H&SS News - 2022

Why did you want to be director of the school?

My professional career has been about helping people. As a teacher, I have helped my students learn and grow into themselves. As a psychologist, I have helped clients develop skills to improve their lives. As a community mental health researcher, I have helped build communi ty coalitions to address many of society’s problems. In becoming director, I am now able to help our school’s students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders in new, more expansive ways.

How do you think your background in psychology will serve you in this new role?

My background in therapeutic practice and trauma-informed systems has influenced my leadership style, which is grounded in an emphasis on open com munication; inclusive, relational practices; strong change management skills; and critical self-awareness. If nothing else, ac tive listening and empathy, which are core therapeutic skills, are always essential to working in leadership roles.

What are the initiatives you want to focus on first?

One of my primary initiatives is to work with faculty, staff, and other key stakehold ers to tell our school’s story—to students and parents, new faculty and staff, donors and friends, and community partners. Increasing the visibility of our school will increase our opportunities for success. I also want to promote themes common across the disciplines in our school. Most

SEVEN QUESTIONS

FOR THE NEW H&SS DIRECTOR

This summer, Dr. Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin, a clinical psychologist with more than twenty years of experience in teaching, research, and community outreach, was appointed director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Hetzel-Riggin, professor of psychology, has taught in the school since 2013 and had served as associate director since 2021. She previously served as chair of the Psychology program and coordinator of the college’s Master of Arts in Applied Clinical Psychology Program.

of our majors emphasize the importance of critical thinking, strong communica tions skills, and the development of global perspectives. I want to work with our fac ulty, students, and other stakeholders to create curricula and student engagement experiences that promote these themes.

Why are the humanities, social sciences, and arts important today?

We are living in challenging times—deal ing with the effects of a worldwide pandemic, climate change, social unrest, and violence in many forms. Studying the humanities, social sciences, and arts gives us insight into the factors that have led us to where we are now and how we can address the challenges we face—how we can use the shared experiences of the past to create a better future for all of us.

What do you want people to know about the School of H&SS?

Stories are at the heart of our school. Our students, faculty, and staff are the creators, keepers, and narrators of the stories of humanity. Stories of our past, present, and future. Stories in words, pictures, move ment, and songs. Stories of our internal self and the systems of which we are all a part. Stories of the best and worst of humanity. By telling the stories of humanity, we can all be better prepared for our future.

What are your goals for the school?

I want to make our school the destination for students who want to study the humanities, social sciences, and arts to make a difference in their community. To do this, I would like to strengthen

partnerships with the local community, grow student and faculty scholarship and service in regional initiatives, and build on relationships with our alumni.

Advice for incoming students?

College is a time for exploration, so take classes that sound interesting to you. Make a point to talk to your faculty and visit them during their office hours. Join a club, develop a radio show, write for the newspaper. Volunteer.

Vital Statistics

Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin

Family: Daughter, Ella, 14, and son, Gabe, 11

Pets: A clowder of cats, guinea pigs, a turtle, and a gecko

First Job: McDonald’s. I have also been a dental assistant, mail sorter, humane society staff member, and history reenactor.

Hobbies: I’m an avid reader and I love going to the beach and zoos.

Guilty Pleasure: Rita’s Italian Ice.

ON THE COVER: Ming Xu, a Psychology major and native of China, discusses the multilingual signage he helped translate for Port Erie Plastics with Heather Evans ’98, hu man resources manager at the Harborcreek manufacturing plant.

Dr. Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin

IN BRIEF

Studying abroad expands horizons

After two years of disruptions, Penn State Behrend students have returned to traveling the globe and soaking up the lessons that other cultures have to offer.

Catlin Lowes is a senior majoring in History who attended a Spanish language program in Puebla, Mexico, in May and June. Living with a Puebla family increased his fluency in Spanish and deepened his appreciation of Mexico.

“The experience showed me how Mexican people view and interact with their history in a way that reading a book written in English never could,” Lowes said. “There is no substitute for visiting a country and interacting with its people to get to know the place. It changed a lot of my understanding of Mexico and its culture.”

That is just the kind of life-altering experience Penn State Behrend’s study abroad programs are designed to achieve. Behrend offers traditional study abroad programs in cooperation with outside programs as well as embedded courses led by faculty. Depending on the type of program, the experience can range from ten days to a year.

In addition to being an exciting, eye-opening adventure, study abroad can give students an academic and career advantage.

“Educationally, it really does make a big difference, as employers are looking for that kind of experience,” said Ruth Pflueger, director of the college’s Learning Resource Center and coordinator of study abroad programming.

Lowes has long had an interest in Mexico and what he calls the “tangled history” between that country and the United States, and he said living with a host family was a powerful experience.

“I think seeing a country, experiencing its culture, and getting to know some of its people are critical to understanding a place,” he said.

Lowes received a competitive national award known as the Gilman Scholarship. That kind of award, in addition to Penn State scholarships and an endowment that provides study abroad funding, can make travel attainable for many students. Programs have a broad range of price tags, and Pflueger said getting at least some funding is likely.

For those who do study abroad, Pflueger said the lessons learned are priceless: “They really come back changed and having grown in maturity. These students are going to do well. They are enthusiastic and curious. They can go to unfamiliar places and adapt.”

FACULTY & STAFF NEWS

Leadership Legacy and Transition

Dr. Eric Corty, professor of psychology and school director emeritus, retired in June after serving seven years as school director and almost thirty years as a faculty member. He capped his career by establishing the Mirror Project, a funding effort intended to contribute to the diversity of teachers in Erie’s public schools by covering the four-year tuition of local students who agree to remain in their hometown to teach after graduation.

New Faculty and Staff

The school welcomed six new faculty mem bers: Dr. Michelle Cook, assistant professor of special education; Tom Deau, lecturer in communication; Dr. Mikaela Karstens, post doctoral teaching fellow; Dr. Emily Masghati, assistant professor of history; Dr. Maggie Shum, assistant professor of political science; and, Richard States, lecturer in psychology; and three new staff members: Beth Nemenz, administrative support coordinator and office manager, and administrative support assistants Kelly Nies and Janice Dernar

Honors, Distinctions, and Accomplishments

Dr. Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin, professor of psychology, won the university’s 2022 Faculty Outreach Award. Dr. Joshua Shaw, associate professor of philosophy, won the Tartt First Fiction Award for his forthcoming book of short fiction from Livingston Press, All We Could Have Been and More Dr. Lena SurzhkoHarned, associate teaching professor of politi cal science, was named to the Erie Reader’s “Erie’s 40 under 40” class of 2022.

Eight faculty members have been promoted: Dr. Wilson Brown to associate professor of clinical psychology; Dr. Lisa Parker to associ ate professor of language and literacy educa tion; Dr. Ashley Sullivan to associate professor of early childhood education; Dr. Massimo Verzella to associate professor of English composition; Dr. Sharon Gallagher to teach ing professor of English; Dr. Patrick Cosby to associate teaching professor of history; Daniel Schank to associate teaching professor of art and English; and Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned to associate teaching professor of political science.

Research and Creative Activity

H&SS faculty published four books, produced more than sixty articles and book chapters, presented more than 40 conference papers and posters, and were awarded research and travel grants totaling more than $5.8 million.

Retirements

Three faculty members retired after decades of service: Dr. Colleen Kelley, associate pro fessor of rhetoric and communication; Dr. John Rossi, associate professor of history; and Dr. Celise Schneider-Rickrode, assistant teaching professor of political science.

Catlin Lowes in Mexico.

“The Story of Us”

The Hagen History Center in downtown Erie recently opened a new exhibit, “The Story of Us,” that includes interactive displays created by student researchers in Behrend’s VAR (Virtual/Augmented Reality) Lab under the direction of Dr. Christopher Shelton, assistant professor of clinical psychology. The 3,000-square-foot exhibit highlights the growth of Erie from its indigenous people to its later-arriving immigrants. Interactive displays encourage visitors to view artifacts from all angles (views created using 3-D scanned images), make a recipe (virtually) from the 1890s or the 1950s, and more. Visit eriehistory. org for more about the exhibit.

