Lectures
Penn State Intercom......September
13, 2001
Former Attorney General Janet Reno, who recently announced she will run for governor of Florida, was greeted by student DeAnn Snider as Reno arrived to speak at Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus Sept. 5, above. Reno was visiting as part of the University's Distinguished Speaker series. Saying that Penn State "represents what higher education is all about," Reno donated the net proceeds of her $30,000 honorarium for the evening's speech to a University scholarship fund. The next Distinguished Speakers Series event will be Ben Stein at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15. Stein, host of the Emmy award-winning Comedy Central quiz show, "Win Ben Stein's Money," is a former speech writer and lawyer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. |
New format
in place
for VOICE Box series
The VOICE Box seminars are taking on a new format this semester to provide faculty with pragmatic working sessions to enrich their courses. As a part of this new workshop format, the seminars will expand to a two-hour format and include breakfast or lunch.
Developed by a team including Tom Litzinger, director of the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education; John Wise, director of the Engineering Instructional Services; and Renata Engel, director, and Jill Lane, program manager of instructional design, both of the Schreyer Institute for Innovation and Learning, the workshops will explore learning styles and course redesign.
From 8 to 10 a.m. Sept. 18, Tom Litzinger will lead "Learning and Teaching Styles: Are conflicts reducing your teaching effectiveness?" Participants will explore different types of learning styles and how they affect learning and teaching.
From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 23, John Wise will lead "Re-design your course for maximum effectiveness!" This workshop will focus on methods to design a course from writing learning objectives to linking those objectives to assessment tools.
Both sessions will meet in 129AB HUB-Robeson Center on the University Park campus. To register, e-mail Stephanie Bumgardner at svs8@psu.edu or call (814) 865-8681.
VOICE (Variations of Innovative Changes in Education) Box is sponsored by the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning (http://www.inov8.psu.edu), the Leonhard Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (http://www.eec.psu.edu/lc/) and the Teaching and Learning Consortium (http://www.psu.edu/dept/tlc/). For more information or to be added to the VOICE Box e-mail list, e-mail svs8@psu.edu.
STS lectures tackle
contemporary issues
The following lectures will be presented by the Science, Technology and Society Program. Lectures will focus on contemporary issues in science and technology studies, and will be held at 4 p.m. in various locations on the University Park campus. The schedule follows:
* Sept. 19, 158 Willard: Jeanne Kisacky, independent architecture historian, on "Walls of Light and Air: Ventilation, Health and 19th-Century Hospital Architecture";
* Oct. 3, 115 Electrical Engineering West: Sal Restivo, professor of sociology and science studies and professor of information technology, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer, on "The Rejection of Transcendence: Science, Religion and the Existential Terrors of Sociology";
* Oct. 17, 102 Leonhard: Saul Halfon, assistant professor of science and technology studies, Virginia Tech, on "Bringing Socio-Technical Practice into International Relations: The Case of Population Policy";
* Nov. 7, 158 Willard: Jennifer Croissant, associate professor of culture, science, technology and society, CSTS/MSE University of Arizona, on "Technology Standards in K-12 Education: Assumptions and Ideologies for Living in a Technological Society";
* Nov. 28, 111 Wartik: Alondra Nelson, New York University American Studies Program and Ann Plato Fellow in American Studies, Trinity College, on "Spin Doctors: The Black Panther Party and Sickle Cell Anemia"; and
* Dec. 5, 162 Willard: Romulo Lins, associate professor of mathematics education, UNESP, Rio Clara Brazil, on "Meaning Production as a Strategy for Cognitive Survival."
Discussion set on
learning teams, assessment
The Group Processes, Assessment and Evaluation Innovation Community will meet from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, in 304 Rider II on the University Park campus.
Faculty and staff interested in learning, group processes and evaluation may attend this discussion group.
For the first half hour, William Harkness, professor of statistics, will describe some of his experiences using a version of Readiness Assessment Tests with group work in large courses. A conversation of the "how-to's" of group work will follow.
To attend, e-mail Maja Aleksic at mxz146@psu.edu or call (814) 865-8681.
The Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning sponsors this and other Innovation Communities.
For more information about the Schreyer Institute and its initiatives, check the Web at http://www.inov8.psu.edu.
Religious, philosophical
forum back at Schuylkill
The Religious and Philosophical Forum on the Penn State Schuylkill campus begins its 2001-2002 series Sept. 21 with a focus on Mahatma Gandhi.
The noon program, featuring Shall Sinha as Gandhi is titled "Mahatma Gandhi on Leadership" and will be conducted in the Morgan Auditorium.
The remainder of the lectures in the series, all at noon, will be in the R. Michael Fryer Conference Center on campus. The presentations are free to the public. For information, call Donald C. Lindenmuth at (570) 385-6065.
The remainder of the forum schedule follows:
* Oct. 26: "Experiencing the Extraordinary in the Ordinary," with the Rev. Wanda Cramer, minister of spiritual nurture of the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference, United Church of Christ;
* Nov. 30: "Jewish Religion and Peoplehood in the 21st Century," with Rabbi Ben Richman, teacher, Pottsville Synagogue;
* Feb. 22: "Science and Christianity: Can They Live Together?" featuring Mary J. Bojan, research associate in the Department of Chemistry, University Park;
* March 22: "Art and Philosophy: Friends or Foes?" with Benjamin Plesic, artist and philosopher; and
* April 26: "Where There is Darkness, There is Light: Our Quest for Knowledge," with Essie Karnes, vice president of the Religious and Philosophical Forum.
