Lectures
Penn State Intercom......January
18 , 2001
Spring series to feature
use
of technology in the classroom
The Center for Education Technology Services and the Center for Academic Computing will present "Teaching with Technology," a free lunchtime series highlighting the innovative ways faculty are using computers in the classroom. Each month, instructors will speak informally about how they have applied technology to enhance teaching and learning.
The four-part series begins Jan. 26 with a presentation on the use of computer modeling in Architecture 131, a design course for freshmen in their first semester of the architecture program. Ray Masters, affiliate associate professor of architecture, will illustrate the software's creative potential through samples of student work, while discussing why the University introduces this technology to students early in their careers.
February's presentation features chemistry faculty members Gail Sathianathan and Joe Keiser, who will share how they made the complex process of UV-visible spectroscopy clearer and more accessible to their students through the use of animation and video instruction.
In March, Steven Thorne, associate director of the Center for Language Acquisition, will speak on the impact Web-based communication is having on foreign language instruction and learning. As a co-investigator for the Penn State Foreign Language Telecollaboration Project, Thorne has been evaluating how interaction with native speakers through e-mail, chat rooms and video can aid students learning a second language.
The series closes with a discussion of how faculty members William Harkness and Laura Simon used technology to significantly improve the quality of education in Statistics 200, a large, lecture-based class they teach, which is required by more than 60 majors and taken by nearly 1,000 students each semester. Harkness and Simon developed Web-based courseware that gave their students the means to master much of the material independently.
The Teaching with Technology series is open to all faculty and staff, and will be held from noon to 1 p.m. the fourth Friday of each month in 141 Computer Building, University Park. Presentations will last a half an hour, followed by an open forum discussion. Registration is required, and attendees may bring lunch. Beverages will be provided.
For more information, check the Web at http://cac.psu.edu/fmc/teach/ or e-mail fmc@psu.edu. To register, go to http://cac.psu.edu/training/ on the Web.
Actor Danny Glover to speak
at University Park appearance
Actor and activist Danny Glover will speak at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. The event is free to the public, but tickets are required.
Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Eisenhower box office. Tickets also may be available the night of the speech.
Recognized internationally for his performances in films such as "The Color Purple," the "Lethal Weapon" series and most recently, "Beloved," Glover has earned many awards and a place in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame for his on-screen work. Off-screen, he is an advocate for literacy, human rights and community development.
Glover was the first goodwill ambassador to the U.N. Development Program, which focuses on eliminating poverty, cleaning up the environment, creating jobs and advancing the rights of women.
The Distinguished Speakers Series is funded by student activity fees, sponsored by the University Park Allocation Committee and coordinated by the Distinguished Speakers Series Committee and the Office of Student Activities. This event is co-sponsored by the Paul Robeson Cultural Center.
For more information, call the Office of Student Activities at (814) 863-3786 or stop by 207 HUB-Robeson Cultural Center.
Geography coffee hour schedule
will focus on a variety of topics
The Department of Geography has a variety of topics planned for its weekly coffee hour presentations. Unless otherwise noted, the coffee hours begin at 3:30 p.m. in 301 Steidle Building on the University Park campus, with the presentations beginning at 4 p.m. The coffee hours are open to the public.
The schedule follows:
* Jan. 19: David Skole, geography, Michigan State University, on "Cryptic Deforestation In Amazonia: Is It Real? The Debate on Measuring Forest Loss Continues."
* Jan. 26: David Woodward, professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on "The 'Two Cultures' of Map History -- Scientific and Humanistic Traditions: A Plea for Reintegration."
* Feb. 2: William L. Welch Jr., mayor of State College and philatelist, on "The Bones of Rolando Kuehn: An American Physician on the Mosquito Coast."
* Feb. 9: Simon Bronner, professor of American studies and folklore at Penn State Harrisburg, on "Killing Tradition: Children and Guns at the Hegins Pigeon Shoot."
* Feb. 16: Rodney Erickson, provost, on "A View from the Provost's Window."
* Feb. 23: Karen Till, geography, University of Minnesota, on "The Topography of Terror Memory and Landscape in Berlin."
* March 16: Grace Wang, assistant professor of natural resource policy, on "Managing Pennsylvania's Deer Habitat."
* March 23: James McCarthy, assistant professor of geography, on "Globalization and the Environmental Politics of Scale."
* March 30: C. Gregory Knight, professor of geography, on "Vulnerability to Climate Change: The Bulgarian Example."
* April 6: Jorge Schement, professor of communications, on "From Universal Access to Universal Service: Americans and the Digital Divide."
* April 13: Chris Wernstedt, Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C., on "Reality, Rhetoric and Risk in the Brownfields Façade: The Timing of the Shrewd."
* April 20: Roger Downs, professor of geography and head of the Department of Geography, on "Worlds in Collision: Reactions to Hendri Van Loon's 1932 Geography."
