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College Strategic Plan Submitted The College recently completed its strategic plan. The plan outlines the goals of the College during the next three years and discusses how we plan to pay for the new initiatives in the plan. A major strategic imperative is to continue to meet the rising cost of recruiting the best graduate students, and a multi-pronged approach is offered, including College recycling, help from the central budget, continued growth in external funding, and continuing increases in endowment gifts targeted to graduate education. Other aspects of the plan focus on strengthening the humanities, advancing the social sciences, and improving the quality of undergraduate education in the College. The plan is online at http://www.la.psu.edu/facstaff/strategicplan.pdf. The following paragraphs are drawn from the executive summary of the plan. Since the 1980s, the University has sought to strengthen its Liberal Arts core as part of its commitment to excellence as a major national research university. Since then, the College of the Liberal Arts has registered broad, deep, and sustained progress, in faculty quality, in our graduate programs, and in undergraduate education. However, much remains to be done if we are to be recognized as a leading liberal arts college by our peers and constituents. Going forward, “staying the course” is an essential element of our strategy. The strongest liberal arts colleges in the CIC and other fine public institutions have attained and sustained excellence by adhering to core values, by investing for a generation or more in bringing strong faculty into key units, and by successfully parrying the forces breeding complacency when improvements occur. But, the current situation also calls for new strategies and emphases. Four strategic issues confront us: How can we continue to meet the market for outstanding graduate students? How can we increase the size of our tenure-line faculty to keep pace with the huge enrollment growth we have experienced, while at the same time addressing the need for more fixed-term faculty to cope with the continuing planned enrollment growth at the freshman and sophomore level? How can we continue our momentum in diversifying our faculty, staff, graduate students, and curriculum? Finally, how are we going to pay for what we need to do? These are issues that cut across the four areas where we are focusing efforts to improve: strengthening the humanities, strengthening the social sciences, meeting the challenges of graduate education, and enhancing the education of Penn State undergraduate students. The bulk of our recycling will be invested in graduate student stipends and funding for faculty hiring. Additional permanent funds are requested for both these objectives and temporary funds are requested for workload, wireless installation, and facilities improvements. Though we hope the University will respond to our needs, successfully meeting our goals will require a major increase in external funding and an aggressive, renewed campaign for private funding, especially for support of graduate students and faculty. Susan Welch If you have not done so already, I invite you to take a look at the WebEvents Calendar which features lectures, talks, and conferences sponsored by units within the College of the Liberal Arts and by the College. I encourage you to use this great source of information. If you have something that you would like posted to the calendar for your department, please send entry submissions to Louise Sharrar at lsharrar@psu.edu. Nancy Tuana, Dupont/Class of 1949, Professor in Ethics; professor of philosophy, humanities, and women's studies; director of Rock Ethics Institute, from the University of Delaware for “Feminist Philosophy in the United States: An Oral-Visiual Reference Work.” Cecil Giscombe, professor of English, has been awarded a faculty research grant from the Canadian Embassy. Anne Rose, professor of history, religious studies, and Jewish studies, has won a NEH Fellowship for University Teachers for her project “The Rise of the Psychological Sciences in the American South, 1896-1965.” Susan Evans, adjunct professor of anthropology, has received the 2005 Society for American Archaeology Book Award for her book Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. A Staff Awards Reception on February 15 honored this year's staff award winners (see photos). Robin Kephart, administrative assistant in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences and Department of Philosophy, was honored with the Leadership Award; and Trish Alexander, coordinator of contracts and grants, was honored with the Career Achievement Award. Other winners were Esprit, Tammy Accordino, economics; Rising Star, Amy Bucha, English; Client Service, Karen Sones, sociology and crime, law, and justice; and Innovator, Connie Stahlman, economics. Also honored were our ten-year service award recipients, Karen Ebeling and Sandra Stewart. 
Leadership Award winner (pictured left to right): 
Achievement Award winner (pictured, left to right): 
Staff Award Recipients (pictured left to right):
The Trustees recently approved new language and literature and Italian studies options to the existing bachelor of arts Italian degree and approved the addition of a bachelor of science degree in Italian. Two Liberal Arts faculty won Institute for the Arts and Humanities Individual Faculty Grants for spring: Alexander Huang, assistant professor of comparative literature and Chinese, for collecting materials on the conception and reception of Taiwanese and Chinese transcultural performances of Shakespeare from 1900 to 2005. Dennis Schmidt, professor of philosophy and comparative literature, for research at the Schiller Archives in Marbach, Germany, for a memoir of German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Please note the following approaching deadlines for Institute competitions: Tuesday, March 1, 2005: Individual Faculty Grant Program (for July–December 2005) This program helps to fund the research and creative projects of individual faculty members in and across the arts and humanities at Penn State. Awards support materials, travel for research or creative activity, costs related to publication, wages for research assistance, and released time. Maximum grant award: $4,000. More information on these programs can be found on the IAH Web site at http://www.research.psu.edu/iah/. Thomas Beebee, Barrett Lee, Vera Mark, Stephen Beckerman, and Keith Nelson were elected to represent the College in the Univeristy Faculty Senate. These faculty represent your views to the Senate. Please let them know of your concerns. The Africana Interdisciplinary Spring Brown Bag Series The Africana Interdisplinary will hold several lectures throughout the spring semester. They will be held in Paul Robeson Cultural Center Library (Ground Floor of HUB-Robeson Center). For more information, contact the Africana Research Center at 865-6482 or view the topics and speakers on the WebEvents Calendar. Feminist Scholar Series Speaker Uma Narayan, professor, Department of Philosophy, Vassar College, will present “Colonialism, Capitalism, Gender, and Informal Sector Work,” on Friday, February 25, at 3 p.m in 102 Kern Building and Jeanne Marecek, professor of psychology, Swarthmore College, will present “To Die For: Gender, Suicide, and Moral Personhood in a South Asian Village,” on Thursday, March 17, at 3 p.m. in 102 Kern Building. Silke Knippschild, professor, Center for Hellenic Studies and Technische Universität Dresden, will give a lecture entitled “Spoils and Iconoclasm: The Role of Art in Creating and Destroying Social Identity,” on Wednesday, March 2; and Donald Redford, Penn State, will present “The New Discoveries at Mendes: The 2004 Season,” on Monday, March 28. Both lectures will be at 4 p.m. in 102 Weaver Building. Rock Ethics Institute Lecture Series Lorraine Dowler, associate professor of geography and women's studies and director of women's studies, will present “Women on the Frontlines: Rethinking War Narrative Post 9/11,” on Friday, March 18; G. Thomas Couser, professor of English and director of disability studies, Hofstra University, will present “Vulnerable Subjects: Ethics and Disability Life Writing,” on Monday, April 4; Sohail Hashmi, associate professor of international relations, Mount Holyoke College, will lecture on “Jihad: Holy War, Just War, or Terrorism?” on Friday, April 8; and Charmaine D. M. Royal, assistant professor and director, GenEthics Unit, National Human Genome Center, Howard University, will discuss “Race, Genomics, and Health,” on Thursday, April 14. All lectures will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library. Sandra Steingraber, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Ithaca College, will present “Rachel and Me: Living Downstream and the Legacy of Rachel Carson,” on Thursday, March 24, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library. Manisha Sinha, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will present “African American Abolitionists and the Metaphor of Revolution, 1775-1865,” on Friday, March 25, at 4 p.m. in 102 Weaver Building. Science, Medicine, and Technology in Culture Lecture Series Gary Nabhan, director, Center for Sustainable Environments, Northern Arizona University, will present “Genes, Food, and Cultural Diversity,” on Tuesday, March 29, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library. Rock Ethics Institute Conference Debra Bergoffen, Peg Birmingham, Lorraine Dowler, Lewis Gordon, Richard Kearney, Ladelle McWhorter, Jeffrey Nealon, and Charles Scott will be guest speakers for the Rock Ethics conference titled “Difficulties of Ethical Life,” on Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2, at the Nittany Lion Inn. Philip Murray Memorial Labor Lecture Reg Weaver, President NEA, will be presenting the Philip Murray Memorial Labor Lecture on Monday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in 112 Kern Building. The Steven and Janice Brose Distinguished Lecture Series The 2005 Distinguished Speaker of the Steven and Jancie Brose Distinguished Lecture Series in the Era of the Civil War will be Thomas C. Holt, James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of American and African-American History at the University of Chicago. Thomas will give three different lectures related to the topic “Slavery and Abolition through the Nineteenth-Century.” The lectures will be held in Pattee Library's Foster Auditorium on Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, April 9, at 3 p.m. All three lectures are free and open to the public. The annual Dotterer Lecture will be presented by Richard Rorty, professor of comparative literature, Stanford University, on Friday, April 15, at 4 p.m. in the Assembly room at the Nittany Lion Inn. The Dotterer Lecture is hosted by the Department of Philosophy and was established through a generous memorial fund in honor of distinguished philosophy professor Ray H. Dotterer. The lecture is free and open to the public. For further information contact John Christman (jchristman@psu.edu) or the Department of Philosophy (865-6397). 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 (twenty-minute) presentation, by a visitor or a local speaker, on a topic related to a humanities discipline. Daniel Walden (dxw8@psu.edu) is the coordinator for the series this semester. We meet every Monday in 102 Kern at about 12:15 p.m. Coffee and tea are provided (no charge). You can bring your lunch or buy something on a tray in Kern Cafeteria (next door) and bring it into 102. The speaker will begin at about 12:40 p.m. Allowing a few minutes for discussion, we'll conclude in time for you to get to classes that meet at 1:25 p.m. All students, faculty, colleagues, and friends are welcome. For details; check the WebEvents Calendar. Click here for information regarding our luncheons from previous semesters. The August Wilson Play Festival The August Wilson Play Festival will be held from Wednesday, April 27, through Sunday, May 1, at University Park. The festival, part of an ongoing initiative, “In Pursuit of Social Justice: Recognizing Pennsylvania Black Artists,” will celebrate the creative achievements of Pittsburgh native August Wilson, one of the most important African American artists as well as one of America's most acclaimed playwrights and interpreters of the African American experience. Three full theatrical productions of Wilson's plays will be featured: Fences, performed by Pennsylvania Centre Stage; Seven Guitars, performed by the University of Pittsburgh's Kuntu Repertory Theatre; and Jitney, performed by Temple University Theatre. The festival will also feature staged readings of Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and Two Trains Running, performed by Philadelphia's Freedom Theatre and Walnut Street Theatre traveling repertories and by the local theatre company Loaves and Fish. The five-day event will also include a film presentation of The Piano Lesson and discussions by theatre and literary critics of Wilson's ten plays, each depicting the African American experience in a different decade of the twentieth-century. For more information, contact the Africana Research Center at 865-6482 or the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at 865-0495. The Spring 2005 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2005, at 6 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center. The Graduate School Ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 15, 2005 at 5 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center. 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 Louise Sharrar at lsharrar@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. LA Times is compiled by Louise Sharrar, Dean’s Office, 111 Sparks, 865-7691, lsharrar@psu.edu LA Times is also available on the Web at: http://www.la.psu.edu/ This publication is available in alternative media on request. Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please consult Louise Sharrar 814-865-7691 in advance of your participation or visit. The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University policy or by state or federal authorities. It is the policy of the University to maintain an academic and work environment free of discrimination, including harassment. The Pennsylvania State University prohibits discrimination and harassment against any person because of age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Discrimination or harassment against faculty, staff, or students will not be tolerated at The Pennsylvania State University. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to the Affirmative Action Director, The Pennsylvania State University, 328 Boucke Building, University Park, PA 16802-5901; Tel 814-865-4700/V, 814-863-1150/TTY U. Ed. LBA 05-164 |
