LAtimes December 2006 Issue

Dean's Message

Graduate Program Issues

Improvement of graduate programs has been a top strategic priority during the past decade. If we wish to be one of the top departments among our peers in each of our disciplines, graduate program quality is essential. Recruiting top students, educating them well, and placing at least a significant portion in top flight research university departments are key aspects of graduate program quality. To this end, during the last several years Ray Lombra, and now Jack Selzer, have worked with our graduate program directors, department heads, and the Graduate School to provide additional financial support for our graduate programs and to facilitate exchanges of best practices among them.

I am pleased with the advances that our departments have made in this area. For example, our fall, 2006 entering class had the highest GREs ever, with a mean score of 1,296 on the verbal and quantitative sections, and most of our departments had entering classes averaging 1,250 or more. Our average GPA stayed constant compared with the past two years at over 3.7 (see table below). The increased size and improved flexibility of our financial packages for students have helped us attract these outstanding students. We have diminished the overall size of our programs, somewhat, in order to support fewer students better. A prominent goal of the College in the next Penn State fund-raising campaign will be to increase the number of our graduate fellowships, to further enhance our competitiveness.

New Graduate Student Quality Indicators

Fall 2004			Fall 2005			Fall 2006
GREs (V+Q)	GPA	New Students	GREs (V+Q)	GPA	New Students	GREs (V+Q)	GPA	New Students
1,242	3.72	183	1,250	3.70	194	1,296	3.71	162

Many departments have revitalized and streamlined their graduate curricula. All qualified humanities and some social science dissertation students are able to spend a semester focused on dissertation research, and in the social sciences, an increasing number of graduate students are being supported on research funds. Over time, we have made significant improvements in placement as well. Our top placements of 2005 and 2006 were at the University of Illinois (comparative literature, CAS, English), University of North Carolina (English), and McGill (philosophy), and postdocs at Michigan (sociology, psychology), Stanford (psychology), and Penn (psychology). However, our most recent information (2002–2006 compared with 1996–2002) shows that placement success at research universities has not substantially improved during the past three years. I am concerned about this, because strong placements are part of the justification for increased investments in graduate programs. On the other hand, our humanities units improved their placement into tenure track appointments, as contrasted with fixed term ones, and that is a step in the right direction. I certainly do not think it is either practical or desirable to place every student in a research university; and I also recognize that a substantial number of social science graduates are now beginning their careers with post-doc appointments that should lead to strong appointments later. However, given the quality of the students we are attracting, we should be able to place forty percent in what used to be known as R1 institutions. Recognizing that first placements are far from the whole story, we are currently analyzing information on placements three years after receiving the Ph.D., and I will have more to report on that. Meanwhile, though, I encourage each department to continue focusing on ways to improve the placement success of their students.

Diversity is another important issue in graduate recruitment. This year, about twelve percent of our students were minority students and another thirty percent international students, proportions that were very similar to last year. In collaboration with the Graduate School, we are working hard to compete for talented minority students.

Overall, then, we have made considerable progress in the quality and outcomes of our graduate programs during the past decade. At the same time, we cannot rest on our laurels. Other institutions are moving ahead too, so we need to continue our trajectory toward greater quality.

I wish you the very best for the rest of the semester and the holidays. I hope you can join us for the holiday party on Monday, December 11 at 3:30–5:30 p.m. in the Hintz Family Alumni Center.

Regards,
Susan Welch

Faculty News

Honors

Darrell Steffensmeier , professor of sociology and crime, law, and justice, won the American Society of Criminology's 2006 Michael J. Hindelang Award for "the most outstanding contribution to research in criminology for the past three years" for his most recent book, Confessions of a Dying Thief.

Grants

John B. Casterline, professor of sociology and demography, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, for “Consequences of Unwanted Fertility for Children.”

Nancy S. Landale, director of population research institute and professor of sociology and demography, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for the Population Research Institute.

James Lantolf, director of the Center for Language Acquisition and Greer Professor in Language Acquisition and Professor of Applied Linguistics, and Karen E. Johnson, professor of applied linguistics, from the U.S. Department of Education, for the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER).

Laureen O. Teti, assistant director, Child Study Center, and Marsali Hansen, director of the Child and Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP), from the Dauphin County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Program, for “System of Care/Parent Consultation.”

Theresa Vescio, associate professor of psychology and women's studies, from the National Science Foundation, for international travel to the European Social Cognition Network Meeting.

Lectures and Symposia

Red Weather Reading Series

Elrena Evans
December 7, 8 p.m.
118 Thomas Building

Elrena Evans holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Penn State. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Literary Mama, Mothering, Time of Singing, MotherVerse, Mamazine, and the Random House anthology Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers: The Best New Voices of 2006. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, a baby on the way, two cats, and about 550 books.

Comparative Literaure Luncheon Series:

Comparative Literature Luncheon is a weekly informal lunchtime gathering of students, faculty, and other members of the University community. Each week there is a short (twenty minute) presentation, by a visitor or a local speaker, on a topic related to any humanities discipline.

