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The University Libraries and the Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair for Special Collections will host a Kenneth Burke Centennial with an exhibit and a program of talks at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, in the Rare Books Room, W342 Pattee Library on the University Park campus.
Kenneth Burke (1897-1993), whose correspondence is housed in the Rare Books Room, was a philosopher of language and a prominent intellectual in literary circles beginning in the 1920s. His criticism and theories had a major impact on many American writers and thinkers in the mid-20th century.
Three speakers will present talks on various aspects and influence of Burke's work: Professor Miriam Clark (Department of English, Auburn University) will talk on "The Poet Dreamer in the Scholar's House: Burke's Literary Friendships," Professor Richard Gregg (Department of Speech Communication, Penn State) will discuss "Kenneth Burke: Rhetorical Theorist as Futurist," and Professor Jack Selzer (Department of English, Penn State), will speak on "Oct. 19, 1923: A Great Date in History?"
For more information, contact the Rare Books Room at (814) 865-1793.
"The Role of Higher Education in Community Development" is the topic of the Dec. 9 installment in the Current Issues in Business lecture series at the Penn State Harrisburg Eastgate Center.
Sponsored by the Penn State Harrisburg School of Business Administration, the noon presentation will feature Mukund Kulkarni, associate professor of finance and acting director of the school.
The presentation will help bring into focus several aspects of the role that higher education assumes in our society, as universities continue to play an integral part. But as costs for education rise, so does scrutiny of institutions. Points of discussion will include: the value of higher education; past trends in the cost of higher education; intangible benefits from colleges and universities; research versus teaching as mission for universities; faculty workload and their contributions to society; and the future.
Kulkarni was educated in India and the United States, where he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. He teaches corporate finance and financial institutions to graduate and undergraduate students and also supervises graduate research.
The business lecture is free to the public. To register, contact the Eastgate Center, 1010 N. Seventh St., Harrisburg, at (717) 772-3590.
Alston Chase, author of Playing God In Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park, will present Penn State's School of Forest Resources Distinguished Lecture, "Is U.S. Natural Resource Preservation Policy Based on a Mistake?" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, in 102 Thomas Building on the University Park campus.
The lecture is open to the public. For additional information, call Caren Glotfelty at (814) 863-2506 or e-mail: ceg12@psu.edu.
The School of Forest Resources Distinguished Lecture is sponsored annually by The Glatfelter Pulp Wood Co. Chase's lecture will describe how federal environmental policies have centered on returning forests to a "Garden of Eden" ideal that may be impossible to achieve.
Chase is currently a visiting senior fellow in natural resource policy
at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he leads seminars
on the Endangered Species Act and how media outlets cover environmental
issues. He also is a lecturer and syndicated newspaper columnist on the
environment. He is a contributing editor to Outside and Conde Nast
Traveler magazines.
Burt D. Ensley, president and CEO of Phytotech Inc., will speak on "Challenges and Opportunities in the Application of Biotechnology to Environmental Problems" in the Life Sciences Consortium's Colloquium on Dec. 9. The colloquium will be videoconferenced from 101 Thomas Building to Room L-3621 at The Hershey Medical Center and to several other campus locations at 4 p.m.
Ensley has been the president and CEO of the biotechnology company since 1993. He is involved in the development and commercialization of plant biotechnology used for the remediation of contaminated soil and water.
During his career, he has been responsible for directing research, field demonstrations and evaluation of biological and physical/chemical hazardous waste treatment technologies.
Toni Kazic will speak on "Steps to an Integration of Functions and Genomes: Analysis of Biochemical Networks" at the Jan. 13 Life Sciences Consortium Colloquium. The colloquium will be held in 101 Thomas Building and videoconferenced to The Hershey Medical Center room L-3621 and to several other campuses at 4 p.m.
Kazic is on the faculty of the Institute for Biomedical Computing of Washington University, a joint research enterprise of the engineering and medical schools of that university. Trained chiefly as a bacterial geneticist and molecular biologist with heavy biochemical emphases, she worked on purine biosynthesis, DNA repair and deletion formation in Escherichia coli while her interests in computational biology subconsciously developed.
In 1989 she switched her primary research technique from laboratory to computational experimentation, and has been active in the development of representational methods and databases appropriate for the description and analysis of biochemical function. Her current research interests focus on the analysis of cellular biochemistry and the computational and analytical tools this requires.
Learning Colloquy IV, "Interactions Between Faculty and Students to Intensify Learning and Improve Teaching," will be held at University Park at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on Jan. 9. The latest in the provost's series, this colloquy provides an opportunity for faculty and students to discuss current issues in teaching and learning and is part of a continuing effort to increase the quality of education at Penn State.
