LAtimes January 2007 Issue

Dean's Message

Welcome back!

I'd like to begin by taking a moment to remember our late colleague Bill Petersen, professor of religious studies, who died December 20. A member of the Penn State faculty since 1990, Bill will be remembered not only for his internationally recognized work on the early Christian gospels and his commitment to a quality religious studies program, but for his kindnesses, for his unfailing sense of humor, and for the courageous and inspiring way he dealt with the terminal illness he was diagnosed with last summer. Everyone who knew and worked with Bill will miss him. A memorial service was held Friday, January 26 in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.

I'd also like to recognize Alan Block, Robert Harkavy, Phyllis Mansfield, and Charles Prebish who each retired December 31. Their careers are highlighted below. We appreciate very much their years of dedicated service to Penn State and their departments.

This January finds us in the midst of not only the usual beginning-of-the semester activities, but also the beginning of a new Penn State fundraising campaign, For the Future. This campaign, expected to last for seven and a half years, will be the focus of our fund raising for faculty support, graduate student fellowships, department improvements, interdisciplinary initiatives, scholarships, and other programs related to undergraduate education. As we strive to be among the best of our peers, this private support is crucial. It costs more to be excellent than it does to be good because of the stiffer competition for outstanding faculty and students, and flat state support for the university makes private funds especially vital. We are aiming to raise at least $80 million for the College in this campaign.

During our last campaign, the Grand Destiny campaign that ended in 2003, the College raised more than $52 million, and the income from those gifts is now allowing us to support faculty research, graduate fellowships, our various centers, and numerous departmental and student programs. Aside from scholarships, we have about $1.5 million more in annual resources because of the campaign. Our scholarship funds also increased six fold, allowing us to support many more students with substantially larger scholarships.

In this campaign, we will work hard to further endow departments and centers, as well as to increase the numbers of professorships and graduate fellowships. We are also planning to raise significant funds to enrich undergraduate education, such as financial support to encourage internships, undergraduate research, and study abroad that can do so much to enhance our students' educations.

I am very enthusiastic about this campaign because it will support our drive to increase even further the excellence of our faculty, students, and programs.

I'd also like to congratulate the five departments that were recently ranked in the top ten in a new rating of faculty productivity! Anthropology, German, and women's studies ranked first among all the nation's doctoral programs in the productivity of faculty. English ranked third and philosophy seventh. Though several other Penn State programs were ranked in the top ten, mass communications in the College of Communication was the only other department ranked first. It was gratifying to see such a great showing from several of our departments.

The study, featured last week in the Chronicle of Higher Education, relies primarily on faculty publications and ranks doctoral programs in 104 fields within 354 institutions. Only the top ten departments in each field were named publicly. Penn State overall ranked 28th. The study was done by administrators at SUNY Stony Brook in conjunction with a private firm Academic Analytics. Rankings can be found at: http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/page.php?primary=3&secondary=Choose+Discipline%3A&bycat=Go

This survey, like all the others publicized from time to time, has its flaws and limitations. These flaws and limitations are discussed in the Chronicle article. However, it also has the virtue of stripping away from the calculations the prestige of the university and the past reputation of the department, focusing only on productivity. In that regard, it recognizes the hard work done by the faculty and advances that many of our departments have made during the past several years.

Most of our faculty will be participants in the NRC survey now in the process of being launched (a process that seems to have gone on interminably). We will certainly look forward to the results of these rankings as well.

And last but not least, many thanks to those of you who completed our LATimes readers' survey. More than one-third of our potential readership responded and almost all reported reading at least parts of the LATimes. Even granted the bias in the response toward those who read our college news, it is clear that many people find the Times useful.

Several suggestions were offered. This current issue reflects one of those suggestions that are to change the format to emulate that of the Penn State newswire, with brief paragraphs connected to a story on the Web site. While some suggested going back to the paper edition, those who preferred that were outweighed by those who registered a preference for the online format.

We continue to welcome suggestions for improvement and for items to cover in our LATimes.

Regards,

Susan Welch

Faculty News

Four Faculty Retire

The Liberal Arts family extends its thanks to four colleagues who retired at the end of the fall semester. Alan Block, Robert Harkavy, Phyllis Mansfield, and Charles Prebish provided combined service of more than 100 years to our university and students while establishing themselves as important scholars in their fields.

