Appointments
Penn State Intercom......August
15, 2002
Associate dean named in
Schreyer Honors College 
Clay Calvert, associate professor of communications and law in the College of Communications, has been named associate dean in the Schreyer Honors College.
Calvert has served for many years as an honors adviser, supervised honors theses and has taught numerous honors seminars. His administrative duties include directing the College of Communication's First-Year Seminar Program and serving as co-director for the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment.
Calvert will be responsible in the Schreyer Honors College for the honors course schedule, honor adviser orientations, honors faculty workshops, the Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate degree program and the seed grant program for course development.
Calvert joined the University in 1996 as an assistant professor of communications and law. He became associate professor in 2001. He is a member of the State Bar of California, holding both a juris doctorate from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law and a doctoral degree in communication from Stanford University.
New director of Technology
Development named at Hershey 
Alan J. Snyder was named the new director of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Office of Technology Development.
Mel Billingsley, the former director, stepped down to take over as president and chief executive officer of the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central PA Inc.
In this role, Snyder will oversee the office, an administrative unit responsible for assisting medical center personnel with issues involving intellectual property and encouraging research that leads to commercialization. The office also facilitates licensing of medical center technology to businesses. Snyder will maintain his appointments as professor of surgery in the College of Medicine and professor of bioengineering in the College of Engineering. He also is assistant chief, Section of Artificial Organs, for the medical center.
Rinaudo appointed director
of Project Lead the Way 
Eileen Rinaudo has accepted the position as executive director of Project Lead The Way at Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley College.
Project Lead The Way is a program for middle schools and high schools that allows students to explore the world of technology and engineering through a series of comprehensive courses.
Rinaudo earned a master of science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., and a bachelor of science degree from Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y. Previously, she worked for Agere Systems / Lucent Technologies.
Assmann appointed Waller
professor in plant biology
Sarah M. Assmann, professor of biology, has been named the Waller professor in plant biology.
A world leader in the field of plant-cell signal transduction, Assmann studies how plants receive and respond to stimuli from the environment. In particular, she studies guard cells located on the surface of plant leaves. The activity and regulation of those cells plays a vital role in drought tolerance and photosynthesis.
The Louis Waller professorship in plant biology was established by Louis Waller and is intended to provide a faculty member with the necessary resources for research in plant electrophysiology to effect the healing and growth of plants.
After joining the University faculty as an associate professor in 1993, Assmann was named professor in 1997.
Before coming to the University, Assmann was an associate professor at Harvard University. She earned her doctoral degree in biology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1986 and her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude in biology, from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., in 1980.