Behrend in Toronto

Students enrolled in PLSC299/499: North American Politics spent a month in Toronto this summer learning alongside peers at Toronto Metropolitan University. The course is co-taught by Penn State Behrend’s Dr. Robert Speel, associate professor of political science, and Toronto Metropolitan’s Greg Inwood. Between classes, students had the opportunity to explore the city’s government, historical, and cultural sites.

For more information about this course, scan the QR code.

Chicago at Behrend

To allow for a larger stage and accom modate a bigger audience, Penn State Behrend’s spring production, Chicago, was relocated from the Studio Theatre to the Fasenmeyer Building. The show, featuring nearly two dozen Behrend students, was a hit, selling out five of six performances. It was directed by Emily Cassano, assistant teaching professor of music, theatre, and visual arts.

Queens Park (Ontario Parliament Building)

Secret Lives of Faculty: Ricardo Estremera, home renovation expert

What’s an Olympic-level runner to do when he’s injured and can’t work out and the entire country is taking a pandemic pause? How does a guy who runs sub-4-minute-miles survive being stuck at home for months?

He flips.

A house.

Trading in his racing flats for a tool belt, Ricardo Estremera, 36, assistant teaching professor of Spanish, and his wife, Sherez Mohamed, a professor of Spanish and linguistics at Mercyhurst University in Erie, invested in a fixer-upper and got to work.

“We figured it would keep me busy,” said Estremera, who was training for a spot on the Puerto Rico Olympic steeplechase team when Achilles tendon issues forced a layoff.

The couple had their work cut out for them. The house, while solidly built, needed an entire interior overhaul.

Estremera approached the job with the same energy and enthusiasm he takes to the track, and Mohamed did her share of the remodeling, renovation, and restoration work, too. Estremera learned his handyman skills as a reluctant teenage helper to his father, repairing things around their home in Puerto Rico.

“When you’re a kid, parents make you do things and you hate it, but you end up learning a lot,” he said. “I didn’t like having to help fix things back then, but I love it now. Going to Home Depot is a good day for me.”

The couple hit the home renovation project hard that summer and transformed it into a modern home with an open concept. See photos on instagram.com/theprofessorsflip.

Read more about Estremera, his athletic achievements, and his home improvement endeavors at behrendblog.com.

FACULTY MEMBER OFFERS PERSPECTIVE ON WAR

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned, as sociate teaching professor of political science, has been in demand by news organizations to provide context and background on the war.

Surzhko-Harned, a native of Ukraine, has researched Russian, Ukrainian, and European politics extensively, giv ing her deep insight into how the war is affecting generations of Ukrainians. Her knowledge of the history between the two countries provides her with an in-depth perspective on the political climate and players involved in those countries and Europe as a whole.

She has spoken to audiences in set tings ranging from Penn State Behrend to the Erie Bar Association to the University of Massachusetts Boston and has been interviewed by myriad media outlets in the United States as well as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s News Radio and Radio New Zealand.

“The Russian war in Ukraine is surrounded by much misinformation and propaganda,” Surzhko-Harned said. “It is important that the public be well-informed and equipped to understand this complex situation and its effects. I am also humbled and honored to be able to speak to so many who are interested in helping the Ukrainian people.”

Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned

Ricardo Estremera and his wife, Sherez Mohamed.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Students, faculty member help company create multilingual signage for diverse workforce

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs. But what if you can’t read them? What if you’re not a native English speaker and you work in an industrial setting, for example, where signage communicates critical safety reminders? Now, imagine what it would feel like to see a sign in your language. It would likely make you feel more included, valued, and welcome in your workplace.

People in Erie who speak languages other than English may be experiencing the linguistic equivalent of seeing a friendly face in a crowd as the use of multilingual signs increases in the community, thanks in part to advocacy efforts by a Penn State Behrend faculty member.

Dr. Ashley Yochim, associate teaching professor of English, has partnered with one Erie business, Port Erie Plastics, to make communications easier for its diverse workforce by incorporating multilanguage signage at its facility. The company was inspired by Yochim’s research on the topic.

For her doctoral dissertation, Yochim analyzed the linguistic environment of Erie and learned that having public signage only

in English has been a common obstacle for many immigrants and refugees transitioning to life in Erie. That landscape is evolving.

