H&SS News - 2020

P E N N S TAT E B E H R E N D S C H O O L O F H U M A N I T I E S A N D S O C I A L S C I E N C E S | 2 0 2 0

8 MAKING ART, WHILE APART: STUDENTS FIND A WAY TO BE CREATIVE FROM AFAR 2 Data Visualization Minor Added 5 Dr. Gamble Reflects on 44-Year Career 12 Digital Artists Easily Detour to Remote Learning

ON THE COVER: Trumpet players Frank Corso ’20, left, and Joey Forish were two of many Behrend students who found ways to be creative together, while far apart.

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DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE The 2019-20 academic year was easily the most unusual I ever experienced in more than forty years in higher education. The fall was normal enough —welcoming new faculty, starting ERIC CORTY, PH.D. searches for faculty for next year, getting classes underway, Thanksgiving break, finals, all routine. But the spring …

Spring brought the novel coronavirus and our move from an almost entirely residential form of education to an entirely remote form. I sometimes think of Penn State as a huge ocean liner of an institution, and ocean liners don’t generally turn easily. But, in this case, we made a U-turn at record speed.

In just five days, the HSS faculty alone converted almost 300 classes from one mode of instruction to another. From a mode that we knew very well to one with which most of us had no experience. It was a remarkable transformation as our faculty rolled up their sleeves, shared tips and ideas with one another, and made it all work. Our students adapted, developed new traditions, and learned the meaning of resilience. Our staff, working from home, kept the ship afloat. All of us, I think, can be rightly proud of what we did.

As I write this, three months later, we still are not back. Student trips, academic conferences, visits by speakers, music and theater productions, internships—all canceled. It was particularly sad to say goodbye to retiring colleagues without being able to shake hands, exchange hugs, and share a cake.

We are planning to be back on campus for the fall semester, and I’m looking forward to that. We are now living in a world with facemasks, hand sanitizer, and social distance, a world that is developing new ways to have the conferences, speakers, and performances that are the cherries on the intellectual sundaes of college life. In the words of Diana Ross, “Someday, we’ll be together again.” I can’t wait. See you on campus in the fall.

Until then, keep your hands clean and your mask on.

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In Brief Data Visualization minor added We’re in the age of big data, when companies and organizations gather oceans of information about consumers. The volume of information can be overwhelming.

Managing that volume requires someone skilled in organizing, assessing, and packaging data to tell a visual story that provides the meaning behind the numbers to business leaders and non-technical types.

Enter one of the fastest growing professions and the newest minor to be offered by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences—Data Visualization. The coursework in the minor is designed to educate students in translating data into visual stories that provide insights for decision-makers in government, insurance, banking, health care, research, education, and more.

The minor is open to students in any major at Penn State Behrend. For more information, contact Dr. Lisa Jo Elliott, assistant teaching professor of psychology, at lje12@psu.edu or 814-898-6952.

STUDENTS PRACTICE ZOOM SPEAKING SKILLS Penn State Behrend students enrolled in the spring semester of CAS100 Effective Communication likely did not expect to be giving their public speaking presentations from their own homes via Zoom video conferencing. But the COVID-19 crisis changed a lot of things, and as Dr. Rod Troester, associate professor of speech communication, pointed out, some of those changes may be permanent.

“These students will likely be doing many such presentations in the future, so this is a taste of things to come,” Troester said. “I think this pandemic is going to change many things about the way we do business in the future. It may be that companies no longer want to fly people in from around the world to gather in a conference room when you can just as effectively communicate online with video software.”

To do their presentations, the students in CAS100 took turns speaking and sharing their computer screens with spreadsheets and other supporting materials they had created.

It’s easy to envision the same thing happening in a global company, with staff members collaborating and reporting from various locations around the world.

It will be second nature to these students, who will be digital natives wellversed in communicating their ideas and working together while miles apart.

FACULTY NEWS ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES

PUBLIC ART PROJECT BRIGHTENS CAMPUS The greenspace between Reed Union Building and Erie Hall had a little extra color this past year. “Colorwalk,” an outdoor art installation made up of more than 8,000 stacked pink plastic discs, meandered through a tree line near the Reed Building.

As part of Penn State’s Campus Arts Initiative, Cleveland-based sculptor Lauren Herzak-Bauman worked with faculty members and students in the plastics engineering technology (PLET) program to mold and fabricate the discs needed for “Colorwalk,” which was on display from last November through July of this summer.

