LAtimes May/June 2007 Issue

Dean's Message

Our campaign to raise at least $80 million for Liberal Arts faculty and student support is off to a great start. Two weeks ago, we honored several particularly generous alums who have provided lead gifts in the first four months of the campaign. These gifts include $1.5 million in endowed support for study abroad; several million (some of it given anonymously) in support for professorships, early career professorships, and post-docs; nearly $1 million in graduate fellowships; and more than half million in program support directed to both centers and departments. In all, we were able to announce more than $16.5 million in new gifts to the College over these last four months.

We have a very strong cadre of devoted supporters of the College and of particular departments and programs, and I know I spoke for all in the College when I expressed my deep appreciation to them two weeks ago.

But we can’t rest on our laurels. Not only do we still have most of our campaign goal to achieve, we still have academic progress to be made. After all, the campaign is not about the money itself; it is about what we can do with the money. I view this new campaign as an opportunity to continue to elevate the quality of our college; as we have been saying, from national visibility to national leadership. It is clear to me that to continue our advance in this period of flat state appropriations, we must have increased support through our development efforts—support to recruit and retain the best faculty, support to recruit and sustain top graduate students, support to provide our undergraduates with the best possible education both in and out of the classroom. I estimate that we need to add $4 to $5 million a year to our budget to accomplish all of these things. For that reason, we have set as a minimum target for the campaign $80 million in new endowment: the 5 percent income paid out from the earnings on the endowment will generate about $4 million annually.

What are some specific targets for our efforts? We certainly hope to increase scholarship funds so that each year we will have more than $1 million to give to offset tuition and to provide more support for activities that link students’ academic work with the world outside. By the end of the campaign, I would like to see at least 60% of our graduating seniors having had experiences as interns or on a study or work abroad project: that would mean that we need to provide such experiences for around 1,200 students a year. Our campaign plan indicates a goal of $15 million to support and encourage these experiences, which would generate about $750,000 annually.

Our students cannot accomplish and excel without top quality faculty; nor can we be a national leader without such faculty. Thus, it is critical that we continue to raise funds for faculty support. The Grand Destiny campaign allowed the College to strengthen immensely the quality of its faculty; we tripled the number of named and endowed professors during that campaign. We are planning to raise about $32 million for that purpose in this campaign, the largest single part of our goal. The fact that it is the largest single part reflects the fact that faculty are the key to everything: without top quality faculty, we couldn’t attract outstanding students, nor would we have outstanding programs or provide the enrichment opportunities for our students.

Support for graduate students is also crucial. Our campaign plan calls for $17 million in graduate support, a figure that will generate $800,000 annually. This year’s graduate recruitment cycle indicated yet again how important fellowships are in snaring the top students. We have made important progress in this regard, but we have much more work to do; every graduate program in the College needs more fellowships.

I am really pleased by the great start to our campaign. We have our foot on the pedal already and are accelerating. But it is a seven-year campaign, and there is much to be done. Much thanks for our achievement so far needs to go to Sophie Penney, director of development, and her great staff. Ray Lombra has also had a big hand in the campaign planning and in the strategic planning that goes on within our development operation. We also have a fantastic development council, which includes about 25 of our lead fundraising volunteers.

I expect to be reporting to you regularly on the development campaign and on the academic progress that it makes possible. With best wishes for a relaxing and productive summer.

Susan Welch

Department News

The Penn State Mock Trial Association recently competed for the selective National Tournament hosted by Northwestern University. Penn State placed second in this tournament and will be moving on to the National Championship in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Santa Rosalía, a cantata by composer Bruce Trinkley and librettist Jason Charnesky, first performed in 1993 at the Palmer Museum of Art of Penn State and subsequently at the Congress of the Colombianists, held at the university in 1996, was given its Spanish-language premiere in Bogotá, Colombia on March 7, 2007 under the auspices of the Banco de la República at its Sala de Conciertos. The Spanish libretto was written by Dr. Robert Lima, OIC.

Bruce Trinkley is Professor Emeritus of Music and the composer of award-winning operas, song cycles and, most notably, Mountain Laurels, a choral symphony on texts by Pennsylvania poets. Jason Charnesky, a poet, teaches literary theory and writing in the English department and has written texts for many compositions by Bruce Trinkley. Robert Lima is Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Comparative Literature, as well as Fellow Emeritus of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. He has published in many media and was named Knight Commander in the Order of Queen Isabel by His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

Faculty News

Faculty Election Results

John (Jack) Selzer, J. Philip Jenkins, and Cheryl Glenn were elected to represent the College on the Graduate Council. These faculty represent your views to the council. Please let them know of your concerns.

Faculty Grants and Awards

William A. Blair, professor of American history and director of the Richards Civil War Era Center, from the Alcoa Foundation, for “Richards Center Teaching/Training Program.”

N. Edward Coulson, professor of economics, from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, for “Asset Portfolios and the Neutrality of the Land Tax.”

George Farkas, professor of sociology, demography, and education, from the U.S. Department of Education, for “Instructional Effects on Achievement Growth of Children with Learn Difficulties in Mathematics.”

Judith F. Kroll, Liberal Arts Research Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women's Studies, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for “A Proposal for Senior NSRA Training in Cognitive Neuroscience.”

Stephen A. Matthews, associate professor of sociology, anthropology, demography, and geography, from Wake Forest University, for “Evaluation of the Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws Program: A Randomized Community Trial.”

B. Richard Page, Jr., associate professor of German and linguistics, and Julia M. Kasdorf, associate professor of English and women’s studies, from the Historical and Museum Commission, for “Oral Histories of Anabaptist Communities of Mifflin County.”

Paul L. Rose, professor of European history, Mitrani Professor of Jewish Studies, and Fellow of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, from the National Science Foundation, for “Scholar’s Award: The Invention of the History of Science: Bernardino Baldi’s ‘Lives of the Mathematicians.’”

Faculty Teaching Awards

We honored several tenure-line and non-tenure line faculty at the 2007 College Awards ceremony held on March 29.

Carol Reardon, Matthew Restall, Darrell, Steffensmeier, and Wayne Osgood were the recipients of the following University Awards.

George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching
Carol A. Reardon, professor of military history
Beginning at Penn State in 1991, Carol has taught a variety of military history courses, ranging from survey courses in the Civil War era to the war in Vietnam to American military history that includes topical issues in military history. Carol’s passion for her subjects is apparent to her students whom she engages through humor and a relevance to their own lives. Students learn not just about battles, but how young men of their own age had lives shaped by medical practices, home front conditions, and the political issues of the day. Carol’s historical scope goes well beyond military, exploring the social and cultural issues of the day—and making history come alive to her fortunate students.

In addition, Carol is an excellent and productive scholar who connects with alumnae through her battlefield tours and lectures. She is currently the President of the Society for Military History and on the Marine Corps University Board of Visitors and the Army Historical Advisory Committee. Her work has resulted in periodic appearances on PBS, Arts and Entertainment, and C-SPAN, and she regularly gives talks to Civil War round tables and public history interest groups.

Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts and Humanities
Matthew B. Restall, professor of colonial Latin American history, anthropology, and women's studies
Matthew’s scholarly industry and achievement in Latin American history are extraordinary. With his most recent work, Matthew has now set the intellectual agenda for the field. Although he has been amazingly productive since his arrival at Penn State in 1998, it is particularly fitting to recognize him for his 2003 monograph, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, and his 2005 critical edition and translation of documents written by Mayans before and after the Conquest, Mesoamerican Voices: Native-Language Writings from Central Mexico, Oaxaca, Yucatan, and Guatamala. These works are the culmination of work on the Conquest era.

In the past five years, Matthew has won both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, both highly prestigious and highly competitive awards given to only top scholars. In addition, his scholarly achievements have not come at the expense of his other obligations. He is a superb teacher, an attentive graduate mentor, a collegial colleague, and a leader in his department and in the field of Latin American studies.

Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Social Sciences
Darrell J. Steffensmeier, professor of sociology and crime, law, and justice
Darrell Steffensmeier is one of the most influential scholars in criminology. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, one of the most prestigious scholarly awards bestowed by the major organization devoted to criminological research in the world. Darrell has also been awarded the Distinction in the Social Services Award in the College of the Liberal Arts. His Book, The Fence, won the 1987 Cooley Award (for best book) given by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. His recent book, Confessions of a Dying Thief (with Jeffrey Ulmer), won the 2006 Michael J. Hindelang Award for the most outstanding contribution to research in criminology by the American Society of Criminology.

Beyond his work on criminal careers and organized-professional crime, Darrell has contributed to numerous other areas within criminology, including the demography of crime, criminological theory, criminal business enterprise, and criminal courts and sentencing. He has also made broader sociological contributions to the areas of gender, work and occupations, organizations, culture, and stratification.

Darrell’s career epitomizes the goal of consistent, high quality research productivity. His scholarly stature is evidenced by his citations, the stature of the outlets in which he has often published, and his record for obtaining external funding. The Social Science Citation Index reveals that his work has been cited at least 1,320 times.

Besides all of this, Darrell has mentored many graduate students over the years, with some of them landing at places such as Ohio State University, Washington State, Purdue, Louisiana State, Bowling Green, and Penn State.

Howard B. Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award
D. Wayne Osgood, professor of crime, law, and justice and sociology
Wayne Osgood is one of the most visible scholars in the field of criminology today. Well known for his contributions to statistical methodology, Wayne has demonstrated how advanced methods can be applied to solve substantive research problems, and he has helped to make these techniques widely accessible to social scientists.

Wayne has also made many substantive contributions to the field. His empirical studies have focused on delinquency, substance abuse, linkages between communities and crime, the role of routine social activities in crime and victimization, and problems in the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

During his career, he has published two books, over fifty journal articles, and many book chapters. Notable among his publications are four articles in the American Sociological Review (the top journal in sociology) and six articles in Criminology (the top journal in criminology).

In recognition of his status, he was recently named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology—a prestigious scholarly award bestowed by the major organization devoted to criminological research in the world.

College awards were received by the following thirteen faculty members.

Service to the College of the Liberal Arts Award
Caroline D. Eckhardt, professor of comparative literature and English, head of the Department of Comparative Literature, and director of the School of Languages and Literatures
Caroline Eckhardt is an accomplished scholar of medieval literature, especially Chaucer and late Medieval chronicles. She is the author of journal articles and chapters on the Arthurian legend, Chaucer, Provençal poetry, and medieval romance and chronicle, and of several books. Her main ongoing research project is a critical edition and study of a previously unpublished fourteenth-century legendary history: Castleford's Chronicle, or, The Boke of Brut (Early English Text Society, Oxford University Press), volumes I and II published, volume III in progress.

In Caroline’s contributions to the College, she has been selflessness in service to her department and the university, offering wisdom and good judgment in the advice she offers faculty and students alike.

Emeritus Distinction Award
Francis G. Gentry, professor emeritus of German
Prior to retirement, Frank Gentry had published a total of thirteen books and over forty articles and book chapters. Since retirement, he has edited two books and written four articles that are either published or forthcoming, and is the managing editor of Brill’s New Pauly: Classical Traditions, one of the leading scholarly reference works published in German. Frank’s selection as its English language editor is indicative of his prominence in the field. Brill’s is an enormous undertaking for Frank since he is responsible for five to six volumes, each containing approximately 450,000 words. The first volume appeared last year, and the remainder are due to be published over the next five or six years.

Frank has also continued his active pace in the classroom, teaching four first-year seminars and four independent studies courses since 2004. He has particularly relished mentoring his first-year students who have responded with enormous enthusiasm to his teaching and guidance. Frank has also played an important role in the German graduate program, conducting several independent studies on medieval German literature. As an emeritus faculty member, he continues to offer support to junior faculty as well as to more senior colleagues.

Stephanie J. Pavouček Shields Faculty Award
Robin G. Becker, professor of English and women's studies
Robin Becker has made substantial contributions to the academic and professional welfare of women at the University.

A high-profile, accomplished poet of national and international acclaim, Robin has been an important role model to students, young, and not so young alike—a reputation she has strengthened immeasurably over the last twelve years through not only her books, but through her hundreds of readings and speaking engagements around the country. She is the author of five collections of poems and the chapbook, Venetian Blue. Her books, All-American Girl and The Horse Fair received nominations for the Lambda Literary Award, and All-American Girl won that prize in 1996. Among her other many accomplishments, Robin’s five collections have won the Virginia Faulkner Prize for Excellence in Writing, fellowships at Massachusetts Artist Foundation in Poetry, and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990. She is a member of the Poetry Society of America and the Academy of American Poets.

Since joining the Penn State faculty, Robin has directed the Masters of Fine Arts projects of seven students. As testimony to the importance Robin places on her role as a mentor, one student concluded that, “when Robin decides to take you on as a student, you are a student for life.”

Roy C. Buck Award
Jennifer L. Hook, assistant professor of sociology
Jennifer focuses on the intersection of gender stratification, family demography, and comparative sociology with current research projects on fatherhood and the gendered division of labor in cross-national contexts. Her paper, “Care in Context: Men’s Unpaid Work in 20 Countries, 1965–2003,” was published in the 2006 August issue of the American Sociological Review, which has a circulation of approximately 11,500. In the 2005 calendar year, there were 565 new submissions to that publication. In addition to that honor, Jennifer won a Population Research Institute Seed Grant last year to examine her research into father’s time with their children in the United States, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Outstanding Teaching Awards

Rick O. Gilmore, associate professor of psychology
Rick has taught several undergraduate courses, most frequently Psychology 203, Neurological Bases of Human Behavior, which is tremendously popular with not only psychology majors but with students from many disciplines. Rick’s SRTE evaluations have been consistently high in this challenging course, with ratings frequently over 6.0 for quality of instructor and material.

Rick’s contribution to undergraduate education also extends beyond the classroom. He has consistently provided undergraduates with the opportunity to assist with his research on infant perception and its development, supervising groups of research assistants every semester. Rick has been a model for excellence in teaching by a faculty member who also advances the state of the art in his research area.

Janet W. Lyon, associate professor of English and women's studies
Janet has taught eleven undergraduate courses, including two honors sections, and three senior seminars. Offering her students intellectually challenging opportunities, Janet’s courses explore topics such as literature within its culture, the role of the western city in the production of modernist literature, and how the manifesto has affected literary and political history.

Janet believes that knowledge is best co-constructed by faculty and students, who know to come to class prepared for substantive discussions. Although they attest to encyclopedia grasp of her subject matter, they also attest to her supportive demeanor and ability to initiate a true dialogue within the classroom. From her many glowing student evaluations emerges a portrait of an energetic, stimulating teacher-scholar who has made an immensely valuable contribution to undergraduate education at Penn State.

Outstanding Teaching Award for Non-Tenure Line Faculty

Russell Chuderewicz, senior lecturer in Economics
Russell has been a senior lecturer in economics since the fall of 2003, teaching courses introductory macroeconomics, money and banking, and intermediate macroeconomic theory. An enthusiastic, innovative, and deeply committed instructor, Russ engages his students through real-world relevance and his signature home-made movies. These movies are very popular with students, and provide a very user-friendly mechanism for effective teaching.

A number of students cite Russ as the best or one of the best instructors they have had at Penn State, and he has received four teaching awards in the past three year.

Paul Kellermann, senior lecturer in English
A senior lecturer in the English department, Paul Kellermann has taught a multitude of courses, both required and high-level electives. His teaching record places him among the most effective fixed-term lecturers in the department. Teaching no less than fourteen different courses over his years at Penn State, he consistently receives high SRTEs.

Students have expressed their admiration and respect for Paul’s work, and he has had a profound impact on their lives here at the University and beyond. One of his former students writes that, "Mr. Kellermann single-handedly uncovered my own passion for writing, and . . . I made the monumental decision to change from an HDFS major to an English major. Mr. Kellermann planted within me a deeply-rooted passion for learning and writing—a passion I carry with me today and will throughout my life."

Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award
Charlotte A. Holmes, associate professor of English
Charlotte has been an exceptional mentor to countless undergraduate students, and overseeing almost thirty of those students in their honors theses. Her advisees typically complete collections of short stories or other creative works. Together with each student, Charlotte maps out a detailed plan for a thesis early in the writing process. She meets with students regularly to read drafts and comment on ideas for improvement, carefully guiding them through the revision process.

Her dedication to undergraduate advising is a demonstration of her deep and sustained dedication to students and their undergraduate experience.

Distinction in the Humanities Awards

Thomas W. Benson, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric
Tom Benson has made demonstrable contributions to the study of political rhetoric, cinema, classical rhetoric, rhetorical criticism, the history of American public discourse, and the rhetoric of the presidency. These contributions include but extend beyond publishing groundbreaking work. He has acted as an ambassador between and among these disciplines, edited the primary journals in our discipline and several book series, has developed online venues, and founded the disciplines’ major Internet list serve. It is not too much to say that he has literally helped shape the discipline of rhetorical studies in our time.

In addition, Tom has substantial teaching achievements. The stunning number of graduate theses and dissertations completed under his direction, the number of his former students in the nation’s leading institutions, his leadership in disciplinary initiatives, and the ongoing respect he commands by students and colleagues alike across the country, attest to this fact.

Jeff T. Nealon, professor of English
Jeff also serves as the department’s director of graduate studies. A Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities at Grinnell College, Jeff taught a faculty seminar, which attempted to map out the complex relationships between economies and various sites of cultural production at the present moment.

Distinction in the Social Sciences Awards

Jon F. Nussbaum, professor of communication arts and sciences and human development and family studies
Jon Nussbaum has demonstrated a rare combination of scholarly accomplishment, citizenship, and exceptional classroom skills. Intellectually, Jon’s range is prodigious. The number of courtesy, adjunct, and affiliated appointments attests to this fact, as well as the scope and diversity of venues in which his work is featured both nationally and internationally. Broad ranging but focused on communication and aging, Jon brings to his work a highly productive repertoire of research methods, questions, and resources. Just a glance at a list of his ten books and nearly sixty publications gives evidence of a remarkably fertile career.

In addition, when there was turmoil within the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, John stepped in to act as interim head. The effect was immediate and palpable. His unquestioned scholarly stature, his gracious and good-natured comportment, and his administrative and leadership skills dramatically improved the atmosphere. As his colleagues and former students know, Jon possesses an unusual gift for decency and inspiration.

Alan M. Sica, professor of sociology
Alan has made sophisticated contributions to sociological theory and the history of social thought. His articles and books have appeared in top sociological journals and academic presses. His stature is further demonstrated by the numerous review essays he writes on social theory and by the many invited presentations and professional workshops he gives at conferences. In recognition of his career achievements, Alan was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Sociological Association’s History of Sociology section.

Alan is best known for his defense and application of hermeneutic approaches to social analysis and the necessity of such approaches in understanding both sociological practice and the discipline’s history. He persuasively argues that social analysis must be grounded in detailed interpretive work designed to uncover human meaning-making processes, and how these meanings inform both individual action and assist in the reproduction of social structure. Alan encourages sociologists to employ narrative and comparative modes of thought, reminding them of their prominence within the theoretical classics, and he advocates for the rejuvenation of connections with both the humanities and philosophy.

Obituaries

Frederick R. Matson, professor emeritus of archaeology, died Tuesday, March 27, 2007. Matson earned a bachelors degree in ceramic engineering at the University of Illinois before going on to earn master's and doctoral degrees in anthropology and ceramic archaeology at the University of Michigan. He worked three years as curator of ceramics at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology before moving to wartime Washington to serve as a ceramic engineer for the National Bureau of Standards. He married Margaret Hart Benson in 1944 and for the next four years he was Head of the Glass Section at the Research Laboratories of the Armstrong Cork Company in Lancaster, PA.

Matson and his wife, Margaret, moved to Penn State in 1948, where he took a position as professor of ceramics in the College of the Mineral Industries while Margaret earned a doctorate in sociology. She later had a distinguished career in sociology and social welfare at Penn State. Matson moved to the College of the Liberal Arts as professor of archaeology in 1953. In the years that followed, he undertook a series of research trips to several countries in the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia. His studies ranged from archaeological excavation to the study of modern ceramic industries across the region.

Frederick served as Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Study in the College of the Liberal Arts beginning in 1957, during which time he was also part of the fledgling anthropology faculty. He left administration to become a full-time research professor of archaeology in 1966 and was one of nine faculty members to form the Department of Anthropology two years later in 1968. The Matson Museum of Anthropology was founded in the same year. Through Frederick's efforts the Matson Museum acquired the 2,300 piece DeForest ceramic collection, many other objects from around the world, a general endowment, and endowed student awards. Frederick served as president of the Archaeological Institute of America in 1975–76. He retired and became Professor Emeritus of Archaeology in 1978. By that time, he was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Ceramic Society. The Matson Museum was moved to Carpenter Building and dedicated in 1991. In 1995, Frederick was presented with the Award for Excellence in Ceramic Studies by the Society for American Archaeology.

Thomas Rogers, professor emeritus of English and Fellow Emeritus of the Institute for Arts and Humanities at Penn State, died April 1, 2007. Rogers taught a wide variety of fiction writing and literature courses during his illustrious career, and received the College of the Liberal Arts Emeritus Distinction Award in 2004.

Born in 1927 near Chicago, Rogers attended the University of Chicago Laboratory High School and was drafted into the Air Corps in 1945. On the GI Bill, he attended Harvard College, and graduated cum laude, in 1950. One year later, he attended the University of Iowa, where he taught and took courses in the English department and at the Writer's Workshop, earning an M.A. and, in 1961, a Ph.D. He taught in the College of the University of Chicago from 1954 to 1961 before coming to Penn State.

Rogers' first two novels, The Pursuit of Happiness, published in 1968, and The Confessions of a Child of the Century, published in 1972, were finalists for the National Book Award; the second won the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His third book, At The Shores, published in 1980, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He was at work on a book about Jerry Engels at the time of his death.

Rogers also published short fiction and memoirs in various journals, including the New American Review, Esquire, the Iowa Review, and The American Scholar. He was a frequent guest at the Yaddo Foundation, and was in residence at the Camargo Foundation (France) in 1984 and the Mishkenot Center in Israel in 1986.

Peter H. Schneeman,associate professor emeritus of English, died Tuesday, April 3, 2007. Dr. Schneeman earned his bachelors, masters and doctor of philosophy degrees in English from the University of Minnesota. As a young man, he worked as a cowboy in Montana. He began teaching English at the University of Minnesota and Kent State University, and then became an associate professor of rhetoric, English literature and fiction writing at Penn State for more than thirty years before retiring. He was awarded fellowships for residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. in 1973 and 1980. In 1978–79, he held a senior Fulbright lectureship in American literature at the University of Bucharest, and in 1980, he received a fellowship for fiction writing from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In 1995, he earned Penn State's Liberal Arts Outstanding Teaching Award. The award committee noted that "he devoted himself to finding better ways of making his fiction writing students see life more clearly and of describing it with more honesty than they ever thought they were capable. Dr. Schneeman is honest, helpful and supportive and is renowned for rescuing diffident writers and injecting them with life-sustaining doses of courage."

In addition, Dr. Schneeman was the author of numerous published short stories, including the collection Through the Finger Goggles. Dr. Schneeman was also a founding member of the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association and restored the Civil War-era Brockerhoff Mill in Bellefonte, in which he, at one time, resided.

Dale Benner Harris, professor emeritus of psychology and human development, died in Newport, Vermont, on April 28, 2007. In 1959, Dale became professor of psychology at Penn State. He was chairman of the department from 1962–1967. The following year, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. Best known for his text, Children’s Drawings as Measures of Intellectual Maturity (or Goodenough-Harris Draw-A-Man Test), Dale was also editor of three professional journals and published many papers on children’s development and education. Serving on three Minnesota governor’s committees and five national boards of professional organizations relating to child education and welfare, Dale belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and numerous other organizations. He retired from Penn State in 1979.