“The linguistic landscape of Erie has changed in recent years because Erie is a refugee resettlement location,” Yochim said. “The changes I have seen in the signage over the years is an interesting dynamic of that increasing population.”

Yochim spoke about her research work at Erie's Gannon University last February, which inspired students there to create multilingual signs for their campus. An employee at Port Erie Plastics in Harborcreek read a news article about the project and contacted Yochim.

“There was a need for us to better communicate with our team,” said Heather Evans, human resources manager at Port Erie Plastics. “We have a diverse organization, and we are always looking for ways to engage our team and create a strong sense of belonging.”

Excited to make an impact at a local company, Yochim assembled a student task force to work on the project.

“It was rewarding to realize that my research could affect change in the community,” Yochim said. “I welcomed the

From left, Dr. Ashley Yochim, associate teaching professor of English; Heather Evans ’98, human resources manager at Port Erie Plastics; and Behrend student Ming Xu, a Psychology major, discuss the multilingual signage project that students helped translate for the Harborcreek business.

opportunity to have our Behrend students help me with it. I think sometimes our international students and those who speak other languages fluently feel their multilingualism is not appreci ated in our society.”

Port Erie requested languages for directional and safety signs, and students added some of their own ideas for potential signs for the company. Behrend students translated into Arabic, traditional and simplified Chinese, Nepali, Swahili, and Vietnam ese. Gannon students assisted with Spanish.

Grace Mumo, a second-year Biology major, moved to the United States three years ago from Kenya and speaks English as a second language. She translated signs into Swahili, a language she learned as a child.

“I think that this is a very noble act of Port Erie Plastics, and I was humbled to be involved,” Mumo said. “Having multiple languages on signs shows that businesses appreciate the diversity we have in the world,” she said.

Port Erie Plastics sees its diverse work force as an asset. “We believe that our diverse workforce makes us stronger, and it also makes this a fun place to work,” Evans said.

Kunyu Pan, a Behrend sophomore in Science, translated signs

into traditional and simplified Chinese and said the work can help non-native English speakers obtain their goals and improve the work environment.

“I think it is important to make sure everyone can understand all signage in a factory because misunderstanding can lead to serious injuries,” Pan said.

In fact, the first set of signs Port Erie put in place features a daily safety checklist in nine languages, posted at all worksta tions, offering information on communicating with a supervisor, the location of fire extinguishers and emergency exits, and more.

“It is a great way to start off the workday with the right mindset and safety reminders,” Evans said.

In addition to helping Port Erie employees, Yochim said the project also benefitted the Behrend student volunteers.

“Our multilingual students bring with them such a great skill set, and this project with Port Erie Plastics was a wonderful way to demonstrate how valuable multilingualism is, and how it benefits the community,” Yochim said.

Port Erie plans to add more signs in the future after collecting feedback from its team on where the signs can be most benefi cial, Evans said.

Public Utility Report Leads to Class Project

Early this year, Erie Water Works, the organization that manages the Erie region’s public water system, emailed a seven-page Water Quality Report to its custom ers. The document listed improvements that had been made to the water distribution system, detailed results from water quality testing, and provided other educational information.

Dr. Arpan Yagnik, associate professor of advertising, received the report and was fascinated by the content.

“To me, it makes visible an often-unacknowledged aspect of shared governance,” he said. “Water and water quality is of vital importance to our lives.”

That’s why Yagnik, who studies and teaches creativity and communication, wanted to see if students in his COMM 421W: Advertising Creative Strategies courses could come up with creative ways to share the information in the report.

“They were asked to read the report and transform data into creative messages or simple ‘infobytes’ that people can easily understand,” Yagnik said.

The students worked independently, each creating advertisements using data gleaned from the report. Some chose to focus on key facts: “Over 30 contaminants tested. 100 percent negative.” Others opted to present messages to convey trust in the authority. Every ad relied on strong imagery and concise messaging.

“Each of the students went through at least five iterations of their ads, some as many as fifteen, to perfect them,” Yagnik said. “Creativity and creativity training gives you a competitive edge, and our students understand that.”

In April, Yagnik invited the senior leadership of Erie Water Works to Behrend, where students presented them with more than forty creative concepts.

