ENERGY INSTITUTE ADMINISTERS SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUND
Penn State's Energy Institute has been selected to administer the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund — one of four such funds established by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission as part the of deregulation and restructuring of Pennsylvania's electric generation. Collectively the four funds will provide nearly $55 million in the development and implementation of sustainable energy technologies throughout Pennsylvania. The Institute, in cooperation with Energetics Incorporated, will be responsible for developing and monitoring sustainable energy projects that will have economic and societal benefit to the West Penn service area ratepayers. According to the Technical Director Dr. Peter Luckie, professor of mineral engineering, the Fund was established to promote the use of renewable and clean energy, energy conservation and energy efficiency, and the start-up, attraction, expansion and retention of sustainable energy businesses. Joel Morrison, program coordinator for Penn State, indicated that they will look for proposals from businesses and technology centers have an interest in deploying their sustainable energy technologies in Pennsylvania, especially in the 17-county West Penn Power service district in western, central and northern counties. For more, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/energy01.html
FORUM SPEAKER: PRESIDENT, INSTITUTE OF INT'L EDUCATION
Allan E. Goodman, president and chief executive officer of the Institute of International Education, will give a talk on "I Sell Goats: The Future of Education a Borderless World" on Thursday, Feb. 1, in the Ballroom at the Nittany Lion Inn. Goodman was formerly executive dean of the School of Foreign Service and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, where he built the graduate program into one of the top programs in the country for advanced training in diplomacy, leadership, and international relations. While at Georgetown, he also founded the "Women in Foreign Service Program," for which he recruited Madeleine Albright as director. The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and is sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore. For more information, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/goodmanforum.html
FIVE FORMER NITTANY LIONS ON SUPER BOWL ROSTERS
When the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens clash in Super Bowl XXXV this Sunday, five former Penn State football players will be on the rosters — the second highest total of former players for any school in the nation. It is the second time Penn State has had such significant representation in the Super Bowl. Five ex-Lions also participated in the 1992 game between the Redskins and Bills. The NFC Champion Giants’ roster includes starting quarterback Kerry Collins, wide receiver Joe Jurevicius, and linebacker Brandon Short. Baltimore’s Nittany Lion contingent consists of starting fullback Sam Gash and strong safety Kim Herring. This is the 31st time in 35 years that Penn State has had at least one representative on the roster of a Super Bowl team. Go to http://www.GoPSUsports.com/football/pressrelease/pressrelease.cfm?anncid=823 for more information.
CASSANO TO BE DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER ON E-BUSINESS
Penn State’s eBusiness Research Center launches its Spring 2001 Distinguished Speaker Series on e-Business in February. David Cassano, Vice President, Wireless Solutions, IBM Corporation, will kick off the series with a speech at 5 p.m., Monday, February 12 in 104 Keller Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public The speaker series is dedicated to exploring how the Internet is changing business theory and practice. "Because the Internet is impacting so many different parts of the business world, our Distinguished Speaker Series on e-Business has become a forum for researchers to meet and discuss recent developments and their impact on both what we research and how we do our research," says Nirmal Pal, Executive Director of the eBusiness Research Center. The talk is open to the public. For more, go to http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/depth/jan01/speaker.html
ERIE BUSINESS STUDENTS ATTEND BUSINESS BRIDGE
Penn State Erie sophomore Mark Nipper wants a career in business. He also knows that business covers many areas: finance, marketing, economics, management. How to decide? Faculty in the School of Business at Erie made the decision-making process clearer for Nipper and nearly 40 other business majors recently with a weekend retreat, the Sophomore Business Bridge. The name was adopted to show that the program "bridges the gap" between the generality of the freshman business seminar and the increased focus of the junior and senior years. Support for the event came from the Provost's Academic Unit Collaborative Teaching and Learning Award, which the School received last spring. "The Sophomore Business Bridge has taken learning outside the classroom and put it into a very real-world setting," said Dr. John M. Magenau, director of the School of Business.. For more on this story by Loretta Brandon, go http://www.pserie.psu.edu/newspubl/Bridgerelease.htm
LOOMIS TO LEAD UNIVERSITY WWW EFFORT
Dr. Frederick D. Loomis, director of the Solutions Institute in the School of Information Sciences and Technology, has been selected to lead a University-wide effort to guide the implementation of strategies for more effective uses of the World Wide Web across the University’s multiple missions. Serving formally as the special assistant to executive vice president and provost Dr. Rodney A. Erickson, Loomis will work with a team of staff and faculty members from key units to lay out specific strategies for Web implementation, and make recommendations concerning the University’s Web-related actions and investments. The final report issued by the University Web Strategies and Directions Task Force will provide a roadmap for this process. Loomis will continue to serve as director of the IST Solutions Institute. For more information, go to http://www.ist.psu.edu/headlines/2001/0101/hl_loomis012401.html.
TRINKLEY/CHARNESKY OPERA WINS NATIONAL COMPETITION
Bruce Trinkley, professor of music, and Jason Charnesky, graduate student in English, have won the National Opera Association’s (NOA) 2001 Chamber Opera Competition for their comic opera, Cleo. Scenes from Cleo were presented at the NOA convention by the Penn State Opera Theatre, directed by Susan Boardman, associate professor of music, and performed by Penn State students. The opera will be given a full production with orchestra by the Temple University Opera Theatre at the NOA 2002 national convention in Philadelphia. Cleo follows a day of filming on the set of the 1964 movie Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor must choose between her lover, actor Richard Burton (co-starring in the movie with her), and her husband, singer Eddie Fisher. Cleo is the third part of a three-part work by Trinkley and Charnesky entitled Ever Since Eden. The second part, Dido Decides, is a comic version of the Dido and Aeneas tale. The first part, Eve’s Odds, retells the Garden of Eden story with a twist and was called "wickedly funny" by the American Record Review. For Information on the School of Music, go to http://www.music.psu.edu/
FRED WARING'S JAZZ BAND IS ON EXHIBIT IN THE LIBRARY
A new exhibit on Fred Waring's jazz band is on display on the third floor of Pattee Library, west, in the case at the entrance to the Fred Waring's America Collection, part of the University Libraries' Special Collections Library. The memorabilia will be on display through February 28. For library hours, call (814) 865-3063. Taking a tip from the current Ken Burns' presentation on PBS about "JAZZ," the exhibit calls attention to the fact that in the 1920s and early 30s Waring had a jazz band. Waring later featured jazz trumpeter Johnny "Scat" Davis on his radio programs for the Ford Motor Company. The Web site http://www.redhotjazz.com/waringspa.html offers several recordings from Waring's jazz era.