Partings
Penn State Intercom......January
17, 2002
Professor, author says
farewell to Fayette
Evelyn Hovanec, associate
professor of English and American studies, has retired with emeritus status
from Penn State Fayette after 35 years.
Hovanec, who has been a full-time professor at Penn State Fayette since its inception, has written a variety of texts on the history of Fayette County, including her newest work, Common Lives of Uncommon Strength: the Women of the Coal and Coke Era of Southwestern Pennsylvania 1880-1970. She also created and taught the curriculum for the campus' mining engineering programs. Later, this coursework would develop into the Coal and Coke Research Center.
Hovanec holds baccalaureate and master's degrees in social studies and English from Duquesne University. She taught in Pittsburgh's parochial and public schools before coming to Penn State Fayette.
Hovanec served on the University Senate and other committees, including the Tenure Review Committee, the University Pass-Fail Committee and the University Planning Advisory Committee.
Hovanec has received the Excellence in Service Award from both Penn State Fayette and Penn State
McKeesport, as well as the Excellence in Teaching Award from Penn State Fayette, and the Penn State Faculty Award from Fayette campus minority student association.
In her retirement, Hovanec plans to take a trip to Alaska, or cruise along the Eastern shoreline.
Art history professor
had distinguished career
Hellmut Hager, former head
of the Department of Art History, Evan Pugh professor and Fellow of the
Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies, retired with emeritus status
in December after 30 years at the University. 
Hager, who was named distinguished professor in 1990, joined the art history faculty in 1971 at the rank of professor. He became department head in 1972, holding that position until 1996.
Before coming to Penn State, Hager, a native of Berlin, conducted research in Italy and served as assistant to the director of the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck-Institut) in Rome, where he advised visiting scholars and doctoral degree candidates. He also taught study abroad courses to art historians from Germany and was a visiting lecturer at Penn State in 1968.
Hager, whose research has focused on the career of Italian architect Carlo Fontana, has written six books and more than 50 articles and reviews, in addition to serving as editor and contributing author for several other publications. He has lectured throughout the United States and Europe, evaluated research projects for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation and other institutions, and served as a consultant for several major exhibitions in Italy. In 1993, Hager was elected a member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome, which was founded in 1577.
The Department of Art History dedicated its 1989-90 lecture series to Hager and published volume VIII of the Papers in Art History from Penn State in his honor in 1992.
Hager, who holds degrees from Freie Universität in Berlin, Universität Cologne and Universität Bonn, will concentrate on his research during his retirement. He is currently completing a monograph on Carlo Fontana with London scholar Allan Braham.
Penn State Erie registrar
announces retirement
Robert R. Schenker, senior registrar since 1979 at Penn State Erie, retired on Sept. 30 with 33 years of service to the University.
Schenker earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree in social studies education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Penn State Erie, he taught for five years in the Meadville and Fort LeBoeuf school districts. In 1968, he joined the McKeesport campus and became an area representative for continuing and distance education at Penn State Erie in 1971.
During his tenure as registrar, enrollment at Penn State Erie increased from 1,700 students to 3,800 and the college went from offering eight majors to 29 majors and two master's degree programs. Schenker managed a staff that grew from two in 1979 to five at the time of his retirement.
In retirement, Schenker and his wife, Carolyn, plan to travel and do volunteer work in the community.
Professor of medicine ends
distinguished career
Rodrigue Mortel has announced his retirement, marking 30 years at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
He has a long and accomplished history in medicine. Following graduation from the Medical School of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mortel spent one year in graduate study in Montreal before entering the United States in 1963. He trained at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital in obstetrics and gynecology and later subspecialized in gynecologic oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Mortel joined the College of Medicine in 1972, became a full professor in 1977 and was named chair, obstetrics and gynecology, in 1983. He held that position for nearly 13 years before his promotion in 1995 to associate dean and director of the Penn State Cancer Center.
After studying in the cancer research laboratories at the University of Paris, Mortel became a fellow of the Ligue Nationale Francaise Contre le Cancer, conducted extensive research in his laboratory at the University and delivered to the academic community a new method of treating women with cancer of the uterus.
In 1988, Mortel became one of six Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows selected by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He served for one year as a health aide to U.S. Rep. Sander Levin of the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. He has been a member of the advisory board of the National Cancer Institute since 1979 and served as legislative watchdog for the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists while he led the society's effort in establishing a gynecologic oncology section within the National Cancer Institute.
Mortel has published one book, 135 articles and chapters in books as well as editorials in the New York Times and the Washington Post. He received the U.S. Public Health Service Award in 1970, the Horatio Alger Award in 1985 and the Faculty Scholar Medal from the University for outstanding achievement in the area of life and health sciences in 1986. He was president of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Society of Gynecologic Oncologists in 1980, creator and founding chairman of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation and became in 1994 president of the American Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.
Parks, recreation expert
had 32-year career
Monty L. Christiansen, associate professor of recreation and parks management in the College of Health and Human Development, retired Sept. 30 after 32 years of service to the University.
Christiansen has been actively involved in park planning and playground safety risk management for more than 30 years and is internationally recognized as one of the leading experts in playground safety. He is a certified leisure professional, a certified playground safety inspector, a certified pesticide applicator and a certified aquatic facility manager.
Christiansen serves as the National Recreation and Parks Association's official delegate to the American Society of Testing and Materials Public Playground Safety Committee and is the U.S. delegate to the U.S./Canadian Standards Harmonization Board, which is preparing the first North American playground safety standards.
Christiansen was selected this past October as the first recipient of the Distinguished Fellow Award from the National Playground Safety Institute. He is a charter member and past chairman of the institute.
He is the author or editor of half a dozen books and the proceedings of two international conferences on playground safety, which he chaired. Christiansen also has received several professional awards.
Christiansen is past president of both the Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society and the National Society for Park Resources.
Several have retired
with emeritus ranking
The following individuals have earned emeritus rank from the University for their longstanding and productive years of service:
Ronald P. Danner, professor emeritus of chemical engineering in College of Engineering, from July 1, 1967, to Sept. 30.
Winand K. Hock, professor emeritus of plant pathology in College of Agricultural Sciences, from Aug. 19, 1974, to Oct. 1.
Richard D. Twark, associate professor emeritus of quantitative business analysis in The Smeal College of Business Administration, from Sept. 1, 1966, to July 3.
Beno Weiss, professor emeritus of Italian in College of the Liberal Arts, from Sept. 1, 1969, to July 3.
William A. Welsh Jr., director and associate professor emeritus of engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, from Sept. 1, 1971, to Sept. 1.
Richard H. Fox, professor emeritus of soil science in College of Agricultural Sciences, from Jan. 6, 1975, to Jan. 1.
George M. Greene, associate professor emeritus of pomology in College of Agricultural Sciences, from July 1, 1966, to Jan. 1.