After years of protecting the Penn State campus community,
David E. Stormer, assistant vice president for Safety and Environmental
Services, has said goodbye. Stormer retired in April after 25 years of service
to the University. Upon his retirement, he received emeritus status.
Stormer came to Penn State in 1973 as director of security and became vice president for Safety and Environmental Services in 1990. He formerly held the position of associate director of public safety at The Ohio State University for two years and also served for 10 years in the Michigan State University campus police department.
He earned a baccalaureate degree in police administration and a master's degree in administration of justice from Michigan State. Stormer also earned a master's degree in public administration while at Penn State.
Stormer will be remembered for his many accomplishments at Penn State, most notably, changing the role of the campus police department. Upon his arrival at Penn State, University police were more functional, he said, with their major responsibility to secure facilities.
"I didn't care too much about buildings," Stormer said. "I was more interested in people. My philosophy has been that the students are the No. 1 concern."
Stormer said he encouraged safety through education, understanding and acceptance -- teaching the campus police to act in a more supportive role rather than a policing one. He was instrumental in creating the neighborhood police program and the now popular campus police bicycle patrol; and placing police officers on duty in the residence halls.
In addition to police services, Stormer also oversaw environmental safety at the University which included biological, chemical and radioactive issues.
In retirement, Stormer said he plans to enjoy his family and also pursue some renovation projects at his Bellefonte home.
Reginald A. Deering, professor emeritus of biochemistry and
molecular biology, has retired from the Eberly College of Science after
34 years of service. After graduating as valedictorian of his class with
a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics and chemistry from the
University of Maine in 1954, then receiving a doctoral degree in biophysics
from Yale University in 1957, he joined the Penn State faculty in 1964 as
associate professor of biophysics. He became professor of biophysics in
1969, then professor of molecular and cell biology in 1974.
Deering's research concerns how cells repair the damaging effects of ultraviolet light, charged-particle radiation, and chemicals on the structure and function of DNA.
Before his retirement, Deering mentored 21 graduate students and taught a wide range of courses on both the undergraduate and the graduate level. He served as chair or a member of many college or University committees, including the Faculty Senate and the Graduate Council.
Among his many awards, Deering received a Fulbright Fellowship for research at the University of Oslo, Norway, from 1958 to 1959; two National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health from 1974 to 1975 and from 1983 to 1984; and the Penn State Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award in 1994. He is a member of several professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Biophysical Society. He has authored or coauthored 80 research publications and given numerous invited talks throughout the world.
Ronald L. Melchiorre, director of marketing and sales for
management development programs and services, retired after more than 25
years of service with the University.
Melchiorre, his wife, Joyce, and daughter, Nicole, have relocated to Boise, Idaho, where he is director of the Center for Management Development at Boise State University.
He joined the Penn State continuing education staff in 1972 at the Delaware County campus, serving as an area representative. He later was promoted to director of continuing education at Penn State Harrisburg. In 1988, he was named regional director of continuing education for the central region. He served in this role until 1996, when he was appointed director of marketing and sales for Management Development. Previously, Melchiorre taught at Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, Pa.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in education and a master of education degree from Penn State and a certificate in safety from West Chester University.
During his career with the Division of Continuing Education, he received 13 awards for excellence in programming from the National University Continuing Education Association. In the 1970s, he received an education award from the district judges of Delaware County. He also was honored as baseball coach of the year three times during his coaching career at Penn State Harrisburg.
Paul S. Dimick, professor of food science in the College of Agricultural
Sciences, retired with emeritus status after 37 years of service.
Dimick is an international expert on chocolate, particularly in regard to its physical properties and taste. He is recognized internationally for his research on chocolate processing and how cocoa butter crystallizes. His publication record includes 18 book chapters and more than 300 scientific papers and abstracts.
Dimick developed and serves as director of the Chocolate Processing Short Course, a weeklong seminar for industry professionals, designed to give participants a complete understanding of the science and technology of chocolate processing. He also served as editor for the book Cocoa Biotechnology, published in 1986.
Dimick has maintained an active teaching role, developing five courses for the food science department at Penn State. In all, he has taught 14 courses at the graduate and undergraduate level.
Dimick, a native of Burlington, Vt., received his B.S. in dairy manufacturing in 1958 and his M.S. in dairy science in 1960 from the University of Vermont. He earned a Ph.D. in dairy science with a minor in biochemistry from Penn State in 1964. He also served as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960. After working as a Penn State research assistant from 1964 to 1965, Dimick was promoted to assistant professor in 1965. He was promoted to associate professor in 1970 and to professor in 1975.
In 1992, he received the Daniel Scott Fellowship Award from the Australian Dairy Industry. He received the Outstanding Professor Award from the Eastern Region of the Institute of Food Technologists in 1991. He has served on numerous committees within the college and the University and also has been recognized by such honorary societies as Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Epsilon and Phi Tau Delta. He is a member of the American Oil Chemists Society, the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Dairy Science Association.
Dimick and his wife, Pat, live in Boalsburg. They have three children, Dan, Tom and Jeanne, all of whom attended Penn State.
Peter A. Thrower, professor emeritus of materials science
and coordinator of graduate programs in the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, has retired after 30 years as a member of the faculty.
