Beverly A. Cigler, professor of public policy and administration at Penn State Harrisburg, has been elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Health Education.
Melisa P. Dixon, senior purchasing agent, Purchasing Services, has earned the status of certified purchasing manager by the National Association of Purchasing Management. Individuals earning this designation demonstrate their professional capabilities by passing four rigorous examinations, pursuing formal and continuing education, and working and contributing to the profession.
Elizabeth Hanley, associate professor of kinesiology, has been invited to conduct the dance workshop at the International Olympic Academy, Ancient Olympia, Greece, in July, by IOC member/IOA president Nikos Filaretos. This year will be the 38th International Session for Young Participants.
A paper co-authored by Effy Oz, associate professor of management science and information systems at Penn State Great Valley, was recently awarded the American Accounting Association's Notable Contribution to the Literature Award. The paper, published in the journal Decision Sciences, is titled "A Learning Curve Analysis of Expert Systems Use."
R. Alan Price, professor of English at Penn State Hazleton, was an invited speaker at a special cultural conference at the American Cathedral in Paris. Price's lecture focused on Edith Wharton's relief work in France during World War I.
Donna Queeney, associate professor of education, was elected to the board of directors of the University Continuing Education Association, a professional association representing more than 400 institutions and more than 2,000 continuing higher educators in the United States, Canada, Mexico and England. This will be Queeney's third term on the board; she previously served 1988-90 and 1995-97.
Calyampudi R. Rao, holder of the Eberly family chair in statistics and director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis, has been elected a foreign member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Rao was cited for his "highly valuable achievements in the field of mathematical statistics and his support to research institutions of Lithuania." The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences is an advisory body to the government of Lithuania in all fields of science. Members represent all fields of learning and foreign membership is lifelong.
Nitin Samarth, assistant professor of physics, delivered a plenary talk titled "Spin Transport and Localization in a Magnetic Two-dimensional Electron Gas" at the Second International Gordon Conference on Magnetic Nanostructures. He also delivered an invited talk on the same subject at the 1998 meeting of the American Physical Society in Los Angeles.
Alletta Schadler, Lebanon County extension director, has been appointed to the base program strategic team for nutrition, diet and health for the USDA Cooperative Extension System and Robert Thee, extension agent in Lancaster County, was appointed to the system's base program strategic team for family development and resource management.
Jeanne Spicer, manager of programming services at the Population Research Institute, presented her paper "Delivering Geographic Information: For Those Who Can't Read a GMAP and Won't Stop to Ask for Directions" at the Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) Users Group International Conference in March.
Chuck Yeung, assistant professor of physics, gave a presentation, "Surface Instability in a Spinning Bucket of Sand," at the American Physical Society Meeting in Los Angeles.
The International Olympic Committee appointed Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky as editor-in chief of the volume of The International Olympic Committee Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine titled Biomechanics in Sport. Zatsiorsky is professor of kinesiology and director of the Biomechanics Laboratory. The encyclopedia will be published by Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford, England.