Pennsic University

03/02/2025

Greetings from your friends at Pennsic University! Guess what day it is? It’s the opening day for class registration for Pennsic War 52! So please go to Thing 2.0 (https://thing.pennsicuniversity.org/login/)) to start registering classes you want to teach as well as any other activities that are usually scheduled through Thing. Classes are scheduled in the order they are submitted (generally), so to get the time slots and locations you may want, register early!



Since we are a little late getting started, the registration deadline for being included in the on-line book will be extended until June 1st.



Notes for Teachers

1) Teachers that taught last year, use the username and password you created last year for Thing 2. Once you log in, you should find all your legacy classes available. Be sure to check your inactive classes if you think some are missing.

2) Teachers that did not teach last year will need to create a new profile. However, if you have taught in the last five years, your class information will still be available. When creating your new profile, there will be a box to provide the email you used in Thing, if you fill this in it will automatically bring your legacy classes into your Thing 2.0 account. We apologize, but if you are unable to remember the email you used in Thing, we have no way to look it up.

3) If you taught in a merchant booth or a private camp last year and wish to do so again this year, you can select your location from the track drop down menu. Once we have been given the go ahead for scheduling you will be able to schedule your preferred date and time for your class.

4) You must acknowledge the Policies, and update your availability to teach using a new calendar feature before you will be able to create classes.

5) Once you have entered the days and times you are available to teach, don’t forget to click the “Submit Availability” button or your information will not be saved.

6) If your classes are in one of the covered "tracks" submit your classes through Thing 2.0 as normal. If you think your class belongs in a specific track, select that track from the drop down menu in the track field. If your classes sort clearly into one of the Tracks, you may be contacted by your track coordinator to make sure your request is adequately resourced.

7) Once the online book has been created, if we are forced to reschedule a class because of a conflict, we will make every attempt to contact the teacher to let them know about the change.

ALL tents at Pennsic University are a limited resource but we will attempt to meet specific location requests.



As always, it is because of our teachers and students that we do this, and we want you to know how much we appreciate all of you. We look forward to seeing all our returning teachers and students, and meeting all the new students and teachers this summer!



Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have about the University as well as any difficulties you encounter. Send your comments to [email protected]



Staff list for Pennsic University, PW52:

Chancellor: Mistress Ciara McRobbie [email protected]

University Point Coordinator: Baroness Gina Dragoni [email protected]

Registrar: Mistress Gwynnyd of York [email protected]

Deputy Registrar: Mistress Angharad ferch Tangwystl [email protected]

ThingWrangler (Development Lead): Lord John Cholemodeley [email protected]

ThingWhisperer (Support): Mistress Artemisia Lacebrayder [email protected]

07/21/2024

Greetings from your friends at Pennsic University, the first day of school is fast approaching and we are so excited! We know you are too! Some of you are so looking forward to it that you have created most impressive schedules. Unfortunately this is creating a bit of an issue. Personal schedules with more than 500 entries are getting a timeout error and this is an issue we won’t be able to fix before Pennsic. So please, for this year at least, limit yourselves to only 2 or 3 options per hour. We suggest you triage the class list by going through the CSV and marking classes, then choosing a more reasonable number to add to your personal schedule.

Safe travels, and we’ll see you soon!

The Pennsic University Staff

04/07/2024

Greetings from your friends at Pennsic University! We are thrilled to announce class registration is now open! Beta testing of Thing 2.0 has successfully completed and we are ready to accept submissions for Pennsic 51. So please go to
https://thing.pennsicuniversity.org/
to start registering classes you want to teach as well as any other activities - battles, performances, events, parties, etc. - that are usually scheduled through Thing. Classes are scheduled in the order they are submitted (generally), so to get the time slots and locations you may want, register early! Since we are late getting started, the registration deadline for being included in the on-line book will be extended until June 1st.
Notes for Teachers:

