2018 Fall Magazine

Health and Human Development NEWS

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Confronting Addiction Earlier

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One way to prevent addiction is by curbing risky behaviors among young people Pg. 28

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FALL

2018

NEWSCHAFFER NAMED DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to join the College of Health and Human Development,” Newschaffer said. “It is a truly unique place where students passionate about improving the human condition can take different paths to make a difference, whether that is helping people one-on-one, enhancing the communities we live in, or addressing the most pressing challenges to the health and wellness of entire populations.”

Newschaffer is the founding director of the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, an interdisciplinary, first-of-its-kind research institute established in 2012 that takes a public health approach to addressing the challenges presented by autism spectrum disorders, as well as a professor of public health and former chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drexel.

He came to Drexel in 2006 after seven years on the faculty in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he founded and directed the Hopkins Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology. He also has held teaching and research positions at Saint Louis University and Thomas Jefferson University.

Newschaffer earned bachelor’s degrees in public relations and biology from Boston University, both in 1984; a master’s degree in health policy and management from Harvard University’s School of Public Health in 1987; and a doctorate in chronic disease epidemiology from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in 1996. In 2018, he was inducted into Johns Hopkins’ Society of Scholars in recognition of his scholarly achievements.

Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education Kathryn Drager Photo courtesy of Drexel University

Craig J. Newschaffer, associate dean for research in the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, has been named the new Raymond E. and Erin Stuart Schultz Dean of the College of Health and Human Development, following a national search. Newschaffer’s appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2019.

College of Health and Human Development

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Outreach Dennis Shea Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education Douglas Ford Assistant Dean for Alumni and College Relations and Leadership Initiatives Abby Diehl Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Joyce Hopson-King Director of Development Kathleen Rider

Magazine Production Designer Dennis Maney Editorial Jennifer Cruden Marjorie Miller Rob Peeler Director Scott Sheaffer

“Students in the college have the opportunity to study with proven practitioners and world-leading scholars and researchers—faculty that are making discoveries and solving challenges every day. Simply put, as dean, I look forward to doing all I can to help the college’s talented faculty, students, and staff find the most impactful ways to enrich the lives of others through science and service.”

Newschaffer succeeds Ann “Nan” Crouter, who retired June 30 after leading the college since 2007. Kathryn Drager has been serving as interim dean since July 1 and will continue in that role through the end of 2018.

See the full announcement at bitly.com/dean-newschaffer Cover photo: Paul Hazi Photography

News, Events, Updates for Alumni and Friends facebook.com/groups/pennstateHHDapg

Articles may be reprinted with permission; for more information please contact the Office of Communications and Marketing at 814-865-3831 or PennStateHHD@psu.edu. For general correspondence, please write to the Office of Communications and Marketing, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, 325 Health and Human Development Building, University Park, PA 16802-6501; e-mail PennStateHHD@psu.edu; or visit hhd.psu.edu. This publication is available in alternative media on request. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce. (HHD19009) U.Ed. HHD 19-009

Photo: Paul Hazi Photography

Health and Human Development Alumni Mentoring Program

Allow your professional skills and experience to impact Penn Staters. Become a mentor.

Application period opens in October 2018: hhd.psu.edu/alumni/mentoring-program

#HHDMentoring Open Doors Scholarship Program has major impact on students When Barb Yeagle ’62 PH ED established the Barbara Elliott Open Doors Scholarship last fall, she was one of the first to participate in Penn State’s Open Doors Scholarship Program, a component of “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” the University’s current fundraising campaign.

The Open Doors Scholarship Program benefits students who are enrolled in specific Penn State programs— known as Open Doors Programs—which are designed to help students with financial need thrive on campus and graduate with less debt. Yeagle was inspired to contribute after hearing Penn State President Eric Barron speak about the importance of the program.

“When we listened to President Barron speak at a breakfast before a football game and emphasize his interest and concern in helping students graduate when they’re trying to study, hold down jobs, and go to classes, there was no way I could not act and try to extend a hand to one of these students,” Yeagle said.

Ashley Rankine, who is majoring in Kinesiology with a minor in Spanish and plans to become an occupational therapist, is the first recipient of the Yeagle Open Doors Scholarship.

“I am thrilled to be the first recipient of this scholarship. This scholarship means that I get to become a step closer to pursuing my dreams and be the best me that I can be.”

—Ashley Rankine, Kinesiology student With the Open Doors Scholarship Program, the University invites alumni and friends to help meet the urgent needs of students through endowed gifts, and Penn State will provide a 1:1 match of the donor’s gift to the endowment’s principal. To learn more, contact Kathleen Rider, Director of Development, at kmr8@psu.edu or 814-865-1064 or visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.

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ALUMNI ARE USING THEIR DEGREES IN UNIQUE WAYS

From kitchen to community

Deanna Segrave-Daly ’93 NUTR, runs a blog and a brand centered around sharing the love of food in the nutrition community.

When the company Segrave-Daly founded, Teaspoon Communications, started out nearly ten years ago, it provided consulting to businesses on how to share their healthy recipes and products through radio, TV, and trade shows.

Today, Teaspoon Communications manages the blog “A Teaspoon of Spice,” and a community of more than 200 dietitian bloggers; Recipe Redux, a recipe-sharing networking group; Blog Brulee, a two-day retreat for dietitians and healthy living bloggers; and will soon offer a cookbook.

Segrave-Daly credits her degree in Nutrition for giving her tools to succeed and grow in her field.

She said her basic nutrition courses provided her with the general knowledge to run her business; her food lab courses gave her hands-on experience to help lead the cooking demos she does today; and her undergraduate field experience as a student counselor for the Nutrition Clinic at Penn State provided her with insight into working with the community.

“As technology has evolved, we’ve tried to stay on top of it,” Segrave-Daly said. “Our ultimate goal is to reach our customers and consumers and not only get them interested in nutritious and delicious food, but help them make these foods a part of their lifestyle.”

Segrave-Daly wants people to enjoy food, and today there is so much confusion on what’s “healthy” or “trendy,” which takes away from food’s enjoyment.

Bolstering the board room

For more than 25 years, Julie Daum ’76 HPA has worked for Spencer Stuart in New York City, where she recruits executives to corporate boards.

Day to day, she consults with corporate boards, working with companies of all sizes, from the Fortune 10 to private investor companies before they hit the market.

Daum credits her Health Planning and Administration degree with opening her eyes to the different ways people can help others and communities.

Although Daum has recruited outside directors for Johnson & Johnson, Saudi Aramco, Amazon, and others, she is most known for her work to increase the number of women in U.S. boardrooms.

To date, Spencer Stuart has recruited more than 1,800 women to corporate boards—an initiative Daum has proudly spearheaded.

“I like the fact that I get to see every industry and every size company,” she said. “It’s a really broad job; it exposes me to a lot of what’s going on in the business world. It keeps you current. Getting to know the next generation of directors—people with strong, digital backgrounds—I think that’s really interesting.”

Photo courtesy of Deanna Segrave-Daly

“I have an 11-year-old daughter.

She’s always been in the kitchen with me. I want to expose her to different parts of eating—where her food comes from and how to cook it. Keeping people interested in, and enjoying, food is so important.”

“I have an 11-year-old daughter,” she said. “She’s always been in the kitchen with me. I want to expose her to different parts of eating—where her food comes from and how to cook it. Keeping people interested in, and enjoying, food is so important.”

— Deanna Segrave-Daly

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INNOVATORS IN THEIR FIELD Photo courtesy of Julie Daum

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“I was drawn to HPA because I was interested in the notion of working to help people make a difference, more in a systemic way, rather than one-on-one. I feel really proud I can do that in my work today, by helping bring people to the boardroom who can have a real impact in the company.”

— Julie Daum

Daum works with companies to see what skill sets they’re looking for and gets to know women who have matching credentials and experience to serve on their boards.

“It’s important to expand the universe of who is on a board,” she said. “We use our access into the boardroom to make sure boards are casting a wide net and looking for the best directors.”

“I was drawn to HPA because I was interested in the notion of working to help people make a difference, more in a systemic way, rather than one-on-one,” Daum said. “I feel really proud I can do that in my work today, by helping bring people to the boardroom who can have a real impact in the company.”

Paving his own path

Though Rice is mostly retired—he’s still part manager of the goldfish farm—the business remains strong with more than 25 employees under his son’s leadership.

While fish are not as commonly sold in department stores these days, the company still sells to places like Walmart, PetSmart, and other large chain stores.

Rice said his undergraduate experience in Recreation Education, tenets of which are still offered in the current major of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, encouraged him to pursue his passions after college.

Photo courtesy of the Rice family

Physical education was a passion for Richard Rice ’56 RE ED, so, it was only fitting that his first job after graduation was providing group and individual physical and recreational therapy to patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an entirely new discipline at the time.

goldfish farm in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The farm breeds several varieties of goldfish across 200+ water acres of ponds. The fish are then sold and shipped around the country, Canada, and Europe for the pet industry, Rice said.

After graduation, Rice enlisted in the U.S. Army.

Following two years of service during the Korean War, the medical director at the time asked Rice to lead physical activity for Korean War veterans, many of whom were receiving medical treatment after suffering combat injuries.

