate programs and Bloomsburg was really a major reason why we started that conversation across the whole system.”

Question: “How do you think the PASSHE has an impact on the whole state in general because of how many schools are located across the state?”

-Connor Showalter, sophomore, mass comunications major

Answer:

“90 percent of our students in the system come from Pennsylvania,” said Cavanaugh.  He said that when talks to members of the general assembly he says, “Look whatever you provide us is an investment, ‘Why?’ because the students that are from here, they’re going to stay here.  There going to move back to your collectively district.  They’re going to buy a house, get a job, pay taxes, and they’ll vote.  So when they’re investing in us, they’re investing in the future, not only of perhaps own political career, but they are certainly investing in the future direction of the state, in terms of policy issues and in a third formidable way they’re investing in the economy of Pennsylvania down the road.”

“Everybody tells us, what’s going to bring us out of a recession–no more spending.  Well if our graduates stay here in Pennsylvania, that is the economy.  So what better investment can you make?  We’re the backbone of the state.”

Question: “I know that around the campus and different PASSHE schools there have been a lot of actions that have been taken to prevent the spread of the seasonal flu and the swine flu.  Here at this university, there wasn’t enough seasonal influenza vaccines for all the students that wanted to get one.  Since the swine flu is predicted to hit people 25 (years of age) and younger, is PASSHE doing anything to make sure that the swine flu vaccine is available to all students who would like to receive one?”

-Ashli Truchon, senior, communications studies major

Answer:

“We’re not in control of how many vaccines we get that’s determined by the companies that make the vaccine,” said Cavanaugh.  “As you’ve probably have followed the story, in the beginning they thought that the vaccine could not be produced as fast as they’d hoped because initial results in the lab showed that they grew much slower the culture than they had thought before.  So right off the number of doses that are available is not going to be where they wanted it to be.  The Centers for Disease Control and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH) determines how much vaccine goes where and the priority of who gets the vaccine.”

“At this point the vaccine that’s available is going to the highest risk groups: health care workers, pregnant women, and so on.  When more of that vaccine becomes available then they’ll come down the list of priority.  We’ve already worked it out with the PADOH that all our campuses will be vaccine distribution centers.  The way that that will work is that PADOH will send folks in to help give the vaccine because we don’t have enough people in our health centers to do that.” Cavanaugh is expecting to hear more information about the flu vaccine within the next two weeks.