BEHREND BEACON
February 12 2010 Humanities & Social Sciences
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
Weekly
Political
Ticker
ADAM FRACASSI
IA S. ', 1 . 1 f( •pl .it timpn-
Pennsylvania Representa
tive John "Jack" Murtha
died at age 77... former rep
resentative Charlie Wilson
died this week as well... Go
vernor Sarah Palin spoke
Monday and has been criti
cized recently for the
speech...Palin had written
talking points on her hand
that she should remem
ber... White House Press
Secretary Robert Gibbs
poked fun at her by putting
notes on his hand during a
press conference... President
Obama met with congres
sional republicans to talk
about several issues ranging
from health care to
jobs... Governor Sarah Patin
has attacked White House
Chief of Staff Rahm Em
manuel for his use of an of
fensive word... Former State
Senator Scott Brown won
Massachusetts special elec
tion to finish out the term of
former senator Ted
Kennedy... Brown is the first
Republican to hold this seat
in years... Federal Reserve
Board Chairman Ben
Bernanke announced on
Wednesday his plan to bring
back the trillions of dollars
the central banking system
leant to the banks. .The Eu
ropean Union announced
that they would be sending
money to help relieve
Greece of their debt...this
comes as good news to the
U5...10 Americans are being
detained in Haiti on charges
of child abduction.
On This Day in
History:
February 12
1733: Savannah, Georgia
was founded by English
Colonist James Oglethorpe
1878: Frederick W. Thayer
patented the baseball
catcher's mask.
1892: President Lincoln's
birthday was declared to be
a national holiday.
1909: The National Associ
ation for the Advancement
of Colored People
(NAACP) was founded.
1915: The Cornerstone of
the Lincoln Memorial was
laid in Washington, D.C.
1924: President Calvin
Coolidge gave the first
presidential political
speech on radio.
1973: American Prisoners
of War were released for
the first time during the
Vietnam Conflict.
1998: U.S. Federal Judge
ruled that the presidential
line item veto is uncortstitu-
1999: President Clinton
was acquitted by the U.S
Senate on two impeach
ment articles. Charges
were perjury and obstruc
tion of justice.
2003: The U.N. nuclear
agency declared North
Korea in violation of inter
national treaties. Tits com
plaint was sio*to the
Security Council.
Question and Answer with Dr. Aquila
ALLI HEITZENRATER
• " ( Mg Mal"
Rather than adorning his of
fice walls with degrees, awards,
and other memorabilia, the Di
rector of the School of Human
ities and Social Sciences
chooses to hang pictures of his
favorite subject: rock 'n' roll.
Aquila's office has book
shelves, tightly packed with
books about history and rock
`n' roll music.
His desk, a beautiful dark
wood, is far from cluttered.
With the exception of a few
stacks of papers, the desk is re
motely empty.
In four months, that desk will
be entirely empty, as Dr. Aquila
plans to vacate his position at
the end of the spring semester.
With one of the most signifi
cant positions in the university
vacating, Aquila looked back
over his career as the Director
of Humanities and Social Sci-
9
■ Where did you get
your degrees from?
My PhD. is in
in American History
from The Ohio
State University and my B.A.
is from Bowling Green [Ohio]
in journalism.
Did you work at
Q■ other universities
■ before Penn State
Behrend?
A is Yes, I worked at
■ Ball State for 25
years as the
Chairman of the History De
partment.
9 • What were the
• major duties of
being the director?
Provide leader
• ship for pro
m grams, be
Gender conference returns to Erie
Penn State Behrend Marketing
Sarah Whitney will be leading the
2010 Gender Conference at
Penn State Behrend.
Professor Cross Wins Dzanc Prize
ALLI HEITZENRATER
H,A tiff t, Wet • ( tedtAe tittrq.; main!
Eugene Cross, Humanities
and Social Sciences Professor,
has been awarded the third an
nual Dzanc Prize.
The Dzanc Prize is a $5,000
monetary prize awarded annu
ally to a writer of literary fic
tion.
The writer must have an un
finished piece of work to sub
mit for review and present a
Community Service Program to
be administered anywhere in
the country.
Cross will use his prize to es
tablish a year-long series of cre
ative writing workshops for
refugees from Nepal, Sudan
and Bhutan.
This will branch off of his
Humanities and Social Sciences Editor
Adam Fracassi • political science major
Dr. Aquila has been the director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences for six years, and is set
to resign from this position at the end of the Spring 2010 semester. Above, Aquila (left) with Behrend
Chancellor Jack Burke (right) and Dave Christiansen, Associate Dean.
responsible with faculty for
tenure, teaching and making
sure professors are doing they
can, assessment of curriculum
changes, to decide what
can they can be doing to figure
out what makes the program
tick. The school director pro
vides the leadership for the
team. This is a team effort
and we have a wonderful fac
ulty. It's like a manager of a
baseball team: the manager
provides leadership but with
out the team to back him up,
nothing will work. It doesn't
matter how good the manager
is or the team is, they have to
ANDREW TARR
tt tact • polio( s( Jun( u maw,'
The Third Annual Gender
Conference will be held on
April 8 and 9 at the Larry and
Kathryn Smith Chapel here at
Penn State Behrend.
All creative thinkers on gen
der are encouraged to submit
proposals and join in for con
versation an engagement.