“Colorwalk” was unique in how the project achieved the cross-disciplinary mission of the Campus Arts Initiative. Behrend arts administration students assisted with selection of the artist and helped document and promote the project while PLET students worked alongside the artist to fabricate the plastic discs.

Lawmakers drop in on Political Science Zoom meeting Students in the Political Science program typically end the academic year at a celebratory dinner with their faculty members. This year, with restaurants closed due to COVID-19, the program’s chair, Dr. Robert Speel, came up with something different: A group Zoom call with surprise appearances by U.S. Senator Bob Casey and U.S. Representative Guy Reschenthaler.

“It was a way to still have the dinner, and to make it one they’ll remember,” said Speel, an associate professor of political science.

Casey talked with the group for nearly 15 minutes. Reschenthaler, who graduated from Behrend with a Political Science degree in 2004, spent nearly an hour on the call.

“It wasn’t quite, ‘Please hold for the president,’” said John Jarecki, now a Political Science graduate who will continue his studies at the University of Dayton School of Law this fall, “but it was still pretty surreal.”

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes professor Dr. Elisa BesheroBondar, digital media, arts, and technology; assistant teaching professor Justin Fanzo, game design; and assistant teaching professor Michelle Cook, elementary and early childhood education. In turn, the School bid a fond farewell to several longtime faculty and staff members. Dr. Mary Connerty, teaching professor of English and English language learning, retired after 23 years; Dr. Sharon Dale, professor of art history and arts administration, retired after 30 years; and distinguished professor Dr. John Gamble, political science and international law, closed out a Behrend career that spanned more than 40 years. Administrative support specialist Jackie May left Behrend after 25 years. They will all be missed.

HONORS, DISTINCTIONS, AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS Dr. Melanie Hetzel-Riggin, professor of psychology, won a 2019-2020 Women Making History Award given by Erie’s Mercy Center for Women. Two faculty members won college-wide awards: Dr. Shariffah Sheik Dawood, assistant teaching professor of psychology, Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award; and Dr. Lena SurzhkoHarned, assistant teaching professor of political science, the Guy W. Wilson Excellence in Academic Advising Award. Two professors won school awards: Dr. John Champagne, professor of English, won the research award; and Dr. Ashley Sullivan, assistant professor of early childhood education, earned the outreach award. Emily Cassano, theatre, was promoted to assistant teaching professor. Dr. Sarah Whitney, English and women’s studies, and Dr. Ashley Yochim, English, were both promoted to associate teaching professor.

RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE GUY RESCHENTHALER ’04

U.S. SENATOR BOB CASEY

Faculty members published more than fifty articles and book chapters, presented more than 100 conference papers and posters, and were awarded more than forty research and travel grants. They also published the following books: Dr. Joseph Beilein, history, editor of William Gregg’s Civil War: The Battle to Shape the History of Guerrilla Warfare; Dr. John Champagne, English, Queer Ventennio, Italian Fascism, Homoerotic Art, and the Nonmodern in the Modern; Dr. Matthew Levy, arts administration, Abstract Painting and the Minimalist Critiques: Robert Mangold, David Novros, and Jo Baer in the 1960s; Dr. Ashley Sullivan, elementary and early childhood education, and Dr. Laurie Urraro, Spanish, Voices of Transgender Children in Early Childhood Education: Reflections on Resistance and Resiliency.

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In Brief continued Alumnus teaches in Vienna POLITICAL SCIENCE DEGREE, GERMAN STUDIES CERTIFICATE LEAD TO AUSTRIAN ADVENTURE Zane Dilts ’19 is clearly the kind of person who enjoys a challenge. The Schreyer Honors College graduate majored in Political Science, minored in Applied Economics, and also earned a German Studies certificate.

“During my sophomore year, I spent a semester in Freiberg, Germany,” he said. “I loved that experience and knew then that I wanted to spend more time abroad after graduation.”

Teaching English was a great way to achieve that goal, and Dilts worked hard to secure a fully funded United States Teaching Assistantship (USTA) and was placed in Vienna, Austria, for the 2019-20 school year.

