October/November 2016
what’s in THIS ISSUE
Volume 55 Issue 5
Alvernia Football to Kick Off in 2018
Photo courtesy of Justin Herforth
By Justin Herforth Contributing Writer
Knocking Trees Down to Help the Kids
Football used at Alvernia Football announcement on October 5, 2016.
Football will be coming to Alvernia! The Alvernia Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to bring the sport to main campus in 2018. Football will become the 22nd sport on main campus. There will now be 10 men’s sports and 12 women’s sports. Alvernia will look to continue its excellence in athletics when the football team kicks off its inaugural season. The key for Alvernia to start out strong is to hire a great head coach and to recruit well. A good coach will draw interest from potential
“Orphan Train” Stops at Alvernia
Photo courtesy of ReJeanna Goldsborough
By Andrew Kelly Contributing Writer
Christina Baker Kline discusses her book, Orphan Train, and the history behind is for Alvernia’s Literary Festival.
By ReJeanna Goldsborough Contributing Writer
Is Pinterest Killing Our Creativity?
Continued on page 3
PA State Professors Strike
The Student Body on Elections
Holiday Shopping Tips to Stay on Budget
student athletes, and the rich tradition of winning helps as well. According to Athletic Director Bill Stiles, Alvernia plans to hire their first head coach by January 2017 to get a start on the recruiting process. Along with recruitment for finding the best players for the team, there are some students that hope that they will have the opportunity to try out for the team. “It has always been a dream of mine to play football in college,” Andrew Cook, junior said. “If I were to have the opportunity to try out and make the football team
Christina Baker Kline, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Orphan Train, presented a lecture at Alvernia University on October 5 as a part of the 2016-2017 literary festival. A reception was held at 5 p.m. where Kline mingled with attendees. The reception was followed by a lecture by Kline at 6:30 p.m. in the Francis Hall Theater. Kline, born in Cambridge, England and raised in Maine, obtained her bachelors at
Yale and her MFA in fiction writing at UVA. In addition to authoring Orphan Train and several previous novels, Kline has also published various essays, articles and reviews in publications such as The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and Psychology Today. In addition to writing, Kline has also taught writing, poetry, English literature and women’s studies at Yale, NYU and Drew University. Kline’s novel Orphan Train has spent more than two years on the New York Times
bestseller list, including five weeks at #1, and has been published in 38 countries. Orphan Train is a fictional story, but it is based around the real-life trains that transported poor and orphaned children from New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest between 1854 and 1929. These children were then given to families as indentured servants to help on farms until they turned 18 or 21.
Continued on page 5
Negotiations over a new faculty contract remain tense between the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The APSCUF has raised concerns over many of the 240 State System proposals. The State System has proposed adjusting the contractual cap on the maximum allowable number of temporary (adjunct) and part-time faculty from 25 percent to 30 percent. It has also proposed an increased workload for full-time temporary faculty, assigning faculty members to teach outside their field of knowledge, increasing the need for on-campus students to take online courses, and allowing graduate students to teach certain classes. Dr. Spencer Stober, professor of Biology and Educational Leadership at Alvernia, supports the strike, and gave
Continued on page 3