Dr. Francis J. Vasko, professor of math-ematics, has been teaching at Kutz-town University since September 1986.

In 1974, Dr. Vasko received his B.S. in math-ematics education, graduating with highest honors from Kutztown State. He then moved on to Lehigh University where he eventually received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering/operations research. Before coming to teach at Kutztown, and while studying for his Ph.D., he worked as an employee in the Re-search Department at Bethlehem Steel solving a variety of real-world applications in opera-tions research. He then served as a consultant to Bethlehem Steel Corporation from Septem-ber 1986 thru March 2003.

In 2005, Dr. Vasko was awarded the C. R. Chambliss Faculty Research Award. This award is given to Kutztown University fac-ulty who are conducting the highest level of

research at the school. Over the last 20 years, Dr. Vasko has published 45 papers which have been read and discussed internationally. Besides publishing his own papers, he has also acted as a ref-eree for papers between authors divided by continents, languages and seas.

In discussing his teaching and research, Dr. Vasko stresses the words “practical” and “holistic.” His experience at Beth-lehem Steel gave him the unique op-portunity to use mathematics to solve real-world business problems. In effect, those experiences have given him an invaluable first-person perspective which he brings into the classroom, validating and enhancing the importance of his students’ projects and stud-ies, thus allowing his students to understand how math can be used and implemented in the workplace and actual situations. His ex-

perience with Bethlehem Steel has also given him valuable communication skills in dealing with non-mathematicians. He brings this wis-dom into the business math classes he teaches at KU.

His current and future work includes both undergraduate students as well as KU faculty members from other departments. At the mo-ment, he is working with undergraduates on a project concerning Ant Colony Optimiza-tion, a controversial topic involving intense statistical analysis using several computers simultaneously. His current and future pre-occupation is with DNA computing, a topic which spans the globe, involving biophysics and intense laboratory work.

Dean’s Corner Dr. Bashar Hanna

On Saturday May 12, 2007, the largest graduating class in the history of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at Kutztown University earned their degrees. We congratulate these 429 students who join the CLAS alumni/ae family.

I am certain these newly conferred CLAS graduates will make valuable contributions in their discipline of study and society as a whole, whether entering the workforce, teach-ing or continuing their education.

I am also pleased to report that we are projecting more than 500 freshman to enroll in the CLAS in the fall. We look for-ward to welcoming these students to the CLAS family and to our beautiful campus.

Summer2007

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Website can be found at www. kutztown.edu/academics/liberal_arts/index.shtml

Ruthie Malenda graduated in May with a B.S. in physics degree. Miss Malenda began her college career as a math major, a sub-ject which she always liked, particularly because it provided her

a sense of certainty in what she was doing. Pondering the applicability of the math she was learning, however; Miss Malenda became drawn to physics by Dr. Paul V. Quinn who showed her how her ability and knowledge in mathematics could be applied in a more useful, detailed manner. She then submerged herself in physics research in order to discover whether or not she liked it. She never looked back.

Miss Malenda is the author of a research paper on fission titled “Visu-alization of Dissociative Recombination of Electrons with C3H3+.” The paper expounds on how she created a molecular dynamics computer program to model the interaction of atoms in C3H3+, a molecular ion which only exists on one of planet Jupiter’s moons.

Busy with her studies and research, Miss Malenda had little time for hobbies. She was, however, the president of The Society of Physics Stu-dents at KU. During the spring semester, she led the society to Princ-eton University where they visited its Plasma Chambers, machines that study the fission problems she addressed in her paper and research. She found the visit to be a particularly stimulating experience.

Miss Malenda was involved in Lehigh University’s REU (Re-search Experiences for Under-graduates), a program sponsored by the National Science Founda-tion and led by Dr. Peet Hick-man of Lehigh University. She presented her research paper to the REU group at Lehigh, The So-ciety of Physics Students at KU, as well as the KU Board of Trustees. Miss Malenda will attend gradu-ate school at Lehigh University, where she will enter a five-year program that will culminate with a doc-toral degree in physics.

Her father, James W. Malenda, is a Kutztown University professor of fine metals and jewelry making. Influenced in part by the time her fa-ther spent with her each summer with his profession, Miss Malenda would eventually like to teach physics at the college level.

Kutztown University is involved in its decennial re-accreditation process through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. There are six regional accreditation commissions for higher education in the United States (i.e., Middle States, New England, North Central, Northwest, Southern, and Western). The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is the regional institutional ac-creditor for 522 colleges and universities in Penn-sylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary-land, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and several overseas locations.

Kutztown was first accredited in 1944 as Kutztown State Teachers College and was most recently re-affirmed by the commission through a Periodic Review Report in November 2003.

In the 2005–2006 academic year, a 19-member steering committee and 14 subcommittees, rep-resenting faculty, staff, and students, was formed to gather data and answer 110 self-study research questions related to 14 Middle States standards of excellence. These committees are currently in the process of preparing a comprehensive self-study report not only for the Middle States evaluation

team but also for the entire campus community.

Dr. Arnold Speert, president of William Paterson University and chair of the evaluation team, has been invited to campus for a preliminary visit on October 29–30, 2007. This will be followed by the evaluation team visit on March 30–April 2, 2008. For more information, please check the Kutztown University Middle States website at www.kutztown.edu/committees/middlestates or contact Dr. Car-ole V. Wells, chair, Middle States Steering Commit-tee.

Middle StateS decennial Review

Ms. Jane Todd Cooper, Department of English, as J.C.Todd, co-edited a special feature on contemporary Slovenian poetry in translation for The Drunken Boat (Fall/Winter).

Dr. Dan Featherston, Department of English, published the books: “Into the Earth,” Phila-delphia: Quarry Press, 2005. “United States,” Ithaca, NY: Factory School Press, 2005.

Dr. Michael Gabriel, Department of History, published 13 entries in “The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History,” ABC-Clio, 2006.

Dr. Curt Herr, Department of English, published a critical edition of the 1799 Gothic novel “The

Horrors of Oakendale Abbey” by Mrs. Carver, Zittaw Press, August 2006.

Dr. Eric Johnson, Department of History, pub-lished a review essay in the latest edition of the journal Eighteenth Century Studies.

Dr. Mahfuzul Khondaker, Department of Crimi-nal Justice and Social Work, co-authored “Ju-venile Delinquency Program Retention: Treat-ment or Treatment Provider” in Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society, 19 (3), September 2006.

Dr. Jordan D. Marché II, Department of Physi-cal Science, published the book “Theaters of Time and Space: American Planetaria, 1930-

1970,” New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Univer-sity Press, 2005.

Dr. Marc Renzema, Department of Criminal Justice and Social Work, published the article “How to Use Electronic Monitoring Intelligently in Pretrial Services” in The Journal of Offend-er Monitoring, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 4-6, 25-26, 2006.

Dr. Glenn Richardson Jr., Department of Politi-cal Science, published a book review of “Cam-paigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work,” by Ted Brader, in Political Science Quarterly, 513-514, Fall 2006.

When They Are noT TeAching…

continued on back page

2007 LAS Graduation Awards

Academic Achievement Award Recipients – 2007

The award recipients photographed with Dr.

Bashar Hanna and President Cevallos (left to

right): Chantel K. White – Copper Medal, Social

Work and Psychology; Molly L. Sweitzer – Gold

Medal, Fine Arts and Biology; Sarah A. Brandon

– Silver Medal, Psychology; Timothy A. Jenesky

– Gold Medal, Geology; Patricia A. Yetter – Copper

Medal, Marine Science/Biology.

Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honor Society Award • Robin R. Jones

Computer Science Award • Isaac Rieksts

Cyrus E. Beekey Award in Biology • Renee E. Adam

Bradley Rahn Commencement Award • Julie A. Renninger

Delta Kappa Gamma Ruth Bonner Award in English/Communications • Dawn Burke

Emma S. Richards-Bausch Award in Literary Criticism • Amanda Coleman

Newton and Edna Geiss Award in English • Nicole Ciesla

Outstanding English Majors Award • Alexandra Cavallero, Amanda Coleman, Daniel Landis

C. Josephine Moyer Geography Award • Devon B. Hain

Bright and Lucille Beck American History Award • Marietta E. Dooley

Anthony J. Mazzaferri Award for Distinguished Scholarship in History • John W. Shaffer

Martin Luther King, Jr. History Award • Jessica M. Clarke

Kappa Mu Epsilon Award in Mathematics • John F. Hughes

Mathematics Student Teaching Award • Jeffery M. Kerchner, Vi T. Nguyen

Department of Modern Language Studies Award in French • Jaclyn M Yura, Kendra L. A. Siwik

