Dean's Message
Semester Closes on High Note
It’s difficult to believe that the semester is almost finished, but fall commencement is now less than three weeks away. At the University’s ceremony on December 22, we will be honoring around 400 Liberal Arts students graduating with bachelors’ degrees and several dozen more who will be awarded masters or Ph.Ds.
A high point of the semester was the recent reception honoring the twenty-one new named, distinguished, and Liberal Arts professors. You will find a list of those honored in the faculty section below. It is a testimony to the outstanding quality of our faculty that so many of our senior colleagues are internationally recognized in their fields for the quality and impact of their work. Congratulations, again, to this distinguished group!
We are also closing out the semester on a high note on our development campaign. Last May I wrote that we had received $16.5 million in gifts in the first few months of the campaign. We will be finishing the calendar year having received more than $25 million in this first year of the For the Future campaign. Though much of what we have raised is in the form of estate gifts that may not be realized for some time, we are already receiving significant funds that are supporting faculty, helping provide more competitive packages for a greater number of incoming graduate students, and assisting undergraduates with both scholarships and aid to study abroad or undertake internships. As a side note, the $25 million raised this year is three times what we received in the entire seven years of the first Penn State campaign in the 1980s, and almost half of what we received in the seven years of the Grand Destiny Campaign that we completed four years ago. Congratulations to Sophie Penney and her development staff, along with all the faculty and staff throughout the College who have participated in one way or another in this first campaign year, and to our lead volunteers, led by Bruce Miller.
In addition to honoring our faculty and students and helping raise money for the College, I have been spending time in the waning weeks of the semester reviewing strategic plan drafts presented by our departments. I am preparing to send to each department head a critique of the draft plan and suggestions for refinement in the final plan, which is due March 1. Many departments wrote strong and well considered plans, but I am urging additional focus and specificity on the steps that will elevate the quality and accomplishments of each department. Plans that look realistically at the strengths and weaknesses of the department and move to build on the strengths are those that have the best chance of making a difference.
With all good wishes for a successful end of the semester and a joyous holiday season.
Faculty News
Distinguished Faculty
At a ceremony November 13, Dean Welch honored the twenty-one faculty who received distinguished faculty honors over the past year. The following professors were recognized.
Liberal Arts Research Professors
Bernard Bell, Liberal Arts Research Professor of English
Vincent Colapietro, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Philosophy
Cheryl Glenn, Liberal Arts Research Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Karen Johnson, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Applied Linguistics
Kala Krishna, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Economics
Robert Marshall, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Economics
Jenae Neiderhiser, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Psychology
Dennis Schmidt, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Philosophy, Comparative Literature, and German
Distinguished Professors
Paul Amato, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Demography
Patrick Cheney, Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Michael Hecht, Distinguished Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Crime, Law, and Justice
Vijay Krishna, Distinguished Professor of Economics
Judith Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women’s Studies
Named Professors
Frank Baumgartner, Miller-LaVigne Professor in Political Science
Suresh Canagarajah, Kirby Professor in Language Learning
Robert Edwards, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English and Comparative Literature
J. Philip Jenkins, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities
Gerald Knoppers, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
John Lipski, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Spanish and Linguistics
Michael Naydan, Woskob Family Professor in Ukranian Studies
Matthew Restall, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Colonial Latin American History, Anthropology, and Women’s Studies
Awards
Nina Jablonski, professor of anthropology and department head, has won the 2007 W.W. Howells Book Prize for her book, Skin, A Natural History (2006). The award is presented by the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association to honor works in biological anthropology representing the highest standard of scholarship and readability. The award was presented at the 2007 AAA annual meeting held in November.
Obituaries
Paul Thornell Baker, Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, died on Thursday, November 29 at the age of 80 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Baker was a pioneer in the field of physical anthropology and human population biology and ecology. He is survived by his wife of fifty-eight years, Thelma Shoher Baker of Chapel Hill, NC, his son, four daughters, and nine grandchildren.
In 1956, Baker joined the faculty at Penn State and helped establish one of the most prominent departments of anthropology in the United States. During his time at Penn State, he pioneered a major field of anthropological research known as human adaptability and established the research paradigm of human population biology that viewed human diversity as a byproduct of adaptive responses to stressful environmental conditions. His productivity and thoughtful approach to research amounted to more than 200 publications, the majority of which were original research. He retired in June 1987.
Donations may be made in Dr. Baker's memory to The Paul T. Baker Research Travel Fund in Human Biology and Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, 409 Carpenter Hall, University Park, PA, 16802 or the Alzheimer's Association of Eastern North Carolina, 400 Oberlin Road, Suite 220, Raleigh, NC 27605.
College News
Fall 2007 Commencement
The fall 2007 undergraduate commencement ceremony for Liberal Arts students will be held on Saturday, December 22 at 12:30 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center. The Graduate School ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 22 at 4:00 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium. Jonathan H. Morgan was selected to represent Liberal Arts as the College Student Marshal. Jonathan, in turn, chose Jesse F. Ballenger, assistant professor of science, technology, and society, to accompany him as the College Faculty Marshal. A Schreyer scholar, Jonathan is graduating with “Highest Distinction”, with a 3.99 grade point average. He has concurrent majors in political science and philosophy with a minor in Latin. Ballenger is a historian of science, medicine, and technology, whose research and teaching interests include the social and cultural history of biomedical science, biomedical research policy, the neurosciences, and aging.
Enrichment Center Opens
The College would like to announce its new Undergraduate Co-curricular Enrichment Center, which officially opened November 29. This student-centered space, located in 103 Sparks Building, is open to all Liberal Arts undergraduates seeking assistance on planning enrichment activities including internships, study abroad, and research. At the Center, students have the opportunity to do the following:
- Talk with a Liberal Arts adviser about the importance of enrichment activities and receive an overview of what opportunities are available to them
- With an adviser, browse the Center’s Web site and other sites related to enrichment activities
- Pick up information sheets on current internship, study abroad, and undergraduate research opportunities
- Browse the Center’s many internship and study abroad books and manuals
- Inquire about funding opportunities for enrichment activities
- Schedule an appointment with an internship or study abroad adviser for a more in-depth conversation
The Center’s hours are 8 a.m.–noon and 1–5 p.m. daily. Students are welcome to drop by at their convenience; no appointment is necessary. Any inquiries about the Center can be directed to Ashley Tarbet, Undergraduate Enrichment Coordinator at 863-2317.
New Center Launches Public Outreach Efforts
The newly-formed Center for Language Science in the College of the Liberal Arts will launch its public outreach efforts with a talk on Dec. 6. The address, by Professor John Trueswell of the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss the interplay of eye movements with our understanding of verb meanings. Using a series of eye-tracking experiments, Trueswell’s research examines how attention is allocated during the perception of simple and complex events.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4 p.m. in The Nittany Lion Inn’s Ballroom A and will be followed by a reception.
The lecture will be the first public event hosted by the Center for Language Science. Housed in the Moore Building, the Center is co-directed by Judith Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women’s Studies, and by Adele Miccio, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders. The Center provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of language acquisition and bilingualism. Made up of linguists, psycholinguists, applied linguists, speech-language pathologists, speech scientists and cognitive neuroscientists, the group’s research focus is on the study of language science from diverse perspectives. The variety of expertise housed with the Center will foster collaborative research projects across disciplines.
Annual German Holiday Sing-Along
The Penn State Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures is sponsoring a celebration of traditional German Holiday songs and music at 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 12, in St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 208 West Foster Avenue, State College.
The public is invited to participate in singing traditional Christmas songs including "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht"; "O Kinderlein kommet"; "Leise rieselt der Schnee"; and "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen." Additional musical entertainment will be provided by German faculty and students and music professionals from the State College area.
For further information, please contact Adrian Wanner.
