Ten Penn State Brandywine students attended the National Center for Student Leadership Fall 2011 Conference in Miami, Fla. earlier this month. The conference consisted of three days of presentations and workshops that were aimed at offering students the opportunity to build upon the leadership skills needed to improve themselves as well as their campus communities.
Over Thanksgiving break, 18 students and two faculty members embarked on an educational journey through London, England as part of Penn State Brandywine's Global Programs. The students took courses, completed projects that required them to explore the city on their own or with their peers and even interacted with the locals.
Joanna McGowan's son, Christopher, was diagnosed with autism when he was just two years old. Since that day more than two years ago, McGowan, campus registrar at Penn State Brandywine, her husband, Dave, and their two sons have embarked on a difficult journey of healing, acceptance and never-ending love.
Corporate communications major Brittney Walker, of Yeadon, will finally fulfill a dream on Friday, Dec. 16, when she walks on stage to receive her diploma from Penn State Brandywine. Through much adversity, she has not just persevered; she has flourished.
The Penn State Brandywine community is deeply saddened by the passing of campus founding executive officer John Vairo, on Jan. 1 following a long illness. John's contributions to and support of the campus were unparalleled. He will be remembered as a man of vision, wisdom and kindness.
Theresa Walls, staff assistant in the IT Department at Penn State Brandywine, brought cheer and a taste of home to her nephew, Mark Smith, and his fellow Marine recruits by baking chocolate chip cookies for them over the holidays. Smith is stationed at Parris Island, S.C. and is in his tenth week of boot camp training.
Students, alumni, community members, faculty and staff came together throughout the Philadelphia region to remember Coach Joe Paterno on Thursday, Jan. 26 as the three area Penn State campuses each live-streamed the two-and-half hour tribute, "A Memorial for Joe," that took place on the University Park campus.
The more than 200 mourners at the Abington, Brandywine and Great Valley campuses laughed, cried and grieved together as former players, friends and family members shared heartwarming and funny memories about Paterno's life and legacy.
Since 2003, Penn State Brandywine Student Affairs Specialist Diane Shorter and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences Laura Guertin have led an initiative to create handmade items for nonprofit organizations with an identified need. Again this year, campus and community members came together with knitting needles and crochet hooks to make scarves for Pennsylvania athletes competing in the 2012 Special Olympics USA.
Penn State Brandywine recently established the Laboratory for Civic Engagement to encourage leadership among students and develop scholarship in the community while promoting citizenship on a local-to-global level. This initiative will allow students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to work together to achieve these goals.
Heavy metal music may compel some listeners to cover their ears. But to Paul Greene, associate professor of ethnomusicology and integrative arts at Penn State Brandywine, heavy metal is an exciting musical culture. In his new book, Metal Rules the Globe: Heavy Metal Music Around the World, which he co-edited with Jeremy Wallach and Harris M. Berger, he explores a genre which exists around the world.