Department of Modern Language Studies Award in Spanish • Jennifer N. Sease, Katie L. Riedel

Linda Oswald-Bogart Award • Amanda S. Behney (Spanish), Anna Farrell (French)

David F. Hottenstein Award in Nursing • John Kramer

Charles H. Boehm Award Earth/Space Science/Astronomy Award • Dana L. Gerhart

Pauline B. and John E. Simpson Earth Science and Marine Science Graduation Award • Timothy A. Jenesky

Roy W. Hamme Memorial Award in Physical Sciences • Judy G. Cherian

Gill-Lauer-Sharp Psychology Award • Lauren L. McLean

October 20 Family Day

October 27 Homecoming

November 3 Scholarship Ball

March 30–April 2, 2008 Middle States Evaluation Team visit

When They Are noT TeAching…Non-Profit Org.

U.S. PostagePAID

Kutztown, PAPermit No. 35

College of Liberal Arts and SciencesPO BOX 730Kutztown, PA 19530

Dr. Robert S. Ryan, Department of Psychology, published the peer-reviewed journal article: “A hands-on exercise improves understanding of the standard error of the mean,” Teaching of Psychology, Vol 33, No. 3, pp. 180-183, June 2006.

Dr. Jennifer Schlegel, Department of Anthro-pology and Sociology, co-authored “A Local Community’s Response to Hate,” a chapter in “Woven with Words: A Collection of African American History in Berks County, Pennsylva-nia,” published by Penn State Berks, Reading, 2006.

Dr. Kim Shively, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, published: • areviewessay,“LookingforIdentityinthe

Muslim World,” in the September 2006 is-sue of American Anthropologist 108 (3): 537-542.

• “Religious Bodies and the Secular State:TheMerveKavakçıAffair”(Journal of Mid-dle Eastern Women’s Studies, Fall)

• A book review on “Living Islam:Women,Religion and the Politicization of Culture in Turkey” by Ayse Saktanber (Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, December 2005)

Dr. Edward Simpson, Department of Physical Sciences, co-authored the following articles: • “Neoarchean(c.2.58)Halitecast:Implica-

tions for palaeoceanic chemistry” (Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 162, No. 5, pp. 789-799).

• “A new window into early life: MicrobialmatsinEarth’soldestsiliciclastictidalflats(3.2 Ga Moodies Group, South Africa),” Geology, Vol. 34, pp. 253-256.

• “Depositional facies of the tetrapod foot-print assemblage from the Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation, Schuylkill Coun-

ty, Pennsylvania” (Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No 2, pp. 64-65).

• “Tetrapod footprint assemblage of theMississippian Mauch Chunk Formation, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania” (Geologi-cal Society of America Abstracts with Pro-grams, Vol. 38, No 2, p. 64).

• “Palaeosauropus primaevus: Dusting offold Mississippian footprint” (Geological Society of America Abstracts with Pro-grams, Vol. 38, No 2, p. 65).

Dr. Marie Squerciati, Department of English, published a concert production of Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio,” and presented a script which was performed by actor Mi-chael York at the Cincinnati May Festival, May 2006.

Dr. Sarah Tindall and Dr. Edward Simpson, both of the Department of Physical Sciences, co-authored:• “Effectsof localfaultingonsedimentation

of the Late Cretaceous upper and cap-ping sandstone members of the Wahweap Formation, Kaibab uplift, Utah” (Geologi-cal Society of America Abstracts with Pro-grams, Vol. 38, No. 6, pp. 33-34).

• “Timing of Late Cretaceous fault-fold in-teractions, East Kaibab monocline, Utah: Implications for the onset of Laramide de-formation” (Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 6, p. 38).

Dr. Sarah Tindall, Department of Physical Sci-ences, received an American Chemical So-ciety – Petroleum Research Fund grant for $49,964.

Dr. Raymond D. Tumbleson, Department of English, published a review essay on Ronald Paulson, “Hogarth’s Harbor: Sacred Parody in

Enlightenment England,” in The Age of John-son: A Scholarly Annual, Vol. 17 (2006): 431-37.

Dr. Paul A. Washington, Department of Physi-cal Sciences, published “Evidence for multiple episodes of thrusting in the central Champlain Valley of Vermont,” in Northeastern Geology and Environmental Science, Vol. 28.

Political Science major Jennifer

Conley was the senior class speaker

at Commencement ceremonies on

May 12.