English Class Project Marks World AIDS Day

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

Veronica Watson‘s Topics in English class has designed a public humanities project to coincide with World AIDS Day.

“The students have done everything from conceptualize the project to arrange all the logistics to bring it to the world, to all of the publicity and media you might see around it,” she told me.

And, not only has this involved posters, fliers, other publicity materials (including a Facebook page), students have worked to collect poetry, memoirs, and photography to do a “story trail” in the Oak Grove. They will be installing the pieces this afternoon in the Oak Grove, and the story trail will be up through December 1.

Tonight from 4:00 to 7:00 in Folger Hall, the group will stage an awareness game called “Who’s on Fire.” On November 29, it will show the award-winning film Philadelphia at 5:30 p.m. in the Crimson Event Center in Folger Hall. After the film, people will be invited to offer personal testimonies. Information about AIDS also will be available.

My colleagues and I agree that one of the best things about working at a university is seeing the passion and commitment that our students have for important causes. Watching them take what they’ve learned in the classroom–and seeing how well our faculty members encourage them to take classroom experiences into real-life projects–makes me even more proud to be part of this university community.

P.S. Other AIDS awareness events on campus include the World AIDS Day Awareness Event on December 1 in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building, sponsored by the IUP Office of Health Awareness and the African American Cultural Center. The event opens with an open mic session at 7:00 p.m. and continues with a presentation at 8:00 p.m. with Dr. Linda Frank, associate professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh, who will provide an update on HIV. Dr. Frank also is the Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania-MidAtlatnic AIDS Education and Training Center.

There also will be information tables in Stapleton Library November 29 and November 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. offering more information about AIDS.

Wisnicki’s Examination of Livingstone’s Diary: Truths and Better Truths

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Regan Houser

Update, November 11: The BBC also featured this discovery, and the report can be seen on the BBC website. The Associated Press also filed a report, as did the New York Times.

The Google Alert I received in my in box yesterday morning made me say out loud, “Oh!” It was an article in the Washington Post about one of our own professors’ hunt for special treasure.

Adrian Wisnicki, who joined IUP’s faculty this fall, teaches British Literature in the English Department. His discovery and analysis of one of David Livingstone’s journals led to the story, which appeared in the November 1 edition. See the story.

Wisnicki, who is the codirector of the Center for Digital Humanities and Culture at IUP, initially went in search of Livingstone’s field diary for the insight it would provide on Central Africa’s culture in 1871, and he found it with the help of an archivist at the David Livingstone Center in Scotland. Wisnicki worked with Library of Congress spectral imaging experts to decipher the makeshift journal fashioned out of old newspaper and ink made from berries, which Livingstone, who was low on supplies, was forced to use. Wisnicki found discrepancies between Livingstone’s working journal–the tattered find from Scotland–and his ultimate published work.

The conclusion is that Livingstone may have chosen to bend the truth to hide a few details that, in hindsight, would have reflected badly on his pristine image, according to the article. The famous explorer, missionary, and physician published an account of a massacre that eventually led to the abolition of a certain slave market, but his diary tells a different account.

Not even after a hundred forty years can someone hide from a persistent person and spectral imaging. Facts are stubborn things, although Wisnicki is still analyzing the journal’s contents.

Wisnicki and the colleagues who worked on the project have ensured the full text of the journal is available online, hosted at UCLA’s library. See the David Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project.

Celebrating Native American Heritage

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

There’s a beautiful photograph in the president’s office at IUP, taken by retired Communications Media professor Richard Lamberski.

The photo, titled “We Have Survived,” is of a dance at the 2009 Tipton Powwow.

On November 12, it will be formally presented to IUP by Clifton Pembleton, chair of the IUP Native American Awareness Council, as a “cultural trust to the president of IUP with grateful appreciation from the IUP Native American Awareness Council.”

The presentation begins the fifth annual celebration of American Indian Heritage Month on campus, scheduled from noon to 5:00 p.m. in the Hadley Union Building Delaware Room. It’s free and open to the community and will feature a variety of performers, including Mathew White Eagle Clair, Bill Crouse, Drums of Native Sisters and Michael Jacobs.

