HEARD ON CAMPUS — ALLAN GOODMAN, PENN STATE FORUM
"Two-thirds of the colleges and universities in the world are located in the United States and Western Europe. The last time I checked, three-fourths of the world’s population live elsewhere. The universities that want to be successful will have to be international in nature, both physically and electronically. Technology will make that possible….I think that at some point in my tenure, and in the tenure of university presidents and provosts around the country, we will hear it said that you cannot be an educated person unless you’ve studied abroad." — Alan Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education, speaking at yesterday’s Penn State Forum. Goodman’s presentation was entitled, "I Sell Goats: The Future of Education in a Borderless World." To hear and see excerpts of his speech, go to, http://www.psu.edu/ur/stories/Goodman_Forum/index.html
CORPORATE PICNICS MAY LEAD TO INNOVATION AMONG UNITS
Research and Development may create knowledge, but simply it does not necessarily improve innovation performance in multi-unit companies. The key is to create personal contacts across business units. "Networking mechanisms such as corporate picnics can create interactions among units allow people from different units to share what they know, and encourage collective thinking to generate new ideas. If companies want to transfer useful knowledge across units, then they should focus on creating social interactions among the units," says Wenpin Tsai, assistant professor of management in the Smeal College of Business Administration. Large corporations, Tsai explains, often have numerous subsidiaries or units and each unit is often self-contained. Employees or managers in Unit A often don't know what Unit B is doing. It’s not uncommon in multi-unit businesses to find two units doing similar research, so transferring knowledge among units can save time and resources," says Tsai. He recently completed a study on the topic, "Knowledge Transfer in Intra-Organizational Networks: Effects of Network Position and Absorptive Capacity of Business Unit Innovation and Performance." The study will appear a forthcoming issue of the Academy of Management Journal. For more on this story, go to http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/depth/jan01/picnics.html
NEW BOOK BY SHIPMAN HAILED BY REVIEWERS
A new book, The Man Who Found the Missing Link, by Pat Shipman, adjunct professor of anthropology at Penn State, was hailed by reviewers upon its publication by Simon & Schuster last month. The book is a biography of the life of Eugene Dubois, the Dutch anatomist who in 1887 set out to find the transitional ape-man that would prove Darwin's theory of evolution. Against all odds, Dubois found the missing link he called Pithecanthropus erectus--now known as Homo erectus--in Java in 1891-1893. Unfortunately, Pithecanthropus did not fit the general preconceived notion of what a missing link should have looked like or where it should have lived. So Dubois, once scorned for quitting his professorship to "follow Darwin's crazy idea," later found his conclusions challenged, questioned, and often disbelieved by the scientific community in Europe. He fought an often-bitter battle until his eventual vindication more than thirty years later. For more on this story by Barbara Kennedy, go to http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Shipman1-2001.htm
HALL APPOINTED IST RESEARCH, GRADUATE DEAN
Dr. David L. Hall has been appointed the associate dean for research and graduate programs in Penn State’s School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). Dr. Hall joins IST from the University’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) where he served as associate director and senior scientist. At ARL, he oversaw the 150-person Information and Network Systems Office, comprised of four divisions: Information Science and Technology, Navigation Research and Development, Systems and Operations Automation, and Communications Science and Technology. IST will formally launch its Ph.D. program this fall and is now recruiting for its first class of doctoral students. Next year, the school expects to introduce both a research-oriented master’s degree program and a professional master’s degree program. Hall will be responsible for those programs as well as research grant administration, and leadership of IST faculty research efforts. For more on this story, go http://www.ist.psu.edu/headlines/2001/0101/hl_hall013101.html
GONZALEZ SELECTED AS 2001 WOMEN IN PHYSICS LECTURER
Gabriela Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics, has been selected by the Australian Institute of Physics as its Women in Physics Lecturer for 2001. The International Women in Physics Lecture Series was instituted to celebrate the contribution of women to advances in physics. The lectures are intended to be of interest to an audience of non-specialists in physics and are expected to increase awareness among students and their families of the possibilities offered by the continuing study of physics. Gonzalez hopes to visit several universities and high schools throughout Australia as part of the lecture series. Her experimental research focuses on gravity, gravitational waves, and gravitational-wave detection. For more on this story, go to http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Gonzalez1-2001.htm
