Food for Thought

Interested in joining a spin class? Would you like to learn more about the other group fitness offerings? Click this link to view the Fall 2009 group fitness schedule (which ends on December 13) and a description of each class.

~Leslie Fazin

Woodruff Hall Adds New Fitness Class

Campus Recreation has added a new fitness class to the group fitness schedule, a program offered to students, faculty and alumni to stay in shape. Check out the video below to view a student-made news video on Woodruff Hall's new spin class.

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

Want to know which residence hall is leading in this year's Cat Cup Challenge? View Campus Recreation's overall standings and results web page, which is updated after every event.

Has your resident hall ever won the Cat Cup trophy? Click here for the list of Cat Cup winners since 1994.

~Leslie Fazin

Annual Cat Cup Challenge

The Center for Recreation and Sport saw a unique crowd of athletes last week during an intense game of Melonball. Students from Adelphi's six residence halls made their way to the gym to compete against one another.

Their common goal? To be reigned the next Cat Cup champions.

"Cat Cup is a residence hall competition to bring a sense of community to the residence halls and to also spur on competition," said Linda Gundrum, director of Campus Recreation.

The year-long competition is funded by the Resident Student Association (RSA) and programmed by Campus Recreation, and has been an Adelphi tradition since 1994. "We thought if [residents] competed against each other, they would have residence hall pride," said Gundrum.

Cat Cup is a series of events based upon resident hall participation and an accumulation of points, which are dependant upon the type of event being played. For example, in Melonball, residence halls are awarded points for the amount of wins they receive during a match. This year, New Hall came in first place.

Yet besides Melonball, Cat Cup sponsors seven other events, including kick-off (penny wars), scavenger hunt, shopping spree, dodgeball, student feud, cook-off and last blast.

The next scheduled event, shopping spree, will take place on Friday, December 4 at 2:45 pm. "There are two teams per hall and they are each given a $40 gift certificate to Target," said Diane Lindenmayer, graduate assistant of special events and promotions for Campus Recreation.

Each residence hall is given a specific list of toy-based items, pre-determined by RSA, and they have 45 minutes to collect as many as they can without going over the spending limit. All toys will be donated to Winthrop University Hospital.

At the end of the 2009 - 2010 academic year, the Cat Cup trophy will be awarded to the residence hall with the most overall points. Each year the trophy moves from one residence hall to the next, depending on the year's win. The trophy currently resides in New Hall, the 2008 - 2009 Cat Cup winners.

"[Cat Cup] brings a good school spirit to the whole campus. It introduces you to new people and then, of course, you have the whole teamwork aspect of it," said Lindenmayer. "It gets you active and it gets you around campus too."

For more information about participating in this year's Cat Cup challenge, contact your resident assistant (RA), resident hall director (RHD) or Campus Recreation at (516) 877-4242.

New Hall residents and RHD Robert Kiley pose with the infamous Cat Cup trophy at the end of the 2008 - 2009 academic year. Photo courtesy of Campus Recreation.

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

Check out the podcast below to hear what the Adelphi University Bells sounded like today at noon.

~Leslie Fazin

The Adelphi Bells

Every college or university has some sort of tradition: school colors, school mascot, school emblem. And maybe even a school song.

But have you ever walked across Adelphi's campus and heard the chiming of bells coming from the Science Building? Every hour, a set of carillon toll, as well as play two full-length songs at noon and 4 p.m.

These bells, now pre-recorded, were once played live from the lobby of the Science Building and broadcast around campus through the use of an organ. "The carillon was repaced with a new electronic system about eight years ago at the request of the President," said Robert Shipley of the Facilities Management.

"When the bells were purchased, you could make a decision about various song packages," said Kali Chan, Media Relations Director for the Office of Public Affairs. "The package that was chosen included a few hundred songs and the computer system plays these songs at random."

During the holiday season, beginning in December, these bells also start playing Christmas music, which is an easy way to get students, faculty and staff into the spirit.

The carillon on top of the Science Building are not the only bells on campus, however. A bell was once located in the old tower of Post Hall as a gift from the class of 1948. "The bell was taken down many years ago and was hanging in the University Center on a bracket. We moved it to Chasner Street for storage for a while," Shipley said. "When we built the Adele and Herbert J. Klapper Center for Fine Arts Building, [it was thought to] be a nice feature to install on the building. It is now hanging at our main entrance and we have a framed plaque in the lobby of the original architectural drawing of the bell system."

Interested in finding out more about Adelphi's traditions and fun facts? Visit the Did You Know? section of Adelphi's Web site to learn more.

~Leslie Fazin

The bells, broadcast from a computerized speaker system, are played from the top of the Science Building. Photo courtesy of Leslie Fazin.

Food for Thought

Did reading about "Talking With..." get you interested in attending other performances at the Performing Arts Center?

Check out this link to view the entire 2009-2010 season brochure.

~Leslie Fazin

"Talking With..."

"A young woman tests her Christian faith by handling poisonous snakes. A baton twirler sees the face of Jesus 30 feet in the air. A destitute woman wants to live in McDonald’s, where the sick are cured by Big Macs and no one ever dies. A housewife escapes to Oz every day."

Adelphi University's Performing Arts Center (PAC) is showcasing just some of the characters described above in "Talking With...," an eccentric production starting tomorrow and running through November 22 in the Black Box Theatre.

The show, directed by the theatre department's chair, Nicholas Petron, is a collection of 11 monologues, each portraying an aspect significant to a particular woman's life.

The New York Times referred to this show as a "Dramatist with an original voice...[and] gladsome humor," according to a press release sent out by Managing Director Blake Seidel and the PAC's Facebook page (type AU PAC in the search bar).

Written by playwright Jane Martin, "Talking With..." is a Pulitzer Prize nominee and winner of the American Theatre Critics Association Award for Best Regional Play in 1982.

Now in a revival at Adelphi, students, faculty and guests are encouraged to support the arts and watch 11 theatre students portray 11 eclectic stories. Ticket prices are $10 for senior citizens, alumni and faculty, $7 for students and $15 for the general public.

To purchase tickets, visit or call the box office at (516) 877 - 4000 or place an order online.

Unable to make it to the show this week? Don't fret. The next issue of the Delphian, which will be out on stands Monday, November 24, will feature a review written by staff reporter Chelsea Preister.

~Leslie Fazin

Photo courtesy of Leslie Fazin.

Food for Thought

This Tuesday, November 10, the Center for Career Development will be holding a Resume Workshop from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. In addition, there will be an Interview Workshop on Thursday, November 12 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Both workshops will be held in Post Hall.

To keep track of other events held throughout the remaining Fall 2009 semester, or read stories about students' experiences in the "real world," click here.

~Leslie Fazin

A Closer Look at Adelphi's Career Center

Jennifer Fauci, a senior English major, wrote her resume for the first time during her sophomore year at Adelphi University. Yet with only two years of college experience, and a bulk of her achievements stemming from high school, she had no idea where to start. So, she turned to the Internet for help.

"I used a lot of templates and Web sites to find out how to format my information to fit onto one presentable page," she said. "No professional help, just whatever Internet sources I had at hand."

Though she commutes to and from school, an easier route would have been to access Adelphi's Center for Career Development, a career counseling service helping students and alumni create resumes and prepare for job interviews.

It's always recommended to have an extra set of eyes, but students often neglect the professional career counseling staff found in Post Hall, who are available and trained to read over resumes through e-mail or by appointment. "People don't realize that their student activities fee here at the University pays for services like this," said Elaine Boylan, associate director of the Center for Career Development.

By visiting with or e-mailing one of the four career counselors, students can receive a full critique of their resume and can even request the center's handbook with sample resumes and cover letters inside.

"Your resume is the one document in your life that needs to be constantly and repeatedly updated. It's a live document and it should always reflect the honesty, accuracy and completeness of one's background," said Boylan, who stresses the importance of a strong, well-written resume.

On any given day, employers often spend anywhere between 15 to 30 seconds reading a resume, looking only for pieces of information that will peak their interest. It is essential, therefore, to keep a resume as concise as possible. Wordiness, too many bullet points, and not being specific enough, will often draw potential employers away.

