Elizabethtown College News 
Back to top 3/23/2007 Colleges Against Cancer to hold first Relay for Life Elizabethtown College’s newly formed chapter of Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) will sponsor its first Relay for Life. The event will kick off at 8 p.m. on March 30 and will conclude at 8 a.m. on March 31.  CAC hopes to raise $25,000 for the American Cancer Society.More than 20 teams comprised of students, faculty, staff and friends of the College will participate in the 12-hour walk, which will take place on the outdoor track (or in Thompson Gymnasium in the case of rain). The first lap will be walked by cancer survivors, and each team will have at least one member on the track throughout the relay. A luminaria ceremony will begin at 10 p.m. on March 30 to honor cancer survivors and those who have lost their battle with the disease. Medicus, a club for pre-med students, will hold a Hair-a-Thon to raise money for Locks of Love in conjunction with the Relay for Life. The event will run from 7 to 10 p.m., March 30, in Thompson Gymnasium. Participants may donate 10 inches of hair or receive a hair cut from a licensed stylist for $10. When participants are not walking, they will enjoy entertainment provided by student performers and student groups including Melica (female a cappella group), Colors United Step Team, Gospel Choir, Vocalign (co-ed a cappella group), Emotion dance ensemble, Mad Cow improvisational group, Camerata and the College’s cheerleaders. A volleyball tournament and a team cheer competition will also be held. More information on the event is available by contacting Beth Ann Patti, president of CAC, at CAC@etown.edu. Back to top 3/22/2007 Art prof's paintings featured in Harrisburg exhibition Paintings by Associate Professor of Art Lou Schellenberg  will be included in the Art Association of Harrisburg's "Four Artists Invitational II," which will open with a meet-the artist reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on March 30. The event will be enlivened by the music of “Homage Accadienne” featuring Bruce Hamer, accordion and vocals, and Art Thomas on guitar.The exhibition -- photos, mixed media works and oil paintings -- will remain on view through May 3. Other featured artists will be Carole Emerson of Lancaster, David Hammaker of East Freedom and Richard Neff of Mechanicsburg. More information is available at www.artassocofhbg.com. Back to top 3/20/2007 Dale High '63 to serve as first CEO-in-residence The founder of the S. Dale High Center for Family Business at Elizabethtown College  will have the distinction of also serving as the Center’s first CEO-in-residence.Dale High '63, chairman of The High Companies of Lancaster, one of the most prominent family businesses in the area, will begin his work as CEO-in-residence this month. He will continue to serve in this role for several years. The High Center for Family Business is a membership organization, established in 1995 to increase the success of family businesses in the region and help them prepare for future business challenges, especially succession planning. The CEO-in-residence program provides a setting for a distinguished business leader to participate in the life of the Center and to further its mission. As CEO-in-residence, High will also provide short term consultation services and peer dialogue to businesses that are members of the Center, interact with Elizabethtown College students, as well as develop innovative programming to address some of the challenges family businesses face. Dale High joined his family’s business full-time in 1963 after graduating from Elizabethtown College. From its beginning in 1931 as a welding shop to its complexity today as a diverse and growing organization consisting of more than 10 businesses, The High Companies is widely recognized for its reputation in customer service, quality products and services, personal and corporate integrity, and beauty in projects affecting the environment. The organization employs more than 2,600 co-workers in the region. Back to top 3/12/2007 Prof writes foreword to report exposing online hate toward Hindus An Elizabethtown College religious studies professor has written the foreword to and edited a report issued by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF)  on the proliferation of anti-Hindu Internet websites.“Though it is less well-known in this country, anti-Hindu bigotry is every bit as ugly and dangerous as anti-Semitism or racism, and every bit as present on the Internet,” wrote Jeffery Long, chair of the Department of Religious Studies. “Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus” is the first report to systematically document hate against Hindus on the Internet, an issue of serious concern to Hindu-Americans and Hindus globally. The 52-page document argues that exposing online hate-speech is a crucial first step in combating a major factor behind prevalent negative stereotypes of Hinduism. In the publication, HAF traces the origins of online religious hate and bigotry, and presents evidence of the text and pictures from actual websites that illustrate their concerns. According to statistics provided in the report, “demonic” and “satanic” are the terms most commonly used today to describe Hinduism by numerous anti-Hindu websites easily accessible on the Internet. “This report is the beginning of an attempt to address the problem of anti-Hindu bigotry on the Internet head on: by exposing it and correcting the errors the websites detailed herein perpetuate.” Long wrote. “[It] is a wake-up call to all Americans to work for a society in which all religions are respected, and in which the practitioners of all religions can feel safe and included.” Long has taught at Elizabethtown College since receiving his doctoral degree at the University of Chicago in 2000. He is the author of the forthcoming “Jainism: An Introduction” and has published in Prabuddha Bharata, The Journal of Religion, Science and Spirit, Creative Transformations and several edited volumes. Long has presented papers for a variety of scholarly organizations, including the American Academy of Religion, the Association for Asian Studies, and the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy. Back to top 3/12/2007 Clark wins national championship in pole vault For the first time in a quarter of a century, there is an NCAA Division III individual champion from Elizabethtown College. Junior accounting  major Kevin Clark of Horsham, Pa., won the pole vault competition at the 2007 