The Collegian Alumni Interest Group (AIG) is raising funds for an endowment to ensure current Collegian staffers have the same great experience we did. One donor, Mike Kardauskas, wrote a note to the AIG talking about what The Collegian meant to him and why he gave. With his permission, his note is copied below:
My Collegian experience was atypical, and, truth be told, virtually non-existent. I had been a member of the UVA School of Architecture Class of ’75, but was advised by my professors there that I seemed more like an engineer to them, and they thought I would be better suited for that profession.
Around that same time, as a sophomore, I won first prize in a university-wide short story contest. That made me think of switching to English instead of engineering, but, since English majors were reputed to be chronically unemployed, I was reluctant to do that. I was also reluctant to go into engineering, which generally led to working for defense contractors, something I did not want to be associated with.
I dropped out of college and found work for several years applying my graphic arts talents to laying out pages for college textbooks and such at a company in New Jersey, which oddly combined two of my interests and incidentally exposed me to a lot of great literature. (Two Nobel Literature Prize winners, Heinrich Böll and Saul Bellow, received their prizes while I was working on their books.)
Eventually, I realized that I needed to do something else to earn a decent living, and I discovered that Penn State had a major called Engineering Science that was geared towards producing graduates with broad backgrounds that could work in many different fields during their careers, and I enrolled in that program.
I received my B.S. in ESci in 1980, and my M.S. in 1983. My graduate advisor, who knew that I wanted to work on alternate energy sources, convinced me to stay on for a PhD in Solid State Science (at the time, there was no PhD program in ESci). I received my SSS PhD in 1987 and went to work for Mobil Solar Energy Corporation developing the solar panels that you see everywhere now.
Along the way, I missed having any outlets for artistic expression and interacting with artistic people. One day, while I was working on my PhD, an ad appeared in The Collegian asking for students in science or technology to join The Collegian to write occasional articles on technical subjects, such as the energy crisis, global warming, etc. Those chosen for those staff positions would not have to put in the number of hours required of journalism majors, but they would be considered full members of the staff.
That sounded like a perfect fit for me, so I applied, submitted writing samples, and was accepted. Then I waited for the assignments to come in and – none ever did! In fact, I’m not sure that I ever met another Collegian staff member in person; all of my interactions were by Interoffice Correspondence using University Mail Services. I was never in The Collegian’s offices or newsroom. As work on my dissertation dragged on, I assumed that my supposed position at The Collegian had been forgotten, and I applied my energies elsewhere.
It was only long after I left State College, and the invention of email, that I discovered that I am listed as a Collegian alumnus. Something of which I am somewhat proud, while not being able to accept much credit for.
In any case, reading The Collegian was something I looked forward to every day, and when I heard of their funding being cut, I was outraged. I couldn’t imagine the Penn State experience without The Collegian. I would like to support whatever movement exists to keep the paper alive and healthy. Please keep me informed.
Mike Kardauskas, ’80, ’83, ’87
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To make a pledge or get more information, please email [email protected].
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