NIH GRANT AIDS STUDY IN FROG DEFORMITIES
A five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health has been awarded to Penn State, Yale and Wake Forest researchers to study what is causing deformities in amphibians. Professor Joseph Kiesecker and Assistant Professor Katriona Shea, of the Department of Biology, will represent Penn State in the study. Research will be concentrated in the Northeast and attempt to determine where the deformed amphibians are most common and what might be causing the problem. Amphibian deformities have been reported in more than 40 states and in several countries. The problem captured national attention five years ago when school children in Minnesota discovered a pond containing frogs with deformed limbs. For more information, go to http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/00-10-23-01.all.html.

HILLARY USES FIRST LADY RHETORICAL SKILLS IN SENATE RACE
Hillary Rodham Clinton is applying similar rhetorical strategies in her bid for the U.S. Senate seat in New York that she used in successfully managing the media during her husband's scandal-plagued presidency. "As First Lady, Mrs. Clinton's chief rhetorical maneuver was to co-opt the power of the media, especially television, in creating positive stories about herself as loyal wife, devoted mother, intelligent woman and private person. These proved to be more interesting to the press, and therefore, the public, than ongoing reports about her husband's misbehavior," says Dr. Colleen E. Kelley, assistant professor of speech communication at Penn State Erie. She is author of the forthcoming book, The Rhetoric of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Study in Crisis Management Discourse. "In the current race against Rick Lazio, she has converted attacks on her character and record as First Lady into positives rather than negatives," Kelley says. "For instance, when assailed about her failed health plan during Bill Clinton's first administration, she framed the failed plan as a `learning experience' that taught her the need `to take step-by-step progress toward the ultimate goal of providing quality affordable health insurance for every American.' For the full story by Paul Blaum, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2000/hillaryclinton.html

NASA ADMINISTRATOR TO ADDRESS FORUM NOV 3
Henry McDonald, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center, will give a talk on "Advanced Technologies and the Future of the Space Program" at the Penn State Forum at noon on Friday, Nov. 3, at the HUB-Robeson Center Alumni Hall. From 1991 to 1996 McDonald was also assistant director of computational sciences and professor of mechanical engineering in our Applied Research Laboratory. The Ames Research Center is heavily involved in supercomputing, information technologies, aeronautics and space science research, and has extensive flight and ground-based experimental facilities and is well known for its work with NASA's Galileo project. The Penn State Forum is a public lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore. Tickets are $11 for non-members and $9 for members, and include lunch. Call (814) 865-7590 for reservations. Tickets may also be on sale at the door. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the speech and a question-and-answer session at noon. For a listing of other speakers go to http://www.psu.edu/dept/fsc/octfsc.html

PENN STATE ALTOONA SERIES ON BARBIE: LECTURES NOV. 1, 2
This semester, Penn State Altoona is exploring Barbie's influence on topics related to women's and girls' physical and mental health, including eating disorders, depression, and body image. The BARBIE 2000 series of events -- exhibits, theater productions, health screenings, guest speakers and panel discussions, is also looking at the influence of Barbie on popular culture , art, literature, and society, says Dinty W. Moore, professor of English and co-coordinator of integrative arts. "The Barbie doll raises issues about child development, marketing, advertising, body image and health, and about popular culture, so the various BARBIE 2000 events are an opportunity to show how many of the typical subject areas taught at Penn State Altoona are interrelated."

Barbie events coming up are:
-- Lecture by Jean Kilbourne on "The Naked Truth: Advertising's Image of Women, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Adler Athletic Complex. Kilbourne's most recent book is Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising.

-- Denise Duhamel, author of 10 books and chapbooks of poetry, will give a reading at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, in the Edith Davis Eve Chapel Duhamel's most recent title, The Star-Spangled Banner, was 1999 winner of the Crab Orchard Poetry Prize at Southern Illinois University Press.

For more on the Barbie series, go to http://www.aa.psu.edu/administrative_depts/university_relations/releases/08_31_00.htm

SHAKESPEARE’S JULIUS CAESAR AT THE PLAYHOUSE, NOV. 17
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears!" Mark Antony's spellbinding oration turns the citizens of Rome against Caesar's assassins and plunges a nation into revolution. One of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedies, Julius Caesar, initiates the audience into a world ruled by honor, politics, and revenge. This updated production will prove that our worlds are not far apart and that Julius Caesar will endure as long as people fight to preserve their liberties. The School of Theatre Production of Julius Caesar is scheduled for 8 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18, and Nov. 28 through Dec. 2 in the Playhouse. A matinee is scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 2. Previews will be held at 8 p.m. on Nov. 15 and 16. For more on the School of Theatre, go to http://www.theatre.psu.edu/