4/28/2005		Students demonstrate alternative energy storage units
4/26/2005		Men's tennis wins Commonwealth Conference Team Championship!
4/22/2005		Men's tennis advances to conference championship
4/21/2005		Senior show features six artists
4/19/2005		Music therapy celebrates 30th anniversary
4/18/2005		SIFE wins 16th straight regional title to go to nationals
4/15/2005		Social work prof earns Fulbright Study Tour to Thailand
4/14/2005		Students meet with Rep. Platts, Post columnist during D.C. trip
4/12/2005		Beiler tells grads to serve others; E-town awards first master's degrees
4/12/2005		E-town hosts Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Social Research Conference
4/11/2005		Art prof's painting at San Francisco's George Krevsky Gallery
4/8/2005		Cheerleaders take first at NEPA Challenge
4/6/2005		Math prof earns NSF grant
4/4/2005		E-town awarded $450,000 challenge grant
4/1/2005		High school juniors invited to April 9 Open House
4/1/2005		'Try E-town On For Size' is here!

Five teams of first-year engineering students recently demonstrated the alternative energy storage devices they designed and constructed.

The objective was to design an energy storage system that did not use electrochemical batteries, to store energy generated during 15 minutes of sunlight on a 120-watt solar panel, and to deliver the stored energy to an electric motor with at least 10-percent overall efficiency after a zero- to five-minute pause.

"This project specifically explores non-battery-based energy storage techniques," said Troy McBride, an assistant professor of physics and engineering who team teaches the students with lecturer Jean Fullerton. "While batteries are widely used and moderately effective, limited lifetimes, cost, and size, as well as environmental disposal concerns compel us to explore other technologies."

Nine teams of students completed the design with a budget of $400, and the best five were constructed by teams of six or seven for the demonstration. The devices include a 30-foot high, 100-gallon pumped hydroelectric setup; a 30-gallon compressed air system; a 25,000 Farad-ultracapacitor design (left); a 10-foot high, half-ton dual magnetic pendulum (above); and a high-speed induction flywheel (below). 

"During the demonstration, teams had 15 minutes to charge their energy storage system using the 120-watt solar panel," McBride said. "They then connected their system to a measuring device -- a motor and belt ‘horse-race’ counter -- to determine how much electrical energy they effectively stored."

Six Elizabethtown College senior art majors will display their work in the College’s Lyet Gallery (Leffler Chapel and Performance Center) and Hess Gallery (Zug Memorial Hall) from May 1 through May 21. The opening reception for the event is scheduled for 1 p.m., May 1, in both galleries. The reception and exhibit are open to the public free of charge. Lyet and Hess galleries are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Students exhibiting are Christina Blankenship of Manheim, Michael Grandi of Lebanon, Michelle Harkness of Levittown, Lindsey Morrison of Chadds Ford, Kathryn Needham of Lititz and Clare Pichler of Baltimore, Md.

Blankenship won the Printmaking Award in the College’s 2003 Juried Student Art Show. She plans to earn a graduate degree in psychology to prepare for a future in art therapy. "In creating my art, I tend to look at tones rather than color," she said. "I achieve this by lighting my subject to produce a wide range of lights and darks. My art usually looks soft, blended with no harsh lines and realistic."

Grandi has worked as a lab assistant in the art studio and as a student tutor for the art department for the past three year. He hopes to pursue a career in graphic arts or teach.

Harkness works as a designer for the College’s theatre department and has served as a studio assistant in the art department and as an intern with professional photographer Madelaine Gray. She was presented this year’s Joan Prentice Charlton Award, an endowed scholarship that provides assistance and recognition to an outstanding student for achievement in the fine arts. "As I continue to grow as an artist, I try to manipulate colors in my paintings and sculpture to express feelings, emotions, states of mind and myself," she said.

Of her work, Morrison says, "The theme of my work is capturing the beauty of the world through vague realism, though with my own bent on colors and feelings of the piece. I use organic images, whether people fruits or materials, to give a feeling of naturalism, the way that the universe creates beautiful images, which we have the privilege to recreate."

Needham has served as a curatorial and marketing intern at the Susquehanna Art Museum and as an intern at the Lancaster Museum of Art. She earned the Painting Award in the College’s 2004 Juried Student Art Show and has served in several positions on the Student Senate and as a Peer Mentor.

