BEHREND BEACON Humanities & Social Sciences Apr 130 2010 www thebehrendbeacon com BEHREND BEACON YEAR IN REVIEW A look back at the stories that define the 2009-2010 academic year at Penn State Behrend (Au STORIES PRINTED WITH AUTHOR, THEIR STAFF TITLE AT THE TIME AT WHICH THE ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED, AND DATE THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE BEHREND BEACON.) New Director chosen for School of Humanities and Social Sciences School selects Queens College professor for director post SHANNON EHRIN, RACHELLE THOMPSON culture editor, news editor April 16, 2010 Steven Hicks, chair professor of Philosophy at Queens Col lege, was announced as the new director of the School of Humanities and Social Sci ences on Thursday. "One thing that attracted me to the position as it was adver H&SS School hires digital communications professor Question and Answer with Dr. Aquila ALLI HEITZENRATER H&SS writer • creative writing major February 12, 2010 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 ences. 9 ■ Where did you get ■ your degrees from? yi . 1 My PhD. is in - American His tory from The Ohio State University and my B.A. is from Bowling Green [Ohio] in journalism. Did you work at 9 m other universities P before Penn State Behrend? AYes, I worked at . Ball State for 25 in years as the Chairman of the History De partment. 9 What were the LI major duties of ' being the director? Provide leader- A. ship for pro 1111 grams, be 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 tised is that it seemed to be a very good match for my qualifi cations," Hicks said. "I was pleasantly surprised; it was gratifying to know that the fac ulty and staff had confidence in my ability to take over as the di rector." John Gamble, a Distin guished Professor of Political Science and International Rela tions and the chair of the direc tor search committee, believes that while Hicks will have to adjust to changes in the school, his background in philosophy is something that can apply to many different areas. Gamble believes "he seemed to understand competing de mands to research and teach we 11... the fact that he's in phi losophy in some ways provides ALLI HEITZENRATER Wet • (rrd[icr miting maim The communications depart ment has hired a new professor who will start in the Fall 2010 semester. This professor is Dr. lnkyu Kang from Madison, Wis. Kang has a B.A. in International Eco nomics and a B.A. in English from Hankuk Unh;ersity of For eign Studies in Seoul, Korea. He also has an M.A. in mass communications and journal ism from Sogang University in Seoul, Korea. Kang has a sec ond M.A. in Communication Arts from the University of Wis consin-Madison. In addition to his bachelors degrees and two masters de grees, Kang has a Ph.D. in com- 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. 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 work together. It's time to step out of the manager and onto the field. 9 What made you de- IN • cide to resign from this position? AI truly miss being ■ i • n 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. 9 What will you miss . the most about being 111 the school director? natural linkages to a lot of dif ferent areas within the school, even though we don't have a major in philosophy at the school." As chair of the Department of Philosophy at Queens Col lege, Hicks oversaw a number of interdisciplinary programs, liberal arts studies, and took an active role in teaching cross lit erary courses. Not only did Hicks graduate with a doctor ate from Columbia University, he also has a strong record of publications on the 19th-cen tury German philosopher, Hegel. What attracted him to the job, Hicks said, was that it was "a good match with what I was doing, a good way to develop administrative and teaching ex munication arts from the Uni versity of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wis. April 9, 2010 Kang has taught at the Uni versity of Wisconsin-Madison. In the Spring of 2000, he was a reader for a semiotics of com munication class. From 2001-2003 he was a teaching assistant for an Intro duction to Television class. In spring of 2005, Kang worked as a lecturer for Korean Culture and Civilization, the fall of 2005 as a lecturer for Mod ern Korea: North and South, and the spring of 2006 as a lec turer for Korean Popular Cul t u re. At Behrend, Kang will be teaching multiple classes. Among those classes are a graphic design course, Intro duction to Multimedia Produc- AWhat 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. 9 Are you going back M • to teaching after this semester? A N I am taking a year sabbatical to um travel around town. I am going to use that year to write a book about Im ages of the American West. I will return to full-time teaching in Fall 2011, teaching pop culture, American west and American Indians. 