The Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) will be the topic of a workshop at Penn State Greater Allegheny on Monday, Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Frable Building.  DUS, is Penn State's largest unit of enrollment for first-year students and academic home to thousands of other students exploring programs and meeting requirements before entering majors.

Through interactions with DUS academic advisers, students are guided to make well-informed educational plans and create the most meaningful educations for themselves by using Penn State's many resources. DUS provides systematic decision-making tools, accurate and timely information, individual attention, and referrals when appropriate.

The workshop is for students who might be uncertain about choosing a major, have several areas of interest that are difficult to narrow down, or are interested in exploring some options and having some time to make sure they are making the right choice.  Students interested in the workshop and/or enrolling in the DUS should contact the Admissions Office by calling 412-675-9010 or psuga@psu.edu.

The summary of the story follows a young violinist, Xiaochun and his father as they move from their small, provincial town in Beijing so Xiaochun can audition for a prestigious music academy. Their new life is unfamiliar but full of promise, allowing the young man to truly figure out which direction he wants to take in life.

Each year, Penn State Greater Allegheny adopts a country or region of the world as a common theme to inspire teaching and scholarship.

The campus-wide international emphasis for 2009-10 will be on East Asia. In addition, the theme to accompany the region is the environment. Events planned include speakers, films, hands-on art experiences, and field trips. Courses and activities are aimed at advancing a greater understanding of globalization processes and their impact on the lives of people around the world, including our own region.

The second in a series of East Asian painting classes was held on November 3. Instructor Elaine Bergstrom demonstrated techniques for painting chrysanthemums.

The series is sponsored by the campus Teaching International program, which is focused this year on East Asia. The first class covered orchids, and two classes are planned for the spring semester.

At a recent ribbon cutting ceremony in McKeesport, a new Blueroof research cottage was dedicated.

The facility will serve both as housing for the elderly and as an arena for research on smart technologies that are used to assist older individuals or those with disabilities to live independently.

Two PSUGA students who have helped in these efforts, Richard Knapick and Michael Figliolia, were at the dedication.

Figliolia, who received a BS in Information Sciences and Technology (IST) in 2008, is an IT specialist at Blueroof. He established "new information policies, networking technology, and database administration techniques" and also handles "the internal management application software."

Knapick, an IST major, interned at Blueroof and is now a part-time employee. He describes his responsibilities as "system and network wiring, sensor placement and integration, and testing" along with the "initial technology design and our first use of analog sensors" for data collection. Knapick also notes that "as a small company we work very much as a team, so it is difficult to isolate portions of the work we do into specific areas of sole responsibility. This may be seen as a disadvantage by some, but it allows us to cross many varied technology paths and consequently be exposed to a myriad of potential (and sometimes unique) solutions."

The students' experiences illustrate the opportunities available for PSUGA students to use what they are learning in the classroom to benefit the community.

Robert Walters, Professor of Engineering at PSUGA and Director of Technology for Blueroof, spoke at the ceremony, along with Professor Emeritus James Stewart and Chancellor Curtiss Porter.

On Saturday October 24 the Penn State Greater Allegheny Athletic Department conducted an All Sports Camp at Auberle in McKeesport, PA. Over 60 student-athletes and coaches volunteered in the department's first community service act of the semester. Boys and girls ages 8-16 participated in Baseball/Softball, Basketball, and Volleyball.

“This was a tremendous experience not only for the student-athletes, but also for our coaching staff. We were so grateful that we had an opportunity not only to share our expertise in sports, but make a difference in young person’s life,” said Athletic Director Jim Chester.

According to their website, "Auberle has been dedicated to the mission of caring for and healing abused, neglected and troubled children throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania for over 50 years. They have been able to help thousands of children and their families through our residential care, foster care, emergency shelter, in-home intervention, education and community programs. Family preservation, the reuniting of families in a positive home environment and preparing children to be responsible adults are the ultimate goals of Auberle." www.auberle.org/about_auberle.html

The women’s program is fresh off of its PSUAC Final Four appearance and seem geared to make a repeat performance. They open their season November 10 in a home contest versus CCAC-Boyce with a 6:00 p.m. tip-off in Wunderley Gymnasium.

The men’s program just missed the PSUAC playoffs in 2008-09, and look to take the next step this season. They open up their season on November 13 as they travel to Shippensburg University to play in the Wolf’s Bus Line Classic.

This year's theme is “Global Food Crisis: Opportunities, Responsibilities and Solutions.”

