The Chronicle November 2012 Produced by the Students of William Penn University Volume 65, Issue 3

In thIs Issue

<< CReAte-A-CReAtuRe (pg. 2)CAnneD FOOD DRIVe (pg. 5) >>

Mahaska County Mammoths unearthedby Melanie MackeyStaff Writer

Some newfound celebrities have been found in Oskaloosa, Iowa. They are older than Damon Harrison and Tyler Sash combined and they have not made a visit to Smokey Row just yet. They dwell on a farm on the outskirts of town and are being poked, brushed and probed by stu-dents and scientists alike. Many have heard about the “Mam-moths of Mahaska County”, but haven’t had the chance to experience the discov-ery for themselves. Luckily for Oskaloosa, Farmer John (as he prefers to be called) welcomes diggers on his property about twice a month to participate in the excavation. Some Wil-liam Penn students have gotten the op-portunity to meet the mammoths earlier this fall. “You can read all the science books and articles about archeology,” said Dr. James North, a WPU science professor, adviser to Penn’s Biology Club, and a regular lead-

er at the dig site. “But, once you get to do it, that’s when it’s real.” A rough estimate claims the bones are around 14,000 years old, a timeline that was set along with the last Ice Age. Scientists have made the clarification that there are two mammoths at the dig site after finding two different sized shoulder blades from the same side of the body. No theories have been con-firmed yet as to whether it was a young and old mammoth, or two completely different species altogether. The mammoths were first discovered when a stream bed eroded after flood-ing a couple of years ago. Farmer John and his sons were looking for berries on his property shortly after the floods and saw an exposed end of a femur that was 40 inches around. Since the initial discovery, professors and scientists have come from all over the Midwest, particularly from the Uni-versity of Iowa Museum, to investigate.

(Mammoth Dig--Continued on page 8)

Black Friday Approaches for Bargain shoppers by Chelsea La RueStaff Writer

While some may be home resting their stomachs after a large Thanksgiving meal, advantageous shoppers are preparing to shop and save on the day after the holiday. Every year, more than 220 million Amer-icans set out late on Thanksgiving night to fight the crowds and get those prized ob-jects at a discounted price. This year, the so-called “Black Friday” lands on Nov. 23. For department stores and other retail businesses, Black Friday is seen as the be-ginning of the Christmas shopping season. Traditionally, stores have been known to open their doors as early as 4 a.m., but lately the opening time has been earlier and earlier. Stores such as Walmart, Macy’s, Best Buy and many more have joined the trend of opening doors at midnight Fri-day morning, causing anxious shoppers to start standing in line early on Thanksgiv-ing shortly after finishing their holiday meals. Many retailers recently announced plans to begin their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving night, as early at 8 p.m. “It’s so overwhelming,” Ashley Proven-zano, WPU Perkins Loan represen-tative, said. Many students and fac-ulty on campus agree with Provenzano. Junior Noel Hoover said, “People are just so greedy!” For many, the long lines and possible

shoving just isn’t worth it. Regardless of the deals, many opt out due to the rowdiness that is now associated with Black Friday. “I have never found anythingthat I thought was worth the hassle,” Provenzano said. Over the years, the aggression of fren-zied shoppers has increased. In many in-cidents in the United States, workers and shoppers have died while participating in Black Friday. The most common reason for death is from being trampled by a stampede of people. In other cases, impatient shop-pers have been known to push through and break doors to gain entrance to the stores. According to the International Business Times, during Black Friday 2011 in Cali-fornia, two men fighting over a toy at Toys R’ Us resorted to pulling guns and killing each other during the dispute. Another in-cident included many women and men get-ting trampled and badly injured, including a woman who was eight months pregnant. YouTube is the home of many violent and shocking Black Friday videos. View-ers can watch a video that shows a vicious Wal Mart crowd trying to get DVDs be-ing put out for sale. In the midst of the video, a woman is pushed down to the ground and it is obvious she is being trampled and stepped on. Although the background noise is loud, the woman can vividly be heard screaming for help. A few people stopped and helped her up.

The shocking aspect of this video is that the woman kept shopping. She can be seen still trying to fight her way to the DVD bin to get her copy after taking a minute to regain her energy. USA Today covered the major mis-haps during Black Friday last year. The first included injuries to more than 20 people at a California Walmart. The at-tacker was a middle-aged woman who was trying to get to the Xbox games. She was accused of using pepper spray on anyone who was in her way, including children. Not all feel that Black Friday is a wasted trip. Christy Gay, who works in the William Penn University Business Office, said, “I get what I want for cheap!” For avid shoppers, Black Friday offers many deals that are just too good to pass up. According to a Black Friday predic-tions website, the items that are expected to bring the most hype this year are tab-lets and eReaders, HDTVs, computers, smart phones, cameras and video games. The site cautioned that consumers often get what they are paying for. Many of the cheap electronics may look great, but it is important to know they are most likely watered down version of the originals, missing most of the “bells and whistles.” “We got a lot of Wii games last year. Even if we didn’t want them we still bought them because they were so cheap,” freshmen Allison Williams said.

The main website to visit to scope out all of the great Black Friday deals is bfads.com (shorthand for Black Friday Ads). The website displays deals from many of the top stores and helps shoppers compare prices. The website, updated daily, presents Black Friday ads as soon as the stores release them. For those who are not up to the hassle of going to the stores and fighting the crowds, there is another option. Cyber Monday, organized by the website Shop.org, began in 2005. This provides people the opportunity to shop online from home or during their lunch break at work with-out having to fight the crowds, but still be able to get all of the great bargains. Cyber Monday is on Nov. 26 this year. People interested in partaking in the event should visit cybermonday.com. The website lists the stores that will be participating and the discounts that will be offered. The website also of-fers coupons, and displays the best deals from more than 700 different retailers. The Los Angeles Times reported that shopping on Cyber Monday 2011 was up more than 33 percent from 2010. It can be said that many people are de-ciding that shopping for the deals on-line is safer and more accommodat-ing than actually going to the stores. Black Friday is a growing event that will most likely continue to gain in popularity, so long as shoppers show up.

Dr. James North and Professor Pat McAdams screen for tusk fragments at the Mahaska County dig site on Sunday, Nov. 4. (Photo by Melanie Mackey)

2 November 2012

Campus

Hailey Brown Co-Editor

Melanie MackeyCo-Editor

Drew RugglesStaff Writer

Shawna GoemaatCopy Editor

Chelsea La RueCopy Editor

Kramer PattersonStaff Writer

India SmithStaff Writer

Jeff Stein, J.D.Faculty Advisor

The Chronicle

by Melanie MackeyStaff Writer

It is that time of year again. After Hal-loween passes and the witch and zom-bie costumes are stowed in the closet for another year, one supernatural pres-ence remains: vampires and werewolves. On Nov. 15, at 10 p.m. Iowa time, faithful fans of the popular Twilight Saga will be the first to see the final installa-tion of the series, Breaking Dawn-Part 2. The movie, starring Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson, will feature the final battle between the werewolves, the vampire Cullen family and an army of ancient Italian vampires. Since the first film adaptation of Ste-phenie Meyer’s romantic book series, seeing the film first has been a priority for many, and college students are no ex-ception. That is why Levi Tarbell, direc-tor of the Penn Activity Center, will be giving out 30 free tickets to the event. “We will ask trivia questions on our Face-book page, and five winners who donated blood at the blood drive will also be drawn,”

Tarbell said. He also gave out tickets for the release of The Avengers film last spring. “I really enjoy going to the movies, and do even more so as a college student,” Tarbell said. Joe Kleinmeyer, a senior at Wil-liam Penn and employee at the Oska-loosa movie theater, said movie premieres are among the busiest nights he works. “It’s the atmosphere. You have to be the first person to see it,” Kleinmeyer said. He also hinted there may be free posters given away in a raffle at the movie event. Some Twilight fans are not willing to wait to win a ticket, especially since there is a chance they will not be picked. Demi Co-ertze, a WPU freshman from South Africa, has already purchased her tickets in advance. “I’m going to see it the 16th, the day it comes out,” Coertze said. She opted out of the later night premiere. For many, the Twilight fan cul-ture can seem a little intense, but to Coertze it makes perfect sense. “I think my approach on Twilight was the right one because I read the books first and then saw the movies,” Coertze said.

She is also a big fan of the roman-tic lead of the film: Edward Cullen. “It’s a great love story. Any wom-an who says they don’t love Twi-light is lying, because I think we all want a man like Edward,” she said. While Tarbell shared no passion for the

sparkly brooding vampire, he did reveal that tickets will also be given out for The Hob-bit, which comes out in December, and Iron Man 3, which will be released in the spring. Students are encouraged to participate in the activities and join in the chances to win free premiere movie tickets.

WPu students Create-a-CreatureP.A.S.S. sponsors event allowing students

to stuff their own animals

Students gather to stuff their creatures at the Nov. 8 event. (Photo by Hailey Brown)

by Shawna GoemaatStaff Writer

With a table piled high with fluffy white stuffing, adoption papers laid out and a few different options for ani-mals, students were invited to “Create-a-Creature” during the lunch hour on Thursday, Nov. 8 in the lobby of the Union. Students could choose from a frog, hippopotamus or black bear to stuff themselves and take home or give as a gift. After filling out adoption pa-pers, students then stuffed their creature of choice and dressed it in a shirt that read ‘WPU’. The event was free to all students and was sponsored by Programming Activities by Stu-dents for Students (P.A.S.S.), a group that is run by students and brings a variety of free ac-tivities and events to the campus of William Penn for all to enjoy. About 350 animals were stuffed by students start-ing to crowd around tables at 11 a.m. By the time it was over, only a few extra ani-mals were lying around since P.A.S.S. ran out of fluff.

students eligible to Win Movie Premiere tickets

Edward and Bella (Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart) from the popular “Twilight Saga” will be hitting the cinemas again on Nov. 15. (Courtesy Photo)

WPU Students could create their own hippo. (Photo by Shawna Goemaat)

Another Create-a-Creature option was to create your own black bear. Jac-queline Kurandt shows off the bear she made. (Photo by Shawna Goemaat)

November 2012 3

TechnologyLibrary Considers new Addition:

Apple smart screen tVsby Hailey BrownStaff Writer On any given day, when a student en-ters the Wilcox Library on campus, there are likely to be students tucked away in ev-ery corner immersed in their readings and projects. Many will be tapping away on com-puter keyboards, or at study tables with groups of classmates or team-mates going over the next big test, or quietly proofreading an English paper. The key word is “quietly”. What about those diligent students who have a class where oral presentations are required and weigh heavily in their grade? Or where students need to perfect any work above the appropriate library decibel? In many of today’s classrooms, multi-

media presentations are a common requirement that may include visual aids, ample talking, and sometimes multi-media segments. Instead of risking the dirty looks of peers and others who are quietly keying away on their laptops in the library, what if there was an option to go over your presentations in a room away from the typical library setup? Of course, a student could al-ways use the electronic classroomsin the basement of the library, but sometimes those are full of large groups and classes that are meeting. Come spring semester, librarian Julie Hansen said this more “vocal” studying in the library may become a possibility. Apple Smart Screen TVs may be installed in study rooms for stu-

dents who need to violate the noise policy and use hardware that isn’t readily available to everyone who needs it. “[The Apple Smart Screen TV] would allow students the opportunity to perfect presentations that they have created and will be presenting in class,” Hansen said. The Student Government Associa-tion and Hansen have been meeting once a year to discuss student perspective on library-related issues. Hansen said both sides agreed the Apple Smart Screen TVs would meet some students’ current needs. “We do a ‘building usage study’ as one of our assessment activities and we noticed that our classrooms are busy at night with large groups studying together, which is great, but students individually or in small groups need access to equipment also and that is how we came up with the idea,” she said.

