New at Penn State
Penn State Intercom......August 22, 2002

Penn State Harrisburg
announces partnership

Penn State Harrisburg has taken over management of a mathematics and science teaching institute that has been used by many mid-state school districts. The move is expected to improve the chances for obtaining grants to run the Capital Area Institute for Mathematics and Science, which has a staff of about five.

The change in oversight came after the institute's money was jeopardized. For years, it relied on $450,000 a year or more from the Whitaker Foundation. Those funds are scheduled to cease within the next five years.

"Penn State does have the systems in place, and they have the legitimacy and the foundation, and they are well-known for getting grants," said Patricia Garcia, executive director of the Council for Public Education, which ran the institute until July 1.

At least 600 central Pennsylvania teachers and administrators have received training at the institute over the years. Nearly all districts in the region take part in the training, use the institute's hands-on science kits, or get math and science curriculum help from the institute.

The institute retains its name and is to remain in its leased offices for at least two years, while self-assessment and planning are undertaken. It is being operated as part of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, according to center director Steven A. Melnick.

A team from Penn State Harrisburg, including assistant professor Caroline Owens and associate professor Judith L. Zaenglein, will guide the institute and develop policies, while Melnick will become project director. Melnick is the principle investigator of the grant.

Web-based certificate program

The College of Communications has launched a five-course, Web-based Communications Studies Certificate. The certificate program has been a work in progress for two years, and this fall is the first time all five courses will be available through the World Campus.

Dean Doug Anderson said the certificate program originally grew out of a request from campus executives who wanted a collection of theory-based communications courses on which they could build their own communications programs and retain students at their campuses. The certificate program, Anderson noted, also is of value to anyone wanting a general background in communications or wanting to find out if communications is a field they want to pursue for a career.

The courses in the certificate program are: mass media and society, mass media history, law of mass communications, news media ethics, and the mass media and the public. The five faculty members teaching the course are tenured or tenure-track faculty, Anderson said.

In addition to the communications studies certificate, the college offers a Web-based independent learning course in newswriting and reporting and a cohort course in the literature of journalism, both at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Additional information on the certificate can be found at http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/comm/index.shtml on the Web.

Back