the Penn State-Behrend NOVEMBER 6, 1986 Dohn Harshbarger, Dean of Student Affairs resigns by Chip Susol Collegian News Writer Dohn Harshbarger, Dean of Stu dent Affairs, officially announced his resignation at the Student Government Association meeting on October 22. In an interview with the Collegian on the following Monday, he spoke on topics that - ranged from his decision to resign, the ups and downs of his former position, as the state of Behrend College as he has watched it evolve for eight years. The following are highlights from this interview. Collegian: When did you decide to announce your resignation? Harshbarger: About two weeks ago. I've been thinking about it for maybe a year mainly in terms of what I was goirir to do, and did I want to stay in this job indefinitely. In a lot of ways I would be happy to do that. But I also thought that I probably ought to be looking at different things. It would be very easy just to stay in this (position) Dr. Diana Hume George awarded full professorship by Michele Miller Collegian Staff Writer Dr. Diana Hume George, previously an associate professor of English, recently received a pro motion to full professor of English. This elevation brings a greater amount of distinction among col: leagues as well as a_ pay increase and a responsibility to be available to represent the college on commit tees and for appearances. The first female full professor at Behrend, George was an instructor of English from 1977-1978 at the State University of New York, Col lege of Fredonia. She came to Behrend in 1978 as an assistant professor and three years later became an associate professor. George received her promotion to full professor as the result of a nine-month process that began with a recommendation from Ar chie Loss, head of the division of humanities and communications, and the campus review committee. The criterion for determining a candidate's eligibility depends on several factors, Loss explained. The committee looks at whether the candidates have national recognition in their fields, how ex tensively their work has been published and the nature of Ed Bailey steps down from SGA by Craig Altmire Collegian Staff Writer Resident Senator Edward Bailey resigned from his position on Oc tober 7 because of schedule con flicts and health reasons. In an interview with the Col legian, the seventh semester M.I.S. student explained his resignation as not one of "SGA (Student Govern ment Association) burnout," but of problems that he can't control. "Burnt out? No, I have always en joyed student programming," said Bailey. • 3 ii • 1 1 a Y• . after eight years and not look at these other things seriously. Resigning is one way to bring that to, a head. Collegian: This "sink or swim" approach to one's future seems rather unique. Why did you decide to handle this decision in this manner? Harshbarger: That is probably my own decision making process. If I don't set a time frame and say I'm going to do something, par ticulary in a personal decision like that,...l tend not to do it. I like this job and it's very easy, in one sense, just to continue doing it. I really had to set a time frame and say by June of this year I'm going to be somewhere else. Collegian: Will you serve Behrend in any other capacity until this time? Harshbarger: Yes, I will be for the rest of this year. In talking with Dr. Lilley, he thought it was best to bring somebody else in, rather than have a kind of "lame duck" situa tion. At the same time, he offered me a chance to work ...in his of fice, to do some work with strategic publication, and whether they have demonstrated an above average ability to teach. The candidates are also measured in terms of profes sional program appearances and presentations, and in the amount of consulting. that they do. the . candidates _ala— plication -is sent to -Dean -Lißey, who has the power to accept or re ject it. If he accepts the applica tion, it is forwarded to University Park where the reviewing process begins again. Ultimately, the final decision rests with the University's president, Dr. Bryce Jordan. George graduated from SUNY College at Fredonia in 1971 with a B.A. in English. She went on to receive an M.A. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977. Two years later she received a doctorate in English from the Center for the Psychological Study of the Arts at SUNY/Buffalo. George lists her specialities as modern poetry, creative writing, William Blake, psychoanalytic criticism, women's studies and feminist criticism, seventeenth cen tury poetry, gravestone studies and attitudes towards death and dying. They fit together, she said, "(because) they all have to do with Dr. Diana Hume-George Electronics in Waterford conflicted with the SGA weekly meeting time. "I am unable to attend the meetings and this makes me ineffective." His job, in the System Develop ment Area of Elgin, is important to him, "both monetarily and for the experience," said Bailey. Bailey's job is not the only thing that keeps him busy. As president of Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity, a volunteer firefighter for Brookside Fire Company, and a student with an 18 credit course load, "I have my hands full," he STATION ROAD, ERIE, PA 16563 planning and other kinds of things. This will also give me the chance to be looking at things at the same time without having to rush out and find something. Collegian: Do you have any specific ideas of what you may be doing after this? Harshbarger: Not specifically. I think that there are some types of things that I'm looking at, in cluding Student Affairs, other kinds of higher education posi tions, and/or maybe leaving higher education and doing something totally different. Collegian: Who will take over your former position? Harshbarger: As far as I know, I don't thitik that anything has really - been decided for sure. I know that Dr. Lilley is in the process of talk ing to people about that...but I don't think that any clear-cut deci sion has been made. In any case, in long term, they want to bring somebody in, they don't want that gap there. P.J.(Brown) and Jamie (Grimm) couldn't just take over that, plus boundaries between concepts or subjects that are usually considered opposites. I attempt to bring op posites together on some sort of common ground." Her work in gravestone studies, for example, deals with the boundary between nnri ripnth. iShe has pu C .-- tides, reviews and poems. One of her books, a critical study entitled Blake and Freud, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1980. Cur rently she is working on three books, but said that keeping her ideas separate isn't difficult. Rather, it's relieving to work on two or more at a time because when she has problems with one she can put it aside and concentrate on another, she said. Publications of the Modern Language Association, The Centenial Review, Hartford Studies in Literature and The Jour nal of Popular Culture are a few of the publications for which George is a reader. She reviews their manuscripts to determine whether they should be printed or not. Her other credits include a fellowship for research from the American Council of Learned Societies, a fellowship for indepen dent study and research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alumni Associa tion Outstanding Achievement Award from SUNY College at Fredonia and honorable mention in the Eve of St. Agnes poetry con test. At Behrend she is associated with Women Today and the Roundtable Society. George plans to continue teaching at the college level because "There is no place in the world like a college campus in the fall with all the leaves, and students returning to start thinking again. Then in the spring it's filled with so much youth and new life. I like that. I want to be around it." As for being named Behrend's first female full professor, George feels a need to support other female candidates due to the difficulties women face in rising to the senior ranks. This is a national problem which is slowly changing, but one that still needs to be addressed, she commented. Bailey was a resident senator last year, and Student Programming Council (S.P.C.) Representative to SGA the year before last. As a Resident Senator, Bailey planned and implemented SGA's "Sunday with the Times," a monthly pro gram at which a guest speaker would facilitate a discussion on that day's issue of the New York Times. He was also active in budget decisions made by the SGA budget committee. "Although I was not a member of the committee itself, I attended meetings and helped in ..:-:..:....•..,,....,. - .:.....:::::'.......:':'-''''.,-of ei'...,::.:•.-....::•,..•...:,..,tait doing what they are doing. They have to have somebody else there. Collegian: What advice would you give your successor from what you have learned in performing the duties of this posistion? Harshbarger: This job is the kind of job that you get a lot of satisfac tion from, there are a lot of ups and downs, and that's part of the beauty of it as well as the...frustra tion *of it. It's the nature of the position. I like that kind of diversity. I think that the really exciting thing about Behrend right now..is that the college is evolving. Every semester you see almost a com pletely different kind of student population, you see different changes taking place throughout the college in a positive sense. One of the positive things that anyone coming into this posistion will ex perience is that kind of opportuni ty, to deal with change and to be developing something, not to be dealing with a stagnant situation. The frustration of Behrend is that we haven't always had the resources for all the things we would like to do as quickly as we'd like to do them. Collegian: Apathy has been cited as a major fault in today's student population. How has it affected Behrend? Harshbarger: It's certainly not unique to Behrend. I think you find...student apathy almost anywhere. If you read the student newspaper at University Park, you'll read the same things there about student apathy that you would here. Interestingly enough, • though, our students tend to see that as a totally different environ peril. It is. but the same kinds of _ALeas_a z iseVinre hprauso von cti I shaveonly "x ' peicentage of students actually involved in stu dent organizations or