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Nobel Peace Prize-winner and Boston University Professor Elie
Wiesel shares his personal memories of the Holocaust and speaks on behalf
of oppressed people at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, in Eisenhower Auditorium
on the University Park campus. Wiesel is appearing as part of the Distinguished
Speakers Series.
Wiesel and his family were deported from Transylvania by the Nazis when he was 15 years old. His mother and younger sister perished in Auschwitz. His father died in Buchenwald. Wiesel's memories of the experience led him to use his talents as an author, teacher and storyteller, to defend human rights and peace throughout the world.
In addition to the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, his efforts have earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Medal of Liberty and the rank of grand officer I in the French Legion of Honor. Wiesel has written more than 35 books, including A Beggar in Jerusalem, The Testament and The Fifth Son. His more recent works include Sages and Dreamers, The Forgotten and All Rivers Run to the Sea.
Wiesel's presentation is supported through the student activities fee. Faculty and staff may obtain tickets today. Any remaining tickets will be available to the general public Friday, March 20 on a first-come, first-served basis. The Eisenhower ticket box office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, contact the Student Activities Office at (814) 863-3786.
James L.W. West III, author of the first biography of William
Styron, William Styron, A Life, due for publication by Random House
this month, will give a lecture titled "Being Boswell: Writing the
Life of William Styron," at 8 p.m. Monday, March 23, at the Palmer
Museum of Art on the University Park campus.
A distinguished professor of English and fellow of the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies, West will talk about his research, access to materials and the problems of writing about a living author. Styron is the author of The Confessions of Nat Turner, Sophie's Choice and Darkness Visible.
Joining West in the discussion will be Nancy M. Tischler, professor
emerita of English and humanities and co-editor of the letters of Tennessee
Williams, and Rhonda
Sirlin, assistant professor of English at Queens, CUNY and the author
of William Styron's 'Sophie's Choice:' Crime and Punishment. Dan
Walden, professor of American studies, English and comparative literature,
will be the moderator.
The lecture is part of the Lives! lecture series sponsored by the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies.
For more information about West's work, please see Focus on Research on page 19.
William F. Massy, president of the Jackson Hole
Higher Education Group and research professor at Stanford University, will
present "Academic Values and Market Forces -- Higher Education at the
Crossroads" at the Penn State Forum from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday,
March 25, in The Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom, University Park.
Massy has been active as a university professor and administrator for more than 25 years. During his 14-year tenure as Stanford's vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer, he developed and pioneered financial management and planning tools that have become standard in the field. His most recent research focuses on faculty roles and responsibilities, uses of information technology and economic models of institutional behavior.
The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speakers series sponsored by the Penn State Faculty Staff Club and the Penn State Bookstore. Tickets are $10 and include lunch. Tables of 10 may be reserved in advance; tickets will be sold at the door on a first-come first-served basis. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by the presentation at noon. For more information, call (814) 865-7590.
Stanley Weintraub, Evan Pugh professor of arts and
humanities, will present a slide lecture called "The Bubble Gum Wars"
at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, in the Rare Books Room of Pattee Library
on the University Park campus.
The talk will be presented in conjunction with an exhibit titled "Bubble Gum Art Goes to War: Youth Culture and World War II," on display in the University Libraries' Rare Books Room. The trading card series called "The Horrors of War," issued between 1938 and 1941, was published as a way to instill in children an understanding of the costs of war. This collection of original art and bubble gum cards was loaned through the generosity of the family of the late Charles Steinbacher.
The exhibit will remain on display through April 30. The Rare Books Room, W342 Pattee Library, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, call (814) 865-1793.
New York architects Karen Fairbanks and Scott Marble are the next speakers in the Department of Architecture's Thursday Night Madness series. Their presentation will be at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in 112 Walker Building on the University Park campus.
The lecture, "Fetch," will address ideas of architecture as "intervention" that "absorbs and reconfigures rather than confronts context." In examining spatial organization, the architects will discuss how changing patterns in spatial manipulation change people's expectations of both architecture and the space surrounding it.
Both Fairbanks and Marble are graduates of Columbia University's master's program and now teach at Columbia. Fairbanks directs the Barnard and Columbia colleges architecture program and has also taught at Parsons School of Design and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition to teaching advanced studios in Columbia's graduate school, Marble edits Abstract, the catalog of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University. Both are widely published and the recipients of numerous awards.
Sponsored by the Department of Architecture, the series is a free assembly where architecture professionals, academics and related individuals present lectures, critiques, films, discussions and reviews to students, faculty, staff and interested lay people.
Hands-on courses to provide important technical information as well as new ideas and approaches to biotechnology research and development are planned for March 24 through Oct. 20. The Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Training Program, four- and five-day courses, include "Animal Cell Culture Methods and Scale-Up Strategies;" "Fermentation Methods and Scale-Up Strategies;" "Separation and Purification Strategies for Biotechnology Products;" and "Practical Aspects of Biological Drug Development." The program is a continuing education service of the Eberly College of Science.
For more information, call (800) PSU-TODAY (778-8632) or visit the Web at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/Biotechnology/
Virginia Valian, professor of psychology and linguistics at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, will speak on "Parameter-Setting and Cognitive Development" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in 109 Osmond Lab on the University Park campus. The lecture is part of the Language Acquisition Distinguished Speakers Series, sponsored by the College of the Liberal Arts. Valian also will give a talk on her new book, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women (MIT Press, 1998), at noon Friday, March 20, in the HUB Gallery.
For more information contact Judith Kroll, professor of psychology, at jfk7@psu.edu or (814) 863-0126.
Donald T. Farley, professor of electrical engineering at Cornell University, will present the 1998 Arthur H. Waynick Memorial Lecture titled "Probing the Ionosphere with Giant Radars: The Science, the History and a Little Politics," at 8 p.m. Friday, March 20, 112 Walker Building on the University Park campus.
Farley will discuss disturbances of communications and the Global Positioning System (GPS). They have been observed by radar for many decades, but scientists are only now beginning to understand the physics involved.
Farley's research focuses on probing the ionosphere with radar. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He also is a member of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and the American Geophysical Union.
Two workshops to help faculty members advance in their careers are being offered this spring by the Office for Minority Faculty Development.
* "Securing Funds Electronically," scheduled for Saturday, March 21, will be the first workshop given. Robert A. Killoren, director of sponsored programs, will discuss how faculty can search for and acquire funding from 9 a.m. to noon in the Computer Lab, 110 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building on the University Park campus. All faculty are welcome to participate.
* Blannie Bowen, senior faculty mentor and professor of agricultural and extension education, will discuss "Promotion and Tenure" from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, April 3, in 114 Kern Building on the University Park campus. All junior faculty are welcome to participate and must register by April 1.
To make reservations for either workshop, contact Tracy Shutica by phone at (814) 863-1663 or by e-mail at tvs6@psu.edu by the deadline stated.
Anthea Taylor of Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, will hold a public seminar on "Democracy: Assimilation or Emancipation for Aboriginal Australians" at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, in the Eisenhower Chapel Memorial Lounge, University Park.
Taylor combines exceptional hands-on experience with rigorous academic training and scholarship in matters pertaining to Aboriginal society. She has worked in Western Australia as a teacher, public servant and consultant and among Aboriginal people, focusing on literacy development. Currently at Curtin University, Taylor has published widely on equity, access and literacy issues.
The seminar, which is free to the public, is sponsored by the Australia-New Zealand Studies Center and the University Office of International Programs. For more information, please contact Patricia Corbett by e-mail at pac9@psu.edu or by telephone at (814) 863-1603.
Joseph C. Andraski, vice president for customer marketing operations with the Sales and Integrated Logistics Co. of Nabisco Inc., will present the 1998 Spisak Lecture in Business Logistics in The Smeal College of Business Administration.
Andraski, named the 1993 Penn State Logistician of the Year, will present "Logistics/Supply Chain Management Imperatives in the Business Environment of the 21st Century" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, in 111 Kern Graduate Center, University Park.
Joining Nabisco in 1974, Andraski served in various managerial capacities until his current appointment in 1995. As vice president for customer marketing operations, he was responsible for the development of Nabisco's efficient customer response initiative.
He graduated with honors in 1969 from the University of Scranton with a degree in business management, and received the Frank J. O'Hara Alumni Award for Management in 1994. In 1995, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Logistics Management, and last year he was honored with the Salzberg Leadership Award by Syracuse University.
