2014april7journaldraft1_03-24-08 CAL U JOURNAL.qxd 4/2/14 12:05 PM Page 1
California University
VOLUME 16, NUMBER 6 APRIL 7, 2014 READ THE JOURNAL ONLINE: www.calu.edu/news/the‐journal
Cal U Names Community Champions al U is pleased to announce that three individuals have been selected to receive the inaugural Cal U Community Champions Award. Wildlife educator Joseph Stefko, Civil War Roundtable organizer Walter Klorczyk and residence life professional Justin Schiefelbein will be honored today at a luncheon in the Kara Alumni House. The Cal U Community Champions Award honors men and women who have made significant contributions of time and talent to California University and its students. The campus community nominates potential award winners, who are not Cal U students or University employees. Instead, they are community members who have made valuable contributions in areas such as academic enrichment, research, internship opportunities, mentoring or career development. “In various ways, these Community Champions are connecting our students with valuable learning opportunities,” says Craig Butzine, vice president for University Relations. “This award is the University’s way of saying ‘thank-you.’” The 2014 recipients of the Cal U Community Champions Award are: • Joseph Stefko recently retired wildlife conservation officer at the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Stefko worked to create an internship program for Cal U students, and he has mentored and trained students in Cal U’s fisheries and wildlife biology program. — Continued on page 2
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High school students put their custom-built robots to the test at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition inside the Convocation Center.
FIRST Robots Rock the Convocation Center imply put, the Greater Pittsburgh Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition rocked the Cal U Convocation Center from March 27-29. More than 1,100 high school students from as far away as Florida and Ontario and as nearby as Canonsburg and McKeesport, Pa., put their custom-built robots to the test in a competition that was equal parts science class, high-energy sporting event and dance party. Backstage in the “pits,” students in safety glasses fine-tuned the 120-pound
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robots they’d constructed in just six weeks from a standard “kit of parts” provided by FIRST, plus a variety of customized additions and adaptations. Each robot was meticulously weighed, measured and inspected before it entered the arena to play Aerial Assist, this year’s FIRST Robotics challenge. On the 25’ x 54’ playing field, straddled by a truss suspended about 5 feet above the floor, two “alliances” of three robots each faced off to move 2-foot-diameter balls across the court,
over the truss, and into the high and low goals. Cooperative play earned bonus points, and after a brief “autonomous” period when the robots moved on their own, student drivers grabbed the controls. Steering the robots across the court, they rolled, passed, tossed and occasionally caught the ball during two-minute rounds of fast-paced play. Hundreds of fans cheered them on from the stands, chanting and dancing in the aisles between matches. Team — Continued on page 3
SGA President Joins PASSHE Governors Board unior Chelsea E. Getsy, opportunities I have had back to president of Cal U’s Student students, then I will have done my Government Association, has job. I am blessed to be part of this been named to the Pennsylvania board.” State System of Higher The board’s three student Education’s Board of Governors. members are selected from among Getsy is one of two student the sitting student government board members appointed by Gov. presidents at the 14 PASSHE Tom Corbett and confirmed by the universities at the time a vacancy state Senate last month. occurs. They may serve until Chelsea E. Getsy Todd Garrett, of Clarion graduation, and each has the University, also was appointed to the Board same voting rights as all other members. of Governors in March. The new student A native of Plum, Getsy is a junior members join Sara J. Dickson, former business administration marketing/ president of Clarion’s Student Senate, on the management major with a minor in 20-member board, which is responsible for leadership at Cal U. In addition to leading planning and coordinating the development Student Government, she is vice president of and operation of PASSHE. the Student Association Inc. Board of “I have had the best experience I could Directors, president of the National Society imagine at a PASSHE school,” Getsy said. of Leadership and Success, a peer mentor, “If I can give a portion of the — Continued on page 4
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Hip-hop Conference Thursday, Friday Hip-hop artist Tyree Simmons (DJ Drama) is part of the keynote panel, ‘Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Stop the Violence Movement,’ for Cal U’s ninth annual hip-hop conference. The panel discussion will be 4 p.m. Thursday in the Performance Center. See story on page 2.