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More than 6,000 undergraduates will soon have their last look as
students at a familiar symbol of Penn State, Old Main on the
University Park campus. Commencement ceremonies will be held
at most University locations the weekend of May 15.
Photo: Greg Grieco
By Karen I. Wagner
Public Information
Penn State will hold 1998 Spring Commencement ceremonies at most campus locations the weekend of May 15 for 824 associate, 5,270 baccalaureate, 1,204 graduate and 110 medical degree students -- a total of 7,408 graduates systemwide.
At the University Park campus, 23 students will graduate with associate degrees, 4,646 with baccalaureate degrees, 805 with master's degrees and 217 with doctorates, for a total of 5,691 graduates. Each college at University Park will hold its own ceremony.
Tipper Gore, wife of vice president Al Gore, will deliver the commencement address at Penn State Hazleton on Friday, May 15. Former Beirut hostage and Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson will speak at Penn State Altoona's commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9.
Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, surgeon, teacher and inventor of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (M.A.S.H.) concept for the military will receive an honorary doctor of science from the College of Medicine at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at the Hershey School's Founders Hall. Paul C. Glick, distinguished family sociologist and demographer, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters from the College of the Liberal Arts at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 16, in The Bryce Jordan Center (see story on page 1).
Commencement speakers, times and locations for University Park are:
* 3 p.m.: The ROTC Tri-Services Commissioning Ceremony, Schwab Auditorium. The speaker is U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. James W. Parker.
* 4:30 p.m.: Schreyer Honors College Medal Ceremony, Eisenhower Auditorium. Cheryl Achterberg, dean of the Schreyer Honors College, and President Graham B. Spanier will speak.
* 8 p.m.: Eberly College of Science, The Bryce Jordan Center. David M. Lee, 1996 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in physics will speak.
* 8 p.m.: The College of Education, Eisenhower Auditorium. Rodney Reed, dean of the College of Education will speak.
* 9 a.m.: The College of Engineering, The Bryce Jordan Center. The speaker will be Linda Koffenberger, managing director of Union Carbide's Amerchol Corp. and Union Carbide Emulsions Systems.
* 9 a.m.: The College of Agricultural Sciences, Eisenhower Auditorium. The speaker will be Robert Steele, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences.
* Noon: The College of Health and Human Development, The Bryce Jordan Center. The speaker will be Olympic diver Mary Ellen Clark.
* Noon: The College of Arts and Architecture, Eisenhower Auditorium. Schuyler G. Chapin, commissioner for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, will speak.
* 3 p.m.: The College of the Liberal Arts, The Bryce Jordan Center. Paul Glick, a pioneer in the field of family demography, will speak.
* 3 p.m.: The College of Communications, Eisenhower Auditorium. The speaker will be Jayne Jamison, vice president and publisher of Redbook magazine.
* 5:30 p.m.: The Graduate School, Eisenhower Auditorium. The speaker will be Cynthia A. Baldwin, Allegheny County Court judge and member of the Board of Trustees.
* 7 p.m.: The Smeal College of Business Administration, The Bryce Jordan Center. Richard W. Dugan, partner at Ernst & Young, will speak.
* 7 p.m.: The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Eisenhower Auditorium. Gary W. Weber, vice president for science and technology for PPG Industries in Pittsburgh, will speak.
Pennsylvania Act 41, recently signed by Gov. Tom Ridge, has reactivated the "30 and out" retirement window that lapsed on June 30, 1997 for SERS (State Employees' Retirement System) members. The legislation applies also to Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) members, but applicable window periods differ and those individuals should seek information and guidance from their PSERS retirement counselors.
Under this special legislation, SERS members who have or will have at least 30 years of retirement credit, but who are under age 60, may retire without any reduction in benefits due to age. At 60, age is no longer a factor in calculating benefits.
A SERS member will be eligible for this benefit provided the employee during the period July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999:
* has at least 30 years of retirement credit; and
* terminates University employment; and
* files an application for an annuity (pension) with an effective date to be no later than July 1, 1999.
It should be noted that while earlier windows were for a period of three years and were retroactive, this new legislation is in effect for only one year and is not retroactive.
Questions regarding this legislation should be directed to a Regional State Employees' Retirement System Counseling Center at (800) 633-5461.
Sally McCorkle, associate professor of art, third from right, works along
with students
Dan Bartasavich, left, Mike Schleicher, Eric Symons and Krista Hoefle to
prepare
carved stones for a new public memorial garden in Lionville, Pa.
Photo: Greg Grieco
Sallie McCorkle, associate professor of art, developed a design course, Art 497d -- Public Art: Design Project, as a way to contribute work to a public memorial garden in Lionville, southeastern Pennsylvania.
Eileen Swymer, whose 19-year-old son Nathan, a Penn State engineering student, died in a boating accident last spring, spearheaded the development of the The Children's Garden in Lionville Park. Dedicated to the celebration of children, the garden is located on Downingtown Area School District property.
The garden provided an unusual educational opportunity for McCorkle's students to work with Swymer and a committee overseeing the garden's creation. McCorkle donated slate pieces to be used as focal points in the garden, and the students created proposals for nearly 30 stones with images and text on them. Ten designs won approval from the garden's review committee and the class transferred the designs on to slate using sandblasting and carving techniques.
The class delivered the works to the site on April 4. Nine students worked on the project: Dan Bartasavich, Rob DeGrauw, Kirstin Demer, Krista Hoefle, Michael Miller, Mike Schleicher, Gail Stoicheff, Eric Symons and Scott Urbanek. Joe Orsatti, an alumnus of Penn State's landscape design program, donated his design services for the garden.