Pichler earned the College’s Joan Prentice Charlton Award in 2004. She has served as a drawing and sculpture tutor and has worked in Hess Gallery. "I like my work to flow naturally from the subconscious because it is, after all, a person thing," she said. "Forms and color are more important to me rather than subject matter, but if I choose to represent an object in my work, it has personal meaning."

Elizabethtown College music therapy majors and alumni participated in a drum circle held as part of the department’s 30th anniversary celebration on April 9.

Timeline of E-town's music therapy program:
February 1973 - Approval obtained to begin offering a music therapy program.
Fall 1973 - Students enrolled in the music therapy program.
Fall 1975 - Music therapy courses listed in catalog and first full-time faculty member hired.
Spring 1977 - First music therapy students graduated.
Fall 1979 - On-campus music therapy services began.
2000 - New curriculum discussed; based on education and training requirements and move to competency-based training.
Spring 2002 - E-town students presented research at regional conference and research poster session.
Spring 2003 - New curriculum passed and Open Door Recital held.
Spring 2005 - 30th anniversary celebration held.

For the 16th consecutive year, Elizabethtown College’s Students In Free Enterprise team claimed championship honors in a regional competition to advance to the SIFE National Exposition.

Elizabethtown’s SIFE team was named regional champion at a recent competition in Philadelphia, where they presented a report of their yearlong community outreach projects to a panel of business leaders. The team will now advance to the SIFE USA National Exposition, held in May in Kansas City.

During the 2004-2005 academic year, Elizabethtown’s team organized 26 projects, including 12 new projects, in the Elizabethtown community. Scouting University, for example, brought 360 Scouts and 80 leaders from 17 Pennsylvania counties to campus to earn merit badges taught by college students and faculty members.  The team also wrote articles for the student newspaper, The Etownian, which answered readers’ financial questions and raised issues of business ethics. 

"We’re proud of the projects we’re doing," said SIFE President Ben Osterhout, a senior business administration major from Tunkhannock, Pa. "The judges were impressed with the types of projects we did and the impact we had on the greater Elizabethtown community."

SIFE is an international nonprofit organization active on more than 1,800 university campuses in more than 40 countries. SIFE teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that teach market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills and business ethics. Their projects are judged at competition on creativity, innovation and effectiveness. 

Kristen Evans-Waughen, an adjunct faculty member in Elizabethtown’s computer science department, was also named as a Sam M. Walton Fellow in Free Enterprise for her service as adviser to the team during the past year.

Assistant Professor of Social Work Susan Mapp will participate in a Fulbright Study Tour to Thailand and Myanmar this summer. She is one of 15 faculty members from U.S. colleges and universities selected to spend five weeks learning about the people and cultures of these countries. Mapp will also research issues relevant to international social work, such as AIDS and sex trafficking.

Participants were drawn from the social sciences, humanities, social work and business and were selected on the basis of their commitment to international studies. The group will attend a series of lectures and seminars at the Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University and the Arts and Sciences University in Yangon.

This study tour is designed to enhance multicultural and global education programs. The key objectives are to enhance and enrich international studies programs, to develop and incorporate new curriculum units and to build a multimedia global education project on the peoples and cultures of Thailand and Myanmar. The group will study the religious traditions of Buddhism, the rich legacy of artistic heritage, folk traditions and the challenges of modern economic development.

Mapp earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in psychology and religion from Trinity University, a master of science in social work from the University of Texas at Austin, and a doctorate from the University of Houston. Her areas of expertise include research and program evaluation, particularly in the area of child welfare, as well as international social work.

Students in political science professor Fletcher McClellan's course The American Presidency took a field trip to Washington, D.C., on April 13 to hear U.S. Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA 19th); E.J. Dionne, nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post; and Paul Weinstein Jr., former Chief of Staff, Domestic Policy Council for former President Clinton and Senior Advisor to former Vice President Al Gore. Students are pictured outside the Brookings Institution.

"If you really want to be great, serve those around you." This was the final piece of advice Auntie Anne’s founder Anne Beiler offered to the 447 graduates of Elizabethtown College at Saturday’s commencement exercises.

Under sunny skies in The Dell, Beiler spoke of her own passion to serve others. "Each of you is uniquely gifted for a very specific purpose," she said. "My purpose focused on three things: to give, to treat people with respect and dignity, and to make sure my customers get fresh hot pretzels.

