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Domain: millersville.edu

Stories and comments across the archive that link to millersville.edu.

Comments · 21

  1. Re:and if you use maglev bearings by tibit · · Score: 1 · on Using Flywheels to Meet Peak Power Grid Demands

    So, ha, I learned something again. I never thought about how a spinning disc in a rotating frame of reference will be affected, and that there will be a torque on it. I've found the derivations already done. I would have to redo them since I'm not 100% sure that I understood what is meant by torque (is the torque meant to be a component along the axis of rotation). It looks hopeful, tough.

    Alas, all that it takes to fix the problem is -- apparently -- to make the gyro spherical.

  2. Re:Learning Without a Negative Response? by AgentSmith · · Score: 1 · on The End of Forgetting

    Actually, knowing a wee bit about the PA System of Higher Education. Stacy Synder had probably signed a Code of Conduct
    agreement with Millersville University
    http://www.millersville.edu/services/judicialaffairs/files/StudentCodeofConduct20102011.pdf

    There are passages that state any offense that occurs either on or off campus can be
    cause for punishment.

    This is mere speculation, but I'm betting they saw her drunken pirate picture as "Public Drunkenness"
    and punished her by suspending her for the semester. With no ability to complete her student teaching
    should couldn't get her degree. Either that or she may have been expelled. Considering the rulings
    are determined somewhat arbitrarily it still appears to be heavy handed. Yet again another lesson
    in reading and understanding what you sign.

     

  3. Re:Learning Without a Negative Response? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on The End of Forgetting
    If only the problem was confined to a school board. FTFA:

    After discovering the page, her supervisor at the high school told her the photo was "unprofessional," and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder's scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree.

    So the teacher in question is completely screwed. No degree, no job.

    Perhaps the dean would like to explain why she denied a degree to a person who had done nothing illegal or even inappropriate? If you'd like to ask her yourself, from http://www.millersville.edu/education/contact.php Dr. Jane Bray
    Dean
    Phone: (717)872-3379
    Fax: (717)872-3856
    Jane.Bray@millersville.edu

  4. Re:Learning Without a Negative Response? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on The End of Forgetting
    If only the problem was confined to a school board. FTFA:

    After discovering the page, her supervisor at the high school told her the photo was "unprofessional," and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder's scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree.

    So the teacher in question is completely screwed. No degree, no job.

    Perhaps the dean would like to explain why she denied a degree to a person who had done nothing illegal or even inappropriate? If you'd like to ask her yourself, from http://www.millersville.edu/education/contact.php Dr. Jane Bray
    Dean
    Phone: (717)872-3379
    Fax: (717)872-3856
    Jane.Bray@millersville.edu

  5. Re:Poor choice of words by zakezuke · · Score: 1 · on New Results Contradict Long-Held Chemistry Dogma

    500+ years ago scientists thought the earth was flat. Scientific theories only hold out until something else comes along with more facts that change our understanding. My 2 cents.

    This is dogma. Eratosthenes is one example of a man who measured the earth with a stick, or rather by the shadow it cast. That was 2248 years ago.
    http://www.millersville.edu/~physics/exp.of.the.month/58/
    The Greeks we know discussed the earth's shape well before Eratosthenes. Anaximander for example proposed a cylinder model.

    Aristotle proposed the Celestial spheres model of the universe, where Earth was a sphere. He observed that moving further south you could see constellations rise higher in the sky, not to speak of separate southern constellations. And the obvious moon phases are circular.

    The Ptolemy geocentric view with complex mathematics (epicycles) to explain why the planets appeared to move backwards was accepted as Catholic dogma for centuries. Saint Augustine for example (about 350-400 AD) argued against people living on the other side of the earth.

    Anyone who was educated to any degree within the past 2000 years would not believe the earth was flat.

  6. Re:Poor choice of words by PacoSuarez · · Score: 1 · on New Results Contradict Long-Held Chemistry Dogma

    For more on why Columbus thought he could make the trip, take a look here.

  7. Re:umm by Bent+Mind · · Score: 1 · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues

    I'm sure they originally thought she was 20 in the picture, and wanted to withhold her teaching certificate for underage drinking.

    Reading through the comments and looking at the story, I'm left wondering how underage drinking warrants the removal of a certification that has been earned and paid for. Drinking under the legal age is generally punished by issuing a fine, not revoking your academic credentials. Now I might understand this a bit better if Millersville were a religious school. No one wants nuns in training to be caught sinning. However, it doesn't seem to be.

    At this point, Millersville seems to be implying that she didn't earn her certificate. The have a statement on their site. However, they are being very tight-lipped about it. If the school loses the case, I'd strongly suggest that anyone not wanting to attend a school with such unprofessional regard for their students avoid Millersville.

  8. Re:And they know what she was drinking how? by n6kuy · · Score: 1 · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues

    Millersville is a fundie university?

  9. Jumping to conclusions, the Slashdot way! by baboo_jackal · · Score: 2, Insightful · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues
    I don't think we have enough of the facts about this story to be demonizing the university and spreading FUD about the mySpace Police just yet.

