| News | . . . . | Arts | . . . . | Calendars | . . . . | Letters | . . . . | Links | . . . . | Deadlines | . . . . | Archive |
Penn State's 16th Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology, titled "Microbial Structural Biology," will take place from Thursday, Aug. 7 through Saturday, Aug. 9, at the University Park campus in collaboration with the University of Georgia.
Christopher T. Walsh, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at the Harvard Medical School, will present the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Lecture in Molecular Biology at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, in Schwab Auditorium. Walsh is a member of the National Academy of Science and is internationally recognized for his pioneering work on the molecular basis of biological catalysis, which focuses on the structure and function of enzymes including enzymes, involved in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis.
Wolfgang Baumeister, director of the Division of Molecular and Structural Biology at the Max-Plank Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, will present the plenary lecture at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, in Schwab Auditorium. Baumeister is internationally recognized for the discovery of, and structural studies on, novel enzymes and proteins from the Archaea -- a recently recognized domain of organisms that is distinct from the bacteria domain and from the eukaria domain, which includes organisms from yeast to humans.
The keynote address and the plenary lecture are open to the public. Also open to the public at no charge are the symposium's industry exhibits on current research directions in molecular biology and the latest biotechnology-oriented products and services. These exhibits will take place on Thursday, Aug. 7, at the HUB Ballroom and Fishbowl from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Among the symposium events are 18 invited lectures and a number of oral presentations and posters, which will be presented in Schwab Auditorium.
The 1997 symposium is organized by the faculty of the Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology with support from many academic units at Penn State, a variety of industrial organizations, and the University of Georgia. For more information or to register for the symposium, contact Carey Shuey, program coordinator, at (814) 863-1918.
In cooperation with the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania, the College of Health and Human Development is presenting the Penn State Gerontology Center Conference on "Social Structures and Mobility in the Elderly." The conference, a continuing and distance education service, will be held Oct. 13-14 at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel. The event is free for Penn State faculty, staff and students.
Chaired by William Evans, from the University of Arkansas, and Penn State's Martin Pietrucha and K. Warner Schaie, the two-day conference will include six presentations: "Sensory and Cognitive Changes with Age," "Limitations of Mass Transportation and Individual Vehicle Systems for Older Persons," "Cause of Accidents Related to Age," "Used or Developed Improvements for Increasing Mobility and Reducing Accidents of Older Drivers," "Physiological Age Changes" and "Development of Assistive Devices to Improve Driving Skills in the Elderly and Amelioration of Environmental Hazards."
There is a $90 fee ($55 for graduate students from other institutions) for registrants other than Penn State faculty, staff and students. To register, call (800) 778-8632. For more information, contact Judy Hall by phone at (814) 863-5130 or by e-mail at ConferenceInfo1@cde.psu.edu. You may also visit the Web site: http://www.cde.psu.edu/C&I/SocialStructures&Mobility/.
Internationally renowned healthcare expert and best-selling author Dr. Andrew Weil will be the keynote presenter for the conference "The Future of American Medicine -- Changing Paradigms for Healing," scheduled for October at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel and The Nittany Lion Inn.
Weil, a Harvard-educated M.D., has earned the reputation as one of the world's leading authorities in alternative medicine -- a field that has experienced unprecedented growth and interest over the past decade. Along with his noted advances in the alternative healthcare field, Weil has authored six books, including such best-selling titles as 8 Steps to Optimum Health and Spontaneous Healing.
"The Future of American Medicine" conference will be a three-part event addressing issues such as the role of integrative medicine in today's society; how it will impact on healthcare delivery systems; and future directions in health-based education and research. Among one of the conference highlights will be an evening public lecture by Weil.
"The Future of American Medicine" conference is scheduled for Oct. 20 and 21. For more information, contact Georgia Abbey at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel, (814) 863-5140, or fax (814) 863-5190.
One group of people found a sure way to stay cool this summer.
They attended a Penn State Ice Hockey Camp. Students from around the state
come here to improve their skills ever year.
Photo: Greg Grieco
The Health Matters Program is still offering summer yoga at University Park. Starting July 30 and continuing through Sept. 10, classes meet Wednesdays, 12 p.m.-1 p.m. in 133-F Johnston Commons. The seven-week session costs $35, reimbursable to HMO participants taking the yoga series for the first time.
To register, contact Jan Hawbaker at 865-3085 or jqh3@psu.edu.
The Department of Biobehavioral Health would like to speak with smokers of "ultra-light" cigarettes (ie. Carlton, Now, Merit Ultima) about their possible participation in a paid research study. The principal investigator on the study is Christine T. Sweeney, pre-doctoral Fellow in Health and Human Development. Please call 865-0089 for more information.
They're leaving home, testing their wings -- and deciding what they want to be when they grow up.
With support from community leaders, business people and professionals, high school students from Pennsylvania will begin to experience some of life's lessons and consider career paths enrolled as Summer Sessions students at the University Park campus.
Upcoming programs include:
* Staff Assistant Training Program; contact Steve Hayes, (814) 865-1387.
* English Department Minority Graduate Summer Orientation Program; contact Don Bialostosky, (814) 863-3069.
* Multicultural High School Film and Video Workshop; contact Ned Faust, (814) 863-1243.
* Minority Research Apprentice Program; contact Dan Trevino, (814) 863-1291.
* Hispanics for Academic Program; contact Jesus Colon, (814) 863-2293.
* Bridges to the Future, geared toward low-income students; contact Earl Merritt or Deborah Atwater, (814) 863-1977.
* Minority Student Apprenticeships in Agriculture; contact William Henson, (814) 865-7521.
* Food and Agricultural Sciences; contact Blannie Bowen or Cathy Bowen, (814) 863-7850.
* Minority Commonwealth Campus Retention Program; contact Shenetta Selden, (814) 863-8598.
* Pre-Freshman Engineering and Summer Scholars Program; contact Saundra Johnson, (814) 865-7138.
* Wallops Island Environmental Research; contact Richard Devon or Geraldine Russell, (814) 863-7688.
Larsa Wick serves one to Renea Sherman at the tennis courts
on Pollock Road at University Park. Despite soaring temperatures statewide,
many people have headed outdoors for summer fun in recent weeks.
Photo: Greg Grieco
Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton and Schuylkill counties will have safer communities thanks to Penn State and its partners. Penn State Lehigh Valley continuing and distance education, ALERT Partnership and the City of Bethlehem's Police Department were recently awarded a $480,729 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to provide training for municipal police in the five-county region.
Goals of the grant include training law enforcement officials and residents to build partnerships that will initiate and sustain community policing by using a community advisory panel. Residents also will work together with the law to incorporate problem-solving techniques and to integrate community policing as a model for all police personnel.
Grant funds will support salaries, training equipment and supplies, Web site and e-mail development, needs assessments in the communities involved and the establishment of community task forces.
All partners in this combination will bring their expertise to play a specific role in the training program. ALERT Partnership, a component of the Department of Community Health and Health Studies of Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, will assist police departments in building and sustaining community partnerships that focus on public health and engage neighborhood-based solutions.
The Bethlehem Police Department will introduce family group conferencing techniques that can be applied when working with school resource officers, probation officers, school administrators, guidance counselors and social workers.
Penn State's Institute for Continuing Justice Education and Research at University Park, will provide technical training assistance for the community-policing training. Penn State Lehigh Valley's continuing and distance education department will coordinate and implement the training.
The one-year grant is one of 35 awards from the U.S. Department of Justice and is the only grant awarded in Pennsylvania.
A new program at Penn State Beaver allows urban youth to follow the life cycle of a chicken from first cluck to final pluck.
As part of an innovative diversity outreach effort to show inner-city children new career opportunities, the project incorporates the help of not only Penn State experts, but individuals from the Beaver County Housing Authority and the Alquippa School District. The program also shows how agriculture relates to the food system.
"It really exposes the children to the reality that chickens don't just appear in the local supermarket," said Donald Sheffield, special assistant to the vice provost for educational equity, who conceived the idea. "Someone has to raise them and feed them."
Sheffield said elementary students from Alquippa monitored eggs, incubating and hatching as part of the program. A second group of middle school students researched the feeding and growth patterns of the chicks. Half of the students also traveled to University Park to tour the Poultry Education and Research Center and other University facilities.
"Eventually, I would like to make this a mobile project that can be taken to urban schools and neighborhoods," Sheffield said.
The creation of an Entrepreneurial Development Center to serve new and growing businesses in the Capital Region has taken another major step forward with the appointment of Penn State Harrisburg faculty member Robert Russell as its director.