A special emphasis in this colloquy is the participation of 49 departmental teams that will discuss teaching and learning with colleagues across the University and apply what they learn to their own disciplines. The daylong conference follows Winterfest 1998, a week of workshops on technology and teaching sponsored by the Center for Academic Computing, from Jan. 5-9.
Four years ago, the first Learning Colloquy was initiated by John A. Brighton, executive vice president and provost. Its theme, a proposal to increase active and collaborative learning, led to the founding of the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning. Subsequent colloquies have strongly advanced the themes of active learning, teamwork and assessment.
In keeping with this theme, the event will emphasize peer-oriented approaches, with faculty and students working to help each other. Sessions will feature related topics such as:
-- peer mentoring;
-- gains in learning via the use of technology;
-- teaching the first-year seminar; and
-- techniques to promote collaborative learning.
There will be no formal presentations, only conversations. In fact, a room is reserved for open discussion of other topics that faculty wish to discuss.
There has already been a large response to the invitations for Learning Colloquy IV, but space may still be available for those with strong interest.
Anyone with questions or seeking more information, should call or send e-mail to Jane C. Andrews, coordinator of the event, (814) 863-4262 or jca4@psu.edu.
Penn State will celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday,
Jan. 19, with a keynote address delivered by Yolanda King, a week
of commemorative activities and a year-round focus on community service.
The oldest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Yolanda King has participated in numerous civil and human rights demonstrations and has spoken before countless religious, educational, civic and human rights groups. She graduated with honors from Smith College with a B.A. in theatre arts and African-American studies. She earned her M.F.A. in theatre from New York University and performed in several showcase and off-Broadway productions.
King will speak on the topic of the arts as a means of stimulating and altering hearts and minds -- challenging the forces working against civil rights.
"The theme 'Communities Embrace Diversity' is particularly appropriate as a metaphor for highlighting the significance of Dr. Martin Luther King's life and philosophy for contemporary efforts to build a multicultural society," James B. Stewart, vice provost for educational equity and chair of the commemoration planning committee, said. "King's image of a multicultural society involved communities of peoples from different backgrounds working together to improve the situation of all."
Scheduled events on the University Park campus include:
-- Thursday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m.: The Forum on Black Affairs dinner at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.
-- Thursday, Jan. 15, at 12:30 p.m.: Dance, Drama and Song in the Hetzel Union Building.
-- Friday, Jan. 16, at 12:30 p.m.: Dance, Drama and Song in Kern.
-- Monday, Jan. 19, at 12:30 p.m. in East Halls and 1:30 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center: Dance, Drama and Song.
-- Monday, Jan. 19, at 11:30 a.m.: Commemorative Bell Ringing Ceremony in Old Main Lobby.
-- Monday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m.: Yolanda King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Voices of Joy Choir and the NOMMO Performing Arts Company in Eisenhower Auditorium; admission is free.
-- Monday, Jan. 19, at 12:30 p.m. in East Halls and 1:30 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center: Dance, Drama and Song.
-- Monday, Jan. 19, from noon to 4 p.m.: Food Bank of the State College Area Service Project.
-- Monday Jan. 19 (morning), Wednesday, Jan. 21 (evening) and Saturday, Jan. 24 (morning): Mid-State Literacy Council Service Project.
-- Monday, Jan. 19, Wednesday, Jan. 21, and Sunday, Jan. 25 (afternoon): Penn State Housing, University Apartments Service Projects.
-- Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Volunteer Fair with local agencies and organizations represented in the HUB Ballroom.
-- Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m.: Volunteer Centre Celebration and presentation of the 1998 Ann Cook Award for Outstanding Community Service at The Nittany Lion Inn. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased from the Volunteer Centre; phone (814) 234-8222.
-- Wednesday, Jan. 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Student Involvement Fair with student organizations represented in the HUB Ballroom and Fishbowl.
-- Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 7:30 p.m.: "Affirmative Action: Neither Black Nor White," presented by Frank H. Wu, associate professor, Howard University School of Law in the Eisenhower Chapel Memorial Lounge.
-- Friday, Jan. 23, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Community Volunteer Fair
in the Nittany Mall will be staffed by representatives of 50 human service
and Centre County service organizations.
By Karen Wagner
Public Information
The theme of this year's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, "Communities Embrace Diversity," was captured in rich, metaphoric detail by Penn State student Erik Harrison, who created the winning design. Harrison's image features Dr. King's profile against a backdrop of criss-crossing threads.