"I focused on what I had, not what I didn’t have," she continued. "As you think about your future, look deep in your hearts and ask the question, ‘What do I have?’ What can I offer my church, my community and my world."

Beiler echoed the words of College President Theodore Long, who welcomed the graduates and their families to the College’s 102nd commencement, where 23 occupational therapy students received the first-ever master’s degrees conferred by Elizabethtown. "This year we have a new extension of our mission – to educate for service – as we award our first master’s degrees in occupational therapy," he said.

In addition to Beiler, who received an honorary Doctor of Commerce, an honorary Doctor of Science was presented to Doris Gordon, the former Elizabethtown faculty member who founded the occupational therapy program, and an honorary Doctor of Public Service was presented to Susan Eckert, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of Lancaster County.

Elizabethtown College’s Class of 2005 will be the first to be asked -- by classmates and the College’s Center for Global Citizenship -- to sign a graduation pledge that they will consider social and environmental issues during their job search and will work to make changes in the workplace.

Twenty-five years after it hosted the first-ever Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Social Research Conference, Elizabethtown College is again welcoming the annual event to its campus on April 19.

More than 175 undergraduate students from 16 colleges will present papers on a variety of social research topics at the event, which is being coordinated by Assistant Professor of Political Science April Kelly-Woessner, Assistant Professor of Sociology Michele Kozimor-King and Professor of Political Science Fletcher McClellan. Nearly 50 Elizabethtown College students will present on topics ranging from the effect of education level on attitudes toward gay rights, voting and moral issues, Jewish liberalism, support groups for men with HIV/AIDS and block scheduling.

"For the past 25 years, this conference has provided undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to showcase their research in a nurturing, interdisciplinary environment," Kelly-Woessner said. "Student participants gain valuable experience in public speaking and presentation. More importantly, students and faculty alike are able to exchange ideas across disciplines to better their own research agendas."

The first such event was hosted in 1981 by Young Center Senior Fellow Donald Kraybill, who was then serving as a sociology professor at Elizabethtown. Twenty-three conference participants represented five different schools that year, with 21 coming from just three schools – Elizabethtown College, Gettysburg College and Shippensburg University.

The idea for an undergraduate research conference grew from a fall 1980 telephone call between Kraybill and Donald Hinrichs, a professor in Gettysburg College’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. "After agreeing that such a conference would be helpful for students enrolled in social science courses, I agreed to host the first one at E-town in spring 1981, and Hinrichs agreed to sponsor the second one at Gettysburg in the spring of 1982," Kraybill said. "With that impetus the conference gradually evolved and expanded as more faculty froms other schools supported it by hosting the conference and sending their students."

One of the remarkable things about the conference is it operates successfully without an ongoing steering committee or a budget, according to Kraybill. Each college or university that agrees to host it provides the finances for their conference and also organizes the mailings and promotions for the event. "Organizing and promoting this conference takes considerable work, but faculty from schools in the region have generously contributed their time and leadership so that the conference can thrive," he said. "The conference has grown far beyond our expectations and has provided a significant venue for the professional development for hundreds of students to report the results of their research to peers and faculty from other colleges and universities." 

This painting by Associate Professor of Art Lou Schellenberg is featured in an exhibit at the George Krevsky Gallery in San Francisco. The show, "More Than a Game: The Art of Baseball," runs through April 30.

Schellenberg also has a painting in the Lancaster (Pa.) General Women and Babies Hospital fundraiser, "Women's Expressions," a public exhibit of work by 50 women artists and 30 female high school students. The artwork is displayed in the halls of the Hospital and may be viewed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. It will be sold on April 16 during a silent auction as part of a gala dinner catered by The Log Cabin and held at Liberty Place, 313 Liberty St., Lancaster. More information is available at 717-544-3650.

E-town's cheerleaders concluded a busy season at the North East Pennsylvania Challenge at King's College on April 2 by claiming the first-place trophy in the squad contest. The College also took first place in the individual stunt group contest with Amy Wisler, Ang Castriota, Maeve Marks, Amy Koltonuk and Alicia Moyer competing. Koltonuk took third place in the dance division, where E-town was also represented by Meg Muller, Steph Pilichowski and Lisa Wherley. Castriota took second in the tumbling pass competition, as well as competing in the jumps contest with Wisler, Tia Portner, Koltonuk, Wherley and Becca Hahn. Marks, Moyer, Portner, Koltonuk, Rachel Irby and Nicole Podjed competed in the individual cheer competition.

