Penn State Outreach Magazine - Spring 2010

UNIVERSIT Y IMPACT IN COMMUNITIES

SPR ING 2010

Teaching kids to control

POWERFUL feelings

A fresh twist on “Just Say No” Questions for an online learning pioneer

Letter From the College of the Liberal Arts and Outreach

P

enn State’s College of the Liberal Arts aims to build on the classical foundations of the humanities, social sciences and life sciences to address pressing issues worldwide. With

this in mind, the college supports outstanding scholarly research projects that reach out into the community to address contemporary societal issues.

This spring, Liberal Arts faculty received two

University-wide awards that recognize such efforts. The Faculty Outreach Award recognizes a faculty member who has made a significant impact on the community through scholarly engagement work, and the Community Engagement and Scholarship Award recognizes a stellar Penn State engagement initiative conducted in

Craig Weidemann and Susan Welch

partnership with communities.

Dr. Karen Bierman, Distinguished Professor of Psy-

The REAL strategies—refuse, explain, avoid, leave—

chology, received the Faculty Outreach Award. Bierman,

aim to reduce drug use in this age group. From a pilot

an expert on the social-emotional development and

project in one community, the program is now being dis-

adjustment of children, uses her knowledge to design

tributed nationally and internationally through several

and implement programming to improve the academic

partnerships, including D.A.R.E America. See page 5 for

and mental health outcomes of youth. While these

more information about this project.

school and community programs are aimed at those

who are at-risk, they are effective with children from all

munity needs with high-quality research by Liberal

socioeconomic backgrounds. You can read more about

Arts faculty. We are delighted that Professors Bierman,

Bierman’s work on page 2.

Hecht and Miller-Day are being recognized in this way.

The Community Engagement and Scholarship Award

These efforts are emblematic of the linkage of com-

The college’s outreach activities have evolved and

goes to the keepin’ it REAL program, led by Department

greatly expanded during the past 20 years. Currently,

of Communication Arts and Sciences Distinguished

the college provides Penn State World Campus the

Professor Dr. Michael Hecht and associate professor Dr.

largest array of online courses and degrees of any Penn

Michelle Miller-Day. The drug-resistance-skills training

State college. Its Labor Studies and Employment Rela-

curriculum teaches middle school youth to assess risks

tions B.A. and B.S. degrees are about to come online.

and consequences of their behaviors and works to im-

Both the college and Outreach are very pleased with this

prove their decision-making and communication skills.

partnership that benefits students all over the world.

Vice President for Outreach Dr. Craig Weidemann

and College of the Liberal Arts Dean Dr. Susan Welch

CONTENTS

Features 2

Young children have a hard time controlling their emotions. How can they learn to manage their feelings and focus in school? Just ask Karen Bierman

2

POSITIVE PEER PRESSURE A popular program empowers youth to share ways to stay away from drugs

A DIFFERENT KIND OF PARENT From teaching rights and responsibilities, to building parenting skills, these programs apply Penn State expertise to a large population—mothers and fathers living behind bars

5 8

VIRTUAL ACCESS

KAREN BIERMAN PREPARES KIDS FOR SCHOOL —AND LIFE

10

12

CHRONICLING WAR IN THE CLASSROOM

How a model course gives student-veterans a venue to reflect on a shared experience

ASK THE EXPERT: ONLINE EDUCATION EXPANSION

PLAYING WELL WITH OTHERS:

Can a cell phone network help people in East Africa get medical attention they need? A team of Penn Staters aims to find out

14

The Sloan Foundation’s Dr. Frank Mayadas talks about the dramatic increase in online learning—and how it needs to grow even more

Steve Tressler, Vista Professional Studios

COVER STORY: PLAYING WELL WITH OTHERS

Phillip Mackenzie

Steve Tressler, Vista Professional Studios

Volume 13, No. 1

Departments INSIDE OUTREACH

16

· Osher Scholarships · True Outreach Stories on Video · World Campus Student Spotlight: Mapping a Refugee Crisis · Hendrick Award for Anne Hoag · Organizational Leadership Degree: A Means to Help Others

ARTS & HUMANITIES · Bach by Popular Demand

CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES

18

· · · · ·

Rural Nurse Training New: A Nursing Portal Working for Food Taming the Pennsylvania Wilds Building a Solar Workforce

· First Person: Putting “Real Life” Into Learning · School Rules · Experiential Learning Abroad

ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

24

19 21

INTERNATIONAL

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

31

· Engineering for the World of the Disabled · What’s New Online: Master of Applied Statistics

26

· Hometown Improvement · Brewing Cost Savings for Yuengling

HEALTH

· Minding the Gaps · Urban Deficit: Minority Teachers · Campaigns for 4-H

THE ECONOMY & WORKFORCE

EDUCATION

ENDNOTE · In the Works: Food Fight

32

28

· On the Menu · The Academics of Quality Health Care · Students in the Spotlight: Master of Health Administration

30

· First-year Med Students Go Global

A PEN N STATE PRESEN CE IN T HE W HITE HOUSE

19 Steven E. Purcell, Courtesy of Higher Achievement

Well With Others

Young children have a hard time controlling their emotions. How can they learn to manage their feelings and focus in school? Just ask Karen Bierman

By Melissa W. Kaye

2 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

Photos by Phillip Mackenzie

D

r. Karen tion of school and comBierman munity programs that tells a foster youth developstory about ment in Pennsylvania, working with an as well as in other sites, 8-year-old boy who national and internahad a problem managtional.” ing his anger. One day, Bierman asked Fending Off him to make a drawTrouble ing of what it felt Building social and like for him on the emotional skills in inside when he lost the early school years his temper. He drew has received more an elaborate picture attention in the last of a bag inside of him 20 years. Studies have and a small mouse. shown that children He explained that who have problems when people said Kids practice social skills through various activities at Penn State’s Child Study Center. socially and are disrupthings to him that he tive early on are more didn’t like, the mouse likely to fail at academics, drop out of started to blow the words into the bag. the verbal skills to put those feelings school or get into trouble with the law.

The bag “got bigger and bigger” inside in perspective. They’re dependent on

One project co-led by Bierman that him, hurting his stomach. When it got adults to help them regulate those feeladdressed this issue is Fast Track, a too full, it exploded, sending him out ings. The skills we teach can help.” multisite study that started in 1990 of control, and the yelling words came Bierman is the recipient of this (and lasted 18 years) to design and rushing out. year’s Faculty Outreach Award for her evaluate interventions to prevent anti This led Bierman and the boy to longstanding work in developing such social behavior in high-risk youth. discuss his feelings of anger and copskills—research-based interventions The youth were randomly assigned ing strategies. “We talked about how to improve the academic and mental to receive long-term, comprehensive he could let the words out of the bag health outcomes for children, particupreventive intervention from first grade slowly so he could talk about his feellarly those at risk. through 10th grade at several differings and avoid the blow-up,” she said.

Dr. Melvin Mark, professor and ent sites locally and nationally. This Bierman, Distinguished Professor of head of the Department of Psycholincluded home visits with parents, in Psychology at Penn State, subsequently ogy, said, “Not only has Dr. Bierman’s which parents were helped to support included this child’s imagery in one of research on high-risk children and emotheir child’s social-emotional skills; her programs to help young children tional development had a significant school-based academic tutoring; and develop problem-solving skills. “Young impact on our scientific understandsocial skills training. children have strong emotional impulsing of these issues, it has also resulted A popular aspect of the social skills es and ideas, and they don’t always have directly in the widespread implementa-

Gretchen Graham

Mona Counts

is the driving force behind a mobile health care effort.

Karen Bierman’s work centers on children’s academic and mental health outcomes.

Phillip Mackenzie

Friendship Group participants

training from Fast Track is the Friendship Group. In this program, children meet in small groups to talk about friendships and practice social collaboration and self-regulation skills through a variety of interactive peer activities.

“The groups are designed to be fun, with games that take children through a sequence of social skills,” said Bierman.

Activities include dramatic roleplaying, such as a pretend game of firefighters to build teamwork, as well as stop-and-go games to build self-control.

Positive Outcomes

The Penn State Fast Track grant officially ended in 2008, with follow-up interviews collected when participants were age 20. Findings are good, with a decreased probability of juvenile arrests and more positive mental health outcomes among children who participated in the interventions. For instance, in Pennsylvania, 33 percent of the Fast Track participants were arrested as juveniles, significantly lower than the rate of 45 percent arrested in the comparison group.

The Friendship Group method that was developed for Fast Track is now offered as a community service at Penn State’s Child Study Center (which Bierman directs), open to children of all socioeconomic backgrounds, with Penn State students running the groups.

Friendship Groups are also offered in a number of Pennsylvania school districts, as a stand-alone program or as part of other programs of prevention research led by Bierman and colleagues.

“This investment in group activities and in group membership is a really

4 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

key part of why they work so well to shape children’s social skills and ability to self-regulate,” said graduate student Marcela Torres about the Friendship Groups. She cites as an example that by the end of the program the children are more flexible in their pretend play, such as taking turns being the wolf in “The Three Little Pigs.”

Social skills are the key in another effort, REDI, which focuses on designing and evaluating interventions to promote school readiness in low-income children.

Bierman explains that children who grow up in poverty often experience delays in cognitive and social development; many start kindergarten unprepared for the academic and behavior demands of the classroom, causing an achievement gap relative to children from more advantaged families that widens over time.

A major philosophy behind REDI (Research-based, Developmentally Informed), which started about eight years ago, is that preschoolers need to not only practice their ABCs but also need to work on social skills in order to prevent learning problems and conflicts with peers and teachers later on.

Bierman and a team partnered with Head Start in Blair, Huntingdon and York counties to deliver the program. A key goal was to develop a useful set of enrichment materials to facilitate both social growth and language and literacy that preschool teachers could easily incorporate into their daily schedules.

Cathy Kipp, director of Head Start in York County, said, “Dr. Bierman’s ability to relate her knowledge of social and emotional development to teachers at training and through the manual gave the teachers a sound foundation, which enhanced the success of the program.”

Materials include books that encourage interactive reading, with the teacher asking students questions about the words and situations, and cute animal characters that address emotional issues head-on.

Take Twiggle the Turtle, a character from the Preschool PATHS Curriculum—developed by Dr. Celene

Domitrovich, assistant director of the Penn State Prevention Research Center, and Dr. Mark Greenberg, Edna Peterson Bennett Endowed Chair in Prevention Research at Penn State—and used in the REDI program. When a child gets upset if, say, another child knocks his block tower over, he is encouraged to go inside his shell, like Twiggle. The teacher tells the child to take a deep breath and say what bothers him and how it makes him feel.

The program continues in the original Head Start counties and is now being used by Barnardo’s, an organization that serves at-risk children, in Ireland.

Bierman and her team conducted follow-up assessments with children who entered elementary school. Among the findings: In kindergarten, 70 percent who received REDI showed little or no disruptive behavior, compared with 56 percent in the nonenriched classes.

Great Personality Traits

The seeds of some of Bierman’s work can literally be seen in her own three children. Training videos made during the program development phase for Fast Track feature younger versions of her daughter, now 25, and son, now 22.

Bierman’s 10-year-old daughter participated in pilot videos for REDI. “They all have different temperaments,” said Bierman, “and had a lot of fun being involved.”

Bierman enjoys working with children—particularly those whose emotions run high and are often called “spirited” by their parents. “Those challenges of high emotionality can emerge to become great personality traits, such as leadership and ambition,” she said.

UP NEXT The new FRIENDS program (Fostering Readiness Through Interactive Experiences promoting Neuro-Development in Schools), led by Dr. Karen Bierman, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, with Dr. Cynthia Huang-Pollock, assistant professor of psychology, uses a Friendship Group model with at-risk kindergarten students, aimed at reducing emerging ADHD symptoms. Friendship Group allows children to practice social collaboration and self-regulation skills through a variety of interactive peer activities.

POSITIV

PEER PRESSURE A popular program empowers youth to share ways to stay away from drugs

F

Jordan Rassulo

rom Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign to the oftspoofed egg and a frying pan public service announcement (“This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs”), substance abuse prevention has long been based on teaching youth ways to resist peer pressure without involving the youth in the message.

All that’s changed with keepin’ it REAL, a program led by Penn State Department of Communication Arts and Sciences faculty Dr. Michael Hecht, Distinguished Professor, and Dr. Michelle Miller-Day, associate professor, in the College of the Liberal Arts.

The drug-resistance-skills training curriculum teaches middle school youth techniques for assessing risks and consequences of their behaviors, decision-making and communication skills, and the REAL strategies— refuse, explain, avoid, leave—through kids’ own voices. The program, proven effective and distributed nationally and internationally through different partnerships, including D.A.R.E America, is the winner of the 2010 Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship.

The award recognizes a project that best exemplifies an “engaged

institution” as defined by a Kellogg Commission report on the future of land-grant universities: an institution that has redesigned teaching, research, and extension and service functions to become even more sympathetically and productively involved with its communities.

From Kids, to Kids, Through Kids

The program got its start in the 1980s when Hecht and Miller-Day, along with a team of Arizona State researchers, invited youth to share stories about their efforts to resist peer pressure.

“These stories became the basis for our middle school substance abuse curriculum,” said Hecht. “It starts with the premise of understanding youths’ substance use experiences and working with them and others to create a ‘kidcentric’ curriculum.”

Substance abuse remains a significant public health problem. Among eighth grade students in the United States, an estimated 22 percent smoke cigarettes, 39 percent use alcohol and 19 percent have used some other illicit substance. This early use is not only

RURAL VOICES: The researchers work with schools to develop videos that local kids can relate to. A new rural curriculum features nature shots in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

associated with later substance abuse problems, but also puts youth at risk for school and delinquency problems and has implications for health and welfare throughout their lives.

After the team members collected the youth narratives about resisting drugs and peer pressure, they brought the stories to other youth in a high school video production class and invited them to help develop the curriculum. Professional video producers were on hand to enhance the students’ and teachers’ skills.

“We talked with the video producers about prevention and what we hoped to accomplish,” said Hecht. Students asked questions, and together with the video producers and their teachers came up with a plan to produce a series of videos teaching the refuse, explain, avoid, leave (REAL) strategies to say no to drug offers.

United States and 23 other countries. “In most areas, we work with the schools to develop a new set of videos,” said MillerDay. “The idea is that the kids hear the message from kids in their own community, so they can identify with it.”

Most recently, Hecht and Miller-Day led an effort, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, with Dr. Janice Krieger at Ohio State to develop the first rural substance abuse prevention curriculum, concentrating on rural areas in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

For rural youth, alcohol use by par-

little kid, my daddy used to offer me sips of beer.”

Rural youth offered up many REAL strategies to resist peer pressure. For example, one girl explains to her peers why she doesn’t smoke cigarettes: “I told them I don’t smoke because my gram smokes, and she’s, like, really old … you can see how it affected her, though, because her nails are, like, bright yellow and her teeth are yellow.”

As the rural curriculum emphasizes that youth view peers that “look like them,” the rural program invokes

Adaptable Stategies

For example, the refusal strategy can be seen in a narrative of a 13-year-old boy, Dylan: “I was at this boy’s house seeing a friend … and this guy pulled out some dope. He asked all of us if we wanted to, and we said no.” Maya, age 12, is able to resist marijuana with an explanation to the boy that offered it to her: “One of my past friends used to sell it himself.

He got arrested and … we had to take care of his child.” Jacqueline prefers to avoid situations altogether where there are drugs, finding other things to do.

And Raul simply leaves the setting.

With the project originally taking shape in Phoenix, the researchers, with insight from student producers, led the creation of a multicultural curriculum targeting Latinos, Caucasians and African Americans.

The videos are the core aspect of the curriculum, with the lessons surrounding them developed in collaboration with teachers, drug prevention specialists, curriculum experts and a youth advisory board working with faculty and graduate students.

While the curriculum was first written for Phoenix youth, it has been adapted for other areas throughout the

6 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

Team members include, from left: graduate student Young Ju Shin, associate professor Dr. Michelle Miller-Day, Distinguished Professor Dr. Michael Hecht and graduate student Jeong Kyu Lee

ents seems particularly influential, said Miller-Day, especially when alcohol use, as well as chewing tobacco, are a part of adult pastimes.

One teen said: “It’s hard … my dad drinks beer after beer after beer, and I know a lot of parents like that. They never stop drinking, and I think that could be what gets some people into alcohol. Actually, when I was, like, a really

images of campfires, ATVs and Friday night football. “Yet, because rural youth exhibit many commonalities with their urban and suburban counterparts, images of technology and socialization remain similar to the original curriculum,” noted Tim Tanner, project community liaison who acts as the point of contact between the researchers and the schools. The other liaisons include

Steve Tressler, Vista Professional Studios

Kris Glunt in central Pennsylvania and Susan Mizenko and Cathy Terwilliger in northeast Pennsylvania.

Aaron Matthews is a professional filmmaker who worked with kids in central Pennsylvania to create the videos for the rural curriculum. He said that the youth genuinely seemed to get a lot out of both the storytelling process and the hands-on interaction with the themes of keepin’ it REAL. “They were enthusiastic and really embraced the spirit of the project,” he added.

Maria Andrews, a student in Penns Valley who participated in the video production, said: “What I learned from keepin’ it REAL is that when it comes to drugs and alcohol, just think, ‘No!’ Leaving is one of the easiest things to do—you don’t need any explanations or excuses.”

Real Results

Hecht points out that not only is keepin’ it REAL now the most widely disseminated middle school substance abuse prevention curriculum, it gives collaborative partners the opportunity to create strong, resilient schools and communities while developing their own communication skills. The school district in Phoenix even won a regional Emmy award for its efforts in producing the videos.

The program has partnered with D.A.R.E America to disseminate more rural, suburban and urban national versions of keepin’ it REAL. D.A.R.E licensed the curriculum from Penn State and created these new versions to fit its officer-led model and national distribution system. This collaboration includes an adaptation for schools in Mexico, with plans in the works for indigenous people in Alaska, as well as for youth in Brazil and Canada.

A Web-based curriculum is distributed through Discovery Health, and hard copies are available from Penn State and ETR Associates, a health promotion publisher.

Recognized by the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices for its effects on substance use, the program has been proven ef-

An advisory group of teens worked on the curriculum.

fective at reducing alcohol, marijuana and tobacco use among middle school students in a randomized clinical trial.

The trial compared a control group (kids who did not receive the program) with kids who received the program either for Latinos, for Caucasians and African Americans, or for a multicultural audience (Latino, Caucasian and African American youth). The control group participated in more use of alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana compared with any other group, with the multicultural version producing the best results.

Shawnee Heckman, a seventh grade English teacher in Penns Valley and the parent of a seventh grader, said, “After completing the course, students will have several options at their disposal for getting out of dangerous situations or even avoiding the situation to begin with. I told my students that if I am able to help even one child avoid the pressures of drugs or alcohol, then I have accomplished the job I set out to do. The students were quiet, until one student spoke up and said, ‘That makes sense.’ I hope it does.”

FUTURE PLANS Upcoming projects for keepin’ it REAL—which is supported by Penn State, the College of the Liberal Arts and the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences—include: • A branded media campaign to expand the keepin’ it REAL message through reinforcement by television and radio ads and online content.

• A pilot project to offer parents new ways to communicate with their children about substances, as well as an intervention that can be adapted to parents’ own existing styles of communication.

• A study of the effects of creating the keepin’ it REAL messages, in collaboration with Second Mile Foundation and Rutgers University.

• A study of how Latinas resist sexual pressure.

• An interactive, online curriculum.

Spring 2010 · 7

A Different Kind of

PA RE N T From teaching rights and responsibilities, to building parenting skills, these programs apply Penn State expertise to a large population— mothers and fathers living behind bars

D

The program is one of several across the state—some of them described here—implemented by Penn State faculty, staff and students, that provide education and guidance for incarcerated parents.

For the Kids

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 800,000 of the nation’s 1.5 million inmates in 2007 were parents of minor children.

The separation, combined with poor parenting skills, has been linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression, learning problems and aggression among the children of incarcerated parents.

By Karen Cavaliere Zitomer

r. Jennifer Mastrofski stands in front of a group of incarcerated men at Rockview, a state correctional institution near State College, Pa. She asks them how many children they have.

“This piques everyone’s interest,” explained Mastrofski. “They’re surprised at how many children are ‘in the room’ with us.” At a recent session, the 37 participants represented 98 children.

Mastrofski, associate professor of administration of justice with Penn State’s Justice and Safety Institute (JASI), runs “Panel on Parenting,” a program aimed at helping incarcerated fathers better understand their rights and responsibilities as parents.

The program includes information related to custody and visitation, child support, termination of parental rights, and maintaining relationships with children while incarcerated.

8 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

The panel is composed of Mastrofski; Ann Marie Oldani, the director of Centre County’s child support office; and a local attorney. First offered in January 2008, the program was expanded to a county facility the following year. To date, more than 240 inmates have attended classes at the state and county facilities combined.

Mastrofski, who initiated the program, views the information provided as critical to JASI’s mission of justice-related education and training. In addition to providing information about rights and responsibilities, Mastrofski describes idea-sharing sessions that are often poignant.

“A father once recited a poem that he had written to his son, which touched everyone in the room,” she said. Another time, a man described how his teenage son sends him his math homework to look over. He checks it and sends it back.

However, in a 2008 report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found evaluations of prison parenting programs encouraging, as inmates involved in these programs indicate such results as improved attitudes about the importance of parenthood and parenting skills.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has a 40-plus years history of running parent educa-

tion programs for male and female inmates, so any additional programs offered by institutions like Penn State either differ from or complement existing state programs.

While the JASI program provides legal-related information, other Penn State programs focus on building parenting skills among incarcerated mothers and fathers.

For example, students from Penn State Altoona have started a program at Blair County Prison that aims to provide parenting education to incarcerated mothers.

Dr. Lee Ann De Reus, associate professor of health and human development and family studies at

the campus, had wanted to start a parent-education program for incarcerated women for some time after learning of the need. However, it was her students who spearheaded the program—with De Reus’ supervision and assistance.

In fall 2009, students Adrienne Brown and Jessalyn Kenner developed the curriculum (modeled after similar programs in other states) and led the classes, working directly

The separation, combined with poor parenting skills, has been linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression, learning problems and aggression among the children of incarcerated parents. with approximately 10 women at weekly classes at the prison.

The classes were designed around topics such as parenting styles, discipline, and stress and anger management, and they involved activities such as role playing. Penn State Altoona Continuing Education recognized this program so that participants could receive a certificate upon completion. Women at the prison are already asking if there will be another class offered, said Abbie Tate, treatment supervisor at Blair County Prison.

Although it was intended to be mainly an educational experience, Brown said the class evolved into something more emotionally substantive for the participants.

“Many of them were struggling with feelings surrounding the issues of missing their children and the guilt associated with that,” said Brown.

Added De Reus, “Engaging marginalized populations such as the women at the prison is some of the most meaningful and important work we do.”

Stopping the Cycle

In 2001, the warden of the Venango County Jail posed this question: “How does a community prevent children of incarcerated parents from following their parents into the court system?”

At that time, there were as many as three generations of families incarcerated in the jail. In hopes that educational programming might be

the answer to this question, the warden approached Penn State Extension educator Bibiana Chestnut.

In March 2001, Chestnut established a parent-education program for men and women called Caring for Kids. It focused on such issues as changing attitudes about discipline, and understanding child development and how separation from a parent affects children. Since that time, the program has expanded to include anger management, and local organizations such as the PPC Violence Free Network have provided complementary programming.

A follow-up survey showed positive results. “The parent education programs have proven to be effective in changing attitudes and changing the way parents discipline their children,” reported Chestnut.

What’s next? Plans are in the works for a state pilot project using current services available in Venango County to assist soon-to-be-released inmates and their families with family group decision-making. Extension will help identify the inmates, through the parenting programs, who show the greatest interest in making parental changes.

In Blair County, the program organizers aim to get more students involved and eventually offer a similar program for incarcerated fathers.

The JASI program staff is developing a handbook for fathers that will provide resource material as well as sample letters for correspondence with courts. An evaluation of “Panel on Parenting” is pending.

But the true test of these types of efforts has come in the form of feedback received by those inmates working to better themselves for the sake of their children.

“I’m a changed father today,” said one participant of the JASI program. “I’m putting my kids first now.”

Spring 2010 · 9

jan Mehta tesy of Khan

Can a cell phone network help people in East Africa get medical attention they need? A team of Penn Staters aims to find out

By Sara LaJeunesse

C

hubby cheeks on all of Kenya’s children—that’s what Khanjan Mehta, senior research associate in the Department of Electronics and Computer Services in Penn State’s College of Engineering, hopes for the future. By helping to create a program called Mashavu, meaning “chubby-cheeked” in Swahili and regarded by Kenyans as a sign of good health, he is doing his part to help.

“There is one doctor for every 50,000 people in East Africa, compared to one doctor for every 390 people in the United States,” says Mehta. This lack of access to doctors means that most Kenyans, especially those living in rural areas, do not get the medical attention they need.

Mashavu will connect rural populations in Kenya and Tanzania with doctors in nearby cities using “telemedicine.” Essentially, the project uses medical diagnostic equipment along

10 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

with existing cell phone networks to create a health monitoring system. According to estimates, 97 percent of East Africans have access to a mobile phone.

Mashavu began as a project in one of Mehta’s engineering courses and now involves a multidisciplinary team of students and faculty, including Dr. Peter Butler, associate professor of bioengineering, from throughout Penn State.

Over the last two years, 161 students representing 28 majors across eight colleges have participated in the project. This summer, the team will test the effectiveness of three kiosk stations within rural communities. (The team spent the last two summers setting up the system, working with both Kenyan and Tanzanian students.)

At the kiosks, trained station operators will collect patients’ medical information, such as weight, body temperature and blood pressure. The kiosks will then transmit this information over

a cell phone link to a Web-based portal for medical professionals, who will view the information and respond with recommendations.

“In addition to giving patients ‘virtual’ access to doctors, the program also serves as a method for storing their medical records, which can be used by doctors to observe trends and diagnose diseases,” said Mehta. The service will be free for children, and adults will pay a small fee (about 80 cents).

If the technology proves effective, Mehta and his team plan to commercialize the technology. Watch a video here: http://tinyurl.com/ ykk873n.

Photos cour

VIRTUAL ACCESS

At a Masha vu site over run with cu in Maji Ya rious childr Chai, Tanzan en and elde ia, children for free whi rs could get th le adults pa eir weight id a small blood pres fee for thei sure. r weight an d/or

Body temperatu re and pulse ra te of a child ar given to the ch e measured an ild. The data is d put into a compu online portal w ter and sent to here doctors ca an n lo ok at it. “The pi a more tangible ece of paper is thing that the pe ople expect,” sa id Mehta.

Senior Brittany Flaherty and a K (b enyan s tudent a ioengineering blood p ) re abou ressure t to take of a wo site in N the man at yeri. a Mash avu

vers at an aches caregi of gineering) te en to see some al g ic in em sh ni man (’09, ch w to “It was asto ho e. t ac ou rf e te ur in Aaron Fleish er r before fig e Mashavu us en a compute orphanage th had never se said Mehta. ho ” w s, en nd ie om fr the older w teach their en th d an es inut use it in 15 m

Spring 2010 · 11

CHRONICLING

WAR I N T HE

CLASSROOM How a model course gives student-veterans a venue to reflect on a shared experience

By Melissa W. Kaye Instructors Nathan Tobey and Shirley Moody Turner

D

ave Walker, 27, stands in front of a classroom.

His voice is a little shaky.

“Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the people who put a uniform on, day in and day out and do the things that we do in the military,” he says. “Having to do and see and feel the things we’ve done, the things that most people don’t want to do or even imagine. I just wanted to say thanks to my classmates.”

Walker, a recent Penn State biochemistry and molecular biology graduate (’09) who served in Iraq in 2003–04, then starts his film, titled “Human,” which powerfully contrasts two people at different stages of their military careers.

One is Staff Sgt. Luke Frisch, who is enjoying his experience in ROTC. “I want to be the best soldier I can be,” he says. “I’m looking forward to serving, looking forward to coming back, working on the family farm and having two kids, a couple of dogs. Basically having a perfect life.”

Danny Gardner, from Scranton, is a carpenter with a wife and two chil-

12 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

dren. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

“From the moment I found out I was leaving to the moment I left, I felt awful, sick to my stomach,” he says to the camera. “I’m not going back to Iraq.

Once is enough. I was mean when I got back. I’m not that anymore, but I’m not the carefree, happy-go-lucky guy I was before I went. I don’t think I will be again.”

The film was a project for English 497: Narrative, Oral History and New Media Technologies, otherwise known as “Back From Iraq: The Veterans’ Stories Project.” Taught jointly last spring

by Penn State Public Broadcasting producer Nathan Tobey and Dr. Shirley Moody Turner, Penn State assistant professor of English, the goal of the course was to help returning veterans use video and Web technologies in order to chronicle the stories and experiences of the Iraq war.

“There are a lot of veterans in the area, but we haven’t heard their voices, on TV or elsewhere,” explains Tobey on the project Web site: http://wpsu. org/backfromiraq, which includes the students’ final films, interviews

with the instructors and students, and student blogs. “That’s been missing.

The class had a supportive environment because they … had a similar experience, and now they were working on these films at the same time.”

There are more than 2,000 veterans in the Penn State system, according to the Penn State Office of Veterans Programs, and more than 14,000 veterans in Pennsylvania are using GI Bill education benefits.

Benefits of Storytelling

“The general idea is to empower people who have a certain experience to become the storytellers and chroniclers of that experience, and when they talk to others who have gone through something similar, they are in a unique position to understand, capture and share the others’ stories because of that shared experience,” added Moody Turner, whose scholarly work considers how folklore can provide a vehicle for representing identities that might be different than what’s in the mainstream press or other popular

Photos courtesy of Penn State Public Broadcasting

cultural outlets. (Moody Turner also worked with Tobey on a previous public service media project, which trained Penn State students to conduct oral history interviews with WWII veterans.)