The EDC, to be located at 18th and State streets in Harrisburg, is being created through the efforts of the Capital Regional Economic Development Corporation in conjunction with the City of Harrisburg and the region's business, education and public service communities.
The center will provide, under one roof, an entire range of business start-up and development services from pre-operational planning to securing low interest financing to long-term mentoring. Its goal is to facilitate the delivery of services to entrepreneurs either starting or expanding business operations in the region.
Through a combination of on-site counseling, training and linkages to needed business resources, the EDC will aim to minimize time, effort and expense often encountered by entrepreneurs seeking information or assistance. Potential services of the EDC include self-assessment programs, the development of a business plan, local and financial issues, management and training concerns, marketing, technical support, mentoring support and seminars.
Russell has been an assistant professor of management for six years in the Penn State Harrisburg School of Business Administration. He views the creation of the center as "a necessary first step toward building an entrepreneurial network in the region."
Madlyn L. Hanes has been named campus executive officer of the Penn State Great Valley Graduate Center and associate dean of the Graduate School.
Hanes, who served as interim Great Valley CEO since March, joined the University in 1988 as director of academic affairs at the Delaware County Campus. From 1995-96, she served a dual role as director of academic affairs at Penn State Great Valley and Delaware County campuses.
Hanes, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction, has served a number of leadership roles in higher education, including a three-year post as chair of Penn State's Commission on Undergraduate Education from 1992-1995. Her international experience includes work with overseas American schools, ministries of education and higher educational institutions in Ecuador, Israel , Korea and Jamaica, and a special appointment to the University Council of Jamaica by the prime minister, among other roles.
Her scholarly interests include professional education and curriculum design. She is the author of two books, 30 articles and monographs and 20 technical reports to sponsors on program development and accreditation, and professional licensure. She currently serves on the state board of the Pennsylvania American Council on Education, and as one of Pennsylvania's three regional coordinators and delegates to the national office of women in higher education administration.
Hanes earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Florida, where she also earned her B.A. in English and her M.A. in speech pathology. She is a licensed speech-language pathologist with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
|
|
Lois Wenger Jordan is the new director of development at Penn State Harrisburg.
In a parallel appointment, former Penn State Harrisburg director of development Sandra Hafer Friedman has been named the college's first full-time alumni director.
The appointment of Friedman reflects Penn State Harrisburg's efforts to build a stronger network with more than 18,000 Penn State Harrisburg alumni, according to John Bruhn, provost and dean for the college. A Lancaster resident, Jordan comes to Penn State Harrisburg following development positions at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital in Lancaster.
For the past 10 years, she has served as associate director in the Office of University Development at Hershey, where she was responsible for the first faculty campaign resulting in a 93 percent participation rate and $1.3 million in gifts and pledges. She also directed the campaign for the medical center chapel, which raised $400,000 and exceeded its goal by 25 percent. In addition, she established records for private contributions to the medical center.
Her responsibilities at the medical center also included service as alumni coordinator, during which time she revised the College of Medicine's alumni constitution and bylaws, developed a mentor program, expanded day care and coordinated the reunion weekend and the presentation of the Alumni Fellow award.
Jordan founded the development office at St. Joseph, serving as its director from 1982 to 1987. She is a former schoolteacher, a graduate of Millersville University and has pursued graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and at Penn State.
David Kuskowski was recently appointed instructional specialist at Penn State Shenango. The position is associated with "Project Empower," the University's initiative for Commonwealth College campuses to enhance active and collaborative learning in the classroom through computers and telecommunications technologies.
As instructional specialist, Kuskowski will consult faculty on ways to enhance learning strategies and outcomes and provide support for the creation of multi-media and technology-based learning resources.
Kuskowski earned his bachelor's degree in education from Youngstown State University and previously held the position of academic adviser/admission's counselor at Penn State Shenango.
Brian F. Streeter, assistant athletics director at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., has been named athletics director at Penn State Erie, Behrend College, effective Aug. 1.
Streeter, who earned a B.S. in health and physical education from Texas A & M University and a master's degree in physical education from Ithaca College, has served as assistant athletics director and head coach for men's basketball at Hobart since 1984. He also has overseen summer programs at Hobart for the past five years.
Before his appointment at Hobart, Streeter served as interim athletics director at William Smith College, also in Geneva, and served two years as head men's and women's tennis coach and intramural director at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. He has coached football, basketball and track.