According to www.worldfooddayusa.org, the 2009 World Food Day Teleconference "will consider the impact of the financial crisis on those living in poverty, the responsibilities of the rest of the world and the solutions that are emerging. Three experts from different backgrounds working on these issues will exchange views on the 26th annual teleconference. Max Finberg, newly appointed Director of the USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships; Rep. Jim McGovern, serving his seventh term as representative from
Massachusetts; and Joy Phumaphi, of Botswana, Vice President and Head of the Human Development Network at the World Bank will be the special guests."

Attend any hour or all three. For more information visit the website: www.worldfooddayusa.org 

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Penn State Greater Allegheny joins with 20 other Penn State campuses in celebrating Penn State Day.

The program includes academic and career exploration, campus tours with Lion Ambassadors, a Tailgate lunch and campus "Penn State White Out" to cheer the Lions to victory over Michigan, education abroad and Schreyer Honors College information, a panel with students sharing their views on student life at Penn State Greater Allegheny, blue and white T-shirt production and entertainment, and a "parents only" session.

Interested students will have the opportunity to complete a Penn State admissions application with assistance from admissions counselors. Penn State Greater Allegheny applicants who bring their official copy of their high school transcripts will be eligible to have their $50 application fee waived.

All events take place on the campus at Penn State Greater Allegheny in the Student Community Center.

For more information and to register, call 412-675-9010.

Saturday, Oct. 3, more than 200 alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and student volunteers gathered to help raise money for the Penn State Greater Allegheny Scholarship Fund at the campus’ sixth annual All That’s Jazz event.  By the end of the evening, the final tally was $50,141, which brings the overall total raised since 2004 to more than $264,000.

The campus’ Student Community Center was transformed into an Irish pub theme and live musicians entertained the guests throughout the evening.  The jazz vocalists headlining the event were Tamara Tunie, star of Broadway, film, and the TV show, Law and Order: SVU and her husband, Gregory Generet.

“The entertainment, fare, and ambience added to the excellent achievement of the evening,” said Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter.  “Everyone who contributed to this event should be extremely proud.  We will have the funds available to help students pursue their educational goals here at Penn State Greater Allegheny.”

Two student speakers, Barblin Essien, originally from Torino, Italy, and Ryan Novosedliak of Harrison City, Pa., explained to the crowd how their student scholarships benefited them and how without that financial support their educational goals would not be possible.

The “All That’s Jazz” leadership included Mark Gruskin, event chair; Clifford Wise, sponsorship chair; Nancy Seifert and David Pellow, entertainment co-chairs; Jan Pokrifka and Brian Hohman, auction co-chairs; Amy Michaliszyn and Bill Flanagan, publicity co-chairs; and Curtiss E. Porter, chancellor.

Events planned include speakers, films, hands-on art experiences, and field trips (East Asia calendar).

For more information, contact any member of the Teaching International executive committee.

The Executive Committee of the Board, elected by board members in January 2009, agreed to implement this tuition schedule proposed Thursday by the University's leadership. The Executive Committee's decision will be presented to the full board for its concurrence in September at the Trustees' regular meeting. Fall semester tuition bills are expected to go out this weekend.

On July 10, the Board of Trustees approved two different tuition schedules because of an uncertain appropriation from the state and a proposed $61 million funding cut from Gov. Ed Rendell. That cut would have set back Penn State to 1997 funding levels, despite the fact that the University is educating nearly 14,000 more students. The board agreed to adopt one of two possible tuition schedules based on the size and timing of Penn State's final appropriation.

At this point, there is still a budget impasse in Harrisburg and Penn State's appropriation is unknown. However, a recent ruling from the U.S. Department of Education and strong support from legislators in both Washington and Harrisburg prompted University officials to move forward with the lower tuition scenario that will provide the most relief for students and their families.

In its ruling, the U.S. Department of Education declared that Pennsylvania must include state-related institutions in the application for federal stimulus funds. Previously, the state was seeking to exclude state-related institutions, like Penn State, from federal dollars provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The act, passed this year, specifically says that funding must be made available to public universities to help curb high tuition increases.

"In spite of the risk of setting tuition rates without an appropriation, we are moving forward with the lower tuition option," President Graham Spanier said. "Such a decision is most sensitive to our students and their families."

Implementing the lower tuition amount entails risk because significant additional cuts would need to be implemented if the anticipated appropriation does not occur. In addition to the significant internal cuts already adopted, the University would need to eliminate its planned reserve, reduce employee benefits, implement millions of dollars of additional cuts on very short notice in the midst of the academic year, and levy a mid-year tuition increase.