“I taught in the gymnasium at the medical center,” Rice said. “It was incredibly rewarding to work with these men.”

But then, when Rice’s father passed away not too long after, he was faced with a new challenge: taking over the family’s

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Richard Rice (L), with his wife, Suzanne, and grandson Will Rice

Photo courtesy of Vincent Cianni

“Upon coming to University Park, I looked for a major that would tap into my desire to engage in community organizing, social and public policy change, and radical political thought.

Essentially, through majoring in Community Development, I learned how to be a community organizer and change agent.”

— Vincent Cianni

“My professors at Penn State encouraged us as students to start our own companies or go our own paths after college, and I feel that’s what I did.”

Using the arts for change

Vincent Cianni ’74 COM D is a documentary photographer, educator, community organizer, and activist.

“Upon coming to University Park, I looked for a major that would tap into my desire to engage in community organizing, social and public policy change, and radical political thought,” Cianni said. “Essentially, through majoring in Community Development, I learned how to be a community organizer and change agent.”

In his current roles as a photographer and director of a nonprofit, Cianni has found that teaching and training people is one of the most direct ways to build communication and understanding in a community.

Specifically, his documentary work involves developing long-term photographic projects that investigate issues of social justice, human and civil rights, and community.

As founder and director of the Newburgh Community Photo Project (NCPP), a grassroots community-based nonprofit that teaches photography and activism to young adults in the marginalized and distressed communities of Newburgh, New York, Cianni extends his photographic practice into community organizing and activism.

Cianni initially put up fliers in the neighborhood to attract participants for the NCPP workshops last year.

During the workshops, participants identified victims of gun violence and their families through talking to the community and research into public records such as newspapers and police reports.

With the help of two empowerment grants, NCPP has been able to expand its programming to offering stipends to young adults to learn photography and activism.

“What I love about my work is the ability to merge my undergraduate studies and my social and political ideologies with my photography to learn about people’s lives to bring visibility to communities that are underrepresented,” Cianni said.

As a Penn State student, Cianni completed a practicum for his Community Development degree with the Office of Drug and Alcohol Programs in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. He worked as a legal advocate for teens and young adults arrested for minor drug crimes.

“My goal was to help them go into drug treatment programs rather than getting incarcerated or getting a fine,” Cianni said. “We tried to move minor drug offenses away from the prison system and to a more reconstructive and rehabilitative area.”

Cianni, who later earned a master of fine arts degree in photography at State University of New York New Paltz, also teaches for the photography department on social justice and identity at Parsons School of Design. n

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Centered on Research The college’s five world-class research centers help advance Penn State’s mission by creating training opportunities for students, housing experts that lead research in their fields, and by producing outcomes that positively impact individuals and communities.

Read below about a project being conducted in each research center, representative of countless evidence-based efforts being conducted throughout the college.

Center for Childhood Obesity Research Developing successful childhood obesity prevention and treatment programs

Responsive parenting to promote healthy infant growth One of the ongoing projects at the Center for Childhood Obesity Research, the WEE Baby Care Study, takes findings from previous research and implements them in two real-world settings—the pediatrician’s office and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics.

The center’s previous work, in collaboration with Dr. Ian Paul in the College of Medicine, showed that INSIGHT, an intervention to help first-time mothers use responsive parenting practices in the areas of feeding, sleep, soothing, and interactive play, reduced infants’ risk of developing obesity.

“Feeding a baby can be an easy and fast way to quiet an upset baby,” said Jennifer Savage Williams, center director. “But we don’t want parents to use feeding to soothe their baby if the baby isn’t hungry—crying is one of the last things a baby is likely to do if they are hungry. By understanding how their baby reacts and relates to his environment and establishing predictable routines early in life, parents are able to help their baby learn to self-regulate.”

In the WEE Baby Care Study, the center is translating findings from the INSIGHT clinical trial in community settings by coordinating care between Geisinger Health and WIC clinics to deliver intervention messages from INSIGHT to low-income mothers, in settings where they already receive guidance on caring for their infant.

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The Methodology Center Investigating issues related to statistics, research design, and measurement emerging in the prevention and treatment of problem behaviors

Providing pilot project funding to support faculty research “Supporting faculty research is the core of what The Methodology Center does every day. Our grants fund research, and our infrastructure facilitates it,� said Linda M. Collins, director of The Methodology Center.

One way the center facilitates research is through pilot-project funding, which issues small grants designed to bring talented and energetic researchers into the field of methodology and to foster new collaborative research ties between The Methodology Center researchers and other faculty members at Penn State.

The Methodology Center seeks competitive proposals to develop methodology in the prevention and treatment of substance use, HIV, or related problems.

In 2017, Michael Russell, assistant professor of biobehavioral health, received pilot funding to collect data that combines self-reported data on alcohol use with continuous data from ankle bracelets that measure blood-alcohol content through contact with the skin. The pilot funding enabled him to acquire the anklets required for the study. The Methodology Center staff were also instrumental in helping Russell navigate complex internal review board matters that arose during the study.

Russell is completing his first round of data collection, and he will work with collaborators in The Methodology Center to develop innovative methods to analyze these complex data. Data gathered will provide information necessary to enable Russell to prepare an application to the National Institutes of Health for a larger grant to continue and expand this work.

Center for Health Care and Policy Research Developing and implementing new ways of delivering effective lower cost care

Improving health care decisions As part of the implementation of the Health Innovation in Pennsylvania plan, the state convened a multidisciplinary workgroup to recommend a path to help Pennsylvanians effectively shop for health care. Dennis Scanlon, director of the Center for Health Care and Policy Research, served as a member of the workgroup.

The workgroup found that although private industry is investing heavily to provide cost and quality information to consumers, these shopping tools varied in usability, services covered, the information on quality of care provided, and uptake among consumers.

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In 2017, the workgroup released its recommendations, which outlined specific actions Pennsylvania officials and administrators can take in this area.

“There is an opportunity for the state to establish guidelines or engage in policies that encourage and support the improvement and use of these tools,” Scanlon said.

Center for Healthy Aging Conducting research, instruction, and community service programs to improve quality of life and health during transition from midlife to older age

Cutting-edge research helps improve lives The Center for Healthy Aging supports research by developing an infrastructure that faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students can leverage for their own research.

“We do cutting-edge research in the science of daily experience to better understand how the stress, pain, and sleep that we experience on a daily basis exert cumulative effects on our quality of life and health during the transition from midlife into older age,” said Martin Sliwinski, center director. “We have pioneered and continue to develop novel methods for the study of adult development and aging, including the use of mobile technology, such as smartphones, to better understand how people behave and function in their natural environments, including at home and at work.”

Much of this infrastructure was developed through a grant awarded by the National Institute of Aging, which supported the “Effects of Stress on Cognitive Aging, Physiology, and Emotion” (ESCAPE) Project.

This project used mobile phones to monitor how people experienced and responded to everyday stress and how that stress affected their cognitive function using measurement procedures developed by Sliwinski.

In an ongoing large-scale clinical study, Sliwinski is extending the methods developed in the ESCAPE project to use mobile phones and wearable sensors to monitor stress, behavior, physiology and cognitive function in everyday life in order to improve the early identification of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center Promoting the well-being of individuals by reducing the prevalence of high-risk behaviors and poor outcomes in children, families, and communities

Preventing alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among youth A current challenge to effectively prevent adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use is determining how to transfer evidence-based programming from university-led research projects to sustainable, community-delivered programming.

The Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, with partners at Iowa State University, seeks to bridge that gap through an intervention delivery system called PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER).

“PROSPER is unique in that it facilitates school, community, and university partnerships to identify and involve key stakeholders across all levels. The goal is to identify the community’s most appropriate evidence-based programs and strategies to ensure sustainability,” said Stephanie Lanza, director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center.

PROSPER conducts trainings, performs ongoing needs assessments, monitors implementation quality, and evaluates intervention outcomes. This process unfolds as a partnership between communities and the PROSPER team, with a scaffolding of support and technical assistance as needed.

“Recent findings published from the PROSPER randomized trial revealed that at age 19, individuals in communities running PROSPER were significantly less likely to report misusing prescription opioids than those in comparison communities who did not benefit from PROSPER-delivered interventions,” Lanza said.

Building on accumulated evidence for the impact of PROSPER on the spectrum of adolescent and young adult substance use, behavioral, and mental health outcomes, this finding suggests that PROSPER succeeds where other systems struggle.

PROSPER has been implemented in numerous Pennsylvania communities for more than 15 years, persisting beyond the original research grant awarded by the NIH. n

Follow our latest Health and Human Development research news at hhd.psu.edu/research-news or follow us on social media at #hhdresearch

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Affiliate Program Groups benefit alumni, current students

Health and Human Development Alumni Society

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One of the great benefits of being a Penn Stater is the personal and professional connections with other Penn Staters around the globe.

Some of the best connections can be with alumni or friends of Penn State who have a common interest in a particular academic, professional, or extracurricular activity that is related to a specific college or campus program.

To facilitate such connections, each department within the college has its own Affiliate Program Group (APG). Each APG includes alumni from current—and any predecessor— programs or majors.

Affiliate Program Groups in the College of Health and Human Development are chartered by the HHD Alumni Society.

APGs are similar to societies, with the exception that this connection focuses on the promotion and development of the academic department rather than the entire college or campus.

“With a name that is perhaps slightly ambiguous, Affiliate Program Groups are one of the best kept secrets at Penn State. Alumni have the opportunity to network with fellow professionals in their field, to attend fun regional events such as our recent tour of the Pittsburgh Steelers training facility, and to return to Penn State to share their career advice and expertise with Penn State students,” said Lindsey Zapletal, assistant director of alumni relations.

Alumni across the country who already participate in an APG say the groups help them stay involved with the programs they are passionate about and provide “Affiliate Program Groups are a variety of opportunities for one of the best kept secrets at professional networking and as a way to give back to Penn State Penn State. Alumni have the and its students.

opportunity to network with fellow professionals in their field, attend fun regional events and return to Penn State to share their career advice with Penn State students.”

— Lindsey Zapletal, assistant director of alumni relations

There is no cost to be involved with any APG in the college.

Participation in the college’s APGs includes many benefits, such as opportunities for alumni to stay connected to fellow alumni and HHD’s academic programs through events, mentoring, networking, and other programs and initiatives.

Nina Doumani ’89 HRIM, vice president of human resources at Marriott International, attended an event at The Nittany Lion Inn hosted by the Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society (PSHRS), the APG for the School of Hospitality Management. The Hospitality Executive of the Year Award gala honored Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International.

“I wanted to support Arne in receiving this award, but more importantly, I wanted to support Penn State for honoring him,” Doumani said.

“I felt it was important to be able to interact with the faculty, students, and other alumni. For me, it is about giving back to a university that I love and a program that is critical to our industry and company.”

Photo: Paul Hazi Photography

The alumni groups can also be found on Facebook: Biobehavioral Health Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/pennstateBBHAPG Communication Sciences and Disorders Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/pennstateCSDAPG Health Policy and Administration Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/pennstateHPAAPG Human Development and Family Studies Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/pennstateHDFSAPG Kinesiology Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/pennstateKINESAPG Nutrition and Dietetics Alumni Society: facebook.com/groups/pennstateNDAS Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society: facebook.com/groups/PSHRS PGA Golf Management Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/PennStatePGMAPG Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Affiliate Program Group: facebook.com/groups/pennstateRPTMAPG

Tracey Baker ’93 HPA has been a speaker at several Professionals in the Classroom events for the Department of Health Policy and Administration (HPA), coordinated between the department and the HPA Affiliate Program Group.

Professionals in the Classroom events bring industry leaders and alumni to campus to interact with students, faculty, and staff through classes, roundtables, and receptions. These outreach programs give students an opportunity to learn first hand about the careers they’re studying from professionals who once sat in their seats.

“This is my favorite event because I think that it gives HPA students a real-life perspective on how versatile the degree is,” said Baker, IT project manager for Medicare and Medicaid. “Secondly, at the time I was in school, I didn’t know many African Americans in the major. I like to give back to minority students by demonstrating that there is representation in the health care administration field.”

Sarah Rockwell ’06 HDFS, case coordinator and forensic interviewer for Child Protection Team: Children’s Home Society, participates in an Alumni in the Classroom event for the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), also supported by the HDFS Affiliate Program Group.

“I enjoy getting to know the students and the progress and changes in the college,” Rockwell said. “I remember my college days and the mix of excitement and uncertainty upon graduating. There are so many options with this degree and so many questions.

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Photo courtesy of Lori Gravish

Kinesiology alumni at an APG event in Pittsburgh

Photo courtesy of Ella Lundquist

“I am confident that the knowledge I have gained at Penn State will serve me well as I continue to apply my studies outside of the classroom.”

— Ella Lundquist ’18 NUTR, John Edgar Smith Outstanding Senior in Nutrition Award recipient

So, as an alum who has worked in several areas of child services, when I saw the opportunity to participate I jumped at the chance.”

In addition to attending and participating in events, some alumni contribute their time through serving on boards and organizing events, such as Barbara Kochanowski ’79 NUTR. Kochanowski is immediate past president of the Nutrition and Dietetics Alumni Society (NDAS), the APG affiliated with the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and helped organize the annual NDAS brunch, which began about eight years ago as NDAS was undergoing a renewal of its activities.

“At that time, the board, of which I was secretary, decided that a spring brunch at the Nittany Lion Inn would be a good trial activity to see if we could gather alumni, students, and faculty together to network and make connections,” said Kochanowski, senior vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs at Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

The core event included two awards established by the APG, the John Edgar Smith Outstanding Senior Award and the Outstanding Nutrition Alumni Award, a presentation by the department head on the “state of the department,” and time to network.

“We’ve since added a faculty research presentation and other career panels, such as a Ph.D. alumni panel for the graduate students, and a speed networking event for all students,” Kochanowski said. “We also hold the event in

conjunction with the college’s mentoring weekend, so this maximizes alumni participation.”

Such events are particularly beneficial to students.

“It is critical that students maximize their learning opportunities with alumni and professionals in their chosen field,” she said. “Future opportunities often result from connections and you never know when a connection you make at an alumni event may turn into a future opportunity.”

Ella Lundquist ’18 NUTR can personally attest to the efforts by APGs, as she received the John Edgar Smith Outstanding Senior in Nutrition Award from NDAS in February. The award is given to a senior majoring in Nutritional Sciences in recognition of exemplary leadership and service to the community, the college, and the University.

Lundquist was recognized for her honors thesis in Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences Kathleen Keller’s Metabolic Kitchen and Children’s Eating Behavior Laboratory. Lundquist’s thesis focused on how children’s coping behaviors during a delay of gratification task related to their eating behaviors during a laboratory meal.

“I appreciate being recognized for my hard work, leadership, and service in the nutrition field, especially knowing that my major is full of extremely intelligent students,” Lundquist said. “I am confident that the knowledge I have gained at Penn State will serve me well as I continue to apply my studies outside of the classroom.” n

For more information or to get involved, visit hhd.psu.edu/alumni or contact the HHD Office of Alumni Relations at 814-865-3831 or hhdalumni@psu.edu.

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Photos: Health and Human Development Communications and Marketing (8)

Improving quality of life for others is our mission. Our people make it happen.

Adrian Benedetti

Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Adrian Benedetti, who was born in Panama, has worked to improve and support outdoor experiences.

“I love to recreate in the wild, and I was becoming very frustrated with the state of things like trails, signage and just overall infrastructure in Panama’s National Parks,” Benedetti said. “I was also very aware of the fact that Panamanians, and Latin Americans overall, don’t have the same outdoor recreation culture that you find here in the United States.”

That frustration led Benedetti to create a comprehensive digital inventory of trails in Panama available to tourists via a webpage that would provide national and international users with basic information regarding trailhead locations, distance, level of difficulty and more.

— Carla Stephens

“Even thoughHealth there were serious infrastructure deficiencies, it Policy and Administration was still an awesome experience to be on trails in the jungle, on coastal islands and cloud rainforests,” Benedetti said. “I figured

if I could first draw more attention to the fact that these places exist, maybe that could translate into more national attention regarding their state, and that could help spearhead change.”

As Benedetti studied trail design and use, he realized visitors could use the trails to better connect with nature while also providing rural community members with a way to generate additional income through tourism services.

“If all is designed in a holistic manner, trail-based eco-tourism can provide multiple conservation and social-economic benefits,” Benedetti said.

Wanting to spend more time studying public use and visitor management of protected areas, he decided to leave his career in wildlife conservation and sustainable development to attend Penn State as a doctoral student in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management.

Courtney McChesney

Human Development and Family Studies

When Courtney McChesney ’17 HDFS lost her father to colon cancer in 2012, she noticed an unmet need in her family.

“I have four younger siblings who had trouble coping,” she said. “We needed help.

We needed support.”

Two years later, McChesney enrolled in the Human Development and Family Studies major to build on a career that will allow her to help families get the support they need from the community.

“I want to eventually work with families and children who have a parent with a chronic illness,” McChesney said. “There are not a whole lot of resources out there.”

Gabriela Velez

Hospitality Management Something magical happens when Gabriela Velez is in Puerto Rico laughing and talking with family while enjoying the scrumptious foods her grandparents carefully prepared by hand using recipes that have been part of the family for decades.

That magical happening fills Velez with so much joy that her dream is to capture those feelings, sounds, smells and tastes through a small restaurant chain of her own that she hopes will connect, inspire, and nourish diners.

“When we visit my grandparents, you don’t even have to ask for food, it’s already there and ready to go. They feed the neighborhood, everyone comes over, and it’s a family affair,” Velez said. “The food creates the social aspect that I love and I want to bring that to other people, too.”

That’s why Velez, who grew up in Miami, is studying Hospitality Management at Penn State. After graduation, she knows she will have the business and management skills needed to eventually start a Puerto Rican restaurant chain that incorporates her grandmother’s recipes into the menu, perhaps even Velez’s favorite dish, red beans.

“There’s something about grandma’s cooking; it’s everyone’s comfort food,” Velez said. “It’s authentic.

Some of the recipes are older than her, and they work so well. When I cook some of them for my friends in Miami, my friends go crazy.”

Farlah Cadely

Communication Sciences and Disorders Farlah Cadely, a Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate student, remembers the day she came home to find her younger sister, an elementary school student, crying in her room. Cadely learned that when her sister read a passage out loud in class, the other students heard her speech error and bullied her.