student government leadership...lt's pro bably more obvious at a small cam pus than it is at a large campus. New Resident Senator elected A new resident senator was elected at the Oct. 22, Stu dent Government meeting. The new senator was elected to replace Ed Bailey who submitted his letter of resigna tion Oct 8. Five candidates vied for the position which was won by sophomore Jeff Letendre. The Student Government Association (SGA) constitution states that the respon sibilities of a Resident Senator "shall be to represent the interests and opinions of the resident students of the col lege at meeetings of the SGA, to serve on committees and to assist in the general operations of the SGA and to be voting members of the Student Senate." Marilyn LaMore and Mike Shanshala are also Resident Senators. When asked why he felt the need to resign his position Bailey said, "(It was) due to health reasons and also the fact that my schedule is much busier than I had ever ex pected. I couldn't go to many of the SGA meetings because I was working. The Student Senate informally asked me if I would step down." Bailey has been actively involved in the SGA for the past three and a half years. He was a Resident Senator last year and sat on the Student Senate for one year as a representative of the Student Programming Council. "I feel bad that I had to step down, because I love be ing involved in student activities, but I also realize that . . . my schedule doesn't provide much time for active in volvement in SGA," Bailey commented. Keith Walston was a candidate for the position. inside this issue... by Barb Byers Collegian Staff Writer RUB Desk R0bbery............p. Russ Burgess••••••••••••••••••••••• • “ Two by Two' , ••••••••••••••••••• . Women's Basketball The advantage of any small cam pus, of course, is that you have much more of a chance to set in volved and closer contact with faculty, staff or other students. Sooner or later we're going to get to the point where students who want to be here are here and those who want to be at University Park or somewhere else will be there. But we're still in that evolutionary process where we have a lot of students who are here for two years fully planning to go to University Park after that, so their mind-set is very transient, and very often that's where a lot of the negative rhetoric comes from. That's one of the things that are a angin,g—znore -students are stay mg Itt.t c. As•long as you have that element of (students) not commit ted to Behrend, you're going to have that kind of problem. Collegian: Many students who wish to get involved in student ac "There were definite inadequacies in the Student Senate. I felt I was qualified for the position because I am involved in Ski Club; I really helped to turn it around. I went to most of the SGA meetings this year and I feel I have a good working knowledge of the SGA," Walston commented. Walston was disappointed with the voting process which took place during the SGA meeting last week. "I did not like the secret discussions that took place when the candidates were out of the room," he said, "and certain people's personal comments . . . were totally un called for." Walston felt that that gave an opportunity to bring personal conflicts onto the floor, which were not relevant to the election. Walston was pleased that Jeff Letendre was elected. "The Senate wound up with a very well-qualified Senator. I think they made a very good choice." In addition to Walston and Letendre four other peo ple ran for the position of Resident Senator: Holly Lew, Heidi Gebhart, Mike Campbell and Vince Cannella. New Resident Senator Jeff Letendre is a sophomore majoring in business. One of the reasons he feels qualified to hold the position is his feeling that there is real lack of communication between the residents and the SGA. Letendre feels he can "facilitate greater com munication as the new Resident Senator." Letendre is also involved as a Food and Housing Representative for the Joint Resident Council. As Resi dent Senator, Letendre said, "I will vote on such issues as the allocation of money for new clubs. I will find out the opinions of the resident students on these issues and then will vote accordingly," Letendre said. VOLUME XXXV NUMBER 5 Dean Dohn Harshbarger tivities are "scared off" by the ad ded responsibilty that is required to make up for a largely apathetic stu dent body. What are your views on this problem? Harshbarger: I think that is one of the real fears of people who get involved is that they don't want to take on that added rsponsibility. They don't realize that, in fact, it can be a learning experience itself. The students who suprise me the most that way, and this is almost a stereotype, is the business major who is supposedly the most pragmatically oriented and wants to get the best job. Yet we have more liberal arts people involved in student leadership than we do _business- - people. - The - practical kinds of leadership and organiza tional experience that - they can get from a student organization, they're not taking advantage of. Photo by Paul Duda continued on page 2
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