Alan Block, professor of crime, law, and justice and Jewish studies, joined Penn State in 1985 as a professor of what is now called the crime, law, and justice program. In 1986 that program was transferred from HHD to Liberal Arts. Alan was a popular instructor whose specialties included organized and white collar crime. From 1998–2001, Alan served as director of the Jewish studies program. His most recent book, All is Clouded by Desire: Global Banking, Money Laundering, and International Organized Crime, was published in 2004.

Robert Harkavy, professor of political science, joined Penn State in 1978 as an associate professor. With specialties in international relations and security policy, he taught popular courses in American foreign policy and in politics of the Middle East. The author of numerous books on international relations and security policy, he published Warfare and the Third World in 2001.

Phyllis Mansfield, professor of women's studies and health education, joined the nursing faculty in 1983, and moved to Liberal Arts in 1994. A stellar teacher, she taught in the area of women's health. She authored dozens of articles, and directed the TREMIN program on women's health, a program that collected menstrual and related data from panels of women since the 1940s. Phyllis has been instrumental in the growth and development of women's studies at Penn State, and directed the program from 1994–1996.

Charles Prebish, professor of religious studies, has been a Penn State faculty member since 1971. A leading American scholar in the study of both global and American Buddhism, for many years Chuck edited the Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online, which he founded. Chuck successfully introduced thousands of Penn State students to Buddhism and to other religions of the world. He authored and edited several books, including, in 1999, Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. Chuck currently holds the position of Charles Redd Endowed Chair of Religious Studies at Utah State University.

Faculty Grants

Philip H. Baldi, professor of linguistics and classics, from the National Science Foundation, for “Workshop on Alternative Approaches to Language Classification.”

Barry W. Ickes, professor of economics, from the Smith Richardson Foundation, for “Bear Traps: A Medium-Term Assessment of Russia's Economic Trajectory and the Implications for its Future.”

Lynn S. Liben, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, from the National Science Foundation, for “SGER: Investigating Map Understanding and Learning in the Context of a Family Museum Exhibit.”

Joan T. Richtsmeier, professor of anthropology, from Johns Hopkins University, for “Genomic Approaches to Aneuploidy.”

Mark D. Shriver, associate professor of anthropology, from Virginia Commonwealth University, for “The Genetic Basis of Preterm Birth.”

Susan G. Strauss, associate professor of applied linguistics, from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, for “Persian Language and Culture for Intermediate and Advanced Level Study.”

Obituary

William Lawrence “Bill” Peterson, professor of religious studies, died on December 20, 2006 in Pittsburgh, after a brief battle with cancer.

A master of complicated Syriac, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages, Bill made major contributions to our understanding of how early Christian texts were transmitted and interpreted over time. He began his teaching career at the University of Notre Dame in 1985, moving on to service as professor in religious studies, as well as classical and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State from 1990 onward. During this span, he published more than 50 academic articles and chapters in books. He was the author of two books, most significantly Tatian's Diates-saron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship. This work remains the international standard for assessing the early harmony of the canonical Christian gospel texts. He co-edited several other books and served as editor-in-chief to professional journals.

Senate Officers to Visit College

The Senate Officers will hold an open meeting for all College faculty, faculty senators, and department heads on Wednesday, February 28, from 9–10 a.m. in Room 124 Sparks Building.

Lectures and Symposia

Breaking the Silence Lecture Series

Friday, February 2, 4 p.m.

Breaking the Silence, a co-sponsored event, supported by an IAH Interdisciplinary Group Grant, presents:

Toylin Falola, the Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History, University of Texas at Austin
Topic: "Africa and Slavery in Context"
Location: 102 Weaver Building

The Comparative Literature Luncheon

The 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 (20 minute) presentation, by a visitor or a local speaker, on a topic related to any humanities discipline.

Jonathan Eburne is the coordinator for the series this semester. We meet Mondays in 102 Kern at about 12:15 p.m. 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). 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.

Please visit http://complit.la.psu.edu/luncheoncurrent.htm for updates.

We're on the air: Recordings of these presentations are broadcast on C-NET, the cable network for educational and government programming. Each program is usually broadcast four times in the two or three weeks following the date listed here.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Djelal Kadir, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Comparative Literature
Topic: "Memos from the Besieged City"

Monday, February 19, 2007

Jed Esty, associate professor of English and critical theory, University of Illinois
Topic: TBA

Monday, March 5, 2007

Nergis Ertürk, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, SUNY Binghamton
Topic: "Surrealism and Turkish Script Arts"

Monday, March 26, 2007

James English, professor and chair, Department of English, The University of Pennsylvania
Topic: TBA

English Department Lectures

Monday, February 26, 4 p.m.

