Former Barbados prime minister
is Harrisburg scholar-in-residence
Former Barbados Prime Minister L. Erskine Sandiford has been named the international summer scholar-in-residence at Penn State Harrisburg.
Among his academic and community efforts during his summer at the college, Sandiford will teach a course -- International Comparative Government -- in the School of Public Affairs. The course "will examine the similarities and differences among large and small, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, developed and developing countries."
Sandiford, who most recently traveled from Barbados to be the keynote speaker at the annual Model United Nations at Penn State Harrisburg, has been a member of his nation's Parliament for 30 years and has earned the title of the "Father of the Parliament" for being its longest-serving member. He has served as minister of education, minister of health and welfare, and minister of culture. He became prime minister in June 1987, and was reelected in 1991. His economic recovery program laid the foundation for a six-year period of economic growth in Barbados starting in 1993.
Sandiford was a member of Barbados' first delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in December 1996.
During his stay at Penn State Harrisburg, Sandiford also will be available to meet and speak with college and community groups.
Professor of animal sciences to
join University as department head
Robert G. Elkin, professor of animal sciences at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., has been named head of the poultry science department in the College of Agricultural Sciences, effective Aug. 1.
Elkin joined the faculty at Purdue as an assistant professor in 1981. He was promoted to associate professor in 1986 and to professor in 1999. His research has focused on modification of avian cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism, and amino acid nutrition and metabolism in poultry. He has authored or co-authored 51 papers and 40 abstracts in refereed scientific journals and has delivered invited lectures at numerous state, national and international research symposia.
Elkin, whose work on the pharmacological reduction of egg cholesterol content has received popular coverage in the national news media, has won numerous honors, including the American Feed Industry Association Nutrition Research Award in 1997 and a Fulbright Scholar Research Award in 1992-93. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the Poultry Science Association and other academic and professional organizations.
He succeeds Michael Hulet, associate professor of poultry science, who has been interim department head since the retirement of William Weaver in August 1998.
Professor of art education becomes
director of School of Visual Arts
Charles
R. Garoian, professor of art education in the School of Visual Arts in
the College of Arts and Architecture, has been named director of the school.
He will assume his new post on July 1, succeeding current director James
Stephenson, who will retire from the University on June 30.
Garoian said that he recognizes the strength of the School of Visual Arts and wants to continue to move it forward.
Garoian came to Penn State in 1986 as the first education director of the Palmer Museum of Art. Before that he taught studio art and art history in secondary schools for 17 years.
A performance artist since 1970, Garoian has developed and implemented critical thinking methods in high school visual art studio and art history courses based on the radical strategies of performance art. He used similar methods to develop interdisciplinary and intercultural programming and outreach at the Palmer Museum of Art. He currently teaches performance art and performance-based art education theory and practice courses in the School of Visual Arts.
Garoian received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in art from the California State University at Fresno and his Ph.D. in education from Stanford University. In addition to his teaching at Penn State, he also teaches performance at the Deep Creek School, a summer art program in Telluride, Colo., which is affiliated with the Arizona State University art department.
Bryce Jordan Center announces
new assistant general manager
Al
Karosas has been promoted to assistant general manager of The Bryce Jordan
Center. Karosas joined the Jordan Center during its construction phase
in May 1995 and was an instrumental player in the center's overall success,
working with the marketing, group sales and event management departments.
The Jordan Center has been the top-grossing university venue of any size in North America since opening its doors in January 1996.
Before his experience at the Jordan Center, Karosas's background was in business operations for the Philadelphia Phillies.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in exercise and sports science from Penn State in 1995 and is an active member in the International Association of Assembly Managers.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre names
new career/intrusive counselor
Mary Jo Shalanski has joined the Advising/Counseling Center staff at Penn State Wilkes-Barre in the newly-created position of career/intrusive counselor. Shalanski will establish a Career Resource Center to facilitate the development of appropriate career planning for students. She will engage undecided students actively in the career-decision making process and analyze methods to initiate and maintain an intrusive counseling approach.
Shalanski holds a master's degree in counseling from the University of Scranton, with an additional certification in secondary school guidance. She earned a baccalaureate degree in psychology from Marywood University. She is an active volunteer in the community.
Organizational research center
welcomes associate director
Kimberly
A. Skarupski has been named associate director of the Center for Organizational
Research and Evaluation (CORE) at Penn State Erie. Through CORE, Skarupski
will play a critical role providing research services including benchmarking,
evaluation and grant writing to the Erie County Network for Adolescent
Pregnancy Prevention and other pregnancy prevention service providers.
Skarupski received her doctorate in sociology from Case Western Reserve University in 1996 and served as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. She recently completed course work toward a master's degree in public health at Bowling Green State University, University of Toledo, and Medical College of Ohio. Most recently she was an assistant research scientist in the University of Arizona's College of Pharmacy.
Smeal faculty member named
Winmill Software Faculty Fellow
Shankar Sundaresan, a member of the management science and information systems faculty in The Smeal College of Business Administration, has been named the Winmill Software Faculty Fellow in Management Science and Information Systems.
Created this year, the new fellowship will support Sundaresan's efforts in teaching, research and public service. The fellowship is supported by annual gifts from Winmill Software, a New York City-based firm led by Joseph H. Strazza, president and chief executive officer and a 1985 graduate of The Smeal College.
Sundaresan joined Smeal's Department of Management Science and Information Systems in 1996 as a lecturer. In 1997, he became an assistant professor. His work focuses on the economics of information systems, electronic commerce, automated database design and information technology trends. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and master of science and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rochester.
Sundaresan won best research paper awards in 1995, 1996 and 1997 at various conferences, and his writings have been published in such journals as ACM Transactions on Database Systems, Data & Knowledge Engineering, and the International Journal of Electronic Commerce.
He has been a manuscript referee for Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, Telecommunications Policy and the INFORMS Journal on Computing.