"I used the image of the threads and knots coming together to represent different groups of people coming together," Harrison, a senior majoring in photography and graphic design, said. "In researching Dr. King and the imagery of the era, I was impressed by the people coming together for marches in the cities. I thought, 'How can I represent that bond?' That's when I got onto the theme of tapestries and weaves as a metaphor to represent people rallying behind a common ideal."
Harrison is the son of Ian Harrison, Penn State professor of polymer sciences, and Charlene Harrison, director of Adult Learner Services, also at Penn State. After graduating with his B.F.A., Erik plans to tag along with his father on a four-month Fulbright teaching fellowship in Thailand -- taking his camera and 40 or 50-some rolls of film.
But, Erik credits his mother for developing his appreciation of art.
"Growing up, mom was always taking me over to the Palmer Museum. When I started college, I took an introductory art class and something clicked. There's something very exciting about the mix of words and type, visual and verbal. It's more than photography. It's more than art -- it's communication."
In his spare time, Erik enjoys rock climbing. For the past four summers he has climbed at Yosemite, Yellowstone and other national parks. His photographs have been published in Rock and Ice magazine.
Erik's design was chosen as part of a poster project for a senior design class. Earlier this fall, Robert Leonard, professor of theatre arts and a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee, worked with the committee to develop the theme. Professor of art Lanny Sommese had students in his senior design class work on poster designs. Designs from the five runners-up will be featured in an exhibit at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. Erik's design will appear on posters, buttons and flyers later this month as part of Penn State's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.
The Forum on Black Affairs will share the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. during its 23rd Annual Memorial Banquet on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m. in the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.
The program will feature readings by Penn State faculty, staff and students and local community members, excerpted from King speeches and accompanied by inspirational music.
The banquet also will feature musical performances by Christopher Byrne on saxophone, vocal soloists Terri Dowdy, Sandy Vactor and Jason and friends.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children (12 and under), or $210 for a reserved table of 10. Any proceeds from the event support student scholarships. For more information, contact Grace Hampton at (814) 863-5408, or by e-mail at gxh2@cde.psu.edu.
Penn State Mont Alto has received the largest scholarship endowment gift in its 96-year history. The $500,000 cash gift was donated by Drs. Albert and Lorraine Kligman to fund the Albert and Lorraine Kligman Endowed Scholarship for Returning Adult Students. This new scholarship will be awarded beginning fall 1998. Each year, a portion of the return on the endowment will be distributed among recipients identified by the Penn State Mont Alto Scholarship Committee. To be eligible, students must be enrolled or planning to enroll as a full- or part-time Mont Alto student in an associate or baccalaureate degree program. Eligible students also must manifest promise of outstanding academic success and have a proven financial need.
"We are deeply touched by the gift and the generosity of Albert
and Lorraine Kligman. Financial aid legislation is written to help traditional-aged
college students," said David Goldenberg, campus executive officer.
"This gift is truly directed at the community because it is earmarked
for the non-
traditional student, and will enable members of this community to gain access
to a Penn State degree."
Dr. Albert Kligman attended Penn State Mont Alto in 1935-36 on a forestry scholarship and was the first in his family to attend college. He graduated from Penn State in 1939 with a bachelor of science degree in botany, and went on to receive a Ph.D. in botany and a doctorate of medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as emeritus professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, the director of the Aging Skin Clinic, and attending physician at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Kligman is internationally known as the inventor of Retin-A, the so-called "anti-wrinkle cream" widely used for acne and photo-aged skin. When he was a resident, Kligman discovered the simple test that all doctors now use to diagnose fungus disease on the skin and nails. Dr. Lorraine Kligman is an associate research professor at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine in the Department of Dermatology. She completed the first series of studies to show precisely how sun damages the skin.
With the addition of the Kligman's gift, Penn State Mont Alto's campus-based scholarship fund now totals more than $1 million in active endowments and will award more than $50,000 to Penn State Mont Alto student in fall 1998.
A scholarship for Penn State tailbacks named in honor of Lenny Moore and Bud Rowell has been endowed with a gift of $250,000 from Penn State alumnus and football letterman L.J. "Bud" Rowell Jr., and his wife, Carol, of Berwyn, Pa.
The Lenny Moore/Buddy Rowell Endowed Scholarship for Tailbacks will be awarded annually to an outstanding student-athlete with financial need who demonstrates skill in the position of football tailback.
"By fully endowing this position, the Rowells have enabled us to redirect funds originally designated to the football program to fund scholarships for Penn State's 28 other varsity sports," said Tim Curley, athletic director. "A gift to endow and name a position is, therefore, a gift to the total Penn State athletic program that increases the diversity and excitement of all our sports."