The Spisak Lectureship in Business Logistics was founded in 1990 through a gift from the Alex and Ann Spisak family of State College. The fund supports lectures by outstanding professionals working in industries focusing on business logistics.
Penn State New Kensington will present the eighth annual "A Celebration of Women" from 10:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 25. March is National Women's History Month.
The celebration includes special workshops for area high school students to allow them an opportunity to explore creativity and expression in art, poetry and theatre. At 10:15 a.m., local women artists, including two Penn State faculty members, will present "Women in the Arts" seminars. Lillian Coury will present "Acting with Grace;" Donna Haas will present "Oriental and Experimental Watercolor Experience;" and Judy Lindberg will present "A Room of One's Own: Poetry Workshop."
Penn State will honor three women at special luncheon which begins at
11:45 a.m.: An accomplished Penn State alumna who has gone on to a successful
career and/or has become a respected leader in her field; an outstanding
local community leader who has rendered outstanding service; and a Penn
State New Kensington student with uncommon scholarship and leadership abilities.
The cost of the buffet-style luncheon is $5.50. Attendees must pre-register
for the luncheon.
The public may attend "A Celebration of Women." All events, with the exception of the luncheon, are free. For more information or to make reservations, call (412) 339-6025.
John de Laeter, professor emeritus of Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, will hold a public seminar on "Science and Technology Policy in Australia" at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the Eisenhower Chapel Memorial Lounge on the University Park campus.
De Laeter is a distinguished and internationally recognized physicist, and arguably Australia's most prominent science policy maker and science educator. Currently director of Curtin University's Research Centre for Isotopic Science, he previously served as Curtin's deputy vice chancellor for research and development. He is presently a member of the Australian Science, Technology and Engineering Council; and the Prime Minister's Science and Engineering Council; chair of Western Australia's Technology Precinct Task Force; and a board member of Westralian Sands Ltd.
The seminar, which is free to the public, is sponsored by the Australia-New Zealand Studies Center and the Office of Research Program Development. For more information, call Patricia Corbett at (814) 863-1603 or e-mail pac9@psu.edu.
Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institute of Washington will lecture on "Extrasolar Planets" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26, at Penn State Erie. His presentation, the sixth and final lecture of the college's 1997-98 Open House Nights in Astronomy Series, will be in 101 Behrend Science Building. It is free to the public.
Boss is a world-renowned astrophysicist who has made numerous contributions to our understanding of star and planet formation. In his lecture he will discuss the latest observations and his theoretical studies of extrasolar planets.
Astronomers are now able to detect planets in solar systems that resemble, but in many ways are different from, our own. Unlike our own solar systems, where the giant planets formed in the outer regions, the first discoveries of extrasolar planets revealed giant planets orbiting very close to their central stars.
Astronomical observing sponsored by the Astronomy Club and the Society of Physics Students will follow the lecture, weather permitting. For more information, call (814) 898-6105.
Health care in the United States is undergoing a metamorphosis. Consumers everywhere are reevaluating traditional diagnostic and treatment methods. Alternative strategies are becoming part of a holistic, multifaceted approach to wellness and healing for many people.
The Alternative Health Care and Integrative Medicine Conference, April 24 and 25, at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, will take an in-depth look at the clinical application of alternative therapies.
In addition, there will be a free Whole Health Fair on Saturday, April 25, from 1 to 5 p.m., immediately following the conference at University Park. Speakers will discuss art therapy, chiropractic, energy therapies, massage, acupuncture, spirituality and health, medicinal herbs, nutrition and healing, and yoga.
For more information call (800) PSU-TODAY, (778-8632) or visit the Web at: www.cde.psu.edu/C&I/AlternativeHealthCare/
The 42nd Educational Secretaries/Office Personnel Conference will be held April 29May 1, at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel at University Park. Be a shining star and gain career and personal insights from this continuing education service offered by The Smeal College of Business Administration in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Association of Educational Secretaries/Office Personnel.
For fees and more information, call (800) PSU-TODAY, (778-8632) or visit the Web at: www.cde.psu.edu/C&I/EducationalSecretaries/