Hansen added the Apple TV would allow students to project presenta-tions they have created on iPads. If students want to use their iPad in the classroom, however, In-formation Services will need to supply another connector that is not included in the deal, Hansen said. While the cost is not currently known, Hansen said she is working out the details and a decision on price and availability will be made in the future.

Moodle scheduled to Replace Part of eagle In coming years, Penn is set to make transition to new learning software

by Drew RugglesStaff Writer

Moodle, a software learning manage-ment system (LMS), is set to replace parts of William Penn University’s current sys-tem, called Eagle. “Eagle is what William Penn calls their student in-formation system (SIS). It has a lot of student infor-mation manage-ment things like advising, but there is also a compo-nent to it that al-lows for creating and managing course material and that piece of it would be con-sidered the learning management system (LMS),” Matt Wagner, Director of Aca-demic Technology, said. “It isn’t as feature rich, or as developed as something like Moodle, Blackboard, or any of the other competitors out there.” Wagner joined William Penn last year after working at Iowa State University’s Instructional Technology Center followed

by serving as Director of Academic Tech-nology and Director of Online Learning at Buena Vista University. He brought ten years of academic technology ex-perience, as well as serving as a teacher inside and outside of the classroom for

students and staff to learn about Moodle. While a large part of Wagner’s job is currently focused on Moodle, it entails more than that. “My job is to support faculty and stu-dents’ use of educational or academic tech-nology. So I’m not really an IT person, like a programmer. I couldn’t fix a computer to save my life, but I do know how to use

software. I know how to do faculty train-ing and know a lot of academic technolo-gy, and that’s a big part of my background,” Wagner said. After his first year as a professor at Wil-liam Penn, Wagner undertook the added re-

sponsibility of Director of Academic Tech-nology which entailed the implementation of Moodle and the phasing out of Eagle. Moodle was implemented initially to fill the needs of the College for Work-ing Adults (CWA) program and should eventually apply to the entire university. “Eagle was not the right choice for an online system, so rather than support-ing multiple systems and dividing our attention for Eagle and an old version of Blackboard, the idea was, let’s con-solidate into one learning LMS that the whole campus is using,” Wagner said. “I don’t know if I’d necessarily say any-thing is at fault, but what we’re doing here with the CWA program, Eagle just didn’t meet the needs. We had Distance Learn-ing and our on-campus education pro-gram using an old version of Blackboard which wasn’t quite meeting their needs.” The full transition will take place over the next few years. “With a switch like that, you can’t just jump. You can’t just turn one switch off and turn the other one on,” Wag-ner said. “So this summer, with the start of the online program in CWA, they started building classes in Moodle.” “The Information Services (IS) depart-

ment really wants to stop using Blackboard--in fact, we have--and a big part of what we did this summer has helped the Educa-tion and Distant Learning departments.” Over the summer, materials were down-loaded from Blackboard and uploaded

onto Moodle. “It was a very time consum-ing process, but we figured that it’s easier to do it file by file and build the course as we go along rather than sort of dumping ev-erything into a course and try-ing to clean it up later. It’s just easier to start from scratch,”

Wagner said. This year, Distance Learning courses and faculty in the Education department, as well as online classes, are using Moodle. The next academic year, all Penn faculty will be able to start using Moodle, so many professors will spend the summer building their courses or they can spend the next academic year getting comfortable with the new software. The advising aspect of Eagle will still re-main, however. Only the learning manage-ment system part of Eagle is being replaced. “That’s not going away, and that is a very important point I want to stress. We are not getting rid of Eagle. We just will no longer be using the learning man-agement portion of it. We will be us-ing Moodle for all of that,” Wagner said. Wagner pointed out the positives of switching to the Moodle software system campuswide. “We’re all standardized on one platform, so support is a lot better, training is a lot better, plus Moodle is a better platform. It has a lot more features, the quizzing and survey tools are a lot better and the discus-sion tools are better. There’s integration with web conferencing and the grading al-lows for some additional options,” he said.

Can your business benefit from reaching William Penn university

students, faculty and staff?

then advertise in the December issue of The Chronicle

e-mail Chronicle@wmpenn.edu or call 641-673-2106 for information

Deadline for ads is December 1

Students: How are you spend-ing Thanksgiving?

4 November 2012

Campus LifeInternational students Make holiday Plans

“I’m spending time with a lot of my family in Centerville.”

--Jordan Davis Strength and Conditioning

“I plan on having dinner with my grandparents in Albia.”

--William Smead, Information Technology, Business Management

“I’m going home to Omaha to hang with the brother and my dog.”

--Ali Parks Elementary Education

“I’m going home to Michigan! My friend Ed is coming with.”

--Tommy Kozack Physical Education

by India SmithStaff Writer

Nothing is better than coming home from school to a home-cooked meal, and with Thanksgiving right around the corner, students will be left stuffed. While many students get ready for the holiday break, there are a few students who don’t get the chance to go home. Instead, they get to soak up the holiday season in America with their new friends and host families. These international students have traveled thousands of miles to come to school in America and getting used to our traditions and beliefs are something they look forward to doing. Since William Penn University is known for di-versity in students, many of them are new to the traditions that students from the United States are used to celebrating. William Penn has students from all over the world, including Africa, Scotland and England. Many of those students have never celebrated Thanksgiving, but they are excited for the festivities that happen that day. Freshmen Esther Lwakabamba may be from Rwanda, but she is very familiar with the American traditions of Thanksgiving and the holiday season in general. Lwak-abamba is the youngest in her family, and this will be the first holiday she spends away from her parents. Lwakabamba has been traveling to and from the United States since she was 5 years old and is quite excited for the holiday break. “I’m going to Portland, Ore. to visit my two brothers who both live and work in the United States,” she said.Lwakabamba is one of the many Penn international students who have family in the states they can go see during breaks. “Not being able to see my family when I want to can be a struggle at times, but knowing that they are not that far away makes me feel a little bit better,” Lwakabamba said. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, many international students were not as excited for the oc-casion as some American students might be. Many will be staying at school, spending time with their host families, and just simply enjoying their break away from classes. Having a five-day weekend is greatly needed, and with classes almost over, every student is feeling the pressure of getting by with the grade they deserve. Anne Niyigena, another student from Rwanda,

is planning on spending her break with her host family, Andy and Diane Davis of Oskaloosa. Niy-igena, who is familiar with the Thanksgiving holi-day, can’t wait to spend time with her host family and hopes that it is like the holidays back in Rwanda. “Back at home, we have fun. All of my family comesover and we enjoy each other’s company and go to church. It’s all about having fun and enjoying each other’s company,” she said. The Davises have two sons and Niy-igena is hoping to get to know them a little better over the Thanksgiving break. While many students celebrate Thanksgiving with their friends and family while feasting over a meal that only gets made once a year, the international students are thankful for the little things in life that Americans may not take that notice of. Being able to come to school in America to get a better education is something they all value. Being so far away from their loved ones, re-membering to stay focused is one thing that constantly stays on their minds as they go through their daily tasks. “I like it here. The people are very friendly but it’s still going to take a lot of getting used to,” Claire Ujeneza of Rwanda said. Marc Dryden of Scotland will be traveling to St. Louis, Mo. over the break to visit some friends. “Being around people that I know is going to be the highlight of my break,” Dryden said. Most of the international students at Penn knew each other before they came to the United States, or have friends who go to school in other states. Dryden said it is a great relief knowing you are not going through this alone. Dryden, who doesn’t cel-ebrate Thanksgiving back home in Scotland, plans on joining in on the American Thanksgiving celebration. With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, students who have nowhere to go can cel-ebrate with the Christopher family of Oskaloosa. Gary Christopher, Associate Professor of Physi-cal Education, would like students who are plan-ning to join his family to call Liz at (641) 670-1101. This year’s Thanksgiving break begins on Wednes-day, Nov. 21. Classes will not be held on that day. The break continues through the weekend, with classes re-suming on Monday, Nov. 27.

by Hailey BrownStaff Writer

This year, those in the community over the age of 14 had a new option for something festive to do for Hal-loween. William Penn University organizations Alpha MuTheta and ALIVE teamed up to host the McGrew Haunted House in the McGrew Fine Arts Center. Although dorm construction blocked the main en-trance to the parking lot of the haunted house, it did not stop a number of people from funneling through the east side entrance. “We were granted a budget from Penn to pay for it,” event coordinator Kendall Denhartog said. “I don’t know if we’ll be having any sort of fundraiser for it later or not.” The two-weekend run kicked off on Friday, Oct. 26 and ended Saturday, Nov. 3. No admission fee was charged, making the experience free for attendees. The haunted house was open from 7 p.m. through 11 p.m. each night. “Those under 14 were excluded for safety reasons,” Alpha Mu Theta member Kilie Steel said. Alpha Mu Theta and ALIVE believed children under the age limit were more likely to wander off the course, touch things

and lose control over their actions if they were scared by the frightening contents of the house. “We’re not out to scare children,” Steel noted. Since those entering the house saw fog and strobe lights like those in a variety of other haunted houses, those who were asthmatic or epileptic were cautioned before entering at their own risk. There were multiple “rooms” in the haunted house, including an undead ballroom, zombie room and clown room. Although there was initial confusion whether the house would be a free-will donation event or not, the house went forward without accepting donations of any kind. Steel said this event was planned to get the Alpha Mu Theta name on the map and provide entertainment on Penn’s campus. As for future Halloween-related entertainment, Steel said there is a chance that ALIVE would host it again. Denhartog said despite the tedious tasks and road bumps along the way, there is a chance for future haunted hous-es. “I do believe that there will be more to come in terms of future haunted houses,” he said. “I think overall we all really enjoyed putting this together and look forward to attempting to make it happen again.”

Penn Organizations Join together for haunted house

“I’m just happy Major League Baseball is over for a while so my husband can quit hogging the T.V.”

--Lori Smith Financial Aid

“The Final Four.”--Dr. Noel Stahle Dean of Faculty

Faculty/Staff:What winter sport are you looking forward

to?

“Indoor track. Final answer.”--Valinn McReynolds Social Media Coordinator

5November 2012

Campus Life

“Men’s Basketball. They’re fun to watch because it’s fast-paced.”

--Christy Gay Accounting

space for Rent:new Dorms now Accepting Applications

by Melanie MackeyStaff Writer

Both new and returning Penn students have been watching the new dorm being constructed since March. Now the moment they have all been waiting for is ap-proaching: Move in Day. The William Penn Residence Life staff has recently begun accepting applications from those wishing to live in the new Market Street Dorms. Those accepted will move into the new rooms when classes begin for the aca-demic term in January. According to WPU Resident Life Director Jim Rorabaugh, over 50 students have applied so far. “There are 250 beds to fill,” Rorabaugh said. “And we’re hoping to fill all of them.” The new residence hall sits between Eltse Hall and the McGrew Fine Arts Center. Eltse residents use the designated cross walk to get to campus across Market Street. Students studying at McGrew use the bridge be-tween McGrew and Lewis Hall to cross the street. To accommodate the new addition to that side of the road, Rorabaugh said students will be encouraged to use the McGrew bridge. Officials are hopeful that signs will also be posted at the top of the hill to ask cars to be aware of students crossing. As of right now, the third floor of the Market Street

Dorm is 99 percent done, although there are still some touch ups to do. New furniture has been purchased for the third floor, while the other floors will be furnished with the general beds and chairs seen in all the other dorms. Furniture is scheduled to be moved in on Dec. 17. Cable and internet hookups will be similar to those in other dorms, and all the same rules still apply. Many who have applied to be the first Market Street Dorm residents are current Eltse Hall residents, who will need to move when Eltse closes for renovations at the end of this semester. Libby Eickert, a WPU sophomore currently liv-ing in Twin, is an exception. According to Eickert, it is better to live with friends so one doesn’t have to worry about strangers stealing their personal possessions. Many students are applying to live with friends and are looking forward to the change of scenery. “I think the new dorms are going to be awesome,” Eickert said. “I am so excited for it to be finished so stu-dents can finally move in.” Resident Assistants will be switched around and transferred to the new dorm according to need, and ap-plications for a hall director will be accepted soon. “Overall, I’m expecting a pretty smooth move,” Rorabaugh said. Students, staff and faculty are looking forward to the exciting changes that 2013 and 2014 will bring to William Penn campus.

students Participate in Canned Food Drive to help those in need

by Melanie MackeyStaff Writer

As the Statesmen football team was gearing upfor its game Saturday morning, Nov. 10, various William Penn University organizations were formulating a differ-ent plan of attack. Members of the softball team, computer club, ed-ucation club, science club, United Worlds Club and Sigma Phi Sigma fraternity gathered in the Penn Ac-tivity Center with maps of Oskaloosa. William Penn math professor Breanne Garrett divided groups of students to go door-to-door asking for dona-tions of non-perishable food items to give to the Ecumenical Cupboard and women’s shelter. Alpha Lambda Delta, an honors society aimed at praising the academic successful of first year college students, has been hosting a food can drive since its official in-duction as a student or-ganization in 2004. Af-ter a big success last year with more than 2,000 pounds of food donated, Alpha Lambda Delta had a higher goal for this year. Students stood outside Hy-Vee and Fareway, asking shoppers to donate extra food on their way out of the grocery stores. This year’s grand total for donations was 1,649 pounds of non-perishable items, as well as $227.47 in cash donations. Alpha Lambda Delta will be rewarding the softball team for being the organization that collected the most weight in food at 352 pounds. The honors society will offer the players an ice cream sundae party after one of their evening practices and several other volunteers will

be given $5 gift cards to Walmart to express their grati-tude. “I was pleasantly surprised about the turnout for this year,” Alpha Lambda Delta Alicia president Alicia Jennings said. “With a little bit of help and in just a couple short hours - look what a difference we can make,” ALD fac-ulty advisor Sue VanWyk said. Special contributions were made by Fareway and the third grade class from Oskaloosa Christian Elementary

School. The third graders had already gathered a cart of items to donate, and Fare-way promised to send an-other cart full of food to the Ecumenical Cupboard at a later date. The drive was considered a success, but organizers want to continue to make it bigger and better next year. “Our ALD members need to do a better job next year of getting other organizations on campus involved,” Gar-rett said. Garrett offered her math students extra credit for donating items early to the drive, which greatly con-tributed to the overall result of the event. Students could earn up to 30 points - 5 points for the first can and 1 point for every can afterwards.

The students of Alpha Lambda Delta, along with hosting the food drive, also hold a student versus fac-ulty basketball game after inducting new members in the spring. The honors society invites all freshmen with a GPA of 3.5 or higher, or those who maintain a position in the top 20 percent of their class, to join the group. At the end of the day, plenty of food and supplies were donated to community members in need. “It’s nice to see that the citizens of Oskaloosa take time out of their busy Saturdays to support us,” Garrett said.

Alpha Lambda Delta members Corrie Bailey and Alicia Jen-nings stock collected cans into a U-Haul truck. (Photo by Sue VanWyk)

6 November 2012

Campus Life

They have seen WPU presidents come and go. They have witnessed the rise and fall of enrollment. They have watched as buildings are constructed and others are abandoned. They are the faculty and staff who be-gan working at William Penn more than 20 years ago and have never left. He began working at what was then called William Penn College in 1961. He continues to build on his half century of service at Wil-liam Penn University and doesn’t have plans to leave. Professor Bob Barnes taught chemistry for nearly 40 years until he “retired” and be-gan teaching photography in 2000. “I hope to be here as long as I’m healthy,” Barnes said. “I take one year at time. It’s been an enjoyable way to spend my life.” Barnes has not seen great changes in the students at Penn through the years, but the facilities have changed a lot. When he started, Watson Hall was new and the women’s dorm had hours where the residents had to be inside the dorm by 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11:30 p.m. on weekends. Spencer Chapel was open and chapel services were held daily. And Wilcox Library didn’t exist. “The library was on the third floor of Penn Hall in the northeast corner. Apparently the weight of the books was enough to damage the foundation, so that was the reason for building a new library,” Barnes said. Wilcox Library was built in 1964. Julie Hansen has been the librarian there since 1988. Since she began more than 20 years ago, the library has made many changes.

“In 1988, there weren’t computers in the library and everything was paper-based. Technology has truly transformed libraries and very much for the better. We have so much more access to a wealth of informa-tion,” Hansen said. “Now we can be a good library and can support most of the programs the univer-sity offers. We’re working on being able to better support our nursing program by

purchasing materials and databases.” In her nearly 25 years on campus, Han-sen has seen numerous improvements to facilities. “When I first came here, I thought all the facilities looked really run down. I re-member thinking my first impression was not good. Everywhere on campus it was like that, and we’ve really tried to work on

that throughout the years,” she said. “Now we really have some fabulous facilities, plus we’ve tried to take care of older places like Penn Hall. Students don’t want to be in a place where every-thing is broken down or dirty, and they deserve a nice place,” Hansen said. Mike Laird, WPU head baseball coach, has seen major changes in the athletic de-partment since he began at WPU 33 years

ago. Some of those changes include the university being readmitted to the NAIA in 2001 and the later construction of the Penn Activity Center. “The PAC has greatly helped the en-tire campus community,” Laird said. “This has helped with recruiting and retention while providing a huge boost to our vis-ibility and accessibility in the community and region.” Over the years, Laird said WPU stu-dents have been looking for the same things: value, job market, accessibility and cost. Judy Williams, professor of computer science/physics, has been teaching at Wil-liam Penn University for 32 years. She re-members the deteriorated facilities in the 1980s. “A year after I came, we were down to only around 450 students. At that point, it was hard to even get paint for the doors at Lewis Hall. When it snowed, we would have snow on the inside of the windows at Penn Hall. The roof on the fourth floor of Penn Hall leaked. I had a class up there, and we had to move to McGrew because the plaster was falling from the ceiling,” Williams said. She is grateful for the improvements made to the campus. “Things are so much better now. Now we also have the PAC and Musco Technol-ogy Center and there have been numerous upgrades at Penn Hall,” Williams said. Williams has stayed at William Penn because she appreciates the small school setting. “Because it is small, I see some of the same students in numerous classes throughout their career. We have much different relationships [than can be made at a larger school],” Williams said. Throughout the years, she has seen

students become more focused on grades rather than learning. “I want students to do well, but I want them to be thinking about what they can do to learn rather than what to do to get a good grade,” she said. She blames soci-ety for this shift, as well as an emphasis on students staying eligible for athletic schol-arships. She has also seen a move toward stu-

dents being more materialistic with cars, cell phones and iP-ods. Students are willing to go into debt and take out more student loans to support this lifestyle, as opposed to thinking

of themselves as a frugal college student. “Deferred gratification is not something that’s important any-more,” Williams said. When she began teaching, there was no internet. “Things have changed where before, people who had a good memory had an advantage. They could remember a lot of facts. Now you don’t have to remem-ber a lot of facts, but thinking is at a premium.” “Sometimes I think our reli-ance on technology has dimin-ished our ability to think things through or critically analyze,” Williams said. Williams continues to enjoy her time at Penn. “It’s fun to be here because

of the relationships with students and with other faculty. In the small college, you can know people from other departments, too,” Williams said. John Ottoson has experienced William Penn both as a student, and since 1990, as a staff member. Through the years, he has served in many positions from vice-presi-dent of advancement to athletic director. Since 2003, he has served as vice-president of admissions. The admissions department has changed over the years because technology has changed how the team recruits students. “In the old days, it was letters and phone calls and if they weren’t home, we missed them. Now, with cell phones, we can talk to people wherever they are. We can be more efficient and communicate in a way they want to hear it,” Ottoson said. Ottoson agrees that capital improve-ments in the last ten years have provided great opportunities for students. “But the philosophy of professors here hasn’t changed – they are here to help stu-dents. That’s the core of who we are. We could have all the bells and whistles in the world, but if we lose that, we lose who we are,” Ottoson said. Dr. Noel Stahle, Dean of the Faculty and Vice-President for Academic Affairs, said surveys of WPU graduates report students’ identify faculty as dedicated and caring. He attributes the university’s size and a faculty that communicates and gets along. He said faculty and staff who have stayed at WPU for numerous years remain because of the school’s size and relation-ships with colleagues and not because of monetary compensation. “Faculty at William Penn work hard to help students be successful. They invest in each student,” Stahle said.

