>> Please take your seats.
Let me see if they're ready.
Welcome to today's public comment period
for our regular Board cycle of meetings.
We have five speakers with us today.
Each speaker will be permitted up to three minutes for comment
with a verbal prompt provided to assist with the timekeeping.
While we are open to topics included in our agenda
for discussion, there are a few items that are not permitted
as items for public expression.
These include issues under negotiation as part
of the university's collective bargaining process,
the employment status of any specific individual,
statements concerning the private activities, lifestyles
or beliefs of individuals employed by or associated
with the university, grievances of individual students
or employees, proposals or bids for contract or pending
or threatened litigation involving the university.
As I introduce each speaker, I would ask that you please come
to the podium to make your remarks.
Our first speaker, alumnus Jeff Goldsmith has asked to speak
about Emeriti Trustees provisions.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Today the Board will have in front of it a proposal
to advise the operation of the Board,
as far as Trustees Emeriti are concerned.
What's interesting about this proposal, when we look
at the history of the Board and some of the issues that some
of us have talked about, we've talked
about the Board being insular, being controlled
by a small power group.
How else do you have the president
of the university being given permission
to sign a consent decree that did so much damage
to the university, without the full board involved,
or a tacit approval of the Freeh Report,
without a real discussion by the Board?
We know that power group exists.
What's interesting is with this new proposal,
certain Trustees Emeriti can be treated differently than others
at the discretion of the chair of the Board and the chair
of various committees, in other words,
members of the executive committee.
Trustees Emeriti are not privy to confidential materials
or allowed into executive sessions,
unless their participation is deemed worthwhile by the chair
of the respective committee or the chair of the Board.
The effect of this new way of handling Trustees Emeriti is
to allow the power group to retain that power,
beyond their term as trustees.
We can have trustees who have been rejected
by their various constituent groups remain in a position
of authority and power and having privy, having access
to confidential information, just because they're invited
to by the chairman of the Board and the chairman
of various committees.
This takes us exactly down the wrong path
that we've been down before.
It hardens that path in that it does not allow
for true representation of the various constituency groups,
if their will can be so easily overturned.
One other very quick matter,
now that I've finished these discussions.
At the end of the last board meeting,
I and another alumni were approached in the hallway
by Dr. Erickson [assumed spelling],
who expressed his opinion
that he felt we were only talking negatively
about the university.
I will tell you this, I love this university.
I've said that in previously public comments.
I did not get off work yesterday at 11:15 to get
up at 5:00 this morning to drive four hours to hear myself talk.
I did it because I love this university.
I want to see this university progress.
Dr. Erickson turned down an offer to meet one on one,
to have a proactive positive discussion,
despite his earlier calls for civil discussions.
I want to expand that.
I've been here and you've heard me many occasions.
I would be willing to sit down with any trustee
for confidential and positive discussions
on how we move forward.
You want to move forward?
I believe we should.
We need to put the divisiveness behind us,
but a way that's going to be effective and positive
and building this university for the future.
Get in touch with me.
I'm easy to find.
Tap my shoulder in between meetings.
Let's sit down and talk and move together
to move this university forward.
Thank You.
>> Next, John O'Leary, Penn State Beaver Capital Campaign,
would like to address the Board.
>> Good morning.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would just like to take this opportunity
to express my appreciation
for the really tremendous experience I had helping the
capital campaign for this local campus.
And I just wanted to reflect on that just a little bit
because these local campuses can be so important
in the local communities, as I am sure you're all aware.
Many of you may have started in them.
I would preface my remarks by saying I'm not a Penn Stater,
my wife isn't, and none of my kids were,
but I was well acquainted with Gary Keefer,
the previous chancellor here, and he'd ask me to help and,
of course, I did the worst thing you could possibly do.
I went to two consecutive meetings
and that makes you a chair or co-chair.
And as I learned a little bit more about it,
I learned some very positive things.
The most positive I think was the quality of this campus,
so I'm a lifelong resident here.
But I had never spent any time here.
This came into existence
about the time I graduated from high school.
And I found the place to be much more sophisticated,
it's a beautiful campus, physically beautiful
and getting more beautiful all the time thanks to your support
and there's a couple of big reminders here
that I'm sure you've been shown recently
that are thanks to your generosity.
There's a really interesting student body here.
They're very active and in the course of the capital campaign,
I got to go to a few events
and came away very impressed with that.
The faculty just astonished me, actually.
The truth is I had no idea that there was
such good quality faculty here locally
and so really this is a tremendous community asset.
