News
Lang Retires with Emeritus Status
Gerald Lang, professor of art and integrative arts and director of Penn State’s Digital Photography Studio, retired with emeritus status on June 30, 2005. Lang had been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1969. A graduate of the University of Minnesota (B.A., M.F.A.), he is an active photographer, exhibitor, curator and author.
Lang’s creative work has been exhibited in more than 200 one-person and group shows, and is a part of numerous public and private collections, including the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Chicago Art Institute, Library of Congress, Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Minneapolis Institute of Art, University of Wyoming Art Museum and the Palmer Museum of Art.
His photographs and research have been published in books and periodicals and resulted in national traveling exhibitions. He has been an Apple Distinguished Educator since 2000 and has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
In 1997, Lang established the Digital Photography Studio and initiated educational and research capabilities previously unavailable at Penn State. Supported by industry leaders and special friends of the University, the Digital Photography Studio established one of the very first fully comprehensive digital imaging programs in the country. Today, the studio leads the way in photographic education and applied digital imaging research. Lang will stay involved by directing the Digital Photography Studio Industry Advisory Board, and will continue to do research, consulting and information-sharing with photographic educators and industry members.
Making photographs remains an essential ingredient in Lang’s life. His Horse Series of hand photogravure photographs can be viewed at www.leemarksfineart.com. Most recently, he and his wife, Jennifer Anne Tucker (’75 M.F.A. Photography), have been working collaboratively. Their Botanical Series of photographs digitally infuse art with science and Lang describes them as “a holistic collaboration portraying the plant’s personality, geometry and essence. We merge art with science using expertise in digital technologies and foraging for wild medicinal flora to create the images. Our creative collaboration evolves from a life together on Hill Crystal Farm.” Some of the series can be viewed at www.research.psu.edu and more images will be available for viewing on Lang’s Web site, now under construction.
New Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
Gunalan Nadarajan, former dean of research and creative industries at the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore, joined the College of Arts and Architecture as associate dean for research and graduate studies in July 2005. Nadarajan, who earned graduate degrees at the National University of Singapore and at the University of Warwick (United Kingdom), also previously served as dean of visual arts at the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts.
An international art theorist and curator, Nadarajan has curated 15 exhibitions in several countries, including 180kg (Jogjakarta, Indonesia, 2002) and Negotiating Spaces (Auckland, New Zealand, 2004), and was contributing curator of Documenta XI (Kassel, Germany) and Mediacity 2002 (Seoul, South Korea). He has also served as jury for several international arts exhibitions, most recently for the International Symposium of Electronic Arts 2004 in Helsinki/Talinn and Transmediale 2005 in Berlin. His publications include a book, Ambulations (2000), on the aesthetic and architectural concomitants of walking, and many catalogue essays and academic articles on a wide range of topics in contemporary art, philosophy, new media and architecture. He is also corresponding editor/writer for Contemporary (United Kingdom) and Flash Art.
Nadarajan serves on the international advisory boards for the Database of Virtual Art (virtualart.hu-berlin.de/) and Refresh!: Conferences on the Histories of Media Arts, Sciences and Technologies. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Inter Society for the Electronic Arts, an international new media arts organization. In 2004, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (United Kingdom).
Nadarajan brings to the College of Arts and Architecture extensive experience working on and developing interdisciplinary research projects in virtual heritage, game development, art and biology, entertainment technologies, smart clothing, augmented reality, and ambient intelligence both with international research partners and relevant industries.
His goal is to enhance the research and creative profile of the College of Arts and Architecture through a number of strategic planning initiatives, including the establishment of several research centers that synergize the research interests of faculty in the college; the development of interdisciplinary research collaborations between the college and other academic divisions of the University; a coordinated effort to increase the number of successful external grants issuing from the college; development of new inter-college graduate programs; and the establishment of international research and creative networks to complement research and graduate studies at the college.New Director of School of Music Singing Penn State’s Praises
Sue Haug joined the College of Arts and Architecture as director of the School of Music in July 2005. Most recently, she was the head of the music department at Iowa State University, where she taught piano and piano pedagogy. She was on the ISU music faculty since 1975 and served as department head since 1991. She holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a doctor of musical arts from the University of Iowa.
Haug says she came to Penn State because of the “quality of the program and the collegiality and welcoming atmosphere I found here.” She also confesses that she thought it would be fun to live on the East Coast, where she could check out the arts and culture of New York, Washington, D.C., and other East Coast cities more easily while still living in a smaller community that reminded her of home.
Haug performs regularly as a piano soloist and accompanist and has already performed in a number of faculty recitals this fall at Penn State. Her research has focused most recently on sight-reading at the piano and cognitive psychology as it applies to the learning of music. Her articles have been published in The American Music Teacher, Clavier, and Keyboard Companion and she has been invited to give presentations at national meetings of the College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy and Sigma Alpha Iota. She is past president of the Iowa Music Teachers Association and is a member of the National Association of Schools of Music Commission on Accreditation.
During her first year, Haug is focusing on familiarizing herself with Penn State and the music curriculum. She says she is impressed by many staff members’ long tenures in the School of Music. “That kind of experience and loyalty is a great tribute—and benefit—to the school.”
Haug has a son and daughter-in-law in Minneapolis-St. Paul who are graduate students at the University of Minnesota, and her husband is the executive director of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities. She enjoy outdoor activities like gardening, white-water canoeing and walking.
