The Pennsylvania State University ©1997

WORLD PREMIER OF COCTEAU WORK SET FOR MARCH
The world premiere of "Paul and Virginie," an original opéra comique written by Jean Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet will be the center piece of an interdisciplinary symposium devoted to the creative life of Jean Cocteau, one of the world’s most versatile artists. The three-day symposium, "Cocteau’s World," will be held March 16-18, at The Nittany Lion Inn, and will combine a scholarly appreciation of Cocteau’s work with films, exhibitions and performances and lectures. Cocteau (1889-1963) was a poet, critic, essayist, novelist, playwright, cinematographer, painter, sculptor, decorator, designer and ceramist. Hosted by Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies, the symposium is also supported by the Ambassador of France to the United States as part of the French government’s millennium celebration of Franco-American relations. After the symposium, Paul and Virginie will be performed at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. on March 24 and 25, and at Florence Gould Hall in New York City on March 31 and April 1. For more information, go to the Cocteau Web site at http://www.jeancocteau.org or contact the Institute at (814) 865-6326.

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LEARNING ENVIRONMENT EXPERT NEXT FORUM SPEAKER
Michael D. Olsen, professor of strategic management at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and director of research for the International Hotel and Restaurant Association, will be the guest speaker at the next Penn State Forum on Thursday, Feb. 17, in the Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom on the University Park campus. His topic is" "The Learning Environment of Tomorrow, what the Learner will Expect, and Implications for Institutions of Higher Education."Modeled after the National Press Club and sponsored by the Penn State Bookstore, the lunchtime series of lectures is an offering of the Penn State Faculty Staff Club and is open to the public. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the program, including the lecture and questions from the audience, begins at noon. Call 814-865-7590 for Forum tickets, which are $10 per person. Tickets may also be available at the door. For more information about the Penn State Faculty Staff Club, go to http://www.psu.edu/dept/fsc/ on the Web.

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GOD'S TROMBONES TO PLAY AT THE NAACP CONF, FEB 18
Penn State's Essence of Joy and the Loaves and Fish Traveling Repertory Company will present God's Trombones, an hour-long production featuring spiritual songs and sermons set in the African American traditional spiritual style at the NAACP National Conference in Washington D.C. on Friday Feb. 18. Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, invited the company to Washington after he saw the group perform at a program in his honor at the Schomburg Center for African American Culture in New York City. The production premiered in November at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in State College. Loaves and Fish Traveling Repertory Company is a professional theater company funded by The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts that develops original and classic works on the diversity of the American experience. Charles Dumas, artistic director, actor and writer in the ensemble, is an associate professor in the School of Theatre. Anthony Leach, assistant professor of music, directs Essence of Joy, a choral ensemble that performs sacred and secular music from the African/African American traditions.

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FINANCIAL AID LISTSERV FOUNDERS HONORED
In 1992, FINAID-L, an e-mail list for university financial aid officers, was created at Penn State, in an effort to share information and clarify rules and regulations about the rapidly changing and complex world of calculating, reporting and offering financial aid to university students nationwide. The list created and maintained by Robert Quin, director of computer services for the Office of Student Financial Aid, and Peter Weiss, senior systems engineer in the Office of Administrative Systems, had 3 subscribers on the first day and 30 more the second. Now it serves more than 3,000 financial aid officers across the country and abroad. Its founders were recently honored with a distinguished service award. To see the FINAID-L founders, go to http://www.psu.edu/dept/finaid-l/.

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STUDENTS TO TEST THEIR OCEANIC KNOWLEDGE
A high-pressure bowl game -- the regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl -- will take place Saturday, Feb. 12. This year’s tournament, a timed competition involving "buzz-in" responses to multiple-choice and short-answer questions, is the third annual bowl for high school students, and is again hosted by the Applied Research Laboratory. Penn State, a member of CORE (Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education), which is composed of 57 oceanographic research entities throughout the country, coordinates the bowl nationwide. For more information, contact Tammy Miller at .

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PENN STATE TO FACE USC IN 2000 KICKOFF CLASSIC, AUG.27

The Penn State football team will play Southern California in Kickoff Classic XVIII at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Sunday, August 27, at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ABC. This is the record fourth appearance in the Kickoff Classic for the Nittany Lions, who will be playing in one of the traditional preseason games for the second consecutive year. Penn State opened the 1999 season in the Pigskin Classic, a 41-7 victory over Arizona. Penn State and Southern California last faced each other in the 1996 Kickoff Classic, which the Nittany Lions won 24-7. General public ticket sales for the game will begin Monday, April 17. Tickets are $40 and $25. For the full story, go to http://www.psu.edu/sports.

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LOOKING FOR SOMEWHERE TO LIVE?
According to a new study by researchers in Penn State’s Smeal College of Business Administration that ranked the quality of life in 50 American cities, New Orleans is the best place to look for value — underpriced housing for the breadth of amenities offered by the city. New Orleans, along with Tampa, San Antonio, Scranton, and Fort Lauderdale, have the best potential for future real estate appreciation. The rankings were based on a mathematical model that used housing and wage information to fix the value of various amenities, including climate, education, art and culture, crime, transportation, recreation, and health care. The most overpriced cities based on the model were San Francisco, San Jose, Newark, Boston, and Oakland. For the full story by Nancy Marie Brown, go to http://www.research.psu.edu/rps/jan2000/citylights.html.

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RESEARCHER’S ARTICLE MOST CITED PAPER OF THE DECADE
In a list of most cited papers of the decade compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), a 1990 paper co-written by a Penn State faculty member wound up on top. Cited more than 10,000 times since its original October 1990 publication, the paper, "Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST)," was co-authored by Webb Miller, professor of computer science and engineering, and published in the Journal of Molecular Biology. ISI's index of journals includes more than 8,500 publications from the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Considered indispensable by many researchers, the BLAST computer program allows scientists to quickly discern what an unknown stretch of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or protein does and has played a crucial role in helping researchers unravel the mystery of DNA. Contact Curtis Chan at for more information.