Students have the opportunity to showcase their individual research projects through the College of Science and Technology during Research and Scholarship Day on May 11 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Hartline Science Center in Kuster Auditorium. 

There will be 20 posters on display in the Hartline lobby and 23 presentations in the auditorium throughout the day done by graduate and undergraduate students. 

Dr. John Polhill has been assistant dean to the college for two years, and was assigned to advise this project.

“Students get the opportunity to present the research they have been doing under the faculty mentors,” said Polhill.

Each student involved in this event was advised to pick between a poster session and a 15-minute presentation, but some chose to present during both sessions.

The college has discussed inviting alumni, who have done research projects in the past, to this event in order to represent their research, says Polhill, but it has not been done yet.

According to Polhill, the college has invited area companies and graduate schools to the event.  In the past the event has not had a large outside attendance, but that is what first-time organizer, Brenda Machuga, has been working hard to change this semester.

“The number one group that it [the event] is for is the students that are doing the research,” said Polhill, “both the students that are presenting the research and those who are just starting the research.”

Machuga has worked on advertising the event through various media channels as well as throughout campus, on the BU website, and local businesses that are related to the research. 

The college has been hosting this event every semester since fall 2005, says Machuga, but the spring session is relatively longer than the fall.

“Our spring session is bigger than the fall because sometimes research can encompass time,” said Machuga.  “People who may be are graduating in the fall or their research ends in the fall do it then.”

Polhill encourages anyone who plans to go into a research-type career to get involved in a research project and presentation because of the experience and preparation it entails. 

“Being someone who has specialized in math, I can still vividly remember giving presentations on an honors thesis to a group of faculty members where I was a student,” said Polhill.

This event is sponsored by the College and Science and Technology.

With the final days of the spring semester rapidly approaching, Bloomsburg students are prepping for exams, grabbing last minute extra credit opportunities, and writing final papers.

With the influx of papers at the end of the semester, the Bloomsburg Writing Center always receives a spike in visiting writers, so much so that appointments often have to be shortened to only half one hour in order to fit every student into the available time slots.

Though the tutoring service has been popular, it faces a constant battle with students, possibly even more so during finals week when students are on edge.          

A dilemma that frequently occurs in the Writing Center is confusion over the policy of collaboration between the student writer and the writing consultant.

According to the Bloomsburg University website, students are in charge of the session, not the tutors. Students cannot drop off their paper and come back for it. Instead, they have to sit with the tutor and gear the session in the direction they want it to go, while the tutor serves as a collaborative member in the session, listening and guiding rather than telling and fixing. While the Writing Center is happy to help students with their papers, their overall goal is to improve the student as overall writers.

“What we want is for writers to work with us in a way that helps them because they are interactive in the session,” said Dr. Ted Roggenbuck, Writing Center director and assistant professor of English. “We emphasize that we don’t want to be a dry cleaning service for the paper, but we expect to have to explain this to students.”

Students often misunderstand the way the Writing Center operates, particularly those who are using the service for the first time. They will come in with the expectation that tutors are proofreaders, says Roggenbuck.

In regards to getting the word out about their policy, Roggenbuck states that it’s not beneficial to focus on what they don’t do because people don’t often hear the “don’t,” accidentally reinforcing misunderstanding. Instead, he says that focusing on what the service does do, and emphasizing that writing consultants want students to come work with them, stressing the collaborative component, is the most they can do to set the record straight.

“We have our strategies, but we also know that for people who are coming to the writing center for the first time, we will often have to negotiate for the session to work in the most effective way,” said Roggenbuck.

Though Roggenbuck and the Writing Center consultants give orientations and explain their philosophies during sessions, there are often students who still are displeased with their services and desire a less collaborative session, with the tutor using directive methods.

“I’ve had students get annoyed, but not necessarily angry, that the session isn’t going to be what they expected,” said Katie Sampson, junior and writing consultant of five semesters. “For instance, they want to just drop their paper off and leave. It’s hard to get past that boundary and get them to say what they want to work on. Sometimes people get frustrated when we ask them questions because they want us to tell them what to do rather than ask them, ‘Well, what do you think about this?’”

“I’ve never had anyone actually say that they weren’t happy with how the session was going, but I have noticed surprise when I explain how we don’t just edit their paper for them,” said Alyssa Duksta, junior and writing consultant of four semesters. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, so that’s what you do?’ But generally, writers will understand once I let them know.”