1) All teachers will need to create a new profile. However, if you have taught in the last five years, your class information will still be available. When creating your new profile, there will be a box to provide the email you used in Thing 1, if you fill this in it will automatically bring your legacy classes into your Thing 2.0 account. We apologize, but if you are unable to remember the email you used in Thing, we have no way to look it up.
2) You must acknowledge the Policies, and update your availability to teach, using a new calendar feature, to be able to create classes.
3) If your classes are in one of the covered "tracks" submit your classes through Thing2.0 as normal. If you think your class belongs in a specific track, select that track from the drop down menu in the track field. If your classes sort clearly into one of the Tracks, you may be contacted by your track coordinator to make sure your request is adequately resourced. If you are uncertain where your class belongs, please select ‘Pennsic University” as the track and the Registrar will figure it out.
4)Once the online book has been created, if we are forced to reschedule a class because of a conflict, we will make every attempt to contact the teacher to let them know about the change.
5)ALL tents at Pennsic University are a limited resource but we will attempt to meet specific location requests.

Notes for Students:

1)Student-oriented Thing 2.0 features are slated for Phase III of the project and are expected in mid to late June, in plenty of time for students to take advantage of the new features.
2) It is unlikely that the hard copy books with class information will be available on check in at Pennsic. We will be sure to update folks as details become available.
3)Updated Class lists will be available at the University and Information Points as always.

We greatly appreciate your patience while we have worked to create Thing 2.0. Hopefully you find it as wonderful and easy to use as we do. Our developers, all volunteers, have spent an incredible amount of their personal time creating it for everyone. As always, it is because of our teachers and students that we do this, and we want you to know how much we appreciate all of you. We look forward to seeing all our returning teachers and students, and meeting all the new students and teachers this summer!
Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have about the University. Send your comments to [email protected]
Staff list for Pennsic University, PW51:
Chancellor: Mistress Ciara McRobbie [email protected]
University Point Coordinator: Baroness Gina Dragoni [email protected]
Registrar: Mistress Gwynnyd of York [email protected]
Deputy Registrar: Mistress Angharad ferch Tangwystl [email protected]
ThingWrangler (Development Lead): Lord John Cholemodeley [email protected]
ThingWhisperer (Support): Mistress Artemisia Lacebrayder [email protected]

06/19/2023

Book Talk!
There has been a lot of discussion on pennsic books over the last few years, We've recently gone to online versions as we originally felt it was both more convenient and also a cost we could avoid as prices for everything continue to rise. One thing we hadn't taken into account was our international visitors and the data rates they have to pay when here at Pennsic and that was an unintentional consequence. There is also a segment of the population that prefers the hardcopy books which I do understand, but handing one to everyone and having most of them end up in the trash seemed wasteful. This year we are going to provide books but they will be for sale at Information Point. We are printing enough that anyone who wants one should be able to come to the point and purchase one for $5 (Cash only). This is going to be a new process for us so I'd ask you be patient as I'm sure we may have a few hiccups getting things started (Things I can foresee is our ability to keep the point supplied with enough change to break the inevitable number of $20 bills from ATM's people have and possibly having to resupply them with stock from storage occasionally). We will be limiting people to purchasing one per person. Note also that these copies will have our best information as of today and any changes to schedules and such will be reflected on the website but not in the books.

