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"On Becoming Human" is the topic of the spring
semester 1997 Penn State Lectures on the 
Frontiers of Science.
Designed for the enjoyment and education of central Pennsylvania residents,
the lectures take place on six consecutive Saturday mornings from 11 a.m.
to noon on the University Park campus.
The fifth lecture in the series, "Behavior from Bones: The Diet, Locomotion and Sex Lives of Our Ancestors," will be given on Feb. 22 by Alan Walker, distinguished professor of anthropology and biology, in 101 Thomas Building. Walker is one of the world's foremost experts on the evolution of primates and humans. He will discuss the methods by which we can determine some of the behaviors and life-history strategies of early humans and their extinct relatives and will show how old some of our own behaviors are.
The remaining event in the spring 1997 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science is on March 1: "The Evolution of the Mind: Speculations from Contemporary Biology Based on the Musings of a Young British Victorian Naturalist," by Jeffrey A. Kurland, associate professor of anthropology and human development at Penn State, in 111 Wartik Laboratory.
Parking is available at the HUB Deck parking garage on Shortlidge Road.
For more information, contact the Eberly College of Science at (814) 863-8453
or (814) 863-4682, or by
e-mail at science@psu.edu.
James Jupp, director of the Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, will present a seminar titled "The Debate Over Australian Immigration and Multiculturalism: From 'White Australia' to the Challenge of Diversity" at 11:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 24, in 406 Oswald Tower on the University Park campus.
Educated at the London School of Economics and the University of London,
Jupp has held a number of
government and academic positions having to do with Australian immigration.
He was general editor of the Bicentennial Encyclopedia of the Australian
People, a member of the Advisory Council on Multicultural Affairs, chairman
of the government-related "Review of Migrant and Multicultural Programs
and Services," and a member of the planning and steering committee
for the Global Cultural Diversity conference held in Sydney in 1995. Jupp
has published widely on immigration and multicultural affairs. His most
recent book is the 1996 volume Understanding Australian Multiculturalism.
The lecture, which is open to the public, is being co-sponsored by the Australia-New Zealand Studies Center and the Population Research Institute. For more information, contact Pat Corbett at e-mail pac9@psu.edu; or by phone at (814) 863-1603.
Discover the sporting world that black America created on its own before integration when Robert Ruck, adjunct professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, presents "Kings on the Hill: Baseball's Forgotten Men," a lecture at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, in Penn State Berks campus' Perkins Student Center Theatre.
In a presentation that includes segments of "Kings on the Hill," an Emmy-winning documentary about the Negro Leagues, Ruck will focus on Pittsburgh, the center of black baseball in the 1930s and 1940s. He will analyze what was lost when Jackie Robinson integrated the major leagues in 1947 and the Negro Leagues disappeared.
The opening event in the 25th anniversary celebration of Penn State's
Paul Robeson Cultural 
Center this spring will be a public lecture
by Paul Robeson Jr., at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, at the center.
A reception will follow.
Son of one of the most remarkable men in American history, Robeson will talk about his father's life and legacy using slides, film and tapes. He worked closely with his father for 16 years as his representative and adviser. Since his father was frequently refused access to recording studios and concert halls during the 1950s, the younger Robeson produced, recorded and edited many of his recordings, some of which have been released on major record labels.
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was a legendary star of concert halls and screen, and known for such movies as "Emperor Jones," (1933), "Jerico," (1937) and "Proud Valley," (1940). He also was a scholar, college athlete and is perhaps best known as a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s.
The younger Robeson is the founder and president of the Paul Robeson Archives and lectures widely in the United States and abroad on American and Russian history and sociology as well as on the life and achievements of his father.
He is author of Paul Robeson Jr. Speaks to America, which focuses on recent controversies about multiculturalism, and The Secret War Against Paul Robeson.
Elizabeth F. Loftus, a cognitive psychologist who has specialized
in the reliability of 
eyewitness testimony and repressed memories
and has provided expert testimony in many high-profile legal cases, will
de-liver the inaugural Herschel W. and Eileen Wirtshafter Leibowitz Lecture
in Behavioral Sciences in the College of the Liberal Arts.