Her sister pronounced “r” sounds as “w,” an issue that can be helped by a speech-language pathologist, but in this case, resolved with age.

Cadely never forgot her sister’s experience; however, it wasn’t until a high school career aptitude test suggested speech pathology as a profession that she researched the field and decided to pursue it.

“We take a lot of communication for granted, such as conveying basic wants and needs like saying we are hungry or that we need to use the bathroom, and not everyone can do that,” Cadely said. “Communication is the key to everything.

When we first come out of the womb we communicate by making eye contact with our moms.”

I chose Penn State because when I came here it felt like home. I saw that I would have access to a lot of opportunities, faculty were very warm and welcoming, and I felt like I could make a positive impact.

— Carla Stephens

Health Policy and Administration

If I really want to make a difference in health, it has to be in public health. I want to educate people on behaviors and habits that affect chronic diseases.

— Jacqueline Beltran Kinesiology

Courtney Cann Biobehavioral Health

Ruth Pobee

Nutritional Sciences

Ruth Pobee is interested in iron and its potential role in depression. For her dissertation, Pobee is working in Associate Professor Laura MurrayKolb’s lab in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, studying iron status and psychosocial wellbeing in Ghanaian women during pregnancy.

Courtney Cann ’18 BBH is working to better understand the effects of nicotine on learning and memory, and why some people find it harder to quit smoking than others. She hopes her research will lead to better treatment for those who want to quit using tobacco.

“While cigarette smoking has declined in recent years, it remains a preventable risk factor for various diseases,” Cann said. “Even with advancements in smoking cessation products, withdrawal and its associated negative symptoms remain an obstacle for quitting and is responsible for high rates of relapse.”

“This study has the potential to provide data that could greatly improve the health of women and their offspring worldwide,” Pobee said.

View more stories at hhd.psu.edu/our-story

CONFRONTING ADDICTION EARLIER

Photos: Paul Hazi Photography (2)

20 | Health and Human Development

Addiction is complex. And currently, the topic is at the forefront of the country’s opioid crisis. But how do we stop addiction? Why does it happen in the first place? And is addiction something that can be prevented? Researchers in the College of Health and Human Development are working to answer these questions.

There are many reasons a person can become addicted to a substance or a behavior. It could be environmental; genetic; a coping mechanism for depression, anxiety, or other mental illness; being overprescribed for an injury or surgical recovery; or a combination of factors.

Humankind has a history with addiction. Evidence on a wide scale documents the use and abuse of such substances as psychoactive plants (like mushrooms and cannabis), opium, alcohol, and tobacco as far back as Greek and Roman times. Other ancient addictions might have included behaviors such as gambling and sex.

With a problem so intricate, it can be difficult to know how to prevent addiction. Thomas Gould, Jean Phillips Shibley Professor of Biobehavioral Health and head of the Department of Biobehavioral Health, said one key way to assist with preventing addiction is by focusing on young people as their brains develop.

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to drug addiction because the frontal lobe of their brains, which is involved in decision-making, is not yet fully formed, Gould said. This makes young people more likely to engage in risky behavior and more susceptible to addiction.

“If we can better target children and teens in terms of prevention of drug use and abuse, we are more likely to help keep them from engaging in risky behavior that could lead to addiction,” according to Gould.

Gould’s research background has focused on nicotine addiction and understanding the contribution of genetics to changes in brain and behavior after nicotine exposure. He investigates the long-term impact of developmental nicotine exposure on brain and behavior, primarily examining changes in learning-related processes and in underlying brain regions.

"If we can better target children and teens in terms of prevention of drug use and abuse, we are more likely to help keep them from engaging in risky behavior that could lead to addiction."

Addiction is inherent among humans in part due to how the body is designed. Substances — Thomas Gould humans abuse can activate reward processes intended for survival, and over time drugs can take the place of natural rewards. Initially, humans feel good when using addictive substances, but over time they begin to feel worse when they stop, and believe they need to take larger amounts of the substance to feel “good.”

Essentially, they begin to chase an “elusive dragon.”

“A key concern of our laboratory is the detrimental impact of drugs of abuse on the developing adolescent brain,” Gould said. “We have found that nicotine exposure during adolescence can produce adult cognitive deficits, depression, and changes in brain morphology. Recent work suggests that exposure to stress during adolescence can exacerbate these deleterious effects and that these effects are associated with long-lasting changes in gene expression.”

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CONFRONTING ADDICTION EARLIER This work demonstrates that drug use during adolescence should not be viewed as a benign rite of passage, but instead a serious health concern that can impact mental and physical health beyond addiction, Gould said.

“It is our hope that work, such as ours, examining the impact of adolescent drug use on brain and behavior will support policies and regulations that prioritize health while also identifying avenues for novel interventions and treatments,” he said.

Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health Mike Russell’s work focuses on alcohol use and abuse among adolescents and young adults.

The University Life Study, a large data collection effort led by Jennifer Maggs, professor of human development and family studies, with Russell and other colleagues, looked at the link between experiencing stress and engaging in alcohol use on the same day among a large sample of Penn State students.

They found that students were not only more likely to drink with each additional stressor they experienced, but the number of drinks they consumed also increased with each additional stressor. Moreover, students who increased their drinking more sharply when experiencing stress were at greater risk for developing alcohol problems than students who tended not to increase their drinking.

Following up on these findings, Russell’s lab is currently conducting the Alcohol Habits Study, in which researchers use mobile phones and wearable intoxication sensors to understand the situations, emotions, and experiences that lead to episodes of heavy alcohol use among young adults.

22 | Health and Human Development

Combining mobile assessments and wearable sensors will allow researchers to better understand heavy drinking episodes—as well as their antecedents and consequences—in a whole new way. The researchers will not only be able to tell how intoxicated a person became, but how quickly they got there, how long they stayed there, how long it took the alcohol to leave their system, as well as examining the interplay between mood, social context, stress, and alcohol use in everyday life outside the laboratory.

“Knowing these parameters could help us create just-intime interventions that may one day improve our ability to interrupt or prevent dangerous drinking events,” Russell said.

Steve Branstetter, associate professor of biobehavioral health, is studying the use of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products in young adults.

“The issue of e-cigarette smoking and the use of other nontraditional tobacco products such as little-cigars, bidis, and hookah is a growing concern,” Branstetter said. “And the use of e-cigarettes is significantly higher among youth and young adults.”

Although the influence of peers on the use of cigarettes among adolescence is well known, Branstetter’s lab has been examining the role of the broader environmental context on smoking behaviors including cessation. This includes neighborhood and school characteristics such as student-teacher ratios, school economic conditions, and neighborhood employment rates.

These studies demonstrate how youth smoking behaviors are influenced not just by parents and peers, but also by the social environment in which these adolescents live.

In addition to environmental influences, Branstetter has an interest in the role flavors contribute to the use of e-cigarettes. In collaboration with John Hayes, assistant professor of food science at Penn State, Branstetter is working on a project examining how sweet flavoring may affect smoking behaviors such as frequency of puffing, depth in inhalation, and other factors.

“Our lab has been doing studies examining how young smokers react to a new electronic water pipe—a hookah, for example—versus traditional hookah. These new devices may offer some degree to reduced risk when it comes to exposure to toxicants,” Branstetter said. His research seeks to see how young smokers react to new products, how—and if —these products may be substitutes for higher risk (and potentially more — Helen Kamens addictive products), and how factors such as flavors may influence ongoing use.

For example, Linden-Carmichael is collecting crowdsourced data from heavy substance users to better understand their feelings of impairment when using alcohol, using marijuana, or using both substances at the same time.

This information will guide a study beginning this fall that will examine when, where, why, how, and what negative outcomes occur when alcohol and marijuana are used together in daily life.

More recently, Lanza and her colleagues have begun to investigate more deeply contemporary trends in young adult opioid use behavior such as misusing prescription painkillers.

The goal underlying all of Lanza’s work is to inform preventive interventions that can effectively reduce the incidence of youth and young adult drug use behaviors and prevent addiction in the United States.

"Related to drug use, we have shown that exposure to social stress during adolescence changes drug behaviors."

Stephanie Lanza, professor of biobehavioral health and C. Eugene Bennett Chair in Prevention Research, directs a research lab focused on using innovative data analysis methods to shed new light on alcohol, tobacco, and drug use in adolescence and young adulthood. She devotes considerable time to training addiction researchers around the country to use new methods, such as time-varying effect modeling, in their work to better address some of the most pressing problems.

In addition to methodological research, Lanza examines important contextual factors that may drive different forms of risky substance use on a given day or at a particular age.

In collaboration with Ashley Linden-Carmichael, assistant research professor of biobehavioral health, Lanza is working on studies to understand why individuals engage is extreme binge drinking or use multiple substances, such as alcohol and marijuana, at the same time.

Also in the Department of Biobehavioral Health, Helen Kamens’ lab has been examining how exposure to social stress during adolescence alters drug behaviors and affective-like behaviors.

One such study found that adolescent chronic variable social stress changes how the brain functions later in life. Utilizing this same design, the Kamens lab has also shown that exposure to this stressor leads to increased alcohol drinking.