03/01/2023

Greetings to all our teachers, potential teachers, and students from your friends at Pennsic University! We are happy to announce that Thing is now open for business and we are accepting class submissions for Pennsic 50. So please go to thing.pennsicuniversity.org to start registering classes you want to teach. Classes are scheduled in the order they are submitted (generally), so to get the time slots and locations you may want, register early! Since we are a bit late getting started, the registration deadline for being included in the on-line schedule will be extended until June 1st.
Notes for Teachers:
If you have taught in the last five years, your Teacher information should still be in the system. If you can’t find a login that works, contact us for help rather than making a new account.
You must acknowledge the Policies, update your availability and arrival dates, confirm your teacher and contact information, and create your new classes for this year.
If your classes are in one of the covered "tracks" submit your classes through Thing as normal. If you think your class belongs in a specific track, put that in the 'Scheduling additional' field. If your classes sort clearly into one of the Tracks, you may be contacted by your track coordinator to make sure your request is adequately resourced.
When we are forced to reschedule because of a conflict, we will be making every attempt to contact the teacher let them know about the change.
ALL tents at Pennsic University are a limited resource but we will attempt to meet specific location requests.
Notes for Students:
It is unlikely that the hard copy books with class information will be available on check in at Pennsic.
You can use Thing to create custom schedules of only the classes YOU are interested in or you can use Thing to print out the entire schedule of all classes.
Updated Class lists will be available at the University and Information Points as always.
Because we know that there are no guarantees we plan to continue the practice of offering a Virtual Pennsic University. You are welcome supply a pre-recorded class for our YouTube Channel at [email protected], along with an expedited waiver process for on-line content. We offer this option just in case, and as an opportunity during Pennsic for our friends that are unable to attend. Virtual classes will need to be submitted at least two weeks before the start of Pennsic to allow us time to upload them before we leave for Pennsic. Once we arrive on site we will not have the necessary bandwith for doing so.
It is because of our teachers and students that we do this, and we want you to know how much we appreciate all of you. We look forward to seeing all our returning teachers and students, and meeting all the new students and teachers this summer!
As always, feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have about the University. Send your comments to [email protected]
Staff list for Pennsic University, PW50:
Chancellor: Mistress Ciara McRobbie [email protected]
University Point Coordinator: Baroness Gina Dragoni [email protected]
Registrar: Mistress Gwynnyd of York [email protected]
Deputy Registrar: Mistress Angharad ferch Tangwystl [email protected]
ThingWrangler (Development Lead): Lord John Cholemodeley [email protected]
ThingWhisperer (Support): Mistress Artemisia Lacebrayder [email protected]

01/30/2023

Happy New Year, and greetings from the Pennsic University staff! We are looking forward to summer and spending time with friends at Pennsic and we know many of you are as well. We are hard at work already, improving the tools we use to do our job and finding ways to enhance your university experience. The first and most important job we needed to tackle was moving Thing to a new server, unfortunately we ran into some hiccups in the process which is why those of you that have tried to access Thing have been unable to do so. We know you are all eager to start registering, but we ask you to please be patient with us as we straighten out the issue. Once Thing is back up and running we will send out another missive letting all of you know that we are back in business and ready for you to start scheduling classes. Please stay tuned!
Your Friends at Pennsic University

04/08/2022

To all actual and potential Teachers and Staff of Pennsic University

It is now April.

The University would like all teachers to know that we are still planning on holding Pennsic this year. Although the Pennsic Staff and the Mayor continue to watch the Coronavirus situation diligently, we are all fully planning to hold a full, glorious Pennsic.

Therefore, this is the regular April reminder to have your classes submitted to Thing by May 1 if at all possible.
We now can confirm that there will be no on-site book, but putting your classes in early is the best way to get the time and tent you ask for. Classes are scheduled and assigned tents on a "first come, first served" basis...
In other words, the later you submit your classes the more likely your classes will be squeezed in between other, previously submitted, classes wherever we have space.

So please, for your classes' sake, and for the sanity of our crack proof-readers and scheduling team, go to "http://thing.pennsicuniversity.org" just as soon as you can conveniently do so.

Note Bene: we have slightly adjusted our University COVID Policy to be more closely in line with Aethelmarc's and Pennsic's policies to avoid confusion.
All teachers who have put classes in so far have already agreed to the earlier, slightly more restrictive policy.
All teachers are therefore encouraged to log back into Thing and review and agree to the newer COVID Policy.

Students come to Pennsic University classes to learn about a huge variety of topics. Perhaps you have something to share?