WPu Faculty and staff Log Many Years of service

by Shawna GoemaatStaff Writer

PAC HOURS Wednesday Nov. 21st Open 8 a.m.–7 p.m. Thursday Nov. 22nd CLOSED Friday Nov. 23rd Open 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Saturday Nov. 24th Open 1 p.m.-5 p.m Sunday Nov. 25th Open 1 p.m.-9p.m

WPU Faculty and Staff LongevitySource: WPU Human Resources Department

7November 2012

SportsPenn Basketball teams

Looking to have successful seasonsby Kramer PattersonStaff Writer

With every season there are different customs, and a major sport for that season. With fall comes the changing of the leaves, the weather getting colder and Friday night football at Lacy Stadium. The spring season brings new life, warmer weather and Amer-ica’s favorite past time, baseball. Summer is hot, and all sports come out to play. Then there is the upcoming season of winter. With winter, comes the sport of basketball. William Penn University’s basketball teams are also starting to get into full swing. The men’s basketball team is led by Coach John Henry, in his 12th season as head coach of the Statesmen. Henry said there will be 11 returners on the 12-man varsity roster. Some of the key returners will be Bran-don Beasley, Keith Steffeck, Blake Walker and Taylor Stoutner. Stoutner and Walker earned all-conference honors last season.Henry said one of the strengths for this team is the fact that they are very versatile. “We have a lot of players who can play lots of positions,” Henry said. Versatility can play a big role if injuries occur, because better players can step into those positions. In this way, the Statesmen can use one of their main keys to success--experience. This experience is a result of a trip the Statesmen took to the NAIA national tournament, held in Point Lookout, Mo. Henry said the Statesmen are go-ing to “carry on what we did last year” to get back to the tournament. Making the postseason last year makes the Statesmen

“hungry to get back to the tournament.” Last year’s success not only made the Statesmen more determined, but it also got them some national attention. They were ranked No. 19 in the pre-season polls, and are picked to win the c o n f e r -ence. Some t e a m s w o u l d shy away from the pre-season hype, but the States-men like the expec-t a t i o n s . Another key to the S t a t e s -men being successful is staying h e a l t h y , w h i c h is im-portant to every team so they can keep their best players on the court. The Statesmen basketball team made its debut on Nov. 2 at Morn-ingside College in Sioux City. The women’s team started play on Tuesday, Oct. 30 with a win over Waldorf. The Lady Statesmen trailed at times, but ultimately came out with the 80-61 win. The women’s team has a lot of returning talent this season, including 2nd

team all-American honoree and all-con-ference pick Orielle Thomas. Thomas aver-aged a double-double last season and is one of a few key players that new Coach Mike Brown has returning. Others include senior

point guard Sarah Mar-tin, who contributes a t h l e t i -cism and experience; s o p h o -more Katie Golomski, who re-ceived the newcomer of the year a w a r d ; and se-niors Tay-lor Reed and Sam A b e n s . B r o w n said these returning

players are essential to the success of this team and can help “add a lot of firepower.” Individuals do not make a team. A team needs cohesiveness to be success-ful. Brown said one of the paths to suc-cess for this team is to learn to “play for each other.” To do this, the Lady States-men must buy into a formula for success. It includes defending, rebounding, and tak-ing care of the ball by not turning it over. Brown is in his first year as head coach

of the Lady Statesmen, taking over for Bri-an Spielbauer. Coaching change can often affect the dynamics of a team. Brown does not think that will be the case because he has been a Penn assistant for the past two years. However, there will be some changes on the offensive side of the ball. “We will be more open offensive-ly,” Brown said. This is a big thing for Brown because he said he likes the players to play and not be controlled much on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive scheme also helps the team get ahead quickly. Brown said the offense gives the team a chance to “rattle of a lot of points quickly.” Several other things contribute to a team’s success. Both teams are very versatile and many players can play different posi-tions. Brown said the women have a “little mixture of everything,” including speed, athleticism, versatility and shooting ability. One of the key returners put on her dis-play of shooting ability last year, making 96 three-pointers for the Lady Statesmen.

by Kramer Patterson Staff Writer For the first time in 37 years, the William Penn University football team will make an appearance in the na-tional NAIA championship playoffs. The team is on a path to success, butas anyone knows, that path to success is never easy. The Statesmen began the season with an impressive 7-0 start. With a good win over St. Francis of Illinois, the future looked bright. Then with tough losses to St. Ambrose and St. Francis of Indiana, the winning streak ended. But playoff hopes for the Statesmen did not end with the losses. With a win in their last game, the Statesmen earned a playoff berth. The Statesmen defeated Grand View Univer-sity in the battle for the Rock and Lad-der trophy on Nov. 10. The win caused a three-way tie for the conference champi-onship and gained WPU a playoff spot. “One of the biggest contributors to the success of our team is that we are good in all three phases of the game: of-fense, special teams, and defense,” Of-fensive Coordinator Aaron Hafner said. According to Hafner, this is be-cause if a team is built solely around one phase of the game, then the oth-er two will struggle and opposing teams would take advantage of that.

One of the ways the Statesmen show balance is because they have a combina-tion of powerful fullbacks who can run the ball up the middle and speedy slot backs who can get to the edge. “Our team speed is on par with the best of the nation,” Hafner said. Hafner believes the final key to suc-cess for the Statesmen was that the offen-sive line has a lot of experience and depth. Not only are the Statesmen good on offense, but they are also good on de-fense. The Statesmen defense is led by Defensive Coordinator Brad Grif-fin. Griffin said most of the success the Statesmen are having on defense is be-cause they are playing well together. “If they do their job up front on the line,then the back seven can do theirs,” Griffin said. Both the line and the back seven are doing their jobs very well, as the defen-sive line has managed to sack the quar-terback 16 times and the defensive has managed to take the ball away 27 times, scoring on four of those takeaways. As with the offense, a big contributor to team success on defense is team speed. “Team speed will play a huge fac-tor in the next coming weeks just like it did in the first nine,” Griffin said. WPU will play No. 4-ranked St. Xavier on Saturday, Nov. 17 in the first round of the playoffs. The game will start at 12 p.m. and will be played at St. Xavier, in Chicago.

by Hailey BrownStaff Writer

Two WPU cross country members will be representing William Penn University at the NAIA National Championships in Washington on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Freshman Yanni Gallagher is the 11th William Penn University runner to reach nationals since the school joined the NAIA in back in 2001.