9 • What hopes do you • have for the incom ing director? A s It's up to that per ■ son to devise periences also the new chal lenges that lie within." Gamble said, "He has per spectives that appeal to a lot of us, so that might give him some understanding of a lot of differ ent disciplines." Kathryn Wolfe, Professor of French at Penn State Behrend, agrees that Hicks is the perfect fit for this position. "During his on-campus inter view, he struck many of us as being someone who listened well and gave thoughtful an swers that bespoke a penetrat ing, humane and fair mind. We have every reason to hope for many years of enlightened leadership with this hire," said Wolfe. Hicks is enthusiastic about his new role, and he is ready to tion, and a few other courses Kang will also be the faculty advisor for the Beacon. According to Rod Troester, the program chair of the com munications department, the reason for hiring a new profes sor was simply because there was the opportunity available and they decided to seize it. Troester also says that be sides educational qualifica tions, when hiring a new professor, they also look for someone who will successfully be able to teach classes while continuing to do research. Being able to do both tasks is important, Troester said. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences, along with the Behrend Community, would like to welcome Kang to the faculty. 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. g m What advice would • you give to the new director? A ii I'm convinced • that the new person will have plenty of advice from the fac ulty. 9 • What will you miss • the most about being the school director? • AWhat I'll miss is a being able to Nu help faculty and students and working how I do with my staff. Much of what we accomplish is because of them. jump right in. He feels his first important task in his new posi tion is to be an active listener, to talk to students and staff, and look at what has worked well at Behrend and try to improve, as well as look at what needs to be expanded. "To put it simply, we want to prepare students to be produc tive in a pluralistic and increas ingly globalizing society," said Hicks. While Hicks is bringing a fresh mindset to the job, he will nonetheless "face the same is sues as Behrend will face - tougher budget, harder to get money for programs than it's always been," said Gamble. "What I think we've found in Hicks is someone who wants the job and thinks that it pro- H&SS News in Brief Craig Warren publishes first book; examines civil war Dr. Craig Warren, an Eng lish professor, had his Civil War book, Scars to Prove It: The Civil War Soldier and American Fiction, published by the Kent State University Press in July of 2009. The book is a close look at the complicated relationship between the numerous memoirs, regimen tal histories, and other narratives put out by Civil War veterans, an( the thousands of Civil War novels published since 1865. "It is clear that we write about Civil War as a way to understand our own moment in time, es pecially with regard to the social and political issues of today: race, gender, reglion, human rights, the nature of liberty, and the role of the federal government in our everyday lives," War ren said. - Alit Heitzenrater, HMS Writei, Feb. 26 2010 Speel wins University-wide award Robert Speel, an associate professor of political science, has received Penn State University's Undergraduate Program Leadership Award for 2010. The goal of the award is to recognize those individuals' who have major responsibilities for the delivery of undergraduate education within a unit and who are providing leadership that has transformed or revitalized the undergraduate program within the unit in some way. - Andrew Raz MSS Writer, Fe b. 26 2010 Steensland lands ssmll film Job Steensland will bring author Robert E. Howard's acclaimed horror short story "Pigeons from Hell" to the big screen, in as sociation with Paradox Entertainment. The first draft of the script is currently finished with a second on the way. Budgeted at around $5 million, Steensland aims to deliver a close adaptation that is heavy on atmosphere. Steensland is currently in the running to direct the film. As for the movie's release date or who will be cast in it, "it's about as sure as tomorrow's weather," Steensland says. - Devin lhulhaber, H&SS Writer, April 23, 2010 'ns Zone 3 Poetry award Creative Writing Program Chair George Looney has won the Zone 3 Po etry Award from the Center for Excel lence for the Creative Arts at Austin Peay State University. His poem, "The Revision of Some thing Imagined," was described by judge David Keplinger as being quite brilliant and having meticulously crafted sen tences which, when combined with each other, created a haunting gift. - Atli Helizerwater, H&SS Write; *b. 26 2010 Piofessor Cross wins Dzanc Prize • Eugene Cross, Humanities.and So .cial Sciences Professor, has been awarded the third annual Dzanc Prize, a $5,000 monetary prize awarded an nually to a writer of literary fiction. Cross will use his prize to establish a year-long series of creative writing workshops fOr refugees from Nepal, Sudan and Bhutan. Cross' work was se lected out of over 100 entries. - AUi Heitranrater, HMS Writer, Feb. 26 2010 duces interesting opportunities, and will put forth effort into it." The current Director of the School of Humanities and So cial Sciences, Dr. Richard Aquila, has served in this posi tion since July 2004. This June, he will be stepping down as di rector and plans to go on sab batical in the upcoming academic year. July 15 will mark the begin ning of Hick's new position, and with him comes a strong philosophical approach to life. "A life worth living is a life in which wisdom and technical expertise and knowledge is central to the mission of stu dents having a liberal arts edu cation, Socratic mission of critically scrutinizing informa tion," he said. 'O% ll
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers