Author: Megan Herrera

By Megan Herrera

News Editor

On Wednesday, the President’s Campus Climate Task Force released its report analyzing student behavior and attitudes at the University. The topics include student drinking, relations between male and female students, sexual aggression, campus race relations, and student academic engagement, among other issues.

The Task Force was created by President John Bravman in the fall of 2010 with the hope of  improving the negative behaviors and interactions of students. The task force met throughout the 2010-11 academic year, and the over the summer of 2011 to conduct surveys and interview students about these issues, as well as compile the results.

Tomorrow from 9:15-10:45 a.m. in the ELC Forum, there will be a discussion about the report. Members of the Board of Trustees will attend the forum to deliberate and discuss what actions will be most beneficial to make these changes happen.

 

By Olivia Seecof

Writer

In recognition of the Rooke family’s loyalty to the University, the Biology Building and the Robert L. Rooke Chemistry building will be renamed officially as the Robert L. Rooke Science Center.

The late Robert L. Rooke, class of 1913, and his family have a history of being very supportive of the University and its needs. Robert C. Rooke recently provided significant funding toward the Academic West project. This gift shows the continuation of the family’s commitment to bettering the University for future students. Their generosity and faithfulness has contributed to the outstanding academic programming and opportunities on campus.

“The designation of the Robert L. Rooke Science Center honors the continuing contributions of Robert L. Rooke and the entire Rooke family to the University. For decades, the Rookes have been true partners with Bucknell, helping us to provide the conditions for our students’ ongoing success. We are pleased to recognize their important role in the University with this new designation,” Provost Mick Smyer said.

“As a biology major and upcoming Bucknell graduate, I’m very glad to see continued support from alumni and their families,” Susan Bentley ’11 said.

Many students at the University, studying science or not, are appreciative of any gift to the University. “The only science classes that I plan to take are to fulfill my requirements, but I think it is awesome that the Rooke family is so supportive of enriching Bucknell academics,” Samantha Lara ’13 said.

“As a biochem major, I spend a lot of time in the science buildings,” Kristina Mammano ’14 said. “I am very grateful for the support given by the Rooke family and I look forward to spending even more time learning in the Rooke Science Center.”

There will be a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony for the renamed Science Center tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. in the Candland Garden, located between the Rooke Science Center, the O’Leary Center and the F.W. Olin Science Building to celebrate this special occasion. In the event of rain, the ceremony will take place inside the building. All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to join members of the Rooke family and the Board of Trustees at the ceremony.

By Katherine Schotz

Writer

The University will no longer be bringing Greg Mortenson to campus as a part of the Bucknell Forum’s “Creativity: Beyond the Box” series next fall, and his book, “Three Cups of Tea,” will no longer be the selection for the first-year common reading experience, administrators announced this week. Mortenson’s inability to answer satisfactorily to questions concerning allegations made against his book and his charity made the University doubt Mortenson’s credibility.

Instead, “This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women,” eds. Jay Allison and Dan Gediman will be the reading selection for all first-year students. This book is a collection of essays from different women and men from different fields that reflect on their core beliefs.

Mortenson wrote the New York Times best-seller “Three Cups of Tea” about schools he started in Afghanistan and subsequently started his own charity to raise money for the schools. The author has recently been the center of controversy with allegations accusing him of falsifying the information in his book.

“We have been troubled by the recent media reports about the veracity of Mr. Mortenson’s bestselling ‘Three Cups of Tea,’ the credibility of his claims about his work for children of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the possible illegalities associated with the financial management of his non-profit foundation, the Central Asia Institute,” according to a campus-wide email sent out by the Bucknell Forum Task Force.

The decision not to have Mortenson speak came about as a result of the on-going allegations that Mortenson was lying about his organization, specifically the funding and management of the Central Asia Institute. There was a report aired on “60 Minutes” that called into question the truth behind the book and the charity.

According to an article from CNN.com titled “Montana AG says he is looking into ‘Three Cups of Tea’ charity,” there are clear financial issues. The money raised by Mortenson through his charity was supposed to help build schools for girls in Afghanistan. “However, in 2009, less than half of that money actually went to building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Instead, $1.7 million went to promote Mortenson’s books, according to the institute’s board of directors.”

The controversy caused University officials to reevaluate if he was the best choice of speaker, and now they have decided not have Mortenson speak next fall as planned.

“I think he should be here because of the broader experience of what he did,” John Shaheed ’11 said. “If the book had to be transferred to the fiction section then he shouldn’t come, but because the experiences in the book are in general are true [he should still come].”

The Bucknell Forum Task Force, which made the decision, is composed of Professors Carmen Gillespie, Beth Capaldi Evans, Paula Davis, Joe Tranquillo, Margot Vigeant and Zhiqun Zhu; Michael Davis ’13 and Lindsay Machen ’11; and administrators Rob Springall, Kari Conrad and Pete Mackey, who is the chair.

“The allegations against him cut to the essence of his work–-whether he has done what he claims he has; whether his work has been as impactful as he says it is; and whether, rather than serving the people he champions, he may in some ways have used them for his own benefit,” according to the e-mail.

Mackey was reluctant to answer questions about the decision because he did not want to speak on behalf of the other members. He did comment that a completely separate and independent committee reached the decision for the first-year class not to read the book.

By Olesya Minina

Writer

After celebrating his ninth anniversary at the University this past February, beloved Vice President for Enrollment Management, Kurt Thiede, is leaving the University to help establish a non-profit foundation.

The foundation that will become a program is designed to encourage, facilitate and support the enrollment of community college students at private four-year colleges, which will be based in Boston.

“[This program] is based on many of the lessons learned through Bucknell’s Community College Scholars Program and the partnership the University has with the Posse Scholars Program; it has long been my passion to identify and support avenues through which underrepresented cohorts of students can gain access to outstanding higher education opportunities,” Thiede said.

Along with his long-desired goal, the move will allow Thiede and his wife to be closer to their grandson, Jack.

“Through Posse I’ve had the opportunity to meet and connect with so many great people and it has helped me be a better student and become a leader on campus. I have such a great support system from everyone involved with Posse and feel that it’s a wonderful part of the Bucknell community,” said Michel Ajjan ’14, a member of the Posse Scholars program who has been impacted by Thiede.

A typical day for Thiede revolves around responsibilities in the enrollment management area such as admissions, financial aid, registrar and retention. He also works closely with the departmental offices which report directly to President John Bravman as part of the administrative team. He is also a member of the Operations Management Group.

For the three years, Thiede served as the Dean of Admissions along with vice president responsibilities, but with the appointment of Rob Springall as Dean of Admissions two years ago, Thiede has focused spending more time on the “long-range strategic issues of enrollment,” he said.

“Kurt has contributed a lot to Bucknell and his impact will be felt for many, many years to come. Our involvement with the Posse Foundation and the establishment of the Bucknell Community College Scholars Program have made significant changes to the University,” Dean of Admissions Rob Springall said. “These are cornerstones of our admissions processes now and we continue to build on them.”

Thiede said that one of his favorite things about his job “is that I get to know a number of students on a personal basis, yet have responsibility for gathering, analyzing and utilizing a lot of data that inform decisions that will impact the institution many years into the future and I have had the opportunity to see the Bucknell experience have a transformational impact on many students; individuals whose lives were changed forever because of this learning community they joined and to which they contributed.”

Thiede also has great pride in the Univeristy. “During these past nine years we have become more intentional about the work necessary to enroll a student body that better reflects the demographics of the 21st century and will assist all our students to become better prepared to be contributing members of the world they will enter as Bucknellians,” he said.

Thiede’s family is also full of University alumni, including his wife Laura ’78, and their son Brian ’08. They also have a daughter named Sara.

Prior to arriving at the University in February 2002, Thiede worked as an independent consultant focusing on strategic planning and operational issues related to higher education enrollment management and marketing. Thiede received his Master of Education degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Vermont in 1979 and his undergraduate degree is in Interdisciplinary Philosophy from Barrington College in Rhode Island.

The University wishes him the best of luck in the future and will greatly miss him.

By Christina Oddo

Writer

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) General Test for graduate or business students has been revised by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and will be available online in August.

According to Andrea Halpern, professor of psychology and graduate school advising coordinator, there will be fewer verbal sections, and the test will be more oriented towards reading comprehension than towards isolated word knowledge.

“The math section will have a calculator available,” Halpern said. “The scoring scale will change so that scores will vary by ones, not tens, unlike the current 600-610-620 etc. scale.”

Furthermore, students will be able to edit answers, change answers and skip questions within a section. This new method may be beneficial for some students “to the extent that students feel the ability to review and change answers gives them more control and puts them in a more positive frame of mind,” Halpern said.

Currently, if you answer some questions incorrectly, the following questions are easier and vice versa. “It’s unclear to what extent the test is ‘adaptive,’” Halpern said.

The revised GRE will also have new types of questions that will feature real-life scenarios that reflect the thinking that many graduate programs support and encourage. The new test will also present a new score scale that will make it easier for schools to compare GRE scores.

More information regarding the adaptive-level approach for the GRE changes will be available soon. For further inquiry, visit http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/know

By Carleen Boyer

Writer

Projects for Peace, an organization which awards grants to student groups, recently gave grants of $10,000 to two groups on campus: Yehri Wi Cry and Bicycles Against Poverty.

Yehri Wi Cry, which translates from Krio to “Hear Our Cry,” is a project begun by Nadia Sasso ’11, an English and sociology major at the University. The project grew with help from the current Miss Sierra Leone-USA, Marie Mansaray.

The project strives to provide maternal kits to Sierra Leone where low birth rates are be a problem. Because of cultural taboos against hospitals, many natives of the area are unwilling to go to a hospital when giving birth.

Sowande Parkinson ’12, a civil engineer and economics major, has worked with Sasso to develop this project. “We’ve always wanted to do a project that will connect us to our native country,” Sasso said.

The materinal kits contain basic necessities to aid in sanitation and the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“We also plan to do a workshop with the aides of the hospital to make sure they know how to use the kits,” Sasso said.

Sasso and Parkinson will travel to Sierra Leone this summer to deliver 1,000 of the birth kits. While there, they will provide training to the aides.

“By June, we’re looking to receive 501-C3 status, which will recognize us as an official non-profit,” Sasso said.

As a non-profit organization, more grants would become available. Various volunteers also help with other aspects of the organization, such as working as a webmaster.

Bicycles Against Poverty, a project launched by a University student in 2008, provides bicycles to Ugandan farmers. Kevin Matthews ’11 and Brian Chiu ’11, two mechanical engineers, have been working to manufacture an additional device for the bicycles.

“The machine that we’re making is a human-powered grain grinder using bicycles because we know that bicycles are available,” Matthews said.

The device is a part of a senior design project, and Chiu and Matthews have been working on this with two other mechanical engineers, Paul Moellers ’11 and Kevin Curran ’11.

“The actual machine is really simple, especially compared to a lot of the other senior design. We had a lot of constraints, such as making it as cheap as possible and being able to make it in Uganda,” Matthews said.

Matthews hopes that the grinder will provide not only an easier method for grain grinding, but also the ability to support a local machine shop. This would help to create a sustainable small business.

“The main premise is a partnership with BAP and Gyda, and what they do is they train youth in the city with technical skills to help them get a job. Gyda will make it and BAP will help distribute it in the village,” Matthews said.

In addition to the grain grinder, two other devices that can be used with the bicycles have been in production: a bicycle taxi and a bicycle cart.

The carts attach to the back of the bicycles, allowing a greater carrying capacity. Chemical engineer Tom Bollinger ’14 is working on the cart.

“The whole point of it is low cost and high-use technology. The carts reduce trips from five to six trips per day to about one,” Bollinger said.

The location provides additional constraints and challenges.

“We’re not sure how everything will turn it. When we get over there, we know we’ll be faced with things that we don’t expect, so we have to be flexible with both the design and how we’re going to implement the project,” Matthews said.