Anyone who has had a longtime affiliation with IUP knows Clifton Pembleton and his wife, Sandy, who both recently retired from IUP, and how active they have been with the council and the work of creating more awareness about Native American culture.

Clif and Sandy are joined by several IUP faculty members on the Native American Awareness Council: Sarah Neusius, Anthropology, vice chair; Holly Boda-Sutton, Theater and Dance; James Dougherty and Melanie Hildebrandt, Sociology; Robert Millward and Monte Tidwell, Professional Studies in Education; Theresa Smith, Religious Studies; student Germaine McArdle (Oglala, Lakota Sioux); and Jennifer Soliday, Dan Mock, and Kinorea Tigris (Cherokee, Creek, Oglala, Lakota and Sioux).

IUP’s celebration of Native American Awareness Month came after Ms. Soliday, then an undergraduate, wrote to the IUP president, “I feel that it would be in the university’s best interest to demonstrate IUP’s sensitivity to American Indian culture and formally recognize this November, and every November, as American Indian Heritage Month.”

The president agreed, as did the IUP Council of Trustees. Talk about a great legacy and how one voice can truly make a difference.

Five years later, not only is the event gaining in popularity, but the NAAC is continuing its efforts to build awareness about Native American culture and to enhance and build Native American programs at IUP, including exchanges and educational events.

Sands of Compassion…Take a Peek

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

Imagine millions of grains of sand from Indiana, Pa., traveling throughout the world, with the mission of creating compassion wherever the streams, rivers, and oceans take them.

Stuart Chandler, a professor of Religious Studies and chairperson of the department, is responsible for the visit this week of ten Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery. The monks are creating a mandala of compassion in the Hadley Union Building. It’s fascinating to watch, and visitors also get a chance to build a community sand art project, using the same tools used by the monks.

And just in case you think it’s simple, or casual, think about this. The monks go through two years of training, memorizing hundreds of mandala designs, and must be chosen for this work. I wish I had a better word than “work”; it is not work in the way that we think of the term in America–it’s a way of life. Dr. Chandler told me that the head monk was born in Tibet and smuggled out of the country as a child, becoming a monk at the age of five. He never saw his family again. The monks all have a special role to play: some chant, some dance, some are the mandala creators.

I strongly encourage you to visit the program. During the mandala creation, the monks are silent unto themselves (for the seven hours per day that they work). They are in the HUB working from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. today, Thursday, and Friday; from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday; and from noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday.

But if you can’t get to the HUB, you can still be part of the project. There is a live webcam capturing the work being done on the mandala. The intensity of their concentration is evident, even over the Internet. (We are showing the live webcam on this entry, too. Refresh to update the picture.)

On Monday, the mandala will be completed–just for an hour, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.–and then will be swept up, with bags of sand being distributed to visitors. The rest of the sand will be carried in a vase by the monks down Philadelphia Street and put into a stream, to find its way into the ocean.

“It’s about filling the world with compassion,” Dr. Chandler explains.

The monks travel for two years and then return to the monastery in India. They have been to many colleges and universities throughout the United States and have been at the Smithsonian. IUP hosted the monks for a mandala construction in 2003 and 2006. These appearances also were arranged by Dr. Chandler, who has been at IUP since 2000. His area of concentration is the religions of China and Japan, especially Buddhism, and he has also conducted research closer to home. His “Eastern Religions Come to Western Pennsylvania” exhibition in 2005 at the University Museum reflected his study on the evolving religious landscape of Pennsylvania. His current project is the translation of the memoirs of Oishi Junkyo, a geisha, artist, and Buddhist nun in early twentieth century Japan.

When I think of the term “renaissance man,” Dr. Chandler comes to mind. In addition to his “day job,” in summer 2006, he bicycled 2,000 miles across the northern United States and Canada with his son Evan, and he also is a musician in the Indiana-famous Dad Band.