The concept is not new—similar projects have been done with Katrina survivors, for example. But Moody Turner points out what is unique about the project is “the focus on studentveterans and the combination of public service media, university and community all coming together to institutionalize the project, promote the project and ensure that the dialogue included the community within and beyond the university.”

The students touched on a range of emotional issues in their films. Matt Poth, in “Mamma Mamma Can’t You See,” describes how he thought he was going to be “climbing mountains and living a John Wayne lifestyle” in the military, until he got shot at for the first time. In a monologue laced with profanity, he describes how he lost his innocence “over there.” (In an interview with the instructors, Poth explains: “In the military, emotions are unaccept-

shared our frustrations “ We about trying to integrate

into a college atmosphere.”

—Staff Sgt. Heather Strouse

able. Cursing is a way of expressing emotion without expressing emotion.”)

One film focused on posttraumatic stress disorder. Another chronicles how a young man joined the Marine Corps to be in the band but traded his instrument for a rifle after 9/11.

There are currently no plans to repeat the course, which received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Innovation Fund. However, Tobey and Ginny Newman, assistant director for military

education for Penn State World Campus, shared the project with fellow educators in February at the Council of College and Military Educators Symposium. “It can provide a model course for other schools wishing to give their veterans a venue to share their stories as service members,” said Newman.

Staff Sgt. Heather Strouse said about the course: “We not only learned about each other in the class, but we were also able to share information [such as] veteran benefits … and frustrations felt as we have tried to integrate into a college atmosphere.”

Dave Walker, who is from Danville, said he learned a lot about himself. “You have to put forth the effort to learn something you might not get right away, and the courage to do something that means something to you.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION BACK FROM IRAQ http://wpsu.org/backfromiraq NATHAN TOBEY, Penn State Public Broadcasting net120@psu.edu, 814-863-6643 SHIRLEY MOODY TURNER, English faculty scm18@psu.edu, 814-863-9584

Spring 2010 · 13

ASK THE EXPERT

Interview by Deborah A. Benedetti

Online Education Expansion The Sloan Foundation’s Dr. Frank Mayadas talks about the dramatic increase in online learning—and how it needs to grow even more

14 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

Steve Tressler, Vista Professional Studios

D

r. Frank Mayadas was an early advocate for online learning, founding the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s “Anytime, Anyplace Learning” online learning program in 1993.

He also founded the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), an association of higher education institutions offering online degree programs.

He provided vital funding (through Sloan) and advice to help Penn State develop its online education program, World Campus.

Mayadas was honored with Penn State Outreach’s 2009 Fischer Award of Distinction for his commitment to Penn State World Campus. During a visit to University Park, Mayadas spoke with Penn State Outreach magazine about the evolution of online education.

You’ve been there since the beginning of what’s now known as online learning. What’s the most surprising thing about how it has evolved?

A:

When we got started, technology was really clunky. The Internet as we know it didn’t exist.

Online learning was regarded as a curiosity. But now, 73 percent of all public institutions are involved [according to Sloan-C’s Online Nation report], and many more faculty are involved.

Today, there are nearly 4 million students enrolled online. This has exceeded my expectations.

Q:

There are some skeptics of online learning. Is there anything institutions can do about this?

A:

You need to continue to measure and provide outcomes data—grades, retention rates and course completion rates—that demonstrate an online course is equivalent or better than the same course delivered on campus. We invited experts to evaluate projects done in online and on-campus courses and pick the ones done online; they couldn’t.

Q:

Are there other challenges?

A:

Institutions have to offer a wider range of courses in every discipline online, and faculty need to embrace and accept online learning.

Universities also need to think strategically about what support resources they need to provide to put this strategic asset to work.

Q:

A:

Some faculty have doubts about online learning.

I would suggest that those faculty consider blended learning.

Most faculty who try online tell us they love the flexibility.

Q:

A Sloan Consortium report finds online enrollments are rising faster than on-campus enrollments (17 vs. 1.2 percent). Why is this happening?

PREPARING ONLINE LEARNING LEADERS

A:

Online education is simply doing what we had hoped: reaching people who otherwise would not or could not become traditional campus students. It’s making education available at any stage of life.

Penn State Outreach Marketing

Q:

Q:

How are rapid advances in technology affecting online education?

A:

There’s no way for me to suggest how an institution should keep up, but you simply have to keep up with the newest practices. This is the way this field will move.

Q:

What’s next?

Q:

Any advice for Penn State?

A:

The proliferation of devices— laptops, iPods, cell phones, iPhones—is leading to a conclusion that these are all tools, but it’s possible that not one of them is the perfect tool to teach an entire course. Second, it’s extremely important to begin thinking through at the institutional level about moving online education to the large scale. It’s growing much faster than anything else on campus. We have to manage it so the cost of delivery, advising, financial aid counseling, etc., remains within reasonable parameters, so we can deal with 100,000 or more students.

A:

Penn State can show the world how a big university with campuses across the state utilizes online learning as an integral part of what it does. Penn State’s other challenge is to move from where it is now to a position of truly large scale with the World Campus.

Presenter Dr. Barbara MacCaulay

Last summer, faculty and staff from 17 colleges and universities participated in the first Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning at Penn State. The goal: prepare the next generation of online education leaders. Penn State and the Sloan Consortium partnered on the program, which was organized by Penn State World Campus and Penn State Conferences, units of Outreach.

“Many of us who were involved since the early days are considered ‘pioneers,’ but we’re beginning to think about retiring or moving on,” said Dr. Frank Mayadas, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program director for online education. “We need a new cadre of leaders to make online education a largescale, commonly accepted higher-quality form of education for all.”

Penn State participants included Dr. James L. Rosenberger, Eberly College of Science; Keith Bailey, College of Arts and Architecture; Carrie Teetzel, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College; and Eva Klein, Penn State Abington.

Rosenberger, who is developing online applied statistics programs, found the institute “very useful. It made me aware of all the components that need to be in place for a successful online experience.”

A second institute is planned for this summer, Aug. 9–12.

Spring 2009 · 15

INSIDE OUTREACH

OSHER SCHOLARSHIPS 39 LEARNERS GO TO

AS A CHILD, SHAWN CICERO LIKED TO TAKE THINGS APART AND FIX THEM. After high school, he got a job repairing cars and worked his way up to master technician before a knee gave out. He was diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in both knees. “I was more or less replaced as a broken tool,” said the married father of three from Pottsville, Pa. He tried to find other work in the automotive industry but was unsuccessful, so his wife suggested college. He thought it was a crazy idea at first, but after touring Penn State

TRUE OUTREACH STORIES ON VIDEO A NEW PENN STATE PUBLIC BROADCASTING-PRODUCED VIDEO, “Engaging Scholars: Transforming Lives,” features Penn State faculty and students from many different disciplines describing their outreach and service learning projects as well as community members impacted by these projects.

The video, funded in part by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, can be seen here: http://wpsu.org/engagingscholars.

16 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

Schuylkill, he decided to enroll.

Cicero, 37, is a spring graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He plans to apply to graduate school and earn a doctorate in social psychology. “My goal is to teach at Penn State,” he said.

An Osher Reentry Scholarship has helped Cicero complete the first step toward his goal. “Financially, it’s been difficult. Getting the scholarship was amazing,” he said. It helped him cover travel expenses to present his research on evolutionary psychology in January at a national psychol-

ogy conference in Las Vegas, where he was selected from among 3,000 students to receive free conference registration.

Funded by a second $50,000 grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation, the Osher Reentry Scholarship goes to people ages 25 to 50 who are returning to college to complete their first degree. Students receive up to $2,000 for one year.

In 2009, 30 adult learners received the first Osher awards. This year, 39 learners at 13 Penn State campuses are receiving scholarships.

WORLD CAMPUS STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Mapping a Refugee Crisis

Lyndy Worsham uses her Penn State GIS training to map trends about displaced persons from Burma.

By Deborah A. Benedetti and Elizabeth Bechtel

HENDRICK AWARD FOR ANNE HOAG DR. ANNE M. HOAG, associate dean for undergraduate education and outreach in the College of Communications, is the 2010 recipient of the Shirley Hendrick Award, presented by Penn State Outreach.

“I’m proud to support and advocate for our dedicated faculty and students in their outreach projects, service learning and public scholarship,” said Hoag of the award, which recognizes visionary accomplishments that lead to the success of Penn State’s outreach mission. The award is in memory of Dr. Shirley Hendrick, the first recipient of the Continuing Education Award for Outstanding Academic Leadership.

ORIGINALLY FROM ABILENE, TEXAS, Lyndy Worsham works for the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (www.tbbc.org), documenting the plight of refugees and other displaced persons from Burma, also known as Myanmar.

She travels to remote locations along Thailand’s western border to provide on-site geographic information systems (GIS) technical support and coaching to displaced persons. The information she’s learned through the World Campus Postbaccalaureate Certificate in GIS program is helping. Through GIS technologies, she creates thematic maps to help her organization and the public better understand the root causes of refugee outflows.

Worsham explained, “I wanted to produce more professional maps and to provide my students with higher-quality trainings.” She enrolled in World Campus when she “realized the tremendous benefit of GIS to the humanitarian field and started to visualize a potential career path.”

Penn State GIS instructor Jim Sloan said of Worsham: “Lyndy took fair advantage of the access she had to her instructors in this online learning environment, and her job gives her a chance to carry what she learned one step forward and apply it.”

Worsham’s cartography GIS instructor Adrienne Gruver added, “Lyndy learned how to logically make maps in order to communicate well visually, which is helpful with language barriers.”

Worsham completed the GIS program last December, but she plans to take even more GIS courses. She said, “My main professional goal is to contribute to the development of GIS skills and capacities among local community-based organizations, so that there is a strong and lasting network of GIS-savvy staff on the Thailand-Burma border.”

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP DEGREE: A MEANS TO HELP OTHERS BERNARD SHERMAN of Fort Myers, Fla., joined the Marines after the Vietnam War, serving with the ground crew of Marine One, the presidential helicopter. A service-related illness later led to a disability for this single father, whose son has autism. But at age 51, Sherman is determined to complete his bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership “to work with nonprofit groups and with veterans … to help others get the help they need.”

