CAPTIAL TIMES, March 15, 1991
New campus research with a caring touch
Karen M. Putt
Capital Times Staff
Imagine being responsible for a
human life and not knowing how to care
for it. Such is the case for parents of
techonology dependent born babies.
Babies bom prematurely require special
College enjoys
silver anniversary
Jeff Berrigan
Capital Times Staff
Happy Birthday Penn State
Harrisburg!
As part of its 25th Anniversary
celebration Penn State Harrisburg will
have a Major Dinner Dance, a Tailgating
party, an Academic Convocation, and
other events for Earth Day, said Provost
Ruth Leventhal.
"I'm very excited about it,”
Leventhal said. "It's another milestone
for the college."
The celebration has actually already
started and will extend through the 1992
Spring semester.
On April 28th a Major Dinner
Dance featuring Joe Paterno, who is
celebrating his 25th year as head coach
of the Nittany Lions football team, and
the Penn State Blue Band will be held at
the Hilton Hotel in Harrisburg.
Faculty committee
to revise constitution
Robin Price
Capital Times Staff
Penn State Harrisburg's outdated
faculty constitution is undergoing
revision by a special faculty committee,
according to James Hudson, professor of
social science and sociology.
The present constitution gives
ultimate governing authority to the
entire faculty. The revision would give
legislative authority to the Faculty
Council, a representative body. Only
certain matters like ammending the
constitution would go before the whole
faculty, said Louise Hoffman, associate
professor of humanities and history and a
member of the revision committee.
The Faculty Council consists of nine
elected members and an immediate past
chairperson.
"Having two bodies of government
is redundant and obsolete," Hudson said.
"We're looking for more consistency.
We'd like to clarify the authority. As the
campus has grown and changed, the
PSH NEWS
care many parents aren't qualified to
give. But that's about to change and
Penn State Harrisburg is part of that
change.
Headed by Steven Melnick, assistant
professor of education, the Early
Childhood Research and Evaluation
Projects (ECREP) office of PSH is
A crowd of approximately 400
people are expected to attend the dinner
and the money raised will go to the
Library, Leventhal said.
On the weekend of Oct. 4,5,6, an
Alumni Homecoming will be held,
Leventhal said.
"Athletic events and an Academic
Convocation with a famous speaker, not
known at this time, will take place, and
various clubs from Penn State
Harrisburg will have food stands,"
Leventhal said.
After the Sat. April sth football
game against Temple, a tailgating party
and dance will be held, she said.
Other events to take place include
the Lecture Series, featuring various
speakers, and other dinners and dances.
Leventhal said she hopes these
activities "increase the visibility of the
college and community." She would also
"like the students to get more involved
in school activities."
constitution hasn't and therefore it
doesn't reflect our needs as accurately as
it should."
According to Hudson, the present
constitution has some "weird things in
it." For example, it still reflects the term
system, rather than semester system.
This makes Faculty Council elections
awkward because according to the
constitution, elections must take place
May 31--after the semester has ended.
The constitution, written in 1971
shortly after the formation of the
campus, has been revised many times
and was last rewritten in 1989.
"The constitution sorely needs
updating," Hoffman said. She said she
feels faculty governance is very
important, particularly in a large
institution like Penn State.
Hoffman said changes would make
for "strong, healthy faculty
involvement," in campus business.
The council is still discussing several
issues, according to Hoffman. Any
changes must be approved a two-thirds
of the faculty.
conducting research that "will have
major impact on the quality of child care
on a national level."
Programs included in the project are
the Abandoned Infants Assistance
Project, the Early Childhood Linkage
System, the Washington Licensing
Matrix Project and the Early Childhood
Program Quality Study. All programs
are aimed at improving the quality of
early childhood and child care programs.
Melnick said the projects are
significant and continue the college's
research mission.
Assistant director Richard Fiene
agrees the program is of great
importance.
"I
think all these projects will help
improve the standards of child care all
over the country. I'm really committed
to improving the quality of child care."
The Abandoned Infants Assistance
Project deals with the care of babies who
need respirators or other machines to
live. Nearly all technology dependent
infants are "preemies," or babies born
before their due date.
"When technology dependent born
babies are ready to leave the hospital
they often don't have anywhere to go,"
explained senior project assistant Kim
Carlson. "We’re talking about really
high risk babies."
The purpose of the Abandoned Infants
Assistance Project is to develop a
working system with parent counseling
and a transitional care home for
technology dependent infants. These
infants remain hospitalized because they
cannot get the care they need outside of a
hospital.
The project is evaluating the
effectiveness of a transitional home in
Philadelphia where three local hospitals
provide services for the non-profit Ken
Crest agency.
According to Melnick, "The overall
objective is to train parents to care for
technology dependent babies or find
adoptive parents who will take
technologically dependent babies. The
emphasis is on parents receiving the
appropriate training."
The transitional home is a place
where families can stay while they learn
to care for their babies. There is also a
day-care program for technology
dependent babies from newborn to pre
school ages.
The ECREP office is staffed by three
senior project assistants, a faculty
researcher, four graduate and
undergraduate assistants and one
administrative/clerical support staff.
Senior project assistants Kim
Carlson, Lynne Wells, and Heide
Melnjck are full-time workers
responsible for the day-to-day operations
in the office, and they are also involved
in the conceptual design of the program.
Graduate and undergraduate students Amy
Vaites, Judy Wolf, Peggy Reese and
Cheryl Koch are involved in the heavy
library work each program requites.'
"We provide the students with
experiences they won't get anywhere
else," Melnick said. "I think everyone
wins.”
"There's a new interest in child care,"
Fiene said. "This fall we'll [PSH] be
resurrecting our early childhood program.
The research end dovetails with what the
program will offer.”