College of the Liberal Arts Electronic Magazine, Issue 16, November, 2003

Issue 16, 11/6/03

Contents:

Caitlin Yerkes, John Henry Frizzell Award Winner

Marine Corps Experience Enhances Job Prospects

Hasana Sharp, Fulbright Scholar

Rock Ethics Center Lecture Schedule

Margaret Preska Wears Many Hats

Trivia

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RICHARDS CENTER FACULTY TEACH ABOUT FREEDOM STRUGGLES

   Dr. Anthony Kaye, assistant professor of American history, is trying to convey to a class the dramatic differences in the experience of American slaves. From how slaves resisted their owners to how slaves worked from day to day on plantations, Kaye offers up details of their lives with compelling stories.
   A student in the class—comprised of secondary school teachers—raises her hand and asks a question aimed at the heart of the matter. “Were there good relationships between owners and slaves?” she asks.
   “How would you define ‘good’?” Kaye replies. A lively discussion ensues about whether slave holders could be humane. “You can't be a humane slave holder, because it is not humane for one person to own another,” suggests Kaye.
   The discussion is one example of the interchanges that occurred during a recent session of this year’s George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center’s teachers’ institute, titled “Freedom Struggles.” The center's third annual institute, sponsored by Arthur J. and Susan W. Glatfelter, is a weeklong outreach program for middle and high school teachers offering the latest scholarly perspectives on the struggles of African Americans from the origins of slavery to the Civil Rights movement.
   Dr. William Blair, director of the Richards Center, described the experience as a delight for the Penn State faculty. “The teachers soak up the material like sponges. The environment is electric; they're so enthusiastic. In the end, our faculty often have gained more than they've given.” The purpose of the institute, explained Blair, is to improve teacher expertise in the Civil War era while creating a partnership between University scholars and K-12 teachers.
   “There are so many advances in Civil War era scholarship, and this is a chance to get the most up-to-date knowledge into the hands of students,” he said. The institute spreads the scholarship through readings, historical documents, lectures and discussions—all aimed at helping teachers develop specific lesson plans.
   Teacher Anne Pletcher from Reading High School said that she found primary documents shared by the scholars especially helpful. “I've already told the teacher of African American history at our school that I’ve got lots of stuff for him—he’s excited to see all of it,” she said.
   For example, Dr. Robyn Spencer, assistant professor of African American studies and history gave the class the text of a controversial speech by John Lewis (now a U.S. representative from Georgia), delivered during the 1963 March on Washington. Spencer said she showed Lewis' speech to demonstrate its contrast to Martin Luther King's famous “I have a dream” speech.
   “The course is a good opportunity to help teachers think about their lesson plans in new ways—Martin Luther King’s speech was conciliatory and challenging. John Lewis was more blunt about economic problems in the black community," she explained.
   Spencer also delved into the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and showed how other women who were arrested before Rosa Parks helped lay the groundwork for the protest.
   State College Area Senior High School Teacher Deb Poveromo found that learning about the Civil Rights movement from the viewpoints of lesser-known individuals will indeed help her in the classroom. “When you teach Civil Rights, students say, ‘Oh, here we go again. We've heard this before.’ Now I can teach it from a new perspective,” she said.
   Pletcher added that the course books also presented many interesting topics for discussion, including American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta, by associate professor of history Nan Woodruff, who helped organize the institute.
   “I'd never heard of the massacres at Elaine,” the 1919 racial slayings, a topic the book explores, said Pletcher. “That will certainly pique students' interest in race relations in the United States.”
   While in the Mississippi Delta researching her book—which examines the formation of a Black rural political culture in the South—Woodruff worked with local teachers on its subject matter.
   “The history is painful to people in the South,” said Woodruff. “You never know what memories you are going to stir up.” Still, Woodruff said that no matter where she works with teachers, she finds them to be “inspirational.”
   Each year the content of the curriculum changes with the availability of faculty. While Woodruff writes about the twentieth-century African American South, Kaye's area of expertise is slavery and emancipation, and Spencer's work focuses on Black nationalism and social protest movements.
   “That we keep coming up with new content taught by different faculty highlights a real strength of the Richards Center. We feel strongly that the Civil War Era needs to be approached from a broad perspective that captures the complex social, economic, and political influences that continue to affect us today,” said Blair.
   Poveromo, who has attended all three institutes, added: "It's foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity to have access to all that scholarship and to be able to ask questions in a one-one-one atmosphere like that. I walk away with a wealth of knowledge."

—by Tracy Huston. This article first appeared in Penn State’s Outreach magazine.

CAITLIN YERKES HANDLES TURBULENCE

   It might be something as simple as a broken nose. Or as serious as a fractured femur or a car accident. Whatever the emergency, Caitlin Yerkes and the other EMT’s on duty at University Ambulance Service will be the first ones called to the scene. For Yerkes, the maturity needed to be certified as a professional for this position is nothing new. In past years, she has been the captain of Penn State’s Water Polo club, survived the distance from her parents who live in Saudia Arabia, and worked as camp counselor with children who had sickle cell anemia.
   This same ability to take on difficult situations can be found in Caitlin’s academic life. Rather than taking a typical pre-med track, she has created her own major, one that combines kinesiology, biology, and women’s studies. She explains that tackling three different academic themes in Letters, Arts & Science (LAS) “has allowed me to tie in the most important things I want to affect in my future. It let me combine classes in which I was interested with ones that were more challenging.” Caitlin’s courses encompass a myriad of classes such as “Molecules and Cells” and “Functions and Development of Organisms,” along with classes such as “Women’s Health Issues,” “Women in Developing Countries,” and “Integrative Medicine.”
   Caitlin has a clear sense what she’d like to do in the future. “Before medical school, I would like to do some public service work, ideally teach with the Teach for America program. It is really important for me to do something new for awhile where I feel like I am impacting the world before I begin more schooling. After medical school, I would eventually like to work in a clinic where I could help more underserved populations receive medical care.”
   In recognition of her hard work, Caitlin has been awarded the John Henry Frizzell Award, given to students in the liberal arts who have illustrated superior academic ability and extra-curricular activities.

MARINE CORPS EXPERIENCE SHOWN TO ENHANCE JOB PROSPECTS

    When their tours of active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan are over, Marines who receive an honorable discharge may be welcomed back by some employers with a higher salary for their Marine Corps experience, Penn State researchers have found.
   Kevin Murphy, professor and head of the Department of Psychology and leader of the study, says, "About one-third of the employers included in the survey data we studied said they see a substantial economic benefit to hiring Marines and would be willing to pay between 10 percent and 50 percent more to get a person with Marine Corps experience."
   Murphy, Jeanette Cleveland, professor of industrial and organizational psychology, and William T. Ross, professor of marketing, participated in the study through the Marine Corps Research University program.
   The Marine Corps asked Penn State researchers to evaluate the Corps' recruiting process and offer recommendations to enhance it. As part of the project, the researchers measured both the content and the value of the Marine Corps experience from the perspective of employers as well as Marines. More than 1,900 employers and Marines participated in the surveys.
   The researchers found that, when employers understood the Marine Corps experience in terms of the core values and life skills developed by the Marine Corps, they saw a substantial economic benefit to hiring post-service Marines and were willing to offer higher salaries to get them.
   On the other hand, a majority of employers did not have a clear or positive understanding of the Marine Corps experience. As a result, about two-thirds of employers surveyed said they saw no difference between hiring a civilian with comparable job experience versus a post-service Marine.
   Murphy says, "The employers who favored hiring Marines understood that people who receive an honorable discharge from the Corps have adopted the core values of honor, courage, and commitment. They understood that, when told to do something, post-service Marines would have the commitment and confidence to get the job done. Unfortunately, a majority of employers we surveyed did not yet understand this fact."
   The Penn State researchers have recommended that the Marine Corps more clearly communicate the value and relevance of the Marine Corps experience to potential recruits and their parents and to employers. They have also recommended providing post-service Marines a better means to communicate the relevance and value of their experience to employers.
   The group also notes that the Marine Corps already has the most successful recruiting program among the armed services. The Corps' decision to ask university researchers to look at its recruiting practices to make them more efficient and effective is also unique. The other services review their recruiting programs from within.
   Murphy says, "It is likely that a campaign to increase employers' understanding of the value and relevance of the Marine Corps experience would enhance Marines' post-service employment opportunities, thereby also increasing the attractiveness of recruitment."
   The Corps designated Penn State its Marine Corps Research University (MCRU) in 1999 to provide research and educational services. About fifty Penn State faculty and staff members and more than sixty graduate students from five colleges and the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) participate in more than 103 MCRU projects. Ron Madrid is MCRU program manager.

—by Barbara Hale, Penn State Public Information

HASANA SHARP ON THE REALITIES OF "SPINOZA BOOT CAMP"

Editor’s note: In the 2003 issue of Liberal Arts magazine, Aimee LaBrie wrote about Hasana Sharp’s plans for her Fulbright year in France. Below is a digest from Sharp, talking about the difference in what she had expected and what she is actually experiencing while studying Spinoza at the École Normale in Lyons, France.

   My roommates are two French men, first year "normaliens" here; one a student of history, the other studies "philo," as they call it. They are both still "generalistes" and about 21 years old. Unlike 21-year-olds I’ve known, however, they are clean and cook for themselves, even using spices. One even mopped today, and I did not notice any dirt at all. He looks like a surfer, and I suspect he is usually making fun of me, though I can't quite tell. The other guy is very sweet, has insisted on feeding me, and took me to the market today, where he bought some very disturbing looking sausage thing. They are both very friendly, have been exceedingly patient with my French, and seem overall pretty pleasant.
   The language barrier is significant, but not nearly as bad as I feared. I can understand much of what they say, can say what I have to—though I am pretty slow on the draw—and they never laugh or speak a word of English. Almost no French people have spoken English to me, despite the various challenges with which they have helped me. I don't know whether this is because they cannot or because they do not want to.
   While I still struggle with my French, it is clear that “Spinozism” is its own language. It took me several weeks to get hold of the different names for spoons, and I am still unable to grasp the various slang words involving modifications of the French word for "cow," but I instantly felt at home in the classroom discussions of the one unique substance and its infinite attributes and modes.
   As soon as the professor begins to speak of office hours, or needing to change to a different classroom, however, I am usually lost. Fortunately, there are three other Spinoza doctoral students who are also "strangers," from Spain, Switzerland, and Finland. We gather after every class in order to sort through translation issues, and it inevitably becomes a friendly debate about whether modes constitute real individuals in Spinoza's metaphysics. Such conversations are of interest only to us, and we recognize a deep camaraderie of utter nerdiness and perhaps mental infirmity. We each have been granted our own "bureaus" in the same hall, with our own computers (with cursed French keyboards), and feel almost like royalty, despite our frequent embarrassing linguistic fumbles (by the way, do not ever use the dictionary verb for "to kiss"). We have somehow found ourselves in the only place in the world, where you get major fringe benefits for being Spinozists. It is unbelievably cool, and strangely quite humbling. We are all very grateful for one another, the fact that we have not one, but two Spinoza professors, and the fact that everyone we talk to registers recognition when you mention Spinoza, and inquires about the precise subject of our dissertations. What I imagined would be Spinoza "boot camp," feels a lot more like a warm bath.

ROCK ETHICS INSTITUTE TO HOST SEVERAL LECTURES THROUGH FALL AND SPRING

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are over fifty million people with disabilities, comprising the largest minority group in the United States. In turn, the academic field of Disability Studies has developed to examine issues related to disabilities. Disability Studies does not only consider concerns solely related to rehabilitation or discrimination, but also looks at the cultural and sociological concerns related to the term “disability.” The field is just one example of how cultural phenomena translate to academic concerns, and the Rock Ethics Institute is turning its specific considerations of ethics to exactly those sorts of emerging concerns.
   In the fall of 2003 and spring 2004, the Rock Ethics Institute is offering a lecture series focusing on Disability Studies as well as current topics related to bioethics, unfree labor practices, gender issues in science, and ethical matters in science, medicine, technology and culture. Most of the lectures are collaborations with other centers and resources such as George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center; the Africana Research Center; specialized groups such as the Science, Medicine, and Technology in Culture group; and State College Area High School. Lecture topics relevant to more than one group are offered as part of both lecture series.
   The series includes the following:
• The Bioethics Lecture Series, along with the Feminist Science Studies Lecture Series: talks on topics related to the genome project;
• The Breaking the Silence Lecture Series: issues connected to slavery and unfree labor practices in the Americas;
• Ethics and Disability Studies Lecture Series: issues concerning the built environment.
   The Rock Ethics Institute, directed by Nancy Tuana, DuPont/Class of ’49 Professor of Ethics, was developed to support programs that increase moral awareness and ethical inquiry, not only at Penn State, but also on a local and national level. The lecture series is just one example of the ways the Institute works to support its goals. Presenters include Penn State professors along with speakers from Brown University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and other universities across the nation.
   The next lecture, sponsored by the Rock Ethics Institute Feminist Science Studies Initiative and Science, Medicine, and Technology in Culture (SMTC) will be given on November 6, 2003 at 4:00 p.m. in 102 Weaver Building on the University Park Campus. The lecture, presented by Malia Fullerton from Penn State’s anthropology department, will focus on the issues related to genome, population, and politics.

MARGARET PRESKA WEARS MANY HATS, AND ONE HELMET

   Margaret Preska ’61 MA speech and ’86 Distinguished Alumna believes in empowerment, specifically empowerment through education. She has served as a university president and was involved in establishing the first university for women in the United Arab Emirates. She was national president of Campfire Boys and Girls for many years and she has served as a consultant on higher education in dozens of countries. And she owns a business which teaches people how to build their own dirt-track racing bikes.
   She did not foresee a life of such variety. As a fifteen-year old first year undergraduate at SUNY Brockport, she glimpsed exactly the life she wanted to have. She met the president of the college and realized, “I wanted to help people learn. I was selfish that way, I wanted a life like his, making a place where people felt comfortable asking questions.”
   While a specialist in Soviet affairs, twentieth-century Russia, and its literature, Preska taught a variety of history courses in her first teaching position, at the LaVerne College in Southern California where faculty were expected to teach classes outside their main expertise. “I was Western Europe,” she declares.
   While teaching, she continued her research, especially in children’s literature. Preska says, “Many elegant, disciplined, creative authors worked in Soviet children’s literature, and it often saved them from Siberia.” She notes that it was clear when the government was keeping tabs on an author; he or she switched to writing children’s books. Moreover, some of the only demonstrations in the former Soviet Union that did not turn bloody were those held to protect children’s authors.
   She worked hard at LaVerne, and soon occupied the dean’s office. While it took her away from her own scholarship, Preska says all her jobs had many pleasures and opportunities. She soon became Vice President for Academic Affairs and after 4 years President of Mankato State University. And for 14 years, she took advantage of those opportunities, working with others in her community to shape her university. The combination of her academic expertise and her administrative experience sent her to the Soviet Union in the early nineties, to consult with a university rector who was a deputy for the Ekaterinburg mayor, one Boris Yeltsin, on higher education issues.
   Her experiences also led to her helping establish the university in the United Arab Emirates. A man with whom she worked to reshape Minnesota’s general education transfer curriculum in the late 1970s called her after not seeing her for twenty years. He was working with officials in the UAE, and had been charged to find someone to help establish a college for women.
   “It’s funny,” Preska recalls. “They were looking for a successful Midwesterner with a liberal arts background to help establish this university. They were very specific. He remembered me, after twenty years, and looked me up in Who’s Who.” She laughs. “Never underestimate what can happen if you serve on a committee.”
   But how did a university president and Soviet literature scholar enter the custom motorcycle business? Family.
   “My parents owned a motorcycle business,” she says. “Through high school and college I did their inventory—good training for a historian, by the way.” When she was in the UAE, working on establishing Zayed University, Preska learned that her mother’s health was failing, and she returned to make it possible for her mother to live in her own home. Her mother guided her look over the books to see what to do with the business.
   She herself was not good with the bikes. “I am a danger to myself and others,” she says with a smile. Her brothers, however, each professional racers, knew enough to assure her that renovation of vintage racing motorcycles still had a market. But, with stores growing in expense and the market itself a niche with no real center, Preska with the help of her husband Dan (BSME ’59) decided to take the business online. Now, Robinson Streetracker is in cyberspace, at www.buildabikeinc.com. From the site, individuals can buy kits and components to make their own motorcycle, updating the original populist company mission to the twenty-first century.
   Preska sees it fitting in quite well with the other activities of her life. “We guide people trying to build bikes, to do it at home. It’s just another form of teaching.”

DO YOU KNOW?

   After a second prompting, LAzine readers came through with an answer to our question from last issue: how many Penn State students won Fulbright Awards this year, and of those, how many were Liberal Arts students?
   The correct answer came from the Mayor of State College himself, Bill Welch, a 1964 arts and letters graduate. He wrote, “The answer is fourteen undergraduates and graduates at the main campus, nine of whom are students in Liberal Arts.”
    He is right, and if you are interested in reading more about many of Liberal Arts’ Fulbright students, you can look at the article in the current print edition of Liberal Arts.
   The faculty in Liberal Arts have also fared well with Fulbright awards recently. In September, the University announced that fourteen faculty won Fulbright Senior Scholar awards. Of those fourteen, five were from Liberal Arts. They were: Bernard Bell, professor of English; Jeffrey Cohen, assistant professor of anthropology; Robert Harkavy, professor of political science; Edward Keynes, professor emeritus of political science; and Lisa Reed, associate professor of French and linguistics. For the full story, click here.
   For this issue, we ask the following: which department in Liberal Arts enrolls the largest number of majors? The first correct answer gets a prize, and we will reveal the correct answer, and the numbers as well, in our December issue.

Good luck.