PSU ERIE TO HOLD CONFERENCE ON AMERICAN DREAM
Institute on the American Dream at Penn State Erie, is inviting the public to attend free workshops to explore concepts of the American dream during a conference, "Working for What? Winners and Losers in the American Dream," on Tuesday, Feb. 27, through Thursday, March 1. The conference includes two lectures, six 90-minute workshops moderated by community leaders, and a dramatic presentation of "Working" by Studs Terkel.. Lecturers will be Dr. Cornel West, Harvard University professor of religion, and Dr. Annette Levitt, professor of English at Drexel University. West will present his lecture, "Restoring Hope," at the Reed Union Building Commons on Wednesday, Feb.28, at 7:30 p.m. Levitt will present "The American Dream in Today’s Theatre" on Thursday, March 1, at 11 a.m. in Room 114 of the Reed Union Building. For a full schedule and more information on the conference, go to http://www.pserie.psu.edu/newspubl/newstoryindex.html
PENNDOT EMPLOYEES GRADUATE FROM GIS WEB PROGRAM
Five PennDOT employees made a special trip to Penn State last week to receive certificates for completing The Penn State World Campus' On-line GIS Program. The graduates, from district offices all across Pennsylvania, were happy to share their feelings about the experience. The On-line Certificate Program in GIS, developed and maintained by Penn State's nationally renowned Geography Department, takes students through four 10-week courses designed to help them master the principles and practices of a geographic information system. The program uses mapping software that links a landscape's geographic features with its physical, environmental, cultural, economic, or political attributes. Students work individually, and in teams, on projects modeled after real-life situations-all through the Internet. According to the PennDOT graduates, the physical distance between themselves and their instructors was not a barrier to learning. For more on this story, go to http://www.outreach.psu.edu/News/Headlines.html.
SHAVER'S CREEK WINTER PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN
This month, Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center is having a number of programs for children, including Saturday afternoon sessions for Girl Scouts and Brownies to earn TRY IT badges on environmental topics. The Extra Junior Explorers Animals in Winter program, for three to six-year-old will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 27, from 10 to 11 a.m. at the center. Both programs require pre-registration. For more information, go to the calendar at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/ShaversCreek/
TIME OUT — SPANIER AT THE LADY LIONS LAST NIGHT
Penn State President Graham Spanier last night praised the more than 800 student athletes who put the Lions on top in terms of academic achievement. In a conversation with producer Melisande McCrae during half-time at the Lady Lions game last night, Spanier said, "Penn State leads the Conference in all Big Ten athletes and I’m very proud of that statistic." He also spoke about his tenure as chairman of the NCAA. The score from last night’s game was 69 for the Lady Lions and 52 for Ohio State. For video clips of these conversations, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/stories/Spanier_halftime/index.html
GIBSON DESIGNS SET FOR PLAY AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
Anne Gibson, professor and head of design at the School of Theatre, designed the set for "In the Blood," by Suzan-Lori Parks, a year 2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist in drama. The play, produced by the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, is showing at the American Film Institute Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., through Feb. 4. In the Blood is "an insightful and ultimately depressing play about homelessness," says Gibson, who describes the set as a concrete cave. Gibson worked with the director, costume designer, light designer, and sound designer to create the effect that the characters are living under a bridge in a city. Gibson has designed sets for off-Broadway, university, and regional theaters throughout the country. For the Woolly Mammoth Company, her credits include The Gigli Concert, Dead Funny, The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi, and Bug. For information on the School of Theatre, go to http://www.artsandarchitecture.psu.edu.
SMALL TALK: WIND CHILL ALERT
Wind chill occurs when cold temperatures and wind combine to create an additional body chill. For example, a temperature of 30 degrees Fahrenheit is not terribly cold. But when a 15-mile-per-hour breeze kicks up, the air feels as though it were 9 degrees; double the wind velocity and it will feel like a frigid -2 degrees. To protect your child, check the wind chill before sending him or her outdoors to play. Small Talk is a weekly column of safety and health information for parents and other caregivers for children. It is a community service of the Penn State Children’s Hospital, located at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. Please direct any comments or questions to Patricia Millner, director of nursing at the Penn State Children’s Hospital, at pmillner@psu.edu