The adopted tuition scenario results in the following tuition changes:
• A 4.5 percent tuition increase, or $295 per semester, for lower-division University Park students residing in Pennsylvania, and a 3.7 percent tuition increase, or $443 per semester, for out-of-state students;

• A 3.9 percent tuition increase for all lower-division Commonwealth Campus students, which translates to $226 per semester for in-state students at the Altoona, Berks, Erie and Harrisburg campuses, and $217 per semester for in-state students at all other campuses.

"We are making this leap of faith on behalf of our students and we hope that the proposed 18 percent cut from the state is off the table," Spanier said.

Spanier indicated that even with the significant cuts to expenses the University has been making internally — $50 million this year and $200 million over the last 19 years — the possibility of insufficient support from the state could mean the board must re-examine tuition for spring semester.

Seventeen Penn State Greater Allegheny student-athletes have been named to the Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) All-Academic Team for the spring 2009 semester. To be eligible for the team the students must earn a 3.0 grade point average or better during the current semester.

For such a small island, Malta is amazingly rich in history. It’s likely a worldwide contender for the greatest density of historical importance per square kilometer!  Malta is home to the oldest man-made structures on earth - the megalithic temples; it’s tremendously significant as the centuries-old home of the Knights of Saint John; the importance of Malta in WWII can’t be underestimated in terms of geo-political impact; and Malta is one of the few places in the world that is directly and verifiably discussed in the Bible. For Malta was the temporary home of arguably the greatest influence in the spread of Christianity - the Apostle Paul.

The story of Paul in Malta is detailed in the New Testament, primarily in Acts 28, but the back story takes place in earlier books of Acts. If you don’t have a Bible handy, don’t worry - I’ll do my best to tell the tale.

In the years after Christ’s crucifixion, Paul, a known persecutor of early Christians, is overcome by a vision of Christ, asking him why he’s harassing Christ’s children, and commanding him not only to stop the persecution, but to spend his life bearing witness for Christ. On the force of this event, he converts to Christianity and launches of a career of converting others. His writings are prolific and instrumental in the founding of the Christian church, and many of his early letters are even today preserved as books in the New Testament.

As one might imagine, his new vocation is not universally well received. He’s arrested but, being a Roman citizen (even one in a far-flung outpost of the empire), he invokes the right to appeal to Caesar in Rome. Ironically, as Acts portrays it, had his case been tried in Caesarea (a town located on present-day Israel’s Mediterranean coast) where he was arrested, the charges against Paul likely would have been dropped given that some of those in power were sympathetic to his cause.

However, Paul appealed to Caesar and so off to Rome he is taken in A.D. 60 along with a shipload of other prisoners: crew and prisoners totaling 276 men.  Incidentally, St. Luke also is on the voyage, accompanying Paul, although little emphasis is placed on his participation.

As Paul had predicted beforehand, the ship runs into a horrendous storm which lasts for two weeks. Eventually on the 14th day, as the crew takes depth measurements, they’re horrified to learn they’re about to be forced aground. Given the severe weather, this likely means the ship will be pulverized and all aboard killed. In keeping with the emergency evacuation procedures of the day, the sailors set out to kill all the prisoners to prevent their unlikely escape, and then they prepare to abandon ship.

Paul, on good terms with the captain, convinces him that everyone - sailors and all - will perish if this action is taken. The captain acquiesces to Paul who then encourages the crew to eat, proclaiming that not a hair on anyone’s head will perish.

While the sailors are attempting to control the grounding of the ship, it hits a shoal (or actually a minute island) off the coastline. The captain orders all aboard to jump ship and try to make for the shore. Miraculously (but not surprisingly given Paul’s prediction) everyone on board makes it safely to land (see photo of St. Paul’s island, on the northwest coast of Malta, where the ship ran aground).

In the words of Acts 28:1-2, as found at http://bibleresources.bible.com,
“¹ Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. ² The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.”  As you can see, the tradition of Maltese warmth and generosity, on which I’ve commented many times, runs deep - it literally spans millennia!

Something happens to Paul when helping tend the fire: as he lays some twigs on it, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bites him on the hand. The Maltese take this as a sign of justice - they assume he must have committed a heinous crime, likely murder, to escape the shipwreck only to die by the venom of a snake.  But Paul calmly shakes off the snake and suffers no ill-effects, creating a dramatic shift in the conventional wisdom of the Maltese - to have survived this, Paul must be a god.