Gerontology colloquia
series set to run
The Gerontology Center, in conjunction with the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania, will hold a series of colloquia this spring. Unless otherwise noted, all presentations will be from noon to 1 p.m. in 108 Wartik Laboratory on the University Park campus and Lecture Room D at The Hershey Medical Center.
The schedule follows:
* Jan. 24: "Awareness of Deficit in Brain Disorders," by Dr. Anna M. Barrett, assistant professor of med-icine/neurology in the College of Medicine.
* Jan. 31: "Evidence-Based Stroke Prevention in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation," by Dr. James M. Walker, professor of general internal medicine in the College of Medicine.
* Feb. 7: "Racial Comparisons of Health Decline and Family Caregiving Among Older Adults," by Raymond T. Coward, professor and dean of the College of Health and Human Development.
* Feb. 15: Gerald E. McClearn, Evan Pugh professor of health and human development and director of the Center for Development and Health Genetics. This presentation, given in conjunction with Psychiatry Grand Rounds, Hershey Medical Center and Chambersburg Hospital, will be held in 101 Heath and Human Development Building East, University Park.
* Feb. 21: "Testosterone and Child and Adolescent Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Parent-Child Relationships," by Alan Booth, professor of sociology and human development.
* Feb. 28: "The Regulation of Food Intake: Implications for Managing Changes in Body Weight Associated with Aging," by Barbara J. Rolls, professor of nutrition and biobehavioral health.
* March 14: "Portraits of Midlife," by Margie E. Lachman, professor of psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.
* March 21: "Health Beliefs and Lifestyle Practices Among Vietnamese Adults," by Barbara W.K. Yee, professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Gerontology, SAHS/University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.
* March 28: "Communication and Aging: The Structure, Function and Process of Relationships across the Lifespan," by Jon F. Nussbaum, professor of communication theory in the Department of speech Communication.
* April 4: Charles Longino, professor in the Department of Sociology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C.
* April 11: John J. McArdle, professor of psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
* April 18: "Change in Cognitive Functioning Associated with ApoE Genotype in a Community Sample of Older Adults," by Scott M. Hofer, assistant professor of human development and family studies.
Meeting to discuss strategic performance indicators
Louise Sandmeyer, executive director of the Center for Quality and Planning, and Michael Dooris, director of planning research and assessment, will convene "Strategic Performance Indicators," a dialogue about performance indicators in the context of the integration of planning, assessment and improvement, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 19, in 404 Old Main on the University Park campus.
The discussion will explore how participants can or do approach performance measurement systematically. All University faculty, staff and students may participate.
Participants should register in advance with the Center for Quality and Planning, at (814) 863-8721 or psucqp@psu.edu.
Gene similarities among animals,
humans
is the topic of Saturday's science lecture
Andy Clark, professor of biology, will speak on "The Amazingly Similar Genes of Dogs, Humans and Mice" from 11 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. Jan. 20 in 101 Thomas Building on the University Park campus. The talk is the second of six lectures during the 2001 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, organized under the theme of "Decoding Life's Instruction Book: Genetics and Genomics." All talks in the series are scheduled for the same time and location.
Clark will discuss comparative genomics, and will demonstrate some of the things that can be learned by the comparison of the genomes of different organisms. He believes the particular case of humans, dogs and mice is intriguing because many genes have evolved quite slowly and are nearly identical across rather different animals. A key point is that scientists learn a lot about the human genome through comparisons to other animals. Also, while one might think such comparisons would only work with close relatives such as chimpanzees and humans, comparisons with dogs and mice have proven highly informative.
A professor at Penn State since 1983, Clark's research focuses on biological evolution.
Upcoming lectures in the series are:
* Jan. 27: "Monsters or Miracles? Genetically Modified Organisms in Our Food," by Nina Fedoroff, professor of biology, Verne M. Willaman chair in life sciences, director of the Life Sciences Consortium, director of the Penn State Biotechnology Institute and member of the National Science Board;
* Feb. 3: "Genetic Testing: Clinical and Ethical Issues," by Maria Mascari, genetic counselor/medical geneticist at the Penn State Cancer Institute and assistant professor of pediatrics at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center;
* Feb. 10: "Reflections on a Golden Age: Challenge Amid Success in Human Genetics," by Ken Weiss, Evan Pugh professor of anthropology and genetics; and
* Feb. 17: "Genetics and Functional Genomics: What We Can Learn About Cancer from Mutant Zebrafish," by Keith Cheng, associate professor of experimental pathology.
The Lectures on the Frontiers of Science are sponsored by the Eberly College of Science. For more information or access assistance, call (814) 863-8453, e-mail science@psu.edu or check the Web at http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/news.html.
Lecture to cover
status of faculty women
Phoebe Leboy, professor of biochemistry and chair of a committee that studies the equity and marginalization of female faculty at University of Pennsylvania, will visit Penn State to discuss her study in a lecture, "30 Years of Affirmative Action and Counting: Evaluating the Status of Faculty Women."