As a teaching assistant, Dilts primarily discussed cultural issues, politics, and everyday life in America, rather than teaching grammar or grading students’ work. He worked at two different schools, which is common in the USTA program, alternating weeks at each. His youngest students were 10 and 11 years old and the oldest were high school seniors.

“It was fascinating to hear outside views and opinions of America,” he said. “It turns out that Austrian teens love Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande. The blank stares they gave me when I told them my favorite musicians were Bob Dylan and David Bowie led me to believe older rock is a little less popular.”

Dilts fell in love with the city.

“I never got used to just how stunning every corner of Vienna is,” he said. “I lived near the first district, the city’s historic center, where many of the famous sites are. I spent many nights just walking around, gazing at the buildings and statues.”

He also found it to be more multifaceted than he expected.

“Around Christmas time, I went to a Christmas market, then to an orchestral concert at the Rathaus, then to an underground punk show. This was all in one night and the locations were just fifteen minutes apart. Vienna really has it all, except good Mexican food!”

Though Dilts was far from home, he was still affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Austria was quick to respond to the threat and enact measures,” he said. “Schools were closed in late March and classes shifted online, so, like many in America, I taught through Zoom and similar services.”

His former German professor is not surprised at his perseverance.

“Apparently nothing, not even a pandemic, can stop Zane from attaining the goals he sets for himself,” said Dr. Eva Kuttenberg, associate professor of German.

With an extension of funding through the USTA program, Dilts plans to return to Austria in September to again serve as a teaching assistant.

“Then, I hope to pursue a master’s degree related to economics, hopefully at a German university,” he said.

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Zane Dilts in front of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.

THOUSANDS PARTICIPATE IN LAKE EFFECT POETRY CONTEST Each year, the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing hosts a high school poetry contest, inviting writers in grades 9 through 12 from across the country to submit their best prose to the Lake Effect National High School Poetry Competition.

The 2019 competition drew more than 3,000 submissions. From among those, B.F.A. in creative writing faculty members selected three winners of cash prizes, nine finalists, and forty semi-finalists. All finalists received a copy of Lake Effect, an international journal of the literary arts edited by B.F.A. faculty members and students.

The winning poem by Kate Li of Naperville, Illinois, is below. See all finalists’ poems at behrend.psu. edu/2019poetrycontest.

NAMES OF LEFTOVER MEN AND WOMEN

In Chinese, idioms are four characters.

Only the flatness of a tongue keeps four (sì) from bleeding into death (sǐ).

Each family knows the difference— rain-slick boulevard streets, carpets

of flattened millipedes. Uncle slips open the apartment window, watches

beyond beer belly as hills knuckle into fishless rivers. My cheeks ripple

too loosely when I laugh; my grandparents eye me, say I’ve gained weight. They’re refusing

to un-teeth & I’m noticing mosquito-infested ponds, how the wounds here are raised & livid

on skin, as if hiding larvae that can’t sleep.

The cities, swimming in shadow, bring Uncle

& every other unmarried man the same wish: a woman to call his own,

jaws from which to unhitch a name of three characters in a country

mechanized by si. At night, my grandparents drape a wet towel

onto my bed frame like a canopy, repeating my name

as if to burnish it.

Farewell, Dr. Gamble PROFESSOR REFLECTS ON HIS 44-YEAR CAREER THERE ARE FORTY-FOUR LETTERS IN THE HUNGARIAN ALPHABET, AND FOUR OF THEM ARE VERSIONS OF “O.” Dr. John Gamble knows this because he has a friend who is from Hungary. They have talked for hours about the alphabet, and how the verbs and genders work, even though Gamble has no immediate plans to return to Hungary.

In July, when he retires, he will move to Redmond, Wash., to be closer to his son and his family.

“I am curious about everything,” said Gamble, a distinguished professor of political science and international law and the longest-serving faculty member at Penn State Behrend. “I always have been.”

Gamble is a natural academic: He was the first faculty member at Behrend to reach the rank of full professor, and the first to publish a book, and he’s comfortable at a lectern, despite a lifelong stutter. When he asks a question, he doesn’t rush toward the definitive answer. He approaches it like a “Jeopardy” board.

He has refused to silo himself: In his forty-four years at Behrend, he has published fourteen books and more than 100 chapters and journal articles. He has given lectures at Oxford, Cambridge, and the United Nations, and has insisted that his students always consider the international perspective.

“It’s often hard for Americans to accept the fact that we aren’t the best at everything,” he said. “The surest way to guarantee that you won’t be the best is to rest on your laurels and not continually challenge yourself. And where better to do that, than at college?”

HERE’S A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF WHAT HE HAS LEARNED, IN HIS OWN WORDS: In my first year as a student at the College of Wooster, I took a chemistry course. I took my first test, and I got an A on it. The professor went around the room and called on people, asking them questions, and one day he called on me.

He asked me something I knew cold, but

“We should admit that we don’t have all the answers.

We’re never going to. Life is just too complicated.

And we should be more open to different ways of explaining ‘complicated stuff.’”

— DR. JOHN GAMBLE

I couldn’t answer him. I froze, because of my stuttering, and he kind of made fun of me. So I dropped chemistry.

Political science came easily to me. I could see the relevance of it on so many levels.

That was in 1963, which was the beginning of a sea change not just in politics, but in the look and behavior of students. I went with the other freshmen to an assembly, where the president of Wooster spoke. His speech in many ways seemed very liberal, in the best sense of that word. Then, at the very end, he felt the need to point out that one of the men in the audience had a beard—a short, carefully cultivated beard. He said that wasn’t an acceptable look for the College of Wooster. Two or three years later, of course, expressing such a sentiment would have been unimaginable.

I was at the University of Washington from 1967 to 1971. There were huge protests about the Vietnam War. I remember sitting in my office, looking out the window, and seeing 20,000 students on Interstate 5. They blocked all six lanes, closing the major interstate connecting Washington and California.

Students are different today, but how different? Was there more change from 1920 to 1960 than from 1980 to 2020?

In terms of politics, today’s students are as involved as ever. I think the most enthusiasm I’ve ever seen from students was in the presidential election four years ago. But for the most part, they’re enthusiastic now, too.

Teaching politics and government seems harder than ever. The United States is in a more complicated place.

Our institutions seem unable to rise to the occasion. There are deep political differences—the Republicans and the Democrats can’t even talk to each other.

There are solutions to this: campaign-finance reform, for example, and strict limits on the length of campaigns. But they’re not going to happen in my lifetime.

We should admit that we don’t have all the answers. We’re never going to.

Life is just too complicated. And we should be open to different ways of explaining “complicated stuff.”

I did an experiment with one course.

I was teaching comparative politics—125 students in the Reed auditorium. Right before every lecture, I gave myself a grade for how well I knew the material.

Then, immediately after the class, I gave myself a grade for how well that class had gone. There was a strong, inverse correlation between the two.

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Continued from page 5 When you know a subject especially well and you can explain it quickly and concisely and thoroughly, but it is still a complicated subject, that creates a problem for the students. The nuance doesn’t always come through. Often, I go off on a tangent, to clarify an important point.

I was 30 when I interviewed for the job at Behrend. The campus was so much smaller. Back then, we had only about 1,000 students, and we had just gotten the go-ahead to become a college, which would allow students to remain here for all four years. Only 10 or 15 percent of them stayed. But I like the place. I always felt free to speak my mind.

At the beginning of every course I teach, I explain to the students that I stutter, sometimes quite a bit.

I say, “I know a lot of you are scared to death to open your mouth. You’re thinking, ‘Will my classmates think I’m stupid? Will they laugh at me?’”

By acknowledging my stutter, I can reassure them. I say, “There is not a feeling you have that I haven’t experienced in a first-hand way.” When I say that, and I look out at the class, I see this wave of relief just wash over their faces.

I always felt I had an obligation to explain to my students why the information they get from my class will be important to them, regardless of what they plan to do with their lives. I had one student who was obviously very smart.

She was an engineering student, a Schreyer Scholar, and she already had a job lined up. She was assiduously prepared for each class, but up until week eight, it was clear that she was thinking, “What does this have to do with me being an engineer?”

In week eight, I took a detour and talked about the European Union. I explained that in an interconnected world, a lot of the standards for products engineered in the United States might now be set in Brussels.

And it clicked for her. I could see the gears meshing. That’s a wonderful moment for a professor. That may be what I’ll miss the most.