"In addition, sometimes people have too much description and it's really not necessary," said Boylan. "And sometimes people express concern that if they don't put everything that they've ever done on their resume, that somehow that's lying. And it's not; lying is putting something on there that you never did."

Unless a student has more extensive experience, a resume should be no longer than one page in length, which is exactly why carefully picking and choosing the most important and relevant pieces of information are the key to success.

Boylan makes clear that there is not one specific way to create an ideal resume but each should always contain three basic categories: education, experience and skills. Students are not limited to these categories, however. Other topics include research (for medical students), publications (for journalism students) and student teaching (for education majors).

Other tips? Purchase special resume paper, which can be found at Staples, in either ivory, white, off-white or light gray. Pastel colors and decorative borders will only be thrown in the trash. Boylan also suggests paying close attention to the cover letter, which is equally as important as your resume.

"People don't spend quite as much time agonizing over their cover letter, but they should," said Boylan, "because their resume is not going to get read unless the person gets past their cover letter."

The Center for Career Development is open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment for resume or interview assistance, visit the center, call them at (516) 877 - 3130 or send an e-mail to careercounselor@adelphi.edu.

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

Adelphi students, check your e-mail - the Student Activities Board (SAB) is sponsoring a "Night to Die For" on Thursday, Oct. 29 and we are all invited. There will be food, a DJ and fortune tellers, as well as a cash bar for students 21 and over, from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. Admission is $3 for Adelphi students and $5 for non-Adelphi students, with a three-to-one guest policy in effect. Come dressed in your finest Halloween attire for your chance to win in the annual costume contest as well.

To find out more about this event, send an e-mail to SAB@adelphi.edu.

~Leslie Fazin

Image courtesy of Microsoft Clip Art

Adelphi University Hosts its Very Own Haunted House

Chapman Hall, one of the six residence halls on campus, and Adelphi's only "Green Hall," turned into a four-storied haunted house in honor of the upcoming celebration of Halloween.

Residents donned their bloodiest and spookiest attire in hopes of scaring students, friends and family members from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Monday, October 26. Guests who braved Chapman's annual "Haunted Halls" were able to vote on the "most frightening floor."

This year's victor, the second floor, also known as Chapman's "Green Floor," used scare tactics such as following closely behind and in front of guests and recreating scenes from Freddy Krueger in order to win. All four floors took advantage of strobe lights, music from The Exorcist and Halloween, and costume make-up to create a truly gruesome and unforgettable night.

Admission was free but guests had the option to donate to Mother's Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.), an organization devoted to educating others about drunk driving and to prevent underage drinking.

To read more coverage about this spooky event, be sure to pick up a copy of The Delphian, the campus' newspaper, on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Guests were warned to "Beware" for what Chapman Hall had in store for the night.

Bloody props set the mood for a frightening evening.

Third floor residents Leslie Fazin, Danielle Pritchett and Victoria Yang sported deadly looks.

Freshmen Sarah Rawski and Isham Taveras, from the second floor,

participated in Haunted Halls for the first time.

Second floor residents celebrated their win after "Haunted Halls" scared its last guests.

Photos courtesy of Leslie Fazin

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

If you haven't starting singing "Happy Birthday" while washing your hands, you better start now. President Obama, as of yesterday, declared the Swine Flu outbreak a national emergency.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

~Leslie Fazin

Adelphi Educates Students About the Importance of Staying Healthy

The purell hand sanitizer dispensers can be found in all residence halls and buildings around campus. Photo courtesy of Leslie Fazin

In an effort to safeguard students against the looming cold and flu season, Adelphi University installed 150 automatic hand sanitizer dispensers around the campus' most populated areas.

The decision to install these dispensers was a collaborative effort put forth by Eugene Palma,

executive director of Public Safety, Jacqueline Cartabuke, director of the Health and Services Center and Edwin Guerrero, head of housekeeping. "Due to the number of people that use populated areas over and over, it's a good idea for health and safety to provide an easy way to quickly clean your hands," said Cartabuke.

The 150 purell hand sanitizer dispensers awaited students at the start of the fall 2009 academic semester. The need to take action came in response to recommendations made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New York Department of Health regarding the H1N1 virus - also known as the Swine Flu.