Along with Gallagher, graduate assistant and Penn Social Media Coordinator Valinn McReynolds will be running in the women’s division.

She currently holds one of the fastest 5k times in the school’s history at 19:29.6.“I’m really looking forward to racing at Nationals. This is my first time and last year

to run at this level, and that just makes it so much more exciting,” McReynolds said. “I’m ready to put the past few months of hard work into this races,” she said.

Cross Country Runners headed to nationals

statesmen Gridders earn First Playoff spot since 1975

CampusNovember 20128

(Mammoth Dig- continued from page 1)

“You can find mammoth bones all over Iowa, but when you find 10, 12, 15 bones all in one place, that’s really something special,” North said, making this particular dig site a rarity. So far, as many as 80 bones have been found and identified at this specific site. “The more bones we find, the more in-formation we can gather,” he said. North said the well-preserved nature of the bones means the mammoths died where they lived. Clues to their lives and deaths can also be found in the soil, pollen, bacteria, ferns and seeds that were buried with them. As of now, only one official William Penn student trip has been made to the dig site. Dr. Janet Ewart’s Anatomy class uncovered several new bones during their dig. Professors are hopeful that many more trips will be made after the winter season passes. Opportunities will also arise for students from other majors who want to relive some childhood dreams of archeol-ogy. One student group that is more hopeful than most to visit the mammoths is Wil-liam Penn’s Biology Club, led by President Heather Mackey. She hopes participation in a legitimate mammoth dig will look impressive on an application to graduate school. “We told Dr. North that we really want to go,” Mackey said. “We even called dibs!” The dig site has been recently expand-ed. It was originally only big enough to fit about four diggers at a time. However,

a back hoe was brought in for expansion, which has opened up the site enough for enthusiasts to dig in up to three different places and continue finding bones. Volunteers and leaders at the dig are enthusiastic about making sure students get the full experience during the excava-tion. They can filter soil through a screen to look for tusk fragments, brush off some vertebrae or help uncover a rib. “With as many bones as we’re find-ing, it’s a very sharing atmosphere,” North said. The bone bed is deep. No part of the dig site has been unsuccessful in finding something significant to the mystery of the mammoths. The depth of the bone bed is good, meaning the bones are not com-pressed. The presence of the mammoth bones means William Penn students will get the opportunity to experience an education beyond the classroom, as well as make connections with the several scientists at the site. Students also get the opportunity to see and experience what North likes to call “the sexy part” of science, which is the hands-on digging and discovery. Soon, Farmer John and leaders at the dig plan to extract the last of the ex-posed bones before winter. The only problem is, they keep find-ing more and more. Progress of William Penn’s collabo-ration with the mammoth dig can be viewed online at www.wpumammoth-dig.tumblr.com. Announcements about future digs will be made after a break for the winter holiday season.

by Melanie Mackey Staff Writer

When I was invited to tag along at the mammoth dig on Nov. 4 to help get details for my Chronicle story about the mammoth remains, I assumed my morning would consist of asking scientific questions, tak-ing pictures of vaguely exposed mammoth bones and attempting to spell complicated, long sci-ence-related words for further reference when writing my piece. However, by the end of the day, I was covered in mud and starry-eyed from the experience. It didn’t take much on my part to get someone talking about the wonder of the dig. And it did not take long before I had found some-thing worth photographing. Bones were popping up everywhere!

“Do you see that? That’s a tusk,” Farmer John said, almost nonchalantly. Within an hour, a decent-sized amount of the tusk had been brushed off and all of the diggers were marveling at the size. One of the regular volunteers shared with me that the first tusk they found was much smaller than the one they had just uncov-ered, revealing more proof that there are two mammoths present in this giant time capsule. Unfortunately, this tusk lies above the water table, which means it can dry out and crumble if left out in the elements. “It’s going to be a great jigsaw puzzle for somebody,” Dr. James North said with a laugh. I spent the next hour screening for tusk fragments in the leftover dirt with North and Professor Pat McAdams. Although most of my findings were actually rocks, I did have a few small victories, which will eventually help piece together the new tusk. I took a break to take some pictures of the vertebrae that were just uncov-ered at a different corner of the dig site,

when I investigated a new bone close by. A volunteer excitedly said, “Wouldn’tit be cool if you got to uncover this mam-moth rib?” He handed me a tool and showed me how to probe the dirt and carefully dig around the bone. I was pleasantly surprised at how the volunteer want-ed me to uncover the rib, even though he could have had the experience all to himself. However, I got so deep into mammoth conversation with him and so focused on digging out my mammoth rib that I didn’t real-ize I had sunk up to the knee in mud. As another act of kindness, the vol-unteer helped dig me out of my muddy trap and we continued to forage for bones. Dig leader Dave Brenzel was making his rounds through the dig, watching the prog-ress and offering insight on what we found. By the end of the day, I felt like I had just lived a real life episode of “The Magic School Bus,” and I could imagine Ms. Frizzle her-self smirking at me saying, “See, Melanie, science and history can be so much fun!” And truth be told, I couldn’t help but agree with her.

My Mammoth Dig experience

Mammoth Dig Winding Down for Winter

The dig hole continues to be expanded as more bones are found. (Photo by Melanie Mackey)

A mammoth vertebrae uncovered at the dig site. (Photo by Melanie Mackey)

Staff Writer Melanie Mackey, immersed in the mammoth dig experience. (Photo by Sarah Mackey)