This is John Alfero, technical services coordinator with SUIS. See John's story below.

The Daily Brief
Thursday, January 13, 2011


 Announcements

Reminder for Faculty and Staff:  The Center for the Enhancement of Teaching workshop on general education is on campus today, 9:30 a.m. through lunch. Please note:  the room has been changed to the MSU Room 250.

The workshop, titled "Kutztown University’s general education curriculum:  What do we know? Where do we go?," has a focus on general education and general education assessment at KU. KU faculty who are working on assessments of specific general education outcomes will provide short reports on their work. 

The KU University Relations staff continuously reviews communications methods in an attempt to streamline and improve overall campus communications. As a result, the following changes will be implemented in 2011:

--Bear Essentials, the student e-newsletter, will be converted to a new, updated format. An e-mail containing copy in the body will be distributed each Wednesday to students, faculty and staff. Essential administrative announcements will appear at the top of the e-mail, followed by general promotional items. Repeat announcements will be placed at the bottom. All messages submitted to Bear Essentials should be student-related. For more information on Bear Essentials, please visit http://www.kutztown.edu/news/bear/

--The Daily Brief will continue to be distributed Monday through Friday mornings via e-mail to all faculty and staff. Additional improvements will be made to the publication, including weekly university news updates and features. All messages submitted to the Daily Brief should be for faculty and staff. For guidelines and further information, please visit   http://www.kutztown.edu/news/brief/Daily%20Brief%20Guidelines.html

--We continue to work with an outside agency to redesign the KU website. Once completed, new technology will allow us to begin to implement new electronic communications methods. The anticipated launch period for the revamped website is fall 2011. In the meantime, all constituents are encouraged to use Bear Essentials and The Daily Brief as the preferred method of e-communication to campus. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us to enhance our efforts!
        University Relations Office staff   

Meet John Alfero - McFarland Student Union (MSU) technical services coordinator John Alfero can recite Murphy’s Law by heart. Responsible for the smooth operation of all audio, visual and lighting equipment in the student union, when something breaks down, John is on the job. 

Joining KU in 2007 after 23 years in a similar job with the Muhlenberg School District, John is the person behind the scenes running projectors, turning up microphones, and adjusting the lights for the more than 5,000 events held in the student union each academic year.

“Some days it can get pretty hectic,” John said, noting that in 2009-2010 the MSU welcomed more than 229,000 people attending various events. 

Having worked in the audio-visual field for more than 30 years, this resident of Fleetwood said he likes it that way. 

“I was looking for something to do when I retired from the school district,” John said. “With all the activities going on in the MSU throughout the year, I certainly found enough to keep me busy!”

ATHLETICS

 Kutztown University football players Kevin Morton, Matt Dineen, Khalief Evans and Joel Irwin were named to the Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-Super Region 1 squad, released Tuesday afternoon. Morton and Dineen were named to the second team. Evans and Irwin were third team selections.

 Today & tomorrow, Jan. 13-14 
Men's & Women's Indoor Track vs. Golden Bear Invitational- 5 p.m.                                                    

Saturday, Jan. 15 
Wrestling vs. West Liberty State College, 10 a.m. (Keystone Field House)                                            
Wrestling vs. Seton Hill University, 10 a.m. (Keystone Field House)                                             
Men's & Women's Basketball vs. Bloomsburg, 1 p.m. (Keystone Arena)

Next Saturday, Jan. 22
“Take a kid to KU” on Jan. 22 for the men’s & women’s doubleheader basketball game vs. East Stroudsburg at Keystone Arena. All children under the age of 12 receive FREE admission and a complimentary Berks hotdog. Avalanche will be available for photographs and autographs. The women’s game begins at 1 p.m.; men’s game is at 3 p.m.

ARAMARK

 This week, the Cub Café will be open 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Viewpoints will be open 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

In Case You Missed It:
 (Announcements and other information that have previously appeared in the Daily Brief.)

Attention event organizers, the Office of University Relations will assist in communicating the postponement and/or cancellation of university-sponsored events. The following Web page, http://www.kutztown.edu/weather/cancellations.asp serves as a method to announce cancellations. It will be linked from “Announcements” on the main KU homepage at times of imminent inclement weather.

If you cancel or postpone a university event and wish to publicize it on the above Web page, please e-mail the cancellation, and any rescheduling information you wish to communicate, to Josh Leiboff at leiboff@kutztown.edu. You need to send the notice from your kutztown.edu e-mail address and include your contact information. Messages will be checked and processed throughout business hours, at 10 p.m. then again at 6:30 a.m. The website will be updated with any submissions as soon as possible thereafter.
        Josh Leiboff, University Relations

Please sign-up for the KUAlert e2Campus to receive important safety updates and weather-related information at http://www.kutztown.edu/kualert/e2campus.aspx. It's free and easy to sign-up.


 Construction Update: A construction crane will be on campus for two days starting today. Work to remove the deFrancesco building chiller and additional equipment will take place from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. both days. General building access will not be affected, although mechanical room access (door 5) will be blocked for the duration. Work will be complete by tomorrow. 
        Patrick Antonio, project manager, Facilities Project Services
Traffic advisory: Beginning next Wednesday, January 19, Route 737 will be closed between I-78 and Route 222 for bridge replacement near Kutz Mill Road. The road will be closed through August 2011. Though detours will be posted, please check your usual set of directions you may have for visitors and guests to the university and advise of alternate routes. From the west, visitors can use Route 61 off I-78 or from the east, visitors can use Route 100 at Fogelsville to Route 222. Click here for a look at the map.

Mileage rate increase: Please be advised that the U.S. General Services Administration’s  Privately Owned Vehicle reimbursement rate has increased to 51 cents per mile effective January 1, 2011.  In accordance with Board of Governors’ Policy 1986-07-A, Travel Expense Regulations, the reimbursement rate for use of a personal automobile for official System travel also has increased to 51 cents per mile effective January 1, 2011.  (For travel occurring from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2010, the reimbursement rate is 50 cents per mile.) 
        Accounts Payable Office
The Kutztown University Cheerleading Team is honored to represent the University at the Universal Cheerleaders Association National College Cheerleading Championship held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The cheerleaders will be attending the competition Jan. 13-18. Professors with one of the cheerleaders listed below who will be missing class on Jan. 18, should receive an email from that cheerleader requesting information on any work needed to be made up. We appreciate you allowing the cheerleaders appropriate time to submit the work upon their return. Any questions or concerns can be forwarded to Crystal Piparato, cheerleading advisor at piparato@kutztown.edu. 

The cheerleaders who will be attending are: Jordan Benedict, Tiffany Brinsko, Chelsea Creo, Erica Figueiredo, Ashley Gartner, Shannon Griffin, Krysta Kane, Jordan Kave, Caitlin McKinney, Paige Micchelli, Erin Miller, Rachel Miller, Kristen Nisbet, Rebecca Pope, Samantha Powers, Devin Raventos, Kimberly Reimel, Kelsey Richards, Nicole Ruscitti, Talia Russell, Emily Schmidt, Chelsea Schumacher, Nina Shahikian, Kathleen Wojowicz.
        Crystal A. Piparato, head cheerleading coach

AFSCME Local 2234: Members, please join us for our January 2011 meeting to be held, Monday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. at Janelle’s Catering and Restaurant, 360 Fleetwood Rd., Bowers. There will be a conference call/vote to attend the Women’s Leadership conference in Hershey, Pa., March 11-13, 2011.