Lectures
Penn State Intercom......February
20, 2003
Science lecture looks
at settling the moon
A free public lecture, "Settling the Moon: The Challenge and the Possible Rewards," will be given Feb. 22 by James D. Burke, an aeronautical engineer with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an adviser to the Planetary Society.
Burke's presentation will take place from 11 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. in 100 Thomas Building on the University Park campus.
The lecture is the fifth of six consecutive Saturday-morning lectures during the 2003 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science. The series, "Beyond Earth: Living on Other Worlds," is designed to be a free minicourse for the enjoyment and education of Central Pennsylvania residents.
Burke will discuss scientific developments that are needed for the establishment of a settlement on the moon, including closed ecological life-support systems using lunar resources, research to reveal the nature of the putative lunar polar ices and fundamental knowledge of human interactive behavior under stress.
For information, call (814) 863-8453, e-mail science@psu.edu, or click on the Web link at http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/frontiers/FrontiersIndex.html.
e-Portfolio talk will examine
challenges, services
The University's e-Portfolio Initiative will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 28 in 141 Computer Building on the University Park campus. This is the first in a series of three Technologies for Learning Forum seminars sponsored by Information Technology Services.
The speaker will be Glenn Johnson, instructional designer and project manager of the e-Portfolio Initiative. This will be a discussion-based presentation that will review the services newly available at http://portfolio.psu.edu and present the issues and challenges related to e-Portfolio development.
Participants may bring a lunch and a beverage. To reserve a seat, register online at http://its.psu.edu/training/. For more information on the Technologies for Learning Forum series, check the Web at http://tlt.its.psu.edu/fmc/teach/.
Watershed runoff topic
of hydrosystems talk
Ying Fan Reinfelder,
a member of the Department of Geological Sciences at Rutgers University,
will speak on "Modeling Watershed Runoff: Is There
a Fundamental Scale?" from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, in the
Stavely Conference Room, 202 Hammond Building on the University Park campus.
The talk is part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Hydrosystems Seminar Series.
This study explores the use of natural hill slopes as the elemental units in formulating a distributed watershed model.
Comparative Literature
luncheon series continues
Alice Sheppard, assistant professor of English and comparative literature, will speak Feb. 24 on "Reading King Alfred in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," as the next Comparative Literature Luncheon speaker.
The event is a weekly, informal lunchtime gathering of students, faculty and other members of the University community.
The events begin with lunch from 12:15 to 12:40 p.m. in 102 Kern Building on the University Park campus. Participants may bring their own lunch or buy something in Kern Cafeteria. Coffee and tea are provided. The speaker will begin at about 12:40 p.m.
The event is free to the public.
Author to discuss new
history of commonwealth
Randall M. Miller, William Dirk Warren '50 sesquicentennial chair and professor of history at St. Joseph's University and one of the editors of the book Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth, will speak at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in the Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library on the University Park campus. Miller will give brief remarks, followed by a book-signing session.
Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth, edited by Miller and William Pencak, professor of history at Penn State, is the first comprehensive history of the state in more than 20 years. The event is sponsored by the Penn State University Press, the University Libraries, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
For information, call (814) 865-0401.
'Arts in Healing' conference
set for March 27-29
The University's Arts and Health Outreach Initiative (AHOI) will hold its first conference, "Arts in Healing, Arts in Health Care," March 27-29 in the College of Medicine at Hershey Medical Center. Topics to be covered include research on and practice in how the arts interface with and enhance healing and health care; personal stories of healing in which the arts played a pivotal role; and a look at arts-infused caring-for-the-caregiver models and exemplary national arts in medicine programs. An optional, hands-on immersion experience in using and promoting the arts for self-care will be offered on Saturday afternoon, capped by a poetry reading by nurse-poet Judy Schaefer and other poets in The Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine, in the College of Medicine.
AHOI is a partnership-based collaboration devoted to demonstrating and documenting the interrelationships between the arts and health, supported by the Colleges of Arts and Architecture, Health and Human Development, and Medicine, and Penn State Outreach and Cooperative Extension. In addition to a roster of faculty speakers representing the AHOI partners, keynote presenters to be featured at the conference include Dr. Michael Magee, director, Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative and senior fellow in humanities to the World Medical Association; Mary Rockwood Land, co-founder of Shands Arts in Medicine, University of Florida; Dr. John Graham-Pole, co-founder and medical director of Shands Arts in Medicine, and professor of pediatrics and pediatric hospice director, University of Florida; Amy Hamblin, art program director, University of Washington Medical Center; and Dr. Barry Bittman, CEO and medical director, Meadville Medical Center's Mind-Body Wellness Center.
Additional features of the conference include an interactive rhythm-based activities with clinical intent workshop led by Mark Seaman, drummer and facilitator of ongoing programs for the Caron Foundation Drug and Alcohol Rehab Center, Wernersville; and a performance of an original theatre piece on eating disorders, "Body Loathing, Body Love," by University Park Ensemble under the artistic direction of Barry Kur, professor of theatre. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons' touring art show, "eMotion Pictures: An Exhibition of Orthopedics in Art," and selected works from The "Visible Skeleton" Series created by Laura Ferguson, also will be on display during the conference.
For a detailed conference agenda and to register, check the Web at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/ArtsInHealing.
Disability Studies lectures
continue in March
The University's Rock Ethics Institute will sponsor or co-sponsor a variety of lectures this spring on the University Park campus. As part of the Disability Studies Lecture Series, poet, essayist and activist Eli Clare will present "Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies" on March 4. On March 31, Susan Squier, the Brill professor of women's studies, will present "Meditating on Disability" as the final lecture in that series.
Also, the Rock Ethics Institute Disability Studies Initiative is co-sponsoring a lecture titled "The Laws of Disability Studies: Gender, Disability and the Politics of Discrimination by Appearance," which will be given by Susan Sweik at 3 p.m. April 29.
According to Nancy Tuana, director of the Rock Ethics Institute, the lectures are designed to provide an opportunity to think about critical ethical issues surrounding these topics, as well as publicizing the initiatives of the institute to encourage those with common interests to participate.
For more information, call the Rock Ethics Institute at (814) 863-0314 or check the Web at http://philosophy.la.psu.edu/ethics.
Role of soil analysis in
potassium supply explored
Tore Krogstad, chair of the Department of Soil and Water Sciences in Aas, Norway, will give a presentation from 3:35 to 4:25 p.m. Feb. 21 in 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building on the University Park campus.
He will speak on "Soil Analysis as Predictors of Potassium Supply to Grass and to Achieve Good Mineral Balance."
The host for the event is the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
For information, call (814) 863-1601.