The lecture, to be held at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 20, in 112 Kern Building on the University Park campus, will center on new studies that show the power of imagination to make people believe they have had experiences they didn't have. Loftus is professor of psychology and adjunct professor of law at the University of Washington, Seattle. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. Since then, she has published 18 books and more than 300 scientific articles. Her fourth book, Eyewitness Testimony, won a National Media Award (Distinguished Contribution) from the American Psychological Foundation. Her most recent book, The Myth of Repressed Memory, co-authored with Katherine Ketcham, was published by St. Martin's Press and has already been translated into a number of foreign languages.
Loftus has been an expert witness or consultant in hundreds of cases, including the McMartin Preschool molestation case, the trial of Oliver North, the trial of the officers accused in the Rodney King beating, the Menendez brothers and the Oklahoma bombing litigation. Her research over the last 20 years has focused on human memory, eyewitness testimony and courtroom procedure. She has won numerous accolades, and in 1995 was selected by the American Academy of Forensic Psychology to be the recipient of their Distinguished Contributions to Forensic Psychology Award.
The Leibowitz lectureship, named in honor of Herschel W. Leibowitz, Evan Pugh professor emeritus and member of the faculty in the Department of Psychology, and his wife, Eileen, who established an endowment for the lectureship in the College of the Liberal Arts, will present speakers on interdisciplinary topics in the behavioral sciences in recognition of Professor Leibowitz's distinguished contributions in psychology and Mrs. Leibowitz's long-standing commitment to development at Penn State. The lecture is open to the public.
Few topics are as important to our communities as protection of drinking water source areas. "Tools for Drinking Water Protection" is a national teleconference scheduled for 2:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, in Studio D, Mitchell Building on the University Park campus. This live satellite broadcast with the country's top water protection experts also will be available on the Penn State cable channel 9 at University Park, which will allow student groups and classes to view the program.
The program will consist of rural, urban and suburban cases. Topics to be addressed include land use decisions, water quality monitoring and planning for emergencies. The overall goal of the broadcast is to convey strategies to communities for establishing drinking water protection programs.
The experts, who will be available live during the teleconference to answer questions from local groups, are: Douglas Hall, director of Dayton, Ohio, Environmental Management, which spearheaded development of the Well Field Protection Program; Ken Lustig, director of environmental health for Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, where he coordinates the Rathdrum Aquifer project; and Jon Witten, project manager with the Environmental Protection Agency, who developed strategies for guiding land development to protect wellheads, estuaries and coastal waters. Local experts Caren Glotfelty, professor of forestry, and Neil Korostoff, associate professor of landscape architecture and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, will be available in Studio D to discuss issues with the local audience when the satellite portion is complete.
There is no charge for attendance in Studio D, but seating is limited. Room 106 in Boucke Building is also reserved. To reserve a seat, please call the League of Women Voters at (814) 867-0106 or Carol Hodes at (814) 865-7679. "Tools for Drinking Water Protection" is being underwritten by the EPA.
The author of the acclaimed choreo-poem, "for colored girls, who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," Ntozake Shange, will present a dramatic reading at the Penn State Harrisburg campus of the Capital College on March 19. Shange, one of America's most lyrical black voices as a playwright, novelist, poet and performer, will appear at 7 p.m. in the college's Student Center in the Capital Union Building.
Widely acclaimed as a representative for blacks, women and all struggling to find their own voice, Shange has earned countless awards for her works, which include three novels, several books of poetry and many plays. She burst onto the New York literary scene in 1976 with her innovative and widely acclaimed "for colored girls ...," which became a best-selling book and later won critical acclaim in a television version for PBS. She received an Obie Award off-Broadway for "for colored girls..., " which also received a Tony nomination after enjoying a lengthy stint on Broadway. With Liliane, her newest and most provocative novel, she continues to explore the female intellect and sensuality by weaving together love, self-discovery, sex and race.
Shange, 46, garnered much from her childhood experiences in segregated St. Louis to create Liliane, who fights to maintain control of her life in spite of the "constant and random interruptions of white people as an abstract idea or in person."
