Mark Your Calendars
GO BEHIND THE SCENES AS BERMAN EXHIBITION BRINGS ITS COLLECTION INTO THE OPEN TO PREPARE FOR NEW ADDITION
Go behind the scenes of an art museum when the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College opens the process of curatorial assessment and study to the public in its WORKS(S) IN PROGRESS exhibition from January 20 through April 12.
Bringing works of art out of the vaults and into the open, in preparation for expansion of the Museum building, the staff will turn the Main Gallery into a laboratory for more than 3,000 works from the permanent collection, rotating sections of the collection. Exhibitions and programs are funded in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. For group tour information, call 610-409-3500.
PV CHAMBER OF COMMERCE night at Reading Royals visit www.PVchamber.net for details. Royals vs. Johnstown chiefs - 7:05 p.m. - Tickets $7.50
January 24
2nd Annual Cinderella Art Auction at COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL on 1/24/09 featuring silent auction of paintings, photography, textiles, pottery, hand-sewn items and jewelry made by local artists as well as gift certificates for area restaurants and attractions. Wine and sweets served during the auction at CMS, 775 Main Street, Trappe, and there will be a performance of Warren Martin's Cinderella performed by CMS faculty, staff and friends. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or by calling 610-489-3676 or abate@cmsmusic.org. Doors open at 7 p.m. www.cmsmusic.org
February 11
The 2009 URSINUS COLLEGE Job and Internship Fair will be held in the Floy Lewis Bakes Field House at Ursinus on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. This is an opportunity for local businesses to meet talented students seeking full-time, part-time, summer jobs and internships. www.ursinus.edu/career or call 610-409-3599.
February 12
PV CHAMBER OF COMMERCE presents the Comcast Public Affairs Series, State Legislators at DaVinci's Pub, 217 E. Main Street, Collegeville, 8:00 a.m. registration, 8:30-9:30 a.m. program - RSVP/Pre-Payment Required, Registration Flyer
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Wishing you a healthy and prosperous New Year!
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Collegeville Main Street Program Receives Funding
Collegeville was officially designated a a Main
Street community by Ken Klothen, Department of Community and Economic Development Deputy Secretary. As a Main Street community, the Collegeville Economic Development Corporation will receive an initial $50,000 grant.
"Strong communities are critical to a strong economy," said Klothen. "Being designated as a Main Street community is an important step in creating new opportunities for downtown business districts. By helping to establish a coordinated revitalization effort, we're working to make communities like Collegeville better places to live, work, and play."
Main Street was also honored to receive a check for $10,000 from Wyeth Corporation to support the Main Street program and its efforts towards the revitalization of Collegeville.
"Wyeth is pleased to support the CEDC and its Main Street Program," said Don Tobias, Assistant to the President and Senior Research Liaison for Wyeth. "As a Collegeville neighbor, we are looking forward to the positive changes that are in the works."
The structure of the Main Street program revolves around four volunteer committees -- Organization, Promotion, Design, and Economic Restructuring - that have developed important goals and reached key objectives designed to make the Main Street area more attractive to residents and visitors as well as more economically viable for local businesses. The Main Street program is one of Pennsylvania's most successful in enhancing downtown business districts.
"Revitalization is a cooperative effort," said Vic Brown, President of the CEDC Board of Directors. "Since its inception, we have received significant support from the Borough and Ursinus College, as well as many business people and residents in the community. With this additional funding, our future truly looks bright."
For more information about the Main Street program, contact Ginny Simon, Main Street Manager, at 610-454-1050 or ginny@collegevilledevelopment.org.
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Ursinus: One of Top 10 Liberal Arts Colleges for Best Degree Value
Ursinus College is a great long-term value, says Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal Magazine in its January issue. The article, "Why the Ivies aren't Worth it" assesses the long term value of a college education by ranking schools by taking into account tuition, and alumni salaries. Ursinus is in the top 10 liberal arts school list, with Amherst, Bowdoin, Colgate, and Lafayette, and is #38 on a list of 50 colleges, right under Brown and Bowdoin, and above Swarthmore and Williams and Vassar.
The article is called "Why the Ivies aren't Worth it" and it assesses the long term value of a college education, by coming up with a "payback" ratio for each school. They state that other rankings measure quality and selectivity and they were not doing that.
To determine each school's "payback" ration, the editors started with 50 schools (by tuition) drawn from three categories: Ivy League, liberal arts and public. Then, culling data from a recent survey by PayScale.com, an online salary database, they looked at the median salaries alumni are earning at two career stages - within five years of graduation (median: three years) and after 10 years (median: 15 years). They then divided each of those figures by the school's historical degree cost and averaged them together."
The top liberal arts schools are:
Washington & Lee
U. of Richmond
Lafayette
College of the Holy Cross
Bucknell
Amherst
Occidental
Colgate
Bowdoin
Ursinus
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Turning Stormwater
into Cleanwater
The Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy is looking for homeowner's associations that want to improve the quality of water leaving their stormwater basins, improve local habitats for birds and beneficial insects and save a little money in the bargain.
Homeowner's associations own more and more open spaces and stormwater management facilities throughout the Perkiomen Valley. Managing these fields, woodlands and detention basins can be a daunting task - especially if you are concerned about making the most of nature's beauty and bounty. Traditional stormwater detention basins look more like bomb craters than natural areas and do more harm than good when if comes to water quality.
The natural cycle is for rain to fall to earth and then seep and soak into the soil and rock layers below. This is the only way that our groundwater is replaced. Groundwater, or the water table as many call it, provides water for our wells as well as a constant source of underground flow to creeks and streams. Without a constantly recharging water table, our creeks would go dry as would our wells. So getting rainwater into the ground is a critical need.
Traditional detention basins are designed to move stormwater into the local stream quickly, thus reducing the amount of water that seeps into the water table. Traditional basins also allow all of the pollutants that wash off of the land during a storm to flow directly into the local creek. Water temperature and chemistry are also adversely affected.
By changing the character of a basin, by adding trees and native plants, the stormwater is slowed down and given greatly chance to soak into the ground and recharge groundwater. Also, soils are one of the best filters of the pollutants that wash off of our lawns, driveways and parking lots. Water that reaches a creek from underground rather than as stormwater run-off is cleaner, colder and better oxygenated and therefore helps keep creeks and stream healthy. In addition, by slowing stormwater, there is less erosion of streambanks and less loss of aquatic habitats in the creek.
All things considered, there are hundreds of opportunities for communities to turn stormwater into clean water. For more information contact Crystal at the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy (610.287.9383) and ask about the homeowner's association program for stormwater basins.
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