Greenpeace
co-founder to visit
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeaceand now a prominent proponent of timber management, will speak on "Environmentalism in the 21st Century" at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 in the HUB-Robeson Center Auditorium on the University Park campus. Moore is the School of Forest Resources Distinguished Lecturer for 2001.
Moore's presentation lays out the history of the environmental movement, provides a critique of its present policies and presents a vision for the future. He demonstrates that while many of the positions taken by mainstream environmental groups are sound, there is a growing extremist element that has abandoned science and logic in favor of sensationalism and fund raising.
The presentation is free to the public.
Teaching With Technology
series is offered
Faculty and staff interested in instructional development and technology in the classroom should plan to attend this fall's free Teaching With Technology lunchtime seminar series, sponsored by the Center for Academic Computing and Center for Education Technology Services. Three sessions will be presented, each from noon to 1 p.m. in 141 Computer Building on the University Park campus.
Topics for the series include:
* Sept. 28: "Labview Virtual Instruments and Flash Movies: General Science/Engineering Type Applications of These Tools," presented by Ian R. Harrison, professor of polymer science and engineering;
* Oct. 26: "Digital Media at Penn State," presented by the Penn State Digital Media Group; and
* Nov. 30: "ANGEL (A new Global Environment for Learning)," presented by the Center for Education Technology Services.
The format consists of a half-hour presentation followed by question-and-answer sessions. Attendees will learn how faculty members are using digital media in their courses, connect with others interested in using technology in teaching and be made aware of potential resources available.
Participants should feel free to bring lunch; beverages will be provided.
Register online by visiting http://cac.psu.edu/training/, click on "Register for Seminars" and select "Technology in the Classroom" and "Lecture." A Penn State Access Account userid is required for registration.
For more information, e-mail fmc@psu.edu.
Art curator to give
inaugural talk in series
Darielle Mason, Stella Kramrisch curator of Indian and Himalayan art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will give the inaugural lecture in the Mary F. Linda Memorial Lecture Series at 2 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Palmer Museum of Art on the University Park campus.
Mason's lecture, "Reintegrating the Cosmos: The Temples of India and their Fragments," is related to the exhibition "Devotion and Diversity: South Asian Sculpture from the Philadelphia Museum of Art," which opens Oct. 21 at the Palmer Museum.
Mary Linda was a noted scholar of South Asian art and architecture and the assistant director of the Palmer Museum from 1992 to 1997.
For information, call Robin Seymour at (814) 865-7672 or e-mail qzq1@psu.edu.
Children's influence on family is symposium topic
The University will hold its annual National Symposium on the Family Dec. 6-7 at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
The symposium is titled "Children's Influence on Family Dynamics: The Neglected Side of Family Relationships." Organizing the event are Alan Booth, professor of sociology and Ann Crouter, professor of human development.
Lead papers will be presented by David Reiss of George Washington University, Susan Crockenberg of University of Vermont, Häkan Stattin of Örebro University, Sweden, and Eleanor Maccoby of Stanford University.
To obtain a brochure and registration materials, call, write or e-mail Kim Zimmerman, Population Research Institute, 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, Pa. 16802-6211.
The phone number is (814) 865-0486; the fax is (814) 863-8342 and the e-mail address is kzimmer@pop.psu.edu.
Conference focus is
the future of outreach
Penn State, The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Extension are holding a conference on "Outreach Scholarship 2001, Learning, Discovery and Engagement," Oct. 14 through 16 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus. The event is designed to create a discussion of the issues affecting the future of outreach as well as practical tools for implementing change.
The conference will offer university and college faculty, administrators and community leaders an opportunity to share strategies on how to build creative, effective partnerships and sustainable outreach and engagement initiatives.
The conference is targeted to college and university leaders and faculty interested in meeting with those outside the academic community and with cooperative extension, continuing education, distance education, technology transfer, governmental affairs, university relations and public broadcasting.
For more information, call Chris Dufour at (814) 863-5100 or e-mail ConferenceInfo1@outreach.psu.edu.
Genetic Engineering Marker
Lectures are Sept. 20-21 at University Park
Alexander Varshavsky, Smits professor of cell biology at the California Institute of Technology, will give the Marker Lectures in Genetic Engineering for 2001-02 on Sept. 20 and 21 on the University Park campus. The two-lecture series, titled "How and Why Cells Destroy Their Proteins," is sponsored by the Eberly College of Science and is free to the public.
The lecture schedule includes "The N-end Rule Pathway and Its Functions in Chromosome Segregation, Peptide Import, Meiosis and Angiogenesis" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in 101 Thomas Building, and "Understanding the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System" at 11:15 a.m. Friday, Sept. 21, in 101 Thomas Building.
Varshavsky's research focuses on the ubiquitin system, which mediates and regulates the degradation of proteins within cells.
His studies in the 1980s, when he was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with A. Hershko of Technion in Israel, created the modern era of ubiquitin research.
The Marker Lectures were established in 1984 through a gift from Russell Earl Marker, professor emeritus of chemistry, whose pioneering synthetic methods revolutionized the steroid hormone industry and opened the door on the current era of hormone therapies, including the birth-control pill.