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The Pennsylvania College of Technology announced 1997 Distinguished Teaching Awards. The highest level of college recognition for faculty, the "Master Teacher Award" was presented to Dennis E. Fink, assistant professor of horticulture. Receiving "Excellence in Teaching Awards" were William B. Urosevich, assistant professor of biology, and Monica J. Lanczak, instructor of food and hospitality/culinary arts.
Fink graduated from Penn College's predecessor, Williamsport Area Community College, in 1973 and began employment at the college in August 1974 as an instructor of horticulture. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1995. In addition to teaching, Fink formerly owned and operated a floral and greenhouse business for a number of years.
One of Fink's nominators stated, "He gives you the feeling you can reach your goals and believe in yourself. He treats everyone with a great deal of respect." The Master Teacher is chosen from nominees having at least six years of successful teaching experience and is representative of the best of faculty dedicated to providing the highest quality of experience for students.
Urosevich earned a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Wilkes University in 1976, a master of science in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1979, and a doctor of optometry from Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1983. Urosevich also served in the U.S. Army. He began working at Penn College in August 1992 as a part-time, substitute instructor of anatomy and physiology. He was employed full time as instructor of biology in August 1993 and promoted to assistant professor that same year. In addition to teaching, Urosevich is the senior partner at Urosevich Eye Associates, a primary care optometry practice in Lewisburg.
"I've never seen or been instructed by a more intelligent, enthusiastic or capable instructor," wrote one nominator of Urosevich.
Lanczak earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Carlow College, Pittsburgh, in 1975. She received certification as a pastry cook in 1981 and certification as a pastry chef in 1984, both from the Los Angeles Trade and Technical College, American Culinary Federation Apprenticeship. A native of the Pittsburgh area, Lanczak previously worked as a pastry chef at a number of gourmet restaurants and hotels and also served as a culinary institute instructor. She began full-time employment at Penn College as an instructor of food and hospitality/culinary arts in August 1994.
The Distinguished Teaching Awards are sponsored by the Penn College Foundation, with the Master Teacher Award recipient receiving $1,000 and the two Excellence in Teaching Award honorees each earning $500. The Distinguished Teachers also receive the opportunity to work on special college projects.
Since 1982, 47 full-time faculty members have been honored for their excellence in teaching and outstanding service to students.
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Penn State Worthington Scranton campus recently announced awards for outstanding service, scholarship and teaching. Honored were Patricia Sweeney, Marilyn Daniels and the late Walter Weber.
Sweeney received the 1997 Gertrude Hawk Chocolates Award. Instituted in 1979 by then-company president Elmer Hawk, the award recognizes a member of the campus faculty or staff who exhibits outstanding performance and service in academic endeavors, co-curricular activities and service to the community.
Sweeney received her master of science degree in nursing from the State University of New York-Binghamton and bachelor of science in nursing from Wilkes University. In addition to serving as an instructor of nursing at the Worthington Scranton campus, Sweeney is a family nurse practitioner. A registered nurse since 1980, Sweeney served as a staff nurse at Community Medical Center's Emergency Department and was an instructor in its former diploma program.
Daniels, associate professor of communications, was awarded the Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Matthews Award for Excellence in Scholarship. The award was established in 1988 by Dr. Richard and Sally Matthews to recognize outstanding performance in scholarship and research. Daniels received her bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in communication from the William Paterson College of New Jersey and her doctoral degree in communication from New York University.
Daniels joined the Penn State faculty in 1990. Before her appointment, she taught at Central Connecticut State University, the University of Charleston and the William Paterson College of New Jersey. Active at the state, regional and national levels of the Speech Communication Association, Daniels was awarded the association's 1993 Donald H. Ecroyd Emerging Scholar Award for her research on sign language and language acquisition skills in hearing children. She is the 1992 recipient of Penn State's Roy C. Buck Award, which was given to promote her study of the pedagogy of sign language. She received the Penn State Worthington Scranton Campus 1994 Pharmakon Award for outstanding performance in scholarship and research and 1996 Advisory Board Award for excellence in teaching.
