News
Message from the Dean
Greetings from State College! By the time you read this issue, I hope you are enjoying some spring weather and thinking fondly of beautiful Happy Valley. It’s such a glorious place in the spring.
There are many exciting things happening across the college on a variety of fronts, all very important for us to share with you, so we decided this would be an “eclectic” issue, and my column will reflect that as well.
In recent years, much of higher education has focused on collaborative initiatives, probably reflecting what is happening in workplaces around the world. Companies value individuals who understand other fields and can communicate across a wide range of subjects. In our college, we also value those skills, as evidenced by the increasing number of interdisciplinary, collaborative projects that allow our faculty to work with colleagues from across the University and with other professionals from a variety of settings.
One of those projects is the Solar Decathlon competition, involving Penn State faculty and students from architecture, architectural engineering, kinesiology and physics. Our team will be one of 20 to build a structure on the Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. It is a tremendous honor for this multidisciplinary group to be selected to participate, and you can read more about it on page (#).
We’re also involved in an exciting collaboration with an entity outside the University. In March, we hosted three major events with the Pittsburgh Symphony, kicking off what we trust will be a long-term association with this world-class orchestra. Composer Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra participated in concerts and other activities with our students and faculty, and additional events are planned for the future.
Moving beyond the borders of the United States, our faculty continue to be involved in groundbreaking international initiatives. In this issue, you’ll read about the unique project centered around an amazing kite festival in India, involving School of Visual Arts faculty Helen O’Leary, Sarah Schwartz and Paul Chidester and School of Music faculty member Mark Ballora.
Before finishing my discussion of some of our faculty members’ interdisciplinary, collaborative projects, I want to give a preview of an effort still in the works—the collaboration between our college faculty and the Department of Chemistry on uses of catalytic nanomotors in the arts. This is almost beyond comprehension—these tiny machines measure one-billionth of a meter. I hope I’ve piqued your interest as much as I am intrigued by this potential.
Our faculty clearly recognize the value of collaboration and cross-disciplinary initiatives, and we are working to help our students do so as well. After more than a year of planning, our new Core Curriculum, which you readaa about in the last issue, is up and running. All first-year students in the design and visual arts disciplines are required to take a year-long, 12-credit core, team taught by faculty from six of our units. We believe that providing our students with a broad understanding and appreciation of all the arts and design is imperative and will position them very competitively with their peers, both at the University and when they begin work.
We are very proud of another curricular initiative involving faculty from all our disciplines: the Interdisciplinary Design Studio (IDS), which we’ll unveil this fall. Similar to the Core, IDS will be taught by faculty from across the college whose expertise lies in digital imaging. This major and minor will be available to students in the college who seek a double-major in digital technology, a concentration in digital imaging within their own specific discipline, or a stand-alone degree in digital applications in the arts and design. You will hear much more about this effort in the future!
I’ll conclude by introducing two of our newest staff members, Elizabeth Wilson, associate director of development, and Elizabeth King, assistant director of development. Collaboration has also been key for the two of them, as they have joined Joyce Hoffman and me in hosting innumerable events for alumni and donors across the country. In addition to the new Stuckeman Family Building opening and the all-class reunion for Landscape Architecture immediately following that event, we’ve met alumni groups in both Boca Raton and Naples, where alumni Richard Smukler (’67 B.A. English) and Cal Stuckeman (’37 B.S. Arch.) hosted great events for us. We’ve also welcomed friends during receptions at meetings of the College Art Association, the National Art Education Association and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, in addition to the annual Theatre Alumni Reunion in New York City. We’ll finish out this academic year with the American Institute of Architects convention in Los Angeles, and the reunion of the Wagon Train project that many of you participated in during your career at Penn State. Emeritus faculty Bruce Trinkley, composer of the Wagon Train show; Douglas Cook, producer; Manuel Duque, director; costume designer Montez King; technical director Douglas Maddox; and Wagon Train technician Del Boarts will join archivist and reunion organizer Jerry James for a wonderful series of events in July.
I’ve only touched the surface—you can see why this remains such a phenomenal place to work and create! Stay in touch, I enjoy hearing from you!
College in solar decathalon
Students and faculty from the Department of Architecture are part of an interdisciplinary team assembled through Penn State’s Center for Sustainability that has gained acceptance into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, an international collegiate competition in solar design sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy in which student teams design and build a solar-powered hom
When completed, the home will be assembled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the two-week decathlon competition. The Penn State team, led by David Riley, associate professor of architectural engineering; Andy Lau, associate professor of engineering design; Scott Wing, associate professor of architecture; and Lisa Iulo, assistant professor of architecture, will compete against MIT, Cornell, University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon and the two-time winner of previous competitions, the University of Colorado. A total of 20 university teams were selected for the event.
This image shows some of the conceptual ideas presented by Penn State students in the competition to enter the Solar Decathalon.
Each team will be awarded $100,000 over two years from the Department of Energy. Additional sponsors and contributions will be sought to support the Penn State entry.
At the conclusion of the event, the solar home will be returned to the Penn State campus for use as an experimental student residence and laboratory at the Center for Sustainability’s 8.5-acre site on Porter Road.
Penn State’s interdisciplinary team includes students and faculty in architecture, engineering, kinesiology and physics. Research programs in architectural engineering, the Energy Institute, the Center for Space Research Program, the Applied Research Lab and the Hybrid and Hydrogen Vehicle Research Center also will combine efforts in the design of the home.
The Penn State concept, named the Morning Star, will blend advanced energy technologies with environmentally friendly green building materials. The design also will draw upon a partnership between Penn State and the Northern Cheyenne tribe that was formed in 2001 to seek alternative housing solutions for American Indian tribes. This partnership, called the American Indian Housing Initiative, also is the focus of a popular course at Penn State in which students travel to the Northern Cheyenne reservation each summer to construct homes and community facilities.
More information about the design competition and the Solar Decathlon can be found on the Center for Sustainability Web site at www.engr.psu.edu/cfs.
and the grammy goes to . . .
Christopher Kiver, assistant professor of music and director of the Glee Club and Chamber Singers, won two Grammy Awards during the annual ceremony in February for his involvement in the recording of “Songs of Innocence and Experience,” a massive choral/orchestral work composed by William Bolcom and released by Naxos.
As one of the choir directors for the recording, Kiver was eligible for and won for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Album. “Songs of Innocence and Experience” also received the Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
The recording was made from a live performance in the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor in April 2004. At the time, Kiver was a doctoral student in choral conducting at the University of Michigan, and as a graduate assistant was responsible for directing the 120-voice University Choir.
“It was a lovely surprise to even receive nominations for a Grammy Award, so to win two awards is remarkable, particularly when you consider that the chorus and orchestra comprised students from the University of Michigan and members of the local community,” Kiver says. “When you embark upon any musical project, thoughts of awards are the furthest thing from your mind. I just feel honored to have been part of the experience.”
“Songs of Innocence and Experience” was performed by Michigan State University’s Children’s Choir, University of Michigan Chamber Choir, University of Michigan Orpheus Singers, University of Michigan University Choir and University Musical Society Choral Union, and University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. Individual performers in addition to the choirs included Christine Brewer, Measha Brueggergosman, Ilana Davidson, Nmon Ford, Linda Hohenfeld, Joan Morris, Carmen Pelton, Marietta Simpson and Thomas Young. Leonard Slatkin was the conductor, and the choir directors included Kiver, Jerry Blackstone, William Hammer, Jason Harris, Carole Ott and Mary Alice Stollak. –AMM