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PROFESSOR’S BOOK EXPLORES GUERRILLA EXPERIENCE DURING THE CIVIL WAR

T

hey attacked at dawn, riding in on horses, with torches—nearly 400 men, led by William Clarke Quantrill, the straight-backed bushwhacker whose guerrilla tactics bedeviled Union forces as the Civil War tore through Missouri.

As they prepared for that morning—August 21, 1863—Quantrill and his men had crossed the border, riding toward Lawrence, Kansas, a stronghold of anti-slavery sentiment. They were angry. Their homes had been plundered; their families harassed. Their wives and sisters had been targeted by General Order No. 10, which called for the arrest of anyone giving aid or comfort to Confederate guerrillas. The collapse of a makeshift prison in Kansas City had killed four women and broken the legs of a girl— a 13-year-old who had been shackled to her bed. Her cousin was among Quantrill’s men.

As they approached the town, a lieutenant, William H. Gregg, spotted a Union camp. He and his men raised their weapons.

“The command on reaching the open space in which the tents were standing deployed right and left and charged the camp,” Gregg wrote, “and in three minutes there was not a tent standing nor a man alive.”

The town’s residents would fare no better. Quantrill’s raiders dragged 182 men from their homes and shot them in the streets. Then they set fire to the buildings.

“Quantrill’s order was to kill, kill, kill,” Gregg wrote. “Make no mistake, Lawrence is the hotbed and should be thoroughly cleansed, and the only way to cleanse it is to kill.”

‘A WAR FOR THE PRESENT’ Gregg’s account of the massacre at Lawrence is graphic but abbreviated, considering the significance of the event. Just two pages of his war memoir, which he completed in 1906, describe the attack.

In his telling, the guerrillas’ long and trying return to Missouri is a far better story. Federal troops were hot on the group’s trail, and skirmishes erupted at every turn. At Black Jack Point, Gregg was given the command of sixty men and told to protect the rear of the column.

“Whatever you do,” Quantrill said, “don’t let them break your line.”

Within minutes, 1,200 Union men were upon them.

That choice of narrative makes sense to Dr. Joseph Beilein, an associate professor of history at Penn State Behrend. His new book, “William Gregg’s Civil War,” publishes Gregg’s manuscript in full for the first time, providing insight into the lives of Gregg, Quantrill and the guerrilla fighters who shaped the Civil War in Missouri.

“Gregg was trying to get a lot off his chest,” Beilein said.

“He was seeing other men do that, and he wanted his story to be told, too. He frames himself as a sort of commonground storyteller. He doesn’t romanticize anything. He doesn’t make it look chivalrous. But there are important things that he omits.

“He doesn’t really want to process the terrible stuff,” Beilein said. “He gets right up to it, but then he sort of pulls away.

He can’t really go there, because he knows this is going to be read by people, and they’re going to judge him. He doesn’t want to cross that final bridge.”

At the time Gregg was writing, newspapermen and early Civil War historians were increasingly framing the Confederate defeat as “The Lost Cause”— a campaign triggered by secession, rather than slavery.

The bushwhackers continued to be cast as the villains, however, even by other Southerners.

“Quantrill and his men have been unjustly slandered by the people of the North, a people who even to this day know nothing of them except what they have read in irresponsible books and newspapers,” Gregg wrote. “The time has come when their minds should be disabused.”

For Beilein, who first wrote about Gregg in his 2016 book, “Bushwhackers: Guerrilla Warfare, Manhood, and the Household in Civil War Missouri,” that effort to reset the narrative does not disqualify Gregg’s account, which the old soldier had titled “A Little Dab of History without Embellishment.”

“More than any other event in American history, the Civil War has been fought and refought through the written word and in American minds,” Beilein said. “The story of the Gregg memoir, then, is the story of men and women fighting over the past to win a war for the present.”

‘THE MOMENT THAT MEANT SOMETHING’ By studying Gregg’s hand-written manuscript, which is archived in the library at the University of Missouri, Beilein gained a more nuanced perspective of the guerrilla experience.

“Gregg’s voice is important, because it influenced the way successive generations understood the Civil War,” he said.

“ The story of the Gregg memoir is the story of men and women fighting over the past to win a war for the present.”

—DR. JOSEPH BEILEIN

“It stood out from the growing chorus singing the same old tune about Grant and Lee, the Blue and the Gray, Vicksburg and Gettysburg.”