A Penn State World Campus Trustee Scholarship and Charlene H. Harrison Adult Learner Fund award are helping Sherman with expenses not covered by GI Bill benefits.

“Without the World Campus and Penn State scholarships, I wouldn’t be able to make it,” he said.

Because of the flexibility of online courses, Bernard Sherman has the time to take son Brayden to autism therapy sessions.

ARTS & HUMANITIES

By Amy Milgrub Marshall

BAC H popular demand by

Loyal supporters help revive a beloved classical musical festival LOCAL VIOLINIST DEBBIE TRUDEAU was eating dinner with friends when conversation turned to Music at Penn’s Woods, Penn State’s summer classical music festival. It was an event that thrived in the ’80s and ’90s but was discontinued in 2003 due to budget cuts. Trudeau asked School of Music faculty member Gerardo Edelstein, who had been music director of the festival, if there was any chance the festival could be re-established. They decided to investigate, and with Sue Haug, director of the School of Music, launched a campaign to drum up funds to bring back the festival.

“It was the enthusiasm of people like Debbie Trudeau that led me to believe we could bring back the festival,” said Haug. “After several months of meetings and ‘what-if’ conversations, we decided to send out a letter to potential supporters. The response was unbelievable—over $25,000 was raised in two weeks, but most importantly, we received many letters of encouragement and offers to help.”

That was in 2007. The festival was revived in June 2008, thanks to an immediate outpouring of community support, and that enthusiasm hasn’t waned. Following the event’s success that summer, local residents Dotty and Paul Rigby partnered with the School of Music to reach out to arts lovers in the area in order to raise additional funds. Now entering its third season,

18 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

this year’s program will feature classical masterworks used in movies— such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (“Fantasia 2000” and “Immortal Beloved”) and Rossini’s Overture to “La Gazza Ladra” (“A Clockwork Orange”).

“The Stars Are Aligned”

The event includes two Festival Orchestra concerts on Saturday evenings and two chamber ensemble concerts. The orchestra membership is primarily by invitation, with a 60-person ensemble that includes School of Music faculty

and graduate students, area residents and some musicians from outside Pennsylvania.

According to Edelstein, who resumed his post as music director, Music at Penn’s Woods is a “wonderful opportunity” for faculty and students to interact with community musicians.

Haug said she is grateful for the loyal supporters who have recognized the orchestra members’ talents and helped to make the festival a reality. “We have volunteers who truly take pride in being part of the festival planning and help in so many ways beyond their monetary contributions and attendance at concerts,” she said.

Trudeau, who performs with the Music at Penn’s Woods orchestra and with the three-person Allegria Ensemble, agreed. “I kept asking musicians if they wanted to participate, and asking community members for their support, and no one said ‘no’!” she said. “The stars are aligned.”

Members of the wind and string sections of last year’s Music at Penn’s Woods Festival Orchestra

CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES

By Sara LaJeunesse

I N I N G the

M D

Andy Colwell

LAST NOVEMBER, BRION TILLMANYOUNG, a seventh-grader at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Washington, D.C., dressed himself in a coat and tie in preparation for the most exciting event of his life—a meeting with First Lady Michelle Obama. Before leaving his home he decided to don his Penn State lanyard as well. “The lanyard,” he said, “is one of my most cherished possessions.”

A scholar in a program called Higher Achievement, Tillman-Young’s meeting with Obama was part of a ceremony to recognize the program for its outstanding work in providing humanities and arts programming to children with great potential but limited outlets for creative expression. His love of Penn State stems from a visit he made last summer to the University, one of about 10 hosts for students in the program.

“Higher Achievement is a program that extends learning opportunities to fifth-graders through eighth-graders in underresourced urban areas,” explained Gail Williams, the program’s director (and Penn State alumna). “It provides them with the support and instruction they need to succeed academically and to thrive during the high-risk adolescent years.”

Several Penn State colleges provide a variety of workshops and hands-on experiences for the students. For example, this summer the Eberly College of Science will teach the student-scholars about astronomy by giving them a tour of the University’s planetarium and telescopes.

Steven E. Purcell, Courtesy of Higher Achievement

G A PS

Sleep in a dorm. Visit a lab. This program provides opportunities for youth in low-income areas—and fosters a fondness for Penn State

A popular program for youth in underresourced areas gets recognition from the First Lady.

“One of the problems with children from families who have not attended college is that telling them they should go to college means almost nothing because they have no idea what a college is,” said Barbara Houtz, director of outreach for the Eberly College of Science. “When they visit Penn State, the children actually see a college, sleep in a dorm, eat in a cafeteria and visit classrooms, labs and buildings. They really get an understanding of what college is all about.”

Dr. Robert Marshall, head of the Department of Economics in the College of the Liberal Arts and a member

of the President’s Council for the Higher Achievement Program, added: “They emerge from the program believing that learning is cool, that education matters and that their mind is their greatest asset.”

The College of the Liberal Arts sponsors the program at Penn State, with organization provided by Dr. Avis Kunz, the college’s assistant dean for outreach and online education, and Nancy Eckard from Penn State Outreach’s Conferences unit; additional financial and programmatic contributions come from private donors and several units across the University, including Outreach.

Spring 2010 · 19

CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES

By Sara LaJeunesse and Melissa W. Kaye

CIT

URBAN DEFI MINORITY TEACHERS

PENN STATE BRANDYWINE IS PARTNERING WITH THE PHILADELPHIA ACADEMIES INC. through its Academy of Urban Education program to help high school students from school districts in Philadelphia become teachers. “Minority teachers are underrepresented in our nation’s schools,” said Dr. Patricia Van Leuvan, associate professor of education at the campus. “This partnership promises to address the minority teacher deficit.”

Since 2004, Van Leuvan has sponsored high school juniors and seniors to visit Penn State and attend presentations of math and science lessons given by Penn State education majors. “The goal of the visits is to foster the students’ interests in teaching by allowing them to participate in college classroom demonstration activities designed for elementary school classrooms,” said Van Leuvan.

“All of the students who graduate from the academy and who go on to get their teacher certification are awarded a job guarantee with the School District of Philadelphia once they

Grooming future teachers at Penn State

have completed all of their necessary state requirements,” said Michael Brooks, the academy’s resource manager.

In the fall, Van Leuvan arranges for the high school students to practice with math education materials—such as geoboards, Cuisenaire rods, pattern blocks and snap cubes—during their visits to Penn State. In addition, she is developing a program to help the high school students apply the skills they learn while at Penn State to elementary school children that they tutor.

CAMPAIGNS FOR 4-H IT’S NO SURPRISE that Dr. Michel Haigh, Penn State assistant professor of communications, had students from two PR classes (writing and campaigns) create promotional materials and communications plans related to 4-H. After all, Haigh grew up on a small farm in rural South Dakota and has a background in agricultural journalism and extension communications.

The students planned campaigns on 4-H enrollment, a 4-H endowment and the newly opened Renovo Education Center for Jim Ladlee, Penn State Cooperative Extension

20 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

director in Clinton County. One class conducted primary research with the target audience to find out their needs, then brought the information to the writing students to craft news stories and brochures. In the end, Ladlee was a happy client, with materials he could use.

“Dr. Haigh truly enabled the students to focus on the transition from the classroom to the scholarship of engagement in the community, positioning the students to make real change for Cooperative Extension and the local area,” Ladlee said.

THE OUTCOMES: PRELIMINARY ENROLLMENT estimates for 4-H show an increase of about 10 percent from the year before.

THE LOCAL ENDOWMENT increased by approximately 30 percent over the previous year.

THE RENOVO EDUCATION CENTER is offering several personal enrichment classes and is currently investigating advanced credit and certification programs.

THE ECONOMY & WORKFORCE

By Deborah A. Benedetti and Melissa W. Kaye

RURAL NURSE TRAINING GOES

HIGH TECH

and mobile

New efforts—with mannequins that bleed and breathe—aim to draw more people to the profession professionals can learn and train close to home,” she said.

Weekly summer youth science and health camps centered around the lab start in June, thanks to Dr. Kirk A.

Bill Wallace

PENNSYLVANIA IS FACING A SHORTAGE OF 16,100 REGISTERED NURSES THIS YEAR, according to a Pennsylvania Center for Health Careers report, with the need greatest in rural locations. Two Penn State efforts are helping to address this challenge with new high-tech labs—including one that goes on the road—to enhance learning for student nurses and health care professionals in these areas.

In one initiative, the Penn State Learning Center in Lewistown opened a multidisciplinary teaching laboratory in partnership with Lewistown Hospital School of Nursing and MifflinJuniata Career and Technology Center Practical Nursing programs. The Science and Health Lab features a family of lifelike adult and child human patient simulators (or sims). They not only register palpable pulses and blood pressures but also bleed fake blood, among other things. These teaching tools realistically mimic nearly any medical condition.

A second room in the lab is equipped for conducting basic science courses and scientific experiments. A grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and continuing funding from the partners are supporting the lab.

Kay A. Hamilton, president and CEO of Lewistown Hospital, said that the lab benefits hospital staff and community members working in allied health organizations as well as nursing students. “Our community health care

of nursing, and Chancellor David Gnage after the mother of a nursing faculty member donated her RV to the campus for educational use in honor of her late husband.

Barkdoll and Gnage envisioned taking simulation training mobile with an iStan, from Medical Education Technologies Inc. The iStan is the first patient simulator based around a human-like skeletal structure to allow for realistic weight and movement, so it can be posed and transported easily. It’s also fully wireless and battery operated.

With an innovation grant from the University and funding from community organizations, the RV was remodeled with the goal of educating nursing

Lewistown Hospital nursing faculty member Kim Stuck (left) explains how a human patient simulator works.

Gilbert, Learning Center science coordinator and rural health educator. Also, high school students will get to explore nursing and allied health careers through lab visits.

On the Road

In another effort, Penn State Mont Alto has taken nursing education on the road with a state-of-the-art learning facility on wheels, transformed from a 32-foot Winnebago. The Mobile Simulation Lab was the brainchild of Carranda Barkdoll, campus coordinator

students and delivering training to health care professionals.

“The lab provides an excellent nursing tool for our students and engages us more with the community,” said Gnage.

This spring marks a road trip for Barkdoll and her staff: in March, a Philadelphia high school; in April, a nursing conference in Harrisburg and the University Park campus as part of For the Future—The Campaign for Penn State Students; and in May, the Franklin County Children’s Wellness Day.

Spring 2010 · 21

THE ECONOMY & WORKFORCE

A NURSING PORTAL DIANE DADDARIO, A NURSE SPECIALIST in urology at Geisinger Medical Center, appreciates the convenience of Penn State’s new Continuing Education in Nursing portal (http:// www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/nursing-portal).

Daddario says the ability to “take a course anytime, whatever shift you’re working” is important to her.

As School of Nursing Dean Dr. Paula Milone-Nuzzo points out: “The portal simplifies access to Penn State courses for Pennsylvania nurses, who are required to complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to maintain their licenses.”

WORKING FOR FOOD THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY TENDS TO BE PRETTY STABLE; after all, everyone needs to eat. This firm footing can translate to jobs for some out-of-work Pennsylvanians. A new program, first offered in the fall, gave people the skills needed to enter the marketplace—in addition to setting them up with job interviews at Pennsylvania companies.

The Qualified Food Worker Certification Program, offered in Luzerne County through the Penn State Continuing Education offices at Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, covered the basics on food and safety regulations, standard industry practices, and food microbiology. The program also focused on interviewing skills and résumé writing.

Seventeen participants completed the pilot program, and a number of them interviewed for jobs or gained employment shortly after. For example, Betsy Grounds from Wilkes-Barre got a job at Bimbo Bakeries USA, based in Horsham. Colleen Farley is now working for Cargill Meat Solutions, in Hazleton.

Jack Hallick, human resources manager for Michael Foods,

22 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

said that the industry is changing, with more technical positions open. “Individuals going through the program will know more than the average job applicant,” he said.

Plans are in the works to offer the program in Schuylkill (through Penn State campuses Schuylkill and Hazleton) and again in Luzerne County.

The program was created and taught by the Department of Food Science in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and food industry technical specialists from Penn State’s Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (a unit of Outreach). It was sponsored by the Northeast Pennsylvania Food Processing Industry Partnership, a consortium of companies facilitated by the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board with the state grant Job Ready PA. “Everyone worked collaboratively to put the program together and make it a success,” said Janet Rosenbaum, assistant director of Continuing Education at Penn State WilkesBarre and co-organizer of the program, with Deb Conway, assistant director of Continuing Education at Penn State Hazleton.

See page 32 about a Penn State effort to help Pennsylvania food processing companies become more competitive.

w

By Deborah A. Benedetti and Melissa W. Kaye

Taming the Pennsylvania

WILDS

BOOSTING TOURISM IN THE PENNSYLVANIA WILDS—a 12-county, north-central region of Pennsylvania full of wildlife, bike trails and fishing opportunities—has been a big effort for the Commonwealth, and Penn State Extension has been playing a major role. Take, for example, the blossoming Artisan Trail Project, an effort led by Extension educator Bob Veilleux, who has represented the University in state agency planning meetings for the region.

“We saw opportunity for growth in the arts and entertainment sector of the economy for the area,” said Veilleux. “There should be at least twice as many people working in this segment, to help draw visitors.”

He and a team went to work recruiting artisans and shop owners and developed a traveling display that can be used at regional events, festivals and in galleries to help recruit even more participants.

The initiative now includes nearly 100 artisans, with 27 retailers throughout the region selling their wares.

“The Pennsylvania Wilds initiative and programs such as this help communities reap the economic benefits of outdoor recreation-based tourism while at the same time enhancing the quality of life for the people who A piece by Perry Winkler on the Artisan Trail call this region home,” said Meredith Hill, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources director of Pennsylvania Wilds. “We really appreciate the wealth of experience in economic and community development offered by Extension.”

Other initiatives offered with the help of Extension include: FIRST IMPRESSIONS, a program that provides feedback to communities from first-time visitors PENNSYLVANIA PRIDE, a hospitality skills training program DESIGN GUIDE, for sustaining the character of communities when new growth and development occurs LEARNING TODAY, LEADING TOMORROW, which focuses on developing and strengthening leadership skills on interpersonal, group and community levels

BUILDING A SOLAR WORKFORCE “ONE OF THE REASONS SOLAR ENERGY IS EXPENSIVE is the lack of an experienced workforce to market, design and construct solar energy systems,” said

Dr. David Riley, executive director of Penn State’s Center for Sustainability and associate professor of architectural engineering.

Riley will lead Penn State’s Solar Resource and Training Center—to be established by a $2 million Department of Energy grant. The center is aimed at developing the solar energy industry in the Mid-Atlantic region through technical

assistance and workforce development.

Riley helped assemble a team of partners that will contribute to the center, with a goal to increase the capacity of community colleges, universities and training centers to prepare new and returning students for jobs in the solar industry.

One of the training hubs will be at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, with activities coordinated by Dr. Larry Burton, Penn State professor of electrical engineering. Dr. Deno De Ciantis, director of the Penn State Center– Pittsburgh, will lead activities for the Greater Pittsburgh area at the site of an old vo-tech high school that is being adaptively reused.

Spring 2010 · 23

EDUCATION

F1RST PERSON

reducing their dependence on state budgets and raising tuition and fees. Service learning is one way of demonstrating the benefit and value of higher education to communities while providing students with an opportunity to apply their skills and talents to solve a real-world problem.

M. Scott Johnson

Psychology professor Richard Harnish’s take on how to put “real life” into learning—and why it’s important

AS PART OF AN APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY COURSE I teach at Penn State New Kensington, my students have worked with the City of Lower Burrell on collecting data for its comprehensive plan; helped the City of New Kensington research the feasibility of a minor league ballpark; and conducted regional economic planning with surrounding communities, among other projects.

I’ve found that one way to motivate my students is for them to participate in these service-learning projects—a type of experiential education that’s been shown to help students learn course material while enhancing their sense of civic responsibility. Here are some thoughts about challenges, opportunities and mutual benefits of service learning: ENCOURAGE INVOLVEMENT. Sometimes community partners will look at the university as having the resources to manage a project, and therefore, believe they do not have to take an active role. Conversely, faculty can have their own preconceptions about what the community needs.

Thus, the reciprocal nature of service learning can be hindered. Solutions are to have meetings with the partners at project milestones and ask a willing community partner to mentor students.

ADDRESS STUDENT CONCERNS. Some students resist.

This could be due to a number of factors, including timemanagement issues, the feeling the community is getting their labor for free and the notion that a service-learning project is not a “real class.” Many of these issues can be solved with an effective syllabus, required course readings on service learning and addressing student concerns throughout the project.

TOUT THE BENEFITS. In a time when state budgets are under tremendous strain, higher education is one of the first areas in which spending is cut. Universities are facing a difficult balancing act of advocating for funds,

24 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

Dr. Richard Harnish (rjh27@psu.edu), assistant professor of psychology at Penn State New Kensington, is currently working on a university-community project focused on repairing and extending new sewage lines in the New Kensington area.

By Melissa W. Kaye and Courtney Kirschman

SCHOOL RU

ES

WHEN ARIZONA EIGHTH-GRADER SAVANA REDDING was strip-searched by school officials looking for painkillers, she sued the district, alleging her Fourth Amendment rights banning unreasonable searches were violated. At first, the case was dismissed. Redding appealed, with the case going all the way to the Supreme Court. The court held that Redding’s rights were, in fact, violated, reasoning the intrusion was not justified in the circumstances.

“The district went too far,” said Dr. Preston Green, associate professor of education and law at Penn State’s College of Education and Dickinson School of Law, respectively. Such cases are why Green organizes the Penn State Law and Education Institute, in its third year this summer.

“The institute offers a way for school administrators and attorneys to come together to learn about educational law,” said Green, who writes about school finance litigation surrounding race and equitable funding. “Educators benefit because it provides an understanding of legal issues surrounding education so they can feel more confident in their actions. And attorneys benefit because it gives them an opportunity to catch up with all the changes in educational law.”

The one-week program—offered in June by the Law

School, the College of Education, and Outreach’s Continuing and Professional Education unit—covers such topics as search and seizure, speech and religion, special education (including private school reimbursement for disabled students), and students’ rights, among others. During the week, experts update participants on Supreme Court cases that impact schools and give interactive presentations.

Green says that the majority of teachers lack exposure to educational law in their preparation programs. “Teachers shy away from certain things because of a fear of liability,” citing as an example whether a teacher can allow a student to discuss the Bible in a school paper. (The teacher can.) “We’re arming them with knowledge.”

Erica Moore, a supervisor of special education in the Keystone Central School District, participated in the institute and said she is able to better understand and evaluate students’ and employees’ rights. “Even though all decisions are made to support academic success and value the best interests of the students, the legal framework around education needs to be an underlying concept in the decisionmaking process.”

For more information, contact Green at pcg10@psu.edu.

TIFFANI GUERRE REMEMBERS sitting in an outdoor café in the Brazilian fishing village of Praia do Forte. After a dinner that included traditional local food, she and her friends watched a street Capoeira—a martial arts and dance performance. “The crowd was so enthusiastic and involved,” she said. “It was great being exposed to a big part of [Brazilian] culture.”

Before the start of her junior year, Guerre spent two months in Brazil studying culture and language, as part of Penn State Conferences’ faculty-led Summer Education Abroad program. While she was there, she experienced many firsts, including eating octopus and snorkeling.

“Studying abroad made me more wellrounded and opened my eyes to see what else is out there, besides America,” she

said. “Now I want to travel all over!”

Laura Albanese had a similar experience.

Last summer, she spent three months in Italy for two study abroad programs focusing on language. Now, as she graduates in May, she dreams of one day becoming a professor of Italian.

“The payoff with the experiences I have is something that can’t be matched at Penn State in a classroom,” she said.

Penn State Outreach’s Conferences unit started managing the faculty-led Summer Education Abroad programs in the mid1980s. Back then it had about five programs.

Last summer, 212 students participated in 15 programs in 12 countries. The academic content for Conferences’ portfolio is diverse, ranging from criminal justice, to language and cultural studies, to archaeology.