A reason why students are sometimes surprised about the nature of the session is because of accidental misguidance by their professors, who sometimes say that the Writing Center is a place to get their paper proofread.

If the tutors work on grammar at the student’s request, tutors will not look over the paper without the writers’ contribution, and if possible, try to avoid writing on the students’ work at all.  At times, the faculty is uninformed of this, which leads to faculty criticism.

“Sometimes, I almost look forward to faculty criticisms because they create an opportunity for discussion,” said Roggenbuck.

He recounts a time when a faculty chairperson came with a criticism, asking how a student’s paper could be so full of errors when he knew the student went to the Writing Center. Roggenbuck takes moments of criticism such as this one and uses them to explain that tutors are not held accountable for every error in the paper, but rather for improving the writer, and understands how this could be skewed.

With the final days of the semester approaching, students will inevitably be making their way over to the writing center. Though there have certainly been unhappy students in the past, Roggenbuck is optimistic about the present and the future.

In regards to a possible increase in displeased students, Roggenbuck says if there has been, he has not noticed.

“If anything, I think our reception is even better than when I first got here,” said Roggenbuck.

He says that there will always be students who are perhaps displeased with their policy, but that the writing center is on the right track with helping Bloomsburg students grow as writers.

By: Gabby Vielhauer

This past Sunday, roughly 30 students on campus joined in the second annual “Be Hope to Her” event. One student, Nick Marsellas, even traveled from Indiana, Pennsylvania to participate in the walk.

“Be Hope to Her” is a national event aimed at raising awareness about adverse conditions in which millions of people on the planet currently live in.

One common and tragic struggle is finding and transporting clean water. In fact, it is estimated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that over 783 million people across the globe don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water.

Last year, nearly 1,000 people on 11 college campuses participated in “Be Hope to Her,” according to the ONE campaign. The movement has grown to over 24 colleges internationally, including one in Florence. There have been demonstrations in major US cities such as Seattle and Pittsburgh.

The funds raised by the event helped to facilitate the drilling of four deep-water wells in Kuria, Kenya. This year, Bloomsburg University raised over $500 to contribute to these clean-water initiatives in Kenya.

The BU Honors Program organized the project on campus. The walk began on the quad and continued through town to Market Street. From there, students walked down to the Susquehanna River and filled buckets with water, which they then walked back up to campus. The act was meant to prompt reflection about how the simple conveniences most Americans enjoy everyday are strains on others around the world.

The event was coordinated primarily with the efforts of senior nursing major, Lizzie Lee, and senior English major, Annie Reno.

Nick Marsellas, a sophomore English major from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, said that the experience was a rewarding one.

“I really enjoyed being a part of their project. It felt much more tangible than a bakesale fundraiser, and I think people were better able to connect with the issue that we were fundraising for,” said Marsellas.

He also reflected upon the physical experience of the walk.

“It didn't seem difficult while we were walking, but once we put the buckets down I could feel a stiffness in my back and neck and knew that I'd be sore the next day. I couldn't imagine having to make that trip again in the same day, let alone the typical three times a day,” said Marsellus.

 “Water collection affects mainly women and children. Often children cannot attend school because they have to make multiple trips to their water source daily. The trips are time consuming and often perilous,” said Lee about the hardships of many women and children living in Kenya.

“Can you imagine missing school in order to fetch water for your family that isn't even clean? Clean water initiatives promote more than just sanitary drinking water,” continued Lee. “Clean water initiatives allow women and children in developing countries obtain an education, which gives them hope for a better life.”

Lee said the impetus for the project began with her own participation in short-term medical mission trips. She saw the negative effects of unsanitary water usage, including the long-term damages caused by parasites on these trips.

“The greatest challenge comes in simply getting the word out,” said Lee, “Because it is such a new event we need to promote the walk and describe the cause clearly.”

The event will be continued next year by freshman Abbey Brown.

By: Lily McElroy, News Editor

Bloomsburg University will be saying goodbye to a number of professor’s at the end of the spring semester.

Dr. Dennis Gehris, has taught business education at BU for the past 28 years.

After teaching at the high school level and then at Lehigh County Community College for a number of years, Gehris secured a full-time, tenure track teaching position at Bloomsburg University in 1985.

“I chose Bloomsburg University because it offered a program in my field- Business Education,” said Gehris.

Obtaining a full-time, tenure track teaching position was not Gehris’ only achievement.

“I served as department chairperson, and was coordinator of accreditation before being appointed as Interim Dean from 2005-2006, again in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. I was instrumental in obtaining AACSB accreditation for College of Business in 2004 and led the College to be reaccredited in 2010,” said Gehris.

Dr. Nancy Coulmas, professor of accounting, began teaching at BU in the fall of 1994 after completing doctoral work at Penn State.

“I chose Bloomsburg University because, when I was planning to leave my previous position, I happened to run into a couple of BU professors at a conference. They convinced me to apply here, and the rest is history,” said Coulmas.

Coulmas, who originally had no plans of becoming a college professor, has a number of greatest accomplishments and memorable moments from working at BU.

“It was very satisfying to earn promotion to full professor,” said Coulmas. “It was a privilege to serve as department chair for several years and to make significant changes to our department practices. It was exciting to get our departmental fund-raising started and to be able to use that funding for student scholarships,” said Coulmas.

Coulmas, who coached the Business Plan Challenge team that won the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants competition and served as graduation reader for the College of Business since her second year, will miss a variety of things about BU.

“I will miss our students and being in the classroom with them,” said she. “I will also miss many of the friends and colleagues I have worked with over the years and I will miss the beautiful campus.”

“I plan to spend a great deal of time with various members of my family, especially my grandchildren,” said Coulmas regarding plans after retirement. “After that, I will be doing some work on my house, reading lots of books, and perhaps finding other things to do that I haven’t really tried before.”

Dr. William Green, who taught Mass Communications at BU for the past 23 years, will also be teaching his last classes and saying goodbye to campus this spring.

Green worked as a reporter in Toledo for six years, then went on to teach at Ohio State for two years prior to accepting a position at BU.

“I wanted to be closer to family,” Green said when asked how he chose to teach at BU. “I liked that Bloomsburg was a teaching institution and I thought there was a lot of potential in the department at that time.”

The Bloomsburg University Foundation, Inc. recently announced the construction of a new property called the Greenly Center, which will be located on Main Street in downtown Bloomsburg. It will house the offices of the BU Foundation.

With the donation of $1 million by alumni Duane ’72 and Susan Basar Greenly ’72, construction of this project was made possible and will begin in August 2013, pending on necessary approval. Completion is set at approximately July of 2014.

“Sue and I had the desire to help the foundation and move the university ahead,” said Greenly, who serves on the BU Foundation’s Board of Directors. “The site downtown is just great and we see the extra benefit of this building as a revitalization seed.”

“Board members often give their time, talent, and treasure back to Bloomsburg,” stated executive director of the BU Foundation Jerome Dvorak.  “We [the Foundation] try to match up specific individual desires of the donors with the needs of the community. Having been a local resident, attending Bloomsburg High School and then Bloomsburg University, it is easy to understand why Greenly would donate to this particular project.”

The estimated cost of construction is $6.5 million. The new building, which will replace the form Cole’s Hardware, will be a four-story office building and underground parking facility. In addition to the donation by the Greenly’s, leasing out office space will help offset the initial cost of the center. Additionally, naming particular facilities within the Greenly Center after donors will assist in financing the project.

“Negotiations are currently underway with individuals interested in leasing the property after construction is complete, ” says Dvorak. “We are currently talking with people everywhere from Pittsburg to the surrounding area about leasing, but it will be awhile until those leases are finalized.”

It is estimated that the Greenly Center will bring an additional 4,000 to 5,000 visitors into downtown Bloomsburg annually by attracting new businesses and revenue into town

Students will also benefit by the Greenly Center by providing work opportunities, according to Dvorak. It is estimated that there will be 25-35 job openings for students to work side-by-side with the other staff members at the Foundation.

“We hope that the center will be a catalyst for economic growth as well as help foster better relationships between the university and the community,” said Dvorak.

By: Joseph Fisher, Senior Editor

A longtime faculty member was removed as adviser to the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) after money turned over to her for student dues went missing.  

Dr. Maria Mendoza-Enright, associate professor of mass communications, was removed after a heated verbal confrontation with a PRSSA student board member last semester.

The board member, who requested anonymity, reached out to PRSSA’s national headquarters last semester to see if the organization had received the students’ dues. Officials at the headquarters informed him that no members from the Bloomsburg University chapter were registered.

“I knew something wasn’t right,” says the board member, who started digging through records in the Community Government Association (CGA) Husky Fund shortly after he was elected to a top office in PRSSA in fall 2012. The Husky Fund is an account used by on-campus organizations to keep track of revenue and expenditures.

The board member estimates around $700 was missing in total.

More than 10 students paid $65 in cash for their dues, $50 of which was to be turned over to nationals. The other $15 was to go to the Husky Fund, to be used by the local chapter. Several students confirmed that Mendoza insisted they give her cash rather than a check. 

Dr. Mendoza, rather than the student treasurer of the organization, took charge of collecting the funds that were given to her at the beginning of last semester.

But according to an email from PRSSA headquarters, those funds were never received. The student board member then approached Dr. Mendoza in her on-campus office, where he said she immediately became defensive and insisted she had made the credit card payment.

“Her finger was in my face and she was yelling ‘How dare you accuse me,’” said the board member. “She made herself seem like the victim.”

After Mendoza told the student she had already sent in the dues in one lump sum payment on her credit card, he said he responded, “You’re a liar. Stop lying.”

Within hours of that 40-minute screaming match, the board member received a phone call from the secretary in the department of mass communications, who told him the chair wanted to meet with him. Dr. George Agbango was appointed interim chair of the mass communications department in spring 2011. Mendoza, who had been chair, was removed by the president.

The board member met the next day with Dr. Agbango, a longtime personal friend of Dr. Mendoza. The board member said Agbango praised him for his leadership and said the department would be handling the situation. Agbango also asked the student to name a new adviser. He chose Dr. David Magolis, assistant professor of mass communications, who is the current interim adviser of PRSSA.

“She wanted to give the money to [the board member] all along,” said Dr. Agbango in an interview last week. “It was an example of poor communication between him and Dr. Mendoza.”

When asked the reason for her ouster, Agbango said, “Dr. Mendoza was overextended,” and did not elaborate.  

The board member informed Sydney Yarnell, PRSSA treasurer, and LaShae Green, another PRSSA board member about the situation. He said all three were committed to the effort of recovering the funds.

The student board member said that shortly after the Agbango meeting, Dr. Mendoza wrote a personal check and gave it to one of the other board members. She wrote the check despite her original insistence that she had already paid the dues in one lump sum on her credit card

Neither the students, nor Mendoza, revealed the exact amount of the check.

Yarnell said she never questioned any issues regarding the dues until the board member discovered missing funds.

“I never looked at the statements before this year … but obviously none of the money made it into the account.”   

Green said she was under the impression that the university was investigating the entire matter. The board member leading the investigation said he went to Nawal Bonomo, assistant to the dean of the College of Liberal Arts, immediately following his confrontation with Mendoza in the fall 2012 to apprise her of the matter.

The board member said he assumed after that meeting the university would investigate.

But Dr. James Brown, dean of the College of Liberal Arts was interviewed last week and denied knowing anything about a new adviser, missing funds or any problems connected to PRSSA.

“This is the first I am hearing about it,” said Dr. Brown. “… But it sounds as if the chairperson tried to fix the problem within the department, which is what I would expect.”

Several officials connected with this story discouraged a student reporter from looking into the issue.

Interviewed last week, Mendoza declined to discuss the handling of the money or her replacement as adviser except to say, “The money was put in … this issue has been resolved.”

Dr. Agbango insisted there was no controversy because of the check Mendoza turned over to PRSSA.

“That was the resolution,” said Agbango.

The student leading the investigation said the matter was a lesson in accountability.

“I care about things being fair and just,” said the student, “and there is no place for something like this [behavior].” 

The semester may be coming to an end, but it is only the beginning for the renovations taking place throughout four of the university’s residence halls as well as an upper campus apartment complex. 

According to Edwin Valovage, assistant director of residence life, Elwell Hall is already in the process of completing its three-year renovation project with the ending point at the west wing.  The west wing, upon conclusion of the renovation, will have movable furniture in the rooms, new paint and flooring, and improved lighting.  Elwell is the last residence hall to receive movable furniture. 

Valovage says that the ground floor, where the residence life office was once located, will be turned into student rooms and the basement, where the child care center was located before moving to Montour Hall, will consist of six suites. 

“There will be double occupancy bedrooms and each of the two bedrooms will have a bathroom in between,” said Valovage.

