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President Graham B. Spanier, second from left, Air Products University Relations Director James Brockington and Air Products Chairman H.A. Wagner celebrated the signing of an expanded research alliance during a luncheon with 200 Penn State alumni at Air Products' headquarters in Trexlertown, Pa., on April 11. The partnership with Air Products is one of eight master research agreements Penn State has undertaken recently with major corporations. These agreements enable the corporations to undertake collaborative research efforts with the University without the need to renegotiate terms each time, saving administrative time and money for both the University and the corporate partner.
Melisa P. Dixon, senior purchasing agent in Business Services.
Edward J. Donovan, director of continuing education II in Continuing and Distance Education.
Susan E. Eisenhauer, staff assistant VI in College of Agricultural Sciences.
Sherry D. Ellenberger, staff assistant VI in Business Services.
Larry G. Ermol, purchasing agent in Business Services.
Cynthia F. Fail, coordinator, residence life programs in Student Affairs.
Diana H. Feltenberger, staff assistant VI in College of Engineering.
Carol J. Fittery, finance and accounting assistant at The Hershey Medical Center.
Mary C. Fleming, director, cooperative education program in the Eberly College of Science.
Linda M. Gelnett, staff assistant VI at Penn State DuBois campus.
Jeanne A. Getz, staff assistant VI in College of Engineering.
Barbara J. Green, staff assistant VI at The Hershey Medical Center.
Robert H. Guissanie, user services specialist II in College of Agricultural Sciences.
Donald C. Hampton, cinematographer/videographer II in Continuing and Distance Education.
Robert L. Hibbert, network coordinator in College of Engineering.
Thomas B. Houck, senior purchasing agent in Business Services.
John B. Kalbach, lead research programmer in Computer and Information Systems-Center for Academic Computing.
Rod N. Khayat, senior systems programmer in Computer and Information Systems-Center for Academic Computing.
Bonnie H. Leet, Children's Miracle Network assistant in Division of Development and Alumni Relations at The Hershey Medical Center.
Susan E. Lingenfelter, laboratory supervisor in Research and Graduate School.
Mary J. Lutz, staff assistant VI in College of the Liberal Arts.
Corintha J. McCall, staff assistant VI in Business Services.
Carl R. Meachum, orthotist at The Hershey Medical Center.
Jennifer L. Nauss, staff assistant VI at The Hershey Medical Center.
Wendy L. Neidig, LPN at The Hershey Medical Center.
Susan J. Newell, business analyst III at The Hershey Medical Center.
Paul G. Olivett, director of development in Division of Development and Alumni Relations.
Kathleen M. O'Toole, producer/director in Continuing and Distance Education.
Janet L. Page, staff assistant VI in Business Services.
Curt L. Parker, cinematographer/videographer II in Continuing and Distance Education.
Connie J. Peters, staff assistant VI in College of Engineering.
Catherine A. Poe, counselor at Penn State McKeesport campus.
Pamela J. Reifinger, business system coordinator at The Hershey Medical Center.
Chrystal A. Rotz, assistant to director, University Relations at Penn State Mont Alto campus.
Bonnie J. Ryder, staff assistant VI in Business Services.
Kim L. Sager, staff assistant VI at The Hershey Medical Center.
Tina Shawley, staff assistant V in College of Health and Human Development.
Eric M. Snyder, technical analyst II at The Hershey Medical Center.
Carol M. Spotts, staff assistant VI in College of the Liberal Arts.
Kendra G. Spring, staff assistant V in Business Services.
Kevin M. Stahl, senior purchasing agent in Business Services.
Pamela J. Stauffer, administrative assistant II in College of Engineering.
Craig R. Story, research programmer in College of Agricultural Sciences.
Donna L. Swartz, staff assistant V in Business Services.
Patricia A. Thomas, staff assistant IV in The Smeal College of Business Administration.
Tonia C. Tibbens, staff assistant VI in Business Services.
Stephanie M. Uhler, coordinator, professional fees at The Hershey Medical Center.
The Gerontology Center in the College of Health and Human Development
has issued a new edition of its 
Senior Citizens' Interest Guide
to Campus Life, complete with campus map, which briefly outlines some of
the University Park campus programs and services of special interest to
senior adults.
With information on parking, transportation, and special assistance, its goal is to encourage seniors to explore and actively participate in campus life. The guide was developed by Nancy and Glenn Gamble of State College who are volunteers in the Outreach Program of the Gerontology Center which works to promote a University/community partnership on senior issues.
For more information, contact Susan Keller at (814) 865-1710.