“The creative advertising and marketing ideas presented by the students inspired all of us,” said Craig Palmer, senior manager of Engineering Services at EWW. “It was appar ent that the students did their research and did it well. The messaging was high-quality and extremely imaginative.”

Yagnik hopes to continue working with Erie Water Works on future projects involving Behrend students. Collaboration with external partners in business and industry is an important facet of the college’s Open Lab strategy in which students and faculty engage in projects with partners, giving students real-world experience while developing product, service, and process solutions for partners.

“Town-Gown” Partnership Aims to Improve Urban Education

There is a teacher shortage in U.S. schools, especially in urban schools. It’s a multi-faceted problem that Penn State Behrend is working to mitigate locally through The Mirror Project, an initiative that would address the shortage from several angles, including reducing financial barriers to college for would-be teachers, preparing education majors to teach in urban schools, and increasing minority teachers so that the population of teachers more closely mirrors the population of students.

“Teachers who look like their students serve as role models and mentors, help students learn more and dream higher, and reduce dropout rates,” said Dr. Eric Corty, director emeritus of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor emeritus of psychology, who spearheaded The Mirror Project.

In Erie’s Public Schools, where 34 percent of the students are black, only 3 percent of the teachers are black. There is only a 10 percent chance that any child will have a non-white teacher during his or her elementary years in Erie’s public school system.

In addition to growing the number of minority teachers, The Mirror Project aims to increase the number of urban students who are prepared to attend college by making changes to the Elementary and Early Childhood Education (EECE) program offered at Behrend.

Among the changes is a proposed Urban Education certificate that would provide EECE and Secondary Education in Mathematics majors with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the cultural, historical, political, and sociological foundations of urban education and focus on best practices to support learners in an urban environment.

“Course options will explore topics such as utilizing trauma-informed teaching practices, serving culturally and linguistically diverse learners, and addressing socio logical factors that influence urban education in the classroom,” said Dr. Michelle Cook, assistant professor of special education. “Though the certificate is still in development, we hope to offer it to our students at Behrend soon.”

Over time, as these students assume teaching positions in urban schools, the long-term outcomes of their students can be expected to improve,” Cook said. “This change will not take place quickly,” Corty said, “but, like compound interest, it will be real, meaningful, and lasting. Erie and Penn State Behrend can stand together as an example of how a town-gown partnership can make a real difference in the futures of both.”

The Mirror Project seeks to cover the full cost of tuition at Behrend for an Erie Public School student who will be an EECE major. Corty has offered to match contributions up to $250,000 to The Mirror Project endowment. If you wish to contribute, contact Kevin Moore, director of development and alumni relations, at 814-898-6149 or kem7@psu.edu. For more information on the project, contact Dr. Michelle Cook at 814-898-6243 or mbc5376@psu.edu.

“Students were asked to read the water quality report and transform data into creative messages or simple ‘infobytes’ that people can easily understand. Each of the students went through at least five iterations of their ads, some as many as fifteen, to perfect them.”

—Dr. Arpan Yagnik, associate professor of advertising

CARMEN COLE, a 2002 English gradu ate and an information sciences and business liaison librarian at University Park since 2016, was recently promoted to associate librarian.

In a 2019 story in the Daily Collegian, Cole said libraries were “a very influential place in my life, a type of home base which, no matter my financial or geographic position, offered a place to access many different things.”

In 2018, Cole, who has a master of fine arts in creative writing from Bowling Green State University and a master of library science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, founded Code for Her, an initiative to help Penn State women and gender-diverse individuals learn how to code. Though the program ended in 2020, she hopes to revive it.

“It was a great two years of running the program and a lot of people participated, including students, faculty, and staff,” Cole said. “I would like to host it again in the future if I can find a volunteer to teach it.”

CHIKODILI AGWUNA wanted to be a writer from the time she was in elementary school, but it was in a fiction writing class at Penn State Behrend that she learned what kind of writer she wanted to be.

“I had written a short story about a very sad topic, but the writing was pretty funny,” said Agwuna, a 2015 Creative Writing alumna. “My classmates talked about how visual it was, and I realized that whenever I wrote a story, I’d imagine it as a movie. That’s when I decided to make screenwriting my goal.”

She started reading scripts and watching shows, taking note of how stories evolved from page to screen. After graduation, she moved to L.A. and got her first job as a production assistant on a television pilot. From there, she progressed from showrunner’s assistant to writer’s assistant to script coordinator, working on a variety of shows, including BoJack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie, Yellow, and A League of Their Own. She was recently hired as a staff writer on Criminal Minds.

TOMMY PHILLIPS, a 2007 Communica tion and Media Studies graduate, wrote Penn State Bowl Games: A Complete History, which was published by McFarland Publishing. With play-by-play coverage of every Nittany Lion bowl game, the book chronicles Penn State football history dating back to the 1923 Rose Bowl. The book is available in print or as an e-book on Amazon and through various other outlets.

Behrend alumna CRYSTAL VELASQUEZ, who graduated in 1997 with dual degrees in English and Creative Writing, is writing her next series of children’s books. Inspired by Danny & Ron’s Rescue, the South Carolina nonprofit organization depicted in the documentary Life in the Doghouse, the first two titles, Elmer and the Talent Show and Moose and the Smelly Sneakers, were released by Simon & Schuster in February. Velasquez is an editor at Working Partners, a book packager specializing in children’s books. She is also a freelance proofreader and copy editor.

TESHA NESBIT, a 1993 Communication graduate, was named the first recipient of the newly created Behrend Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Nesbit, an entrepreneur and leader on issues of diversity and inclusion, is the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion and social responsibility for North American Partners in Anesthesia LLC. Nesbit was honored for her contributions to her profession, the community and the college. She was presented with the award last October.

DANIELLE COOK, a 2010 Behrend Psychology graduate, was named superintendent of the Randolph Academy Union Free School District in Randolph, New York, which works to educate and empower children in grades K-12 who have emotional and mental health disabilities. After Behrend, Cook earned a master of education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She resides in Warren, Pennsylvania, with her husband and three children.

“Surreal” is how JOSH SIGE described one of his first days on the job earlier this year as a videographer and content creator for the New Orleans Saints NFL football team.

ADELL COLEMAN, a 2009 Com munication graduate, recently won two New York Festival Radio Awards for “Say Their Name,” a podcast that she directs and co-hosts. The podcast won a silver award for Narrative/Documentary Podcast and a bronze for Social Justice Podcast. Coleman is chief operating officer for DCP Entertainment.

“I was standing around the Superdome at a home game, and I turned and Sean Pay ton (former Saints head coach) is standing next to me,” he said. “That’s when I realized I had made it to the big leagues.”

Sige got there fast, having graduated from Behrend in 2021 with a degree in Digital Media, Arts, and Technology. It wasn’t luck. He had worked for it, moving steadily—al beit quickly—up the ranks in the sports world, poised with a camera on a lot of sidelines, from developmental leagues to WNBA (Seattle Storm) to his current position, which also includes working for the New Orleans Pelicans NBA basketball team.

Mark your calendars for Parents, Families & Alumni Weekend October 14-16. Free family picnic lunch, family carnival, bingo, Berkey Creamery Ice Cream, Yahn Planetarium shows and more. Visit behrend.psu.edu/ weekend for more info!

Federal House Now Open

$6.6 million renovation and expan sion creates new home for CORE This summer, Penn State Behrend dedicated its renovated and expanded Federal House to serve as the new home of the Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Community Outreach, Research and Evaluation (CORE).

Believed to be the oldest brick structure in Harborcreek Township, built in 1838, the house has been fully restored and expanded by an 11,000-square-foot modern addition to create new program development, training, and event space for CORE, which provides programming to more than 3,000 youth and a roster of youth-related organizations every year.

“We’ve been intentional in how we repurpose this historic structure,” Chancellor Ralph Ford said. “The result of this project is a simple but graceful building that preserves the structure, adds character to the Behrend campus, and creates new programming and partner ship opportunities for CORE.”

Among the noteworthy features of the center is a conference room table, custom-made from the wood of a large black walnut tree that had to be removed to make room for the expansion.

Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

of Humanities and Social Sciences

Kochel

College

make room for the expansion.

The conference room at the Federal House includes a stunning table custom-made from a large black walnut