Streeter is a five-time winner of the Schoenfeld Regional Sportsmanship Award given by the College Basketball Officials Association. In 1995, he took top honors for the same award nationwide.
Streeter was named Volunteer of the Year by the American Red Cross in 1993, and has served on the school board in Geneva, as well as on the board of Geneva's Boy's and Girl's Club. While at Hobart College, he developed the Rebound and Read program for young people, a program to help develop skills in reading through the sport of basketball.
Streeter will replace Herb Lauffer, longtime athletic director at Penn State-Behrend, who died in January. The new athletics director arrives at the college on the heels of a $2 million endowment for the athletics program, as well as the release of $10 million in funding for a new athletics recreation complex. Ground is scheduled to be broken for the complex in the summer of 1998.
Editor's note: The following appointments are as a result of the University's reorganization, which became effective July 1.
|
|
|
|
Four new division heads have been appointed at Penn State Altoona: William G. Engelbret, Division of Business and Engineering; Lori Bechtel, Division of Education, Human Development and Social Sciences; James A. Winsor, Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences; and Michael W. Wolfe, Division of Arts and Humanities. Each will be responsible for providing leadership to develop and maintain academic courses and programs within their respective divisions. Altoona campus became a college effective July 1.
Engelbret, associate professor of accounting, received a Ph.D. in accounting from Penn State, an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor of arts degree from Thiel College. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and has been involved with continuing education for certified public accountants. He has served as chairman of many of PICPA's education committees and has served on its board of directors for the Foundation for Education and Research. He has been a member the ruling body of the State CPA Society and is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants. In addition, he is a member of the American Accounting Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Engelbret was the recipient of Penn State Altoona's Student Government Association Annual Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1979, 1982, 1986, 1989 and 1994. In addition, he received the Grace D. Long Award in 1990 and the George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1992.
Bechtel, professor of biobehavioral health, received a Ph.D. in health education from Penn State; a master of science degree from the University of Illinois; and a bachelor of science degree from Lock Haven State University, where she recently received a Distinguished Alumni Award. She is a member of the Pennsylvania School Health Association; the American School Health Association; Pennsylvania State Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; and a variety of community organizations.
Bechtel was the recipient of the College of Health and Human Development's Dorothy Jones Barnes Teaching Award and Commonwealth Educational System Faculty Achievement Award in 1995. She also received the Health Educator of the Year Award for the Pennsylvania State Association for Health Education in 1995; the Pennsylvania School Health Association Distinguished Service Award in 1994; Penn State's George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993; and the Grace D. Long Award for Faculty Excellence in 1993.
Winsor, professor of biology, received a Ph.D. in botany; a master of science degree from the University of Michigan; and a bachelor of arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University. He is a member of the Botanical Society of America, the Ecological Society of America, Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences, Horseshoe Curve Resources Coalition and Altoona's Shade Tree Commission advisory board. Winsor's research interests include plant reproductive ecology. He was the recipient of the Student Government Association's Outstanding Faculty/Adviser Award in 1989 and 1993.
Wolfe, associate professor of history, received a Ph.D. in history and a master of arts degree from Johns Hopkins University. He also received a master of arts degree and a bachelor of arts degree from Boston University. He is a member of the American Historical Association, the Sixteenth Century Society, the Society for French Historical Studies and the Western Society for French History, among others. His research interests include early modern France, religious history, military history and urban history. Wolfe received the Grace D. Long Award for Faculty Excellence in 1995 and the Provost's Award for Innovative Teaching in 1993.
|
|
|
|
Penn State Abington officials recently announced the following administrative appointments, effective July 1:
Paul J. Hutta has been named head of the Division of Science and Engineering at Penn State Abington. Hutta is an associate professor of engineering at Abington. A registered professional engineer, he earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Penn State and his Ph.D. in physics from Lehigh University.
A recipient of the University's Engineering Society Outstanding Teacher Award, Hutta has taken leadership roles in numerous campus and University professional activities, including serving as chair of the Ogontz Technical Advisory Council and leader of the Electrical Engineering Technology Group. In addition to his academic career, he worked in a variety of management and technical posts for companies including General Electric Co. and Betz Labs. He is a member of the American Society of Engineering Education, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Physical Society and has published scholarly papers in journals including Materials Chemistry and Physics and Inorganic Chemistry.