02/08/2022

Greetings to all our teachers, potential teachers, and students for Pennsic 49 ("the Long Hello")!
In our last message, announcing the opening of the Thing to new Class submissions for this coming Pennsic, we announced our plans to make our classes as safe from the contagion sweeping out lands as we can possibly do. We have been informed that we need to make some clarifications on these policies
firstly, the Pennsic University Tent and Masking policies are not intended to, and will not, supersede the relevant policies of the Kindom of Aethelmearc, which has the final say in this regard. Competent authority from the Kingdom of Aethelmearc have reviewed and approved the University plans for masking and keeping tents open as much as possible to to promote continuous air exchange.
It is important to note that, at all times, the Kingdom policy will supersede any University policy. The University can make a tougher policy at its discretion, but it cannot make the Kingdom policy looser or inapplicable in any way. The Aethelmearc Covid policies will always apply as a baseline. the University requests masking inside tents IN ADDITION TO the Kingdom Policy
Secondly, the Policy regarding masking and ventilation was informally titled as "University CovidSafe Policy." This policy has NO RELATION WHATSOEVER to the SCA "COVIDSafe" policy which governs vaccination/test status and documentation of same for admittance to events. We will be renaming this policy officially to a less confusing name in the near future.
Any changes to the University policy in this regard will be made in communication with the Aethelmearc Seneschallate and the Kingdom Deputy Kingdom Seneschal for Pandemics.
The SCA Covid Safe Policy may be found at the Official SCA website:
https://www.sca.org/.../covidsafe-proof-of-fully.../
The Aethelmearc Covid policy (which includes the masking requirements) may be found here:
https://docs.google.com/.../17IIgF5F9bvHX.../edit...
CDC guidance consulted in formulating the University policy:
https://www.cdc.gov/.../2019.../your-health/gatherings.html

02/04/2022

Greetings to all our teachers, potential teachers, and students for Pennsic 49 (one MORE TIME)!

I am happy to announce that Pennsic University is now accepting class submissions for Pennsic 49 (2022).

The University Staff are hopeful that we will be able to mount a successful Pennsic and University this year. However, as Last year showed us, we are not isolated from global events, and the continuing pandemic may force us to limit or eliminate University (or even Pennsic) altogether.
As we did last year, we are going to plan, however, on being able to see you this year. Please plan your classes as you would normally, if you are considering attending. Pennsic and Pennsic University will be here in future years, so please be sure to take whatever precautions you think best, even if it means staying home.

It has been announced that the usual hard copy books with class information will not be available on check in. you can use Thing to print out your own class lists at home, before leaving for Pennsic, which is the recommended procedure. You can use Thing to create custom schedules of only the classes YOU are interested in to save paper. Updated Class lists will be available at the University and Information Points as always.

Go to thing.pennsicuniversity.org to start registering classes you want to teach.
Classes are scheduled in the order they are submitted (generally), so to get the time slots and locations you may want, register early! This year's registration Deadline to guarantee placement in the On-Site book is May 1.
We continue to offer the option to supply an pre-recorded class for our YouTube Channel, along with an expedited waiver process for on-line content. You can choose to teach "in person", on-line, both, or just as an option if University is cancelled, or to be exhibited during Pennsic for our friends that are unable to attend. (I here offer a gentle reminder that relying on online access AT Pennsic for classes is not the height of Wisdom, expecially in the second week when the bandwidth becomes scarce as hen's teeth.)

Due to anticipated attendance being smaller than previous years, and the difficulties of keeping tent spaces sanitary, we are reducing our Runestone class spaces to just two tents.
If you want to be scheduled in the Bog University again this year, enter “Bog U” in the "Scheduling additional" portion of the class registration form.
We will have an additional space in the battlefield area for loud classes, in addition to the old Battlefield tent.

Please keep in mind that due to Pandemic precautions, there are some additional policies in place this year:

A new covid Safe policy is in place this year which requires that
1) Masks MUST be used while in University Tents.
2) If an instructor cannot use the mask for reasons related to teaching (such as using a wind instrument) they must maintain a 6 foot distance to all students, and replace masks when able.
3) Several handwash stations will be placed in the University Area. Please use them.
4) The sides of any univeristy tent MUST be opened up to allow airflow at all times while it is occupied, except during inclement weather.

ALL tents at Pennsic University are a limited resource but we will attempt to meet specific location requests.
When we are forced to reschedule because of a conflict, we will be making every attempt to contact the teacher let them know about the change.
It is because of you teachers and students that we are expanding, and we want you to know how much we appreciate it! You guys rock!
Notes:
If you have taught in the last five years, your Teacher information should still be in the system. If you can’t find a login that works, contact us for help rather than making a new login.
You must acknowledge the Policies, update your availability and arrival dates, confirm your teacher and contact information, and create your new classes for this year.
If your classes are in one of the covered "tracks" submit your classes through Thing as normal.
If your classes sort clearly into one of the Tracks, you may be contacted by your track coordinator to make sure your request is adequately resourced.
If you think your class belongs in a specific track, put that in the 'Scheduling additional' field.

We look forward to seeing all our old teachers and students again this year and hope for all the new students and teachers to become regulars!
Staff list for Pennsic University, PW49:
Chancellor : Capt Elias Gedney [email protected]
Deputy Chancellor : Mistress Ciara MacRobbie (also [email protected])
University Point Coordinator: Baroness Gina Dragoni [email protected]
Registrar: Mistress Gwynnyd of York [email protected]
Deputy Registrar: Baroness Gwenllyen [email protected]
ThingWrangler (Development Lead): Lord John Cholemodeley [email protected]
ThingWhisperer (Support): Mistress Artemisia Lacebrayder [email protected]
As always, feel free to tell us of any questions or issues you may have about University this year. We are also interested in any comments you might have about the book format we used last year.
Send your comments to [email protected]

04/16/2021

Greetings to all our Pennsic University teachers and students.
As you may have heard by now, the Pennsic Mayor, Master Gregory of Loch Swann, has formally announced that, due to the ongoing pandemic, the SCA and Pennsic staff have decided to postpone Pennsic 49 for another year. you can see the text of his announcement at pennsicwar.org
We at University are naturally disappointed in this decision, but we recognize that it was a hard decision to make and applaud the Mayoral Staff for their commitment to a safe and fun Pennsic for all.

Given that we are not holding in-person classes for yet another year, we are moving forward on our plans to offer a virtual Pennsic University in the same manner as last year.
Look for further announcements and information about creating and submitting materials for Virtual Pennsic University in the next couple weeks, although the rules for these have not meaningfully changed for this year. Submitting class descriptions for listing in VPU should still be done through Thing.PennsicUniverity.org but you should ignore any references to in-person offerings. If you wish to delete your in person class and replace it with an on-line version, you are welcome to do that through Thing. If you have selected the "contingent" option when you submitted your class, you do not need to do anything, and you will be contacted with instructions for submitting your video. In person classes will not roll over until next year, so it is not necessary to delete them, if you don't feel inclined.

Virtual Pennsic University courses will be available during the the month of August, from July 31, 2021 to Labor Day, September 6, 2021.

Further questions can be sent to [email protected], or posted to our page, and we will make every effort to respond in a timely manner.
Specific questions about creating and submitting classes can be directed to the Registrar, Mistress Gwynnyd, at [email protected].

Thank you for your understanding and patience in these abnormal times.

04/02/2021

It is now April.
I am sure that many of you have read the BoD's decision regarding restarting the restarting of in-person events. I understand that this is probably not as any of us have hoped.
It still looks likely that Pennsic 49(take 2) may be cancelled outright again. In that case, we will repeat the process we used last year to offer on-line content.
With this understanding, the University would like all teachers to know that, at this point, we are still planning on holding Pennsic this year.
Although the Pennsic Staff and the Mayor are watching the Coronavirus situation diligently, they have not made any decisions as of yet. We are probably not going to know until Mid to Late May at the earliest. We will let you know as soon as we know one way or another.
Therefore, this is the April reminder that if you want your class to be in the On-Site book, you should try to have your classes submitted to Thing by May 1. Any classes which are submitted after that may or may not appear in the on-site book.
I realize that this seems redundant and overly hopeful, but what is the future to be build on, if not on hope?
Please also submit any On-Line video courses that you are planning on offering.

Please use thing.pennsicuniversity.org to submit your courses.

thanks