Student Honors

Graduate Student Awards

Amber Boydstun and Kyle Joyce took first and second place in social and behavioral sciences in the graduate research fair. Amber's dissertation reflects her work with both Frank Baumgartner and with Suzie DeBoef. Kyle's dissertation reflects his work with Scott Bennett and with Suzie. Amber is a former Miller-LaVigne Fellow, and has won an NSF dissertation grant. Kyle is an NSF dissertation grant winner this year, is a MacKnight scholarship winner, and has been a research assistant in our methods initiative (QuaSSI).

Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award, Graduate School

Michael Brownstein, Philosophy
Antonio Ceraso, English
Parastou Feiz Zarin Ghalam, Applied Linguistics
Leigh Johnson, Philosophy
Alexa Schriempf, Philosophy and Women's Studies

Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Penn State Alumni Association

Jennifer Biedendorf, Communication Arts and Sciences
Kevin Egan, Political Science
Ben Feldmeyer, Sociology

Outstanding Teaching Award for Graduate Students

Andrew Rice, Economics
Michael Tumolo, Communication Arts and Sciences

Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research in the Humanities

Ashley Marshall, English

Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research in the Social Sciences

Tai-Wei Hu, Economics

Undergraduate Student Awards

Kate Ericsson, won second place in the social/behavioral sciences at the undergraduate research exhibition. Her honors thesis adviser is Scott Bennett.

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 entry submissions to Katy Heltman.

Staff News

Save the Date—College-Wide Staff Meeting—May 16, 10:30 a.m., 121 Sparks

Please join us in 121 Sparks on Wednesday, May 16, at 9:30 a.m. for a College-wide staff meeting to introduce the Dean’s Staff Advisory Committee (SAC). Dean Welch launched the committee to represent the interests of the staff.

The committee will consist of one representative from each work unit within the College. They will meet once each month to review and act upon suggestions. The committee will conduct a College-wide staff meeting during the fall and spring semesters to report on the progress of the committee. See detailed information on the SAC at http://dsac.la.psu.edu.

Each work unit will elect a staff member to represent them on the committee. You should have already received your ballot. Please make sure you return it by May 11. Plan on attending the meeting on May 16 to welcome the inaugural committee!

Feel free to contact any of the planning committee members listed below with questions you may have about the SAC.

Vernett Brooks—vqb101@psu.edu
Wendy Clark—wxc7@psu.edu
Beck Cross-Eutsler—rlc21@psu.edu
Greg Halpin—gph2@psu.edu
Faye Maring—flm2@psu.edu

New Colleagues

Nina Bumgarner, staff assistant VI, African and African American Studies, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, and Women’s Studies

Rebekka Egger, academic counselor, Office of Undergraduate Studies

Jennifer Howard, staff assistant VII, English

Ashley Tarbet, undergraduate enrichment program coordinator, Office of the Associate Dean for Graduate and Undergraduate Studies

Promotions

Amy Barone, administrative assistant I, English

Mindy Boffemmyer, staff assistant VII, African and African American Studies, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, and Women’s Studies

Barbara Courter, staff assistant VII, Psychology

Jennifer Gilbert, staff assistant VII, Departments of History and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and Programs in Religious Studies and Jewish Studies

Irene Grassi, staff assistant VII, School of Languages and Literatures

Lynn Sebulsky, staff assistant VII, Economics

Brandy Wood, staff assistant VII, Political Science

Departures

Amy Bucha, administrative assistant I, English

Jennifer Hillebrand, assistant coordinator contracts and grants, Research and Graduate Studies

Alan Klein, multimedia specialist, Liberal Arts Computer Support Services

Kathy Rutherford, finance and accounting assistant, Financial Office, Office of the Dean

Retirements

Helen Gardner, staff assistant VI, Psychology

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.