An educator as well as an author, she has taught courses in the literature of people of color, feminist, aesthetics and writing and performance art at Rice University, Villanova University and the Maryland Institute of Art. As the Taos Heavyweight Poetry Champion of the World for three consecutive years, she continues to produce theatre pieces and do poetry readings and guest lectures. She is currently working on a project for HBO about the history of jazz.
The March 19 performance is open to the public and is sponsored by the Penn State Harrisburg Student Activities Office and its Women's Studies and Honors programs. For information, call (717) 948-6273.
George Bugliarello, a distinguished engineer and educator, will present a public lecture titled "Biology, Society and Machines: The Biosoma Issues," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, in Room 26 of the Mineral Sciences Building on the University Park campus as part of the STS Distinguished Speaker Series.
"Biosoma" is Bugliarello's word for the interaction among biology, society and machines, an interaction which he feels will shape our future. He will discuss these complex interactions and how they will influence the pure evolution of society.
Bugliarello is chancellor of Polytechnic University and previously served as president of that university from 1973-1994. He has a broad background ranging from fluid mechanics to computer languages, biomedical engineering and science policy. Bugliarello holds a doctor of science degree in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was awarded honorary degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Trieste, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Illinois Institute of Technology and Pace University.
Bugliarello is the first speaker in a new series of distinguished lectures sponsored by Penn State's Science, Technology and Society (STS) Program. For more information about this speaker or the seminar series, contact Hector Flores, director of the STS Program, at (814) 865-3043.
Hall of Famer Jim Palmer is coming to University Park on Thursday, Feb. 27, to speak in Schwab Auditorium at 8 p.m. The free presentation, which will focus on motivation, is part of the Distinguished Speaker Series.
Palmer's strong beliefs in motivation and persistence have propelled him through his life. In 1990, he was awarded baseball's highest honor by being elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He received 92.6 percent of the vote and is the only American League Hall of Fame pitcher to win the Cy Young Award three times, as well as four Gold Glove Awards.
At 18, Palmer signed a $50,000-bonus contract with the Baltimore Orioles, which brought him to immediate superstar status. He stayed with the Orioles for his entire 21-year career.
Since his retirement in 1984, Palmer has kept busy as a commentator on radio and TV. There will be an autograph session after the presentation.
The federal government recently made changes in the nation's 60-year-old welfare system that gave individual states freedom to experiment with their own welfare programs.
A March 11 Penn State Harrisburg Eastgate Center presentation by associate professor of finance Jacob DeRooy will focus on the impact of welfare reform on employment and earnings of welfare recipients. DeRooy's noon to 1 p.m. presentation is the latest installment in the yearlong Current Issues in Business lecture series coordinated by the Penn State Harrisburg School of Business Administration. The lecture is free to the public. For registration or information, call (717) 772-3590.
Among the questions DeRooy will address in his lecture are: what economic hardship, if any, is likely to result from reform; will welfare reform increase the supply of workers in the job market; how effective are employer subsidies for creating jobs for welfare recipients; and what have we learned from innovative programs in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Washington.
"Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues in the Classroom," a workshop set for March 24, will focus on both pedagogical and curricular issues related to gays and lesbians in the classroom and will cover the connections between sexual orientation and other diversity issues (including race, gender, social class and ability/disability).
Facilitated by Elizabeth J. Tisdell of Antioch University in Seattle, the workshop will begin at 1 p.m. in the HUB Gallery Lounge on the University Park campus and will last until 4 p.m. In the first half of the workshop, several different models of curriculum integration will be presented and discussed. The second half of the session will focus on issues of the group process and how to deal with potentially controversial issues in the learning environment. This participatory workshop is designed for faculty, graduate students and others interested in these issues. Participants are encouraged to bring syllabi and classroom incidents based on their own experiences in teaching about these issues.
To register for this workshop, sponsored by the Commission on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Equity, the colleges of Education and Health and Human Development, the Affirmative Action Office, the Division of Undergraduate Education and Residence Life, contact Julie Acker at jja10@psu.edu.
