Appointments
Penn State Intercom......January
24, 2002
Director named to University's
Environmental Consortium
William E. Easterling, professor of geography and earth system science in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has been named director of the Environmental Consortium.
Easterling succeeds
Archie McDonnell, who retired from the University in October.
In addition, David R. DeWalle, professor of forest hydrology, with a long-standing joint appointment with the School of Forest Resources and ERRI, has been named associate director of the Environmental Consortium. DeWalle will also assume responsibilities as director of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center.
The consortium was
established in January 2000 to increase the visibility of the University's
environmental research, education and outreach programs, to facilitate
the ability of faculty and students to address opportunities that require
interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration, and to engender new research
and education directions. Easterling also will serve as director of the
Environmental Resources Research Institute that is now a part of the Environmental
Consortium. 
Easterling researches the interactions of global environmental change, food security and environmental conservation. He received his bachelor's degree in geography and history, master's degree in economic geography and doctoral degree in geography-climatology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before coming to the University in 1997 as an associate professor, he was interim director of the National Institute for Global Environmental Change, a consortium of six university-based regional research centers reporting to the U.S. Department of Energy and held faculty positions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Illinois-Champagne-Urbana. Before that, Easterling was director of the Great Plains Regional Center for Global Environmental Change in Lincoln, Nebraska; was a fellow in the climate resources program, Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C.; and held associate professional scientist and professional scientist positions in the climate and meteorology section of the Illinois State Water Survey.
DeWalle researches issues of acidification and its effects on forest ecosystem health and has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters on the subject. His area of expertise also includes snow hydrology, on which he is writing a book.
DeWalle came to the University in 1969. He has served as assistant director for research and graduate studies and forest science program chair in the School of Forest Resources. As a Heinz fellow and executive board member of the Center for Watershed Stewardship, he helped create the graduate option in watershed stewardship.
DeWalle received his bachelor's degree in forest management and master's degree in forest hydrology from the University of Missouri, and doctorate in watershed management from Colorado State University.
New director appointed
for Industrial Research Office
Tanna M. Pugh has been named director of the Industrial Research Office, a unit in the Office of the Vice President for Research.
The office assists companies in identifying and accessing University research centers and faculty expertise and works to foster University-industry partnerships.
Pugh previously served the office as acting director and associate director. Since joining the office in 1997, Pugh has established multiple research alliances with industrial partners, created an electronic tool for managing account information and linked office activities more closely with Penn State's other technology transfer activities.
A University alumna with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, Pugh held sales and marketing management positions with Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Lord Corp. and NL Industries.
She is an industrial counselor to the University's Student Chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.
New director of alumni
relations begins work at Smeal
Aimee L. Hamilton has joined The Smeal College of Business Administration as director of alumni relations.
In her new role, Hamilton will plan and implement various activities for the nearly 62,000 alumni of the college.
Hamilton has spent the majority of her professional career in the financial services industry, working in the municipal securities divisions of Prudential Securities, CSFB and First Southwest Co.
A 1983 graduate of
Harvard University, she received her bachelor of arts degree in psychology
and social relations. She earned her master's degree in public and private
management from the Yale
University School of Management in 1990.
Assistant professor of materials
science named faculty fellow
Evangelos Manias, assistant
professor of materials science and engineering, has been named the Virginia
S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. faculty fellow in materials science and engineering,
in recognition of his contributions in the field of polymer/inorganic
nanocomposites. 
The fellowship provides funds to an outstanding faculty member of the Department Materials Science and Engineering to assist in teaching, research and service to the University and the public.
Manias, a graduate of the Department of Physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, received his doctoral degree from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, in polymer physical chemistry in 1995. He then joined the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Cornell University as a post-doctoral research scholar and in 1998 took his current position at Penn State as assistant professor of materials science and engineering.
Manias' research group focuses on polymers in nanoscopic confinements and near-solid surfaces, and includes polymer/layered-inorganic nanocomposite materials, as well as AFM and molecular modeling studies of polymeric nanostructures.
More information about his research and teaching activities can be found at http://zeus.plmsc.psu.edu.
Penn State New Kensington
library sees new leadership
Jennifer Gilley was recently appointed head of the Elisabeth S. Blissell Library at Penn State New Kensington, where she previously worked as reference librarian. Before coming to Penn State, she gained library experience serving as technical services librarian at the Whitehall Public Library in Pittsburgh.
Gilley's focus is to increase usage of the library's resources, both in the library and on the Web (http://www.nk.psu.edu/library/index.html). Through an online tutorial still in development, Gilley hopes to raise the level of information literacy among New Kensington students.
Additionally, Gilley is working with her staff to assess and improve the library's collection. She also is promoting the library's new status as a federal depository library.
Gilley earned a bachelor's degree in English from Hiram College, Ohio; a master's degree in women's studies from The Ohio State University; and a master's degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dean selected for Industrial
and Engineering Technologies
Lawrence J. Fryda has been named dean of the School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
He succeeds Eric K. Albert, who decided to return to a teaching position at Penn College. Albert is associate professor of machine tool tech-nology/automated manufacturing in the School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies.
Fryda comes to Penn College after eight years at Central Michigan University, where he was chairperson and a professor in the Department of Industrial and Engineering Technology.
Before that, Fryda was an associate professor and sequence coordinator in the Industrial Technology Department at Illinois State University for nine years. He spent approximately 12 years teaching electronics at Central Community College, Hastings, Neb., and other institutions.
Fryda has published articles and papers in numerous national and international journals, and he has been a presenter at several conferences.
At Central Michigan University, Fryda was instrumental in two international exchanges -- with Monterrey Institute of Technology, Toluca, Mexico, and with a Russian university.
Fryda earned his doctoral degree in vocational administration from Colorado State University. He earned a master's degree in master teacher, a bachelor's degree in vocational education and an associate degree in industrial electronics from the University of South Dakota.
Director of instructional
technology named at Penn College
Jennifer McLean has been appointed director of instructional technology and distance learning at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
McLean succeeds Fred Gilmour, who retired this year after 20 years of service to the college.
McLean earned bachelor's degrees in English and biology from Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., and a master's degree in public health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is completing a graduate degree in adult education at Penn State.
In the past, McLean developed multimedia and Web-supplemented instructor ancillaries and student study aids for academic publishers, worked as an editor and content expert for several publishers, and taught distance-learning courses in health education at two institutions.