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Martina Morris, associate professor of sociology and statistics,
presented a Summer Science Seminar on "Getting the Most Out of Your
Data: A Graphical Approach to Measuring Distributional Differences"
along with Mark Handcock, associate professor of statistics. There are three
lectures remaining in the series.
Photo: Greg Grieco
The temperature is climbing and you're looking for a diversion? Look no further than the University Park campus for Summer Sessions programming that includes films, theatre, lectures and concerts.
Remaining events include:
* July 14:
Dance Aerobics Diversions, 8 to 10 p.m., White Building
* July 15:
Music at Noon: Three Musicians La Banjo, Fisher Plaza
Graduate Student Association Explazaganza: "Sabrina," 9 p.m. Fisher Plaza
* July 16:
Pennsylvania Centre Stage: "A Chorus Line," Playhouse Theatre,
through Aug. 2
HUB Lawn Films: "Space Jam," dusk
* July 17:
Music at Noon: Arthur Goldstein Jazz Quartet, Fisher Plaza
Summer Science Seminars: Richard Ordway, biology, 3:30 p.m., The Nittany Lion Inn
* July 18:
Ice Cream Diversions: Bavarian Stompers, 7 to 8 p.m., Creamery patio
* July 19:
Graduate Student Association Family Films: "Escape to Witch Mountain,"
8:30 p.m., Fisher Plaza
* July 21:
Dance Aerobics Diversions, 8 to 10 p.m., White Building
* July 22:
Music at Noon: Bruce and Jesse, Fisher Plaza
Graduate Student Association Explazaganza: "How to Steal a Million," 9 p.m., Fisher Plaza
* July 23:
Comic Operas for the Movies: "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," 7:30 p.m.,
Music Building Recital Hall
HUB Lawn Films: "Maverick," dusk
* July 24:
Music at Noon: Redwing, Fisher Plaza
Summer Science Seminars: Karl Mueller, chemistry, 3:30 p.m., The Nittany Lion Inn
* July 25:
Ice Cream Diversions: The Dixie Lions Jazz Band, 7 to 8 p.m., Creamery patio
* July 26:
Graduate Student Association Family Films: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,"
8:30 p.m., Fisher Plaza
* July 28:
Dance Aerobics Diversions, 8 to 10 p.m., White Building
* July 29:
Music at Noon: Mick and the Mystics, Fisher Plaza
* July 30:
HUB Lawn Films: "Mystic Pizza," dusk
* July 31:
Music at Noon: Red Apple Juice, Fisher Plaza
* Aug. 1:
Ice Cream Diversions: Rich Victor Quintet, 7 to 8 p.m. Creamery patio
* Aug. 2:
Graduate Student Association Family Films: "The Love Bug," 8:30
p.m., Fisher Plaza
For more information, contact the Office of Summer Sessions at (814) 863-4174.
PPG Industries and The Smeal College of Business Administration have come together to develop an innovative professional development program for PPG's key marketing professionals.
PPG's marketing strategy steering team will join with The Smeal College's Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) and Penn State Executive Programs to create a series of business marketing courses to be launched this year at PPG sites.
PPG Industries, based in Pittsburgh, is a leading global manufacturer that supplies products for the automotive, manufacturing, construction and chemical processing markets. The company, established in 1883, has about 100 manufacturing facilities, as well as six research and development facilities, worldwide.
The Institute for the Study of Business Markets is an industry-supported center of excellence focused on improving the practice of business-to-business marketing. Founded in 1983, the ISBM is underwritten by more than 40 major corporations and research affiliates worldwide.
Penn State Executive Programs is among the international leaders in leadership and organizational development. Custom programs have helped Fortune 500 firms make major strategic changes. International programs have been delivered in the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and Ecuador.
As a result of the agreement, ISBM and Penn State Executive Programs will mobilize a faculty of professors from schools including The Smeal College, Babson College, McMaster University, Georgetown University and others.
The program, being developed by Smeal and PPG, will cover areas including value and pricing strategy, segmentation marketing in business markets, new programs for business and industrial markets, competitive analysis and intelligence, and value chain analysis.
Courses, beginning this year, will be offered on a pilot basis with ongoing participation by PPG marketers in the U.S. and abroad.
Utility site work for the first phase of the construction project for the new Hetzel Robeson Complex at the University Park campus has been experiencing a delay due to court action involving the state's prevailing wages rates.
The Hetzel Robeson Complex is one of several renovation or construction projects at the University affected by the moratorium, which is holding up more than $895 million in highway and construction projects statewide. The Paterno/Pattee Library project is not affected by the court action, having begun earlier in the year.
The prevailing wages rates were revised this spring, and a suit was filed against the state Department of Labor and Industry, which oversees the prevailing wage division. Prevailing wages are set by the department based on union scale wages. The rates are used to pay laborers on projects that are at least partially funded by taxes. A decision on the lawsuit is expected at any time from the Commonwealth Court.