Joseph Loewenstein, Washington University
Topic: "Accessorizing the Renaissance: Shakespeare's Stamp"
Location: Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library

Allegheny Mountains Reading Series

Thursday, February 15, 8 p.m.

Robin Hemley
Location: Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library

The English-CAS rhetoric group, the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, and the University Libraries

Friday, February 2, 3:35 p.m.

Professor Michael X. Delli Carpini
Topic: "Rhetoric and New Media."
Location: TBA

The George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center

Monday, January 29, 3–4:30 p.m.

Joan Acker, professor emerita, Department of Sociology, University of Oregon
Topic: "Is Ethical Capitalism an Oxymoron?"
Location: Foster Auditorum, 101 Pattee Library

Graduate Students Conference on Nineteenth-Century America

Friday, February 9, 4 p.m.
Topic: “New Perspectives on the Civil War Era: Beyond Fragmented History”
Location: 102 Weaver Building

Institute for the Arts and Humanities Faculty Lecture Series Spring Schedule

Thursday, February 8, 3–4:30 p.m.

David Atwill, assistant professor of history
Topic: "Lin Zexu and the Boundaries of Barbarianism in Nineteenth-Century Imperial China”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Tuesday, February 13, 12:15–1:30 p.m.

Vera Mark, assistant professor of French and linguistics
Topic: “Situating French Milicien Violence: The Battle of Rovide, June 7–8, 1944”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Thursday, February 15, 3–4:30 p.m.

Ken Graves, professor of art
Topic: “The Body in Water”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Tuesday, February 20, 12:15–1:30 p.m.

William Cobb, associate professor of English
Topic: “The Birdist: A Novel-in-Progress”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Tuesday, February 27, 12:15–1:30 p.m.

Jean Sanders, associate professor of art
Topic: “On-the-Spot Tonglin: From Me to You”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Thursday, March 1, 3–4:30 p.m.

Eric McKee, associate professor of music theory
Topic: “Watching Waltzer's Waltz and the Musical Visions of Fryderyk Chopin”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Tuesday, March 20, 12:15–1:30 p.m.

Rachel Teukolsky, assistant professor of English
Topic: "Sexual Geographies: Utopian Terrains of the Late-Victorian Counterculture”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Thursday, March 29, 3:00–4:30 p.m.

Micaela Amato, professor of art and women's studies
Topic: “Lapswimmer, Crossing”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Thursday, April 5, 3–4:30 p.m.

Julia Kasdorf, associate professor of English and women's studies
Topic: “Mirror of the Martyrs: The Marytr's Mirror (Thieleman J. van Braght, 1660) and its American Legacy”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Thursday, April 24, 12:15–1:30 p.m.

Cristin Millett, assistant professor of art
Topic: "The Spectacle of the Anatomy Theater”
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Tuesday, April 26, 3–4:30 p.m.

Brian Curran, associate professor of art history
Topic: "The Egyptian Renaissance: The Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy "
Location: 124 Sparks Building

Rock Ethics Institute Lectures

Monday, February 12, 3 p.m. and Tuesday, February 13, 3–5 p.m.

Junot Díaz, associate professor of writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Topic: "Love in the War Years: A Reading"
Location: Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library

Monday, February 19, 3–4:30 p.m.

William Darity, Jr., Boshamer Professor of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Research Professor of Public Policy Studies, Duke University
Topic: "Forty Acres in the Twenty-first Century: Reparations for Black America"
Location: Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library

Thursday, February 23, 4 p.m.

Patrick Manning, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of World History, University of Pittsburgh
Topic: “Slavery's Expansion in the Age of Emancipation: West Africa and the U.S. in the Nineteenth Century”
Location: 102 Weaver Building

SMTC-WPSU TV/FM Lobby Talks

Monday, February 5, 7 p.m.

Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale Professor of the History of Science and Medicine, Department of Medical History and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Pat Shipman, associate professor of biological anthropology, Penn State; Preston Green, associate professor of education, Penn State
Topic: "The Scopes Monkey trial: The Context for the Controversy"

Patty Satalia, WPSU producer/host, Moderator
Location: Outreach Building, 120 Innovation Boulevard

Thursday, February 22, 4 p.m.

Susan M. Reverby, professor of women's studies, Wellesley College;
Janet Lyon, associate professor of English and women's studies and co-director, Disability Studies Program, Penn State
Topic: “Do No Harm? Medicine and Ethics on the Anniversary of the Nazi Doctors' trial”

Greg Eghigian, associate professor of history, Penn State, Moderator
Location: Outreach Building, 120 Innovation Boulevard

Stoll Lecture Series

Thursday, April 26, 4:15 p.m.

Sally Shaywitz, M.D., professor, Department of Pediatrics and co-director, Center for the Study of Learning & Attention, Yale University School of Medicine, and Ben Shaywitz, M.D., professor, Department of Pediatrics, and chief, Pediatric Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine
Topic: "The Science of Reading and Dyslexia: Translating Research into Practice"
Location: The Nittany Lion Inn, Faculty Staff Club 1 & 2

The following lecture has been cancelled.
Thursday, March 1, 4:15 p.m.

Judith C. Hochman, Scott Gest, and Karen Bierman
Topic: "Integrating Research into Professional Development and Classroom Practice: Challenges and Opportunities"

WebEvents Calendar

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

Staff News

Staff Awards Reception Scheduled

Please come and support the College staff on Tuesday, February 13 from 3–5 p.m. in Ballroom C of The Nittany Lion Inn. All recipients for the 2006 staff awards will be honored. The award categories are: Career Achievement, Client Service, Esprit, Innovator, Leadership, and Rising Star. In addition, those who have reached the milestone of ten years of College service and thirty years of University service will also be acknowledged. Please save the date and time and join the fun as we honor our staff.

United Way Campaign

Do you know who served pizza to 650 people, washed nearly one hundred cars, and helped the literary skills of hundreds? Answer: The Liberal Arts United Way Committee. The College extends an open invitation to anyone who would like to join their volunteer efforts. If you are interested in donating a few hours to work at an event, chair an event, serve on the steering committee, or want to know more about how you could help, please contact committee membership chair, Betsy Will by e-mail or phone 865-6487. The committee is pleased to announce that a United Way web site will soon be added to our College home page; be sure to visit:

http://www.la.psu.edu/CLA-LAUS/united_way/index.shtml

Staff Professional Development Sessions Continue

Many have taken advantage of attending the monthly workshops offered by the LA Office of Human Resources. The workshops are held in Room 124 Sparks Building (unless noted otherwise) from 8:30–10:30 a.m. and offer staff members the opportunity for professional development. Future workshop topics include:

FEB 21: Training Opportunity : I9, JVISA Training for Hiring Foreign Nationals and Labor Certification Training. (Note: This session will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon.)

MAR 21: Balancing Work and Family

APR 18: Impact of Personalities in the Work Place

Interested staff members may register by contacting Betsy Will by e-mail or phone 865-6487. If you have suggestions for future workshops, please let us know.

Administrative Assistant Interns Selected

The College is pleased to announce those who were awarded the administrative assistant internships for the 2007–08 academic year. Abby Smith from the Department of Political Science will serve during Spring 2007 and Amy Barone from the Department of English was selected for Fall 2007. The program provides the opportunity to staff members who may be interested in pursuing a career as an administrative assistant. If you have the opportunity, please congratulate these individuals on their achievement.

New Colleagues

Lisa Byrnes, instructional designer, outreach, office of the Dean

Joseph Carlson, information technology specialist, Liberal Arts Computer Support Services

Jennifer Hirsch, staff assistant V, communication arts and sciences and philosophy

Michele Moslak, staff assistant V, economics

Kathy Rutherford, finance and accounting assistant, financial office, office of the Dean

Melissa Strouse, staff assistant VII, anthropology

Promotions

Judy Mitchell, accountant aide, financial office, office of the Dean

Diane Snyder, staff assistant VII, anthropology

Departures

Emma Ford, staff assistant VI, African and African American Studies, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, and Women's Studies

Barbara Welshofer, assistant dean, office of undergraduate studies

Retirements

Lois Seitz, information technology consultant, Liberal Arts Computer Support Services

Joyce Wilusz, staff assistant VI, English

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 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.