An Elizabethtown College mathematics professor has received a $75,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to better prepare future mathematics teachers by integrating the history of mathematics into their college courses.

Gabriela Sanchis’ grant will fund the preparation of a textbook supplement and training workshops for college and university faculty to teach historical mathematics material in their courses. This is particularly helpful at smaller colleges and universities like Elizabethtown, according to Sanchis, who serves as an associate professor of mathematics. "At a smaller institution, the mathematics education curriculum is often too crowded to add a course on the history of math," she said. "I plan to develop materials – using lots of technology -- for faculty to incorporate these concepts into existing courses."

Many studies report that students’ attitudes toward mathematics decline during high school. One reason may be that students are often taught mathematics as separate, compartmentalized units of instruction that have no relationship to each other, according to Sanchis. "Teachers often lack the historical background that can help them make connections between different topics in the curriculum, as well as engage students of all different backgrounds," she said.

Sanchis’ textbook supplement will also help students experience the mathematics of a given period, leading to a greater appreciation of the contributions made by different cultures. "When these college students are high-school teachers, they might discuss the Arab mathematician al-Khwarizmi’s contributions to the beginnings of algebra. In an elementary school setting, they might spend time discussing the Egyptians and Babylonians," she said.

"It’s also important for students to learn about contributions made by women, and the obstacles that women had to overcome to be successful in this field," Sanchis said. "Sophie Germain, for example, couldn’t attend a French university in the 18th century because she was a woman. Despite that, she later proved part of Fermat’s Last Theorem, a very famous problem that stumped mathematicians for hundreds of years."

The NSF grant will cover summer salaries for Sanchis and two mathematics education majors who will serve as her assistants: Jeanette Halstead, a junior from Chalfont, Pa., and Lindsey Bosko, a senior from Elkhorn, Wis.

A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sanchis received a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and doctorate from the University of Rochester in the area of probability. Before obtaining her doctorate, she worked for four years as an actuary and passed several exams to become an associate of the Society of Actuaries. In 1992, she was awarded an NSF grant that enabled Elizabethtown’s Department of Mathematical Sciences to set up a computer laboratory and incorporate the use of technology into many of its mathematics courses.

Elizabethtown College’s James B. Hoover Center for Business is one step closer to reality, thanks to a $450,000 challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation. As a condition of the grant, the College must raise by July 1, 2006, the final $1.36 million needed to construct the Hoover Center.

"This extremely competitive grant will provide the momentum needed to increase our donor base and reach our fundraising goals," said Elizabethtown College President Theodore Long. "It is a wonderful testimony to the strength of the College’s programs, fundraising plan and financial stability, and it brings the Hoover Center one step closer to reality."

The $5.2 million James B. Hoover Center for Business will be a two-story, 30,000-foot facility that will provide much-needed space for the growing Department of Business, which enrolls more than 300 majors and nearly 50 minors. It will also create space to house a new academic program in entrepreneurial studies, establish a Center for Entrepreneurial Success and create a permanent home for the College’s Family Business Center and Center for Continuing Education and Distance Learning.

The Hoover Center is a component of Elizabethtown College’s $35-million comprehensive campaign, "To Serve Tomorrow." To date, more than $24 million has been raised toward the campaign goal.

"This grant was essential to propel us forward to complete the fundraising for the business building," said Richard Jordan of Mechanicsburg, chair of Elizabethtown’s campaign. "It was also a key ingredient to the entire campaign." Chairman and CEO of Smith Land and Improvement Corporation, Jordan is a 1970 Elizabethtown graduate who also serves as vice chairman and treasurer of the College’s board of trustees.

"All of us on the Business Building Committee take the Kresge challenge grant as a great motivator to raise the final $1.36 million and make the James B Hoover Center a reality for Elizabethtown College," said James Shreiner of Lancaster, chair of the Business Building Campaign Committee. A 1973 graduate of Elizabethtown, Shreiner is executive vice president at Fulton Bank and a member of the College’s board of trustees.

Elizabethtown College is one of 45 charitable organizations to thus far receive a 2005 grant from The Kresge Foundation, a $2.4-billion independent, private foundation with a mission "to promote the well-being of mankind." The College received five previous grants from the Foundation, the most recent in support of the High Library and Leffler Chapel and Performance Center.