Ivan A. Esparragoza, associate professor of engineering at Penn State Brandywine; Sherry Roush, associate professor of Italian in the College of the Liberal Arts, and Rebecca A. Strzelec, associate professor of visual arts at Penn State Altoona, have received the Alumni/Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and have been named 2009 Penn State Teaching Fellows. The Penn State Alumni Association, in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate governing bodies, established the award in 1985. It honors distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence in teaching. Recipients are expected to share their talents and expertise with others throughout the University system during the year following the award presentation.
If every on-campus student at University Park reduced his or her time in the shower by just five minutes, Penn State would save 100,000 gallons of water each school year. That is enough to fill five swimming pools and lower the University's carbon footprint by 18,980 pounds every year.
Penn State Altoona communications faculty members Mary Lou and Doug Nemanic won first place in the feature-length documentary category during the Iris Film Festival held in Huntingdon, Pa., in September.
Penn State Altoona's new entrepreneurial center has an official name. Chosen by Steve and Nancy Sheetz, the building will now be known as the Sheetz Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
Erin C. Murphy, associate professor of English at Penn State Altoona; M. Kevin Parfitt, associate professor of architectural engineering in the College of Engineering, and Robert D. Richards, Curley Professor of First Amendment Studies in the College of Communications, have received the Alumni/Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and have been named 2011 Penn State Teaching Fellows. The Penn State Alumni Association, in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate governing bodies, established the award in 1985. It honors distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence in teaching. Recipients are expected to share their talents and expertise with others throughout the University system during the year following the award presentation.
In an ongoing effort to bring greater awareness to sexual violence and child abuse, several Penn State events are being held during the month of April, which has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The discovery of breeding Red-throated Caracaras in northeastern Honduras may give conservationists just enough time to explore the reasons for the raptor's demise in the region and help rescue it, according to Mark Bonta, assistant professor of earth science, Penn State Altoona, who led the discovery team. "While the species is apparently doing fine in South America, it has all but disappeared from Mexico and Central America," says Bonta. "This is the first-ever nest recorded from the region."
Lynette Kvasny, associate professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology; Laura Rotunno, associate professor of English at Penn State Altoona, and Jennifer Wood, associate professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State New Kensington, have received the Alumni/Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and have been named 2014 Penn State Teaching Fellows. The Penn State Alumni Association, in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate governing bodies, established the award in 1985. It honors distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence in teaching. Recipients are expected to share their talents and expertise with others throughout the University system during the year following the award presentation.
