eBusiness Research Center appoints executive director
IBM
executive Nirmal Pal has been appointed as the executive director of Penn
State's eBusiness Research Center (eBRC).
A 30-year veteran at the international computer giant, Pal was serving as director of the IBM Global Services Consulting Group when he accepted his new post at the University. His focus was on e-business, e-commerce and other Internet-related areas. As part of the consulting group's management team since its inception, Pal has helped its business grow in volume to $1 billion, and its staff grow to 5,000 consultants.
Founded in 1999, the eBRC is a joint venture of Penn State's School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and The Smeal College of Business Administration. Its focus is on marketing and business strategy in the electronic realm. A major study already under way is documenting the best practices of major firms operating online.
Pal has extensive international experience working with IBM corporate clients. In addition, he managed the firm's intellectual assets in e-business worldwide, and helped develop and deliver educational programs for IBM's consulting community on a global basis. He is a twice-certified consultant in information and technology management with additional training in business transformation and information technology strategy.
He joined IBM operations in India in 1961, the same year he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Jadavpur University. Over the years, Pal held positions of increasing responsibility and was assigned to duties in Sri Lanka, England, Japan, Singapore, as well as the United States. He also holds a master of science degree from the Polytechnic University in New York.
Public information officer joins University Park staff
Tysen
Kendig has been appointed public information officer in the Department
of Public Information on the University Park campus. Before joining Penn
State, he was associate director of public relations at Rider University
in Lawrenceville, N.J.
At Penn State, Kendig will establish University-wide communications with academic and administrative units on public information strategies, and will research, write and edit articles for Newswire, a daily e-mail news service; Intercom, the faculty/staff newspaper; and the Web. He also will develop, prepare and implement statewide media relations programs.
A 1995 baccalaureate degree graduate of Penn State in journalism with a minor in geography, Kendig served on Rider's public relations staff for more than three years. Before that, he held newspaper reporting and editing positions at The Trentonian in Trenton, N.J. As a student at Penn State, he wrote and edited for Blue-White Illustrated magazine and The Daily Collegian.
University names first Downsbrough Professor of Physics
Vincent
Crespi has been named the University's first Downsbrough Professor of
Physics.
Crespi, who joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1997, is a theoretical physicist whose research is aimed at developing a broad framework of knowledge in condensed-matter physics of materials. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 and a doctoral degree in physics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1994.
He was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in graduate-level condensed-matter physics at the University of California at Berkeley from 1994 to 1995 and then a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory from 1995 to 1997, when he joined the Penn State faculty.
The Downsbrough Career Development Professorship, supported by a commitment from George and Margaret Downsbrough, was created in 1996 to provide critical financial support and encouragement for faculty starting their academic careers in the Department of Physics in the Eberly College of Science. The award provides recognition of a faculty member's current achievements and potential to achieve eminence.
George Downsbrough, retired president of HRB Singer Corp., and Margaret Downsbrough, are longtime residents of State College and friends and benefactors of Penn State, including the Eberly College of Science.
University Libraries welcome new head of HCLA
James
Quigel has joined the University Libraries as head of Historical Collections
and Labor Archives (HCLA). Quigel comes to Penn State from the Rutgers
University Libraries, where he had been the labor archivist in special
collections and university archives since 1992.
At Rutgers, Quigel was responsible for the archive of the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine & Furniture Workers (IUE). Quigel previously spent four years as an archival assistant in HCLA while pursuing his Ph.D. in history, which he received from Penn State in 1992.
Quigel also was an instructor and graduate assistant in Penn State's Department of History, and a University Libraries graduate assistant in HCLA before becoming archival assistant.
Quigel's research has been published in various journals and other publications, including Labor's Heritage, Labor History and The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries. Quigel also wrote Williamsport's Baseball Heritage and contributed several entries to Labor Conflict in the United States: An Encyclopedia.
In addition to his Ph.D. in history, Quigel holds an M.A. in history from the University of Nebraska and a B.A. in history from Mansfield State University.
Penn State DuBois has new reference librarian
Karen A. Fuller has been named the new reference librarian at Penn State DuBois. In her new position, Fuller will offer general reference services, provide instructional programs for students and teach an honors-level course in library studies.
Fuller brings more than 15 years of library experience to her new post. She joined the Penn State DuBois library staff in 1983, and since then has held several positions within the department, including assistant librarian and acting head librarian.
At the library, she is a member of a four-person team that helps students access the approximately 30,000 volumes and more than 250 journals stored at DuBois, plus countless more publications available through the University's inter-library loan system.
She holds a master of science degree in library science and a bachelor of arts degree in French, and is a member of Beta Phi Mu, the National Library Science Honor Society.
She has served on a number of University-wide committees, and in fall 1997 was honored as DuBois Penn Stater of the Quarter.
Adjunct lecturer given newly created director's position
The
College of Communications has appointed Robert Martin as its director
of career placement and internships. The position is a newly created one
for the college.
Martin, a 1987 graduate of Penn State in broadcast journalism, will help students find fulfilling internships and careers, and develop search and interview skills, find industry contacts, and develop stronger cover letters and resumes.
For the past 10 years, Martin worked for the State College broadcasting group Citadel Communications Corp., formerly TeleMedia Broadcasting Co. Having started with the company in 1990 as an account executive, he was promoted to sales manager. In 1994, he became general manager of the Citadel radio stations in State College, with responsibilities that included managing, marketing and overseeing all business and sales operations for four local radio stations and a cable graphics television station, and overseeing a staff of 40.
Having served as an adjunct lecturer for the college for the past two years, Martin already is familiar with the needs of many of its students.
Penn State Erie appoints head of student affairs
Kenneth P. Miller has been appointed director of student affairs at Penn State Erie. Miller, a staff member at Penn State Erie for 12 years, will be responsible for all student affairs programs and services. He will supervise a staff of 40 and manage a budget of more than $2 million.
Miller came to Penn State Erie as coordinator of residence life in 1988. He served as associate dean of student affairs from 1992 to 1998 and has served as interim director of student affairs since May 1998.
Miller is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his master's degree in college student personnel services from Miami University of Ohio and his bachelor's degree in English at James Madison University.
Several programs developed by Miller have had a strong influence on student life at the college. Miller revamped the college's alcohol intervention system to develop alternative responses to discipline, and he created a first-year student opinion survey to assess Penn State Erie's academic, social and developmental services for freshmen.