This event actually heralds a miracle within a miracle. Not only was Paul unaffected by the snake’s venom, from that point on all the venom left all the snakes and to this day, there are no poisonous snakes on Malta. There’s a folktale related to this that I read about, but it took me a while to get a guy to actually say it aloud.  It goes something like this: when St. Paul was bitten by the snake, a miracle occurred. All the venom in all the snakes on the island went away. But where did the venom go? (palms turned up in confusion, followed by a sly smirk) Into the tongues of the women. Ha, the Maltese may be kind, but they apparently still have a little work to do on political correctness.

Paul (and the rest of the crew and prisoners) stayed on the island for three months. During this time, he converted the Maltese to Christianity, giving irrefutable validity to their claim to be the oldest Christian nation.  He was welcomed by the chief Roman official/governor on the island, Publius (later to become St. Publius).  Paul worked miracles by healing Publius’ gravely ill father as well as other islanders.  Publius converted to Christianity and invited Paul to stay at his palace in Mdina.  A Norman church was erected on the spot and, after it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1693, the Maltese baroque masterpiece of St. Paul’s cathedral was built between 1697 and 1702 to replace it (see pictures 2 and 3 of the exterior and interior of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina).

Paul however, was a humble man and felt he was undeserving of such fine surroundings.  Instead, he chose to leave the elegance and safety of Mdina’s walls and settled in a cave in nearby Rabat (see photos 4 and 5 of St. Paul’s Grotto, Rabat). I apologize for the weird sizing of these pictures, which were taken with a different camera! Side note: This site, along with St. Paul’s island, was visited by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Malta in 1990).

Eventually, after three months, the weather changed for the better. Replenished with supplies from the kind islanders, Paul and the rest of the ship’s crew and passengers set off for Rome. Paul eventually was executed there, but not before planting the foundations of the Catholic church and changing the lives of millions, not among the least the Maltese!

To follow Michelle on her journey in Malta, visit her blog site at http://inet.ga.psu.edu/blogs/mghough

Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter, Ph.D., conferred degrees on 41 students at Penn State Greater Allegheny’s spring commencement on Saturday, May 16, in the Wunderley Gymnasium.  Diplomas were awarded in a number of areas, including organizational leadership, political science, business, communications, applied psychology, and information sciences and technology.

James B. Stewart, professor of labor studies and employment relations, African and African American studies, and management and organization at Penn State University was the keynote speaker.

According to The Venus Project website at http://thevenusproject.com , The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture.  The project is dedicated to confronting all of the serious problems that face our modern society by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions.

Fresco will present Thursday, April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Robert and Elizabeth Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center.  The event is free and open to the public.

Students from communications and psychology classes presented their work at the annual Undergraduate Exhibition at University Park on April 9.

Emily Blake presented work she and fellow communications majors Richard Whitney and Brendan Smith did to develop a Teaching International web page. Their project was supervised by Dr. Kathleen Taylor Brown, assistant professor of communications.

Yidi Li presented research that she and Stephanie Citriniti did in conjunction with PSYCH 221 and PSYCH 301W on attitudes toward the 2008 election and food security in the Americas. This project was supervised by Dr. Margaret L. Signorella, professor of psychology and women's studies.

More about the annual Undergraduate Exhibition.

Penn State Greater Allegheny: A first choice campus for student-centered success,
global excellence, and community engagement.

First, esteemed ethnographer and expert on urban inequality, Elijah Anderson, the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Sociology at Yale, spoke on campus to a standing room only crowd. The title of his lecture was “Why are so many young black men killing each other.” His thesis after extensive research with young Philadelphia neighborhood residents supports that “entrenched poverty, experience with racial discrimination, and chronic exclusion from gainful employment largely account for the vicious cycle of brutality and aggression that dominates many urban streets.”

As a follow-up to Anderson’s lecture, a panel was formed to offer local perspectives on urban violence. The following individuals will participate in the panel discussion Tuesday, April 14 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Robert and Elizabeth Ostermayer Room, Student Community Center:

Bomani Howze, Heinz Foundation
Richard Garland, One Vision One Life
Anthony Mitchell, Penn State Greater Allegheny
Husani Thompson, Penn State Greater Allegheny student

Bomani Howze was born and raised in Pittsburgh's historic Hill District and has experienced youth violence first-hand for most of his childhood. In 2005, he lost his best friend and younger brother Patrice Howze to gun violence. Howze has since been on a mission to help provide alternative paths to a street life. He is now a program officer for the Heinz Endowments Innovation Economy program, a grant-making program dedicated to capitalizing on the research strengths of the region’s energy resources, universities, medical centers, corporate, and grass roots economic development organizations to promote economic growth and opportunity.

Richard Garland is director of the Violence Prevention Program for Allegheny County; and under that position he developed the “One Vision One Life” Project. One Vision One Life--originally known as The Allegheny County Violence Prevention Initiative--directly challenges skepticism with the simple but powerful notion that there is a way to prevent the next homicide. The goal of One Vision One Life is to prevent violence. The initiative is strategic, narrow, and directly focused on preventing homicide now.

Dr. Anthony Mitchell is a university community programs administrator in Continuing Education at Penn State Greater Allegheny. In this capacity, he provides outreach programs and services to K-12 schools and communities. Since the early 1990s, he has worked with numerous Western Pennsylvania organizations and community-based groups that provide outreach to African American males including the Juvenile Court of Allegheny County, The Gang Peace Council of Western Pa., the Community Intensive Supervision Program, and Community Empowerment Association. He is currently involved in the Heinz Endowments' supported African American Leadership Institute which aims to provide intensive mentoring to African American males in the City of Pittsburgh. In 2007, he lost a nephew to violence.

Husani Thompson is from Pittsburgh and is pursuing a degree in communications at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

The panel discussion is free and open to the public.

Penn State Greater Allegheny's chapter of Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology, inducted new members on April 2. Present for the induction ceremony were Sarah M. Fiore, Cynthia V. Grantham, Kelly M. Krznaric, Ashley R. Larson, and Larry R. Nelson. Also inducted were Brandon J. Garner, and Allison E. Wynn.

Welcoming the new members were outgoing chapter president Allison Arnfield, chapter adviser Dr. Elizabeth Mazur, psychology program coordinator Dr. Margaret Signorella, and psychology internship supervisor Dr. June Fishbourne.

Membership is open to students who are at least second-semester sophomores, majoring or minoring in psychology with at least 9 credits in psychology completed, who rank in the upper 35% of their class in general scholarship, earn an overall GPA of at least 3.0, and a psychology GPA of at least 3.0.

After the ceremony, new officers were chosen: Sarah Fiore (President), Ashley Larson (Vice President), and Kelly Krznaric (Secretary).

Psi Chi was founded on September 4, 1929 for the purpose of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and to advance the science of psychology. Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the world. Since 1929, Psi Chi has installed more than 1,050 chapters and inducted more than 500,000 members at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. These chapters not only recognize academic achievement by granting membership in the Society, but also sponsor programs that augment the regular curriculum, offer service to the campus and the community at large, develop leadership skills, and provide fellowship through affiliation with the chapter. For more information about Psi Chi and its grants, awards, and service programs, go to the Psi Chi website at http://www.psichi.org/. Psi Chi is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and an affiliate of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.

"Why are so many young black men killing each other?" is the title of Elijah Anderson's lecture to be delivered at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in Penn State Greater Allegheny's Robert and Elizabeth Ostermayer Room. An influential and widely published ethnographer and expert on urban inequality, Anderson will present his research theory described in his book Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City.

Anderson, the William K. Lanman, Jr. professor of sociology at Yale, has developed a thesis after extensive research with young Philadelphia neighborhood residents that supports “entrenched poverty, experience with racial discrimination, and chronic exclusion from gainful employment largely account for the vicious cycle of brutality and aggression that dominates many urban streets,” according to a press release issued by Yale.

Also mentioned in the Yale press release is that the National Institute of Justice, a research and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, recently issued a report reaffirming that Anderson’s “Code of the Street” theory, which will enable the thesis to help policy makers and criminal courts evaluate inner city violence.

Anderson is the William K. Lanman Jr. professor of sociology at Yale University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University (1969), his master’s degree from the University of Chicago (1972) and his doctorate from Northwestern University (1976).

Anderson's talk will be followed on April 14 by a panel discussion on local aspects of the urban violence dilemma.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (412) 675-9052.

The mission of Absence is the annual publication of a high-quality literary and arts magazine for the Penn State Greater Allegheny community. The magazine’s goal is to provide all full- and part-time PSUGA students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a shared venue for their creative endeavors, and to generate interest in the arts in the Greater Allegheny community. The magazine also provides students the professional opportunity to prepare for careers in publishing and document design.

Dr. Clifford Manlove, Associate Professor of English, and Lori Hepner, Assistant Professor of Integrative Arts, Absence faculty advisers, invited faculty, staff, students, and alums of the campus to submit their poetry, short fiction & non-fiction, essays, photography, visual art, etc. for consideration. A “blind submission” process was used by the student editorial board to evaluate each work. 262 submissions were received, more than any previous year; less than 30% of submitted work was accepted for publication.

All Absence submissions were eligible for consideration for the Fourth Annual Chancellor’s Prizes. Two student winners for the Best Literary and the Best Visual Arts submissions will each earn $250 scholarships. Two second-place winners will each receive $100 scholarships. This year, for the first time, a fifth Chancellor’s Prize scholarship of $250 will be awarded for the best video art, which will be screened at the upcoming “Celebration of the Arts” event. The Chancellor’s Prizes were established in 2006 to promote the growth of an active creative community in and around Penn State Greater Allegheny.

The student editorial board and faculty advisers reviewed submissions; final decisions about publication rested with the student Editor-in-Chief, Keith Donnelly. The publication is supported by: the Chancellor's office, Academic Affairs, Institutional Advancement, Admissions, Continuing Education, the Student Activity Fee, and Student Affairs.

Follow Michelle Hough, associate professor of business adminstration at Penn State Greater Allegheny, as she travels to the Mediterranean Country of Malta, located 57 miles from Sicily, to teach at the University of Malta.   

As I’ve mentioned before, the Maltese are incredibly warm and friendly people. In general, they go out of their way to be helpful and kind. As rare as this is in a world where everyone seems increasingly rushed, frantic, and brusque, it’s even more incredible given the history of Malta.

From the earliest times, Malta has been attractive to other peoples. Fossilized bones found in a prehistoric cave (Ghar Dalam) suggest that Malta was once linked to southern Europe via a land bridge. The island also claims the oldest man-made structures on earth (that’s right, older than Stonehenge, older than Easter Island, even older than the pyramids)! These stone structures have been dated to 3600 B.C., and some pottery fragments unearthed on the island are similar to those found in Sicily, suggesting that the earliest Maltese likely came from somewhere else themselves (see note).

At any rate, it seems that Malta always has enticed others, a fact which can be attributed largely to it’s strategic location in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, those enticed others often weren’t desirable visitors. As I’d mentioned previously, Malta had once been a hotbed of pirate activity, seemingly at a peak between the 11th and 15th century. During this time, according to Lonely Planet, “Malta remained a minor pawn on the edge of the European chessboard, and its relatively small population of down-trodden islanders paid their taxes by trading, slaving, and piracy, and were repaid in kind by marauding Turks and Barbary corsairs.

Just around the corner from our apartment is pretty Balluta Bay, which apparently was a major pirate lair. In fact, one shopkeeper in the area told me an interesting story about the two Maltese villas located prominently in front of the posh Le Meridien hotel (picture attached). When the hotel was being planned, they initially wanted to tear down the villas and build right on the sea front. They ended up building around the villas, however, due to their historical significance. Way back when, the villas were reputed pirates’ lairs - supposedly, the pirates could set anchor in Balluta Bay, and then ferry their loot on shore, through underground tunnels that met the sea, right into the villas above! If you look closely at the shoreline on the right, you can see some arched indentations where these tunnels supposedly came out. On our tour last weekend, the guide explained that many of Malta’s curvy twisted streets were planned that way, not due to the topography, but as a defense for the islanders being pursued by pirates. Remember “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” where Indiana Jones and crew are spirited away from the bad guys by people in Cairo’s bazaar? It’s the same principle - make the streets incredibly complex and windy, and any non-natives are sure to get lost - trust me, it works beautifully!

At various points in Maltese history, the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Angevins (French), Aragonese and Castilians (Spanish) ruled the island. In the 1500’s the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V gave Malta to the Knights of St. John after the Knights were forced out of Rhodes by the advancing Ottoman Turks, on a campaign, it seems, to take over the entire known world. In 1551, the Turkish admiral Dragut Reis, under the infamous Ottoman ruler Suleyman the Magnificent, invaded the smaller Maltese island of Gozo and carried off virtually all its inhabitants - over 5000 men, women, and children - forcing them into slavery. The Turkish reign of terror created some deep scars - one of the professors at the univerity told me that growing up, when children misbehaved, they were commonly told to improve their behavior or “the Turks will carry you off!”

The Turks were held at bay by the Knights of St. John during a long, brutal siege in 1565, of which I’ll write more later. After the siege, the Knights embarked on a campaign of fortifying the island. One remnant of those fortifications is a series of watch towers ringing the island. Just up the road from our apartment, in the other direction from Balluta Bay, is St. Julian’s Tower, build in 1658 (pictures attached). The Knights ruled Malta relatively benignly for a couple centuries, but as their influence waned, the island became a hot target for a new despot - Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon took Malta from the Knights in 1798. Although he himself was only in residence on the island for six days, he set up a brutal and oppressive regime, and managed to spirit away the majority of the Knights’ silver, gold, paintings, and tapestries, looted from the Knights’ churches, auberges, and hospital. Unfortunately, most of this treasure was lost forever when Napolean’s fleet was sunk by the British Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. The Maltese later revolted against the French when they tried to pillage an important Mdina church, and they sought help from the British to overthrow the French once and for all. This led to a period of British rule that continued until 1964, even through WWII when Malta was again under siege. In 1964, for the first time in millenia, Malta became an autonomous nation. Given their history, then, it’s even more incredible that the Maltese are so welcoming and friendly - but then, maybe the tourists on which Malta’s economy thrives don’t seem so threatening in comparison to old Dragus Reis.

Note: The information in this blog comes from a variety of sources: discussions with various people I meet along the way, information provided from tours we’ve taken, the historical segments of the book “The Kapillan of Monsarrat” which has been acclaimed for its accuracy, and from my Lonely Planet guide, “Malta & Gozo.” Although I won’t claim that the information contained within this blog is completely error-free, please note that I do strive for accuracy.

To follow Michelle on her journey in Malta, visit her blog site at http://inet.ga.psu.edu/blogs/mghough

Penn State Greater Allegheny students Keith Donnelly, liberal arts major, and Adam Davies, communications major, with the help of faculty member Dr. Kathleen Taylor Brown, assistant professor of communications, presented the idea for the journal to the Faculty Senate at their last meeting which was held in the J. Clarence Kelly Library. The journal, which is intended to be used by students pursuing the civic and community engagement minor at Penn State, was approved. The students also asked the faculty members to make contributions to the journal. Several faculty members agreed to write articles about their contributions to civic and community engagement.

The journal should be available in print by early May 2009.

In addition to being a guide for students, the journal will also serve to inform the surrounding communities of the civic and community engagement that is being performed by Penn State Greater Allegheny students, staff, and faculty. The journal is being complied as part of an internship for Dr. Brown and an independent study for Dr. Clifford Manlove, associate professor of English.

Penn State Greater Allegheny is one of six campuses of the University to offer the Civic and Community Engagement minor, and this project will support that program as well.

Filmmakers Galleries will present two photography shows in March: one that captures the Old World, one that explores modern digital language. They are both on view from March 6 through April 5, 2009. Code Words by Pittsburgh-based artist Lori Hepner, assistant professor of integrative arts at Penn State Greater Allegheny is a photographic print series centered around the concept of binary code. Banska Stiavnica by Slovakian artist Rastislav Misik features landscape photography printed on canvas. An opening reception will be held on Friday, March 6 at 6:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Lori Hepner, who recently moved here from Ithaca, NY, is an interdisciplinary artist who focuses on aspects of coding language in the digital culture. Ambiguous visual representations of binary code are used in the Code Words series to create large-scale digital print installations. “Binary code has been something that I have been utilizing as a vehicle to represent the growing schism between what our culture now perceives to be a normal speed of communication vs. the course and speed of communication before the digital revolution,” Hepner says.  In Code Words, images of binary code are transformed with dyed silk in bleach.  “The play between organic materials and digital information is a paradox that has been built into the work,” she explains.

Hepner’s work has been shown nationally and internationally in exhibitions, screenings, and performances including Festival Internacional de la Imagen (in Manzales, Colombia); Sixth International Digital Art Exhibit (in Havana, Cuba); Carnegie Museum of Art; Westmoreland Museum of American Art; and Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. She received an MFA in Digital Media at the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA in Fine Art Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Filmmakers Galleries are located at 477 Melwood Avenue, North Oakland. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 5:00, and during public film screenings. Free and open to the public. For more information call 412-681-5449, or visit: www.pghfilmmakers.org

Alejandro de la Fuente will present "The New Afro-Cuban Movement and the Debate on Race in Contemporary Cuba," at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 19, in the Ostermayer Room of the Student Community Center at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

De la Fuente is the author of "Havana and the Atlantic in the Sixteenth Century" (University of North Carolina Press, 2008). His talk is part of the Teaching International Speaker Series.

Damion Jackson will give a presentation titled "The Three River City: Gateway to Freedom" at 7 p.m. Feb. 19, in the Lobby of the Residence Hall at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Jackson will give a presentation on the history of blacks in the development of the city of Pittsburgh.

As part of the campus focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, Lilly Abreau will be performing at 6 p.m. on February 12 at the Dining Room Stage of the Student Community Center.

Lilly Abreu is a Brazilian artist with numerous appearances as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras and chamber ensembles in France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, the United States and Brazil. She is an accomplished popular music artist, performing regularly some of the greatest tunes of the Brazilian repertoire, as well as Broadway and Jazz standards. She teaches voice at Carnegie Mellon University and Chatham University, and Portuguese at University of Pittsburgh.

This program is also being offered in conjunction wtih Black History Month, and is open to the public.

Other ways in which such information can be found include the following:

• Radio (KDKA-1020 AM); 
• Television (KDKA-TV Channel 2; WTAE-TV Channel 4; WPXI-TV Channel 11) or the Internet (http://www.kdka.com/, http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/, http://www.wpxi.com/); 
• The front page of the Penn State Greater Allegheny web site (http://ga.psu.edu/); 
• PSUTXT, which provides updates via text message and/or email. To receive PSUTXT messages for Greater Allegheny, go to http://newswires.psu.edu/ and follow the instructions to subscribe.

Cancellation of day classes does not automatically mean cancellation of evening classes or vice versa.

Weather FAQ

Q. Why doesn’t the campus delay classes on the mornings local school districts announce delays?
A. Local school districts typically start classes for all students around 7:30 a.m. We have just a few classes at 8:00 during the winter semester. Also, K – 12 students must wait along the area roads in the bad weather to catch their buses. Area schools also have the ability to make up lost days. We are an institution of higher education, whose curriculum is supported by direct tuition; hence, cancelling classes eliminates the class time for which you have paid. We also have students living on campus who walk to class.

Q. If the campus is open, am I required to come to class?
A. It is your decision on whether or not you are comfortable driving on the roads to campus. If you do not make it to class, it is important for you to contact your professor as soon as possible to let him or her know why you were not in attendance. Ultimately, it is up to each professor to determine how he or she will handle these types of absences, but we believe they will be reasonable and understanding.

Q. Why isn’t the campus closed on some days when the news is reporting hazardous road conditions?
A. We view and listen to the weather and traffic reports, but we also depend on first hand reports of road conditions received through our campus maintenance and police persons to determine whether or not they are passable.

Q. If the start of classes is delayed, how do I know which class to attend?
A. We follow the existing schedule no matter what time we start. For instance, if the start of classes is delayed until 10:00 a.m., you would attend your scheduled 10:00 a.m. class at the regular time and follow your schedule through the rest of the day. Thus, on days when a delayed opening is appropriate, a two- or four-hour late opening will be announced through the normal emergency announcement procedures.
1. If there is a two-hour delay on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday schedule, classes will start with the class scheduled to begin at 10:00 A.M. We will keep the normal class times for the remainder of the day.
2. If there is a two-hour delay on a Tuesday or Thursday schedule, we will start at 10:00 A. M., one-third of the way through any classes that begin at 9:25. We will keep the normal class times for the remainder of the day.
3 . Similarly, if there is a four-hour delay, MWF classes would start at 12 noon and continue on a normal class schedule for the rest of the day.
4 . If there is a four-hour delay, a Tuesday, Thursday schedule would resume at common period (12 noon) with the next classes occurring at 1:35 pm.

Q. Are day and evening classes treated differently?
A. They are, with decisions made on day classes by 6:30 a.m. and for evening classes (starting times of 6:00 p.m. or later) by 4:00 p.m. It is possible to have any portion of the schedule cancelled.

Q. If my class if cancelled, will it be made up?
A. Some instructors may attempt to set a make up session when students are available, or use other means to make up the work. The form of make-up will depend on the nature of the class.

Q. What happens if there is problem during final exam week?
A. In the event that, during final exams week, weather causes the closing of the campus or the postponement of a scheduled final exam, make up exam procedures will be arranged by instructors in consultation with Academic Affairs. Stay in close contact with your instructors should weather problems develop during finals week..

Q. Why aren’t the sidewalks always clear?
A. If the snow is occurring during the day it is sometimes impossible to keep up with clearing the sidewalks. The maintenance crew will continue to make multiple passes to keep them as clear as possible. At times, the temperatures are low enough that salt* will not melt the snow and ice so it is important that everyone is careful when walking across the campus. As temperatures warm and/or the sun comes out, the salt is able to melt the snow and ice.
* “Uncured” concrete sidewalks, due to the nature of their recent pouring, cannot be salted. In these instances, sand is considered the best alternative, though it is not as good as salt in providing stable walking surfaces. All campus members are reminded to be very careful when walking about the campus during inclement weather situations.