The role of the arts at Penn State and American colleges and universities in general is the topic of the next edition of "To the Best of My Knowledge," President Graham B. Spanier's monthly call-in radio program on WPSU-FM (90.1, 91.5 & 106.7), airing at 7 tonight.
The university's role as conservator and curator of the arts has never been easy. Artists, art educators, arts administrators and the general public are invited to join in this discussion. Listeners can reach Spanier and his guest, Dan Carter, director of the School of Theatre Arts, by calling (800) 543-8242 during the one-hour program. Internet users worldwide will be able to link to sound and pictures from the program at http://www.psu.edu/ur/tech/tech.html; and they will be able to submit questions and comments via e-mail to response@psu.edu.
Hosted by Patty Satalia, "To the Best of My Knowledge" is a series designed to explore topics of concern to higher education and to allow listeners a chance to communicate directly with Penn State's president. Air dates for the series for the remainder of the year include: May 8, June 10, July 15, Aug. 13, Sept. 8, Oct. 16, Nov. 13 and Dec. 18.
Call the Human Resource Development Center at (814) 865-8216 to register for the following programs:
* Work Teams in Today's Organization
Get answers to questions like: Why teams? How can teams benefit an organization? April 28, from 1-4:30 p.m., 319 Rider Building. Cost: $35.
* Going with the Flow of Change
April 29, 1:30-3:30 p.m., 319 Rider Building. Cost: $25.
* From Angry to Amiable: Calming Upset Customers
April 29, 8:30-11:45 a.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building. Cost: $35.
* NEGAHOLICS: How to Handle Negativity in the Workplace
April 30 and May 2, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m., 118 Agricultural Science and Industries Building. Cost: $65.
* The Communication Tool Kit for Teams
May 1, 9:30-11:30 a.m., 319 Rider Building. Cost: $35.
* Conversational German for Practical Situations
May 2-June 20, from noon to 1 p.m., 319 Rider Building. Cost: $55.
Yoga Series -- summer sessions
Four seven-week sections are offered; each meets from noon-1 p.m. Cost is $35 per session, reimbursable to HMO participants taking the series for the first time. To register, contact Jan Hawbaker at (814) 865-3085 or jqh3@ psu.edu.
Section 1: Tuesdays, June 3- July 15, 110 Henderson Building (Living Center)
Section 2: Tuesdays, July 22-Sept. 2, 110 Henderson Building (Living Center)
Section 3: Wednesdays, June 11-July23, 133-F Johnston Commons
Section 4: Wednesdays, July 30-Sept. 10, 133-F Johnston Commons
The Office of University Relations has published a new booklet, How Penn State is Funded, that describes the various sources of income that make up the University's total operating budget of nearly $1.7 billion. The booklet also summarizes Penn State's financial relationship with the Commonwealth, explains how endowments work and includes comparative data from other institutions. Copies are available by directing e-mail to als5@psu.edu or calling (814) 863-4512. They also may be picked up in 301 Old Main.
Penn State students, faculty, and staff now have access to the world's most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database through the World Wide Web. CompendexWeb, the Web-based version of the Compendex database, covers engineering literature such as journal articles and conference papers from 1970 to the present. More than 220,000 abstracts are added each year.
Located at URL http://cpxweb.ei.org, the system logs visitors on automatically if they are connecting from an on-campus computer or via a Penn State access account. Compendex Web will replace the EIP database and the Compendex CD-ROMs as the University Libraries' primary database access to the engineering literature.
Search guides are available on the Electronic Reserves System (http://reserve.libraries.psu.edu/) and in the Engineering Library.
The University Libraries' Maps and Data Center has created an interactive Web site that allows users to map out statistics by counties in Pennsylvania.
Users have two options when working the information, located at http://www.maproom.psu.edu/cbp/. They can choose County Business Patterns that presents business statistics by Standard Industrial Classification within Pennsylvania's counties. When creating a map on this site, users follow screens that help them to choose from the thousands of datafiles. There also are 17 variables which describe various attributes of the industries. Users can also access USA County Data that offers more than 3,000 variables including agriculture, crime, elections, income and vital statistics. Both datasets allow users to choose color and mapping options that will help make a unique map.
One of only a few Web sites to offer interactive mapping, County Business Patterns provides data covering most of the divisions of the economy (i.e., agricultural services, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, public utilities, wholesale trade, retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate, and services).
Five Penn State groups and three individuals were honored for their contributions to the prevention of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuses.
Honored for their innovation, enthusiasm and leadership beyond the expectations of their position or organization are the following:
* The Arnold Air Society for its assistance with the "Slay the Dragon" program, a Jeopardy-style alcohol and drug awareness game for junior high and high school students.
