Latest news with #PennStateUniversityBoardofTrustees
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Despite looming campus closure, Penn State DuBois launches new nursing program
DUBOIS, Pa. (WTAJ) — Despite the recent announcement that Penn State will be closing the DuBois campus, there will be a new licensed practical nursing (LPN) program launching in the fall. The non-credit 18-month certificate program will launch on August 18 and is set to offer a part-time path for students who want to enter the nursing profession. This comes just weeks after the Penn State University Board of Trustees voted to close seven commonwealth campuses, including the one where the new program will take place. According to a release, courses will be held in the DEF building on the DuBois campus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. They added that students will get hands-on experience and take part in clinical rotations every weekend at local healthcare facilities. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 'No point in waiting,' PSU trustees vote to close DuBois, 6 other campuses 'We've already had an overwhelming response as the news of our program got out,' Nicki Dufour, program coordinator, said. 'We have more than 30 potential participants and are excited to add to that total now that we have the final approval to move forward.' The program hopes to prepare students to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN), a requirement to earn licensure in all 50 states. To apply, interested individuals must complete an online interest form. Applicants will be contacted about the next steps, which include submitting two professional letters of reference and a one-page essay describing their motivation to become a nurse. It's unclear at this time when exactly the campus will close, but Penn State has previously stated that help and options will be provided to both students and staff when the time comes. The recommendation to close the campus came after 'persistent and compounding structural challenges' that didn't make the campus viable for the long term. In an official report, they said they've also seen a 46% decrease in enrollment over the last decade and that there is little sign that it will increase. The committee that made recommendations to close DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes Barre and York campuses looked at enrollment trends, demographic forecasts, student outcomes, financial performance, housing occupancy, capital investment needs and geographic proximity to make their determination. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘No point in waiting,' PSU trustees vote to close DuBois, 6 other campuses
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) — After nearly two hours of discussion and debate during a special meeting, the Penn State University Board of Trustees voted to close seven commonwealth campuses that they say have seen significant declines in enrollment. Toward the end of the meeting, which was publicly livestreamed on Penn State's website at 5 p.m. Thursday, Board Chair David Kleppinger motioned for the board to hold a vote on the campus closures. The campuses under consideration were DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre, and York. The board of trustees ultimately decided to begin the process of closing the campuses in a 25-8 vote. The commonwealth campuses are expected to close at the end of the 2026-27 academic year. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Union leader, Jay Paterno weigh in on possible Penn State campus closures ahead of vote University officials cited ongoing financial challenges and declining enrollment as the driving factors behind the recommendation. Kleppinger said at the beginning of Thursday's meeting that they had previously held meetings on the topic on May 9 and May 15 due to the Pennsylvania Sunshine law. Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi was the first to give opening remarks during the meeting, saying that all seven campuses experienced a 43% decline in enrollment and cited declining birth rates from 2008 to 2024. She added that the campuses also spread students and staff too thin. Bendapudi suggested a two-year wind-down of the campuses to avoid any disruptions and explained the move would help reposition the university for the 'next century of excellence.' Following Bendapudi's statement, each trustee was allotted five minutes to offer arguments for or against the closures. Trustee Anthony Lubrano was against the closures, saying that Penn State needed to allow the communities to engage further in the topic before casting a vote. However, Trustee Karen Quintos was for the closures, arguing the issue is not a Penn State problem but a Pennsylvania problem. 'I don't think delay is an option, we owe students, faculty and staff closure,' Quintos said. Quintos also claimed that the recommendation to close the seven commonwealth campuses was leaked to the media by someone on the board of trustees. Kleppinger later countered these claims, saying that they had not concluded the source of the leak and they were not positive that it was a trustee. A majority of the trustees who spoke during the meeting said the decision on the vote was difficult, but ultimately agreed to vote on President Bendapudi's recommendation to avoid the issue coming up again in the near future. 'If we don't do something, we'll be back playing Russian roulette,' Trustee Barry Fenchak said about cutting the commonwealth campuses. The meeting came amid ongoing uncertainty and discussions about the future of Penn State's branch campuses. Penn State operated 19 undergraduate commonwealth campuses throughout the state, many of which have played a crucial role in regional access to higher education. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Professional Advice to Trump Administration: ‘Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself'
That advice - about telling the truth early, all, and yourself - has been my core strategy as a lawyer who specializes in crisis management and media communications strategy. It is the subtitle of a book I wrote 20 years ago. Pete Hegseth, for one, could ask his former Fox News Channel colleague, Sean Hannity, who often introduced me when I was a guest on his show as the "Tell it early, all, yourself" crisis management expert. I have followed this strategy for the past 30 years to help clients - people, famous and not, companies, private and public, through major media and business crises. I know my approach is counterintuitive. It sometimes requires volunteering bad facts to the media, to get them all out publicly all at once, rather than waiting for them to dribble out, drip by drip, as they almost always do. You will achieve the ultimate goal of crisis management - get the story over with as quickly as possible and communicate to the public that you accept responsibility for your mistake. I have used this strategy successfully for many high-profile clients, whose stories I recounted in my book "Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping with Crises in Business, Politics, and Life": from Martha Stewart to the Penn State University Board of Trustees, from Republican Sen. Trent Lott to the Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel. In my experience, getting the truth out created a positive impression about the client, putting the crisis in the past and improving the prospects for reputation repair and rehabilitation. Secretary Hegseth, Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard, et al., had you asked my advice when you first got the sinking feeling that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into the group chat without anyone noticing, I would have offered you five recommendations: First, I would have told you to immediately inform President Trump what happened, and tell him as you already have that the national security team had made a big mistake, even to the point of offering your resignation to show that you believe in accountability. As it turns out, Trump, to his credit, has been gracious to you, attributing your mistake as understandable human error, and he almost certainly would not have accepted your resignation. But making the gesture would have enhanced your credibility before your inevitable appearances before Congress and in the media. Second, you should have immediately issued a public statement admitting your mistake of judgment and taking responsibility. I would have urged you not to attack Jeff Goldberg, as several administration officials have done. Most discerning people view that as weak and disingenuous. Third, I recommend that you stop playing semantic games while trying to spin the idea that information about bombing another country wasnt classified or highly sensitive. How does splitting hairs about "war plans" vs. "attack plans" absolve you? Answer: It doesnt. It is also inconsistent with your core crisis management strategy and sincere message: your acceptance of responsibility and accountability. Fourth, I would have urged Pete Hegseth or Mike Waltz specifically (talk about counterintuitive!) to call Goldberg and offer him an exclusive interview to explain what happened and own up to the mistakes committed by national security team. The reason for doing so would not have been to hope for kid-glove treatment by The Atlantic or the rest of the media - and that would not have been the result. Granting Goldberg an exclusive interview would have allowed your message to dominate much of the follow-up media coverage. Fifth, and finally - the most difficult advice of all (and the one I think you all would most quickly reject): You could use this episode to acknowledge the unfair treatment of Hillary Clinton by some of you and those on your side regarding her use of a Blackberry device to send personal emails and official business emails, all of them stored on a secure server supervised by the U.S. Secret Service. You can now empathize with how she felt when she heard so many calling for her to be "locked up" without so much as a prosecution or trial. Belief in redemption and forgiveness is one great big common ground among most Americans - left, right, liberal, conservative, pro-Trump or pro-Biden. Its one of our nations most appealing traits. Its not too late. Its never too late to tell all the truth, tell it early, and tell it yourself. That is not only effective crisis management advice - it is good advice for you to turn the corner on this crisis and move on. Lanny J. Davis is the founder of his Washington, D.C., law firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates LLC, uniquely operating at the intersection of law, media, and politics. A former White House Special Counsel to President Clinton, he also served on President Bush's post-9/11 Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. He is the author of six books on politics, government, law, and crisis management. He is due to publish his seventh book early next year, titled 'Finding the Third Way: Lessons in the Politics of Civility From My Journey Through History."
