Susan Phillips Speece, Chancellor, is the president of the Presidents' Council of the North Eastern Athletic Conference and a member of the President's Science and Technology Advisory Council for the Ana G. Mendez University System in Puerto Rico.

Penn State Berks will host the Berks County Undergraduate Conference in April 2007. This conference is sponsored by the Higher Education Council of Berks County, which is composed of Albright College, Alvernia College, Kutztown University, Reading Area Community College, and Penn State Berks.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Technology Investment Office recently awarded a $15,000 Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) planning grant to Penn State Berks, the Berks Economic Partnership, and the partnering other four institutions of Higher Education in the Greater Reading Area. The planning grant is effective until June 30, 2007. 

The Life Science degree continues to encourage women in the sciences. The Life Science degree currently enrolls approximately 65% women and since the degree was begun has graduated 62.5% women (30 out of 48 students).

FACULTY SUPERLATIVES

Penn State Berks hosted the 14th Annual International Conference on Telecommunication Systems Modeling and Analysis with presenters from Japan, Italy, England, Spain, and USA in October 2006.

The Penn State Berks Mini-Baja Team placed 30th out of 168 competitors in the Society of Automotive Engineers Mini Baja Midwest Competition, held in May in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. This was the team’s second consecutive year in the competition.

Jim Bardi, Assistant Professor of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management, published the fourth edition of Hotel Front Office Management (John Wiley & Sons, 2007).

In 2005, Jennifer Hillman, Associate Professor of Psychology and licensed psychologist, was awarded Fellowship in the Gerontological Society of America "in recognition of her outstanding and exemplary contributions to the field of gerontology."

The college joined forces with the NAACP - Reading Branch to publish the first book on African American history in Berks County from the 18^th century to present day. Students in the Professional Writing and American Studies majors conducted primary research leading to a collection, Woven with Words: A Collection of African American History in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Students in the Business major worked on advertising and promotions for the book. In addition, students in the IST major developed a Web site for the NAACP - Reading Branch, which includes the contents of the book.

Laurie Grobman, Associate Professor of English, and the late Candace Spigelman, Associate Professor of English, won the 2005 International Writing Centers Association Outstanding Scholarship in a Book Award for their edited collection, On Location: Theory and Practice in Classroom-Based Writing Tutoring (Utah State University Press, 2005).

Global Studies leads the way in sending students abroad to perform required internships. Since 2004, students have worked in Mexico, Nicaragua, India, Spain, Germany, Peru, and Rwanda.

Ken Fifer, Professor of English and Division Head for Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, was the winner of the 2004 Nova House Press Poetry Chapbook Prize for his collection entitled Water Presents.

Martha Aynardi, Senior Lecturer in Biology, is the recipient of The Jack P. Royer Award in May 2006, presented by the Pennsylvania State University for Active and Collaborative Learning.

Ruth Daly, Associate Professor of Physics, won the 2006 Penn State Outstanding Researcher Award for Penn State Berks.

Robert Forrey, Professor of Physics, won the 2006 Penn State Outstanding Researcher Award for Penn State Berks.

Two of our physics faculty members are currently conducting research funded by the National Science Foundation. Ruth Daly, Associate Professor of Physics, received funding for her project "Cosmology and Astrophysics" and Robert Forrey, Professor of Physics, received funding for his project "Cold Collisions Involving Atoms, Molecules, and Ions."

Ike Shibley, Associate Professor of Chemistry, was chair of the 2006 Teaching Professor Conference in Nashville, TN.

Paul Esqueda, Professor of Engineering and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, had his contract renewed for three more years to be part of a panel of 20 experts, selected from recognized academicians from both continents, to assess the European Union Scholarship Program for Latin America.