The 1997 Campus Advisory Board Award for Excellence in Teaching was given posthumously to Weber, who served as an instructor of speech communications and theatre at the Worthington Scranton campus. Funded in 1988 by the Campus Advisory Board, the award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated innovative and dedicated teaching techniques in his/her academic endeavors.
Weber received his master's degree in theatre communications and bachelor's degree in theatre arts from East Stroudsburg University. He was a faculty member at the Worthington Scranton campus from 1982 until his death in February.
Leonard Mustazza, professor of English and director of academic
affairs at Penn State Abington, has been named the first recipient of the
Lion Heart Award by
Abington's Class of 1997.
The award, created to honor someone who "has added to the life of the Abington campus and ... expresses the spirit and integrity of the Pennsylvania State University," was given at Abington's spring commencement.
Mustazza was described by members of the class as "bright, competent, generous, tough, fair, creative, approachable, productive, insightful, tenacious, compassionate and understanding."
Mustazza joined the University in 1983 as a lecturer in the department of English at Penn State Ogontz (now Penn State Abington). He was granted early tenure and promoted to associate professor in 1989, and was named professor in 1991. In 1992, he was named campus director of academic affairs.
A prolific author, Mustazza has written, co-authored or edited seven books and more than 25 scholarly papers, won several University teaching awards including The George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching, and has played a pivotal role in shaping Penn State Abington. Mustazza received his Ph.D. in English from The State University of New York at Stony Brook.
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The General Prize in the 1997 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books, which has been described as the most prestigious prize for science writing in the English language worldwide, has been awarded to Alan Walker, distinguished professor of anthropology and biology, and Pat Shipman, adjunct associate professor of anthropology. The Penn State husband-and-wife team win approximately $16,500 for their book titled The Wisdom of the Bones: In Search of Human Origins.
The award, which is sponsored by the British Science Museum, the Committee for the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS), and the Rhone-Poulenc company, honors the best popular science book written for the nonscientist reader and published in England during 1996.
The Wisdom of the Bones, published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf and in England by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, has been hailed as a thrilling story about the day-to-day realities and higher goals of searching for the origins of modern humans. It tells the story of Walker's discovery in Kenya of the most complete skeleton ever found of Homo erectus, a species that proved to be an ancestor of modern humans. The book, selected from more than 80 entries, will be reprinted by Rhone-Poulenc and a copy will be sent to every university, college and high school in England.
Dianna L. Bourke, assistant professor of biology at Penn State Hazleton, has received the 1997 George T. Bobby Excellence in Academic Advising Award. This award is given annually to a faculty member whose academic advising maintains the highest standards.
In addition, Patricia D. Ferry, instructor of medical laboratory technology and director of the Medical Laboratory Technology Program at Penn State Hazleton, has received the 1997 Teaching Excellence Award from the Hazleton Education Council, the Campus Advisory Board. The council established this award in 1994 to recognize outstanding teaching.
Before assuming her current post at Penn State Hazleton in 1991, Bourke had been course director of the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program since 1986. In 1985, she was an instructor of human microscopic anatomy at the Community College of Allegheny County.
Bourke received her B.S. in biology from Penn State and a Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology from the University of Pittsburgh. She also completed two postdoctoral fellowships and a postgraduate research assignment at the University of California. She has received numerous research grants, published several abstracts and refereed a variety of biology articles.
Ferry has been a Penn State Hazleton faculty member since 1981, serving in her current capacity since 1987. She was previously a lecturer and coordinator of the Medical Laboratory Technology Program. Before joining Hazleton, she worked at St. Joseph's Hospital, Evangelical Hospital and Geisinger Medical Center.
Ferry earned a bachelor of science degree from Bloomsburg University and studied medical technology at Geisinger, where she became registered with the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in biology at Bloomsburg.
Penn State Beaver honored two faculty members for excellence in teaching and research.
