Volume 31, No.18
January 28, 2000
Contact: Terry Day (570) 662-4844
tday@mnsfld.edu
Mansfield University is expecting more than 150 former
basketball players, coaches and support staff to return to campus this weekend to
celebrate the100th anniversary of both its first men’s and women's basketball team.
"The response has been better than we ever could have ever
expected," said MU Basketball Centennial Committee Co-Chairman Steve McCloskey.
"Right now we have confirmations from players from every decade from the 1930s
through the 90s. We've heard from former players and coaches living in 10 different states
from as far away as California, Colorado and Florida."
Both the men and women at the then called Mansfield State Normal
School fielded a basketball team for the first time in the winter of 1900. In honor of the
100th year anniversary, Mansfield University has sponsored a season long series of
promotions starting with a 100-year anniversary logo and floor decal.
Invitations have been sent to all former players, coaches and
support personnel inviting them back for the Centennial Reunion Weekend where they will be
honored with a Tip-Off party Friday night and guest of honor at the women's and men's
games against Millersville on Saturday afternoon. They will be the guests of the
university for Saturday night's Centennial Reunion Banquet in Decker Gymnasium where the
All-Century team will be announced.
Everyone returning for the Basketball Centennial Reunion Weekend
will receive a free golf shirt with the 100-year logo, a centennial poster, and a book on
the 100 years of Mountaineer basketball history. In addition, players, coaches, and
support personanel from the era of 1940-71 will also receive a piece of the basketball
floor from the recently demolished Rec Center.
The university will also be presented with proclamations from
Governor Tom Ridge, Representative Matt Baker and the House of Representatives, the
borough of Mansfield, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
In addition, fans can chose the best men's team in school history
by voting for which state championship team they feel was the best. Ballots will be
available at the game and all the social events.
During the late 50s to mid 60s, Mansfield won 59 straight games
at the old Rec Center. From 1961-64 the teams posted a 78-11 record and appeared in the
first four PSAC Championship games, winning three of them. Mansfield is the only school in
PSAC history to win titles in each decade of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
In honor of the basketball centennial, admission to
Saturday’s games will be 100 cents for all MU faculty and staff. The women’s
game begins at 1 p.m. with the men following at 3 p.m.
February Festival
Mansfield University will celebrate Black History month with
its second annual African-American Arts Festival in February.
The month-long-series of events begins with Mahalia, the
gospel musical that tells the amazing life story of Mahalia Jackson Wednesday, February 2,
8 p.m. at Straughn Hall. Tickets are $5 at the door. The performance is free to MU
students, faculty and staff.
Another highlight of this year’s festival is the return of
the Nommo Dance Group from Penn State, who delighted the Mansfield audience with their
electrifying performance last year. The Nommo Dance Group will perform in Steadman
Auditorium on Friday, February 18 at 6 p.m. Their performance is free and open to the
public.
Other events throughout the month include films, lectures,
storytelling, poetry readings and a soul food and culture fair. Harold Carter, chair of
the festival, said "we want to make the community aware of the contributions
African-American artists have made, and continue to make, to our culture."
For the full African-American Arts Festival 2000 schedule check
the student activities calendar on the Mansfield website or call ext. 4500. The festival
is sponsored by the Mansfield Activities Council, the Student Activities Office, Mansfield
University and by a social equity grant from the Office of the Chancellor.
Pictures From Russia
Bernie Koloski, professor of Languages and Literature, and
five MU students have just returned from a semester at Volgograd State University in
Russia. They will share their experiences in the semester’s first installment of the
MU Lecture Series: "Studying At A Russian University," on Wednesday, February 2,
4 p.m. in Manser North. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The eight-year-old MU/Volgograd exchange has become the most
successful study abroad program in Mansfield's history. It has led to over 70 Americans
and Russians visiting each other's universities. Twenty-three MU students and 10 faculty
members and spouses have been to Volgograd.
Making the exchange during the fall 1999 semester were Jonathan
Berguson, Lamar Crawford, Tiffany Cumming, Katrina Mosher, and Michael Salitrynski.
