IN THE NEWS - LINKS TO PENN STATERS IN THE NEWS
Penn State faculty are often quoted in the news and this periodic column will bring some of those stories to your attention. Some media web links are good only for the day posted, others remain available for several days. Sometimes only the citation is available.
****"Mentor Project Pairs Disabled Teens with Successful Adults." Janet Light, associate professor of communications disorders, is working on a project to use the Internet to connect teen-agers that have speech disabilities with adult mentors. American News Service at
http://www.americannews.com/ans/ans-001428.html
FEWER HOG FARM ODERS WITH CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS
The feces, urine and wastewater that are byproducts of hog farms smell to high heaven. To reduce the odors, two researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have found that low-tech, constructed wetlands work well to clear the air. Field trials in small-scale, constructed wetlands in a greenhouse showed an 80 percent reduction in offensive odor compounds from unadulterated swine facility wastewater, says Eileen Wheeler, assistant professor of agricultural engineering. Current swine waste treatment practices include: mechanical aeration of manure lagoons, a technology with high energy costs; anaerobic digestion of wastes into biogas, requiring high equipment investment and maintenance; and chemical or biological additives, with questionable effectiveness. For more on the story by John Wall, go to http://www.aginfo.psu.edu/News/may00/pigmanure.html
CUTLER RECEIVES HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION AWARD
Anthony Cutler, research professor of art history has received the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. The award is a monetary grant for research and travel at a German university German scholars nominate prize winners whose academic qualifications enjoy international recognition. Cutler has published many articles and books, primarily in the field of Byzantine art, including his recent book, Byzantium, Italy and the North: Papers on Cultural Relations, published by tPindar Press, London. For the past two springs, Cutler was the Paul Mellon Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
VIRTUAL CLASSMATES CROSS ATLANTIC TO MEET
An unusual reunion with a decidedly French flavor took place recently in a number of University Park foreign language classrooms. About two dozen students and their professors crossed the Atlantic Ocean from France to meet colleagues and classmates with whom they have worked over the last academic year via the Internet. This meeting was just one of several to take place at Penn State over the past two years between teachers and students from Lycée Paul Héroult in the small alpine town of St. Jean de Maurienne and students in accelerated French language and culture classes at the University. The collaborative cultural learning experience is sponsored jointly by the Center for Academic Computing, the College of the Liberal Arts, and the Center for Language Acquisition. For the full story by Lara Lomicka and Jenny Thrasher, which appeared in Academic Computing Newsletter, go to http://www.psu.edu/studentcomputing/french111.html
THOMPSON TO TEACH ON A FULBRIGHT IN BULGARIA
Brad Thompson, assistant professor of communications, has been named a Fulbright Scholar for the 2000-2001 academic year and will teach and conduct research on journalism in Bulgaria. The Fulbright Program provides grants for scholars, professionals, and students to study and lecture abroad. Thompson will teach at the American University in Bulgaria in Blagoevgrad and will conduct research on media law.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES EXHIBIT CELEBRATES THE 1950s
To help celebrate the 50th reunion of the Penn State class of 1950 this weekend, the University Archives has mounted a special exhibit of the days when Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States and his brother, Milton, was president of Penn State. The exhibit, which examines the years 1950 to 1955 in particular, includes segments on the United States in the 1950s, Milton Eisenhower's tenure as Penn State president (1950-1956), students and their activities, intercollegiate athletics, Penn State administrators, and Penn State's transition from college to university (1953). It is on display in the Special Collections Library through June 25, located on the first floor of Paterno Library. For more about the archives, go to http://www.libraries.psu.edu/crsweb/speccol/spcoll.htm