Awards
Penn State Intercom......April
12 , 2001
Engineering presents its annual
awards to faculty, staff, alumni
The College of Engineering honored its outstanding faculty, staff and alumni at its annual Penn State Engineering Society (PSES) Awards at The Nittany Lion Inn, University Park.
The awards recognize contributions in research, teaching, advising and service in the college.
The PSES Outstanding Staff Award recognizes dedicated individuals who show initiative and loyalty to the college beyond their job descriptions. The recipients are Richard Auhl, research assistant/laboratory supervisor in aerospace engineering; Helen DeFurio, administrative assistant IV in computer science and engineering; Mary Miller, administrative assistant IV in civil and environmental engineering; and Karen Thal, staff assistant VI in mechanical and nuclear engineering.
Kwang Lee, professor of electrical engineering, and Chao-Yang Wang, associate professor of mechanical engineering, received the PSES Outstanding Research Award, which recognizes notable contributions to research.
Mary Jane Irwin, distinguished professor of computer science and engineering, and Soundar Kumara, professor of industrial engineering, received the PSES Premier Research Award, which honors faculty who have previously been recognized for outstanding research and are considered preeminent in their field.
Three faculty were awarded the PSES Outstanding Advising Awards. The recipients are: David Meredith, associate professor of general engineering at Penn State Fayette; Arthur Motta, associate professor of nuclear engineering; and Donald Streit, professor of mechanical engineering.
The PSES Outstanding Teaching awards went to four recipients this year. The award recognizes individuals who show a special talent and commitment to teaching. In addition, recipients of the award are innovators and experimentalists in the classroom and laboratory who have had at least three years of experience at Penn State. The winners are Kyusun Choi, assistant professor of computer science and engineering; Martin Pietrucha, associate professor of civil engineering; Richard Queeney, professor of engineering mechanics; and Andrew Vavreck, assistant professor of engineering at Penn State Altoona.
Two faculty members received the PSES Premier Teaching Award. The awards are given to faculty members who have been previously recognized for outstanding teaching and have continued to excel in the classroom. The award recipients are Mark Maughmer, associate professor of aerospace engineering, and Robert Voigt, professor of industrial engineering.
The PSES Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes dedicated individuals who willingly donate their time, expertise, and energies to the college, was presented to Andrew Pytel, professor emeritus of engineering mechanics, and Barry Schmidt, a Penn State alumnus who is area manager for Skid Steer Loaders of New Holland North America.
College of the Liberal Arts
honors staff, faculty
In recent awards ceremonies, Susan Welch, dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, recognized the following staff and faculty members for outstanding contributions to the college and the University during 2000.
Outstanding Staff Awards went to Wendy Deibler, Department of Sociology; JoAnn Harris, Department of Psychology; Melody Lane, Department of Sociology; and Carol Pierson, Department of Economics. JoElle DeVinney, School of Languages and Literatures, received the Liberal Arts Alumni Society Outstanding Staff Award.
The Outstanding Teaching Award for Non-Tenure Line Faculty was awarded to Guadalupe Martí-Peña, lecturer in the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Other faculty honored were: N. Edward Coulson, associate professor of economics, Outstanding Teaching Award; Dennis Gouran, professor of speech communication and labor studies and industrial relations, Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award; Judd Arnold, associate professor emeritus of English, College Emeritus Distinction Award; Deborah Clarke, associate professor of English and women's studies, Pavoucek Shields Faculty Award; Mark Hill, assistant professor of sociology and demography, Roy C. Buck Award; Christopher Clausen, professor of English, and Donald Redford, professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies and history, Class of 1933: Distinction in the Humanities Award; and Nancy Landale, professor of sociology and demography, and Scott Bennett, associate professor of political science, Distinction in the Social Sciences Award.
Also recognized were recipients of University awards, as follows: Graduate Assistant Award for Outstanding Teaching, Peter R. Costello, Department of Philosophy, and Beth Widmaier, Department of English; George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching, Richard M. Doyle, associate professor of English; Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching, Douglas R. Anderson, associate professor of philosophy; and Faculty Scholars Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Glenn Firebaugh, professor of sociology and demography.
Engineers honor Meredith
with advising award
David Meredith, Penn State Fayette associate professor of engineering, was recently recognized with the Penn State Engineering Society Outstanding Advising Award from the College of Engineering.
He is active in community events at the campus, including organizing the Engineering Month schedule of events, the MathCounts, JetsTEAMS, and PiDay high school competitions, and summer Space Camp.
School of Information Sciences
and Technology honors
dean,
others at its first awards banquet
Faculty, administration and staff were honored during the School of Information Sciences and Technology's first awards banquet.
IST Dean James B. Thomas was honored by Lockheed Martin, a major supporter of the school. Lockheed Martin executive Marc Hansen presented the dean with a model of an installation titled "Building Leaders for the Digital Global Economy" that will be hung in IST's new building. Thomas also received a special award of thanks from the school's students for his many contributions to the founding and continuing development of IST.
Steven Sawyer, associate professor of information sciences and associate professor of management science and information systems, was named IST faculty member of the year.
David Mudgett was honored as IST teaching assistant of the year.
Charles DuBois, IST marketing manager, was recognized as staff member of the year.
The winners of these three awards were determined by members of the school's student body.
Fulbright distinguished chair
is awarded to Smeal professor
A professor in The Smeal College of Business Administration has been named a Fulbright distinguished chair.
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board selected Austin Jaffe for the Fulbright distinguished chair in property systems in the Centre for Property Studies at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada.
Jaffe is director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies in The Smeal College of Business Administration and the Philip H. Sieg professor of business administration.
The Centre for Property Studies is a multi-disciplinary research institute dealing with property matters often with an international scope. Jaffe will teach and conduct research on property rights issues and real estate financial analysis while at the Centre.
Research and Graduate School
honors staff at awards program
A number of employees were honored during the third annual Research and Graduate School Staff Awards Program held recently at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.
The 2001 Staff Diversity Award was given to Sandra W. McBride, coordinator of human resources in theMaterials Research Laboratory.
The 2001 Staff
Innovation Award was awarded to Margaret P. Potter, research
support associate at the Animal Resource Program.
Outstanding Staff Awards were presented to Nancy Marie Brown, director of the research publications and policy office, and David J. Klinikowski, manager of the Bus Testing and Research Center of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute.
The event also included service awards for staff with unit seniority of 10, 20 and 30 years. One 30-year, six 20-year and 14 10-year awards were granted. Plaques were presented to those staff who completed 25 years of service to Penn State, and those who retired during the past year.