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Saturday afternoon to become the first Blue Jay individual national champion in any sport since 1982 and the first ever for the Elizabethtown track & field program.As a team, the Elizabethtown men finished 13th out of 57 scoring teams, marking the second year in a row that the College has finished among the top 15 in the nation in the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. Making the feat even more remarkable is the fact that Elizabethtown does not have an indoor track on its campus. Read more . . . Back to top 3/6/2007 Three head to NCAA track & field championship Three members of the Elizabethtown College men’s track and field team  will head to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology March 9 and 10 for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. They are senior Patrick Donovan (South Pasadena, CA/St. Francis) in the mile, junior Drew Graybeal (Woodbine, MD/Glenelg) in the 800m and junior Kevin Clark (Horsham, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) in the pole vault.Elizabethtown College's men’s track & field team recently won the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Championship for the fifth consecutive year. Last year, the Blue Jays finished 12th at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, and Elizabethtown finished 20th in the nation at the 2006 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. Back to top 3/5/2007 San Francisco artist to serve residency San Francisco artist Debra Walker will be in residency at Elizabethtown College in March. In addition to visiting classes offered by  the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, she will display her paintings – alongside those of Elizabethtown College Associate Professor of Art Lou Schellenberg – in an exhibit titled “East Coast Rural and West Coast Urban Landscape” at the Lynden Gallery. Both artists have subject matter that describes a sense of place – Walker’s urban, Schellenberg’s rural. The two will discuss the exhibit at 1 p.m., March 20, at Lynden Gallery, 117 S. Market St., Elizabethtown. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., March 23. Both events are open to the public free of charge.Walker has studied at Riverside City College and the University of California at Los Angeles and at Berkeley. She has exhibited her work at many galleries, most recently Theater on the Square and George Krevsky Gallery in San Francisco; Gallery 72 in Omaha, Neb.; and the Columbus (Ohio) Art Museum. Walker has also served as a designer for United Artist’s Records, as an assistant art director for the Los Angeles Times, as a business/production manager for Redgate Communications and as a freelance commercial artist. Back to top 3/2/2007 Prof earns NSF grant to develop international scientists directory A $50,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant will allow an Elizabethtown College anthropology professor to  undertake a project to create an International Directory of Arctic Social Scientists.Associate Professor of Anthropology Robert Wheelersburg has worked in the Arctic for nearly 20 years studying indigenous peoples and the loss of traditional resources. A recipient of numerous other NSF grants, Wheelersburg will use this award to create a partner network of organizations within countries currently engaged in Arctic social science research. That network will develop policies and procedures for creating the International Director of Arctic Social Scientists (IDASS). Several organizations currently maintain directories of Arctic social scientists, according to Wheelersburg, but they are often incomplete and out-of-date, making them ineffective for social scientists looking to build future research connections. Previous directories were created by national- or regional-level organizations, with a resulting limited focus and reach. In addition, these directories underrepresent certain indigenous organizations and individuals and, as printed documents, are unsearchable and somewhat inaccessible. “The development of a comprehensive, current and interactive directory has the potential to increase cooperation among scientists by providing them with a tool to aid in creating multinational, interdisciplinary research teams,” Wheelersburg said. “I’d like to develop a template for the IDASS that eliminates political issues, achieves broad participation across a variety of organizations and individuals, and presents an open-source database that is protected from misuse.” Wheelersburg hopes to complete the directory in time for the International Congress of Arctic Social Scientists in Nuuk, Greenland during late summer 2008. Back to top 3/1/2007 Administrator recognized as outstanding first-year student advocate Stephanie Rankin, director of Elizabethtown College’s Center for Student Success, has been chosen as a semi-finalist in the annual Outstanding First-Year Student Advocates  campaign of the National Resource Center for The First Year Experience and Students in Transition.Each year, American post-secondary institutions are invited to nominate one educator on their campus for this award. A national panel of distinguished educators review the nomination portfolios and select 10 individuals as the nation’s Outstanding First-Year Student Advocates. Rankin was nominated by Assistant Dean for the First-Year Program Tom Hagan for her commitment to first-year student success and her leadership on the Campus Wellness Network (CWN), a committee of people from a diverse range of departments across campus who work proactively to establish intervention plans for students experiencing some type of difficulty. Among the many initiatives Rankin has undertaken are an intensive advising first-year seminar for students who have been identified as at risk, a more student-friendly leave of absence policy and an academic early-warning system for students in 100- and 200-level courses. “With Stephanie at the helm of the Center for Student Success, the College has been able to chart a course towards a much more effective and useful advising model, especially for first-year students,” Hagan wrote in his nomination. “Through workshops and seminars held on a semester basis, Stephanie has been able to articulate, especially to the faculty, the importance of creating a student-centered advising model where the individual as a living, breathing being is the focus, not just a student with academic needs.” |
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