Lectures
Penn State Intercom......August 23, 2001

Reno, Stein, among
planned speakers

The 2001-2002 Distinguished Speakers Series brings to University Park seven internationally known figures, including a former attorney general, a rap star, a presidential speechwriter and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter.

The scheduled speakers are:

* Janet Reno, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, Eisenhower Auditorium. The nation's first female attorney general, Reno headed the world's largest justice and law enforcement office (125,000 employees) for nearly eight years and was responsible for the enforcement of federal laws and for representing the government in court. The longest-serving attorney general since before the Civil War, Reno used the authority of her office to enforce civil rights and environmental and health statutes.

* Ben Stein, 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, Eisenhower Auditorium. Host of the Emmy-winning Comedy Central quiz show, "Win Ben Stein's Money," Stein graduated as valedictorian from Yale Law School, and served as a speechwriter and lawyer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Stein is a longtime screenwriter, author and a well-known actor in movies, television and commercials.

* Lisa Ling, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, Eisenhower Auditorium. One of five female co-hosts of ABC's daytime talk show "The View," Ling brings a youthful perspective to the show. In addition to her work as co-host, she produces "It's a Ling Thing" and "Lisa's Money Thing" segments for the show. Before joining ABC, Ling was a reporter for Channel One News seen via satellite by more than 8.5 million students in more than 12,000 high schools.

* Chuck D, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, Eisenhower Auditorium. As leader and co-founder of rap group Public Enemy, Chuck Ddefined rap music and hip-hop culture with his ability to rap about issues of race, rage and inequality. A producer, author and lecturer, he also is influentialas a force in the alternative production, distribution and promotion of hip-hop and has long been one of the industry's most outspoken proponents of MP3 music.

* Bob Woodward, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, Eisenhower Auditorium. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his work with Carl Bernstein reporting on the Watergate scandal in the Nixon administration, Woodward has been named one of the best investigative reporters in America by The New York Times. He has been the assistant managing editor of investigative news for the Washington Post since 1982.

* Gloria Steinem, 8 p.m. Thursday, March 21, Eisenhower Auditorium. A noted writer and activist, Steinem has been a leader in the late-20th-century women's rights movement. Among her many achievements is the founding of Ms. magazine -- the first national women's magazine run by women. She has helped organize and found some of the most prominent feminist organizations in the country, including the Ms. Foundation for Women, Women's Action Alliance and Voters for Choice.

* J. Craig Venter, 8 p.m. Monday, March 25, Schwab Auditorium. One of the most-cited scientists in biology and medicine, Venter was the first scientist to read the entire genetic code -- the genome -- of a living organism. As president and chief scientific officer of Celera Genomics Group and the founder, chairman of the board and former president of The Institute for Genomic Research, a not-for-profit genomics research institution, he made world headlines last year when Celera announced that it had deciphered the entire genetic code of a human being, which holds the key to important drugs and treatments for disease.

The Distinguished Speakers Series is sponsored by the University Park Allocation Committee and coordinated by the Distinguished Speakers Series Committee and the Office of Student Activities. Funded by student activity fees, the series is free to the public. Tickets are required for the events and will be available at the Eisenhower Auditorium box office about one week before each lecture.

Donna Shalala opens 2001-2002
series of Forum speakers

Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will give the season’s first Penn State Forum lecture at noon Friday, Aug. 31, at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
Shalala has more than 25 years’ experience as a scholar, teacher and administrator. Before assuming her role as Miami’s president this past June, she served for eight years as secretary of Health and Human Services.
The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore. It is open to the public. Tickets are $10 for members and $12 for non-members and include lunch. Reservations can be made by mail or by stopping by the Faculty Staff Club office at 103 HUB-Robeson Center. Tickets will be on sale at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the speech and a question-and-answer session at noon. For information call (814) 865-7590.
The following speakers are scheduled for the 2001-2002 series:
n Friday, Sept. 7, The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel: Maxwell King, executive director, The Heinz Endowments. The topic of his presentation is “The Soul of the New American City.”
n Tuesday, Sept. 25, The Penn Stater: Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. The topic of her presentation is “Leadership Challenges in a New Century.”
n Friday, Oct. 5, The Penn Stater: Janet Robinson, president, The New York Times. Her topic is “The State of the Times.”
n Friday, Oct. 19, The Penn Stater: Matthew Serbin Pittinsky, chairman, Blackboard Inc. The topic of his presentation is “dot-com and Beyond.”
n Wednesday, Nov. 14, The Nittany Lion Inn: Valerie Ferguson, regional vice president and managing director, Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The topic of her presentation is “‘Hospitality’ in Our World.”
n Monday, Nov. 26, The Nittany Lion Inn: John Balaban, poet-in-residence and professor of English, North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The topic of his presentation is “Venturing Out: Excursions into Vietnamese Literary Culture.”
n Thursday, Dec. 13, The Nittany Lion Inn: Carlos Cortes, professor of history emeritus, University of California-Riverside. The topic of his presentation is “How the Media Teach about Diversity.”
n Thursday, Jan. 17, The Penn Stater: Christopher Clausen, University English professor. The topic of his presentation is “Nostalgia, Freedom and the End of ‘Culture’: America in the 21st Century.”
n Friday, Feb. 8, The Nittany Lion Inn: Jim Webb, Marine veteran, assistant secretary of defense, Secretary of the Navy, and screenwriter, author, and award-winning journalist. The topic of his presentation is “Reflections on Asia, U.S. National Security and the Literary Life.”
n Wednesday, March 20, The Penn Stater: Leonard Pitts, syndicated Miami Herald columnist and author. The topic of his presentation is “Getting Over It: Race, Reconciliation and Two Big Fat Lies.”
n Tuesday, April 2, The Nittany Lion Inn: Loretta LaRoche, author, speaker and consultant. The topic of her presentation is “The Joy of Stress: Humor as a Coping Mechanism.”

