College of the Liberal Arts

Is Football the Gladiator Sport for Modern Americans?
Classics professor Garrett Fagan sees plenty of parallels, and at least one big difference. Complete Story

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Political Science Expert Explains the G-20 Group
Scott Bennett, Jr., head of Penn State's Department of Political Science, shares insight on the G-20's role in international conflict resolution. The G-20 is a prominent forum for officials from the world's largest economies to discuss matters pertaining to the international financial system. Part 1 of a 6 part series featuring Penn State experts from many disciplines. View Bennett's interview on YouTube.

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Amy Greenberg Named Guggenheim Fellow
Amy Greenberg, professor of American history and women's studies at Penn State, has been named as a 2009 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, to research and write a history of the little-remembered U.S.-Mexico War of 1846 and the wide-reaching cultural and political impact of America's first foreign war. Complete Story

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keepin’ it REAL Program to Partner with D.A.R.E. America
D.A.R.E. America, the internationally prominent substance abuse prevention program, has licensed keepin’ it REAL, an effective, multicultural middle school drug prevention program created by the Drug Resistance Strategies Project headquartered at Penn State. The curriculum was developed by Dr. Michael Hecht, Distinguished Professor of Communications Arts and Sciences and Crime, Law and Justice, and Dr. Michelle Miller-Day, associate professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State, through twenty years of research. Complete Story

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Sociologists Study Immigrants and Welfare Reform
Prior to welfare reform, Mexican immigrants were more likely than other groups to transition from welfare to work, particularly in states that provided more generous welfare benefits, according to sociologists. "This research refutes welfare reform assumptions that immigrants and disadvantaged native citizens seek out and maintain welfare assistance for the same reasons," said Jennifer Van Hook, associate professor of sociology and demography. "In the case of Mexican immigrants, welfare seems to be used primarily to minimize the effects of gaps in employment, not to avoid work or perpetuate dependency." Van Hook and Frank D. Bean, University of California-Irvine, published their findings this summer in American Sociological Review. Complete Story

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Ben Franklin Expert Receives Rare Honor, Continues Mentor's Legacy
Filled with books about American literature and history, Carla Mulford's office is evidence of the passion she has for her research. Her fervency on her latest subject has already proven to be rewarding.Complete Story

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Seminar Room Named to Honor Fallen Alumnus
Students and faculty in Penn State's Department of Political Science use 302 Pond Building as their community center, where they regularly discuss their classes and projects about political life. It is this room that the department and the College of the Liberal Arts recently dedicated in memory of Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, a Penn State graduate who was killed while leading an intelligence mission behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, and who was posthumously recognized with the Congressional Medal of Honor in October 2007. Complete Story
Photos from the dedication ceremony

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Penn State Students Honored for 'Standing Up' as Ethical Leaders
For one student, taking a stand meant helping unwanted newborn babies and their parents. Another student successfully tackled academic cheating in his college, while others forcefully advocated for respect of the rights and lifestyles of their fellow students. Complete Story

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Probing Question: Should Society Regulate Reproductive Technologies?
"Do we have an ethical responsibility as a society to do everything we can to ensure that as many women who want to become pregnant can do so? In other words, is this a positive right?" asks Nancy Tuana, professor of philosophy and director of the Rock Ethics Institute. Complex issues surrounding these questions include the rights of citizenship, the role of the doctor-patient relationship and rising medical insurance costs. Complete Story

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NEH Fellowship to Support Faculty Research on Turner Rebellion
Anthony Kaye, assistant professor of history, has been awarded a 2009 National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to write a book on Nat Turner's rebellion of 1831. An affiliate of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center, he will reinterpret Turner's famous revolt from the standpoint of neighborhoods. His recent book, Joining Places: Slave Neighborhoods in the Old South, was a finalist for the 2008 Frederick Douglass Book Prize, given by Yale University's Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. Complete Story

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Penn State Poet Kasdorf Receives NEA Fellowship
Julia Kasdorf, a nationally recognized poet and associate professor of English at Penn State, has received a 2009 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to complete her current manuscript of poems, "Poetry in America."

Kasdorf is a writer with strong interests in religion, culture and the relationship between writers and communities. The NEA fellowships alternate annually between poetry and prose. For fiscal year 2009, 42 poets will receive fellowships of $25,000 each. Complete Story

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Mixed Population Provides Insights into Human Genetic Makeup
Mark Shriver, associate professor of biological anthropology, recently presented research on how a mixed population provides insights into human genetic makeup. Complete Story

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Economics Centers Sponsor Key Events on Financial Issues
Global financial issues amidst the current economic turmoil will be among the top issues highlighting three major upcoming events organized by Penn State's economics research centers, part of the College of the Liberal Arts. Two Nobel Laureates in economics will be keynote speakers at this year's annual conference sponsored by the Center for the Study of Auctions, Procurements and Competition Policy from March 26 to 29 at the University Park campus. Complete Story

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Penn State Honors Liberal Arts Distinguished Faculty
In an honor recognizing exceptional research, creativity, and service to the University community, five Liberal Arts faculty members have been named distinguished professors. Read more here.

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Study-Abroad Experience
David Denny, psychology major, recently received an honorable mention in an IES Abroad essay contest. Denny writes about his semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the amazing experience of adapting to the culture and language of the city both on and off the court. Complete Essay

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Class Gets First-Time Voters Engaged
With every presidential election comes a new class of college freshmen, many of whom will be voting for the first time. With that in mind, every four years Michael Berkman, professor of political science at Penn State, offers a first-year seminar, a general requirement for freshman students, focusing on the election.
Complete Story

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Streaming Videos Highlight Impact of Philanthropy
In January 2007 Penn State embarked on the quiet phase of a capital campaign. Since that time thirty-seven alumni and friends of the College of the Liberal Arts have led the way by making leadership gifts, current or estate, of $100,000 or more to the College. We are deeply grateful to these Liberal Arts Leaders (click here for list) for their early support. We recognize these leaders at an annual dinner and, this year, presented videos that exhibit how one gift can foster the creation of a “virtuous circle.” In such a circle, a faculty member receives support and through that gift enriches graduate student experiences.The faculty member and graduate students also use the gift to reach out to undergraduates. Click here to view these moving videos.

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New Faculty Members Join Liberal Arts
The College welcomed twenty-eight new faculty members at its annual New Faculty Reception held on Monday, September 15 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Read about these new faculty members here.

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Students to Represent Liberal Arts at Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop
Two graduate students from Liberal Arts will participate in the Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop sponsored by Penn State, by the partner institutions of the Outreach Scholarship Conference, and by the National Center for the Study of University Engagement. Suellen Hopler (doctoral student in Communication Arts and Sciences) and Charles Brua (doctoral student in Applied Linguistics) are among the fifteen presenters chosen through a competitive process. Complete Story

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1808 Bicentennial Commemoration to be Held October 23
The Center for American Literary Studies and the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center will sponsor an 1808 bicentennial commemoration on October 23 on the University Park campus. This event recognizes the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the legal slave trade in the United States. The headlining event will be a lecture by Sylviane A. Diouf, author of Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America. Complete Story

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College of the Liberal Arts' Office Olympics 2008 Raises Funds for United Way
Arm in arm, five by five, some 14 teams of Office Olympians from the College of the Liberal Arts paraded in their own opening ceremonies Thursday, Aug. 7, on the mall in front of Pattee Library, University Park. Complete Story | United Way Prize Winners

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Political Science Book Wins Award
The American Political Science Association awarded The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence, written by three members of the College's Political Science department, the Gladys Kammerer award for the best book on U.S. national policy in 2007. Written by Professor Frank Baumgartner, graduate student Amber Boydstun, and associate professor Suzanna De Beof, the book looks at how the reframing of the death penalty led to a decrease in public support for the policy. Click here for more on the book.

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Humanities Grant Helps Fund Hemingway Letters Project
The Hemingway Letters Project, headed by Sandra Spanier, professor of English, recently received a three-year $200,000 Scholarly Editions Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This grant builds on a similar award from the NEH that funded the project from 2005 through 2008.Complete Story

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Architect Selected for Moore Building Project
Seeking to improve facilities for Penn State's Department of Psychology, the University's Board of Trustees Friday (July 11) approved Kling Stubbins of Philadelphia to design renovations and an addition to the Moore Building on the University Park campus. Complete Story

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Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus William Sanders Dies at 82
One of the pioneers of cultural ecology, William Sanders, passed away July 2 in State College. Sanders, who taught at Penn State for 34 years, was a professor of Archaeological Anthropology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was one of the first archaeologists to work to apply scientific methods to the field and a leader in applying an understanding of local ecology to cultural development. For a full obitiuary, click here.

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Alumni Society Board Sets Campaign Goal
The College of the Liberal Arts' Alumni Society Board has committed to raising $1 million in support of the College during the Unversity's campaign For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. It is the first college-based alumni group at Penn State ever to commit to such an ambitious fundraising goal during a campaign and will serve as a model to many.
Read the full story here.

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'Innocence' Argument Dramatically Changed Death Penalty Public Support
The recent execution of a convicted murderer in Georgia and a Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of a form of lethal injection have prompted fears of a rush to executions nationwide. But American public support for the death penalty has fallen dramatically over the last 20 years shaped by a unique set of forces, and a new book by Penn State researchers examines the factors behind the transformation. Complete Story

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Navy Destroyer Named for Fallen Liberal Arts Alumnus Lt. Michael Murphy
The U.S. Navy has honored Michael Murphy, a Penn State alumnus and Naval lieutenant who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic actions in Afghanistan in 2005, with the naming of its newest missile destroyer. Complete Story

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English Faculty Member Wins Guggenheim
Linda Woodbridge, the Josephine Berry Weiss Chair in the Humanities and professor of English at Penn State, has been named as a 2008 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, to pursue research in English revenge drama. Woodbridge is one of 190 named Fellows, chosen this year from a group of more than 2,600 applicants, to share in awards totaling $8.2 million. Complete Story

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Center Director Speaks about Extremist Art Therapy Programs
The Boston Globe recently featured Professor John Horgan, Director of the College's International Center for the Study of Terrorism, in its "Ideas" supplement. The article focuses on the global efforts to "deradicalize" terrorists through art therapy and other means. Such programs are a fairly new phenomenon and Professor Horgan is one of few people studying these programs and their effectiveness. Read more here.

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Penn State Alumnus to Lead Bhutan
Bhutan, the world's newest democracy, will be led by College of the Liberal Arts alumnus Jigmi Y. Thinley, who received a master's degree in public administration in 1976. Thinley is expected to become prime minister because of his position as leader of the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) or Bhutan United Party, which captured the majority of seats in Bhutan’s first ever democratic election in March. Complete Story

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High Tech Interrogations May Promote Abuse
A recent publication by Penn State's Jonathan Marks suggests high tech questionings could promote mistreatment of suspects. An associate professor of bioethics, humanities, and law, Marks studied the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, in place of polygraph tests, particularly for suspected terrorists. Marks found that the lack of knowledge about fMRIs makes them a potentially dangerous tool. Complete Story

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Paterno Fellows Program Introduced
The College of the Liberal Arts, in partnership with the Schreyer Honors College, announces the launch of the Paterno Liberal Arts Undergraduate Fellows Program. This landmark partnership will invigorate undergraduate eduation in Liberal Arts by extending the benefits of the Schreyer experience to many more students and challenge many more students to the kind of high achievement, values, and integrity associated with the Paterno family name. The program can lead to honors recognition on a student's diploma, financial assistance with study abroad, or internships and the many benefits of a rigorous course of study. Complete Story

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Center for American Literary Studies Sponsors Community Read of Hemingway Novel
Throughout the spring term, Penn State's Center for American Literary Studies, in partnership with the Penn State University Libraries and the Penn State Institute for Arts and Humanities, is sponsoring a Community Read of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. The Community Read features a number of Hemingway-related lectures and discussions of the book that will take place through April. Complete Story

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Exhibit of Newly Released Hemingway Letters Curated by English Professor
Penn State's University Libraries have acquired an important collection of Ernest Hemingway correspondence, the last sizeable and significant known collection of the famed novelist's letters still in private hands. An exhibition of a selection of those letters was mounted by guest curators Sandra Spanier, Penn State professor of English and general editor of the Hemingway Letters project, Verna Kale, Ph.D. candidate in English, and Sanrda Stelts, curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University Libraries. "Hemingway Writing Home: Letters ot his Family 1917–1957" will be on view at the Special Collections Library, runs March 6 through May 30, 2008. Complete Story

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Chaikens Commit $1 Million for Trustee Scholarships in Liberal Arts
In hopes of inspiring the business leaders of tomorrow, Penn State alumnus Gene Chaiken and his wife, Roz, of Bryn Mawr, have committed $1 million to endow a Trustee Scholarship in that will support undergraduates participating in the business minor offered by the College of the Liberal Arts. Complete Story

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Ethical Dimensions of Climage Change
Professor Donald Brown speaks at the UN Conference Room on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change.
Click Here to watch.

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Garrett Sullivan, professor of English, recently served as a guest curator of an exhibit at the Fogler Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. The exhibit, which will be up until May 17, examines how history and current events were handled, and exaggerated, in the years before and after the career of William Shakespeare. Read a Washington Post review of the exhibit here.

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What happens when a language dies? It is estimated that the last speaker of one of the world's languages passes away every two weeks. Experts expect that within 100 years about half of the world's 6,000 languages will be extinct. John Lipski, a professor of Spanish and linguistics, fears that such losses are threatening our world's cultural diversity and worries that too often we don't know what we've lost til it's gone. To read more about his research, go to the complete story.

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Alumni Couple Creates Study Abroad Endowment in the Liberal Arts
Penn State alumni Ray and Marlene Bolze have committed $500,000 to support study abroad scholarships for students in the College of the Liberal Arts. The Ray S. and Marlene Marks Bolze Study Abroad Endowment will give first preference to students who show academic promise and have financial need. "We feel strongly that, to have a complete education, it is necessary to get out of our own country and see how other people deal with everyday life and its challenges," said Marlene Bolze. "It really broadens you and gives you so much to think about." Complete Story

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Penn State to Offer Two Psychology Degrees Online
Penn State is preparing to open two new online degree programs in psychology—a first for public universities participating in online education. Beginning this month, Penn State will open admission to its bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees in psychology to online degree students. Students can begin applying to the program later this month, and courses will be offered starting in the summer 2008 semester. Complete Story

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Liberal Arts in the News
There's a whole class in the Department of Communication Arts & Sciences dedicated to helping reluctant public speakers find their voice. The effort was highlighted in a Nov. 4 article about getting students out of their shell. Read all about it here.

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David Atwill, assistant professor of history, was recently named a Fulbright Scholar for the 2007–08 year. With the award, Atwill will continue his year at China's Yunnan University studying the nineteenth-century official Lin Zexu. Lin was a powerful figure in his time, yet is best known for his failed efforts at stopping British imports of opium. Atwill's studies will look more broadly at Lin's career and the role he played in dealing with the diverse cultures in and around China.

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Liberal Arts in the News
The Department of Sociology's senior lecturer Samuel Richards was mentioned in a Nov. 11 New York Times article about the role DNA is playing in understanding the concept of race. Richards' class performed an exercise where all the students took a DNA test to find out their ancestry. Read all about it here.

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Heard on Campus: Jonathan Marks at Research Unplugged
"The bottom line is that nobody can resist being tortured. We will all talk. But using torture and aggressive interrogation to make people talk is not a good way to capture actionable intelligence. Rapport-building is much more useful." —Jonathan Marks, associate professor of bioethics, humanities and law. Read the full story here.

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Alumni Couple Gives $500,000 for Trustee Scholarship in Lliberal Arts
Penn State alumni Linda and Jonathan Strumpf have given $500,000 to endow a scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts for students who have financial need. First preference for the Linda and Jonathan Strumpf Trustee Scholarship, the couple's third scholarship supporting the liberal arts at the University, will go to students who are concurrently enrolled in the Schreyer Honors College. Complete Story

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Beard and Miller Named Vice Chairs for the Campaign for Penn State Students
Two distinguished business executives have accepted appointments as vice chairs for Penn State's new capital campaign. E. Lee Beard of Hazleton, consultant and banking-industry executive, and Bruce Miller of Naples, Fla., founder of one of the mid-Atlantic region's largest insurance marketing firms, have accepted the positions, according to University President Graham Spanier. As vice chairs, Beard and Miller will assist Chair Peter Tombros in providing top volunteer leadership for the fundraising effort, For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students, which began Jan. 1. Complete Story

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Rein's million-dollar gift endows Trustee Scholarships in liberal arts
Penn State alumna Catherine Rein has given $1 million to establish the Catherine Shultz Rein Trustee Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts. The scholarship will be awarded to students who have financial need and will include a matching component from the University. Complete Story

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Terrorism Expert to Head International Center for the Study of Terrorism
John Horgan, one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism, will become director of Penn State's International Center for the Study of Terrorism this fall. He will help the Center build on an already strong record of international collaboration and to extend its mission of bringing top researchers into the field of terrorism research. Complete Story

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Disability Rights
Michael Bérubé, Paterno Family Professor in Literature, talks with host Patti Satalia for the Take Note radio program on WPSU.

There are more than 54 million Americans with disabilities. While their status has improved markedly since the Disabilities Rights Movement began in the late 1960s and early '70s, those with disabilities are still only half as likely as other Americans to be employed and more than twice as likely to live in poverty. We speak with one of the nation's most ardent advocates for disability rights and about his own experience raising a son with Down syndrome. Listen to the show

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Alumni Endow Director's Fund in Richards Civil War Era Center
Penn State alumni Thomas L. and Jane D. "Gee Gee" Ferrier of San Diego have committed $170,000 to endow the Tom and Gee Gee Ferrier Director's Fund in the University's George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center. Although the commitment is part of their estate plans, the Ferriers will make additional annual gifts so that the fund can be activated immediately. Complete Story

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Liberal Arts Alumna Gives $350,000 to Establish Undergraduate Endowments
Nancy Betts, a 1973 honors English graduate of Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts and a vice president with Goldman Sachs, will establish two endowments through her estate plans. The Nancy Betts Scholarship in Liberal Arts, to be endowed with a $250,000 gift, and the Nancy Betts Internship Endowment, to be endowed with a $100,000 gift, will help Penn State liberal arts students meet tuition expenses or take advantage of internship opportunities. First preference for these awards will go to undergraduates from single-parent homes. Complete Story