Calling All Book Enthusiasts
We would like to start a Liberal Arts book club. Mark your calendars now to attend the first meeting of the Liberal Arts Book Club: Noon–1:00 p.m., Thursday, January 10 in 124 Sparks. Come to this organizational meeting to decide how you would like the club to be structured—perhaps you’ll want to pick a book to read and then meet to discuss it, or maybe you’ll want to discuss books that you’ve read and review them. Bring your lunch and discover new books and new friends.
Got a Hobby?
Do you wish you knew others in Liberal Arts who share an interest in your hobby? Perhaps you knit, crochet, crossstitch; travel, walk, bike, ski; collect coins, dolls, shells; attend movies, shows; play cards, board games. Perhaps you want to get together with others to discuss your hobby, plan get-togethers, or outings. Perhaps, you’d be willing to teach others who are interested in learning about your hobby. Please contact Faye Maring if you are interested in starting a hobby club, or if you are interested in learning about a specific hobby.
Save the Date for the Spikes
Mark your calendars for a Spikes Game and Liberal Arts Family Outing on Sunday, June 29, when the Spikes take on the Williamsport Crosscutters. The evening will start with a picnic prior to the first pitch at 6:05 p.m.
December Holiday Schedule Announced
Except for essential services and operations, University offices and operations will close at the end of the normal business day on Friday, December 21, and will reopen at normal starting times on Wednesday, January 2, 2008.
In keeping with this schedule, biweekly payroll checks will be distributed on Friday, December 21 and will be negotiable on that date. Monthly payroll checks will be distributed before the closedown begins, but will be dated Monday, December 31, 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.
Is Your Address Up To Date?
Does Penn State know where to send your 2007 W2? 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 being deducted from each pay for Pennsylvania 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.
If you need to obtain or exchange parking permits, please come to Room 111 Sparks Building, Monday through Friday, from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 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 865-7691. As a reminder, if you are leaving the College, you will need to return your parking permit to 111 Sparks Building.
WebEvents Calendar
The WebEvents Calendar features lectures, talks, and conferences sponsored by the College. If you have something that you would like posted to the calendar for your department, please send entry submissions to Katy Heltman.
Staff News
Staff Endowment Application Process
The Staff Advisory Committee has announced that the deadline for the application process for the Liberal Arts Staff and Children of Staff Program Support Fund is Friday, January 25, 2008. This program provides financial support for Liberal Arts staff seeking educational opportunities through the University and for children of Liberal Arts staff who are enrolled at Penn State. Application materials may be found at the following sites:
Children of Staff Fund Scholarship
Staff Enrichment Fund Application
If you are interested in making a contribution to the fund or have questions, please contact Marilyn Byers.
New Colleagues
Judith Bowman, administrative assistant II—Psychology
Michele Brooks, staff assistant V—Psychology, Psychological Clinic
Tammy Coval, staff assistant VI—Psychology
Susan Johnson, office manager—Psychology, Psychological Clinic
Tiffany Mayhew, staff assistant VI—Departments of History and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and Programs in Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
Marcy McAfee, staff assistant V—Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice
Chris Meyer, research technologist—Psychology
Georgine Mihalenko, staff assistant V—Economics
Heidi Port, staff assistant VII—Political Science
Promotions
Patricia Alexander, associate director for contracts—Research and Grants Office
Cathy Holsing, instructional designer, level 3—Outreach
Robert Probst, staff assistant VI—PA Commission on Sentencing
Abby Smith, administrative assistant I—Political Science
Christine Woods, assistant coordinator research funds—Research and Grants Office
Departures
Barbara Brinkman, staff assistant VI—French and Francophone Studies and Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
Jennifer Glasgow, staff assistant V—Undergraduate Studies
Jennifer Howard, staff assistant VII, English
Edward Smiley, information technology specialist—ITLA
Catherine Steffan, college relations assistant—Alumni Relations and Development
Brandy Wood, staff assistant VII—Political Science
December 2007 Issue
LA Times is compiled by Jennie Daley, Alumni Relations and Development Office, 138 Sparks, 865-8085.
Past LA Times issues are also available on the Web here.
This publication is available in alternative media on request. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity of its workforce.
U.Ed. LBA 08-98