Author: wmf008

Amanda Waller

Contributing Writer

Fall Fest will be held Saturday on Sojka Lawn, and will feature the bands 3OH!3 and Kingsfoil.

The free event, which is sponsored by Campus Activities and Programs (CAP), will run from 4 to 9 p.m.

Activities this year will include a ferris wheel, photos and games for students, trucker hat giveaways, and a giant slide. There will also be refreshments, so students can look forward to hardy apple-cider and turkey legs.

“Fall Fest is one of my absolute favorite events of the entire year. We are really excited to be hosting 3OH!3 … I have seen them perform at another University and they put on a phenomenal show,” Director of CAP Laura Yeckley said.

The musical performances will begin at 6 p.m. with an opening act by contemporary indie rock band Kingsfoil. The headliners and electropop duo 3OH!3 will perform at 7:30 p.m.

The rain location is scheduled to be at Gerhard Fieldhouse.

Ben Kaufman

Editor-in-Chief 

Rita Dove was named the new Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters on Sept 10.

Dove was the first African-American woman to serve as a Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1993-1995. She is also the second African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1987.

“Dove is more than just a poet,”  Shara McCallum, director of the Stadler Center for Poetry said. “Her work will also appeal to people on a historical level. Her work is personal and political while exploring philosophical issues and questions.”

Dove will be the third woman to win this award after Toni Morrison in 2002 and Joyce Carol Oates in 2006.

The Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters, which is awarded by the Office of the President, began in 2002 as a way to honor and recognize distinguished writers in the literary fields of poetry, drama, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Other winners include Edward Albee, Robert A. Caro, Salman Rushdie, and Tom Wolfe. 

“We consult with numerous faculty in the literary arts, ask for their recommendations for individuals who they believe meet the standards of the Weis Fellow,” Pete Mackey, vice president for Communications and Community Relations said.

After receiving those recommendations, University President John Bravman suggests his favorites for the award, according to Mackey.

“The biggest qualification is to be a preeminent writer in one’s field,” McCallum said. Past winners include recipients of the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dove will give a poetry reading and question and answer session, moderated by McCallum, on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.

William M. Fierman

News Editor

Three University students were transported to Evangelical Community Hospital by Public Safety staff this previous weekend.

A 20-year-old female student was transported to the hospital after she wandered onto 7th Street in front of a patrolling Public Safety vehicle, Chief of Public Safety Stephen Barilar said.

Public Safety officers transported a 20-year-old male student from Swartz Hall, and a male sophomore from the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity house on the evening of Sept. 7.

Public Safety also logged seven alcohol violations by students that weekend.

“It was pretty much a normal weekend here,” Barilar said, in spite of the occasionally troublesome Bid Night and Welcome Night, in which the campus’s Greek community welcomes their new members.

“I think Dean Badal is a big part of that … she did a phenomenal job,” Barilar said, referring to Amy Badal, the associate dean of students and director of Residential Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

Barilar also personally met with fraternity and sorority leadership prior to the weekend.

Beth Rogers and Sophia Reeder

Contributing Writers

On Aug. 30, 120 little brown bats from Montana arrived on campus. They join the 80 bats currently residing in the Robert L. Rooke Science Center.

Currently, two biology labs are working on a joint research project studying the effects of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in little brown bats. The Reeder lab, led by Associate Professor of Biology DeeAnn Reeder, focuses primarily on the physiology and behavior of afflicted bats. The Field lab, led by Associate Professor of Biology Ken Field, is studying their immune response on the cellular level.

WNS is a devastating condition that has been linked to widespread mortality among multiple bat species in the northeastern United States. Since its discovery in New York during the winter of 2006-2007, WNS has spread as far south as Alabama and as far west as Missouri. It is almost always a fatal affliction, and nearly six million bats in North America have already been killed.

The disease is caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a cold-loving white fungus that colonizes on the skin of bats while they hibernate. The fungus has been shown to invade the tissues and cause lesions on the wings and muzzles of infected bats. During hibernation, the fungus growth stimulates little brown bats to arouse more frequently, causing them to deplete their stored energy reserves to the point of death. The fatality rate for little browns with white-nose syndrome is almost 90 percent. Big brown bats have a WNS mortality rate of only 40 percent.

The most destructive characteristic of P. destructans is its tendency to be highly transmissible from bat to bat. Many of the bat species most commonly affected by white-nose syndrome form tight clumps when they hibernate, facilitating the spread of the fungus between both individuals and species. Currently there are no known means of preventing transmission.

Nine North American bat species have been affected by white-nose syndrome, although they don’t all seem to be affected to the same extent. Bat populations in Europe seem to be relatively unaffected by WNS. Researchers believe that P. destructans was present across the Atlantic long before it was transmitted to the United States, and that European bats possess an immunity to the fungus that North American bats lack.

Bats are known for being reservoirs for more than 60 zoonotic (human-infecting) viruses, such as rabies, Ebola, and a predecessor to the human severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. But despite the deadly infections they host, the bat immune system remains largely misunderstood. What researchers are trying to discern is why, of all the pathogens that bats encounter, P. destructans is their Achilles’ heel.

The Field lab is working to develop an assay to detect anti-P. destructans antibodies, which will show if bats are mounting an adaptive immune response to the fungus. They are also studying the immune cells of both exposed and unexposed bats to get a better picture of how the different components of the bat immune system fit together.

“By understanding the immune responses of bats, we hope to discover a way to slow the progress of this disease,” Field said.

The Reeder lab is focusing on the physiological and behavioral consequences of white-nose syndrome in survivors.

This research project will result in increased understanding of the bat immune system and help to explain why different bat species respond differently to the same pathogens. In addition, it will lead to future investigation of why certain bat species are so vulnerable to P. destructans and ways that bats can defend themselves against white-nose syndrome.

 Gigi Flynn

Contributing Writer

The Lewisburg Community Garden, created by University students last year, is expanding.

The garden donates its crops to Community Harvest and to Dinner by the River, two local charities that provide free hot meals to the greater Lewisburg area.

“We start in February at the Bucknell greenhouse,” Stacey Sommerfield, assistant director of Service Learning said. “In May, we move the plants outside to the community garden, and in November we close the garden.” 

In addition to growing and maintaining the crops, the Lewisburg Community Garden also runs summer camps for 200 local underprivileged kids from ages four to 17. The kids learn about composting, solar cooking, and integrated pest management, in addition to completing various art projects.

Over this past summer, the Lewisburg Community Garden had two Americorp Vista workers, two University research students, and another hourly paid University student working at the garden.

“In the spring of 2012 and 2013, we teamed up with two Management 101 classes to raise money,” Sommerfield said. “That money we put toward infrastructure.”

The Lewisburg Community Garden is looking to expand even more for this next season. They hope to provide more summer camps and team up with another Management 101 class this winter to raise more money.

Jen Lassen

Director of Public Relations

A semester-long film series on issues of gender and gender norms hosted jointly by the Women’s Resource Center and International Student Services began on Sept. 12.

The film series aims to raise awareness regarding issues that women face around the world, said Tracy Russell, director of the Women’s Resource Center.  

The film screenings are on the second Thursday of each month at 9 p.m. in the IEA Multipurpose Room. Included in the series this semester are films that focus on stories and issues in the United States, Thailand, and Kenya.

“Through the sharing of stories of hardship and triumph, struggle and compassion, we hope to encourage students to think about ways in which progress has been made in their own countries, and where work still needs to be done in big and small ways in the United States and around the world,” Russell said.

The Global Women Film Series also functions as a supplement to classroom discussions.

“This is just what students want and need to fully benefit from their time here. For example, students in my Feminist Philosophy class and in my Gender Bender Foundation Seminar will attend these screenings,” said Sheila Lintott, associate professor of Philosophy and chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department.

“It is our hope that the Global Women Film Series will engage the Bucknell community to watch, consider, discuss, and learn more about many women’s issues worldwide,” said Jennifer Figueroa, director of International Student Services.

