Students Offer to Shave Heads to Support Cancer Treatment for Landscape Architecture Faculty Member

December 08, 2006

Eight undergraduate landscape architecture students are offering to shave their heads to raise money to support cancer treatment for landscape architecture faculty member Tom Yahner, who is battling leukemia. Each student has set a monetary goal ranging from $100 to $150 and whoever reaches that goal through donations will shave his head in a “mass shaving” to take place at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12, in the first-floor jury space of the Stuckeman Family Building.

All proceeds will go to the Hope Lodge, which houses cancer patients and their families free-of-charge while they are receiving treatment at the Hershey Medical Center. Donations in the form of cash or check made out to Hope Lodge are being accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 11, in 122 Stuckeman Family Building.

The participating students include Matt Gregory, Scott Baker, Brandon Riley, Bill Staley, Adam McGuire, Kristofer Wahl, Owen Snell and Steve Carlucci. The donor contributing the largest amount to each student will get the honor of shaving that student’s head. Donations from faculty and students in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture have already ensured that several of the participants are doomed to a chilly December.

Matt Gregory, a fifth-year student, says Professor Yahner is a caring professor who is always there for his students, offering guidance and support in both their academic and personal lives. He says he and his classmates wanted to shave their heads in a display of solidarity for Yahner. “Chemotherapy isn’t convenient, so why should shaving your head be?”

Contact: Kelly Riser, 865-9511 fwm1@psu.edu