On Saturday evening, the monks will be at the Performing Arts Center’s Fisher Auditorium as part of the Lively Arts programming. “The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Song Sacred Dance” is a mixture of traditional dances, Tibetan multiphonic chanting, and other music to channel inner spirituality and enlightenment.

A pretty amazing week at IUP.

Welcome, Citizens!

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

I always enjoy the annual International Education Week events and presentations, especially the panel of students talking about how study abroad has made an impact on their lives. It’s very gratifying to hear from IUP students–many from tiny little towns here in Pennsylvania–who have had entire new worlds opened up to them due to study abroad opportunities.

But this year, we will be hosting something REALLY special and different.

On Friday, October 14, at 11:00 a.m. at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex’s Toretti Auditorium, 102 people from forty different countries will officially begin their lives as American citizens.

Last month, Michele Petrucci, director of IUP’s Office of International Education, was contacted by the Pittsburgh field office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“Would IUP be interested in hosting a naturalization ceremony?” they asked. “We are thinking about Friday, October 14,” (which just happened to be the final day of International Education Week. So perfect).

Dr. Petrucci checked with university leadership, and the answer was an enthusiastic “yes!”

In fact, David Werner, IUP’s interim president, agreed to welcome the candidates and offer remarks during the ceremony.

This particular ceremony will also have a very special meaning to one of our own. Pooja Rishi, originally from Madras, India, and a faculty member in the IUP Department of Political Science, will be naturalized Friday. She also will take part in the ceremony as a candidate speaker.

“It’s a sense of permanency,” she said of her upcoming citizenship. She and her husband are the parents of a young son, and she said that she also wanted to be a citizen for family reasons. “I’m here, in this community, raising my child. I have a stake in this community, and being a citizen is important to me.”

Becoming a citizen is not as easy as it seems. You cannot become a citizen simply by marrying an American citizen (I had that one wrong), and it takes years to complete the process. For Dr. Rishi, it took four years from the beginning of the process until the ceremony tomorrow, and she considers herself “very, very lucky” to have completed the process that quickly.

I’ve not been to a naturalization ceremony before–only seen them on television shows and in movies. I know how proud I am of my citizenship, which I way too often take for granted, so I can only imagine what it means to internationals who have worked hard to complete paperwork and pass the citizenship exams. (I understand that a lot of “born here in America” Americans would have some trouble passing that exam!)

The ceremony is open to the public and to media. If you have the time, come join us in welcoming some of American’s newest citizens. What a great end to IUP’s International Education Week.

Lost in Translation

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

IUP Department of Foreign Languages Spanish associate professor Marjorie Zambrano-Paff presented a paper titled “Mediated Humor in the Legal Setting: The Construction of New Identities,” at the 2011 International Society for Language Studies conference.

Okay, kind of an esoteric title. But a lot of times, the actual content of these academic papers is really intriguing and thought-provoking. When I read more on the Spanish Department’s website, I realized that her research and conclusions needed to be told.

My translation of her work? Well-credentialed Spanish professor + study of the fairness of immigration hearings = media interest. Especially in those states that are dealing with so many of those issues (Texas, Arizona, California).

I contacted her for a copy of the paper. Long story short, I sent out information to media with my own title (a little more casual and less academic): “Humor in Immigration Courtroom Not So Funny to Defendants.”

Here’s the general idea of what she found–my words, not hers–when judges try to be funny, even with good intentions of relaxing the defendant, it doesn’t really translate. I get that. I’m reading a book by Kelly McDonald, a marketing expert in Texas, who keeps stressing that you can’t just word-for-word translate colloquialisms from one language to another. For example, “Got Milk?” in English does not mean the same thing as “Got Milk?” in Spanish. I don’t remember the Spanish words for it, but in Spanish, this phrase means, “Are you a nursing mother?” Yikes.

Not long after I sent out the information on her research, a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times e-mailed me, asking for more from Dr. Zambrano-Paff. Not sure when the story will run, but when it does, it means that 317,274 subscribers will know how interesting IUP faculty are!