“Although washing your hands with soap and water is the best way to prevent the spread of germs, the hand sanitizer is a good resource when that option is not available,”said Palma in the October 12 issue of Adelphi's student newspaper, The Delphian.

Knowing that students are always on the run, these sanitizers make it easy to keep hands clean. Cartabuke advises not to become dependent upon these dispensers, however. At the Health and Services Center, located in Waldo Hall, she reminds students that hand washing before and after class and at the restroom, as well as before and after meals, is the best preventative measure they can take. "We highly recommend hand washing whenever possible and have provided mirror stickers to all residential halls as well as signs throughout campus on hand washing," she said.

A poster, displayed in Chapman Hall, reminds students about the importance of staying healthy on campus. Photo courtesy of Leslie Fazin.

The CDC also believes that hand-washing is the best prevention against the spread of germs and recommends running hands under soap and water for a total of 20 seconds - enough time as it would take to sing "Happy Birthday" twice to a close friend.

Beyond hand-washing and the on-the-g0 purell sanitizer stations, Cartabuke suggests receiving a flu vaccination as well. Though vaccinations come with complications, "immunization is statistically our best means of defense," she said. For students weary of the Swine Flu, Adelphi's Health Services will be releasing a limited quantity of the H1N1 vaccination, the first phase of vaccines to be available to the Adelphi community.

On a first-come, first-served basis, students, faculty and staff, who are in compliance with the CDC's "priority recipient" guidelines, will be able to receive the vaccination on Wednesday, October 28 at Adelphi's Manhattan Center campus from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m.

Those categorized as "priority" are "pregnant women, people who live with or care for infants younger than six months of age, health care and emergency medical personnel, people up to 24 years of age and people from 25 through 64 years of age with certain chronic medical conditions or a weakened immune system," according to an e-mail sent out by the Health Services Center.

To find out how to stay healthy on campus, visit the Health Services Center in Waldo Hall, call (516) 877 - 6000 or follow the health alerts posted at www.adelphi.edu/healthandwellness.

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

Check out Eve Liptak's Associated Content article for more tips on creating a comfortable and cozy abode in your residence hall.

~Leslie Fazin

How to Ease the College Blues

The start of a school year is always a thrilling and nerve-racking experience, particularly for freshman and transfer students who have decided to make the transition from home life to residential living.

With over 5,000 undergraduate students at Adelphi University, making this adjustment can be a daunting task. Whether as little as 15 minutes away or as far as 3,000 miles from home, moving into a room other than your own can quickly invoke a feeling of homesickness. Fortunately, decorating a dorm room to make it feel like home is an easy way to solve, at least some, residential life woes.

A typical dorm room during move-in day. Photo courtesy of Leslie Fazin

First-time resident students should create a colorful room, suggests resident assistant Teresa Pisano of Chapman Hall. “Dark colors make a room feel dreary,” she said, emphasizing that this often increases a sense of loneliness. “Color makes a room feel brighter, happier and larger.” Colors such as greens, blues and yellows, which can be found on bed sheets, comforters, pillows, chairs and floor rugs, promote tranquility and happiness in a student’s new living arrangement.

Color isn’t the only way to brighten up a bland dorm room, however. “I’ve found that some people put up posters, some put up quotes and others make collages that include a little piece of everything that they like,” said Joseph Dujmovic, a resident assistant of Linen Hall. “Personally, I have some of my favorite photos framed in my room. Whenever I need a boost of encouragement or a pick-me-up, they always help to make me smile.”

Color and photographs create a cozy feel. Photo courtesy of Leslie Fazin

Danielle Pritchett, a freshman psychology major, agrees. Though her hometown of Manhasset is only 15 minutes away from the Garden City campus, she came to Adelphi to experience the infamous ‘campus life.’ But living in a cramped dorm room that is a far cry from your bedroom at home can make anyone feel homesick, including Pritchett. Her remedy? “I've put up a lot of pictures of my family, which helps remind me of them. I also brought a lot of pillows and stuffed animals from home.”

Author Katherine Olasken, in her book Dorm Room Feng Shui: Find Your Gua - Free Your Chi, suggests that a few feng shui tips, such as room rearrangement, can help with a student’s chi, or flow of energy as well. This simple rearrangement can make a dorm room feel more comfortable and cozy.