Training 100,000 teachers across Pennsylvania how to operate, integrate and apply technology to their classrooms sounds like a befuddling proposition, but a new program aimed at doing just that is proving to be quite a success.
Pennsylvania's Link-to-Learn Professional Development project, headed by Kyle Peck, associate professor of education, has developed a flexible, statewide system that is helping teachers transform their classrooms. By providing a variety of learning experiences, case studies and resources, the project is not only training teachers to operate and integrate technology, but also enabling them to reorganize and reinvent powerful learning environments for their students.
Link-to-Learn is Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge's three-year, $121-million initiative to help schools acquire and upgrade computers; provide technology training for teachers; and build a Pennsylvania Education Network (PEN) -- a system of community-based learning networks that will connect classrooms, school districts and communities to each other and the world.
Under Peck's direction, a team of 30 advisers from K-12 schools, intermediate units and other colleges and universities, has created and put in place Web-based learning experiences that include "how to" and "what to" experiences.
The "how to" experiences educate teachers on important basic concepts, and then teach them to use the most popular and important tools, such as: Web browsers, e-mail, listservs, newsgroups, chat rooms, file transfer protocol (FTP) procedures for transferring files, and Web publishing software.
Realizing that knowing "how to" is not enough, the project is also providing teachers with other online resources that include photographs, copyright-cleared for educational use; round table discussions on a variety of issues educators may face; presentations on what others are doing with technology; tips on handling technology misuse; and access to a database composed of learning experiences that will aid teachers in effectively integrating technology into their classrooms.
In addition to developing a Web site, the Link-to-Learn team created a CD-ROM, released in October 1997, that contains selected resources from the Web site as well as downloadable software and a tutorial. Thirty thousand copies were distributed to intermediate units across Pennsylvania. Within the next month, 26,000 additional copies of the CD will be pressed and available to higher education institutions.
The Link-to-Learn Professional Development Web site can be accessed at http://L2L.ed.psu.edu. A copy of the CD-ROM can be obtained by contacting Janice Ascolese at (814) 863-1323 or jaa8@psu.edu.
Researchers in the College of Medicine have developed a process to place interactive patient case conferences on the Internet.
"The idea behind case conferences, which are held at every academic medical center in the United States, is to present, contemplate and discuss patient-care issues with other members of one's department. The goal is to learn vicariously from one's peers," Dr. Jeffrey M. Taekman, assistant professor of anesthesia, said. "Now instead of being restricted to the experience of colleagues at your institution, we have access to physicians all over the world."
Taekman and Dr. Charles Kingsley, associate professor of anesthesia, have done several test cases and say the reaction has been excellent. The interactive learning is done at the user's convenience, at the end of a busy work day or at home after the family has gone to bed.
Taekman also envisions an accreditation component as part of the system. He estimates it would take less than an hour to review each case. He then would like to see a physician test at the end of the review to earn Continuing Medical Education credits. Taekman is currently negotiating with industry representatives to fund the project, which he estimates would cost close to $1 million over three years. The majority of this money will fund an extensive peer-review system for both the multimedia cases and the appended discussions.
The case conference may be seen at http://www.anes.hmc.psghs.edu/homey.html.
A new Penn State Cooperative Extension office was dedicated in Clinton County. The office recently moved from space in the Clinton County Court House Annex in Lock Haven to a renovated, 3,000-square-foot facility in Mill Hall, near the intersection of State Route 64 and U.S. Route 220. James Ladlee is extension director.
Penn State Berks, Penn State Cooperative Extension Office and the Hispanic Center of Reading and Berks County have joined forces to present a program that combines academics, outreach and study abroad. Titled "Puerto Rican Food Systems and Society," the course focuses on the structure of Puerto Rico's agricultural and food systems.
The program gives students the opportunity to work with a county extension home economist to teach low-income parents about nutrition, menu planning and food safety through the Hispanic Center of Reading and Berks County.
At the end of the spring semester, the students will spend 10 days in Puerto Rico learning about the role of food in Puerto Rican society. While there, they will visit sugar, coffee and dairy farms and processing plants; a rain forest; an import-export center; and the Bacardi Rum distillery.
This program is supported by grants from the Kellogg Foundation, Penn State Berks and Penn State Lehigh Valley and the College of Agricultural Sciences.
The course is taught by Berks campus' Hassan Gourama and Janelle Larson and Faye Strickler of the Cooperative Extension Office.
Dianne Arocho-Resto, admissions counselor in the Office of the President, died Tuesday, March 31. She was 42.
In addition to working at the University since 1992, Arocho-Resto also was active in Penn State's Puerto Rican Students Association.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the Dianne Arocho-Resto Memorial Fund, Central Bank, 116 E. College Ave., State College, Pa. 16801.
Samuel Joseph DiRoberto, associate professor of accounting at Penn State Abington, died Friday, March 20, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 61. DiRoberto was a faculty member at Abington from 1960 until his death. He also was a certified public accountant.
During his 38-year career at Penn State Abington, he received the Chief Ogontz Award in 1972 from the student body. He also received the award of Who's Who in Society in 1986 and Marquis' Award for Who's Who in Finance and Industry in 1993. He was a member of The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and The Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Memorial contributions in DiRoberto's name may be sent to the scholarship fund, Penn State Abington, Development Office, 1600 Woodland Road, Abington, Pa. 19001.