“Related to drug use, we have shown that exposure to social stress during adolescence changes drug behaviors,” said Kamens, assistant professor of biobehavioral health. “Two key findings are that exposure to adolescent social stress changes nicotine sensitivity, and exposure to adolescent social stress increases alcohol consumption. Interestingly, we also find that these results are dependent on the genetic background tested, which represents an interesting genetic by environmental interaction.”

Scientists in the college are confident their continuing research on this topic can better inform the prevention, intervention, and treatment of addiction. n

Fall 2018 | 23

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: LORI GERHARD Photo courtesy of Lori Gerhard

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“How do we transform our health system to work in a more personcentered way and help people live the fullest life possible in the community?”

Five years later, Gerhard became the nursing home administrator for a non-profit nursing home in central Pennsylvania. In this leadership role, she regularly interacted with residents, families, and staff. Through this communication, she heard the frustrations of the “system,” from bureaucracy to understaffing. It was then, that she made a promise to her staff that things would change.

As a high school student touring the University Park campus, Lori Gerhard ’85 HPA was still deciding on a major. She had an interest in both business administration and health care. Thanks to her tour guide, a student majoring in Health Planning and Administration (now Health Policy and Administration), she discovered this fusion major featuring both of her interests. Gerhard enrolled in the major and started college at the Mont Alto campus and after two years continued on to the University Park campus.

When it was time for Gerhard to earn her required 400 hours of practical experience she began reaching out to hospital administrators. But she kept hitting dead ends. That’s when she decided to call a local nursing home, and the receptionist immediately transferred her to the administrator, who asked her to come in and talk the same day.

While her employees were doubtful, she persisted.

“It’s going to change because I’m going to get inside the system and get it changed,” she said.

Gerhard kept that promise.

Just a few years later, Gerhard found herself serving as an executive policy specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Aging under Gov. Tom Ridge. Over seven years, Gerhard held various roles in state government, including deputy secretary followed by acting secretary of aging for Pennsylvania. During that time, she was able to see state minimum staffing requirements increase for nursing homes.

That one phone call pointed Gerhard toward a life-long career in long-term care, aging, and disability issues.

In 2007, Gerhard began working for the Administration on Aging. Today, she is director of the Office of Consumer Access and Self Determination for the Administration on Community Living, where she works with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Federal Transit Administration to enhance programs, services, and systems to be more responsive to people with disabilities, older adults, and caregivers.

As an intern for a Beverly Enterprises nursing home in central Pennsylvania, the company quickly hired her as an assistant administrator and business office manager, which gave her the experience she needed to become a licensed nursing home administrator. Gerhard served in this role while finishing her final year at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Harrisburg campus.

“The theme of the programs we oversee is: How do we transform our system, which was built in the industrial age, to work in a more person-centered way and help people live the fullest life possible in the community,” Gerhard said.

24 | Health and Human Development

One of her accomplishments in this role is helping develop a self-directed, home-based, customizable system of care for military veterans that has served roughly 7,000 veterans.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: ANNETTE GR AHAM As a doctoral student, Annette Graham ’95g HRIM was one of the first people who moved into Mateer Building after construction was completed and it became home to the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Recreation Management, which today is the School of Hospitality Management.

Graham was also one of the first students who had the opportunity to work in a research kitchen inside Mateer. Through U.S. Department of Agriculture research grants, Graham assisted Pete Bordi, associate professor of hospitality management, and Carolyn Lambert, now associate professor emerita of food systems management, with developing recipes and menus for school foodservice, which had to meet specific dietary guidelines.

At that time, Graham was also able to develop strong teaching and research skills as she assisted faculty members.

“Penn State helped me mature and develop the skill set I needed to be successful as an educator and college administrator,” Graham said.

As dean of the School of Business and Management at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), where Graham earned her undergraduate degree, she works to offer students the same quality experiences she received as a student at Penn State.

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“Being a student is the best job you will ever have. You have the opportunity to go to class every day and learn something and that is the greatest thing,” Graham said. “I think that’s why I work in education. I’m in a position where it’s easy for me to learn every day and provide opportunities for others to learn.”

One program Graham developed with faculty members at CIA is “Intrapreneurship: Innovating from Within,” a threesemester program that includes a cohort of students operating an on-campus restaurant for an entire semester.

“It is one of the best learning opportunities I’ve been able to help develop for students,” Graham said.

While Graham often sees the students working hard at the restaurant, the importance of the program truly hits home when she listens to students’ formal presentations about their experiences and the lessons they learned.

“Hearing students’ takeaway messages—that’s what is really valuable. It’s when they verbalize that now they really understand an income statement, the challenges of hiring employees, or training employees. When students truly understand the operation of a restaurant—that’s when it becomes much more evident for me,” Graham said.

Photo courtesy of Annette Graham

“Penn State helped me mature and develop the skill set I needed to be successful as an educator and college administrator.”

Fall 2018 | 25

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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: NICK POLKO During his first year of teaching, Nicholas Polko ’14 HDFS had a student who was struggling with basic reading and math concepts and continually acting out in his general education classroom.

“His mother often got phone calls from his general education teacher and school dean about some of the behaviors he was displaying,” Polko said. “One day, I called his mother and I could hear her apprehension when I told her that I was calling about her son.”

But, Polko said, this phone call was different.

“I was calling to tell her that he had mastered two of his goals that he had been working on for months,” he said. “There was a long pause after I told her that he was doing well, and she began to cry.”

The mother went on to explain that this was the first time someone called with good news regarding her son.

“I am passionate about my work as a special education liaison because there are many students who would be able to thrive in school if they were given more support.”

“This experience continues to resonate with me and has helped shape the way I approach meetings with parents. I enjoy that I help to provide the support and services students need in order to make academic and behavioral progress,” Polko said.

Polko is a special education liaison for a charter school in Philadelphia where he manages the special education department and develops individualized education programs, coordinating all related service programs, providing support to both teachers and families, and ensuring they meet the needs of all students. He initially joined the school through Teach for America as a learning support special education teacher for students in kindergarten through second grade.

Polko said he is passionate about this work because there are many students who would be able to thrive in school if they were given more support.

“My job is to help identify those students and formulate a team to help these students in whatever way is possible,” he said.

While he always had an interest in helping others, his experience as a student in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies helped him make the choices that led him to his current role.

Specifically, Polko credits his undergraduate experience for helping him cultivate the ability to view situations from multiple perspectives. That skill continued to develop throughout his time at Penn State—through classroom learning and real-world experience—and now enables him to support special education students and help them excel academically through specialized counseling and other services.

As a student, Polko served as a teaching assistant for the course HDFS 411: The Helping Relationship, where students learned and practiced counseling techniques. He also completed an internship at Centre Helps in State College, a volunteer-based non-profit organization that delivers human services throughout the community.

“The Centre Helps experience helped to refine my focus about entering the workforce. The opportunity allowed me to see that I truly enjoy working with children and families and finding meaningful supports and services for these individuals,” Polko said. “HDFS classes, coupled with the internship experience, allowed me to gain insight and real-world experience.”

26 | Health and Human Development

Nicholas Polko in 2014 Photo courtesy of Nicholas Polko

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: BRITTANY JOHNSON Photo courtesy of Brittany Johnson

“I loved the idea of learning how health, the mind, and human behavior can be integrated into one degree.”

Brittany Johnson ’08 BBH co-founded Pathways Community Living to fill a need in the community in which she grew up. An agency in Pittsburgh that provides support for adults with intellectual disabilities, Pathways offers residential and behavioral support, culinary programs, therapy, 24-hour assistance, and a variety of other services.

The concept for this company began when Johnson’s parents leased a rental property to a family with members who had intellectual disabilities. Johnson and her family began providing daily living support to the family.

“That’s when I realized there was a need in that area,” Johnson said. “My family and I decided to work together to create a company that would provide these supports.”

In 2012, Pathways was born. As CEO, Johnson’s role involves major oversight, such as maintaining the health and safety of individuals within the agency and making sure the company is following state regulations.

But Johnson always had an interest in the holistic approach to treating individuals.

“That’s why I decided to major in Biobehavioral Health (BBH),” she said. “I loved the idea of learning how health, the mind, and human behavior can be integrated into one degree.”

Johnson’s classes in BBH enlightened her to the socialecological approach to health.

“This approach is not just looking at one part of an individual but looking at his or her environment—both the person’s family and community—and his or her physical and emotional health, and any other factors that could impact a person’s state of being,” Johnson said.

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Pathways Community Living, she said, aims to provide specialized support to each participant, with the goal of helping patients function successfully in the community, rather than just moving from facility to facility, she said.

While BBH provided Johnson with a wealth of knowledge she applies to her work today, there were other factors during her undergraduate experience that also helped pave her career path.

For example, she was a student interventionist at Penn State’s Office of Health Promotion where she counseled peers on tobacco cessation, marijuana and alcohol intervention, and HIV testing.

After graduation, Johnson served as a clinician for the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute’s family-based medical services program, where she delivered mental health treatment services in patients’ homes and community.

She also spent a summer in the Dominican Republic where she established health clinics in small villages, volunteered at hospitals, and translated Spanish for physicians and patients, all through Hope International Ministries.

“These experiences during my undergraduate career, both domestic and abroad, were all very different experiences, but were all health-related and provided me with countless opportunities to gain hands-on experience in a variety of health-related fields,” Johnson said.

Today, Johnson is able to use these experiences and the knowledge she gained with the clients she treats and the company she oversees. She said she finds great joy in seeing firsthand her clients’ succeed.

“To see the progress that our participants make over time is incredibly rewarding,” Johnson said.

Fall 2018 | 27

Photos: Paul Hazi Photography (8)

Women’s Leadership Initiative celebrates 15 years The College of Health and Human Development Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) celebrated its anniversary in April with a dinner at The Nittany Lion Inn for alumni, mentors, donors, and faculty members from the Colleges of Health and Human Development and Nursing.

Conceptualized and supported by alumni, the college, and women leaders throughout the nation, WLI continues to educate, inspire, and empower the next generation of female leaders with the core values, attitudes, and skills that are the foundation of quality leadership.

Former dean Raymond Coward, who established the initiative with support from alumni and friends, attended the anniversary event, along with all four WLI directors: Lizabeth Self Mullens, Marja Verbeeten, Susan Sanders, and Abby Diehl.

Through the years, WLI has grown from an inaugural class of 34 to a network of more than 400 alumni—and many more supporters—who serve as guest speakers, mentors, donors, and advisory committee members.

“Our network is what enables the WLI to continue to thrive year after year. Our WLI alumni and the many other seasoned leaders who are part of the network contribute to our students’ leadership development in so many exciting ways.

They also give our students role models to look up to. Our students see these women serving in leadership positions and they think, ‘I can do that.’”

– Abby Diehl, Assistant Dean for Alumni Relations and Special Projects Director of Women’s Leadership Initiative

“WLI helped show me that although I may have cheerleaders—like family, friends, and mentors— behind me, I am my own biggest advocate. In teaching me this, WLI has helped me reach my career goals. It has given me confidence to apply for jobs I felt were out of my reach and take on new responsibilities at work.”

– Anna Chen ’16 BBH

“My greatest lesson from WLI remains that leaders breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future. A truly great leader must foster collaboration and build spirited teams. You know a great leader by the success of the people around him or her; build up those around you to be successful.”

– Jenny Jackson ’05 HPA

“WLI provides a strong leadership foundation to all of its members. Even now, nearly a decade after I completed the program, I can connect a leadership attribute back to my WLI roots. Whether it is conflict resolution tactics, mentoring young women in the workplace, communication skills, or anything in between, it began in WLI. The program is ingrained in my life, and I am forever grateful for the opportunities it has provided me.”

– Ann Miller ’10 HPA

The Women’s Leadership Initiative curriculum is organized around four main themes: developing knowledge of self and others, defining leadership, developing leadership skills, and practicing leadership through service.

Committed to Education and Service

30 | Health and Human Development

Successfully balancing academia and military worlds Taylor Sapp served as infantry mortar section leader in Afghanistan from October 2014 to July 2015, where he advised and assisted Afghan counterparts with a primary mission to disrupt enemy movements and forces.

Taylor Sapp

That experience impacted Sapp in many ways, including giving him a new outlook on the value of life.

“I realized I may be young and I may be healthy, but I am mortal. I am human and things can happen in a blink of an eye,” Sapp said. “My whole world opened up and I saw things with a new perspective after that. It was a humbling experience, too.

I’m more patient and calmer, and I’m more understanding of other people. I truly try to understand someone else as much as I can.”

Now a student at Penn State studying Communication Sciences and Disorders, Sapp is using his experience as an opportunity to connect and support other students who are military veterans. After all, support and resources for veterans is a major reason why Sapp transferred from another university to Penn State.

“I want to help veterans who are in a similar situation, who are transitioning into the academic world and being able to get along with other students with different experiences,” Sapp said. “I try to tell them to be patient.”

Sapp is the newly elected president of the Penn State Veterans Organization, a club for any student who wants to help veterans transition from military life to the academic world. Beginning this fall, Sapp plans to lead the club in new community outreach efforts.

Sapp is also a member of Omega Delta Sigma, a fraternity for veterans, through

Photo: Rob Peeler

which he helped organize the Lt. Michael Patrick Murphy Games, a physical competition that raises funds for a memorial foundation for Murphy, a 1998 Penn State graduate who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for heroic actions during the war in Afghanistan.

Bailey Moore ’18 HDFS, who in May received a bachelor of science degree in human development and family studies and served as student marshal for the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), knew that joining the military was a costeffective way to earn her degree.

Beyond the financial support the military offered, balancing academics and military service has provided Moore with skills she will take into her career. Waking up every day at 5:15 a.m., completing physical training daily—which at times included 12-mile marches with a 35-pound pack, and attending courses for the Army, all while completing

Fall 2018 | 31

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COMMITTED TO EDUCATION AND SERVICE

Moore now serves in the U.S. Army Reserves as an adjutant general officer, with duties including human resources and personnel. She plans to apply to graduate programs for school counseling upon completion of training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, this fall.

While transitioning from active military to Penn State, Shana Bogert ’18 ATHTR took advantage of many resources at University Park, including the Office of Student Aid, Office of Veterans Programs, the Department of Kinesiology, and the Athletic Training program, all of which “were crucial to my early success at Penn State.”

Bogert, a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, received her military honor cord from Penn State President Eric Barron during a ceremony in May.

Bailey Moore Photo: Rob Peeler

traditional coursework, has helped Moore become more disciplined and confident.

Photo courtesy of Shana Bogert

“It gave me a schedule, a set time to work, and gave me a standard for excellence as I did my work,” Moore said. “I’m not going to settle for less than the best. When you put forth your best, you do your best.

Whatever you put in this time is what you’re going to get out.”

Bogert, who is married with two children, received a bachelor’s degree in athletic training.

She is now enrolled in a sports psychology master’s program at Lock Haven University and holds a graduate assistant position with Bellefonte Area High School. After completion, she hopes to become an athletic trainer for the military, law enforcement, or within an industrial setting. n

Moore took things a step further to find true balance in life by not only seeking academic and physical fitness, but she also sought spiritual fitness. While at Penn State, she served as an executive team member and campus Bible study leader for DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship, and she was a youth and children’s ministry volunteer and community outreach intern at Calvary Church.

“Spiritual fitness and physical fitness—this combination is important. It keeps me balanced, in check, because it’s no easy feat, even though this is just training,” Moore said.

Shana Bogert with her family

To learn more about how Penn State supports military veterans, visit: equity.psu.edu/veterans

32 | Health and Human Development

Balancing Commitments

A personal essay drafted ahead of commencement Michael Innes â&#x20AC;&#x2122;18 RPTM, Army National Guard Throughout my college experience, the military has produced many obstacles to overcome in pursuing my degree, but the most significant obstacle appeared during the spring semester in 2016.

Michael Innes (left)

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when my life plans in the academic world were frozen in time with just one email. As I walked out of the Oak Building on a brisk winter morning, I checked an email that I had received during my previous class. The email was from my platoon sergeant and he stated that we were being deployed to the Middle East in May. I was forced to withdraw from the semester due to pre-deployment training that I was required to attend. I departed to Fort Bliss, Texas, and shortly after that I was on my way to the Middle East. I spent nine months in Jordan conducting compound security and training and aiding Jordanian Armed Forces and Border Guard soldiers on their operations on the Syrian border.

My time overseas was very physically and mentally difficult. Once home, I experienced anxiety for the first time in my life. I was nervous to return to Penn State as my best friends from before had already graduated.

When I got back to school, I was greeted by a loving and caring staff, and like-minded individuals quickly made their way into my life.

The people of the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management helped me through my transition and internal struggles more than I think they will ever know.

Photo courtesy of Michael Innes

As a student now in my final academic semester, I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be happier with the obstacles that have been placed before me. My deployment tested me in many ways that the university had not, and I believe that I am a better and stronger individual who now takes little for granted because of that experience.

Although the road to my degree has been a long and strenuous one, I do not think that I would change anything about it. The Army, Penn State, and the memories of my journey with both will forever be ingrained in my mind. n This essay was edited for style and length.

Read the entire, unedited version at: hhd.psu.edu/mike-innes

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AROUND THE COLLEGE

Golf Teaching and Research Center expansion completed in Keller Building

Joyce Hopson-King receives Way Paver Award

Awards and Recognitions Penny Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, received the 2018 W. Virgil Brown Distinguished Achievement Award and Lectureship from the National Lipid Association and its foundation, recognizing outstanding contributions in the diagnosis and treatment of lipid disorders, as well as educating health care providers to decrease cardiovascular disease risk.

Mary Jane De Souza, professor of kinesiology and physiology, received the 2018 Citation Award from the American College of Sports Medicine. The award recognizes career achievement for outstanding research contributions to advancing science.

Lynn Parker-Klees and Shawnee Kelly, faculty members in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, have been named Fellows of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The designation of Fellow is bestowed to select members of the academy who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of nutrition and dietetics.

Three faculty members had Fulbright experiences recently.

A. Catharine Ross, professor and head of Nutritional Sciences and

Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair in Nutrition, taught and conducted research on local diets in Japan. Linda Collins, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and professor of statistics, presented research on MOST, a framework for building interventions that help people modify unhealthy behavior, at the National University of Ireland Galway. Jamie Schultz, associate professor of kinesiology, was in Australia working on a book project about the production of athletes for elite sport.