Jonathan Eburne (jpe11@psu.edu) is the coordinator for the series this semester. We meet Mondays in 102 Kern at about 12:15 p.m. When we meet in 102 Kern, you can bring your lunch or buy a lunch tray in Kern Cafeteria (next door) and bring it into 102. Coffee and tea are provided in 102 (no charge). When we meet elsewhere, coffee and tea will be provided (again, you are welcome to bring your lunch). The speaker will begin at about 12:40 p.m. Allowing a few minutes for discussion, we'll conclude in time for classes that meet at 1:25 p.m. All students, faculty, colleagues, and friends are welcome.

Speakers:

Monday, December 11
Philip Jenkins (Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and History, Penn State): "Reading the Bible in the Global South"

The Child Study Center's 2006–07 Stoll Lecture Series:

Ed Kame'enui, Ph.D., Commissioner, The National Center for Special Education Research Institute of Educational Sciences, Washington, D.C. "The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the Translation of Research to Practice in a Flat World: Ode to Bloch, Friedman, and Miss Piggy."

January 18, 2007, 4:15 p.m.
Alumni Lounge
The Nittany Lion Inn

WebEvents Calendar

The WebEvents Calendar features lectures, talks, and conferences sponsored by units within the College of the Liberal Arts. If you have something that you would like posted to the calendar for your department, please send entry submissions to Katy Heltman.

Staff News

Holiday Party

College faculty and staff are invited to the College holiday party, Monday, December 11, from 3:30–5:30 p.m. at the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Mark your calendar. We hope to see you there!

United Way Campaign

The Liberal Arts United Way Committee would like to thank all those who participated in the auction (donators of items/baskets, bidders, and winners). Based on the wonderful generosity of all those mentioned and despite the technical glitches with our software, we were able to raise $1,185 toward this year's campaign.

New Colleagues

Mindy Boffemmyer, staff assistant VI, African and African American Studies, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, and Women's Studies

Julianna Chaszar, academic counselor, Office of Undergraduate Studies

Stephanie Cramer, staff assistant VI, English

Benjamin Deweese, senior research technologist, Psychology

Shane Freehauf, information technology specialist, Liberal Arts Computer Support Services

Lasha Hardy, staff assistant V, Africana Research Center

Shirley Irvin, staff assistant VII, Political Science

Courtney Orr, academic counselor, Office of Undergraduate Studies

Clinton Reese, planning specialist, English

Catherine Steffan, college relations assistant, Alumni Relations and Development

Heather Summerlin, staff assistant VI, Office of the Dean

Katherine Swanger, staff assistant VI, Office of the Associate Dean for Graduate and Undergraduate Education

Margaret Yetter, staff assistant V, English

Transfers

Michael Renne, network systems specialist, Liberal Arts Computer Support Services

Promotions

Michelle Aitkin, staff assistant VII, Outreach, Office of the Dean

Linda Bell, program assistant, Sociology, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing

Elaine Berrena, research support associate, Psychology

Wendy Fultz, administrative assistant IV, Anthropology

Jennifer Gilbert, staff assistant VI, History, Religious Studies, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Regina Lozinski, research support associate, Psychology

Lynn Sebulsky, staff assistant VI, Economics

Departures

Amy Heldreth, staff assistant VI, History, Religious Studies, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Constance Stahlman, finance and accounting assistant, Financial Office, Office of the Dean

Erin Ulrich, research support associate, Sociology, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing

Does Penn State Know Where to Send your 2006 W2?

Is your address up to date? It is important that all faculty and staff maintain a current home address with the University. The only method for changing your home address is to file a new W4 form. A current address assures that the University can communicate with all faculty and staff on a timely basis and also assures that the money that is being deducted from each pay for PA local income tax is being forwarded to the correct municipality. Please be sure your information is accurate. All employees can view their current home address information through the ESSIC system: www.ohr.psu.edu/essic

December Holiday Schedule Announced

Except for essential services and operations, University offices and operations will close at the end of normal business times on Friday, December 22, and will reopen at normal starting times on Wednesday, January 3, 2007.

In keeping with this schedule, biweekly payroll checks will be distributed on Friday, December 22 and will be negotiable on that date. Monthly payroll checks will be distributed before the closedown begins, but will be dated Friday, December 29, and will not be negotiable before then. Automatic deposit to checking accounts will not occur early.

Questions regarding this holiday schedule should be directed to the Liberal Arts Human Resources Office—865-6487.

Liberal Arts Parking Hours

If you need to obtain or exchange parking permits, please come to Room 111 Sparks Building, Monday through Friday, from 9–11 a.m. and 2–4 p.m. only. Please remember to bring your license plate number(s) with you when you register for your permit. Once you have a permit, please be sure you report new or changed license plate numbers to Heather Summerlin at hms181@psu.edu or 865-7691. As a reminder, if you are leaving the College, you will need to return your parking permit to 111 Sparks Building.