Though the "Sesquicentennial Ice Cream Naming Contest" has been over since Dec. 31, a large number of submissions means students, faculty and alumni are still waiting for the winner to be announced.

The winner of the contest may be announced no later than March 1, said Eston Martz, executive editor for the College of Agricultural Science.

Martz has received 1,536 responses via e-mail and post mail, coming from students, alumni and even Cathy Henderson's Harrold Middle School class in Greensburg.

"It's been fun and a lot more work than anticipated, but worthwhile," Martz said.

Although Martz has received 1,536 actual responses, he is unsure as to how many names he will have to sort through. "The total number is sketchy because some e-mails have more than one suggestion," Martz said.

Duplicate suggestions were expected, he said. "One name was suggested more than any other, maybe 30 out of 300 so far," Martz said, though he cannot reveal that name yet.

The contest started Sept. 1 and continued until Dec. 31. The purpose of the contest was to spread awareness about Penn State's sesquicentennial celebration, which runs from July 1, 2004 until June 30, 2005, Martz said.

"It was neat to make so many people aware, even through something as seemingly innocuous as an ice cream flavor," Martz said.

In order to identify a winner, the names will have to be narrowed down to 20 for a committee to select five finalists, he said.

Tom Palchak, manager of the University Creamery since 1986, will also play a large part. "Tom is crucial," Martz said.

The five final names will be shared with Palchak, who will help narrow the field down to one winner, he said. "We're a support role; our job is simply to produce an ice cream," Palchak said.

Palchak said that it would take a couple of weeks to a month before he has something to share with the public.

"The committee has been planning events for the last year and half. Just one of them is the ice cream," said Steve MacCarthy, vice president of university relations and chair of the committee.