Caprice Knapp, associate professor of health policy and administration, spent a year as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow in Washington D.C. where she worked on health-related legislative and regulatory issues with members of Congress and the executive branch.

Joyce Hopson-King, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion, was one of two 2018 recipients of the University Standard Bearer Way Paver Award, which honors those â&#x20AC;&#x153;who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to diversity and the creation of an inclusive community, positively enhanced student life, the climate throughout the University and local communities, and motivated others through their leadership and impeccable character.â&#x20AC;?

Announcements The Golf Teaching and Research Center has completed an expansion, giving PGA Professional Golf Management students more opportunities to practice year-round, opening capacity for educational seminars and industry guests, and additional opportunities for alumni and friends to get high-quality information and advice on their game.

Helen Guthrie passed away in February at the age of 92. She served for 40 years as a Penn State faculty member, including 14 years as head of the nutrition department. Guthrie was a pioneer for women in science and academia, with highly published research in infant nutrition, nutrition education, nutritional assessment, and international nutrition.

34 | Health and Human Development

Health Policy and Administration continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The program was founded in 1968, one of the first of its kind, to fill a significant need for personnel trained in the field. As the health policy landscape continues to shift, the department has expert researchers who evaluate policy and lead reform. The department continues to train leaders through its academic programs who can take the reins of health care organizations and navigate them through an uncertain landscape.

In 2019, the Penn State Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders will be celebrating 90 years of service to the community and in training clinicians, leaders, and scholars in the field. Details will be shared as plans develop.

Kinesiology alumni with fellow alum John Norwig at the Steelers Practice Facility

Immersive course enhances appreciation of the natural world.

Alumni Connect, Celebrate, and Network The School of Hospitality Management and the Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society honored Arne M. Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International, Inc., as 2018 Hospitality Executive of the Year in April. The recognition honors extraordinary leadership and achievement in the hospitality industry and provids hospitality management students the opportunity to learn directly from industry professionals. Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, will be honored as 2019 Hospitality Executive of the Year.

Kinesiology alumni gathered at the Pittsburgh Steelers Practice Facility to hear from John Norwig ’79, ’84g, head athletic trainer for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who discussed his career and time with the Steelers. He led a tour of the South Side practice facility.

The college hosted Dr. Laura Jana at the historic Carriage House Children’s Center in Pittsburgh for a reception and presentation about her work in child development. Jana is a pediatrician, author of The Toddler Brain, educator, health communicator, and adjunct faculty member in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center.

Alumni and friends took part in a cooking class during We Are Weekend. Led by Jennifer Meengs, the group prepared recipes from Barbara Rolls’ The Volumetrics Eating Plan and The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet and then sat down to enjoy their creations together. Recipes included red lentil soup, pasta with exploding tomatoes, and peanut udon noodle salad.

Students learn through innovative ways, benefit from new partnerships, serve communities, and showcase experiences The Departments of English and Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management offer an immersive adventure that enhances students’ appreciation of the natural world and understanding of how nature, culture, and recreation are intertwined. Students enroll simultaneously in the courses Exploring the Chesapeake Bay, ENG 181A, and Recreational Canoeing, RPTM 197, for one distinctive experience where they read and discuss literature about the Chesapeake Bay, acquire canoe paddling skills, and spend days exploring the Chesapeake Bay and one of its tributaries, the Susquehanna River, and related cultures.

Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management students can follow the new Outdoor Experiential Leadership track, which emphasizes leadership and management skills needed to work in organizations using experiential approaches to personal and social development.

Fourteen students—eight studying Health Policy and Administration and six studying Labor and Employment

Relations—enrolled in HPA 499/LER 499 Human Resource Management: The Swedish Experience course visited Sweden in May. The students immersed themselves in Swedish culture, gaining insights into the human resource management practices and the health care system in a contrasting culture that has a strong focus on social welfare.

Hospitality Management and Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management joined together to create the Meeting and Event Management Certificate to prepare students for an increasing demand for professional event planners, who go well beyond the logistics of event coordination and are now expected to implement an organization’s goals and objectives—and are responsible for showing return on investment.

A group of students has started an effort to bring awareness of and encourage the use of health and wellness services among minority students on campus through the Minority Health Initiative.

A component of HealthWorks, the initiative was created to educate students on the resources available to them and to provide

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AROUND THE COLLEGE

Distrust of tap water among minorities

New collaboration with Outward Bound Oman

them with a safe place to talk about unique issues and concerns.

“Minority students don’t always use these resources or feel they are being represented,” said Dejah Harley ’18 BBH who was cocreator of the initiative with Marley Shaw, a Biobehavioral Health major. Shaw added she hopes the initiative will encourage students of all backgrounds to talk with one another about race-related topics and issues.

Nutritional Sciences student Bowen Zheng worked at the Student Farm at Penn State this summer with the goals of learning about food production, applying his nutrition training to develop new materials for the farm, and teaching Community Supported Agriculture members and students in the dining commons about healthy eating and cooking. This is the first time a Nutritional Sciences student completed the major’s fieldwork requirement at a farm.

Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management students took over the department Instagram account this summer, showcasing their incredible internship and research opportunities. Check out the opportunities some of these students were able to participate in on Instagram @PennStateRPTM.

Bowen Zheng at the Penn State Student Farm

Nutritional Sciences students organized a community nutrition fair at Ferguson Township Elementary School during its Community Education Extended Learning afterschool program, in partnership with the State College Area School District, part of a fieldwork experience component of the course NUTR 456, Community Nutrition. Student groups came up with themes for interactive booths to address nutrition and health-related education needs of elementary school children, created lesson plans supporting the goals, and tested the curriculum before the event.

Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management has established new partnerships to advance its educational and research opportunities. A collaborative relationship with Outward Bound Oman, the first Outward Bound School in an Arabic-speaking country, will enrich educational and research programs for both parties. In addition, the department and the Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors have formally committed to a collaborative relationship to develop curriculum, research, and opportunities for study.

Research Results A later school start time could mean teens are more likely to get adequate amounts of sleep, according to a study led

by Orfeu Buxton, professor of biobehavioral health. In the first national study of urban teenagers, Buxton and colleagues found that high school start times after 8:30 a.m. increased the likelihood that teens obtained the minimum recommended amount of sleep, benefiting their overall health and well being.

New clues could aid patients with dysarthria, which can cause slurred speech; slowed speech; abnormal pitch and rhythm; changes in voice quality; and limited tongue, lip, or jaw movement. Findings in a study led by Jimin Lee, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders, and colleagues found that in people with more severe dysarthria due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), tongue range of motion is reduced, while range of motion for the lower lip and jaw both increase. The findings could be useful for estimating speech

36 | Health and Human Development

dysfunction and determining treatment to improve speech in patients with ALS or other neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis.

Black and Hispanic U.S. adults are half as likely as whites to drink tap water and more than twice as likely to drink bottled water, according to a recent analysis led by Asher Rosinger, assistant professor of biobehavioral health and anthropology. Those who do not drink tap water and instead consume bottled water are at greater risk of health issues and financial burdens. A lower trust in tap water manifests in dietary behaviors and results in shifting to bottled water for hydration as well as less healthy options like sugar-sweetened beverages, according to Rosinger.

A 30-minute educational lesson about the importance of leaving what you find during outdoor experiences helps young

Dr. Laura Jana met with alumni in Pittsburgh

WearIT wins startup competition

people feel more connected to nature and results in children being less likely to take natural items home as souvenirs, according to a study led by Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management researchers and the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics.

Conducted at Outdoor School, a residential program run by Penn State’s Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, the program Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids (PEAK) teaches children about the environment and how to recreate responsibly in the outdoors, teaching the importance of leaving artifacts and other natural objects behind for future visitors to enjoy. It also stresses leaving places in their natural state to preserve the ecological, cultural, and historical value of the place.

A startup to help people in addiction recovery was the winner of a Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania’s TechCelerator program, receiving $10,000 in December to bring the idea closer to market. The system—WearIT—was created by Timothy Brick and Zita Oravecz, assistant professors of human development and family studies, and James Mundie, a mobile app developer at Penn State. WearIT utilizes wearable devices as tools to help individuals battle addiction by detecting indicators of stress and/or anxiety and, when detected, the device(s) offer feedback in the moment to keep the user focused on recovery.

New research is evaluating how post traumatic stress disorder symptoms increase risks for academic difficulties, in addition to feelings of anxiety, anger, sadness, and/or guilt. Academic difficulties are an issue rising to the forefront as increasing numbers of veterans are enrolling in colleges and universities. In a study led by Steffany Fredman, assistant professor of human development and family studies, and published recently in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, the findings are the first to demonstrate the effects of militaryrelated posttraumatic stress on academic adjustment through impairments in veterans’ relationships with family and friends.

Mothers who choose to co-sleep with their infants are more likely to feel depressed or judged. After analyzing moms’ sleeping patterns and feelings about sleep for the first year of their babies’ lives, Douglas Teti, professor and head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and colleagues

RLS may increase risk of cardiovascular disease

found that mothers who were still co-sleeping—sharing either a room or bed—with their infants after six months were more likely to feel depressed, worried about their babies’ sleep, and think their decisions were being criticized. Teti says that regardless of current parenting trends, some of which advise moms not to sleep with their babies, it’s important to find a sleep arrangement that works for everyone in the family.

