| Our
New Home
Foundations are complete, steel erection is under way and making
good progress. Floor decks have been poured in several areas and
it will not be long before the external skin of the Stuckeman Family
Building takes shape. If you are on campus there is a small mock-up
close
to the
eastern site entrance where the copper and brick colors and detailing
can be seen..
Read More...
Other Changes
There are some other changes that we think you would applaud.
Many of you are fascinated by the things we in academia are able
to do in areas such as technology development. If you were to visit
our computer labs you would now find the students using touch sensitive
display tablets enabling us to draw directly on the computer. Tim
Johnson has been the master of moving his superb traditional hand
skills into a fully electronic setting, as presented this last
year at the ASLA National as well as the ASLA New Jersey Chapter
of and LABASH in Florida. He and George Dickie are using Sketch-up
to work direct into 3-dimensions—perspective drawing is under
attack! Tom Yahner is our resident expert of the digital site map,
soon to be joined by new faculty Tim Murtha, expert in GPS and
landscape survey/analysis. Madis Pihlak’s students use the
most advanced animation and modeling software to challenge Dreamworks
and Disney with their productions—some of which end up being
explored using the stereo visualization of the Immersive Environments
Lab. Tim Baird has been leading hands-on masonry and welding for our
graduating seniors (just in case the design jobs don’t materialize!),
while Ken Tamminga has been leading a revitalization of planting
design, working with our own Dr. Stormwater - Stuart Echols.
Another area of change is in our use of study abroad opportunities.
You all know that we have the required semester abroad Sede di Roma
program for all fourth-year students. You may also remember mention
last year of Cesto do Cech. Ceci Rusnak led a group of students to
the Czech Republic to the Czesky Raj “Bohemian Paradise” region—a
fantastic mix of spectacular rock formations, Baroque chateaus and
a rich agricultural landscape, to work with Czech partners on an application
for World Heritage listing for this unique cultural heritage region. |
Changes
in the Department
We are also changing within the department. Some of the changes
you would greet with a little disappointment, others might inspire
you to give us a visit soon to see how far the program has come.
In the first category is the news that Dan Jones has decided there
is as much fun to be had outside the academy as inside. Dan has
retired to allow more time for his numerous other interests—such
as ensuring that the award-winning canoe racing team remains a
regional powerhouse. We will, though, be
working to ensure we keep Dan fully engaged
in the life of the department. Perhaps to encourage that continuing
connection, the class of 1980, orchestrated by alumnus Rob Fenza,
brought a wonderful element to a semester of celebrations by providing
the funds to name the Jones-Battaglia Faculty Research Studio in
the new building. Also, our friend, past faculty colleague and
alumnus, Don Leslie has moved one administrative step further away
from us, to become Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies
Don Leslie. Don has moved into this important new role since last
summer and is now part of the core leadership of the University.
We get to see less of him but it is good to know that a Landscape
Architect’s values are helping to shape this enormous institution.
Our new faculty member, Timothy Murtha has a Ph.D.
in Anthropology from Penn State and until recently he taught at Westchester
County College in New York. He works in landscape archaeology and
specializes in the application of new technologies to solving old
questions about land-use practices.
But all of these good things are irrelevant if
we cannot use them to grow this vital profession we have all chosen.
Nationwide there is still a shortage of landscape architects and
is incumbent on all of us to try to turn that situation around. Finding
the best students that we can to benefit from our tremendous resources
is one of our on-going pursuits. I’d like to take this opportunity
to challenge each one of our friends and alumni to help with this
task. Kelleann Foster, working with WPSX, Penn State’s public
TV station, put together the wonderful CD-ROM you received last fall.
We are now in prime hunting season for students as families plan
summer college trips. Please, please, please share your Penn State
pride by helping us get the word out and the CD-ROM into the right
receptive hands! Our numbers are looking good for this fall for both
undergraduate and graduate programs—so it must be time to start
planning for the following year! |