John M. Simpson, assistant professor of chemistry, was awarded the Beaver Campus Advisory Board Teaching Award which recognizes outstanding classroom instruction. Simpson, who has been at Beaver campus for 27 years, was nominated by students for his availability to them and for the clarity, enthusiasm and organization of his class presentations.
Chuntao "Chris" Wu, assistant professor of mathematics, was awarded the Beaver Campus Advisory Board Faculty Research Award which recognizes excellence in scholarly research and creative activities. Wu, who has been at Beaver campus since 1992, received the 1994-95 Advisory Board Teaching Award.
Both Wu and Simpson have published in scholarly journals and delivered numerous presentations.
Since the origination of the awards, the Beaver Campus Advisory Board has honored nine faculty members with the teaching award and six faculty members with the research award.
Two Penn State Mont Alto staff members received awards for outstanding service to the campus.
Cathy Staggs, a member of the food service staff, received the Support Service Excellence Award. She has been with the Mont Alto staff for 11 years and resides in Greencastle.
Judy Mellott, program specialist for the Department of Continuing Education, received the Outstanding Service to the Campus Award. She has worked at the Mont Alto campus for 13 years and resides in Waynesboro.
Each year, an awards committee reviews a list of candidates who have been nominated by their colleagues for either the Outstanding Service to the Campus Award or the Support Service Excellence Award.
John E. Werner, director of Penn State's Ben Franklin Technology Center of Central and Northern Pennsylvania (BFTC/CNP), has been named Entrepreneur of the Year in the Supporter of Entrepreneurship category in the 1997 Central Pennsylvania Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Program. As an award winner, he is now eligible to compete for the National Entrepreneur of the Year awards in November.
The awards program recognizes successful entrepreneurs and those who encourage entrepreneurs.
As head of BFTC/CNP, Werner is responsible for implementing Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin technology-based partnership program in a 37-county region. The BFTC/CNP invests matching funds in the development of new or improved products and processes with start-up, small and medium size Pennsylvania manufacturing and technology-based companies.
A Penn State graduate with B.S. and M.S. degrees in metallurgy, Werner also has been honored with ASM International (the Materials Information Society) Chapter Awards, the Bradley Stoughton Award and the David Ford McFarland Award for outstanding contributions and achievements in metallurgy. He also is a Penn State Centennial Fellow of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has selected Michael J. Natan,
associate professor
of chemistry, as an Alfred P. Sloan Research
Fellow. The foundation awards 100 fellowships annually to faculty in the
United States and Canada who are in the early stages of their research careers
and who have exceptional promise to contribute to the advancement of knowledge
in physics, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, neuroscience or economics.
Natan's research involves the development of chemical methods to make macroscopic materials from particles as small as 10 (superscript)-9 meters in diameter, known as nanoparticles. His work focuses on the self-assembly of single or multiple layers of gold (Au) nanoparticles, which have surface properties that affect the material's electrical conductivity, biocompatibility, and the absorption and reflection of light, among other properties. These surface properties are important for devices involving biological and environmental sensors, as well as for materials applications.
Natan received his bachelor of science degree, cum laude, from Yale University in 1981 and his doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. From 1986 to 1988 he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University and from 1988 until 1991 he was a joint postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. He joined Penn State as an assistant professor in 1991 and became an associate professor in 1996. He received the Beckman Young Investigator Award in 1994.
Begun in 1955, the Sloan Research Fellowship Program is one of the oldest fellowship programs in the nation. Sloan Fellows receive highly unrestricted grants of $35,000 for a two-year period, with which they are free to pursue whatever lines of research inquiry are of most interest to them. According to the foundation, this flexibility often is of great value to young scientists who are at a pivotal stage in establishing an independent research program.
Robin Becker, associate professor of English, has won the 1996 Lambda Literary Award in Poetry for her collection of poems, All-American Girl. All American Girl, Becker's fourth collection was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press as part of its Pitt Poetry Series.
The Lambda Awards, administered under the aegis of the Lambda Literary Foundation, recognize excellence in gay and lesbian publishing by mainstream, university and small presses. In its ninth year, the awards involve a three-tier selection process. A list of nominees is assembled from ballots sent in by readers. This year, nearly 50,000 ballots were distributed nationally in all categories.
Robert Bernheim, professor of chemistry, was appointed chairman for Chemical Sciences by the National Research Council Associateships Program. He also serves on the advisory committee for the Associateships Program. The objective of the program is to provide postdoctoral scientists and engineers of unusual promise and ability opportunities for research on problems, largely of their own choice, that are compatible with the interests of various federal laboratories. Indirectly, the associateships make available to the broader scientific and engineering communities the research facilities that exist in federal laboratories.
John W. Black, associate executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association and editor of the Football Letter, received the 1997 Lion's Paw Medal Award. The medal honors those who have contributed notable service to the University.
John Comerford, associate professor of dairy and animal science, received the Industry Service Award from the Pennsylvania Cattlemen's Association.
Dennis K. Davis, professor of communications, has been granted a Fulbright to attend a seminar on German media and communication science. This group seminar examines the political, economic and social institutions of Germany, including the five new states in Eastern Germany, in light of their recent history and current development.
Irwin Feller, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Evaluation and professor of economics, gave an invited paper on "Relationships Between Universities and the Private Sector in the Transfer of Technology" at the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Conference on "Public and Private Sector: Lessons from Worldwide Experiences," Alicante, Spain.
Richard M. Foxx, professor of psychology at Penn State Harrisburg, presented three invited talks on "The Treatment of Severe and Challenging Behavior" in the United Kingdom. The talks were sponsored by St. Andrews University in Scotland and Keele University in England and were delivered in Glasgow, St. Andrews and Staffordshire, England.
Penn State's Urban and Community Forestry Program received the 1997 Volunteer Program National Award in the Sponsored Volunteer Service category. The program is administered by Henry Gerhold, professor of forest genetics; Bill Elmendorf, instructor in urban and community forestry; Vincent Cotrone, urban forester based in Luzerne County; Julianne Schieffer, urban forester based in Montgomery County; Mark Remcheck, urban forester based in Washington County; and Scott Sjolander, urban forester based in Crawford County.
Elizabeth Hanley, associate professor of kinesiology, has been elected as president of the National Folk Organization (NFO) of the United States, for a two-year term.
Pu-qi Jiang, director of orchestras, and James Lyon, associate professor of violin, were recently guests of the National Music Conservatory/Noor Al Hussein Foundation in Amman, Jordan, where Maestro Jiang conducted an orchestral performance and Lyon was featured as soloist in the Max Bruch Concerto in G minor. In addition, they both conducted master classes for conservatory faculty and students.
Amir Khalilollahi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State Erie, Behrend College, authored a technical paper with mechanical engineering seniors John Gardner, Paul Gunshore and James Kuhn. The paper, "Modeling for Design of Swaging Dies," was presented by Khalilollahi at the IASTED/ISMM International Conference on Modeling and Simulation.
Mehdi Khosrowpour, associate professor of information systems at Penn State Harrisburg, delivered several talks, speeches and seminars.
He was keynote speaker at the 1997 Arab Business Conference in Kuwait City, Kuwait, where he spoke on "The Role of Information Technology and Globalization of Arab Businesses." He also conducted a seminar on "Information Technology and Global Strategic Planning" at the University of Wollongong, Sydney, Australia; delivered an invited talk on "The Human Side of Information Technology Management" at the University of Massey, Auckland, New Zealand; and conducted a seminar on "The Role of Information Technology in Formulation of Global Business Strategies" at the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Max King, coordinator, University Scholars Program, and affiliate assistant professor of education, has been elected to the Board of Governors of the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research. NCUR brings together more than 2,500 undergraduates involved in scholarly and artistic activities.