Women’s Resource Center Book Club, another program which started last year, will continue hosting discussions this fall. Nearly 30 students, faculty, and staff have signed up for the first book discussion on Sept. 26, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” written by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook.

Next month, the Women’s Resource Center will host a series of events focused on issues related to sexual assault and dating violence. Projects and programs include the Clothesline Project, Take Back the Night, the return of the CRY HAVOC Company, and “Realer Than That,” a 25-minute play followed by a talk-back with the cast and crew.

Shannon Beauregard

Contributing Writer

A new composition studio will open this semester in the music building, giving music students the opportunity to work with advanced electroacoustic technology.

Right now the music department does not know when the composition studio will be available to students, although it will be sometime this semester.

The new studio is “a huge part of the reason why I’m here,” Assistant Professor of Music Paul Botelho said, “I love doing this kind of work.”

“Our new studio will analogue a recording studio,” Botelho said. “Right now we have an electric music lab that is focused on mini composition, but this studio will allow for much larger projects.”

The recording devices available in the new studio will allow students to simulate instruments not actually present. The new console in the studio is a large mixer that controls how the recorded sounds are combined.

“It’s the best kind of controller you can get,” Botelho said.

In the first phase of its completion the studio will essentially just be a control room. The University plans to eventually have all the music that is recorded in the studio remotely controlled through the concert hall. This way, microphones and other sound equipment in the concert hall can be transmitted to the composition studio for more advanced work.

Matthew Wyman

Contributing Writer

ConKerr Cancer, a group of student volunteers, is sewing pillowcases for children with cancer.

This year, the University’s ConKerr Cancer leader Rachel Healy ’16 plans to send the pillowcases to the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and the Susquehanna Valley Women in Transition program.

Healy will be running workshops in the Craft Center throughout the semester. The workshops are expected to have about five students each and will provide students with sewing lessons.

“No sewing experience is needed, the effort of trying will bring smiles to faces,” Healy said.

When asked how important she thinks the group is Healy said, “Number one, right up there with Relay for Life.”

Heather Lenker ’12 originally brought the ConKerr Cancer program to the University six years ago.

Erin Jankowski

Contributing Writer

Tanya Williams, the University’s nutritionist and dietitian, will be stationed in Bostwick Marketplace to help inform students about personal dietary choices.

Williams will appear each Wednesday in Bostwick Marketplace as perhaps the most accessible element of the growing nutritional health programs on campus.

“My goal upon the arrival of the Class of 2017 this year is that every student knows I exist before graduating,” Williams said.

Williams’ availability in the Bostwick Marketplace is only one example of her growing presence on campus.

This past January, Williams and her team introduced the Bucknell Nutrition Initiative Program. This initiative program includes first-year education courses, upperclassman cooking courses, guided shopping tours, and individual nutritional counseling sessions. The goal of this initiative is to inform students how to eat healthier for their entire career at the University.

The University’s dining services already use a variety of local and fresh products when available and make a large selection of food from scratch.

Rachel Healy

Contributing Writer

Two new psychologists joined the Psychological Services staff this past summer. Dr. Brian Schurr and Dr. Marina Shafran, both trained psychologists, will provide counseling services to students, and they hope to expand programs run by Psychological Services.

Schurr received his undergraduate degree from Lycoming College and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Marywood University. Schurr’s area of specialty is alcohol and substance abuse as well as LGBTQ identity.

Shafran, who was born in the former USSR and grew up in Israel, came to the United States on a track and field NCAA scholarship and later earned her Master’s and Doctoral degrees in counseling psychology from Western Michigan University. Shafran specializes in trauma-related counseling.

Both are excited to work with the University’s Psychological Services team, and look forward to helping the students and implementing new programs.

“I am hoping to start a peer education group around alcohol/substance abuse concerns,” Schurr said.  “The group is called ‘Step Up, Bucknell’ and will hopefully be up and running in the near future.”

The Psychological Services program already hosts events including the therapy dogs that come to campus twice or more each semester and the newly implemented yoga program for sexual assault victims.