For more information: http//:www.outreach.psu.edu/summerabroad

Dr. Howard Smith, senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, leads a criminal justice class in the Netherlands each summer. He first became involved with summer education abroad 19 years ago as a graduate teaching assistant.

“Because of study abroad, I have friends around the world,” he said. “I also have firsthand experiences that I use all the time in my on-campus classes. I know that I’ll learn something new every year.”

Excavation off the coast of Israel

Bariatric surgery via high-definition video conferencing

Ann E. Killebrew

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ABROAD

ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

HOME TOW N IMPROVEMEN T Landscape architecture students work with residents in distressed neighborhoods to envision a better future

Penn Staters conduct a site assessment.

A COLLABORATIVE SERVICE-LEARNING COURSE IN PITTSBURGH is taking Penn State landscape architecture students out of their comfort zone and introducing them to marginalized communities where residents are seeking fresh ideas for how to improve their neighborhoods.

Ken Tamminga, professor of landscape architecture, and Dr. Deno De Ciantis, director of the Penn State Center– Pittsburgh—a joint initiative chartered

by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Cooperative Extension and Outreach—have teamed up to reach out to economically depressed areas in the city where landscape architecture students can provide design assistance. They address issues such as abandoned school properties and lack of productive and safe public spaces. The Pittsburgh Studio took place in fall 2008 and 2009, and plans are under way for fall 2010.

During the studio’s first two semesters, 20 students worked with five neighborhoods, chosen by Tamminga because of their need and the local stakeholders’ willingness to engage with the students.

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A semester’s worth of research, participatory workshops and design explorations leads to a presentation of final recommendations at the end of the semester.

“I Love Beltzhoover”

According to Tamminga, the students’ conceptual proposals are not intended to be implemented directly, although several projects taking place in the Beltzhoover neighborhood were “clearly inspired” by the students’ work.

Sam Wright, a renovations contractor and member of the Beltzhoover Neighborhood Council, uses the students’

2008 final report as the informal guide to community improvement projects, and so far the council has acquired seed funds for the Haberman Avenue pedestrian corridor. In fall 2009, student ideas for adaptive reuse of the abandoned but historically significant Beltzhoover Elementary School were being used to leverage political commitment for support of renovations and livelihood retraining programs.

Tamminga said community members frequently remark that the students’ ideas help them to envision a better future for their neighborhoods.

“It’s the residents’ chance to (re)assert assets they have in abundance: imagination and self-determination,” he added.

According to De Ciantis, the students benefit as much as the communities. “The students go through a tremendous growth experience by working with marginalized, diverse neighborhoods. … That personal growth transfers to professional growth.”

Douglas Williams, a Beltzhoover resident, said he appreciated the students’ assistance, but he is also grateful for the friendships that developed. “The students have gotten to know that we are a caring neighborhood—quite an amazing thing for a neighborhood that is often known for its violence.”

The feeling is mutual, according to Tamminga. “As we drove home, one student piped up from the back row, ‘I love Beltzhoover.’ Several others murmured assent, me included.”

PENN STATE STEEL CITY IN THE

THE PENN STATE CENTER–PITTSBURGH has many projects in the works, including an effort to promote green roofs in the downtown area. The center’s goal is to represent all colleges at Penn State seeking to connect with the Pittsburgh community through research, teaching and outreach projects. For more information, contact Dr. Deno De Ciantis at 412-263-1000 or dwd5@psu.edu.

By Amy Milgrub Marshall and Melissa W. Kaye

BREWING CO$T SAVINGS FOR Yuengling IN 1829 DAVID G. YUENGLING founded his eponymous brewery in Pottsville, Pa., and more than 180 years later, D. G.’s great-great-grandson is the owner. The family-owned and -operated brewery produces popular lagers, porters and ales, distributing its products over a 10-state area along the eastern seaboard. So when company representatives approached Penn State for advice in conserving water and reducing energy costs, the University jumped at the chance to help such a local institution.

“It’s a company that everybody recognizes,” said Roger Price, senior technical specialist for Penn State’s Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, otherwise known as PennTAP. “It’s the oldest brewery in the United States.”

In the fall of 2008, the company went to PennTAP—which provides technical and workforce solutions to organizations and businesses—with its concerns about rising costs of wastewater discharge, water consumption and energy usage.

How To Conserve

PennTAP specialists conducted reviews of the company’s water and sewer bills at its Pottsville and Mill Creek facilities, in addition to water flow metering studies. The result: Specialists provided Yuengling with a detailed summary of the water flow studies for both facilities, identifying opportunities to conserve water that would save the company $100,000 per year.

PennTAP then conducted an energy efficiency assessment, recommending an annual reduction of 186,000 kilowatt hours of electricity by repairing leaks in compressed air lines and by making a few modifications to the air compressors that included: reducing the air compressor pressure control setting; using synthetic lubricants; and ducting outside air to the intake of the air compressor.

This would be a total annual energy cost savings of $25,000 after payback of investment within five months.

A water and energy assessment for the popular Pottsville-based beer maker

Water flow metering studies revealed ways to save the company $100,000 per year.

“The PennTAP team did a great job,” said Bob Seaman, plant manager at Yuengling. “PennTAP took a very structured approach and provided useful data that we will continue to act on.”

Nearby Penn State Schuylkill, which takes a vested interest in local business development and community revitalization efforts through its business faculty and advisory board, was also impressed.

“Yuengling Brewery is such an important employer and business leader not only locally but also nationally,” said Dr. Keith Hillkirk, chancellor of the campus. “I’m pleased that PennTAP was able to assist Yuengling in solving a challenging wastewater problem.”

The video in this link features a segment on Yuengling: http://wpsu.org/ engagingscholars.

BIG GRANT FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY PENNSYLVANIA COMPANIES HIT HARD by the economic downturn also contend with rising and unpredictable energy costs, often passing those costs to the consumer. A new $2.3 million “Emerging Energy” grant awarded to Penn State’s Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) will help fund a program to assist businesses throughout the state to improve energy efficiency and adopt emerging energy technologies. The program aims to save those companies money, protect the environment and drive the creation of alternative energy products.

“We’ve helped an increasing number of businesses find sustainable alternative energy solutions,” said Wayne Figurelle, director of PennTAP. “This Emerging Energy initiative is driven based on the demand we’ve seen.”

The grant comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Economic Development Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

To read PennTAP success stories, visit PennTAP online at: http://penntap.psu.edu.

HEALTH

ON THE MENU NUTRITIOUS IMPROVED FOOD MANNERS “Don’t say ‘yuck!’”—and other useful advice for kids GNOCCHI WITH DUCK ragout and trout with lemon dill stuffing seem like strictly adult cuisine, but at the Mateer Building’s Café Laura on Penn State’s University Park campus, area sixth graders not only create and dine on such fare but also use proper etiquette—with help from faculty and students in Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management.

In addition to food preparation techniques and nutrition, kids learn to use good manners at the table, including how to sit up straight and wait for others to be served before eating; they should also refrain from making such comments as “yuck!” when encountering an unfamiliar food.

Dr. Vivienne Wildes, assistant professor of hospitality management, started the Cooking With Kids program three years ago as a way to get her students interested in outreach service to the local community.

Planning starts in the fall, and the program is offered at the start of the spring semester. “One of the best things about the program is that it is free for the kids,” said Wildes, thanks to support from both internal and external sources.

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This year’s program featured cuisine from five regions of the world—a great way to introduce diverse foods as well as geography lessons to the 15 RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: Penn State students partner with kids. enthusiastic youths.

The sessions culminated in a full-course dinner prepared by the “In each class the children and I young chefs for their invited guests. prepare a food, and they help with sani Said one of the kids: “I loved intertizing and setting the table,” said Ceri acting with all the college students— Watkins, a nutrition education adviser and getting to explain to everyone else for Extension. “We discuss the nutriin the class how we made each dish.” tional quality of the food and practice proper etiquette.” Up to 10 children Meals Seasoned With a participate in the program.

Campus Tour “The biggest overall improvement A summer program for children, ages is in their general behavior,” said 8 to 12, in Williamsport, Pa., makes Watkins. They are polite and softinstruction about dining etiquette and spoken, using ‘please,’ ‘thank you’ and nutrition so much fun that kids ask ‘excuse me.’” to do it again. Each July, Penn State The campus tour provides an excelCooperative Extension partners with lent opportunity for them to see the the Pennsylvania College of Technology school and perhaps aspire to further to present the program at a local comtheir education beyond high school. munity center, culminating in a dinner As one young participant put it, “Miss at Penn College’s Le Jeune Chef RestauCeri, I am going to come to this school rant and a tour of the campus. when I get big enough.”

By Kay Shirk and Melissa W. Kaye

THE A C A DEMIC S QUALITY HEALTH CARE of

A NEW PENN STATE CENTER aims to promote a holistic approach to understanding and solving the current problems of access and quality in health care today. It is a cross-campus effort that brings together experts from engineering, medicine, health policy and information sciences to address these challenges.

The Center for Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems, directed by Dr. Harriet Black Nembhard, associate professor of industrial engineering, essentially provides a venue for like-minded health care systems innovators to collaborate, as well as the basis for a new academic discipline focusing on transforming health care delivery.

All this will be done through research, education and outreach efforts: Research projects include telemedicine and creating new materials used in the health care setting, such as antimicrobial agents. Education efforts include the development of interdisciplinary undergraduate programs and a new master’s degree program in health care engineering.

Outreach efforts will include Web-based training and retaining of incumbent staff.

The center has been awarded a one-year planning grant by the National Science Foundation, and organizers will apply for a second grant that, if awarded, will provide additional funding for the center over five years, said Dr. Janetta DeOnna, of the Penn State Office of Economic and Workforce Development, who serves as the Outreach liaison for the center.

For more information, go to: http://www.healthcaredelivery.psu.edu.

STUDENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MASTER OF HEALTH ADMINISTRATION AS PART OF TRAVIS LAIRD’S CAPSTONE PROJECT in Penn State’s Master of Health Administration program, he and his group worked with an orthopedic organization seeking to develop an ambulatory surgery center. With the help of the organization’s CEO, the student group evaluated different options, including exploring potential building sites and possible joint ventures. Through interviews with the stakeholders and analyses of cost, revenue and other operational impacts, the group came up with a recommendation for the client.