The Importance of Building a Culture of Philanthropy

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Regan Houser

You probably noticed the signs and sidewalk chalk messages during the first week of school. They were part of an educational campaign the Annual Giving Office sponsors to help students understand the impact of gifts from alumni and friends of IUP. It’s part of an effort to build a culture of philanthropic giving on campus. Students who understand how private gifts affect their education are more likely to understand why we ask them to give when they become alumni–and then respond by giving.

Activity like this is essential to the fund-raising process, and schools like IUP–state-owned institutions–have an additional hump to overcome, because of a misperception that we are fully funded by the commonwealth. Earlier this year, the New York Times ran an article that included interviews with administrators from numerous public universities. It described the misperception well:

When the State University of New York at Geneseo surveyed its alumni three years ago as part of a plan to increase fund-raising, the initial response was heartening. Former students described their time there with words like “love” and “the best four years.” Then came what one administrator, Michael J. Catillaz, called “the cold shower.” Asked if they would donate, almost all said they thought the university was financed entirely by the state. The state’s contribution was actually 25 percent, and it has been dropping ever since.

“Inviting alumni in large numbers to actively support the college is a foreign notion,” said Mr. Catillaz, the vice president for college advancement.

In truth, some of our current students have been inspired to give or facilitate philanthropic action on behalf of the university. The IUP Ambassadors, for example, conducted numerous fund-raisers to name a room in the new Kovalchick Complex. Members of the IUP History Club work tirelessly to make sure the Eric Slebodnik Memorial Scholarship, housed in the Foundation for IUP and established in memory of a student who died in the line of duty in Iraq, continues to help a deserving student. These same students also raise money for the Jack Kadlubowski Scholarship, established in memory of a late faculty member. There are other examples, but the point is that instilling in students the importance of the impact private gifts have will, we hope, reap long-term rewards after they leave us for the greater world.

Stories about student and alumni philanthropy that we can share with funding agencies and large-gift prospects often inspire them to also give. When members of the campus community give, they are expressing their belief in the institution. That’s a powerful thing. After all, charity does begin at home.

Good News “for a Change”

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Ms. Michelle S. Fryling

I truly do enjoy my job, and I am very appreciative of the folks who go out of their way to tell me that they are happy with the media coverage I’ve arranged. One of my favorite things is when folks e-mail me or stop me out walking around campus with story ideas. Alumni, especially, are very loyal to IUP, and they like to see their university represented fairly for the accomplishments of its students, faculty, and graduates. So, I try not to take it personally when I hear, “Let’s get some good news out there about IUP for a change.” I know they care deeply about IUP and its reputation and are just trying to help.

For the past several years, I’ve been maintaining a log of media hits on the What They Said web page. I think it’s a nice record of IUP in the news, and I hope that people (hint, hint: This means YOU, blog reader) visit it often.

But I’ve not really done an “official” count of media hits for several years, so, last year, I was asked to count and measure the number of “good news” stories about IUP out there with circulation information. Here’s what we found:

There were 435 positive stories about IUP from January 2010 to January 2011 in 46 different media outlets locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.

This does NOT include the hundreds of stories featured on our local radio station OR any stories on athletics. … I imagine the number would probably triple if I counted sports reports and features.

Anyway, these media hits ranged from places like Religion Dispatch (with a circulation of 2.3 million), the New York Times (circulation 740,007), and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune (circulation 534,750) to 29 hits in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (circulation 393,071), 22 hits in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (circulation 319,987), and 310 stories in the Indiana Gazette (circulation 16,000). Using what researchers call the “industry multiplier” (how many people actually read or hear news reports), this means that good news at IUP “for a change” reached 76,474,622 people. Yes, 76.5 million people.

Of course, we don’t catch every media hit, so this is just what I’ve been able to document. I think it’s a pretty impressive number.

That’s the good news. But be assured, I’m working to get that 76.5 million up past 100 million for 2011-2012,…so story tips and ideas are always welcome!