This luncheon lecture, which is open to the public, will be held Wednesday, Jan. 24, in Ballroom C of The Nittany Lion Inn. The meal is a soup, salad and sandwich buffet, and reservations are required. The buffet will open at 11:45 a.m. and the lecture is expected to begin at 12:15 p.m. To make a reservation, send a check made out to Penn State for $13.25 per person to Carol Ahmed at 330 Grange Building, University Park. Be sure to indicate on the check that it is for the faculty luncheon. The deadline for reservations is Jan. 19.
In addition, Leboy, who does research on the changes in gene expression associated with the formation and maintenance of skeletal tissue, will give a research seminar on "Inducing Osteogenesis in Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Why Can't a Human Be More Like a Rat?" at 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in 108 Wartik.
This program is sponsored by the Faculty Issues and Development Committee of the Commission for Women and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Questions about the reservations may be directed to Sue Rankin at sxr2@psu.edu; questions about the program may be directed to Renee Diehl at rdd2@psu.edu; questions concerning the seminar may be directed to Carol Gay at cvg1@psu.edu.
Readings celebrate public poetry
"An Evening of Pennsylvania Poets: Readings in Celebration of the Public Poetry Project" will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Lawrence G. and Ellen Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library on the University Park campus. The presentation will be followed immediately by a reception in the Charles W. Mann Jr. Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library. Five poets will read poems, including their poem selected for the 2000 Public Poetry Project poster series.
Participating poets are Gary Fincke, John Haag, Harry Humes, Julia Kasdorf and Marjorie Maddox. The event is sponsored by the Department of English in the College of the Liberal Arts, The Eberly Special Collections Library in the University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.
The Public Poetry Project, which focuses on poets with a connection to Pennsylvania, was initiated in 1999 by the late Kim Fisher, the first Paterno Family Librarian for Literature at Penn State. Fisher's vision was to display poetry in public places so that it might become part of the daily lives of a greater number of people.
The readings and reception are open to the public. For more information, call (814) 865-0401 or check the Web at http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/poetry.html
Talk to cover inclusion
in graduate education
The "First Annual Discussion of Inclusiveness in Graduate Education" will be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 31 in Ballrooms A and B at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
Anyone interested in the value of diversity in graduate education is encouraged to attend.
Orlando L. Taylor, dean of Howard University's Graduate School and graduate professor in the School of Communications at Howard, will give the keynote address titled "Achieving and Maintaining Inclusiveness in Graduate Education in the Post-Affirmative Action Environment: Challenges and Opportunities." In his talk, he will touch on why diversity is important for future leaders and how we all benefit from diverse graduate programs. He also will discuss some ways in which we can improve the diversity of our programs.
Attendees will have an opportunity to meet and talk with Taylor at a reception immediately following his address, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Nittany Lion Inn Ballrooms D and E.
The discussion is being sponsored by The Graduate School's Office of the Dean, The Graduate School's Office of Graduate Educational Equity, The Graduate School Alumni Society, the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, The Graduate Student Association, the Black Graduate Student Association, the American Indian Leadership Program, the Native American Student Association and the Latino Caucus.
Session to cover integration
of planning, improvement
Faculty, staff and students will have the opportunity to meet with leaders from Penn State and Villanova University, to discuss approaches to the integration of planning and improvement efforts.
Louise Sandmeyer, executive director of the Center for Quality and Planning, will moderate the session, which is scheduled for 1:30 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in The Nittany Lion Inn Alumni Lounge.
At this session, Nirmal Pal, executive director of the Center for e-Business Research, will discuss bringing corporate approaches to academic planning in The Smeal College of Business Administration. James Myers, director of the Facilities Engineering Institute, will discuss a strategic planning initiative in the unit that provides facilities consulting for various state agencies.
John M. Kelley, executive director of Villanova's Office of Planning, Training and Institutional Research, will discuss the implementation side of strategic planning. James F. Trainer, director of planning and assessment, will present an "insider's outside look" at Villanova's quality initiative.
Participants should register in advance with the Center for Quality and Planning at (814) 863-8721 or psucqp@psu.edu.
Workshop focus is improving student performance
A one-day, interactive program for faculty focused on the development of quality learners through process education will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, March 1, in Ballrooms A and B of The Nittany Lion Inn, University Park.
Dan Apple, founder and president of Pacific Crest, will present the workshop. Having worked with higher education since 1986, Apple has visited more than 1,200 campuses, facilitated hundreds of faculty workshops and conducted classroom sessions with thousands of students.
Process education is an educational philosophy focused on improving students' learning skills. The workshop is sponsored by the Teaching/Learning Consortium and co-sponsored by the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning and the Office of Undergraduate Education.
To register for this one-day orientation, call (814) 865-4442 or e-mail gdk10@psu.edu by Feb. 10. Lunch is included and a reception will follow at the Faculty/Staff Club.