Gregg is particularly valuable as a proxy for Quantrill, who died in 1865. That was clear even as he drafted his manuscript, which was purchased by William E. Connelley, an amateur historian, for the sum of $150. The men corresponded over a period of six years, through letters Gregg signed, “As ever, your friend.”

Beilein includes the letters in his book. He frames them within a context that shifts the entire correspondence: Connelley at no point intended to publish Gregg’s manuscript.

He double-crossed him, lifting from his narrative and using Gregg’s connections to other guerrillas to authenticate his own book, “Quantrill and the Border Wars.”

Gregg’s tale deserves to be more than a footnote, however.

He was instrumental in the guerrillas’ campaign, which influenced the larger war. His manuscript, and his correspondence with Connelley, tells an equally important story—how the men who fought the Civil War continued to battle over how it would be remembered.

“That fits a larger theme we see among veterans of every major conflict,” Beilein said. “Ten or fifteen years after the war, they often want to sit down and record their story. They realize that they lived through something big, and they circle back to that as the moment in their life that meant something.”

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MAKING ART

WHILE APART When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Penn State Behrend faculty and students to transition to remote instruction and learning at the end of the academic year, the musical and performing arts were particularly challenged. How do you host a spring band concert when members are spread out across the country? How do you put on a stage performance when the actors are not even in the same city?

“My first reaction was complete panic, not so much for my lecture-based courses, but more so for my acting class and the spring musical (‘Carrie’) that I was directing,” said Emily Cassano, assistant teaching professor of theatre.

Dr. Gary Viebranz, teaching professor of music and director of instrumental ensembles, said he kicked into “what if” mode. “I started considering the options and tried to come up with something practical,” he said. “Video conferencing tools, such as Zoom, are not fast enough or reliable enough to replicate traditional rehearsals online, so I knew the plan had to focus primarily on developing individual performances.”

Fortunately, artists and musicians are skilled at thinking outside the box. Creativity is their jam. Here are just a few of the ways Behrend faculty members and students found to continue making art while apart.

A VIRTUAL CABARET In a typical spring semester, students in Music 103 Concert Choir and Music 104 Chamber Singers are busy working toward their big project, a full-length concert. When it became clear that was not going to be possible this year, Dr. Gabrielle Dietrich, associate teaching professor of music and director of choral ensembles, came up with a plan to allow each student to step into the spotlight—a virtual cabaret performance.

“I knew the students enjoyed a variety of musical styles and might like the chance to work on individual vocal development and a piece of music that spoke to them personally,” Dietrich said, “so we decided to do a video cabaret, featuring music, song, dance, or drama. Each student chose their own song, which I then purchased for them to use, and they had several individual coaching sessions with me to prepare for the performance.”

Students recorded their own videos, which Dietrich uploaded to YouTube and compiled into one “show,” which the classes gathered to watch together virtually.

“I truly enjoyed the light-heartedness some of my students brought to the table in their interpretations and their staging, and also the deep feeling and musical sensitivity and instinct they demonstrated.”

A hidden benefit: “I like that my students had the challenging experience of being confronted by the honesty of a recording,” she said. “When we’re in rehearsal, they rely on me for feedback. I work hard to focus on the positives and play to our strengths. Recording devices have no tact. It was a good learning experience.”

Another positive outcome: “I think the group that participated in the cabaret now feel more connected to one another and have a greater understanding and appreciation of one another’s skills and contributions than groups that have met in person all semester long.”

Get links to the students’ work, including a remote band concert, cabaret performances, a spoken word soundscape, and more at behrend.psu.edu/hssnews.

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THE SHOW MUST GO ON(LINE)

MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC REMOTELY

Cassano was able to transition her theatre and acting classes to a remote format, with some courses proving more challenging than others to teach from afar.

“Intro to Theatre students were already planning to do group projects when they returned, so it was easy enough for me to give them extra time to meet on Zoom,” Cassano said. “I recorded my own videos they could use as an example, set up discussion threads, and was able to do a few online exams. All in all, it went smoothly.”

Cassano’s musical theatre students worked on solo projects and, in an unusual way, benefitted from one aspect of the COVID shutdown. “One of the nice things was that many different outlets released recordings of live performances online, so my students had access to many more musicals than they would normally have,” she said.