The two things that I learned that I would like to share
with you is when we went over the outlines
of the capital campaign, there were five or six
of those headline things and you could sort of focus
on what you wanted to focus on and I said well, my interest is
in scholarship because I think it is important
to get people educated however
and in whatever manners that can be devised.
And I did find that it's actually not inexpensive
to come here, even if you live at home.
Again, you know it, but I think the average person walking
down the street doesn't know it.
It's surprisingly expensive.
So scholarship, even to those that live at home
and come here, is important.
So I said well, I'm going to focus on that.
I'm going to talk to people in this community
and remind them up that.
I will tell you this, that when I did
that with educated intelligent community leaders,
almost to a person, they didn't realize how expensive it was
to come here.
So that should always be present in your mind that this question
of cost and the net cost.
I mean, the gross cost is one thing, but the net cost
and the scholarship availability is important.
So we focused on that.
We gathered up a little bit of local money to create a couple
of scholarships things here, and that was a very sort
of positive experience.
I think more of that could be done.
And my final comment would be, I think that these campuses,
and I know this one a bit better now, are such an important part
of the community and I don't think they're as well understood
as they might perhaps be.
So as you think about budgeting things, I think issues
about sort of local marketing, visibility,
these kinds of things, I think could be improved on.
I think you might attract a better quality
of student over time.
I said that-- They don't like it when I say this,
but I said I think you guys have your light under a bushel.
And I don't mean that in a negative way.
I just think that it's a better place than most people realize.
So as you think about this campus and others,
I would encourage you to sort of put that in perspective and say,
are there things that we could do to make this more visible
and more appealing and more attractive
and bring the community in, in a more active way?
So, thank you for the moment.
[ Applause ]
>> Our third speaker, Dana Schleck [assumed spelling],
would like to speak about study abroad.
>> Hi. I never expected Penn State Beaver,
my small town university campus, would lead me
to a different part of the world, but it did, twice.
During my freshman advising session with Dr. Juliette Storr,
my communications professor, I expressed an interest
to study abroad while at Penn State.
She not only encouraged the idea, but made sure
for my first semester that I was on the right track
to go abroad in my junior year.
When the time came, I elected to spend a semester
at City University London, a Penn State partner,
through the study abroad program.
City University allowed me to transfer my credits at the end
of my semester, and ensured
that I didn't spend valuable tuition taking classes
that wouldn't count towards my communications degree.
My semester in London was amazing,
and at times I found it hard to imagine coming back here.
Would I still feel at home at Beaver like I did before?
Upon my return, not only did it feel like coming home,
I had a new perspective on my studies.
Studying at Beaver had prepared me for my experiences abroad
and I was more aware of what to expect when I arrived.
As a junior undergraduate heading to England
for the first time, one of my biggest concerns was being able
to keep up academically, but I didn't need to worry.
My classes in London were challenging; however,
I not only maintained excellent grades,
but I earned my highest GPA since I had begun college.
When I returned to Penn State Beaver,
I was able to maintain those grades.
Although my time in England provided truly outstanding
experiences, many of my best memories are
from Penn State Beaver.
There were late nights spent producing
"The Roar," our campus newspaper.
I served as a peer leader and a Lion ambassador,
leading campus tours for new students and families,
and I continued to expand my world view through my classes.
A little more than a year after graduating
with a Penn State communications degree, I returned to London
and City University, where I enrolled
in a master's degree program in international journalism.
I went back to City University because I knew
that it offered one of the top rated journalism schools,
not just in the UK, but in the world.
While my experiences in England, before and after graduating,
were challenging for me, I would never have succeeded
if I hadn't have attended Penn State Beaver.
After four years at this campus, and now as an alumna
of both Penn State and City University,
the fact that I earned my undergraduate degree
at Beaver means more to me than I can say in this brief time.
The one word that sums it all up is gratitude,
for the world class education that I received here,
the amazing staff, and the doors that it opened for me.
I'm grateful for all of those experiences which have made me
into the woman that stands here today.
[ Applause ]
>> John Hertneky, Penn State Alumnus
and Campus Advisory Board, would like to address the support
of the campus and commonwealth campus structure.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning.
I spent the first two years
of my Penn State education here at Beaver campus.
I went on to complete my bachelor's degree
in engineering, chemical engineering
at the University Park, where I graduated in '79.
I can assure you that my degree has indeed served me well.
I spend my career with Bayer, located here in Pittsburg,
and since 2009, I have been an independent contractor
for the Supply Chain Center of Experts
at Bayer Material Science.
