Appointments
Penn State Intercom......January
18, 2001
Health and Human Development
expands Vondracek's role 
Fred W. Vondracek has been appointed associate dean for undergraduate studies and outreach in the College of Health and Human Development.
Last August, Vondracek was appointed associate dean for outreach in the college. His position has been extended to include oversight of the college's undergraduate academic programs.
In his new role, Vondracek will provide oversight and leadership for both the undergraduate academic programs and the outreach activities of the College of Health and Human Development.
A member of the Penn State faculty since 1969, Vondracek has served as acting head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and as professor-in-charge of undergraduate programs and internship programs in the same department. He was director of the Division of Individual and Family Studies and professor-in-charge of continuing education and community service programs in the college.
Vondracek has co-authored two books, published more than 65 book chapters and journal articles, and has made scientific presentations at more than 60 meetings and conferences.
Vondracek received his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1964 from Concord College, W.Va. He received his master's degree in psychology in 1966 from Penn State and his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1968 from Penn State. He completed a postdoctoral clinical internship in 1969 at the U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital in Salem, Va.
Former IBM consultant joins
the IST Solutions Institute 
Jan Bryan Mahar, a former SAP educational consultant for IBM, has joined the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) as a business solutions associate and instructor. Mahar will hold a joint appointment as a staff employee and a faculty member.
Mahar will be part of the IST Solutions Institute, the school's outreach arm, and work closely with Frederick D. Loomis, institute director, in managing special projects. Among those projects will be the development of the IST professional master's degree program and outreach initiatives. One particular area on which she will focus will be fostering the enrollment of female students in IST and creating programs to interest female students in high school and middle school in pursuing the information sciences.
Mahar will assist in the development of linkages between IST and business, government and educational institutions. She also will teach online courses, special-topic modules in continuing education and executive seminars.
A 1970 graduate of Grove City College with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics, Mahar later earned a master's degree in administrative management from Union College. She joined IBM as a manufacturing information systems programmer shortly after graduating from Grove City. After that, she was an industrial engineer supporting computer manufacturing, a lab developer designing statistical models and a software developer in their corporate headquarters' 3-D graphic program office. Most recently her primary focus was transferring IBM production procurement worldwide buyers from their legacy systems to e-business/SAP.
IST appoints assistant 
to the dean for human resources
Christopher A. Fivek has been appointed assistant to the dean for human re-sources in the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST).
Fivek joins IST after having served as human resources officer for The Smeal College of Business Administration since 1997. He succeeds Raymond Holsing, who has taken a human resources management position with the Commonwealth College.
In his new role with IST, Fivek will be responsible for shaping the school's human resources programs and managing human resources services for members of the faculty and staff.
Fivek joined the University in 1995 as a human re-sources officer responsible for employees in the Commonwealth Education System. Before that, he held positions with Agway Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y., for nearly 20 years. He began as a line-plant manager in 1975, shortly after he graduated from Albright College with a bachelor of arts degree. In 1983, Fivek became a district manager with Agway's Energy Division, then in 1987 was named regional human resource manager.
In addition to his other duties at Penn State, he has served on numerous committees and task forces at the University.
Longtime law faculty member
named to new professorship
John A. Maher, professor of law and former dean of The Penn State Dickinson School of Law, has been appointed to the newly created H. Laddie and Linda P. Montague Professorship at the school.
Maher has been a member of the faculty since 1973, having joined the school after a career in private and corporate practice. Through his years in private practice and his subsequent scholarly work, he has been long recognized as an expert in securities regulation, trade regulation, antitrust law and maritime law. From 1989 to 1994 he served as dean of the school. Gov. Tom Ridge appointed him to the Pennsylvania Securities Commission in 1997.
The professorship is designed to honor a member of the law school faculty whose teaching and re-search interests involve questions of civil justice, including matters related to the protection of consumers' rights.
Laddie Montague is a 1963 graduate of the school and a practicing Philadelphia attorney.
Delaware County welcomes
a new development director
Beverly Grove was recently appointed the director of development at Penn State Delaware County.
At Penn State Delaware County, Grove will be responsible for developing fund-raising programs and for directing related activities. She also will assist in identifying, cultivating and soliciting alumni and other potential donors.
Grove also will be working on Penn State Delaware County's Grand Destiny Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to raise $3 million in private support for students, faculty, programs and carefully selected projects. The campaign is part of the University-wide campaign to raise $1 billion to strengthen its mission of teaching, research and service.
Before accepting the position at the campus, Grove was a marketing representative for HealthSouth. Earlier, Grove was a health services representative at Jefferson Health System.
She earned her bachelor's degree in health education from Temple University.
Smeal management professor
named to serve as director
The Smeal College of Business Administration has named Jack M. Stevens as director of Outreach and Cooperative Extension.
Stevens is professor of management and organization, and will be liaison for all of the college's interactions with Outreach and Cooperative Extension, including: the World Campus, Continuing Education, Distance Education, Conferences and Institutes, Independent Learning and Distributed Learning. He will immediately assume his new responsibilities.
Stevens has served as graduate program officer for two different graduate degree programs at the University. In addition, he was chair of the public and nonprofit sector division in the Academy of Management and chair of the section of management science and policy analysis in the American Society for Public Administration.
In 1996, he was a visiting professor in the Corporate Environmental Management Program at the University of Michigan School of Business. Stevens is a member several professional societies, serves on the board of two journals and is an ad hoc reviewer for others.
He has been a consultant for and participated in federal, state, local and private-sector executive development programs, served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and was employed by the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
Stevens earned his bachelor's degree from Penn State and a master's degree at The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He received his MBA and doctorate from State University of New York at Buffalo.
College of Ag Sciences
appoints development director
The College of Agricultural Sciences has appointed John Krumrine as director of development.
Krumrine comes to the college from the University's Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, where for the past four years he has been associate director. He has created and fostered relationships with Fortune 500 companies and identified key individuals within corporations to develop successful partnerships and programs for the University.
Krumrine received his bachelor's degree in parks and recreation from Penn State, where he was captain of the golf team. He retired with the rank of major from the U.S. Air Force in June 1999, having served in active duty until 1988.
Before his appointment in corporate relations, John held the position of continuing education representative for Penn State Shenango from 1992 to 1996. Before that he was an admissions counselor in the Undergraduate Admissions Office at University Park from 1988 to 1992.