But occupying a room with a stranger can also come as a shock and increase homesickness further, even if the room is adorned in photographs, posters and quotes, and rearranged to your liking.

“If the resident is feeling homesick, I encourage them to talk with someone about it; whether they speak with a close friend, their RA or RHD, or with a counselor at the Student Counseling Center,” said Dujmovic. “Chances are, someone else is feeling the same way and will be able to give them some good advice. It’s better to talk it out than to keep all of those uneasy emotions bottled up inside yourself.”

Join a club on campus, visit the Center for Recreation and Sport or apply for an on-campus job. But don't forget, above all else, nothing compares to a call, e-mail, Facebook message or visit from home to ease the college blues.

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

Lackmann Culinary Services wants you to be their friend! On Facebook, that is. If you have a Facebook account, type "LCS at Adelphi" into the search bar to view Lackmann's Facebook page. Here, you can keep up with new events and food options throughout the semester.

~Leslie Fazin

Taco Stop Proves Popular Among Students

Check out the video below to view a student-made news video on Adelphi's newest dining option.

~Leslie Fazin

Food for Thought

Consider this: "Most people come home and the first thing they do is check Facebook, Myspace and Twitter," says Adelphi University junior Caitlin Scena. "How many times do you hear, 'I have a project to do but instead I'm on Facebook'?"

Tara Stiles writes about this, and about her very own Facebook addiction, in her Huffington Post article. She has no shame revealing she is addicted and even admits while writing the article, she had trouble staying away from her Facebook account.

Does Facebook ever interfere with your studies?

~Leslie Fazin

Facebook: Friend or Foe?

Ask any Adelphi University student if they have a Facebook account and the answer will be a unanimous yes. Step off campus and ask the same question to any tween or teen, businessman or businesswoman, husband or wife, grandmother or grandfather, and chances are they will say yes, too. With over 300 million active users around the world, it may be a challenge finding anyone living outside of the Facebook scene.

Yet, if you ask these same users if they are addicted to Facebook, many will deny anything of the sort. Don’t be fooled, though: According to Facebook.com’s Press Room, Facebook users, just like you, spend an overwhelming 6 billion minutes each day (worldwide) updating their profiles and surfing their friends’ pages.

I may be the first to admit that yes, I am mildly addicted. From the moment I wake up to right before I turn off my computer to go to bed, I check my Facebook account. I also access Facebook through my mobile phone, which, according to Facebook, accounts for 65 million of its users.

But for most who view Facebook addiction as "stalking," I'd say that's not always the case. I primarily use Facebook as a social device to keep in touch with friends who live far away. In fact, one of my friends, Mikaela Celli, recently moved back home to California from Adelphi University. She too uses Facebook as a way to keep in touch.

“I could send regular e-mails and sometimes I do, but let's face it, chances are if someone has a Facebook they are more likely to check and respond to that than to e-mail,” she said. “I can leave videos for my friends and it will be there for them instantly, even if they are 3,000 miles away like many of my close friends are.”

Salvatore Fallica, professor of Communications at Adelphi University, agrees: “Facebook has a variety of appeals. It’s interactive and it also visualizes relationships. It allows people to connect in ways they can’t in their normal everyday lives.”

Though Facebook is an excellent way to connect and keep in touch with long lost loves, former classmates, family members and current friends, do the negative characteristics outweigh the good? Before agreeing to join Facebook, users should also agree to throw their private life out the door. Quite the opposite from your parents and grandparents, young adults, like you, are used to revealing personal information – in fact, you usually don’t think twice about it.

“That’s because kids have grown up in a culture of revelation,” Professor Fallica said. It is through talk shows, reality TV and the not-so-private life of celebrities, he believes, where this care-free attitude all began. With so many features to choose from – games, quizzes and applications such as “Pieces of Flair” – users often find that what was supposed to be a five minute stay, ends up being an hour or more on the Web site.

So, what's an Adelphi University student to do when they are caught between the all-too-common decision to do homework or surf Facebook? Take a look at CNN's video, "Five Clues You Are Addicted to Facebook" and decide for yourself.

~Leslie Fazin