Workshop series will inform
research administrators

The Administrative Committee On Research Education Subcommittee and the Office of Sponsored Programs are sponsoring a series of research administration workshops during the 2001-2002 academic year.

The purpose of the series is to disseminate information pertinent to research administrators. These workshops are offered to all University employees: faculty, administrative assistants, staff assistants, post-doctoral degree students, graduate assistants and all research personnel using the knowledge and experience of advanced research administrators.

For the list of workshops or to register online, check the Web at http://grants.psu.edu and follow the link to "Research Administration Workshop Electronic Registration."

To register using a paper form, complete the registration form and mail to Patty Prestash at 110 Technology Center Building, University Park, PA 16802; or fax (814) 865-3377. The IDCC form for the workshop fees should be sent to the Supplier Desk address and Office of Sponsored Programs in order to complete your registration.

Call Vicki Spadaccio at (814) 865-0453 or e-mail vls4@psu.edu for content information. Call Patty Prestash at (814) 863-4019 or e-mail pvp1@psu.edu for registration information.

Conference to offer perspectives,
prevention strategies on pregnancy

The 2001 Teen Pregnancy Prevention Conference will bring together practitioners and researchers in the field of adolescent development and teen pregnancy prevention to explore the factors influencing adolescent pregnancy and to discuss prevention.

It will be be held Oct. 22 and 23 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.

The conference is an outreach program of the College of Health and Human Development and the Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Topics of discussion include new paradigms for adolescent sexual health in America, substance use and adolescent sexuality, comprehensive sexuality education and the support of abstinence within a sexuality education program.

Deborah M. Roffman, author of Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense about Sex, will discuss "Sex and Sensibility: New Paradigms for a New Century." Barbara Kemp Huberman will offer the concluding address, "Rights, Respect, Responsibility: A New Paradigm for Adolescent Sexual Health in America."

To receive a brochure, or to register, call (800) PSU-TODAY (778-8632).

For registration information, call Pamela Logan, conference planner, at (814) 863-5100 or e-mail ConferenceInfo1@outreach.psu.edu. For program details, call Stephanie Tyworth, program planner, at (814) 865-0287 or e-mail sst3@outreach.psu.edu.

Visit the conference Web site at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/TeenPregnancy/.

Professor will talk about
distances in space

Darren Williams, professor of physics and astronomy at Penn State Erie, will kick off the 2001-2002 Open House Nights in Astronomy Series on Thursday, Aug. 30, with "Measuring Distances in the Universe."

His presentation, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in 101 Otto Behrend Science Building, is free to the public.

Williams will give an overview of the current methods used by astronomers to measure the distances to planets, stars and galaxies.

The lecture is intended for a non-technical audience. Astronomical observing at the Mehalso Observatory will follow the lecture, weather permitting.

For information about the series, call the School of Science at (814) 898-6105.

Gerontology colloquium
gears up for fall series

The University's Gerontology Center and the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania will cosponsor the Fall 2001 Colloquium Schedule.

All discussions will be from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays in 108 Wartik Laboratory on the University Park campus and will be teleconferenced to Lecture Room D at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

The schedule follows:

* Aug: 29 -- "Prescription Drugs and the Elderly: Further Considerations for Health Policy," Dennis G. Shea, associate professor, health policy and administration;

* Sept. 5 -- "Longitudinal Studies of Aging: Past, Present and Future," Scott M. Hofer, assistant professor, human development and family studies;

* Sept. 12 -- "Predictors of Physical Health and Arthritic Status in Older Community Dwelling African Americans," Tamara A. Baker, National Institute on Aging predoctoral fellow, biobehavioral health;

* Sept. 19 -- "Longitudinal Studies and the Early Prediction of Risk for Dementia," K. Warner Schaie, Evan Pugh professor, human development and psychology;

* Sept. 26 -- Topic pending, Martin Sliwinski, associate professor, Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Ithaca, N.Y.;

* Oct. 3 -- "Age, Marital Processes and Symptoms of Depression," Jamila Bookwala, associate professor, Department of Psychology, Lafayette College;

* Oct. 17 -- "The Meaning of the Physical Self in the Second Half of Life -- Two Studies," Yolande Kuin, professor of psychogerontology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands;

* Oct. 24 -- "Fighting Physical Frailty: Maintaining New Fibers in Old Muscles," John A. Faulkner, senior research scientist and director, Institute of Gerontology; and professor of physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

* Oct. 31 -- "The Aura of Survivorship: Control in the Face of Declining Health Amongst the Oldest Old," Sara A. Leitsch, NIA post-doctoral fellow, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

* Nov. 28 -- "Age-related Changes in Visual Sampling Characteristics During Locomotion Over Varied Terrain," Kate Christina, NIA predoctoral fellow, Department of Kinesiology.

On Oct. 8 and 9, a Social Structure Conference will be held at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. Theme will be "Impact of Technology on Successful Aging."

Harvard professor to discuss
student needs and practices

Richard Light, professor of education at Harvard University and author of Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds, will speak about student needs and practices from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, in the HUB-Robeson Auditorium on the University Park campus.
Light is director of the Harvard Assessment Seminars, a consortium that brings together faculty and senior administrators from 24 colleges and universities to carry out research on college effectiveness.
Light’s talk is sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Consortium together with Eberly College of Science, the Office of Undergraduate Education and Schreyer Honors College. A light reception will follow his presentation. To register or for information, call the Teaching and Learning Consortium at (814) 865-4442 or e-mail tlc@psu.edu.

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