4 Wednesday, September 8,1999
Exerpts from Spanier’s State of the University Address
Below are exerpts from Graham
B. Spanier's State of 1999 State of
the University Address, given on
August 27. The complete text can
be found on the web at
www.psu. edu/ur/speeches/
sou99.html.
Nationwide, there is a conversa
tion occurring about how to get fac
ulty to be more actively involved
with their universities.
Many faculty members are really
independent operators who are
only marginally tied into the life of
the university.
Their allegiance is not to the in
stitution for which they work, but
to their discipline nationally and in
ternationally, an orientation that
tends to be reinforced by the aca
demic reward structure.
Hiring, promotion, and tenure de
cisions are based in the department,
or college, and the department’s
strongest frame of reference is its
academic discipline viewed glo
bally.
This phenomenon, of course, can
also be an impediment to fostering
multidisciplinary and collaborative
teaching and research.
Must this be viewed as an "either/
or" straggle? 1 believe an allegiance
to one’s university, pride in our
shared mission and stature, com
mitment to our students, and loy
alty to our colleagues can be en
tirely compatible with standards of
academic excellence, prominence
as a scholar, and national recogni
tion as a department.
I’m grateful that so many of our
faculty exemplify such a profile
each and every day. This is amply
documented in the incredible sto
ries found in the nomination letters
for University awards, in student
and alumni testimonials about
those who truly made a difference
A Few Words About PSPEC
By Daniel McClure
Capital Times Staff Writer
PSPEC (Penn State Professional
Engineers and Contractors) is a
student organization that coincides
with the Pennsylvania Society of
Professional Engineers (PSPE),
Associated Builders and Contrac
tors (ABC), and Associated Gen
eral Contractors (AGC).
This organization has been active
at Penn State Harrisburg for many
years and is always looking for
new members.
Membership is open to all engi
neering majors and provides an ex
cellent opportunity for students to
see working projects and to talk to
professionals about their future ca-
in their lives, and in letters and e
mail I get praising faculty and staff
who went the extra mile.
But today, I wish to challenge our
faculty in particular to get more in
volved in the lives of our students.
Our nation’s research universities
have spawned two faculties: those
who do and those who don’t - those
who believe it is their responsibility
to engage fully with each cohort of
students and those who do not see
this as their primary responsibility.
To be honest, every experienced
department head can point to casu
alties - cases of junior faculty mem
bers ultimately denied tenure be
cause they became so immersed with
student advising and programming
that they neglected their scholarship.
So let’s admit up front that we in
deed expect an exceptional level of
scholarship from our faculty.
Balance is the key. Balance. Many
of our students say they do not inter
act with instructors outside of class.
I know some faculty who
were once inclined to connect with
their students in a meaningful way
but have backed off for a variety of
reasons ranging from time pressures
to a negative reaction to the grow
ing consumer orientation of their stu
dents to fears that taking a student
to the Creamery for an ice cream
cone might be seen as an inappro
priate contact.
All legitimate concerns, of course,
but what a shame that we can’t tran
scend these obstacles.
What a shame that only a tiny por
tion of our faculty attend a com
mencement ceremony in any given
What a shame that so few faculty
can be found at undergraduate stu
dent awards banquets, having lunch
with students in the dining halls, or
even attending their own college’s
welcome reception that some deans
In the past, some of PSPEC's most
notable offerings were a trip to Las
Vegas to attend a Construction/En
gineering trade show, the Con Expo,
and its annual trip to Pittsburgh to
visit large active construction sites.
In addition to helping students,
PSPEC also serves the campus.
PSPEC students built the Howard
Hunt Memorial, located at the west
rear of the Olmsted Building. The
memorial, just recently completed,
features picnic tables and park
benches for use by the students.
PSPEC, in an effort to attract new
members, is offering a cookout on
September 9 at 6:30 p.m. All pro
spective engineering students are
NEWS
hold for new students. What a
shame that I see so few faculty at
HUB late night events, the
President’s Convocation for new
students, or any of our University
awards ceremonies each spring.
I prefer not to fault individuals,
since this situation exists at all lead-
ing universities.
It is a situation of our own collec
tive making. And despite all protes
tations to the contrary, we continue
to orient the reward structure so that
interaction outside the classroom
with undergraduates counts for very
little.
Consider academic advising.
We’ve chosen to hire a cadre of staff
members who specialize in aca
demic advising to perform that im
portant function.
Penn State’s advising profession
als are among the best anywhere,
thank goodness. But the conse
quence is that few faculty do much
undergraduate advising and thus
miss a golden opportunity to get to
know their students.
Fortunately, we are blessed with
countless examples of faculty who
exemplify the very best models of
commitment to our students.
They participate actively in cam
pus life while shining as scholars
and researchers.
They accept invitations to student
events. They attend an occasional
Penn State Forum that brings us na
tionally recognized speakers of
broad interest to higher education.
They attend undergraduate
commencement. They spend that
extra time with students.
I am deeply appreciative of their
contributions to the rich intellectual,
cultural, and social life to be had at
every one of Penn State’s locations.
More of us must join in this ef
fort.
welcome to come to enjoy free food
and receive information on mem
bership. The cookout will be lo
cated at 94918 Kirtland Ave. in
Middletown.
Additional information can be
obtained by contacting PSPEC
president John Frank at 948-9677
or you reach him via email at
jifll7@psu.edu.
There will be a regular meeting
held on September 14 at 1:00 p.m.
located in room W 225 of the
Olmsted Building.
PSPEC would like to increase its
presence at PSH and appreciates
any help it can get from new mem
bers and the active participation
from current members.
Spanier Urges More
Involvement from Faculty
Continued from Page 1
ceive a problem with student-fac
ulty interaction at the campus,
Spanier’s sentiments re-inforced
the importance of such academic
relationships.
“The president really is extend
ing a helping hand to every Penn
State regardless of age, race, or
situation,” Hevner said.
Spanier noted that minority stu
dent enrollment this year jumped
to 26 percent, up from 16 percent
last semester. He said that figure
is still well above the national av
erage.
“It’s all about improving condi
tions for our students, “ said James
Malm, PSH campus marketing
manager, “the speech will help to
invigorate all of our campus efforts
in the future.”
In his speech (now posted on the
university’s internet home page),
Spanier announced Penn State re
ceived its largest amount of state
appropriated funding from the
Pennsylvania General Assembly
Annual Budget in more than ten
years.
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10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Outdoor Event Held Rain or Shine
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He said the new funding will be
used to improve continuing educa
tion, educational resource, and fac
ulty research programs at all cam
puses. The school of information
science and technology at Univer
sity Park is among nearly a dozen
new projects slated to be completed
with the funds.
Spanier chronicled the progress of
the $7OO million capital construction
campaign, which will fund new
classroom and residence facilities to
be built at ten branch campuses, he
said.
The funding will be used to com
plete the new library situated in front
of the Olmsted Building, along with
state-of-the-art student residence
townhomes.
Hevner said a completion date for
the townhomes hasn’t been deter
mined, but he added construction
crews will break ground on the
project sometime early next semes
ter.
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