Starting your morning by focusing on how stressful your day will be may be harmful to your mindset throughout the day.

Jinshil Hyun, a doctoral student in human development and family studies, Martin Sliwinski, director of Penn State’s Center for Healthy Aging, Joshua Smyth, professor of biobehavioral health and medicine, and colleagues found that when participants woke up feeling like the day ahead would be stressful, their working memory — which helps people learn and retain information even when they’re distracted — was lower later in the day. Anticipating something stressful had a great effect on working memory regardless of actual stressful events.

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related death among women, according to research led by Xiang Gao, associate professor of nutritional sciences. Gao and colleagues found that women with physician-diagnosed RLS have elevated rates of CVD-related mortality. Specifically, women had a 43 percent higher likelihood of death due to cardiovascular disease during a ten-year period, compared to those without physician-diagnosed RLS. Being overweight or obese during pregnancy can have major health impacts for both mother and baby. Danielle Symons Downs, professor of kinesiology and obstetrics and gynecology, and colleagues are studying women in the Healthy Mom Zone Study, an individually tailored, adaptive intervention aimed at helping overweight and obese women effectively manage their weight during pregnancy to reduce the likelihood of excessive gestational weight gain. The Healthy Mom Zone intervention includes education, selfmonitoring, physical activity, and healthy eating components that adapt in intensity over the course of the program as needed to help women manage weight. n

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Photo courtesy of Robert Roeser

Robert Roeser discusses ethics and compassion with the Dalai Lama, helps lead multi-university Student Flourishing Initiative

Robert Roeser, Bennett Pierce Professor of Caring and Compassion in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, took part in the panel discussion “Ethics and Compassion in Education” with the Dalai Lama in March at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamshala, India, part of a five-day dialogue, “Reimagining Human Flourishing,” sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute.

“The dialogue was meant to draw attention to the critical importance of teaching children basic skills like focused attention, empathy, and compassion through social-emotional learning programs in schools,” Roeser said.

Roeser’s research focus is on how the ethical development of children, adolescents, and young adults can be enriched in educational settings through programs that cultivate the foundations of flourishing. Various projects through the PEACE (Promoting

Empathy, Awareness and Compassion in Education) Lab are studying the effects of such programs on children, youth, and their caregivers.

Roeser and his colleague Andrew Mashburn at Portland State University were awarded a five-year federal research grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences to continue their work in this arena.

In addition, efforts to assist students in cultivating their well-being and exploring what it means to live a life of flourishing during their transition into college are the motivation behind the Student Flourishing Initiative, a multi-university project led by Roeser and Mark Greenberg, Bennett Chair of Prevention Research in Human Development and Family Studies, in conjunction with colleagues at the Universities of Virginia and Wisconsin.

Photos: Manning Photography (2)

HHD Philanthropy Council members Gary Budge (L), vice-chair, and Mary Good (R), chair, surprise Nan Crouter (C) with news of an award created in her honor.

Early Career Faculty Award established in honor of Crouter In honor of her contributions to the college, the College of Health and Human Development Philanthropy Council and other alumni and friends of the college established the Nan Crouter Early Career Faculty Award, which will be used to recognize a faculty member who is just starting his or her career and has excelled in teaching, research, and outreach. Crouter retired in June after a 36-year career at Penn State.

Dine, Shop, Relax, and Live More Wisely School of Hospitality Management faculty members Michael Tews, Anna Mattilla, Donna Quadri-Felitti, Amit Sharma, Bart Bartlett, and graduate student Yoohee Hwang collectively offer their expert advice on making informed decisions when you make hospitality purchases.

Sip wisely Moderate wine consumption has been widely reported to have salutatory effects, yet contradictory studies are also available. What we do know is that, historically, societies across the globe and across millennia have enjoyed wine as part of their cultures, rituals, and dining experiences. If you choose to enjoy wine with your meals or celebrations, using the traditional time-tested technique of the five S’s that the School of Hospitality Management teaches in its wine curriculum may enhance your gratification:

The 5 S’s • See • Smell • Swirl • Sip • Savor

Knowledge is power Do you know what you are eating when you order food in a restaurant? Local foods have become a frequent feature on restaurant menus. But did you know that “local food” could mean different things to different people? Just because it says “local” does not mean it necessarily came from your local community.

There is no consensus on a definition of “local” or “local food systems” in terms of the geographic distance between production and consumption. But defining “local” based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers’ markets or to schools, is well recognized.

Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms.

So, ask what you are eating, where it came from, and how might it be different. If you are eager to learn about the impact of your food choices on local economies, it pays to ask your server so that you can know more about the foods you eat.

Broaden your horizon The next time you visit a winery in California, Texas, Israel, Spain, or Italy, you may want to ask if the owners also produce olive oil. The climate for olive and grape farming is similar, and many wineries are expanding their tours to include adjacent or supplementary olive groves.

While you may visit wine country for the beauty of the landscape and the pleasures of the tasting room, wine makers and nearby olive oil producers may offer educational tastings that increase your heart healthy diet while learning about premium and boutique crafted olive oils. Preliminary research by doctoral candidates and graduate faculty show that tourists are keenly interested in learning about the healthy uses and enjoyment of olive oil direct from the grove.

Freshly brewed savings With sustainability in mind, coffee shops and cafĂŠs across the country are offering environmentally-friendly products, including at Cafe Laura at University Park, which serves coffee in compostable cups and lids. Cafe Laura also offers a coffee discount to customers who bring a reusable cup to fill. The next time you stop for a caffeine fix, ask your barista if the provided cup is compostable or try to take advantage of the savings found with a reusable mug.

Tattoo taboo?

Service staff who have tattoos may be a sign of the times. In fact, it is estimated that 45 million individuals in the U.S. workforce have at least one tattoo. That being said, recent research shows that acceptance among hiring managers appear split in some respects.

Millennial hiring managers are more open to tattoos than their older counterparts. Furthermore, millennial hiring managers are more open to a wider diversity of tattoos.

Surprisingly, employers are less likely to hire a male with a tattoo than a female today, which is interesting as tattoos were traditionally a male phenomenon.

Online Reviews: gender and word styles can influence your buying decision Online review sites have become a major channel for consumers to discover and share product experiences—and influence purchasing decisions.

Golden Years = Gold Star Treatment

When you are reading a review for your next vacation or night out on the town, pay attention to the style of writing, because Hospitality Management researchers found that gender and language style might influence consumers’ decision making.

Hospitality-focused “Life Plan Communities” for older adults offer a resort-like atmosphere that promotes quality of life and healthy living through a focus on physical activity, social interaction, healthy dining and nutrition, and engagement.

A popular elective in the school’s undergraduate curriculum is Hospitality in Senior Living, through which students learn these and other tips.

Specifically, when a purchase is for pleasure or fun, called the hedonic context (e.g., golf and spa resort, dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, cruise, etc.), subjective style in reviews tends to enhance purchase intention among men.

When searching for a Life Plan Community for you or a loved one, it’s important to consider a community that emphasizes a “hospitality mentality.” When visiting, ask yourself:

On the other hand, for utility purchases (e.g., coffeemakers, airport shuttle, computer, printer, etc.), objective style language in reviews tends to be more effective with the purchase intention of women.

• Are you greeted warmly at the door?

• Does the atmosphere feel like a resort or a hospital?

• Are there multiple dining venues and options?

• Do the dining menus feature a variety of choices with fresh ingredients?

• Is there a diverse beverage selection, bar, or BYOB option?

• Do the amenities and activities offered match your interests?

• Is staffing available to assist residents outside of regular business hours?

• Are the grounds and public areas inviting and well kept?

• How do staff members respond to impromptu or unique requests? (Hint: The answer should always be “yes.”).

Airline mileage credit cards Advice from Bing Pan, associate professor of commercial recreation and tourism (Reprinted from WalletHub) Why is it so hard to tell how much airline miles are worth?

It’s because the value depends on many factors: how you redeem them, and whether or not you can redeem on the date of your preferred flights, etc.

What should a frequent traveler look for in an airline credit card?

My mileage card gives me the privilege of accessing many airline lounges, which is very nice.

How often does someone need to fly to justify getting an airline miles credit card?

What are the biggest mistakes people make with airline miles credit cards?

For me, flying two to three times a year between the U.S. and China makes my mileage card totally worthwhile.

I prefer a card which can transfer the mileage to many different airlines.

Office of the Dean College of Health and Human Development The Pennsylvania State University 325 Health and Human Development Building University Park, PA 16802-6501

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College of Health and Human Development Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series

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A Journey to the Center of the Mind JAMES R. FITZGERALD â&#x20AC;&#x2122;75 LEC

Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit (ret.)

Fitzgerald was a key investigator in numerous high-profile cases, including UNABOM, using pioneering forensic linguistics that played a critical role in finding clues leading to Ted Kaczynskiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capture. He was recently featured in the Discovery Channel series Manhunt: Unabomber.

Thursday, October 25, 2018, 7:00 p.m.

Pike Auditorium 22 Biobehavioral Health Building

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the College of Health and Human Development Alumni Society.