Election results announced

Penn State alumni, delegates of agricultural societies and delegates of industrial societies elected three new members and re-elected four incumbents to serve on the University's Board of Trustees.

The alumni elected one new member, David M. Joyner, chairman of the board and CEO of Elan Cosmetic Centers Inc., and re-elected Trustees David R. Jones, consulting editor for The New York Times and Anne Riley, an English teacher and former president of the Alumni Association.

Delegates of agricultural societies elected Charles C. Brosius, former Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture and retired president of Marlboro Mushrooms, and re-elected Carl T. Shaffer, vice president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Obie Snider, who currently serves on the board, chose not to run for re-election by the agricultural societies.

In addition, the Pennsylvania Senate last month confirmed the gubernatorial appointment of Robert A. Fortinsky, president of Fortune Fabrics Inc. and president of Fortinsky Charitable Foundation, as a member of the board. He replaces Robert D. Metzgar, who has been elected to the board by the industrial societies. Metzgar is president and owner of North Penn Pipe & Supply Inc.

Delegates of industrial societies also re-elected Edward R. Hintz, president of Hintz, Holman and Hecksher Inc. and vice chairman of the Board of Trustees. Ira Lubert, who currently serves on the board, chose not to run for re-election by the industrial societies.

New and Re-elected members elected by alumni:

n David R. Jones, consulting editor for The New York Times.

n Dr. David M. Joyner, founder of Joyner Sportsmedicine Institute, which was acquired by Nova Care Inc. in 1998.

n Anne Riley, immediate past president of the Penn State Alumni Association.

New and re-elected members elected by agricultural societies:

n Charles C. Brosius, recently appointed to the National Mushroom Council by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and retired president of his family mushroom business.

n Carl T. Shaffer, a Pennsylvania Master Farmer who grows grain and vegetable crops.

New and re-elected members elected by industrial societies:

n Edward R. Hintz, founder of the private money management firm Hintz, Holman and Hecksher Inc. of New York City.

n Robert D. Metzgar, president and owner of North Penn Pipe & Supply Inc. of Warren.

New member appointed by the Governor:

n Robert A. Fortinsky, president of Fortune Fabrics Inc. in Swoyersville, which weaves and sells commercial upholstery fabric nationwide.

Penn State's board is made up of six members appointed by the governor, nine elected by the alumni, and six members each elected by the agricultural and industrial societies. In addition, five members are ex officio by right of their office, including Gov. Tom Ridge, Penn State President Graham B. Spanier. Secretary of Agriculture Saumel E. Hayes Jr., Secretary of Education Eugene W. Hickok and Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources John C. Oliver III. For more information on Penn State's board members, check the Web at http://www.psu.edu/trustees/memlist.html.

This artist's rendition shows the Larry and Kathryn Smith Chapel
and the Floyd and Juanita Smith Carillon at Penn State Erie.

Final plans approved
for Erie chapel, carillon

With few changes, the final plans for the Larry and Kathryn Smith Chapel and the Floyd and Juanita Smith
Carillon at Penn State Erie were approved by the Board of Trustees on May 12. They also gave approval to obtain bids and award contracts for the construction.

The chapel and carillon will be located along a walkway between the Multi-Purpose Building and Jordan Road, creating a strong pedestrian corridor that extends from one end of campus to the other. Generous landscaping is planned as well. The design by Noelker and Hull Associates of Chambersburg is intended to capture the flavor of historic monastic structures common to many faiths.

The chapel includes a conference room, a gathering space and restrooms on the first floor. A wide staircase will lead to the upstairs lobby, administrative offices and an octagonal worship space with seating for 180 people. The 80-foot bell tower will include a small meditation room at the base and the steeple will contain a bell carillon.

Construction of the 10,500 square-foot building is expected to begin in August and will cost approximately $3.1 million.

Honorary degree recipients named

The Board of Trustees approved on May 12 the conferral of honorary degrees to musician William "Billy" Taylor, actress Uta Hagen and industrialist and philanthropist Kazuo Inamori at future University commencement ceremonies.

The approval was granted at the recommendation of President Graham B. Spanier and the University's Honorary Degree Committee.

Taylor, a talented jazz musician, is considered the spokesperson for jazz in the United States. He has performed worldwide and composed a number of symphonies for jazz piano. He also has made major contributions to jazz education and broadcasting, and he represents the genré on the National Council on the Arts. Taylor will receive his honorary degree at summer commencement on Aug. 5.

