HOSPITAL STAY HELPS KIDS WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
A study published in the Jan. 12 issue of the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research shows that children diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders gain more benefit from intensive hospital-based therapy than from outpatient therapy of equal duration. The principal researchers, Susan Mayes, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine, and Valentins Krecko, M.D., director of the child psychiatry unit, found that a child's level of functioning improved significantly during hospitalization. The study results, based on data collected from a standardized rating scale administered to each child at admission and discharge, one month post discharge and six months post discharge, show that a two-week hospital stay with comprehensive therapeutic intervention in a controlled environment is clinically effective. Test scores for children admitted to a psychiatric unit for an average of 14 days showed a significant improvement in psychological functioning from admission to discharge. This improvement was far above that of a camparison group of children whose treatment was delivered primarily on an outpatient basis for a similar time interval. For more on this story, go to http://www.hmc.psu.edu/news/pr/Jan/Mayes-1-15-01.htm 

CORPORATE IMAGE IN THE MEDIA IMPACTS EMPLOYEES
The image a corporation projects to external audiences through its public affairs efforts deeply impacts its employees. "In this new era of extremely tight labor markets, minimal corporate loyalty and high job mobility, public affairs efforts increasingly impact a firm’s employees," says Philip L. Cochran, director of the Center for the Study of Business and Public Issues in the Smeal College of Business. Cochran and Kevin G. Corley and Thomas G. Comstock, both doctoral students, in the Department of Management and Organization, recently co-authored a paper exploring the impact of public affairs on internal audiences. The paper, "Image and the Impact of Public Affairs Management on Internal Stakeholders," will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Journal of Public Affairs. "Public affairs managers must be particularly concerned about the ways in which images that are intended for and projected at external stakeholders, such as investors, the media or consumers, are reflected back to internal stakeholders," says Corley. ?For more on this story by Steve Infanti, go to http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/index.html 

STUDENTS TEST EXERCISE HARNESS ON NASA'S KC135
This March, four Penn State undergraduate engineering students will risk their equilibrium and stomachs aboard NASA's KC135 -- nationally known as the Vomit Comet -- to test modifications to exercise equipment used in space. Chosen as participants in NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, the group will test a modification of the Subject Load Device, the equipment currently used aboard the shuttle to tether astronauts to a treadmill in an attempt to ward off microgravity induced osteoporosis. "We wanted a meaningful experiment, not just something we created to fly on the KC135," says Dawn Noga, a sophomore in engineering science. "We wanted a practical application to keep humans healthy in space." The modified equipment the students plan to test will have an active feedback system to produce a constant load. The new approach will also allow exercise that requires bending or squatting, exercise that will not work on the current system. Katie O’Toole, co-host of "What’s In The News," a WPSX public television show for grade school children, will also be aboard the comet and will send dispatches of their trip for Newswire readers. For the complete story by A'ndrea Messer, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/flyinglions.html 

READERSHIP PROGRAM RECYCLING BENEFITS SCHOLARSHIPS
Penn State's general scholarship fund is $22,750 richer, thanks to the recycling efforts for the Newspaper Readership Program at the University Park campus. Since the inception of the readership program in 1997, 695 tons of newspapers (The New York Times, USA Today, Centre Daily Times and The Daily Collegian) have been recycled. Al Matyasovsky, operations supervisor for the Office of Physical Plant (OPP), has calculated the recycling capture rate to be around 65 percent. "This is an amazing number and makes the newspaper readership program the most successful recycling program on campus." The recycled newspapers, collected by OPP, are marketed by Superior Waste Services of Du Bois, which donates a portion of the profits to the University's general scholarship fund. The New York Times, USA Today and Centre Daily Times offer matching contributions. "Although University Park is the only campus that is generating scholarship dollars, students at all Penn State campuses benefit from the scholarship money," says Matyasovsky. Students at the University Park campus read a daily total of more than 7,000 copies of The New York Times, USA Today and Centre Daily Times. More than 1.5 tons of newspaper are recycled each day - twice as much as last year - and has produced enough material to cover the entire Beaver Stadium football field with newspapers 15 inches deep. It has also saved 11,815 trees and 2,085 cubic yards of landfill space, according to Matyasovsky. For more on this story by Amy Neil, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/recycling01.html 

FIVE PENN STATE ADULT LEARNERS RECEIVE AWARDS
Five of this year's 10 college students honored by the Pennsylvania Association for Adult Continuing Education (PAACE) are from Penn State and will be honored Wednesday, Feb. 7, at the association's annual conference in Hershey. "I am thrilled that five of the ten adult learners receiving awards from PAACE this year are from Penn State," says Charlene Harrison, director of the University’s Center for Adult Learner Services. "Many adult learners overcome tremendous obstacles and juggle very busy lives in order to complete their education." Penn State's five award recipients are Barbara Holt, Michael Tharan, Amy Ciccarella, Virginia Foltz, and Amy Shepherd. For the full story by Betty Esposito, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/adultlearners01.html 

FACULTY TO ATTEND WORKSHOP ON STUDENT LEARNING
While students may have their minds on Spring Break in early March, faculty are gathering to improve student performance and learning in class. The Teaching/Learning Consortium and the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning are offering a one-day interactive workshop on Process Education on Thursday, March 1 in the Nittany Lion Inn. Process Education is an educational philosophy focused on improving students' learning skills. Implementation of this philosophy involves creating better learning environments. For information on Process Education, go to http://www.pcrest.com/. For more information on the student learning workshop, go to http://www.psu.edu/dept/tlc/events/processed.html 

ALAN WALKER JOINS BOARD OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM
Alan Walker, distinguished professor of anthropology and biology, has accepted an invitation to join the board of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, one of the nation's leading research museums. One of the most accomplished and renowned paleoanthropologists in the world, Walker has made many important discoveries during the past three decades at paleontological digs in Africa with his collaborators Richard and Meave Leakey. Among the most famous were hominid specimens known as "The Black Skull" and the "Turkana Boy" skeleton, as well as the skeletal remains of a previously unknown species in the human lineage, which Walker and his colleagues named Australopithecus anamensis, that lived about four million years ago. Among his numerous discoveries and insights, Walker pioneered the use of electron microscopes to study microwear on teeth to gain an understanding of the diet and eating habits of our ancestors. For more on this story, go to http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Walker1-2001.htm 

CORNEL WEST TO WRAP UP SPEAKER SERIES AT ERIE
Dr. Cornel West, professor of Afro-American studies and philosophy of religion at Harvard University, will speak at Penn State-Erie on Wednesday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Reed Union Building Commons. The presentation concludes the 2000-2001 Penn State Behrend Speaker Series, which this year has featured examples of leadership for the new millenium. West has been called the ‘pre-eminent African-American intellectual of our time.’ He was recently promoted to university professor, one of only 14 Harvard faculty out of 2,200 to be so honored. His most recent book, Race Matters, is a national best-seller. West’s compelling and controversial social criticism often challenges popular culture and the modern American experience. For more on programs at Penn State-Erie, go to http://www.pserie.psu.edu.