“The project allowed us to see what life would be like in a position such as the CEO we worked with; it was an experience on which I could draw in my previous positions and current role,” said Laird, who graduated in 2007 and is currently project manager at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley.

Now Laird is the point of contact for other Penn State students going through the program. “Our organization is fortunate to bring in

intelligent, skilled students to help with a project that is of strategic importance,” he said. “It’s vital that we give the students an opportunity to manage an applicable project, and hopefully we give them a similar opportunity to what I experienced.”

The Department of Health Policy and Administration mails requests for proposals to prospective program partners in the fall semester, outlining what the class needs in a project. The program’s newest alliance, formed last summer, is with Susquehanna Health.

Projects this spring included determining the target market for medical evacuation services for the Cleveland Clinic; recommending locations for physician offices for Susquehanna Health; and the evaluation of a screening center for HealthAlliance. “We select the projects that are most beneficial to us and the client,” said Michael Meacham, Penn State associate professor of health policy and administration. “Students love the real-world academic exercise.”

Spring 2010 · 29

INTERNATIONAL

First-year

MED STUDENTS go GL BAL Scholars develop community health projects in an impoverished setting

By Sara LaJeunesse projects can range from household health surveys, to water quality testing, to uncovering the relationships between local health care entities,” said Dr. N. Benjamin Fredrick (M.D.), director of the Penn State Global Health Center and an associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Fredrick said that the program will be expanded to other locations. “We believe that the model of the scholars program in San Pablo will be effective and sustainable in other locations as well,” he added.

For example, work has been started to expand the program to the rural area of Pestel in Haiti. The area was chosen because of Fredrick’s personal connections to Pestel, after he and his wife hosted a young boy from there.

“After I visited him in 2007, I realized the overwhelming health needs of the community, including the basics of water, nutrition and sanitation, as well as the number of preventable child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhea,” said Fredrick. He added that the needs of the people will increase as families who have roots in Pestel return to that region from earthquake-devastated Port-au-Prince. For more information, visit http://www.pennstatehershey.org/ web/fcm/education/globalhealth/scholars.

GASTROINTESTINAL DIFFICULTY MAY BE AN UNPLEASANT topic of conversation, but that didn’t stop one group of Penn State students from going door-to-door in the coastal town of San Pablo, Ecuador, and asking if anyone in the house recently has suffered from the problem.

As participants in Penn State’s Global Health Scholars Program, a project developed in conjunction with multiple units—including Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine’s departments of Family and Community Medicine, Humanities, Pediatrics, and Public Health Sciences—the students were doing their part to improve the health of San Pablo’s citizens.

Created in 2008, the program is open to first-year medical students attending the College of Medicine. Each year, five to seven students are selected through a competitive application process.

Once admitted, students are responsible for developing and implementing a commuParticipants in the Global Health Scholars Program with their Ecuadorian colleagues nity research project. “These

30 · Penn State Outreach Magazine

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

By Matt Swayne and Deborah A. Benedetti

ENGINEERING FOR THE

MOST PENN STATE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS taking Mechanical Engineering 440W expect their senior design capstone project to change their perspective on innovation and product development. After all, the class gives students the chance to develop devices for Fortune 500 companies and big government entities, like the U.S. Navy.

But, for one group of students, the class actually changed how they view the world of the disabled.

Dr. Mary Frecker, professor of mechanical engineering, said the class last year partnered with the Central Pennsylvania Spinal Cord Injury Support Group to create working prototypes of devices to help the disabled. Projects ranged from a wheelchair seat-boosting device, to a motorized glove, to a leg-stretching device to reduce spasms in people who are quadriplegic.

Members of the class traveled to Hershey and met with Keith Parsons, a member of the Central Pennsylvania Spinal Cord Injury Support Group, which is officially recognized by the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Association of Faculty and Friends. The group kept Parsons updated with weekly reports. He, in turn, offered feedback to the team.

Frecker said that students relish the opportunity to take on real-world projects. “There are definitely a lot of students who enjoy working on a project with a humanitarian angle to it,” she added.

The leg-stretcher project won first place in the Lockheed Martin Best Design Award, judged by a panel of industry experts, at the College of Engineering’s Design Showcase.

Dr. Everett Hills (M.D.), medical director of the Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital, said that one of the more satisfying outcomes of the project is student engineers uncover a new appreciation and respect for the human body’s capabilities and for the challenges that people with disabilities face.

“Based on their interactions with our disabled population, they encountered tasks that an able-bodied person would probably never think about,” said Hills, who serves as the medical adviser for the Central Pennsylvania Spinal Cord Injury Support Group. “The simple things—such as sitting up in a chair or stretching one’s legs, are often taken for granted and don’t require the help of another person.”

Curtis Chan

WORLD OF THE DISABLED

Demonstration of leg-stretching device

WHAT’S NEW ONLINE:

MASTER OF APPLIED STATISTICS There is an ever-increasing need to analyze and understand data, according to Dr. James L. Rosenberger, professor of statistics.

Rosenberger is the program chair for Penn State’s new online master’s degree in applied statistics, aimed at professionals engaged in data analysis.

The new degree program offered by the Eberly College of Science and Penn State World Campus makes it easy for people working in business, industry, government, and educational and research organizations “to improve their training and statistical tools without having to come to a campus,” said Rosenberger.

The program focuses on skill development in industrystandard statistical software and statistical methodology. For information, visit http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/ MasterofAppliedStatistics.shtml online.

Spring 2010 · 31

ENDNOTE

IN THE WORKS:

FO D F IGHT Are small food-processing companies in Pennsylvania able keep up with changing trends in the industry? A new partnership is making every effort to ensure they can

OBESITY IS RAMPANT, food-borne illnesses are rising and the food supply chain is now global, leaving all but the largest food manufacturers scrambling to compete. How can smaller companies create healthier products, improve food safety and increase efficiencies, when they lack in-house resources?

A new effort in southeastern Pennsylvania aims to address this with a center that pools University, industry and other resources to help the food processing industry become more competitive.

The center, yet to be named, “will help companies become more creative in responding to trends such as redesigning junk food and developing functional foods—foods and food components that provide a health benefit,” said Walt Fullam, director of Continuing Education at Penn State Berks. The campus is overseeing creation of the center, to be located in a Keystone Innovation Zone in Reading.

Food processing is a $24.6 billion business in Pennsylvania, and 75 percent of the state’s 1,500 food processing companies are located within a 50-mile radius of Berks County. In addition to the region’s concentration of small- to nationalbrand companies that process snack foods, dairy, meat, mushrooms and other food products, the area has a large potential workforce, making it an ideal location for the center (see page 22 for a story about preparing workers for the industry).

While still in the planning stages, the center is taking shape with input from the food processing industry. “The meetings [held last fall] are a validation that the industry sees the need and value of the center,” Fullam said. Partners in the effort include Penn State’s Office of Economic and Workforce

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Development (OEWD) and College of Agricultural Sciences, Berks County Industrial Development Authority and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others.

One of the center’s first projects is already under way. A task force is working on a Web portal that will list information and resources pertinent to food manufacturing. When the center is up and running, there will be opportunities for Penn State faculty to collaborate with companies on research and for students to participate in service-learning projects.

From Old to New

As planning continues, Fullam said he anticipates the center will collaborate with other entities involved in similar work, including Penn State’s Center for Food Innovation, founded in 2004 and directed by Dr. Peter Bordi, associate professor of hospitality management at the University Park campus. The center also will work closely with the Department of Food Science at the University Park campus and other University units.

There are plans for the new center in southeastern Pennsylvania to provide pilot scale-up facilities and rental space where companies can test new product ideas, said Dr. Timothy V. Franklin, OEWD director. “The center will align Penn State assets with economic opportunities in the region,” he added,

By Deborah A. Benedetti

PENN STATE OUTREACH EDITORIAL STAFF Vice President for Outreach Dr. Craig D. Weidemann Executive Director Outreach Marketing and Communications and Adult Learner Enrollment Services Tracey D. Huston News and Communications Director Outreach Marketing and Communications Dave Aneckstein Editor-in-Chief Melissa W. Kaye Art Director Steve Burns Senior Writer Deborah A. Benedetti

helping companies with not only technology, but also with process and supply chain innovation.

Companies that need help with food safety or dairy issues will be able to turn to the USDA’s Eastern Regional Research Center, which has its own pilot plant. The Penn State center hopes to develop a similar facility, complementing the USDA’s, for other

food processing projects.

As Thomas C. McKeon, executive director of Berks County Industrial Development Authority, pointed out: “It’s extremely important that we begin the transformation of our economy from the old manufacturing base to the new 21st century knowledge economy. The new center will allow us to make the transition.”

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Writers Elizabeth Bechtel Sara LaJeunesse Kay Shirk Karen Cavaliere Zitomer Production Assistant Selma King

Penn State Outreach is published

by Penn State Outreach Marketing and Communications.

Penn State Outreach Marketing and Communications The Pennsylvania State University The 329 Building, Suite 408 University Park, PA 16802 Phone: 814-865-7600 Fax: 814-865-3343 E-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu Web site: http://live.psu.edu/outreach This publication is available in alternative media on request.

“SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED FOOD processing companies don’t have the capacity to adopt new technologies,” says Dr. Hassan Gourama, associate professor of food science at Penn State Berks. “They lack the funds for research and also have difficulty identifying the right technologies and partners.” That’s why technology transfer is a key focus of a new center that aims to help the food processing industry be more competitive.

Dr. Meredith Aronson, director of

economic engagement initiatives for Penn State Outreach’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, added, “The center will help infuse innovation into the food processing industry. The benefit will be jobs and economic growth.”

For more information: Dr. Hassan Gourama hxg7@psu.edu, 610-396-6121 Dr. Meredith Aronson maa22@psu.edu, 814-867-3426

Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

U.Ed.OUT 10-0470tdh/dxa/mwk/smb Nittany Valley Offset © 2010 The Pennsylvania State University.

For permission to reprint text from Penn State Outreach, contact Selma King (814-865-7600; sqk9@outreach.psu.edu).