Ellen Andrews Knodt has been named head of the Division of Arts and Humanities. Knodt, an associate professor of English and associate director of academic affairs at Abington, is the 1996 recipient of the Atherton Award for Outstanding Teaching. In 1994, she also was selected Outstanding Teacher in the College of the Liberal Arts.
Knodt, the author of numerous books, book chapters and scholarly articles, specializes in teaching writing to undergraduate students. In recent years, she has written several texts on writing, including Understanding Ourselves: Readings for Developing Writers (Harper Collins, 1996) and Making Progress: From Paragraphs to Essays (Harper Collins, 1991). Knodt received her Ph.D. in English from Carnegie Mellon University, her master's in American studies from Purdue University and her bachelor's degree in English from Northwestern University.
James F. Smith has been named head of the Division of Social Science. Smith, a professor of English and American studies, has served in a variety of administrative posts in recent years, including baccalaureate degree coordinator at Abington; coordinator of the Department of English at Abington; associate head for the Commonwealth Educational System, Department of English; and chair of the University Faculty Senate.
Smith is the 1996 recipient of the College of the Liberal Arts Outstanding Advising Award, as well as Abington's Distinguished Service Award and an AMOCO Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching, among many others. He is the author of numerous books, book chapters and scholarly articles, including The Business of Risk: Commercial Gambling in Mainstream America . Smith earned a bachelor of arts in English from Boston College and his master's and Ph.D. in English from Penn State.
Patricia Weaver has been named head librarian. Weaver joins Abington from the Francis A. Drexel Library of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where she served as acting head of the reference division.
Weaver holds a bachelor's degree in English from Millers-ville University, a master of science degree in information studies from Drexel University and an MBA from St. Joseph's University.
Long-time Alfred University faculty member Steven A. Peterson is the new director of Penn State Capital College's School of Public Affairs. As a result of the July 1 realignment of the University, Capital College is now a two-campus institution consisting of Penn State Harrisburg and Penn State Schuylkill.
Peterson succeeds associate professor of public administration James E. Skok who directed the school on an interim basis since 1994 and will return full-time to faculty duties. Peterson joins the college as a professor of politics and public affairs.
A 1969 magna cum laude graduate of Bradley University, Peterson earned his Ph.D. in 1974 from The State University of New York at Buffalo. He joined the faculty at Alfred, in New York state, as an assistant professor of political science in 1973. He was promoted to associate professor in 1978 and to professor in 1984. He was awarded the Alfred Excellence in Teaching Award for 1982-83.
A former chair of the Division of Social Sciences at Alfred, Peterson has authored a vast list of publications and articles, including a new book titled Darwinism, Dominance and Democracy: The Biological Bases of Authoritarianism, published by Praeger. His prime research areas are in judicial process, public policy, biopolitics, political behavior, American political institutions and political psychology.
The School of Public Affairs has shown rapid growth in the past several years. Included in recent successes have been a new master of public administration program and a joint degree offering with The Dickinson School of Law which enables students to earn a law degree and a master's degree in public administration simultaneously.
As a result of the July 1 merger between the Berks and Lehigh Valley campuses into Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley College, the college has undergone organizational changes.
The academic structure of the new college will be organized into three divisions: liberal arts; science; and engineering, business, computing and human development.
Michael Riley, associate professor of English at Berks campus, has been named liberal arts division head. He became a Penn State faculty member in 1978, serving first at the Wilkes-Barre campus and moving to Berks in 1981. Riley earned his doctorate and master's degrees from Ohio University. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Scranton.
David Sanford, associate professor of horticulture at Berks, was appointed science division head. Sanford, who has served at Berks campus since 1989, is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the campus greenhouses, nursery and display gardens, and he supports southeastern Pennsylvania's cooperative extension educational efforts in ornamental horticulture. Sanford earned his doctorate from North Carolina State University, his master's degree from Michigan State University and his bachelor's degree from Cornell University.
Carolina "Karr" McCluskey, assistant professor of computer science at Lehigh Valley, was named head of the engineering, business, computing and human development division. A native of the Philippines, she received her bachelor's degree from St. Scholastica's College in Manila and her master's degree from Ateneo de Manila University. She then came to the United States and earned her doctorate from Lehigh University, where she taught computer science. McCluskey also was a post-doctoral fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
This page was updated by Chris Koleno.