A two-year construction project had been scheduled to begin this summer to renovate and expand the Hetzel Union Building (HUB) and house the new Paul Robeson Cultural Center in a single complex at University Park.
The project will be financed with funds generated by a portion of University Park student activity fees, private support, Housing and Food Services and University funds.
Construction workers recently severed the connection between
Central Pattee and East Pattee. The demolition of the connector was necessary
for the addition of the Paterno Library. Although there are detours and
some inconveniences because of the construction, the library resources are
still available.
Photo: Greg Grieco
By Wilson Hutton
University Libraries
On the morning the East Pattee connector closed to traffic, Jim Petro and his OPP moving crew had a problem. They had seven offices to relocate from East to Central Pattee because of encroaching construction zones. Petro, building services coordinator in the University Libraries' Facilities Department and veteran of many office moves, knew that once the connector was lost, they'd have to take all the furniture out the East Pattee exit, and truck it around to the rear of West Pattee to get it to Central.
In the rain.
They picked up the pace after a worker reported sighting a drywaller working on the floor below. Less than an hour later, a runner brought word: the connector's western entrance was completely framed up. Nothing more could pass through.
"Now, it gets slower," Petro sighed.
A moment later he was back at work, doing it the hard way because that's how it had to be done.
Mention the word "library," and the image that probably comes to most minds is a place of quiet and stillness. But the truth is that a large research library like Penn State's is a hive of activity, even in ordinary times. Hundreds of library faculty and staff move thousands of volumes each day -- cataloging, shelving, lending, retrieving and assisting patrons in finding information. But this summer is no ordinary time at Pattee Library with the $26.5 million construction of a new 110,000-square-foot wing to be called the Paterno Library. Still, all of the Library's routine activities continue unabated.
The Pattee complex has already been divided into two buildings with the closing and demolition of the connector mentioned above. A new, larger connector, complete with a Curtin Road entrance to the library and a circulation desk, will rise in its place. In the meantime, visitors to the Arts and Life Sciences Libraries, which are housed in East, will enter and exit through the building's ground floor entrance.
In the Central Pattee Circulation and Documents areas, the walls are closing in -- literally -- as the contractor erects protective barriers in preparation for new construction. Some highlights of these improvements are a new circulation center, a new elevator and a new corridor to West Pattee.
The LIAS Catalog Room and the Information Desk have moved temporarily into the former Group Study Room, 105 Central Pattee. The old LIAS Catalog Room has been converted for temporary offices. The book return conveyor will disappear, and a temporary book sorting area will appear in the main lobby, sometime in late July. The construction zone also crosses the West Pattee entrance, to allow for work on the new Central elevator and corridor.
The really big news, of course, is what's happening to East Pattee, where the five-story wing is going up on the side facing the Palmer Museum. One of the more obvious changes here has been the removal of the wall of windows, and the boarding-up of the first through fourth floors. This work will be completed this month. Once all the windows and the brick facade on that side of East Pattee are gone, the existing building will be ready to connect with the new superstructure of the Paterno addition.
Relocating the more than 80 employees on the fifth floor has been the largest and most complicated of the many office moves this project will require. Acquisitions and Cataloging have moved, for the duration, into the ground floor of Thomas Building. In July, Accounting Operations, Handicapped Services and Bindery will move to the West Wing, and the Office of the Dean to 102 Central Pattee. However, it is important to note that none of these offices' mailing addresses will change during these temporary relocations.
No matter how adventurous life may become for the Pattee staff over the next couple of years, the Libraries are committed to minimizing their patrons' excitement level. No service interruptions are contemplated during the two-year construction project and, though some minor inconveniences are inevitable, no collections will be rendered inaccessible. There are two new handicapped parking areas, one on Fraser Road adjacent to West Pattee and the other overlooking the East Pattee construction site and accessible via a driveway opening onto the Weaver Building lot. Both buildings, East and West/Central Pattee, will maintain access for the disabled throughout the construction project.
Summer session hours for Pattee and its various libraries and departments follow:
* The Arts Library, Documents/Maps, General Reference, Lending Services, Life Sciences Library, Periodicals and Reserve Reading Room/Microforms will be open Monday through Thursday from 7:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 10 p.m.
* Interlibrary Loan, Photoduplication, Historical Collections/Labor Archives, and the Rare Books Room will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Saturday and Sunday.
* The Penn State Room/University Archives will be open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Saturday and Sunday.
* The Music Listening Room will be open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 10 p.m.
Want more information? The Libraries maintain a "Construction Site" on the Web featuring up-to-the-minute construction news, photos, project timelines and more. The address is http://www.libraries.psu.edu/pubinfo/construction/
Several faculty in the College of Communications have been recognized with awards and grants for outstanding performance and forward-thinking.
