Professor Explores Liberalism of Eleanor
Bradley Schlegel
Ste Writer
Allida Black hk.s spent most of her adult life
studying Eleanor Roosevelt.
"She has always fascinated me," said Black,
a visiting associate professor of American
Studies and History at PSH. "I admire who she
is and what she stood for."
Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, spent 12 years in the White House
helping shape the policies of the New Deal.
Though she left Washington in 1945, Eleanor
Roosevelt continued to carry strong political
influence until her death in 1962.
Those post-White House accomplishments
are the basis for Black's first book, "Casting
her own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Shaping of Post-War Liberalism." The book is
due out November 1, 1996 and will be pub
lished by Columbia University Press.
After seven years of exhaustive research,
Black has put together the portrait opposite of
the current perception of liberalism. It was
necessary to "understand the history of liber
alism" and "have a clearer perception of First
Ladies."
Dr Kiffer: Interim Provost on
Campus
Danielle C. Hollister
Staff Reporter
A retired administrator and former pro
fessor at University Park has given up his
golfing and fly-fishing during the week to
serve as interim provost at Penn State
Harrisburg.
Dr. Theodore Kiffer, who retired from his
position of associate dean at University Park
three years ago, is temporarily filling the va
cancy created by former Provost Dr.
Leventhal's retirement.
As interim provost, Dr. Kiffer said he has
full authority and responsibility to conduct the
affairs of the campus as he sees fit, with the
consent of the faculty because that's his style.
"When I was first asked about giving up
my retirement freedom, I thought I'm not
really interested," Dr. Kiffer said.
Dr. Kiffer said he listened to the offer and
thought about it fora few days. lie even made
a list of positives and negatives.
The negatives included giving up his free
dom and his home. Dr. Kiffer said he and his
wife have a nice place out in the country with
a stream running through it. He said to be able
to retire on a comfortable income and do what
you want is a great feeling.
But he said his final decision to accept the
position was based partially on his own sense
of altruism and appreciation to Penn State.
"I thought I owe a lot to Penn State," Dr.
Kiffer said.
Now he lives in Meade Heights and eats
in the dining hall during the week. He said he
enjoys being close to the students so he can get
to know them.
As far as the living conditions in Meade
Heights, Dr. Kiffer said, "You need to spend
four years on a destroyer and then you'll
appreciate Meade Heights."
He is referring to his time spent in the US
Navy during World War 11. Dr. Kiffer said he
was on an amphibious support vessel that
sailed out of Pearl Harbor five times and
invaded five different Japanese islands
After the invasion of Guam, he was sent to
back to the United States and assigned to an
Wh) Are the Lion Ambassadors...?
Jeff Wittmaier
Staff Reporter
The Lion Ambassadors are considered a
Penn State Harrisburg club, but what they do
is unlike any other organization at PSH.
The Lion Ambassadors are a community
related club. They are a community organiza
tion for the Penn State Harrisburg college
community and the local community.
At the beginning of the year the members sit
down and vote on what they think the theme of
the year should be and then organize activities
for that theme. This year the theme of the Lion
Ambassadors is children.
"When we decided on children as our theme
we then went about organizing activities for
that theme," Tiffany Green, president of the
Lion Ambassadors, said.
Alumni events are also a part of the duties of
the Lion Ambassadors.
"We host the Alumni events on campus,"
Green said. "This is part of our obligation as
a club. We also host other college events, such
as open houses, we give tours during them.
Also we host the award convocation ceremony
and graduation."
This semester the Lion Ambassadors are
helping with a book publishing celebration,
Women's History Month(March) and under
graduate admissions open houses.
Not only do the Lion Ambassadors help
"Rights have become separate from respon
sibilities," said Black, who did her doctoral
thesis on Eleanor. "Mrs. Roosevelt always
believed that with rights come responsibili
ties. To be an American, one had a moral
obligation to remain informed."
"Most people think a liberal believes in
giving things away," said Black. "That's not
the way I see it, or the way Mrs. Roosevelt
would. Most people think of welfare as just
black women with children. But that's not
necessarily the case. People don't see a lot of
white women and working-class families with
children that get support."
"Allida's book will fit in very nicely with
our series in contemporary American stud
ies," said Chad Kia, assistant editor at Colum
bia University Press. "This is a great time to
have this book published. People are very
interested in the New Deal, partly because its
effects are still with us."
The book will be packaged as a companion
to a two-volume biography on Eleanor
Roosevelt and a book of essays edited by
William Leuchtenburg, of the University of
North Carolina.
Eleanor Roosevelt was very influential in
aircraft vessel for the rest of the war
"It's been 52 years since I left that ship," Dr
Kiffer said.
He was preparing to go to a reunion of his
shipmates from World War 11. Dr. Kiffer said
there are 26 survivors who are meeting south
of Orlando, Fla. He said it will be the first time
he has seen these friends in 50 years.
Dr. Kiffer has appointed Dr. Sachs to act
in his place while he is in Florida. He said Dr.
Sachs will not have the same authority as
"acting" provost that he has as "interim" pro
vost.
After serving in the military, Dr. Kiffer
received his Bachelor's degree from Robert
Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY, where he
majored in English with a minor in history. He
then went
on to the seminary and became a pastor for
eight years.
"I didn't feel quite right about what I was
doing, so I decided to start grad school," Dr.
Kiffer said.
He came to Penn State University Park,
where he received his master's degree in En
glish with a minor in history. Dr. Kiffer also
earned his Ph.D. in English at Penn State.
"With out my asking, I was offered a
teaching position while finishing my doctor
ate," he said.
After teaching at Penn State and Kutztown
University for a few years, Dr. Kiffer went to
Africa where he was an associate professor of
linguistics and a senior Fullbright lecturer in
linguistics and English at the University of
Liberia.
After almost ten years teaching experi
ence, Dr. Kiffer said out of the blue he was
offered the position of Chief Academic Of
ficer at the Penn State Berks campus. He said
he never took any courses to be an administra
tor.
"I never thought I would ever become an
administrator," Dr. Kiffer said.
He said the faculty used to say to him,
"Don't you miss the students?"
"I do and I did to a certain extent because
I always enjoyed teaching very, very much,"
Dr. Kiffer said. ""I enjoyed being with the
students."
He said he looks at it like he exchanged a
couple of classrooms of students for the fac-
with events on campus, but also they sponsor
events for the community.
"We are sponsoring the Big Brother/Big
Sister college program," Green said. "The
program will last the entire semester and hope
fully into next year."
The club ran the Carnation sale over
Valentine's Day. The club runs sales like this
to fund their organization for the activities that
they hold over the course of a semester.
Giving something to the community and
giving Penn State Harrisburg a sense of pres
ence in the area is one of the main goals of the
Lion Ambassadors.
"We held a holiday party for the homeless at
the Harrisburg YWCA in December as one of
our activities," Green said.
As part of their activities, the Lion Ambas
sadors are going to visit the Polyclinic some
time this semester to visit the children.
On April 2 the Lion Ambassadors are hold
ing a Bowling for Kids Sake. Also the Lion
Ambassadors with Kappa Delta Phi are hold
ing Reading literacy Week, from April 23-29.
"We will be reading to local kids," Green
said. "We wanted to incorporate another PSH
club, which is why we are holding this activity
with Kappa Delta Phi."
The Lion Ambassadors will also be holding
a mug sale this semester.
"We try to schedule as many events as we
can to benefit the college and local commu
Features
Allida Black
world and international politics. She was a
member of the American delegation to the
United Nations, and was the key author of the
International Declaration of Human Rights.
She was on the executive board of the
ulty. He said he deals with the faculty on a
personal basis too.
The PSH faculty seems to be pleased with
the way Dr. Kiffer has dealt with them in the
short time that he has been here.
"I'm impressed with him because of his
openness with faculty, staff and students,"
Tom Steck, supervisor of Administrative Ser
vices said. "He seems like a real people
person."
"He seemed like a pretty nice guy. He
thought we were students and we told him we
were the landscape crew, so he introduced
himself to everyone and told us we're doing a
good job," John McLaughlin, landscape group
leader said.
"Dr. Kiffer seems to be a down-to-earth
kind of guy who wants to know his people,"
Paul Politza, maintenance and construction
manager, said.
Dr. Kiffer said he feels in some ways that
after 16 years, he became kind of an expert in
curriculum activities.
"People perceive that I have a way of
making things happen and resolving situa-
[ions," he said.
When asked if he was told of any specific
situations to deal with on this campus, Dr.
Kiffer said, "I was told absolutely nothing."
He said because he's only been here for
six weeks, he can only offer perceptions of
what is lacking on this campus. He said he
thinks there is a lack of community, a lack of
cohesiveness among the students.
"I don't want to sound too negative, but
there doesn't seem to me to be the sense of
academic community that I would like," Dr.
Kiffer said. "I believe it all starts and ends
with the students. I have always tried to put
students first."
He said he thinks the first thing is to not
just say that he cares, but to demonstrate the
fact that he does. That's why he eats in the
dining hall, to intermingle with students.
Dr. Kiffer said he wants to make himself
as open as possible and be available to help the
students personally.
"To my great satisfaction, anyone who
has had a problem, it has been resolved," he
said.
Manager of Public Information and Pub-
See "Interim," page 4
pity," Green said.
The Lion Ambassadors are a very unique
club a Penn State Harrisburg with their total
commitment to the surrounding community.
"Right now we are sort of going through a
transition time," Green said. "We have about
30 members, 15 of which are active and 15 are
inactive. Each active member must partici
pate in at least three activities and inactive
member need to fulfil two activities. The
reason that some members are inactive is due
to internships or student teaching."
The Lion Ambassadors are always looking
for new members, so if you are interested in
joining the Lion Ambassadors stop by the
Alumni and Special events office on the first
floor of the Olmsted Building. You can also
contact one of the officers of the lion Ambas
sadors, Tiffany Green, President; Lori Trutt,
Vice President; Justin Walzi, Treasurer; Jim
McFalls, Secretary.
"In addition to the activities that we spon
sor, we also hold one activity just the members
of the Lion Ambassadors.
The Lion Ambassadors are rewarding Penn
State Harrisburg by holding community ser
vice activities, so that the local community
knows that PSH cares about the local area.
"It is really rewarding to see an event orga
nized and then accomplished, it gives you a
sense of inner satisfaction knbwing
that you
may have made a difference,"
Green said.
NAACP and "Americans for Democratic Ac
tion." She was very influential in the Demo
cratic party. She had a daily newspaper col
umn and two monthly magazine columns. She
gave 75 speeches a year and wrote 15 books.
Mrs. Roosevelt also championed the causes
of public education, especially colleges.
"She truly cared what college kids thought,"
said Black. "She was very close to many col
lege groups of the 60s. She turned away from
the Democratic Party when they did not take
the stands she believed in."
"I looked at how she tried to influence civil
rights, housing, public education and civil
Z s ° liberties. She was a liberal who saw the big
As picture," Black explained. "She was able to
"c, put domestic and international politics and the
* c t . middle class and civil rights all together.
"She was one liberal who focused on the
positive rather than the negatives. She didn't
believe in the politics of fear to make a point.
She believed to be a true American you had to
take the time it think about the successes and
failures of the nation, try to learn from that, and
go forward," said Black.
The book lacked a publisher until the editor
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Roosevelt
of Columbia Press read an excerpt in the
"Presidential Studies Quarterly," an academic
journal.
Black has spent every day of the last five
years in the MR Library, and says she is "one
of two people to look at every piece of paper
regarding Eleanor." She visited five other li
braries interviewed 15 people who knew
Eleanor Roosevelt first hand.
"Her legacy is that everybody has a role to
play," said Black. - That is to listen to people
and try to deal with the issues intelligently, and
that change will eventually happen."
Kia expects the book to have wide general
appeal as well as in classroom settings.
Dr. William J. Mahar, head of the Humani
ties Department is pleased with Black's con
tribution to PSH.
"Dr. Black's contribution is consisitent with
our other instructors whose books have had a
major impact on the subject matter," Mahar
said. "I like to see them doing this in subjects
related to the classes they teach. It benefits the
students, keeping them up to date with new
information. It also acknowledges the fact
that the professors here are high quality people.
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