Awards
Penn State Intercom......January
24, 2002
Biology professor presented
with
a student-alumni teaching award 
Charles Fisher, professor of biology, has been selected as the winner of the C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Sponsored by the Eberly College of Science Student Council and Alumni Society, the award represents the highest honor for undergraduate teaching in the college. The winner is chosen by a committee of students and faculty from nominees suggested by students, faculty and alumni. The award includes a monetary grant and the inscription of recipient's name on a plaque.
Fisher has taught a broad range of biology and ecology courses at the University since he joined the faculty in 1990. In addition to his classroom work, Fisher also offers students the opportunity to be members of his research team. Approximately 54 undergraduate students have worked in Fisher's laboratory in the past five years, and every undergraduate student who has been a co-author on one of his research papers has gone on to either medical school or graduate school.
Fisher's research interests include the ecology of hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep organisms living on the ocean floor, including the wide range of symbiotic and chemical processes on which their life depends.
Fisher also participates in the Research and Education: Volcanoes, Exploration and Life program designed to provide research experiences for middle-school and high-school teachers. In addition, he serves as assistant department head for graduate education in the Department of Biology.
Fisher joined the University faculty in 1990 as an assistant professor and was named associate professor in 1995 and professor in 1999. He earned his doctoral degree in biological sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1985 and his bachelor's degree in biology at Michigan State University in 1976.
University wins environmental
excellence award
The Office of Physical Plant, Housing and Food Services, and the College of Agricultural Sciences jointly were recognized recently with the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence coordinated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for their innovative processing of organic materials.
The Organic Materials Processing and Education Center, a collaborative project among all the units, processes dining hall food waste into compost, which ends up as high-quality flower bed mulch all over the University Park campus.
The Organic Materials Processing and Education Center grew from a small pilot project in one dining common to a campus-wide program that now services seven dining commons, three hospitality service units and the Bennett Family Center. Food wastes and landscape debris collected from campus are mixed with manure from the University's dairy herd to create compost which is used for landscaping, turf maintenance and research projects.
During the past academic year, the center collected 340 tons of food scraps and 173 tons of leaves, which saved the University $16, 631 in avoided landfill disposal costs. Also, there is the additional benefit of free mulch. The composting center also enhances the University's teaching, research and educational outreach efforts by providing students, faculty and others the opportunity to learn about source separation, waste management and backyard composting. The project is helping the University meet the state's goal of recycling 35 percent of its waste by 2003.
3 honored at Pennsylvania
College of Technology
The School of Business and Computer Technologies at Pennsylvania College of Technology presented two teaching awards recently and honored a faculty member who retired after 36 years of service to the school and college.
Elizabeth A. Dahlgren, assistant professor of business administration, received the Distinctive Teaching Award. The award recognizes the faculty member in the School of Business and Computer Technologies who best exemplifies the attributes consistent with quality instruction.
Steven J. Moff, assistant professor of business administration/marketing, received the Distinctive Service and Professionalism Award, which recognizes the faculty member in the School of Business and Computer Technologies who best exemplifies the attributes consistent with quality service to the college, community and/or profession.
The school also celebrated the service of Alex Bailey, professor of business administration, who retired in December following 36 years of teaching.