Richard Barton, associate professor of communications, received the award for Excellence in Teaching, which acknowledges innovation, excellence and dedication; Clay Calvert, assistant professor of communications, received the award for Excellence in Research, acknowledging his productivity, publications and quality of research; and Robert Richards, associate professor of journalism and law, received the award for Excellence in Service, acknowledging his commitment to enriching the academic life of students and the well-being of the community.
Ford Risley, assistant professor of journalism, was the recipient of this grant, which is given to a faculty member each summer for the development of new courses and curricula, learning enhancement and other practices related to the improvement of learning and teaching. The grant will allow Risley to further develop his class "Introduction to Online Media," which will create a Web site devoted to reporting how the mass media in Pennsylvania are using online services.
Jeanne Hall, assistant professor of media studies, received the sixth annual Excellence in Teaching Award, sponsored by the College of Communications Constituent Alumni Society. The award honors an outstanding faculty member for exemplary contributions and overall dedication to the art of teaching. Hall teaches the art of cinema and advanced film theory and criticism.
Jeremy Cohen, associate dean for undergraduate education, was one of several University faculty selected by the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs to receive this inaugural award, which recognizes those who seek "to strengthen faculty/Student Affairs partnerships, and to pursue activities of mutual interest to faculty and staff in service to Penn State students."
R. Thomas Berner, professor of journalism and American studies, was awarded this grant to support his course in Editorial Writing and News Analysis, which introduces advanced journalism students to theory and techniques of writing news analyses, editorials and reviews of culture and the arts. He will create learning groups that will use e-mail to share drafts of editorials for peer criticism and evaluation.
Shari Roberts, assistant professor of media studies, also has received a Schreyer grant to enhance her course in Cultural Aspects of the Mass Media, which examines the mass media as creators and critics of mass culture in American life and the relationships between the mass media and mass culture.
Robert Baukus, associate professor of advertising, and Richard Taylor, Palmer Chair professor of telecommunications and law, were the recipients of an ICDE grant of $20,000 to conduct a survey of its members on information technology standards. Results of the survey were presented at the 18th ICDE World Conference in State College.
Richard Barton, associate professor of communications, Virginia Mansfield-Richardson, associate professor of communications, and Jorge Reina Schement, associate dean for graduate studies, have been awarded a grant to study the role of citizen activist groups in 1996.
George E. Andrews, Evan Pugh professor of mathematics and head
of the Department of Mathematics, has 
been elected
a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He is among 515 new Fellows elected this year in honor of their distinguished contributions to science, scholarship, public affairs and the arts.
Andrews, whose work has found major applications in enterprises as diverse as statistical mechanics and computer science, is renowned for his work in number theory and related topics.
He is perhaps best known outside the mathematics community for his discovery of the lost notebook of the late mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and his work with the formulas it contains. In addition, he is well known among mathematics educators for his involvement in critiquing the current calculus-reform movement.
He is the author or co-author of more than 180 papers published in scholarly journals, the author of four mathematics textbooks and the editor of three books on various topics in mathematics.
Andrews received both bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Oregon State University in 1960. He earned a doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. He joined the Penn State faculty in 1964 and became head of the Department of Mathematics in 1995.
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Terry Bosserman, William Welsh Jr., Richard W. Foxx and Joseph J. Cecere were the award winners at the annual Penn State Harrisburg Faculty and Staff Recognition Program April 17 in the Capital Union Building.
Bosserman earned the Staff Service Award; Welsh was awarded the Excellence in Teaching award; Foxx the Excellence in Research award; and Cecere the Faculty Service award.
A technician with the Office of Instructional and Information Technologies, Bosserman drew praise for his efforts to improve the educational activities on campus through his technology role. He has been on the Penn State Harrisburg staff since 1990.
A 25-year member of the faculty in the School of Science, Engineering and Technology, Welsh is a registered professional engineer and has been an active member of the American Society for Engineering Education since 1973 and the American Society of Civil Engineers since 1961. He earned the James Jordan Award for Teaching Excellence at Penn State Harrisburg in 1976.
A member of the faculty in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education since 1991, Foxx is extensively published and is a frequent presenter at gatherings both in the United States and abroad. A professor of psychology, he also serves as clinical adjunct professor of pediatrics at the College of Medicine in Hershey.
Cecere, an associate professor of engineering and chair of the Structural Design and Construction Engineering Technology program, has been a member of the Penn State Harrisburg faculty since 1982. His service to the program and the School of Science, Engineering and Technology has resulted in a number of advances, including the donation of estimating software from a Baltimore corporation and other donated support for academic programs. He has been active in national professional organizations and is frequently published.