    What we know:

    From Millersville University's website:

    The University notes, however, that all of its educational decisions are based on a full range of academic performance issues, not solely on a student's personal website or social networking site. The University is committed to maintaining the academic integrity of its academic programs and degrees and will vigorously defend itself and the actions of its employees in legal proceedings related to the lawsuit.
    The University claims that Snyder didn't receive her degree for academic performance issues. Snyder claims that she didn't because of the mySpace picture. I found another article that said this:

    Stacy Snyder, a 27-year-old single mother of two, was a student-teacher at Conestoga Valley High School at the time she posted the picture on her "MySpace" account last May. Earning her teaching degree at Millersville University, she was all but done with her requirements before graduating. But then, her cooperating teacher at Conestoga Valley found out about the posting, and confronted her. "'(She said) There's a problem with your professionalism. You're not able to attend our school. You can't come back,'" said Snyder from her Strasburg home.
    So what it sounds like is that she got booted from her student-teacher internship at Conestoga for the photo. I assume that the Millersville then decided that because she didn't complete her internship, a requirement for graduation as a teacher, that she didn't merit a teaching degree. If there's any "mySpace police" in this story, it's not the university - it's a school, who can certainly have their own standards to which they require their teachers to uphold.

    What we don't know:

    1) We have no idea of Snyder's actual academic record at Millersville. She could very well have had a spotty record, and getting booted from an internship was "the last straw" for the Teaching Dept at Millersville. Or she could have had an exemplary record, and getting booted from the teaching program was a weird administrative requirement. Point is, we don't know.

    2) We have no idea of whether or not Snyder could, if she chose to remain, complete another internship to get her teaching degree. All we know is that she can't get it *now* because of the internship. She could very well be able to re-do the internship, but is just too impatient and thinks that suing is easier than teaching. Or she may not be able to do that, and is totally screwed out of her degree. Point is, we don't know.

    So, all I'm trying to say is that I think we're jumping to a whole lot of conclusions without enough facts.
  10. Re:hmm by theckhd · · Score: 1 · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues

    That was a lawsuit allegation. Any sources besides the disgruntled student?
    I was just responding to the parent, who asked for sources. An alternative point of view is given in a BBSNews article that contains parts of a press release by Conestoga Valley School District, which was linked several posts down. In it, Conestoga explicitly denies that they threatened not to use Millersville student teachers in the future. There's also Millersville's response, which is less than forthcoming.
     

    She wasn't denied her teaching certificate due to this photograph.
    I never meant to imply that she was. It certainly sounds like she had established a pattern well before the image was discovered. Especially if you believe the content in the BBSNews article.
  11. Digging a little deeper by Mortanius · · Score: 4, Interesting · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues
    A little more digging turns up some of the finer points of the fight that aren't necessarily reported in the Washington Post article. For example, this article from the Sydney Morning Herald states:

    Snyder did her student-teaching at Conestoga Valley High School in 2006.

    Conestoga Valley officials told the college they would stop accepting student-teachers from Millersville if she went unpunished, the lawsuit said.

    Which leads one to believe that the university was being pressured from the district to do something about her and let them save face. Presumably the district feels they're in a position of enough power (taking on most of their students for their student teaching assignments?) that they could do this.

    However, if you look at the response from Conestoga Valley, available on their website here, they state that's untrue, and include some more information not linked in the Washington Post article, including what they claim is the offending Myspace blog post which is not the picture hosted by thesmokinggun.com which the WP article links to. It could be a little damning towards her if you believe the district that she was actively encouraging the kids to go to her Myspace page, but then, not knowing what her page is (I would imagine by now it's either been deleted or locked down anyway) it'd be hard to say whether the content therein is really unacceptable for the students to see.

    One quote from their response troubles me to some degree though, from her cooperating teacher, Nicole Reinking:

    One of the concerns that Ms. Snyder's cooperating teacher, Nicole Reinking, expressed to Ms. Snyder throughout the semester was the importance of maintaining a professional working relationship with the students and not to become overly familiar with them regarding her personal life.

    Certainly that can be taken any number of ways, some good, some bad, but taking it simply at face value, it saddens me to see where education has gone these days. Growing up in rural Maine (not that there's really any other kind of Maine :-P) we were all very friendly with our teachers, they would regularly invite our classes to their houses for cookouts and such, we didn't turn out so bad. But that's an entirely different discussion.

    Regardless, in the end I'm a little surprised and frightened that a university feels they have the ability to do this. That after someone has paid them tens of thousands of dollars for their education, and has presumably satisfactorily completed the academic requirements, they can one day before graduation tell you "Yeah, we're not going to give you the degree you wanted, have this English degree instead." What's to keep them from doing that to someone else because they don't like brunettes or people from Alaska? (Don't answer that, I know it's a stupid question. :-P) At the very least, if her performance in the field so to speak was the cause of their decision, say so. Naturally (as would be standard practice at any univeristy, I'd assume) the only mention of it on their website at the moment is a brief aside that they can't say anything publicly.
  12. let em know how you feel... by pfrCalif · · Score: 1 · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues
    Asshats. I love that they are hiding behind the affected student's right to privacy, yet wtf would they give her a different degree if it was an Academic issue? It makes no sense.

    Due to federal student privacy restrictions, the University is unable to directly respond to media accounts related to the case. The University notes, however, that all of its educational decisions are based on a full range of academic performance issues, not solely on a student's personal website or social networking site. The University is committed to maintaining the academic integrity of its academic programs and degrees and will vigorously defend itself and the actions of its employees in legal proceedings related to the lawsuit.
    Comments Page: http://www.millersville.edu/comments.php
  13. Re:hmm by niceone · · Score: 2, Informative · on Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues

    Well the university's response is here: http://www.millersville.edu/announcements/snyder.p hp

    They hint at some other problem which they can't go into because of 'federal student privacy restrictions'. I guess you'd expect them to say something like that though.

  14. Re:CFC is too heavy by uncadonna · · Score: 3, Insightful · on Your Thoughts on the Great Ozone Debate?
    Time for some barrel-fishing:

    Just out of curiosity, has anyone bothered to compare the atomic weight of CFC's to say, general atmoshpere of comparitive volume (espcially of the higher O3 areas?). Seems to me it would be mighty diffucult for the CFC's to traverse up that high due to their weight.

    The atmosphere is turbulently mixed up to 80 km. This is fortunate, because otherwise the nitrogen would sink below the oxygen and we couldn't breathe.

    see this lecture for example. The relevant part is at the end.

    Oh, wait a sec! They also only collect AT THE SOUTH POLE. Must like it cold or something.

    No, the atmosphere is well-mixed, remember? They only catalyze ozone breakdowns at extremely cold temperatures.

    One ought to do some research on the effects of CFC with Ozone (O3).

    yes, perhaps one could win a Nobel Prize or something.

    [usual paranoid rants about DuPont elided. Let's stipulate that DuPont wanted to make money.]

    I agree with an above post. Dissenting voices cause society to label one as a "nutcase" or "extremist" Isn't science all about finding logical explanations to the world around us? I say, follow the money trail, and you'll find who concocted the stories of global warming, global cooling, ozone holes.

    Err, yes, I agree. Follow the money is right. I think it might be the case that the tiny little energy corporations are trembling under the onslaught of misinformation from the hugely financed scientific professional organizations and NGOs. But it might be the other way around.

  15. Re:Periodic Table based on electron structure by FrancescBlandino · · Score: 1 · on Revamping The Periodic Table?

    http://muweb.millersville.edu/~iannone/TablaChaver ri.htm (bad link in parent)

  16. Periodic Table based on electron structure by FrancescBlandino · · Score: 1 · on Revamping The Periodic Table?

    One of the best periodic tables I have seen is the one made by late costarican scientist Gil Chaverri (1921-2005) based on electon structure. You can read automatically the electronic configuration of every single element automatically. By the way: sorry for the lousy pic but 'Gil Chaverri tables' have become scarce lately and I personally do not own one. http://muweb.millersville.edu/~iannone/TablaChaver ri (in spanish).htm

  17. Re:And...? by CFBMoo1 · · Score: 5, Interesting · on Robots in Hospitals

    Here's a link to my old colleges CS department. They have surgical simulators with force feedback in the works when I was graduating. I did some minor work on the lumbar puncture simulator for a final semester project. Was really fun stuff.

    Millersville University's Research in Haptics and Surgical Simulation

  18. He was Italian!! by an_mo · · Score: 1 · on Discovering Columbus

    Being born in Italy (Genoa, 1451) his real name was Cristoforo Colombo, even though I guess he is mostly referred to with hi Spanish name Cristobal Colon

  19. Re:Hari Seldon by sphealey · · Score: 1 · on Simulating Societies
    You are probably right. I was thinking of the guys who cataloged the data that Newton used to verify the laws of gravitation. I was thinking they were Kepler and Wren, but working from memory I may be wrong.

    Ah, here's a quote:
    1684- In a London inn, Wren ("If you seek a monument, look about you"), Halley, and Hooke debate the consequences of Kepler's third law. Hooke had attacked Newton's theory of light and accused Newton of stealing the inverse square law.

    1684, two months later- Halley visits Newton with the Wren problem; "Why, I have calculated it [ellipse from 1/R2]". "But for him in all probability the work would never have been thought of, nor when thought of written, nor when written produced." -DeMorgan

    sPh

  20. Lots of people beat Columbus by rufusdufus · · Score: 3, Interesting · on Chinese Explorers 'Discovered America'?

    There is strong evidence that people as diverse as the Phoenicians, the Vikings, the Irish, the Welsh, the Chinese, the Japanese and English fisherman were actually in the New World, in some cases, millennia before 1492.

    Search internet for lots of sources: One with a short description here

  21. Re:Frats with LANs? by KingKire64 · · Score: 1 · on Multihomed WLANs from Intel

    What you dont realize is that i have a bunch of friends in a fraterity and they are rather high tech. The one guys does the website and they run all thier partys off laptops with mp3s. No need to Worry about cds getting ripped off. Oh and BTW they were featured on collegehumor for the largest game of beer pong 720 cups