Hagen is a Tony Award-winning actress who has devoted her life to teaching and directing at the Herbert Berghof Studio, where she has been a faculty member since 1947. In 1983, she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. She is currently chair of the Berghof Studio and the Herbert Berghof Playwrights Foundation. Hagen will receive her honorary degree at fall commencement Dec. 16.

Inamori is the founder and chairman emeritus of both the Kyocera Corp. and the DDI Corp. He is also chairman emeritus of Taito Corp. and the current president of The Inamori Foundation, which provides grants to young scholars to pursue creative ideas in natural, human and social sciences. Inamori will receive his honorary degree at spring commencement on May 12, 2001.

Stone Valley Recreation Center to grow

Stone Valley is about to get a bit bigger, thanks to an offer by Mary Lightner to sell a 25-acre parcel of undeveloped wooded land adjacent to the experimental forest in Huntingdon County.

The Board of Trustees on May 12 approved the purchase, which includes the swap of one acre of University land adjacent to the Lightner property on Petersburg Road, and $78,000.

In other action, the board approved the construction of a swimming pool addition to the Capital Union Building at Penn State Harrisburg, which will be built in cooperation with the local community.

Breslin Ridyard Fadero of Allentown has been selected as architect for the project, which will include facilities for competition, leisure and physical therapy.

The proposed budget is $1.8 million for the 9,000-square-foot project.

Education dean charts
growth, sets course for future

By Tysen Kendig
Public Information

With a high level of student interest and the opportunity to bring new ideas and talent into the nation's classrooms, Penn State is poised to play a leadership role in the impending transformation of American education.

In an informational report to the University's Board of Trustees on May 12, College of Education Dean David H. Monk focused on college priorities for the future.

"This is a very exciting time for the field of education, and the College of Education is very well positioned to respond to a wide range of challenges that face the field of education," said Monk, who is serving in his first year as dean.

The federal government estimates that more than 2 million new teachers will be working in the nation's primary and secondary schools in the next decade. As a result, research universities nationwide are being challenged to assign a higher priority to teacher preparation.

Monk noted that comprehensive research institutions like Penn State currently prepare only a small percentage of the teachers in America's schools. For example, fewer than 5 percent of all professional certificates issued in Pennsylvania last year were obtained through study at Penn State.

While improving the quality of teaching is paramount on Monk's list of priorities for the next several years, he also cited four other areas that the college will target: designing and making better use of instructional technologies; smoothing transitions between school and work as well as transitions from job to job; responding more effectively to learners with special needs; and improving educational governance.

Currently, generating student interest in education degrees at Penn State is not a problem. Rising student interest in the college through the mid-1990s resulted in controls to cap enrollment. Since these measures were taken, enrollment has remained steady at or near 5,000 students.

Of particular note is the tremendous growth and recognition of the graduate program, which enrolls a higher number and percentage of graduate students than any other college at Penn State. Monk said this is consistent with a national trend that is moving the study of education more to the graduate level.

According to national rankings by US News and World Report, the College of Education has four graduate programs -- educational administration and supervision, counseling and personnel services, higher education administration, and vocational and technical education -- ranked in the top 10, the latter two receiving a No. 2 ranking. Six additional programs in the college earned top 20 recognition by the publication.

Monk also praised the college's outreach efforts, which have flourished through programs such as the Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy, Pennsylvania School Study Council, Penn State Educational Partnership Program, Children's Literature Matters annual conference and the master's degree program in adult education through the University's World Campus.

Equally vital has been the unprecedented level of alumni support through the 42,000-member College of Education Alumni Society, which sponsors an extensive Alumni-Student Teacher Network, a career day, new student reception and 16 scholarships.

Development efforts also have been strong, as the college's portion of the University's Grand Destiny Campaign has grown to $7.116 million -- 60 percent of the college's goal.

This artist's rendition illustrates graduate housing proposed for the West Campus area of the University Park campus, across North Atherton Street.

Trustees approve preliminary plans
for graduate housing at University Park

The Board of Trustees on May 12 approved sketch/preliminary plans for the first new graduate housing at University Park since the construction of the Graduate Circle Apartments in 1959.

The new units will be built on the West Campus and will replace the antiquated, temporary housing units at Eastview Terrace along College Avenue, which were built more than 50 years ago.

Last year, the board appointed Weber Murphy Fox of Erie as architects for the project.

The plan includes 75 single-student apartment units combined in three-story buildings at the east end of the site and 126 family apartments of one, two and three bedroom configurations at the west end of the site.

The family units are grouped into neighborhood clusters, allowing parents to watch children playing in the inner courtyard areas. A central community center ties the family and single-student complexes together.

Parking for about 149 cars will be kept to the perimeter, but close enough to allow easy access to the living units.

The exteriors of the single-student housing will be made of brick and concrete masonry with steep pitched roofs to give the feel of a residential neighborhood. Each of the three floors will have six apartments with four single bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and dining space and a living room. Two of the buildings will have a two-story section with an additional apartment on each floor.

In total, the layout will provide beds for 300 students, plus two resident assistant apartments.

The family units will be similar, with brick and concrete masonry and pitched roofs on the two-story structures. The one-bedroom units are designed as flats, and the two and three bedroom units are designed like townhouses with bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. The third bedroom for some units will be located on the first floor, along with the kitchen and dining area and living room.

The budget for the 201,564-gross-square-foot project is $25.8 million.

Interim budget gets
approval by trustees

Penn State adopts an interim budget so that it has an approved fiscal operating plan from the end of its fiscal year, July 1, until the next year's budget is approved by the Board of Trustees. The 2000-2001 budget will be presented to the board for approval at its next meeting, July 14, at University Park.

On May 12, Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business/treasurer, presented the interim maintenance and operating budget, which the board approved at the level of the 1999-2000 total operating budget of roughly $1.6 billion for the total University.

The board will take no action on changes in tuition, salaries and wages, employee benefits or other necessary expense increases until after the 2000-2001 budget has been approved.

DuBois gets new master plan

DuBois is the latest Penn State campus to get a new campus master plan to guide its future growth and development.

Approved May 12 by the Board of Trustees, the plan, prepared by the University Office of Physical Plant, concentrates new development on the north side of Pa. Route 255. It calls for the acquisition of several properties to concentrate campus buildings into a central core and provide parking on that side of campus.

The campus currently consists of 24 acres in the city of DuBois and is evenly divided by a busy highway and an active rail line. Most of the major campus buildings are on the north side of Route 255 with wetlands, emerging wetlands and some campus parking on the south side. The campus has served the Clearfield County region since 1935, and since 1964 in its current location.

"Penn State DuBois is severely hampered by its lack of developable land and its lack of adequate parking. Given the difficulties of crossing Route 255 and the railroad, as well as the large expanse of undevelopable wetlands, we have concluded that the campus should concentrate its development efforts on the north side of Route 255," said Eliza Pennypacker, director of the Division of Campus Planning and Design, in a presentation of the plan to the trustees. Students, faculty and staff participated in the planning process.

In light of the site challenges, over a period of years the plan calls for the acquisition of the Monument Hill Property, properties on the eastern edge, properties at the corner of Second Avenue and 4th Street, the Sixth Street right-of-way and a block of residences to the west.

In addition, the campus has identified several building needs. Foremost is the construction of a signature technology building along the highway to showcase the powdered metals and engineering labs to the community. Also identified are an addition to Swift Building, which already is part of the University's Capital Plan, and an atrium addition to Hiller Building to connect student activity spaces with a larger bookstore.

Other additions would be a new library at the corner of College Place and Second Avenue and a two-story glass atrium entrance to Swift and Smeal buildings. A long-range goal is to construct a theatre auditorium. The campus plans to work with the Department of Environmental Protection to mitigate some of the wetlands for athletic and recreation use. If successful, an athletic support building is proposed for the south side. Also in the future, if needed, would be academic buildings on the east side of campus.

Parking has long been identified as a critical need at DuBois, and is especially so now that the city has banned on-street parking in its residential areas next to campus and has set parking space requirements for campus. Currently there are 275 spaces on campus, including 66 on the former tennis courts, and the city provides 90 spaces for students along East DuBois Avenue.

Already in the works is the construction of a 225-space surface lot north of Second Avenue, which can be expanded with decks as necessary. Additional surface lots are proposed along 4th Street and the east end. Eventually, the plan calls for a potential of 1,300 parking spaces and a return of the tennis court lot to tennis.