Since its creation, the Gender
Conference has drawn hun
dreds of participants from the
Behrend community as well as
participants from Gannon Uni
veristy, Mercyhurst College,
Edinboro University and West
Virginia University.
Sarah Whitney, Lecturer in
English and Women's Studies
and conference chair said, "our
conference on gender is a
forum for college students, fac
ulty and the larger regional
community to both present and
experience thought-provoking
works on issues of gender.
work as a weekly "conversation
partner" for English as a Sec
ond Language class. Cross'
work was selected out of over
100 entries.
"Eugene's writing has that
perfect blend of modernism
and classic storytelling, is at
once humorous and sexy, intel
ligent and provocative, and is at
the same time composed and
controlled," said Steven Gillis,
publisher of Dzanc Books in
Michigan. "We were also very
much moved by Eugene's serv
ice program... All taken to
gether, we at Dzanc are proud
to have Eugene as our recipient
of the 2009 Dzanc Prize."
"I'm excited and extremely
honored to have been selected
for the 2009 Dzanc Prize,"
Cross said. "The award will
Behrend
work together. It's time to What will you miss
step out of the manager and • the most about being
onto the field. the school director?
Q What made you de
ll
• c ide to resign from
this position?
A m I truly miss being
in the classroom.
I thought I would
be able to teach more than I've
been able to. I also really
miss writing. I've written mul
tiple books and this is a really
time consuming job.
"Our theme, 'Gender in the
World,' can be interpreted
broadly; it addresses all aspects
of sexuality and gender for
both men and women," she
said.
"We'll consider submissions
of original work, including pa
pers, posters, roundtable dis
cussions, and creative or
artistic presentations."
The conference will include a
presentation by Lee Ann De
Reus, Penn State Altoona asso
ciate professor of human devel
opment and women's studies.
De Reus has received many
honors, including the inaugural
Penn State University Spirit of
Internationalization Award
(2008), and the Carl Wilkens
Fellowship (2009) for her work
on researching and giving ac
counts of genocide on women
in the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
In 2007, she traveled to a Su
danese refugee camp in Chad,
where she spoke with 25 Dar
give me the opportunity to
work closely with Nepalese,
Bhutanese and Sudanese
refugees as they write and
share their amazing stories
even as they continue to unfold.
"I'm also deeply grateful for
the opportunity to continue
working on my manuscript
while engaging in literary out
reach with a civic- minded or
ganization such as Dzanc."
Currently Cross is working
on his collection of short sto
ries, Fires of Our Choosing. For
more information about Eu
gene Cross' success with this
award, plans for his Commu
nity Service Program, Dzanc
Books, or the Dzanc Award,
please visit the Dzanc Books
website at http://www.dzanc
books.org/front.html.
eacon Humanities and Social Sciences Staff
Humanities and Social Sciences Writers
Andrew Tarr • political science major Alli Heitzenrater • creative writing major
Lasheena Barnes • psychology major Matt Defusco • creative writing major
What I'll miss is
being able to help
faculty and stu
dents and working how I do
with my staff.
Much of what we accomplish
is because of them.
ill . Are you going back
■ to teaching after this
semester?
A N lam taking a year
• sabbatical to
furi women who survived geno
cide. She co-founded the cen
tral Pennsylvania chapter of the
international organization Save
Darfur.
At Penn State, she inspires
activism in her students by
leading international service
and study abroad trips to Tan
zania and the Dominican Re
public.
There will also be a presenta
tion of the film Out in the Si
lence, a documentary about an
announcement of a same sex
marriage in Oil City, Pa's local
newspaper and the controver
sial chain of events that fol
lowed it.
The film was produced by
Penn State and has been shown
all over the nation. The
Philadelphia Inquirer called it a
"stunning documentary."
Submission abstracts of 250
to 500 words should be e
mailed as a word attachment to
behrend.gender.conferencew g
mail.com by Monday.
Penn State Behrend Marketing
Professor Eugene Cross is the
winner of the 2009 Dzanc Prize
travel around town. I am going
to use that year to write a book
about Images of the American
West. I will return to full-time
teaching in Fall 2011,
teaching pop culture, American
west and American Indians.
Q. What hopes do you
■ have for the incom
ing director?
A -It's up to that
■ person to devise
strategies. When
I first came I had the chance to
devise new strategies and my
wish is for them too.
Whoever it is, they will have
the full support of the faculty
and staff.
9
• What advice would
MI you give to the new
director?
A -I'm convinced
• that the new
person will have
plenty of advice from the fac
ulty.
• What will you miss
• the most about being
the school director?
A N What I'll miss is
• being able to
help faculty and
students and working how I do
with my staff. Much of what
we accomplish is because of
them.
Dr. Aquila has been the direc
tor of the Humanities and So
cial Sciences for six years. His
official last day in office will be
June 30th, 2010.
Barring the possibility of an
interim director, the new direc
tor, who is yet to be determined,
will not be a current member of
the Penn State faculty.
He or she will take office July
1, 2010.
What's hot
this week:
Pop Chart
Country Chart
"The Truth"
Jason Aldean
Wide Open
Rock Chart
"Break"
Three Days Grace
Life Starts Now
Hip Hop/R&B Chart:
"It Kills Me"
Melanie Fiona
The Bridge
Album:
Need You Now
Lady Antebellum
"Tik Tok"
Kesha
Animal