Robert LaPorte Jr., professor of public administration and political science in the Department of Political Science, gave an invited paper on "In Pursuit of Good Governance: Political Developments in Pakistan" at the Conference on India and Pakistan -- 50 Years of Independence, Progress, Problems and Prospects in Washington, D.C. The conference was sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Cynthia Zeliff Massie, assistant professor of health care administration and policy at Penn State Harrisburg, has been elected president of the Aging Politics and Policy Group within the American Political Science Association.
Eve Munson, assistant professor of communications, was selected by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center to participate as a teaching fellow in a weeklong seminar in Bloomington, Ind.
Masatoshi Nei, Evan Pugh professor of biology and director of the Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, has been elected as an honorary member of the Japan Society of Human Genetics for his "important contributions to human and evolutionary genetics."
Nei is the founding director of the Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, an interdisciplinary organization that fosters research on the evolution of genes and organisms. He is a world leader in evolutionary biology and has helped shape the way in which the field of molecular population genetics and evolution has developed.
Robert E. Newnham, associate director of the Intercollege Materials Research Laboratory, has been named Distinguished Life Member by the trustees of the American Ceramic Society. The award was given in recognition for his pioneering research on ceramic composites and their application as "smart" materials and devices; for his "exceptional guidance of students; and for his devotion to international scientific exchange and cooperation."
B. Allan Quigley, associate professor of education, recently received the 1997 Kenneth J. Mattran Leadership Award, given by the Commission on Adult Basic Education. The award is considered the highest award in America for work in the field of adult literacy and basic education.
The American Ceramic Society inaugurated a new annual lecture, "Frontiers of Science and Society Rustum Roy Lecture," named after Rustum Roy, Evan Pugh professor of the solid state, Intercollege Materials Research Laboratory. The new lectureship recognizes Roy's active role for more than 30 years in the science and society field.
Michael Silsbee and Barry Scheetz from the Intercollege Materials Research Laboratory (IMRL), were recently honored by the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation for the contributions of the Materials Research Laboratory in the reclamation of Babb Creek, Tioga County (1990-1997). The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has identified Babb Creek watershed in Tioga County as part of Pennsylvania's efforts under the Appalachian Clean Stream Initiative program. Dean Arnold, assistant professor of aquatic ecology in the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State, was also honored. Arnold has been working with Pennsylvania's Task Force on Dirt and Gravel Roads to reduce the environmental impact of mining activity on roads.
Jerome D. Williams, associate professor of marketing in The Smeal College of Business Administration, has accepted a two-year appointment as a visiting senior fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS). NUS is the country's major research university and Williams will conduct studies on the effects of culture on long-term business relationships and strategic alliances. In addition, he will teach global marketing at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and in the NUS executive education programs as well.
Rita Williams, college health nurse at Penn State Erie, Behrend College, was recently awarded the St. Anne Medal, the highest award in Girl Scouting. The medal was given in recognition of her contribution to the spiritual development of Girl Scouts.
Sam Y. Zamrik, professor of engineering mechanics, was appointed to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' delegation, which visited Russia on May 19. Zamrik chaired the symposium on life assessment of aged structural components of nuclear power plants, and presented a talk on testing methods and modeling of remaining structural life.
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Research by Barry Ruback, professor of sociology and crime,
law and justice, has shown that people tend to be possessive regarding public
parking spaces -- even when they're ready to exit the space. |
By Vicki Fong
Public Information
As you get into your car at the shopping mall, you notice a car waiting to take your parking space. You hurry to get your keys out and drive away. But that's not true in most cases, according to researchers.
"Most people think they leave faster, but in reality, they take more time to leave when another car waits near their space," said researcher Barry Ruback, professor of sociology and crime, law and justice. "And if the other driver honks the horn, people will really slow down their departure just to occupy the parking space a little longer."
The response is called territorial behavior, which involves marking or defending a location in order to indicate a presumed right to a particular place. This behavior is likely to occur if the place has desirable resources such as game for hunting.