Fundamentals of Acting was a more challenging class to teach remotely. “It’s hard to demonstrate more detailed acting methods for them,” she said. But, again, the collective problem inspired global collaboration. “A large number of theatre professionals created Facebook group pages where we could share remote teaching methods and ideas,” she said.

Ultimately the biggest hardship for Cassano and her students was canceling the spring musical they had worked so hard on. They have tentative plans to perform it in the fall, if guidelines allow. “I spoke with each of the seniors who were cast in the show and decided if they could swing it, they could participate in the show if we are able to do it in the fall.”

A band or ensemble is literally a group of people making music together. What do you do when those people can’t be in the same room, city, or state?

“I sent band members new music to work on individually,” Viebranz said. “These were short works, about two minutes long. The percussion piece didn’t call for traditional instruments; students could create their own from common household items.”

The initial plan was straightforward (learn the music, record it, send it to Viebranz) and was based on a three-week absence from campus. Once it was determined that the rest of the semester would be remote, Viebranz pivoted.

“Students were presented with an asynchronous project that explored the elements of music through short vocal improvisation on various topics,” he said. “Finished work was uploaded to create a repository of sound files. These were then assembled to create a ‘sound collage,’ with the final product being a fourmovement ‘Remote Motet’ on the theme ‘Behrend is …‘ ” Viebranz’s students came together, virtually, on the scheduled concert date to see and hear their composition. They closed out the semester with a virtual alma mater, inviting alumni to join current students in creating a performance video for commencement.

Though the virtual performances exceeded Viebranz’s expectations, he looks forward to a return to normal. When they can practice in person again, he plans to play the pieces the students worked on remotely in an effort to bring some closure to the remote experience.

“Conducting to a video camera is an empty, solitary feeling, and recording a single part in isolation is unfulfilling for most,” he said. “A large ensemble is greater than the sum of its parts; it’s our awareness, responsiveness, and collective interaction that turns something technical into something artistic, something human. Music should be personal, but it shouldn’t be lonely.”

Though the virtual performances exceeded Dr. Gary Viebranz’s expectations, he looks forward to a return to normal. When they can practice in person again, he plans to play the pieces students worked on remotely to bring closure to the remote experience.

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Penn State Behrend

PENN STATE BEHREND’S H&SS STUDENTS students succeed in and SUCCEED IN AND OUT OFout THE of CLASSROOM. the classroom. Here HERE ARE A JUST A are some of the many FEW OFjust THE RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY students who recorded STANDOUT STUDENTS.

Student Success

remarkable accomplishments and achievements this academic year.

STUDENT RESEARCHERS AWARDED FOR EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION LITERACY The libraries across Penn State have a common goal: to ensure students have the information literacy skills they need to enter a scholarly conversation and create new knowledge. To support this goal, each spring, the libraries reward students with undergraduate research awards for outstanding work. The awards recognize research that showcases exemplary information literacy skills.

The librarians in Penn State Behrend’s John M. Lilley Library chose three student winners, two of whom graduated in May: Anabella Lassiter ’20, an English graduate, won first place and $300 for her research work with Dr. Amy Carney, associate professor of history. “The Men Behind the Swastika: German POWs in Northwestern Pennsylvania,” focused on German prisoners of war in North East, Pennsylvania. Lassiter was also the recipient of the college’s Archie K. Loss Undergraduate Thesis Award.

Anabella Lassiter ’20

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Anny Lin

Anny Lin, a sophomore Nursing major, received $100 for her research work “Optimizing Sexual Identity Development Among Asian American Adolescents,” undertaken with Dr. Charisse Nixon, professor of psychology.

Marissa Litzenberg ’20, who graduated with dual degrees in History and Political Science, won $100 for her research work “Richard Strauss’s Role in the Aryanization and Censorship of Music in Nazi Germany” with Carney.

Marissa Litzenberg ’20

SCIENCE STORYTELLING = CAREER EXPERIENCE Penn State Behrend’s School of Science began offering free Science Story Time events to the Erie community a few years ago, each pairing a storybook reading with a hands-on science lesson for preschool-age children.

The outreach program offers young children, accompanied by a parent or caregiver, the chance to visit campus and learn that science can be fun. The program, which was started by Tracy Halmi, associate teaching professor in chemistry, was instantly popular.

