The KU budget presentation for staff, faculty and students will be held today at 3 p.m. (rescheduled from Feb. 11 due to snow) and Friday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.  Both presentations will take place in the McFarland Student Union Alumni Auditorium.  Presenters from our Division of Administration and Finance will share the university’s budget forecasts for the next several academic years as projected at this point.  We will have our key administrators present to help answer questions.  Our hope is that the sessions will help everyone understand our budget situation better as we continue to plan for the year ahead.  I hope to see you on one of these dates.  

        F. Javier Cevallos, president

There’s still time to consider the KU Summer Program in Austria and Germany! Take in the scenic beauty of Austrian alpine villages, visit historic cities and landmarks, all while earning academic credit. The trip is May 30- June 23, but the application deadline is fast approaching – March 3. For more information, please contact Dr. Gregory Hanson at hanson@kutztown.edu.

Spring Visitation day – Saturday, Feb. 27: The Undergraduate Admissions Office is hosting the first Spring Visitation Day for accepted freshmen and transfer students for the Fall 2010 semester on Saturday, Feb. 27.  Please join us in welcoming over 900 visitors on this day.

        William Stahler, director, Office of Undergraduate Admissions

Faculty, please excuse the following students from class on Friday, Feb. 26 from 9 a.m.- noon.  They will be attending the Counsel for Student Involvement meeting at Alvernia University.

Jaimie Gantt, Samantha Buchanan, and  Jessica Goldman.

        Kristen (Snyder) Gallagher, assistant director, Student Union & Involvement Services

Black History Month Film and Discussion - Thursday, Feb. 25, at 11 a.m. “Out of Obscurity: The Struggle to Desegregate America’s Libraries” is an amazing documentary about a segregated “public” library in Alexandria, Virginia and a powerful protest spearheaded by a group of 20-year-olds that took place in 1939. Join us for this film presentation and learn more about one of the little known episodes in civil rights history. This event will take place in Rohrbach Library room 29.

        Rohrbach Library, Voices and Choices Center

The Anthropology Club will not have its regular meeting this week (Thursday, Feb. 25, but will have a bake sale in the Old Main lobby from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.  There will be hot chocolate, bone cookies and much more.

Due to the failure of the movie producer to release Blindside to our movie service, this week’s movie will be The Princess and The Frog. Blindside will be rescheduled for later in the semester. The movie will be shown in the McFarland Student Union Alumni Auditorium on tonight and Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m.

        John Alfero, technical services coordinator

America Reads and America Counts of KU will be holding their annual spring reading event! It will take place on Saturday, March 27 from 10 a.m. until noon in the multipurpose room of the McFarland Student Union.  The event will be loosely based on Dr. Seuss' book, "If I Ran the Zoo." All children are welcome! We will provide crafts, activities, free books, refreshments, and live animals! We are also looking for volunteers who would like to help with setup, breakdown, and traffic control. 

        Don Siler, coordinator, America Reads/America Counts

Faculty, staff, students and friends: Poor communication is one of the biggest reasons for problems in the work place!  Think you know it all?  Then you are in for a surprise!  You are invited to attend the Kutztown Area Toastmasters meeting on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in McFarland Student Union 322.  Check out how this organization has a rich tradition of helping people to enhance their verbal communication skills. Know someone looking for a job?  Or, just looking to further advance your skills? Toastmasters can help!  Drop by and check out just how this organization can enhance all varieties of verbal communication.  You just may be surprised at how much fun and rewarding personal development can be.

        Trisha J. Scarcia-King, director,  Student Union and Involvement Services

Gaetan Giannini will be speaking at KU on Wednesday, March 17. This is one in a series of six Seeking Solutions Series hosted by SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise,  an Entrepreneurial student club here at Kutztown University). Mr. Giannnini will be sharing information on Marketing and Social Media at 2 p.m.

The day will commence with a networking luncheon at noon. A research summary presentation featuring Dr. CJ Rhoads on The Rise and Fall of Social Media will begin at 3 p.m.

Later, at 4 p.m. is a tremendous panel on "How Can We Make Money From Social Media" with

Danial Endy, CEO of Acognita

Stanley Jaskiewicz, Author

Dale Rothenberger, Square 2 Marketing

This will be a great networking opportunity as well as learning experience. Please consider it even if you can only attend part of the day.

The cost for the lunch and panel is $35.  The main speaker and reception is $25 ($50 for both).  You can get more information by going to our Web site (http://www.kutztown.edu/activities/clubs/SIFE/events.html ) where you can register or download the brochure.  You can also call 610-683-4575 for information.  Don’t wait too long, however, because the deadline to register is March 10.  

        Heather Gillotti, vice president of public relations, Kutztown University Students in Free Enterprise

The following DVD’s were added to the media library in the Audiovisual Center:

In Grave Danger of Falling Food – DVD 2460: Part of the Visionaries series by Landmark Media, this film presents the views of Bill Mollison, author of “Permaculture” and winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize. Mollison explains his view that the most destructive force on the planet is modern agriculture, and offers alternative designs for self-regulating systems to provide food for households everywhere.

The Incredible 5-Point Scale – DVD 2467: This DVD is a companion to Dunn, Buron, and Curtis’ book The Incredible 5-Point Scale: Assisting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Understanding Social Interactions and Controlling Their Emotional Responses. The DVD expands the strategies in the book, making them applicable to children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders.

License to Thrive: Title IX at 35 – DVD 2703: This film by Theresa Moore takes a look at the 1972 piece of legislation called Title IX of the Education Amendments, which was to provide educational access and opportunity to women and young girls throughout the United States. As the film shows, this legislation has played a critical role in creating female leaders across the country.

Louie, Louie: A Portrait in Parkinson’s – DVD 2704: This documentary film by Cynthia Salzman Mondell is about her father’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease and the challenges her family faced in caring for him.

One Night in Bhopal – DVD 2707: This BBC Learning program provides a reconstruction of the Union Carbide methyl isocyanate disaster from the Indian city of Bhopal in 1984. The film covers details of the horrific consequences, the failure of corporate and government authorities to provide public disclosure, as well as interviews with local citizens and employees who survived the disaster.

        Thiep Pham, coordinator, AV Center