The University invests endowed gifts and uses part of the annual income for the purposes designated by the donors. The remaining income is returned to the principal to protect it from inflation.
Rowell and Moore were teammates on the football squad in the early 1950s. Moore went on to become a National Football League Hall of Famer. He resides in Randallstown, Md., and works as a program specialist with the Juvenile Justice Administration in Baltimore.
Rowell was born in Cleveland and later lived in Paoli. A 1955 graduate in hotel administration, he retired as chairman, president and CEO of the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co., in Philadelphia, in 1996. He also worked with the Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York and served in the U.S. Marines.
He is a Penn State Trustee and chairman of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee for the University's upcoming capital campaign. He also has supported the planned Penn State Athletic Hall of Fame Museum, The Bryce Jordan Center and The Smeal College of Business Administration's Department of Insurance and Real Estate. He is active with the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts of America and the United Way in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Rowell has four varsity letters and an Athletic Alumni Award to his credit. He received an Alumni Fellow Award jointly from The Smeal College and the College of Health and Human Development in 1987 and a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1988.
A gift of $247,500 from Jim and Susan Mathias of Lewisburg, has created an endowment to aid the long-term development and growth of Penn State's men's and women's rugby teams.
Jim Mathias is president and chief operating officer of the JPM Co., an international manufacturer of cable assemblies for the computer and telecommunications industries. Although never a Penn State student, Mathias played rugby with a mixed club at the University Park campus in the early 1980s, before a full-fledged student club began in 1986. He is a member of USA Rugby's National Technical Panel and coaches the women's rugby team at Bucknell University in Lewisburg.
"We made this gift to boost Penn State's program to its next level of excellence and to reward it for remaining consistently competitive on a national level," Mathias said. "An endowment of this sort will do much more good at Penn State, which has a very blue collar program, than at other institutions. We love this sport, and with its 'everyone plays' philosophy, rugby presents tremendous opportunities for a much larger group of collegiate athletes to become involved."
The University invests endowed gifts and uses part of the annual income for the purposes designated by the donors. The remaining income is returned to the principal to protect it from inflation. Expenditures from the Mathias endowment will be distributed equally among the men's and women's teams, to cover such expenses as travel and equipment.
The Women's National Collegiate Championship for rugby, held at the University Park campus last May, ended in a national championship for the Penn State women's squad. The men's team has appeared in the final four of the national championships the last four years in a row and has won the Allegheny Rugby Union Championship an unprecedented 18 consecutive years.
A gift of $125,000 from Penn State alumni Richard and Susan Sokolov, of Boardman, Ohio, has endowed two new scholarships for student-athletes participating in women's basketball and volleyball.
The gift is divided evenly between the Richard and Susan Sokolov Family Endowed Women's Basketball and Endowed Women's Volleyball Scholarships, which will support academically talented undergraduate students on the teams with financial need.
Richard Sokolov is president and chief operating officer of the Simon DeBartolo Group, the largest real estate company in North America. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Penn State in 1971, and his juris doctorate from Georgetown University in 1974. Susan Sokolov earned her bachelor's degree in secondary education in 1971 and her master's degree in counselor education in 1972, both at Penn State.
After work with the Weinberg and Green law firm in Baltimore, Md., Richard Sokolov joined the Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. in 1982 as vice president and general counsel. He became president and CEO of the DeBartolo Realty Corp. in 1994, and assumed his current position when the corporation merged with the Simon Property Group Inc., in 1996. The combined group maintains a portfolio of 118 regional shopping centers in 33 states.
Sokolov will serve as a member of the volunteer committee that will lead fund raising for Intercollegiate Athletics in Penn State's upcoming capital campaign. He is active with the Mahoning County (Ohio) United Way, and formerly served with the Penn State Great Lakes Regional Development Council.
Kimberlie Kranich, WPSX-TV producer/director, left, interviews a member of the NASA ground crew in Houston for the "What's in the News" series on the Neurolab mission. The Ames Research Center's NeurOn video page can be accessed at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/video/index.html.
Editor's note: The following story is one of several planned for Intercom to focus on James Pawelczyk, Penn State's first faculty member to go into space.
By Annemarie Mountz
Public Information
When Payload Specialist Jim Pawelczyk, assistant professor of physiology and kinesiology, blasts off into space on Space Shuttle Columbia's Neurolab mission next April, ground-based control experiments will already be completed by a legion of young, yet-to-be-named volunteer scientists.
This group of young researchers won't be found in any college or corporate laboratory. None was even born when Columbia was first launched April 12, 1981, beginning the era of space shuttle flight.
They'll become involved in Columbia's latest mission through "What's in the News," a current-events program produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting and targeted to fourth- through sixth-grade classrooms. For the second time in two years, Katie O'Toole, writer and host of the program, and Kimberlie Kranich, WPSX-TV producer/director, are involving the show's audience in an out-of-this-world project.
When the next episode airs (Friday, Dec. 5, and Monday, Dec. 8, in State College), O'Toole will invite viewers to participate in four science experiments that correspond directly to experiments Pawelczyk will do on the Neurolab shuttle mission. The experiments will be centered on research into the effects of weightlessness on the nervous system and should advance understanding of earth-bound conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Viewers can order a free experiment kit by calling (888) 367-WITN. As they complete the experiments they'll record their results and mail them back to the "What's in the News" studio at WPSX-TV on the University Park campus.
Pawelczyk has been involved in the project from the very beginning.
"As soon as we contacted Jim, he was immediately very enthusiastic," O'Toole said. "He started describing some of the experiments he was going to be doing."
Kranich recently went to Houston to meet with Pawelczyk.
"For the mission, he has to learn 26 experiments," Kranich said. "Together we identified four of those experiments for which we can make parallel ground experiments."
They also taped Pawelczyk in the training mock-up of Neurolab doing introductions to the experiments and explaining what he's going to be doing on the mission and why.
"He has a real knack for putting things into kids' terms," O'Toole said. "Even though he is a scientist, he has a really good way of explaining things in a way that kids can understand so they get excited about what's going on."
"What's In The News" is producing eight segments to be incorporated into the weekly series. The first segment, with Pawelczyk as host, will provide an overview of the Neurolab mission. Three segments will focus on some of the people behind the scenes at NASA whose professions are critical to the success of Neurolab. The remaining four segments will demonstrate the experiments included in the kits. The behind-the-scenes segments focus on a nutritionist, a meteorologist and an aerospace engineer.
"We did this show so that people can become involved in the space program without becoming astronauts," Kranich said. "Few people become astronauts. Jim's not an astronaut, he's a payload specialist. He'll go up into space once, and then he's done."
Pawelczyk involved the other three mission specialists from the upcoming Neurolab flight in the "What's in the News" project. Each has chosen a school to tabulate, interpret, chart and graph the data sent to "What's in the News" from viewers completing the experiments.
Howard Pillot's science class in the Park Forest Middle School in State College is one of the four chosen.
"Our kids will get to do all the experiments. When the data is sent back to the show, we will get the results from one of the four experiments," Pillot said. "Our students will tabulate the data, interpret it and form some conclusions. Then we'll put the data into charts and graphs, and share them with WPSX."
In the final show of the season, "What's in the News" will compare the results of the experiments on the shuttle flight to what the students did on the ground.
"The success of last year's project showed there was an appetite in the classroom for this sort of thing, and it's a good way to get kids involved in the space program," O'Toole said. "They're actually part of the control group on the ground for the shuttle experiments."
In last year's project, the State College Area School district put together an experiment on diffusion that went up on the shuttle, and "What's in the News" viewers got to do the same experiment on the ground. Pillot's students were involved in that project, and the teacher jumped at the chance to participate in a shuttle project this year.
"We're going to be doing a unit on exploring space and matter," Pillot said. "Any connections we can make with real space flight is a bonus. Learning comes alive for the kids. It's great to be able to turn on the TV and see the astronauts and know you have a connection to what they're doing. It's a powerful motivator for our students."
Both O'Toole and Kranich expect high viewer participation.
"We hope that this will make science fun for the students and that many of our viewers can participate because you don't need a lot of complicated equipment. The kits explain the science behind the experiments. There will be guides for the teachers so they can take it further. We'll provide them with all the information they need to understand why the astronauts are doing this and how it relates to what they're doing on the ground," Kranich said.
Participation is not limited to formal classrooms.
"We found that last year, many of our requests came from home schoolers who had kids of all different ages. We'll have 1,000 kits and we'll send them to anyone who requests one, until we run out of them," O'Toole said.
"What's in the News" is seen in 30 states and has an audience of between 3 million and 6 million viewers. Roughly a third of all schools nationwide that teach grades four to six watch it in the classroom.
"But there are probably a lot of other schools that would be interested in this that aren't our clients," Kranich said.
The solution to reaching them is a collaboration with the Ames Research Center, which has set up a Web site for the Neurolab mission. The site includes a video section, http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/video/index.html, which explains the "What's in the News" project and will make available a tape of the show's Neurolab segments. The site also will include descriptions of the experiments, and includes a link to the "What's in the News" Web site, http://www.cde.psu.edu/EdComm/WITNweb/.