When the COVID-19 crisis forced the cancellation of all gatherings on campus this spring, Halmi decided to take Science Story Time online with a series of videos. Enter Kennedy Wittman, a senior majoring in Elementary Kennedy Wittman hosts an episode of Science Story Time. and Early Childhood Education.

Under Halmi’s guidance, Wittman took the lead on experiment or learn something new. While we couldn’t lesson planning, which gave her valuable experience for see that online, I’m confident that was still happening her future career as an elementary school teacher. She shot at home.” the videos in her home, demonstrating fun experiments Wittman said the experience helped her build such as “lava lamp in a glass,” “balloon rocket,” and confidence and boosted her science knowledge. She “three-ingredient slime.” The videos were then posted on plans to continue helping with Science Story Time in the college’s website at behrend.psu.edu/storytime. the upcoming academic year.

“I really enjoyed being involved in Science Story Time “I learned so much more about science myself, and because it’s fun to interact with the kids,” Wittman said. “It I feel like I will be much more confident in teaching is amazing to see their excitement and joy when they try an science to my future students.”

SGA PRESIDENT LEAVES A LEGACY John Jarecki, who graduated in May, won the 2020 Zachary T. Irwin Humanitarian Award presented by the School of H&SS. The award recognizes a Political Science major who has contributed to making the Behrend campus and the Erie community better places.

During his time at Behrend, Jarecki was involved in several student activities and organizations, most notably serving as president of the Student Government Association. In that leadership role, he advocated for a commuter lounge in Smith Chapel and a new Lion Bench near the entrance to Senat Hall in the recently expanded Ben Lane Plaza. The bench was purchased by the SGA with a goal of connecting Behrend students to the larger Penn State identity.

Jarecki, who plans to attend law school this fall, also won the 2020 H&SS Junior/Senior Writing Award.

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Molly Boniger, who majored in English with a concentration in Film and Literature, was the student marshal representing the School of H&SS at May commencement.

Boniger was on the Dean’s List every semester, received the Outstanding English Major Award and the Evan Pugh Scholar Award, and was the recipient of the Larry V. and Kathryn A. Smith Family Trustee Scholarship. Her proudest accomplishments while at Behrend included her participation in the college’s theatre program and helping with a psychology study on pronoun-usage in her fourth semester of school.

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“I’m grateful for all the friendships I have made at Behrend, and to the faculty members who pushed me and helped me grow in my education,” Boniger said. “I can say proudly that I have changed for the better after four years here at Behrend.”

Remote Learning Detour No Problem for Digital Artists While the transition to remote learning and teaching was challenging, for some, it was also a valuable real-world learning experience.

“In the commercial digital art market, clients and collaborators are often working from all corners of the globe,” said Tommy Hartung, assistant teaching professor of digital media, arts, and technology. “Remote work experience is an excellent skill for students to learn. Digital art requires multiple layers of technology across many platforms and typically is not tied to a geographic location.”

As Hartung prepared students for a remote workflow, he comforted them with his own personal experience.

“I am often working on multiple projects with clients using the very same tools and remote production techniques they were going to use,” he said. “From a smartphone, I can access a variety of digital projects, control computers in other countries, and establish great working relationships with people I may never meet in person.”

Virtual Reality (VR) technology was a valuable tool for Hartung and students, too.

“The DIGIT (Digital Media, Arts, and Technology) program purchased and sent all students a device that turns any smartphone into a VR headset, so I was able to share educational content with students as VR experiences, which supplemented their assignments. Students also learned how to create their own VR content, too.”

Hartung requires students to keep digital journals and share class entries to create “micro-cultures” within each class.

Entries are uploaded to a YouTube channel called Digital Humans (https://bit.ly/3euMwX8).

“The journal entries for the spring 2020 semester were moving, to say the least,” he said. “We had in-class watch parties allowing everyone to see and understand how we live and work. It significantly improved morale when we could see one other at home being bored, playing music, walking dogs, and struggling to keep up with the demands of remote learning. Art brings collective catharsis and helps us release stress in this way.”

H&SS News is published annually and provided free to alumni and friends of the Penn State Behrend School of Humanities and Social Sciences by the Office of Strategic Communications, William V. Gonda, wvg2@psu.edu, senior director. Editor: Heather Cass, hjc13@psu.edu. Designer: Martha Ansley Campbell, mac30@psu.edu. This publication is available in alternative media on request.

Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. U.Ed. EBO 21-101

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