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Professional Advice to Pete Hegseth: ‘Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself'
Dear Mr. Hegseth, That advice - about telling the truth early, all, and yourself - has been my core strategy as a lawyer who specializes in crisis management and media communications strategy. It is the subtitle of a book I wrote 20 years ago. You could ask your former Fox News Channel colleague, Sean Hannity, who often introduced me when I was a guest on his show as the "Tell it early, all, yourself" crisis management expert. I have followed this strategy for the past 30 years to help clients - people, famous and not, companies, private and public, through major media and business crises. I know my approach is counterintuitive. It sometimes requires volunteering bad facts to the media, to get them all out publicly all at once, rather than waiting for them them to dribble out, drip by drip, as they almost always do. You will achieve the ultimate goal of crisis management - get the story over with as quickly as possible and communicate to the public that you accept responsibility for your mistake. I have used this strategy successfully for many high-profile clients, whose stories I recounted in my book "Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping with Crises in Business, Politics, and Life": from Martha Stewart to the Penn State University Board of Trustees, from Republican Sen. Trent Lott to the Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel. In my experience, getting the truth out created a positive impression about the client, putting the crisis in the past and improving the prospects for reputation repair and rehabilitation. Secretary Hegseth, had you asked my advice when you first got the sinking feeling that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into the group chat without you or anyone else knowing, I would have offered you five recommendations: First, I would have told you to immediately inform President Trump what happened, and tell him as you already have that the national security team had made a big mistake, even to the point of offering your resignation to show that you believe in accountability. As it turns out, Trump, to his credit, has been gracious to you, attributing your mistake as understandable human error, and he almost certainly would not have accepted your resignation. But making the gesture would have enhanced your credibility before your inevitable appearances before Congress and in the mainstream media. Second, you should have immediately issued a public statement admitting your mistake of judgment and taking responsibility. I would have urged you not to attack Jeff Goldberg, as you and several other administration officials have done. Most discerning people view that as weak and disingenuous. Third, I recommend that you stop playing semantic games while trying to spin the idea that information about bombing another country wasnt classified or highly sensitive. How does splitting hairs about "war plans" vs. "attack plans" absolve you? Answer: It doesnt. It is also inconsistent with your core crisis management strategy and sincere message: your acceptance of responsibility and accountability. Fourth, I would have urged you (talk about counterintuitive!) to call Goldberg and offer him an exclusive interview to explain what happened and own up to the mistakes committed by national security team. The reason for doing so would not have been to hope for kid-glove treatment by The Atlantic or the rest of the media - and that would not have been the result. Granting Goldberg an exclusive interview would have allowed your message to dominate much of the follow-up media coverage. Fifth, and finally - the most difficult advice of all (and the one I think youd most quickly reject): You could use this episode to acknowledge the unfair treatment of Hillary Clinton by you and those on your side regarding her use of a Blackberry device to send personal emails and official business emails, all of them stored on a secure server supervised by the U.S. Secret Service. You can now empathize with how she felt when she heard so many calling for her to be "locked up" without so much as a prosecution or trial. Belief in redemption and forgiveness is one great big common ground among most Americans - left, right, liberal, conservative, pro-Trump or pro-Biden. Its one of our nations most appealing traits. Its not too late. Its never too late to tell all the truth, tell it early, and tell it yourself. That is not only effective crisis management advice - it is good advice for you to turn the corner on this crisis and move on. Lanny Davis is the founder of the Washington, D.C., law firm Lanny J. Davis & Associates. His firm uniquely operates at the intersection of law, media, and politics to solve client problems. In 1996-98, Mr. Davis served as special White House counsel to President Bill Clinton. In 2006-07, he was appointed by his Yale College friend, President George W. Bush, to serve on a special post-9/11 White House panel to advise the president on privacy and civil liberties issues. He has completed a forthcoming book, titled 'Finding the Third Way: Lessons in the Politics of Civility From My Journey Through History.'