Koloski's wife Monique Oyallon, who teaches French at Penn State University, and their
13-year-old daughter Jenny also spent the semester in Volgograd.
The exchange participants, along with Alexander Kubyshkin,
visiting professor from Volgograd State University, and his wife, architect Tatiana
Anisimova, will attend the talk and answer questions.
The Power Of Education
Students in an 11-county area of north central Pennsylvania
will have a chance to "light up" the classrooms at Mansfield University as a
result of a scholarship fund being established by the Tri-County and Claverack Rural
Electric Cooperatives.
The scholarship fund will have a minimum endowment of $25,000 and
any dependent of a Tri-County or Claverack member will be eligible to apply for the
scholarship. In making the initial check presentation, Claverack Chairman Tom Elliott of
Wysox said, "This is a return to our members and their families for all the support
they’ve given us. We’re just returning something to our community." Elliott
has a business and personal interest in this venture. Two of his daughters graduated from
Mansfield University.
"This scholarship fund will give our Northern Pennsylvania
students the chance to go on and advance their education," said Robert Toombs,
President and CEO of Tri-County/Claverack. Toombs also noted that the cooperatives make
use of the university for employee training and a scholarship fund is a natural evolution
in these partnership activities.
It is that sense of partnership that makes Mansfield University
responsive to the Northern Tier, MU President John Halstead said. He expressed his
appreciation for the establishment of the scholarship fund
and the spirit of collaboration between the cooperatives and the university.
"Mansfield is here to serve the educational needs of our area," Halstead said.
"We appreciate the great support of Tri-County/Claverack in helping us accomplish our
mission and funding scholarships for students from our rural region."
Details on the application procedures and criteria for the
Tri-County/Claverack scholarship fund will be announced later.
John Ulrich, Languages and Literature, presented two papers at the Modern Language
Association convention in Chicago on December 28. "'Some Yesterdays Are Still Alive':
Memory and Narrative in Arnost Lustig's Darkness Casts No Shadow," examines the Czech
writer Lustig's Holocaust novel in light of recent theorizations of trauma and memory and
their representation in narrative. "William Cobbett's Body/Politics: 'The Great Wen,'
The Nation and the (Un)Healthy Body,"situates the materialist politics of the English
radical polemicist Cobbett, a vehement critic of industrialization ("The Great
Wen" is his famous metaphor for London), in the context of the early 19th
century debate about the "health" of the social body.
John Crossen, Languages and Literature, was recently named an associate editor of
the "Journal of Dracula Studies," a publication through the Canadian chapter of
the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, a group of Canadian, American, Irish, Australian,
Romanian and other Dracula scholars. He also has an essay on women in contemporary horror
films, "Bodies of Fright," in the current issue of the online journal,
"Horrorwood" (www.horror-wood.com).
The women’s basketball suffered its first conference loss
of the season on Wednesday, dropping a 75-45 decision at Bloomsburg. Allyson Buss led the
Mountaineers with 12 points. Buss also set the scoring pace last Saturday at MU downed
Cheyney 70-56. Mansfield is 3-1 in the PSAC East, 5-12 overall.
The MU men were beaten 85-74 by Bloomsburg Wednesday, despite a
career high 26-point performance from Alex Goodman. On Saturday the Mountainers suffered a
heartbreaking 82-81 loss at Cheyney. Tommy Harvey led MU with 23 points. Mansfield is 1-3
in conference, 10-7 overall.
Both basketball teams host Millersville Saturday with the women
tipping off at 1 p.m. and the men following at 3 p.m.
The swim team topped Millersville 104-54 last Saturday. Christina
Jacome, Jen Markert and Jamie Ragukonis were triple event winners for the Mountaineers. MU
travels to Wells College for a meet on Saturday.
At the Kutztown Dolfin Indoor Track Invitational last Saturday
the MU men finished seventh and the women 10th.
LIBRARY LISTINGS
These bestsellers are now on the shelves at North Hall:
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
"It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when
you haven't got a thing, that's the Lord's test."
--Mahalia Jackson