"Like our ancestors, we humans still defend territories, but we do so even when they are temporary public areas," Ruback said. This study shows that people demonstrate this response even when the parking space no longer has value for them. People appear to do it merely to prevent another driver from possessing the space.
"Even though people were leaving the parking space, departing drivers took longer when someone else wanted the space than when no one else wanted the space," the sociologist said. "This reaction is counterproductive because it takes more time and the driver's goal was to leave the space anyway.
"But our research shows that people do become territorial in the face of another driver and become even more territorial when the driver acts very intrusively, such as honking the car horn," Ruback said.
He and Daniel Juieng conducted three studies in a parking lot at a metropolitan mall.
First, the researchers and a team of students observed 200 departing cars and compared reactions of drivers who were and who were not intruded upon by another car. Then the researchers conducted an experiment with 240 cars by alternately sending in cars and introducing intrusions like honking. Then, they asked 100 individuals to fill out questionnaires about how they would behave under such conditions.
"Respondents saw themselves as more polite than others with regard to a silently waiting driver, but less polite than others with regard to a honking driver," Ruback said. "But their actions did not support their stated beliefs."
One possible explanation is that people were distracted by the waiting car and became more cautious, leaving the space slowly to avoid a collision with the other car. But a honking car should actually then prompt people to leave even faster, and they don't. In fact, people spend even more time making their exit, Ruback said.
A team of Penn State and Commonwealth researchers are beginning to track the spread of rabies in Pennsylvania with an eye to limiting the distribution of this disease.
"Rabies is an emerging public health issue," said Toni Miles, professor of biobehavioral health and director of the Center for Special Populations.
"Pennsylvania Department of Health data indicates that raccoon rabies has increased from no cases in 1981 to more than 300 cases in 1996."
This epidemic poses a significant risk to domesticated animals and ultimately to humans. An estimated 15,000 people in Pennsylvania are bitten by animals every year. Some of these bites are inflicted by unvaccinated domesticated animals. Others are from wild animals such as raccoons.
"Although raccoon-transmitted rabies has not yet been responsible for human deaths, the cost of post-exposure rabies treatment in humans and the cost of domestic animal control are considerable," said Miles.
In the U.S., post-exposure treatment ranges from $1,500 to $5,000 per person treated.
The Center for Special Populations in the College of Health and Human Development is sponsoring this initiative. The Penn State team is headed by Dale Moore, research associate in veterinary science, and includes; George Vogler, associate professor of biobehavioral health and associate director of the Center for Special Populations; Donna Peuquet, professor of geography; and Peter Gould, Evan Pugh professor of geography. The Pennsylvania departments of health and agriculture will participate in the study.
Beware of barbecue bacteria! With the grilling season well under way, and the smell of cookouts a constant, don't let food poisoning spoil your dinner. Along with outdoor cooking comes the high risk of food-borne illnesses.
Stephen Knabel, associate professor of food science, warns that food-borne illnesses peak between May and August, with the highest incidence among children 4 years old and younger. He urges parents to ensure safe cooking of "raw animal products and other foods that can harbor bacteria, the major cause of food poisoning."
The hamburger, a major culprit of food poisoning, should be cooked until its center isn't pink and its juices run clear.
Some other tips suggested by Knabel include:
* Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
* Never eat undercooked meat.
* Keep raw meat, and anything that touches it, separate.
* Chill leftovers immediately.
Symptoms of food-borne illness include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and fever.
How does your garden grow? Maybe not with bluebells and cockleshells, but hopefully with blooming flowers. If not, stop by the Penn State Horticulture Trial Gardens for some knowledge and inspiration.
The Trial Gardens, a part of Penn State since 1933, serve as an All-American Selections testing site which provides gardeners with the opportunity to determine which plant varieties are best suited for their home gardens.
The Trial Gardens, at the corner of Bigler Road and Park Avenue on the University Park campus, are open all year from 9 a.m. to dusk. Interested gardeners can join Friends of the Gardens, a public support group.
This page was updated by Chris Koleno.