Four people will share a bathroom and 24 students will occupy the six suites.  The suites will cost more than a traditional dorm room, but less than the upper campus apartments.

Overall, Elwell’s renovation will cost under $2,000,000. 

Starting May 20, the renovations to Luzerne and Columbia Halls as well as the upper campus Montgomery Apartments will begin.

Valovage says that the contractors will completely demo and rebuild all nine bathrooms in Luzerne Hall from the first to fourth floors.   This will include new bathroom fixtures, showers, and improved lighting.  The new bathrooms will also have facilities that follow the American Disabilities Act. 

“The new bathrooms will be similar to the renovations we made in Montour Hall a few years ago and Northumberland Hall,” said Valovage.  “There will be ceramic tiles on the walls, ceramic tile floors, automatic flushers on the toilets, and automatic faucets on the sinks.”

This project will cost around $1,000,000.

The mechanical room in Columbia Hall will be redone to improve the  hot water system throughout the building with new equipment.

“It’s really invisible to students, but it’s a chunk of change for the university,” said Valovage. 

The cost to renovate the mechanical room will be just under $400,000.

The Montgomery apartments will experience bathroom renovations this summer along with Luzerne Hall.  According to Valovage, the contractors will remove the bathtubs and build walk-in showers instead.  They are adding water-saving toilets, a stronger ventilation system, and new paint.  The new bathrooms will cost a little over $1,000,000.

New carpeting will be an addition to Northumberland Hall this summer on the first and second floors.   This project will begin sometime in June and will cost from $35,000-40,000.

As for the future, the university plans to renovate other parts of Columbia Hall next summer, says Valovage. 

There are around ten firms working on these projects and all renovations are said to be complete by the beginning of the fall 2013 semester.

Bouncer Vinnie Costa has seen over 100 fake IDs in two years working at the Capitol.

“I sometimes get handed these horrendous IDs and as soon I look at it, I just think to myself, ‘Really? You actually spent money on this?’” said Costa.

At the Capitol, people with fake IDs are told to get out of line and their IDs are confiscated, according to Costa.

The first thing he looks at on an ID is the picture and to see if the person on the ID matches the one standing in front of him.

Costa said there are three major differences between a fake ID and a real ID. The bouncer looks at the picture, font and holograms.

“And there are 50 states with 50 different IDs,” said Costa, “That’s a lot to look for!”

Costa has confiscated five fake IDs in one night, but he said it was awhile ago. The bouncer believes that the underage students who have attempted before know he can pick out fake IDs.

Costa said he isn’t sure where students get fake IDs, but he thinks people get them from other students.

A junior public relations major found her ID at a Lil Wayne concert in her senior year of high school.

“I didn’t start using it until my sophomore year of college,” said the 20-year-old.

This junior has gotten into Hardware, Capitol, Good Old Days and Hess’s Tavern.  She got denied once at the Capitol, but the bouncers gave her the ID back so she left.

One of her friends bought a fake from ID Chief instead of getting an actual ID that looked alike. The ID Chief scanned and said her friend was a 65-year-old woman, she shared.

“The best part of having my ID is being able to go to the bar with my friends,” the BU junior continued. “I'm ahead of myself grade wise so my birthday is late.”

Her advice for other students using fake IDs is to remain confident with the information when the bouncer looks at the ID because then they’ll refrain from asking questions.

Another BU senior used a fake ID until she turned 21. The senior got the ID from her cousin, but then used a friend’s ID when her cousin’s ID expired.

“Most of my friends turned 21 before I did so having a fake ID gave me the opportunity to attend all of their 21st birthdays and go to the bar with them after they turned 21,” said the senior. 

The senior used her ID to get into the Hardware Bar and Harry’s before Hardware opened.  She even had her ID confiscated at Hardware.

“I've heard of people getting their fake ID taken at Good Old Days a lot,” the senior continued.

A friend in her hometown got arrested for using a fake ID at the bar.

According to pa-duiattorney.com, students with fake IDs could result in paying a $300 fine for the first offense. The website also says there are $500 fines, up to 90 days in jail and loss of driving privileges for 90 days for first offense.

 “I lucked out and never got in trouble with either of my fake IDs, but if things go wrong it could be very bad for the bar and the person using the ID,” the senior said. “Just like with anything else, be responsible.”