Faculty/Staff News of Note
September 2002
Dr. Daniel Barnard, director of choral ensembles and the Logan Music Series, has been chosen as an American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Award recipient this year. The award includes a grant to assist him in his work as a composer. Barnard volunteered aboard the U.S. Brig Niagara August 9-23 to begin the process of writing a new work that will celebrate Erie's maritime history. His new composition will be featured by the Behrend College Choir when it travels to offer audiences a flavor of Erie's history.
Michael Christofferson, assistant professor of history, has had his article, "François Furet Between History and Journalism, 1958-1965," published in French History, a journal published by Oxford University Press. Christofferson has also signed a contract with Berghahn Books for the publication of his book, Intellectuals Against the Left: The Antitotalitarian Moment of the 1970s in French Intellectual Politics.
Amid the recent labor negotiations in major league baseball, Dr. John Fizel, professor of economics and director of the iMBA program, was asked to extend his opinions based on his expertise in the economics of sports. Dr. Fizel had a press interview with the San Jose Mercury News, a taped video interview with WICU-TV in Erie, and a live phone interview with the morning show on KCBS in San Francisco. Fizel also had his manuscript, "Equity and Arbitration in Major League Baseball," accepted for publication in Managerial and Decision Economics. Fizel collaborated with Dr. Anthony Krautmann of DePaul University and Dr. Lawrence Hadley of the University of Dayton in writing this paper.
Dr. Robert A. Gray, assistant professor of engineering, had his paper, "Partnering with Industry to Provide Students with Active Learning Experiences," published by the International Centre for Engineering Education, located in Australia. Gray's research was also presented by Dr. David Passmore, University Park professor of education, at the 3rd Global Congress on Engineering Education, held in July 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland. Gray recently presented research results titled "Simulation for Bus Transportation Surface Movement Using an Embedded GPS/INS" at the second Pennsylvania Transportation Institute Conference, held July 24-25 at University Park. Gray's work summarized the process for developing statistical error models and integrated GPS and inertial navigation sensors for future intelligent vehicle programs.
Gray also participated as an invited peer reviewer at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia, September 16-18. Gray was teamed with four other experts from the USAF, Navy, and the aerospace industry to provide an objective, supplementary view of the quality and direction of NASA Langley's multi-million dollar projects of the mission critical systems in the Airborne Systems Competency Group. Gray's responsibilities also included providing oral and written feedback regarding NASA's claims of being state-of-the-art. A principal engineer from NASA Marshall was also a participant. The review process concluded with a special meeting held with NASA's chief scientist. NASA mission critical systems research includes: fault avoidance/fault tolerance and fault detection and management of aerospace vehicle systems. Gray's expertise includes integrity monitoring of synthetic vision systems for aerospace vehicles, systems and reliability engineering, and remote monitoring and diagnostics.
Dr. Roger Knacke, professor of physics and astronomy and director of the School of Science, will present "Brightness at Midnight: The problem of Light Pollution in Our Skies" on Thursday, Septemebr 26, at 7:00 p.m. in the Admiral Room of the Blasco Memorial Library, 150 East Front Street.
Dr. James A. Kurre, associate professor of economics, has been notified that his article, "Is the Cost of Living Less in Rural Areas?" has been accepted for publication in the International Regional Science Review. The article's title grew out of his sabbatical year contract work for the Center for Rural Pennsylvania (a Pennsylvania government organization.)
Congratulations to Mario Loreti, who has been promoted from Instructional Services Specialist to Senior Instructional Services Specialist. He is a member of the MISC team.
Mary-Ellen Madigan, director of Admissions and Financial Aid, and Jane Brady, assistant director of Admissions and Financial aid, presented "It Takes More than Money: Creative Ways to Attract Top Students" at the joint Penn State University Admissions and Student Aid conference at University Park September 9 and 10. Their presentation was an overview of the college's Provost Fellows Scholarship Program.
The Penn State Erie chapter of Lambda Sigma Honor Society, under the direction of Cathy Sargent Mester, senior lecturer in speech communication, and Mary Beth Peterson, director of the Career Development Center, has received the highest recognition of the society, Honor Chapter. The honor reflects activities in the 2001-2002 academic year. Jana Goodrich, lecturer in management and marketing, will join Mary Beth Peterson as adviser for 2002-2003.
Dr. Jeff Pinto, Breene Fellow in Management, had his twelfth book, The Frontiers of Project Management Research, published by the Project Management Institute last spring. His co-editors were Dr. Dennis Slevin and Dr. David Cleland of the University of Pittsburgh. Pinto also was a co-organizer of the second International Project Management Research Conference held in Seattle in July. The conference featured participants from a set of the top project management academics and practitioners around the world.
Pinto was appointed adjunct professor of management on the faculty of Design, Architecture, and Building at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. This is an honorary appointment for a three-year period and will involve working with graduate students in the field of project management, supervising dissertations, and teaching graduate seminars. Pinto has also been invited to present a series of lectures in project management in May 2003 at the Instituto Studi Direzionali (Institute for Management Studies) in Milan, Italy.
Dr. Mary Beth Pinto, associate professor of marketing, was reading transcripts of September 5 testimony presented on Capitol Hill to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee when she spotted a reference to "credit card research done by professors at Penn State Erie." Sure enough, Dr. Robert Manning, professor of humanities from the Rochester Institute of Technology, cited an article from the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing by Pinto, Dr. Diane Parente, assistant professor of management, and Dr. Todd Palmer, a former School of Business faculty member. The article was titled "College Students' Credit Card Debt and the Role of Parental Involvement: Implications for Public Policy."
Dr. John Rossi, associate professor of history, has been selected program chair for the twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Economic and Business Historical Society, which will convene in Memphis, Tennessee, April 24-26, 2003. The Economic and Business Historical Society is a multi-disciplinary association that welcomes proposals for individual papers or entire panels on all aspects of business or economic history. Anyone interested in presenting a paper or learning more about the society may contact Rossi at jpr2@psu.edu or x6441.
Dr. Pamela Silver, associate professor of biology, has been named a co-editor of the Journal of the North American Benthological Society.
Dr. Kimberly Skarupski, director of research at CORE, was awarded a master's degree in public health (M.P.H.) from The University of Pittsburgh in June 2002. Skarupski was awarded her Ph.D. in sociology from Case Western Reserve University in 1996 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at The University of Michigan in 1997.
Dr. Blair R. Tuttle, assistant professor of physics, has had his article, "Resonant Electron Tunneling Through Defects in Ultrathin SiO2 Gate Oxides in MOSFETs," published in Solid-State Electronics Volume 46 (2002) 1027-1032.
Dr. Al Warner, assistant professor of management, has had his article, "The Role of Block Alliances in Formal Standardization," accepted for publication by the International Journal of IT Standards Research in January 2003.
Congratulations to Al Vogan, who has been appointed assistant director of Housing and Food Services. In his new position he will oversee food service in Bruno's and Dobbins, the express coffee carts, and handle catering for special events.
Dr. Bruce Wittmershaus, associate professor of physics, traveled to Molecular Probes in Eugene, Oregon, to update collaborators on the progress of his National Science Foundation grant and to secure future collaboration.
Return to Faculty and Staff News Index
Open the original version of this page.
Usablenet Assistive is a UsableNet product. Usablenet Assistive Main Page.