* The College of Communications for its work with the Office of Health Promotion and Education, University Health Services and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to disseminate education about alcohol issues to hundreds of students in the college. Projects such as public service announcements, videos, campaigns and research on the impact of advertising and youth were implemented.
* Moderation Management Program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, for its three-tiered approach to dealing with minor alcohol offenses, more serious offenses and repeat alcohol offenders.
* The Resident Assistants of Atherton Hall on the University Park campus for creating and implementing an alcohol-free program, "Puttin' on the Ritz." The program provided alcohol education and entertainment.
* Student Peer Athlete Network, SPAN, for its members' commitment to serving as positive role models for elementary-aged children. Member activities include reading books to kindergarten children, talking about being a "Champion for Life" and speaking to MADD groups and at Boy Scout dinners.
* Natalie J. Croll, assistant director of the office of Health Promotion and Education, for her efforts toward drug and alcohol abuse prevention. She has enhanced the Alcohol Intervention Program, advised LIFE House and worked on alcohol and sexual assault issues for orientation. She is currently working with Greek leadership to help address alcohol issues.
* Kenneth P. Miller, associate dean of student affairs at Penn State Behrend, for his leadership and support in establishing a LIFE House for substance-free living and the new moderation management approach to alcohol and other drug abuse.
* B. Alan Snider, professor of agriculture and extension education and assistant director, for his work to reduce tobacco usage among Pennsylvania's youth. He has recruited and developed youth tobacco control coalitions, provided educational workshops for county agents and local adults and organized tobacco control conferences.
Several scholarly books published by the Penn State Press have garnered awards. They include:
* The New Miners of Windber: The Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization, 1890s to 1930s by Mildred Allen Beik, which received the International Labor History Association Book of the Year Award for her pathbreaking study and analysis chronicling the long and complicated labor struggle of the Windber miners;
* The Painted Photograph, 1839-1914 by Heinz K. Henisch, professor emeritus and Bridget Henisch, which received the Rudolph and Hertha Benjamin Book Award of the American Photographic Historical Society for its "contributions to the understanding of the history of photography;"
* Poetic Madness and the Romantic Imagination by Frederick Burwick, which earned the American Conference on Romanticism Book Prize;
* The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the French Revolution by John Markoff, which won the Pinkney Prize of the Society for French Historical Studies;
* A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue and the Politics of Pluralism, by Mark Kingwell, received the Spitz Prize of the Conference for the Study of Political thought for the best book in democratic and/or liberal theory; and
* The Caribbean Legion: Patriots, Politicians and Soldiers of Fortune, 1946-1950 by Charles Ameringer, professor emeritus of Latin American history, received the Arthur P. Whitaker Book Award.
Maps Librarian Melissa Lamont has been honored with the 1997 Readex/GODORT/ALA Catharine J. Reynolds Award, sponsored by the Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association.
Lamont's winning research proposal described an analysis of World Wide Web access to state and local government information.
The proposed project would assess the climate for the distribution of state and local government information on the Web with Pennsylvania as a case study. Lamont's research will include an analysis of the costs, equitability of access and the general inclination of governments to use the Internet.
Recommendations for libraries concerning partnerships and resource sharing, as well as an analysis of the primary trends for Web accessible government information will result from the study.
George Felder III |
Barbara J. Hart |
William T. Hughes |
Harold J. Mowery Jr. |
Richard T. Obermyer |
Johanna M. Ripper |
| Observing 25 years of service are, from left, George Felder III, director of the fabrication section of artificial organs, Department of Surgery, at The Hershey Medical Center; Barbara J. Hart, director, Learning Center, McKeesport campus; William T. Hughes, program coordinator, senior division of Undergraduate Studies at Penn State Mont Alto; Harold J. Mowery Jr., carpenter A in the Office of Physical Plant; Richard T. Obermyer, professor of physics at the Penn State McKeesport campus; and Johanna M. Ripper, staff nurse, Nursing/OPS S, The Hershey Medical Center. Also celebrating from the Penn State Fayette campus, but who have no photo available, are August H. Simonsen, campus executive officer; Doris Wright-Coldren, acting coordinator of the Division of Undergraduate Studies and University Scholars adviser; Kent A. Crossland, maintenance foreman; and Gerald K. Riggar, maintenance mechanic B. | ||
A new program that grew out of the research partnership
between Penn State and the University of Minnesota is designed to prolong
the safe driving time of older Americans. | |
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By Barbara Hale
Public Information
Researchers at Penn State and the University of Minnesota have joined forces to design new measures to prolong the safe driving time of older Americans and increase mobility options for aging citizens in rural environments.
Eddie C. Crow, program manager at the Applied Research Laboratory, is directing the new effort, known as the Partnership for Safety, Unrestricted Mobility and Access (PSUMA). Martin T. Pietrucha, professor of civil engineering and research associate at the University's Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, is Penn State coordinator and Dennis Foderberg, director, ITS Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, is Minnesota coordinator.
"Pennsylvania and Minnesota are similar demographically," Crow said. "For example, Pennsylvania ranks No. 1 in the number of older citizens living in small towns and rural locations and Minnesota is among the top five states. Rural living translates into a sole dependency on cars since other options, like public transit, often don't exist.
"While our new program is designed primarily for older drivers in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, the results of these studies will be applicable to aging Americans throughout the U.S.," he said.
Foderberg added, "The need for such an initiative is great and can only grow. The loss of driving privileges is one of the biggest stressors in life. Meanwhile, it's been predicted that the over-65 population will double by 2020. The issues surrounding older drivers affect nearly everyone, but they're most severe in rural areas."
Three projects within the program are currently under way and expected to yield initial results in about nine to 12 months. These include:
* Cognitive Retraining -- Gerontology researchers at Penn State are identifying critical mental capabilities for safe driving which diminish as a result of normal aging but can be regenerated with specialty training. The training both restores the abilities of failing drivers and maintains the performance of able ones.
* Mobility Planning and Alternative Mobility Options -- Partners from Penn State and Minnesota are developing ways for older citizens to determine proactively and plan for future mobility needs and the means to get around in order to maintain an active and high-quality lifestyle.
* Alternative Mobility Planning -- Transportation researchers will examine mobility alternatives that maximize efficiency through optimized carpooling or ride-sharing and by linking non-drivers with traditional volunteer and formalized volunteer programs. Coordination of mobility services with a transportation broker is also foreseen to be an effective way of increasing the use of current services.
One of an athlete's favorite beliefs -- fat is bad food, carbohydrates is good -- needs to be re-examined in the light of facts, according to the Penn State Sports Medicine Newsletter.
"A lot of athletes have the idea that fat is a poor nutrient and feel almost superior if they survive on a fat-free diet," said Kristine L. Clark, a member of the newsletter's editorial board. "In reality, fat is an essential nutrient. If you don't eat some fat, there is a good possibility that total calories will be inadequate. Just as many athletes over-consume carbohydrates, they under-consume fats," said Clark, coordinator of the sports nutrition program for the University's varsity athletes.
Athletes are told continually that 55 percent to 60 percent of their calories should come from carbohydrates, meaning starchy carbohydrates such as bread and cereals. However, they fail to realize that carbohydrates also occur in fruits, vegetables and dairy products, and thus they consume more starches than they should.
"Athletes also put too much stock in dietary supplements while at the same time overlooking the nutritional value of red meat," Clark said.
Furthermore, athletes make the mistake of not consuming enough fluids. In addition, they need to remember to eat a balanced meal about four hours before competition and a pre-game snack one hour before.
Finally, athletes should take in carbohydrate-rich foods within two hours after intense exercise, Clark said.
This year, 12,000 people will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer, a deadly disease that severely limits a person's ability to eat and drink. The Hershey Medical Center, in conjunction with Sanofi Winthrop Inc., has announced the availability of Photofrin (porfimer sodium) for Injection, a unique light-activated drug for photodynamic therapy to help those with advanced esophageal cancer.
Photofrin is the first light-activated drug approved in the United States for the palliative treatment of patients with completely obstructing esophageal cancer, or of patients with partially obstructing esophageal cancer who, in the opinion of their physician, cannot be satisfactorily treated with standard thermal laser therapy.
"We are excited about being able to offer this new minimally invasive treatment option to patients," said Dr. Mukul Khandelwal, assistant professor of medicine at the medical center. Khandelwal works in collaboration with Dr. Thomas S. McGarrity, associate professor of medicine. "This new procedure can be conducted on an outpatient basis or otherwise requires only a short hospital stay," Khandelwal said.
Esophageal cancer can block the normal ingestion of liquids and solid nutrition and, at times, may prevent the patient from swallowing saliva. The condition can require extensive and costly surgical intervention, IV nutritional therapy and lengthy hospitalization.
In a pivotal clinical trial, 94 percent of patients with complete esophageal blockage who received photodynamic treatment with Photofrin showed objective tumor response, and 76 percent obtained some improvement in swallowing.
For more information on this light-activated therapy, call The Hershey Medical Center at (717) 531-4874.