My daughter, Katherine,
also attend Penn State Beaver before completing her degree
in chemistry at University Park in 2005.
I'm proud to say that she now works
as a customer service specialist for Chemours,
which is a former DuPont business,
in Wilmington, Delaware.
As a proud alumnus of Beaver, I've been involved
with the campus in a variety of volunteer functions since 2001.
I served as an adjunct faculty member in engineering
for several semesters here at Beaver and I note all
of this only as a way to illustrate my passion
and support for the Commonwealth campuses in general
and Beaver campus in particular.
As an alumni, former student, and parent of a former student,
I cannot emphasize enough the value provided
by Penn State Beaver.
It offers increased affordability
for commuter students, provides a beneficial transition
from high school to college, emphasizes the excellence
of its outstanding faculty, and has an outstanding faculty
to student ratio 16 to 1.
It is important that the campus continues
to receive the necessary organizational
and financial support from Penn State University Park,
which will enable Beaver to continue
to provide outstanding service
to its students and its community.
For my part, I will continue to work
with the Beaver campus staff
to make sure funds are available via scholarships in order
to keep a Penn State education affordable
and within a student's financial reach.
Along with John O'Leary, I served as a chairperson
of Beaver's most recent fundraising campaign,
which concluded last year.
I'm happy to say that we exceeded our original goal
by raising 3.1 million dollars, something we accomplished
with the assistance and support
of other campus alumni and friends.
Personally, I'm committed to continue my work
as co-chairperson of Beaver's next fundraising campaign,
which is slated to start next year.
It is my hope and my challenge to you, as our board
of trustees, to make sure our Penn State campuses can continue
to fulfill their mission as part of this land grant university.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Our last speaker, alumnus Steve Wellendorf,
would like to address the impact of Penn State Beaver.
>> Good morning.
My name is Steve Wellendorf.
I am a 1997 graduate of Penn State University
with a bachelor's degree in education.
I live here in Beaver,
and I serve as the Beaver area high school principal.
I'd like to begin with a very simple statement,
that we are so richly blessed here in Beaver County
to have this campus in our own backyard.
Thank you for supporting that.
And as the gentleman and young lady has shared before me,
we are thankful in so many ways for your support of this campus.
My older brother attended this campus and developed
such a strong foundation here
that he finished his degree at University Park.
His foundation was so strong that I was accepted
to University Park and I chose the same path.
I began my college career here as well.
If we didn't have the option
of attending Penn State Beaver Campus,
it's hard to predict how my brother's story
and my own would have played out.
The Beaver campus provided such a foundation for us
and enabled us to complete our bachelor's degrees
at University Park.
Beyond our bachelor's degrees, my brother has earned his MBA
and a master's in information systems.
I've earned a master's in education
and soon completing my PhD in organizational learning
and leadership, and this all began at Penn State Beaver.
Based on my own experiences,
I'm able to confidently recommend Penn State
to future high school graduates on a regular basis.
I proudly share my educational journey with them, with students
and parents alike, on a regular basis.
Penn State Beaver does a wonderful job
of filling the crucial transitional piece
between high school and university,
academically and socially.
It never fails.
Penn State Beaver provides an outstanding
educational foundation.
I feel pride when I review the final transcripts
of my own graduates at Beaver High School, who are going
to be attending Penn State.
I can almost anticipate the experiences
and the academic rigor that they are going
to face in years ahead.
The relationship between Penn State Beaver
and local high schools like mine is outstanding, even symbiotic.
High schools and Beaver campus share many things,
including our students through a jumpstart,
the dual enrollment program.
A lot of our students earn college credit while they're
still in high school.
They either can come to the campus or have staff
from Penn State Beaver teach courses
in our classrooms in our own schools.
This is an outstanding program
that has been very well supported.
Dan Pinchot, Penn State's director
of enrollment management at this campus, has provided leadership
and has developed very personal relationships
with administration and guidance counselors throughout this area.
Through this partnership, we've benefitted both high schools
and Penn State Beaver alike.
I thank you, both personally and professionally,
for supporting Penn State Beaver Campus.
Countless students and families, including my own,
have been richly blessed as a result of having this campus.
So, thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> We're going to break now for a campus tour
and I would invite all five speakers to join us
for that campus tour and lunch, since you were so patient
and waiting for our delay in our public comment session.
Okay, we'll now adjourn and we'll reconvene
for the public meeting.
>> This room will be locked,
so you can leave your-- You can leave--