9-05-01
CORRY JOURNAL PUBLISHER CREATES CENTER
FOR MANNERS AND CIVILITY AT PENN STATE BEHREND
George Sample, publisher of the Corry Journal, chairman of the board of Sample Media, and a 1946 Penn State alumnus, has created the Janet Neff Sample Center for Manners and Civility at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. With a pledge of $340,000, Sample has endowed an academic program that will increase the body of knowledge relating to manners, custom, civility, and courtesy.
The center honors his late wife, Janet Neff Sample, whom he met while she was employed at the University Hospital at Penn State. Six of the couple's eight children are alumni of Penn State, and each has been involved in the decision to create the Janet Neff Sample Center for Manners and Civility.
"We live in an increasingly uncivil environment," said Sample. "Today it seems that the demands of the individual have become more important than mutual respect, consideration of the rights of others, and the common courtesies that should characterize a civil society. I want this program to demonstrate ways to reverse this unhappy trend, and I want it to encourage people to improve the quality of life by adopting behavior that furthers manners and civility."
"We are honored to be the home of the Janet Neff Sample Center for Manners and Civility," said Dr. Jack Burke, interim provost and dean at Penn State Behrend, "and extremely grateful to George Sample for the creativity of this endowment. He has been a good friend to Behrend students for many years and, by emphasizing manners and civility, continues to enhance their educational environment."
Burke said the center will be located in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and will be developed by Dr. Clare Porac, director of the school, and speech communication faculty members.
"Students in this program will examine the problem of incivility in our society and culture," said Porac. "They will explore a variety of ways to communicate, and they will demonstrate both verbal and nonverbal ways to build communication and civility. Students will also develop and implement methods of teaching civility in a variety of environments and to a variety of audiences."
George Sample was awarded Penn State's lifelong designation of Alumni Fellow in 1999. His career as a journalist was launched at University Park, where he received his bachelor's degree in journalism and served as managing editor of The Collegian, Penn State's student newspaper. He joined the Corry Journal as a young reporter and subsequently rose to editor and publisher. With Corry as his home base, Sample served as vice chairman of Hollinger's American Publishing Company. In 1972, Sample was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by The Associated Press for a series of editorials dealing with censorship in a local drug case.
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Contact: Loretta Brandon
(814) 898-6063 (O)
(814) 864-9922 (H)
e-mail: lzb6@psu.edu