Betty Nirnberger, left, a member of the acquisitions
services support team, and Joann
Warefield,
right, a library assistant in the Life Sciences Library, have been honored
for their commitment to advancing the mission of the University Libraries
as the 1997 recipients of the Margaret Knoll Spangler Oliver Libraries Award.
The award was established in 1995 by Ronald and Eleanor Smith
and Robert Oliver in memory of Margaret Oliver, former assistant
librarian at Pattee Library. Both Nirnberger and Warefield were recognized
for providing exceptional service.
Nirnberger joined the Libraries in 1980 as an input operator to assist with the conversion of the public card catalog to the online catalog system. In 1981, she worked in the Documents Section and was responsible for processing international documents and public service duties. In 1982, she became a senior clerk in acquisitions and two years later was promoted to invoice/accounts coordinator in the same department. Her post was upgraded in 1991 to acquisitions budget analyst, and she became a member of a self-directed work team in 1994.
Currently, Nirnberger serves on the Libraries' Building Coordination Council, LIAS Acquisitions System Development Team and the Collection Development Advisory Group.
Warefield has been a library assistant in the Life Sciences Library since 1973.
She began at the Libraries in 1952 as a secretary in the Agricultural Library, where she remained for 10 years. In 1963, she became a part-time library assistant and began her full-time position 10 years later. She has been a member of the Pennsylvania Library Association and its Support Staff Round Table. She also does volunteer work for the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life" and has served as president of the Pleasant Gap Lioness Club in 1996.
Jerry L. Workman, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular
biology, has been appointed as an 
associate investigator
of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the largest private supporter of
biomedical research and education in the United States. He is one of 70
scientists nationwide selected this year and the first Penn State faculty
member to receive the award.
Workman said he will use the award to further his laboratory's studies into the mechanisms of gene regulation.
"In particular, these funds will help to advance our studies into the identification and characterization of protein complexes that disrupt and/or modify the structures of chromosomes and turn on gene expression," Workman said.
Workman's research concerns a central process in gene regulation -- how energy-driven teams of molecules function as chromosome-remodeling machines that unlock the cell's genetic codes. A chromosome, the gene-containing structure in a cell's nucleus, is a rope-like molecule of DNA tangled up with proteins. Genes are sections of the DNA that contain a cell's genetic codes.
"Our studies analyze chromosome-modifying protein complexes from human cells and from yeast cells where a powerful genetic system can be exploited to complement biochemistry," Workman said. "These studies should render new insights into the development of cancers and other human diseases that result from aberrant gene expression."
As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute associate investigator employed by the Howard Hughes Institute, Workman will continue to hold a faculty appointment at Penn State and will conduct his research in a Howard Hughes Medical Institute laboratory on the University Park campus. Workman will continue to teach and fulfill other academic responsibilities, but he will have more time and resources to devote to his research program.
According to the institute, Hughes investigators conduct biomedical research in cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience and structural biology and have made significant discoveries related to obesity, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and other medical problems. The institute employs approximately 330 investigators based at 72 institutions nationwide.
Karl T. Mueller, assistant professor of chemistry, has been honored
by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus 
Foundation with the
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.
Considered one of the most prestigious prizes in its field, the award is designed to provide external support to young faculty members during the early stages of their academic careers to assist them in continuing their high level of accomplishment in both education and research.
Mueller says the award will provide support for the "development of novel methods of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance for the investigation of the structure and chemistry of complex materials." Mueller's research group currently is studying the microscopic structure of amorphous solids such as glasses; the conformations of bound biomolecules; and the chemistry of zeolites, which are used for catalytic cracking of petroleum. Mueller plans to use the award to "push forward a number of new experiments, which can be helped by some new equipment, and to fund both undergraduate and graduate research assistantships as well as to allow students to attend meetings where they can discuss their research results with other scientists."
His previous awards include the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award in 1993, the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award in 1994, and both the Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Award and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award in 1996.
Mueller earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry, summa cum laude, at the University of Rochester in 1985, was awarded a certificate of postgraduate studies as a Churchill Scholar at Cambridge University in 1986, and received his doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. He then held a postdoctoral appointment at the University of British Columbia until 1993, when he joined the Penn State faculty.
Ralph D. Licastro has been named the winner of the 1997 Lester
L. Shonto Award for Excellence in 
Accounting Education.
A lecturer in The Smeal College of Business Administration's Department of Accounting, Licastro has been a member of Penn State's business faculty since 1972. He also is a partner with Licastro & Riedy CPAs, State College, and has more than 20 years experience in accounting.
Licastro holds a bachelor's degree in mathmematics and master's degree in accounting, both from Penn State. In addition to his CPA designation, he also is a certified valuation analyst and a certified fraud examiner.
The award was created in the memory of the late Lester L. Shonto, a 1966 accounting alumnus of Penn State, who went on to a successful career as a partner with the Big Six firm of Price Waterhouse.
