The Bucknellian

Daniel Park
Writer

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone came to the University to deliver an inspirational speech about his past and what he sacrificed to achieve success in modern society. He gave his lecture at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 23.

He started off with various jokes about his past life, making references to his family, and finally delved into more serious topics ranging from failure, opportunity, creativity, technology and empathy. Stone then questioned the concept of “what’s next?”

The beginning of the event revolved around his past life, like how he had become obsessed with the idea of web design and how he first came to the idea of starting his own company that revolved around web design and blogging.

“Although everyone was criticizing our ideas and constantly told us it was dumb and a waste of time, we were out to have fun and constantly innovate,” Stone said.

Despite being constantly put down for his ideas on designing a blogging website, he emphasized the point that the perspective of others should not influence every decision or action you decide to take.

“Twitter was to be not the triumph of technology, but the triumph for humanity. It definitely had a different motto than a company like Google, where technology was the resolution to all problems.”

He made references to Google after the bizarre events he experienced during his visit to Google headquarters, such as an employee of Google recording every show on TV simultaneously.

The last thirty minutes or so was Q and A not only between the speaker and Biz Stone, but also the audience.

“Privacy and liberty … are people giving up privacy? If all information is digitized the ability to be anonymous is gone. Do you see this as a glass half full or half empty?” assistant professor of management Jordi Comas said.

“All of it is our choice. Technology in a sense makes us super humans capable of doing the incapable. Holistically, humanity is testing the boundaries of how much we should share. What is too much or too little? The point is, we are in control,” Stone said.

Comas continued to ask questions on privacy issues like government involvement and the  extent that our freedom of speech holds.

Many other members of the campus community were also eager to ask questions about Stone’s opinion on various social networking topics.

Bucknellian-President Bravman Homecoming Q&A

Jen Lassen

News Editor

News Editor Jen Lassen ’15 sat down with President John Bravman to discuss the “We Do” campaign that will launch this Homecoming Weekend. A first in University history, the campaign is ultimately about the learning that goes on at the University between students and faculty.

Besides raising money, what is the main goal of the “We Do” campaign?

“Campaigns have many goals. One, of course, is to increase the resource base of the University, but it’s also to build a large and sustainable network of alumni and volunteers that will be engaged in this campaign. At a place like Bucknell, it’s a place for students; we’re a student-centric undergraduate institution. To enable that, we also need this group of alumni to be engaged like never before.”

How much planning has gone into this campaign, and when did the planning commence?

“It has been about 10 to 12 months of very active planning. The University has talked about it before I got here; the campaign was announced in 2007 but delayed by the economic downturn and delayed again by presidential transition. So the campaign has been talked about for a while, but what it’s become has been a very intensive project over the last year. We actually did in 10-12 months what might typically be done in 18 months, but I strongly felt that we couldn’t wait anymore.”

What long-term effects do you foresee for this campaign?

“Long-term effects are to provide additional opportunities for students and faculty, and to put the University on a stronger financial footing. It is, on the one hand, amazing what our University does with our core financial resources, but our endowment is quite low compared to almost all of our peers. Our core financial strength is well below that of our peer and aspirant institutions. This will only be our third major comprehensive campaign; many of our peers have had four, five, six … When we launch this weekend, it will be 16 years between public launches. At many schools, that’s probably double the intervals they’ve seen. We want to provide our faculty the full set of resources that they need and deserve to deliver the best education in the country.”

What response do you predict the campaign will receive?

“The people we’ve talked about it with are very excited. As we’ve shared that faculty and staff have generated for the campaign, captured only in part by our theme of ‘We Do,’ people are very excited by it. It has traditional components of endowment for financial aid, endowment for faculty and construction of buildings, but on top of that, we’ve also added goals in six academic areas [the Creative Campus Initiative, the Global Learning Initiative, the Human Health Initiative, the Management Education Initiative, the Residential Learning Initiative and the Sustainability Initiative]. That’s a fairly new concept that we’ve built for Bucknell. I certainly hope [the campaign] will start strengthening the financial resources of the University, to build some of the buildings we need, and to really launch these initiatives.”

Where will the campaign go beyond the University?

“We’ll have three years of road shows in 10 to 12 cities. In the calendar year 2013 starting in January, we’ll be in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and New York. We’ll be taking faculty and students on the road with us. I predict that it will be 10 to 12 major city events, 30 to 50 smaller events around the country and hundreds of individual visits.”

What does “Homecoming” mean to you?

“I love the phrase ‘Homecoming.’ It’s a great phrase. We really believe it’s not a cliché because in some measure, we want our University to be a home for alumni forever. It becomes a home typically somewhere during their freshman year, but we want it to be a home for people throughout their lives.”

What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

“I’m most looking forward to telling stories about what we do for our students, why we want to raise this resource base for our students and faculty and, quite frankly, bragging about how our faculty and students work together … that’s always a great, fun time.”

Sara Blair Matthews
News Editor

You’ve said in the past that Twitter was founded on simplicity. Why do you think that is especially important now that our society is so focused on multitasking?

“I don’t really believe in multitasking. I think you can do one thing well at a time. With regard to Twitter, maybe I’m obsessed with simplicity because I’m actually not that smart. I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. But I also believe, from a higher altitude look at this stuff, that constraint really breeds creativity. The simpler or more constrained something is, or the less resources you have, the more imagination it takes to respond, and I’ve always thought that. When I was a little kid, I would go to the restaurant and we’d flip over the menus to draw. I would ask my mom, ‘What should I draw?’ I just didn’t know what to do on the blank piece of paper. She would say, ‘Draw whatever you want,’ and I would say, ‘I can’t think of anything!’ If she would say, ‘Just draw a truck,’ at least I had an idea of a place to start … so simplicity breeds more creativity, and I really don’t believe in multitasking.”

What are your long term goals for Twitter?

“I don’t work there any more, so my long term goals are that they just do incredibly well without me. But I guess a better way of saying that is I hope that if Twitter is to be a triumph, it’s not to be necessarily considered a triumph of technology, but rather a triumph of humanity. I hope it becomes a symbol of what people can do when they coordinate and collaborate more than celebrated for its algorithms or its data centers.”

If you had to do it all over again would you do it the same way?

“I would probably do it the same way because I think that there was so much joy and fun in the early days and the way we approached it. If I wasn’t having fun, then I wouldn’t have stuck with it. Even though there were so many problems, we weren’t technically ready for the success we had and an easy answer would be I would do it by investing first in infrastructure, I still wouldn’t change it. What made it work was the joy we were having when we did it.”

Christina Oddo & Sara Blair Matthews
Arts & Life Editor, News Editor

In his lecture “How To Be Successful,” which occurred in Trout Auditorium on Oct. 22, Richard Zare claimed that problem solving is the key to a successful life. He also asked whether or not problem solving could be taught, and continued to question this throughout the lecture.

He offered TIPS, standing for Thought Process, Information, Plan and Solution. These steps involve thinking about the problem, as well as highlighting key words involved in its solution.

After considering TIPS, Zare explained that through further research he learned you need to “decompose the problem into smaller problems,” and to “think of similar problems you can solve” if the problem is too difficult.

Zare said that in order to get better at solving problems, you need to actually solve problems. It is not sufficient enough to just read a book about problem solving. In this way, intervention on a teacher’s part may not necessarily help the student. Zare emphasized that at some point, everyone will be a teacher, whether it is in a parental, office or academic setting. He noted that it is important to keep in mind that students need to learn through practice rather than mere observation.

“I learned to enjoy what I am learning and stop stressing over school,” Olivia Cohen ’14 said. “He was a really great speaker and had the audience fully engaged.”

In regards to problem solving strategy, Zare highlighted working backwards as well as the importance of immersing yourself in a problem. He related personal experiences where he obsessed and dreamed about problems and ended up solving them through these creative methods.

Problem solving is all about attitude, and the “willingness to play with reality.” He promotes the questioning of assumptions.

Zare also spoke about his love for solving seemingly challenging problems. He challenged the audience to a coin problem, a US states problem and a few optical illusions. He also talked about his problem solving correspondence with friends across the country and how they take joy in attempting to stump one another.

Zare encouraged the audience to “celebrate the joy of ‘aha!’ … a thrilling moment of discovery.” He also emphasized the importance of failure.

“Let failure be your guide to success in problem solving,” Zare said.

Zare received his undergraduate and graduate degree at Harvard University, and he has been working at Stanford since 1977.

 

Brianna Marshall
Writer

Homecoming 2012 promises to be extremely entertaining for alumni as well as faculty and students. Campus has been buzzing with activity in preparation with the construction of the tent on the quad and other additions such as the “We Do” banners hanging on the windows of the Elaine Langone Center. With activities ranging from concerts to athletic events, there is sure to be something for everyone to enjoy this weekend.

While alumni-focused events with limited student attendance are a key component of Homecoming Weekend, there are many interesting opportunities for students. Uptown is hosting a concert featuring Vertical Horizon, famous for their 90’s hit “Everything You Want,” tonight at 9 p.m. Other musical events include a concert by Corey Harris tonight at 8 p.m. at the Campus Theatre and, for those who were lucky enough to win a ticket in the student drawing, Norah Jones will be performing in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Saturday is a fun-filled day of events starting with a conversation at 9 a.m. in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts between Jim Cramer, host of “Mad Money” and Walter Isaacson, bestselling author and biographer of Steve Jobs. A Q&A session with Ana Aguilera Silva ’14, Mairead Smith ’13 and Chris Spahr ’13, led by President John Bravman, will follow. 

The University Celebration and Pre-Game Showcase, featuring the work of faculty and students across many academic disciplines, will be held at 11 a.m. at the Practice Field.  The Homecoming football game against Colgate will follow at 1 p.m. Also at 1 p.m. will be music, theatre and dance performances by students and faculty are being held in Natalie Davis Rooke Recital Hall. For those who are interested in a more interactive experience, an arboretum walking tour, led by Associate Professor of Geography Duane Griffin and Associate Professor of Biology Mark Spiro, will leave from the Bertrand Library at 2:30 p.m.

Although the campus has become well-aware of “the public launch of the largest fundraising campaign in Bucknell’s history,” as described by Bravman, Homecoming Weekend is a great way to promote campus involvement and highlight all the work students and faculty do every day. Bucknell Student Government (BSG) is among the many student organizations that are represented at these events.

“BSG is honored to be a part of the many wonderful activities and happenings of this special weekend. They recognize and appreciate how important this weekend is as it welcomes home Bucknellians and kicks off a campaign launch, which is incredibly important to Bucknell’s future,” said BSG advisor and Associate Dean of Students Kari Conrad.