Thrower earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Cambridge University, U.K., and served as a scientific officer at the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell from 1960 to 1969, before joining the Penn State faculty as an associate professor.
A specialist in carbon materials, graphite and carbon composites, Thrower served as editor-in chief of the international scientific journal Carbon from 1983 to 1998. In addition, from 1973 to 1993, he supervised the production of volumes 8 to 24 of Chemistry and Physics of Carbon, serving 10 years as joint editor and 10 years as editor.
He taught the basic introductory course in materials science for 20 years, in addition to advanced classes in electron microscopy and carbon and graphite materials. In 1991, he turned his class notes into a textbook, Materials in Today's World, published by McGraw Hill; a second edition was printed in 1992.
His teaching achievements were recognized with the Wilson Award for Outstanding Teaching and again in 1998 with the Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Thrower served as a member of the University Senate, and as a member and subsequently chair of the University Promotion and Tenure Committee. He also serves as a member of the executive committee of the American Carbon Society.
Henry Johnson has retired with the rank of emeritus professor in education, after 27 years of service. Two of those years were spent as a visiting professor of education at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Johnson, a professor of education in the Department of Education Policy Studies, taught classes and conducted research in the fields of history of education, philosophy of education and education policy. Over the past several years, his interests have included the study of technology as a cultural and educational problem. In addition to teaching and conducting scholarly research, Johnson has served widely as an educational consultant at the local, state and national level, both here in the United States and in Latin America, particularly Costa Rica, Columbia, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. He also has published extensively.
During his tenure, Johnson has served as professor-in-charge of the Department of Education Theory and Policy, and on numerous committees in the college. He spearheaded the creation of the College of Education's Faculty Council, and served three terms on that council. He also was a member of several professional organizations and is still an active member of the American Association of University Professors. Johnson also created and chaired a University seminar called "Interdisciplinary Symposium on Problems of Value." From 1976 to 1983, some 50 university scholars in various fields came together several times a year to discuss why questions of value need to be examined.
Last year, he chaired the conference steering committee for the International Conference on Education and Technology: Asking the Right Questions, held at Penn State. Four issues of major journals will be devoted to topics discussed at the conference. This year's conference, in which Johnson also is assisting, will focus on technology problems in the health care industry.
Lately, Johnson has been exploring the idea of a National Museum of Education, which would be located in Washington, D.C. In his retirement, Johnson plans to turn his idea into reality. He also will continue to teach and advise now and then, and will focus on several scholarly activities in the area of history of education and philosophy of education. In June, Johnson will travel to Columbia and Venezuela as a keynote speaker at two conferences on technology and distance education.
Although Johnson still plans to continue working well into his retirement, having relinquished many of his job responsibilities as a full-time professor of education will allow for more baseball games and traveling on the railroad, two things he holds dear to his heart.
James Boyer, associate professor of English, retired from Penn State Berks at the end of the spring semester after 27 years of service.
Boyer has been with Berks campus since 1971. He began as an instructor in English and completed his Ph.D. while a Berks campus faculty member. Boyer earned tenure in 1986 and became an associate professor of English in 1989.
Boyer is a member of the Thomas Wolfe Society and has published on Wolfe's work since the early '80s. He was recently awarded the William B. Wisdom Research Award from the Thomas Wolfe Society. In April, he also had a paper titled "Revisions in Thomas Wolfe's The Lost Boy" accepted by the journal Studies in Short Fiction.
Boyer's other accomplishments include serving in the army, where he was stationed in Germany; and working as a Fulbright professor in Scotland (1986-87) and Mexico (1989-90). The Fulbright program promotes the international exchange of scholars in order to increase understanding among the nations of the world.
He earned his bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College, his master's degree from Millersville University and his Ph.D. from Penn State.
Boyer plans to continue to publish on five of the major works of Thomas Wolfe -- he has already published on two.
Alan Davis, professor and director of the Coal and Organic Petrology
Laboratories in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has retired as
professor emeritus of geology. He has been at Penn State since 1973, when
he was appointed associate professor of geology.
At Penn State, he served in the coal research section as assistant director until 1986, and from 1986 to 1987 as director. From 1987 to 1992 he served as director of the Energy and Fuels Research Center, and then from 1992 to 1997, as director of the Coal and Organic Petrology Laboratories. One of the functions of these centers was maintenance of the Penn State Coal Sample Bank and Database, which serves as a library of coals for researchers throughout the world.
His research interests focused on the optical properties of coals and their relationships with coal origin and use. Davis is one of an international group of authors who are currently completing a new textbook, Organic Petrology. He has been active in professional organizations throughout his career and was named a Fellow of the Geological Society of America; served as chair of the Coal Division of the Geological Society of America; and for four years served as president of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology. He has been actively involved with the Coal and Coke Committee of the American Society for Testing and Materials for 20 years, and has served on various national and international committees.
Davis received his bachelor of science degree in geology from Imperial College, London; master's degree in geology from Penn State in 1961; and his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Durham (U.K). After a variety of research posts in the early years of his career, he accepted a position with the Geological Survey of Queensland, Australia. He returned to Australia in 1993-94 to spend a sabbatical leave in the Department of Applied Geology at the University of New South Wales and at the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra.