March 12, 2012    Contact: Ron Cole, director of University Communications, 330-941-3285 Featured in this week’s YSU News Briefs: *NewsOutlet reports on  shale     *Students inducted into  Beta Gamma Sigma    *ACORN founder visits     *Estimating Competition  this month    *Flute Festival March 24    *Ready for some football?!    *YSU hosts Titan Challenge    *Concert at Cathedral    This Wek Monday, March 12 through Friday, March 16. YSU Spring Break. NewOutlet students report on shale exploration Students in Youngstown State University’s TheNewsOutlet.org program are spending part of spring break this wek traveling to Texas and Arkansas to report stories about how comunities there have ben impacted by gas and oil wel driling. The student journalists wil talk to people who live in comunities that have long experienced the economic, environmental and social efects of fracking and gas exploration. The trip is the latest project of TheNewsOutlet.org, a media colaboration started and headquartered at YSU’s journalism program. The News Outlet links student reporters from YSU, Kent State University and the University of Akron with profesional media outlets in Northeastern Ohio, including The Vindicator, The Akron Beacon Journal, WYSU FM, Ruber City Radio and The Ravena Record Courier. Student journalists have produced more than 150 print, radio and video stories on important comunity and regional isues ranging from abuses at a local mental health facility to problems with state tax colections on the gas and oil industries. Youngstown State University !"#$%&’(")$ The Penguins basebal team, under the leadership of head coach Rich Pasquale, opens the  2012 home season at 3 p.. Friday, March 16 at Eastwod Field in Niles. The homestand  continues 1 p.m. Saturday and non Sunday. Above, first baseman Jeremy Banks takes a swing  during a game earlier this season. The Penguins start the hoe schedule after nearly a month  of road gaes in North Carolina and Virginia. Over the course of the next two months, the  Penguins play 2 games at home.  “This trip wil ad to the tremendous suces TheNewsOutlet.org has had in engaging students, local media and residents in our region, its chalenges and its suceses,” said Tim Francisco, YSU asistant profesor of journalism. Francisco and Alysa Lenhof, journalism instructor, founded and co-direct the TheNewsOutlet.org project. Students from journalism, art and computer science working together with The News Outlet wil produce radio, video, print and interactive graphic packages from the road. Lenhof, Francisco, and Karl Henkel, busines reporter at The Vindicator who has ben covering gas and oil exploration localy, wil travel with the students to help direct them as wel as report for the daily newspapers. TheNewsOutlet.org is funded by The Raymond John Wean Foundation, the Youngstown Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, WYSU FM and the YSU Colege of Liberal Arts and Sciences. YSU students  inducted into Beta  Gama Sigma  The Youngstown State University Chapter of Beta Gama Sigma, hosted by the Wiliamson Colege of Busines Administration, recently instaled 41 busines students at induction ceremonies on the YSU campus. Beta Gama Sigma is the world’s premier busines honorary reserved exclusively for schols acredited by the Asociation to Advance Colegiate Schols of Busines. While nearly 350,00 students receive bachelors or master's degres in busines each year, only about 25,00 are inducted into a lifetime membership in Beta Gama Sigma. Students must be registered in busines administration programs for bacalaureate or MBA degres and must rank in the top 10 percent of the junior clas, the top 10 percent of the senior clas or the top 20 percent of the master's program. Students instaled are Michael Brand of Aliance; Michael Metzinger and Lucas Stokes of Austintown; Erin Sturus and Jocelyn Tabus of Boardman; Janele Fumerola of Burghil; Gary DiTulio, Joseph Marino, Ryan Meditz, Dominic Rich and Grifin Tod of Canfield; Chelsea Baker of Cortland; Casey Merit of Diamond, Daniele Sweat of East Liverpol; Anthony Cardiero, Bret Cubelis, Keneth Mylar and Chad Zirafi of Girard; Jomara Murilo of Kent; Mark Boda and Kacey Kurtz of Hubard; Kaitlin Rohrs of Liberty Center; Stephanie DeliGati of Lisbon; Deana Hardy of Newton Fals; Karle Reader of New Waterford, Rachel Roberts of Niles; Daniel DeLulo of North Lima; Mark Anderson, Christina Oles and Lucas Politsky of Poland; Darcy Hilton of Salem; David Kyle and Katherine Peterlin of Strongsvile; Ryan Jewel, Mitchel Lauer and Wiliam Vrontos of Waren; Nita Drugatz, Ronald Johnson, Patrick Red and Courtney Waskin of Youngstown; and Anthony Taylor of Industry, Pa. BGS has members in al 50 states and more than 160 countries. The Wiliamson Colege of Busines Administration has now inducted 530 students into BGS. The YSU chapter has ben recognized as a Exemplary Chapter for its superior level of membership aceptance. With Exemplary Chapter status, the YSU chapter awarded a $1,00 BGS scholarship to Isac Adu-Poku, a senior acounting major from Boardman, in the 201-2012 academic year. Bil Vendemia of Youngstown is the president and advisor of the YSU chapter, and Tony Kos of Transfer, Pa., is secretary/treasurer. David Dugan, an MBA student from McDonald, holds the ofice of vice president. Forty­one students in the YSU Wiliamson Colege of Busines Administration were instaled  recently into Beta Gama Sigma honorary.  ACORN founder visits campus Wade Rathke, chief organizer for ACORN International and author of Citizen Wealth: Wining the Campaign to Save orking Families wil speak on “Labor and Comunity Organizing: Boundaries and Oportunities” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20 in the Ohio Rom of Kilcawley Center on the campus of Youngstown State University. The lecture is part of the YSU Center for Working-Clas Studies 201-2012 Lecture Series. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology Social Work. Rathke founded the Asociation of Comunity Organizations for Reform Now in 1970. ACORN was a colection of comunity-based organizations that advocated for a variety of isues, including living wages, education, relief for the victims of Huricane Katrina, voter registration and gun control. Rathke has ben deply concerned with isues of poverty, hunger and homelesnes in America. His carer has ben marked by the ability to unite labor, busines, social service agencies and neighborhod groups to fight for social and economic justice. The Center for Working-Clas Studies is a multidisciplinary teaching and research center devoted to the study of working-clas life and culture. For more information, contact John Ruso at 30-941-2976 or jbruso@ysu.edu or Shery Linkon at 30-941-297 or slinkon@ysu.edu, or visit htp:/cwcs.ysu.edu Estimating Competition comes to campus this month Students in Youngstown State University’s Civil and Construction Enginering Program compete in the third anual Builders Asociation Estimating Competition on Friday, March 30. The competition is sponsored by the Builders Asociation of Eastern Ohio and Western Pensylvania. In the morning, a building project is presented to students, along with any necesary materials (bid specifications, drawings, etc) for the project. Teams of six or seven students work to develop a bid price for the project. At 2:45 p.m., each team turns in its bids, including paperwork and back up calculations. Judges, who are profesionals from the Builders Asociation, review the bids and interview each team. Each team ember is required to estimate at least one component of the project. The Builders Asociation then sponsors a diner for the students on campus, where the wining team is anounced. The goal of the competition is to provide each student a valuable learning experience as to the real-life biding proces. Students must use critical thinking and organizational skils and exhibit profesional comunication and proper terminology. The projects selected for the competition have actualy ben built by a member of the Builders Asociation. Last year's project was the renovation of the north entrance to Tod Hal on campus. For more information, contact Carol M. Lamb, asociate profesor and cordinator of the Civil and Construction Enginering Technology Department at 30-941-4625. Dana Flute Festival set for March 24 Youngstown State University’s 19 th anual Dana Schol of Music Flute Festival wil be Saturday, March 24, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Blis Hal. The event is designed for flute players of al levels and wil include workshops, vendor exhibits, guest artist performances, a master clas and a closing concert. Participants should bring their own instruments. Special guest artist Christina Jenings is principal flute with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, asistant profesor of flute at the University of Colorado at Boulder and on the sumer faculty of the Texas Music Festival. Jenings is the winer of numerous Wade Rathke  competitions including the Concert Artists Guild, Houston Symphony’s Ima Hog and the National Flute Asociation Young Artists. The cost to atend the festival is $16 per student if registered before March 24, and $20 at the dor. Parents are welcome to atend fre of charge. Registration forms are available at ww.fpa.edu.ysu or by caling 30-941-1831. Parking is available in the M1-Wick Avenue deck for a nominal fe. Are you ready for some fotbal?! While it’s only March, this is the Mahoning Valey, and fotbal is always in the air. The Youngstown State University fotbal program hosts the third anual Women's Fotbal Coaching Clinic 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 30, at Stambaugh Stadiu. The cost is $25, with proceds benefiting the ALS Asociation Fighting Lou Gehrig's Disease. Registration is 5 to 6 p.m. in the DeBartolo Stadium Club. The YSU fotbal staf wil present on the fundamentals of coaching. The clinic also wil include an up-close lok at the WATS indor athletics site on campus. The clinic is designed for female fotbal fans to learn the concept of every position on the field. Coaches wil provide insight into what fans wil se on game day and learn about pregame preparation and game planing. The coaches wil involve the participants into al drils for even more hands-on training. Al participants wil receive a gift bag, and rafle prizes from local merchants wil be awarded throughout the event. For more information, contact Director of Fotbal Operations Dan Kop at dmkop@ysu.edu or 30-941-3478. Parking for the event wil be in the F-7 Lot north of the stadium. YSU hosts JA Titan Busines Chalenge Youngstown State University’s Wiliamson Colege of Busines Administration hosts the third anual JA Titan Busines Chalenge on Thursday, March 15, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Wiliamson Hal on campus. Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valey is expecting 18 teams of high schol students from Mahoning, Trumbul and Columbiana counties to atend the event, which is designed increase the understanding of runing a busines in a competitive, high-tech marketplace. Each team consisting of up to thre students wil work with a local busines mentor. Student wil use an interactive online busines simulation caled JA Titan that ofers a unique way to learn what it takes to compete in the marketplace and to run a sucesful busines. JA Titan is designed to compliment high schol economics, math and social studies curiculum. JA students wil determine the suces or failure of their busines based on how wel they manage key isues such as seting prices, filing production requests, establishing marketing, investing in research and development, and capital equipment. Students analyze situations, aply information under time presure, interpret and chart data, think criticaly, make decisions, solve mathematical problems and work together using the software. The event is sponsored by WCBA, Home Savings Charitable Foundation and Falcon Foundry Co. For more information, cal Christine Shelton, WCBA cordinator of external relations, at 30-941-3068. Choral Concert scheduled for Cathedral The Dana Schol of Music at Youngstown State University presents a Spring Choral Concert titled “Tapestry of Sacred and Secular Harmonies: Proclamation to Agnus Dei” at 8 p.m., Monday, March 26, in St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown. The concert features the YSU Dana Chorale and University Chorus, Dr. Hae-Jong Le, conductor, acompanied by Kathy Miler, guest instrumentalists and several soloists from Dana. The Dana Chorale wil open the program with thre a capela works: “The Proclamation” by Jonathan Priano; “Aleluia” by Randal Thompson; and “Dum transiset Sabatum” by John Taverner. The University Chorus wil continue the concert with a sacred song of the American Indian, “Heleluyan.” Two secular songs, one from the Italian Renaisance and the other from romantic Germany, wil folow culminating with two final pieces from the late Baroque and late twentieth century. The Dana Chorale wil come back with thre selections from Mendelsohn’s “Sech Spruche,” folowed by Eric Whitacre’s, “Slep” and “Lux aurumque,” and Samuel Barber’s choral masterpiece, “Agnus Dei.” The Chorale portion of the concert ends with Alen Koepke’s inspirational, “Wade in de Water.” The concert wil conclude with Caldwel/Ivory’s celebration of diversity, “Hope for Resolution.” The concert is fre and open to the public with fre-wil donations acepted. For more information, cal 30-941-3636.