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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 1999: article | |
| Reaching Out News Briefs | ||||||||
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Berks County Cooperative Extension assists community following tornado The tornado that touched down in the northern Berks community of Lyons last spring damaged many homes and destroyed or disfigured many of the trees that shaded streets and yards in this Victorian community. The Penn State Cooperative Extension Maintenance Advisory Committee in partnership with community organizations planned a joint effort to restore the area’s landscapes through a community-wide replanting project. Penn State Cooperative Extension collaborated with Berks County tree care and landscape professionals in an informational meeting to educate homeowners about landscaping issues like pruning, selecting, replanting and removing glass shards from lawns. Volunteers from the committee also made home visits to assess individual landscape problems and coordinate the replanting project. Pomona Grange offered $5,000 to purchase plants and landscaping supplies. The replanting, held on National Arbor Day, April 30, brought together volunteers and homeowners from throughout the community. Businesses and institutions donating their equipment, services and volunteers included J.C. Ehrlich Co., Farr Nursery, Northern Nursery, Wolf Run Nursery, Berks Career and Technology Center East, Pomona Grange and Penn State Master Gardeners.
Keystone 21 partnership awards food system project grants Two Penn State projects designed to enhance understanding of the food system have been funded by Keystone 21, a partnership of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the former Commonwealth Educational System and the Rodale Institute. The projects, “Food Systems Educational Experiences for Elementary-aged Children” and “Internationalizing the Mind of Food System Professionals for the 21st Century,” received grants of up to $30,000 per year to a maximum of $75,000 for three years. The “Food Systems Educational Experiences” project will teach 8,900 elementary school students about the relationship between agriculture, the environment and people. Project partners are Penn State Cooperative Extension; public school systems and Farm Bureau committees in Perry, Juniata and Mifflin counties; the Perry County Dairy Promotion Program; and Fisher Bee Products of Lewistown. Sponsored by the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Rodale Institute, the “Internationalizing the Mind” project is designed to improve faculty and student understanding of the international dimension of the food system. Keystone 21, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation project, is part of the national Food Systems Professions Education Initiative.
Dr. Al Mastantuono and Dr. Anita Shmukler, assistant professors with Management Development Programs and Services, delivered an eight-hour diversity training program for six groups of employees at Healthcare Management Alternatives Inc. in Philadelphia. Organization executives attended an overview of the program titled “Becoming More Effective in a Multicultural Organization.” The program addressed what happens when employees encounter similarities and differences in the workplace. Through a series of mini-lectures, discussions, video and topical exercises, program participants planned strategies for capitalizing on the strengths represented by both their similarities and differences and minimizing any possible conflicts. According to program evaluations, participants embraced the training with great enthusiasm. Respondents appreciated the opportunity to discuss controversial ideas in the training setting. They said they learned how to interact within a diverse work group, to avoid prejudging others and to understand the negative results of stereotyping and collusion.
Community outreach and prevention programming Communities That Care (CTC), a statewide initiative of the Governor’s Community Partnership for Safe Children, is a research-based prevention program for teen health and behavior problems. In northeast Pennsylvania, the Wyoming County government has partnered with Penn State Cooperative Extension to fund coordination of the initial stages of this process. Karen Bracey, Wyoming County Cooperative Extension family living agent, is spearheading the project. Members of the CTC Community Action Board conducted needs and resource assessment to identify risk factors of greatest concern to the community: early initiation of problem behaviors, availability of drugs and family management and conflict. Representatives from schools, businesses, communities, human services, parents and law enforcement then developed a strategic plan for prevention that reaches into all aspects of a child’s life. Plans include teen day camps, drug use prevention education for parents and families, a multimedia drug and alcohol awareness campaign and teen and family mentoring programs.
Bosnian police officials tour Penn State The Institute for Continuing Justice Education and Research, the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies and the College of the Liberal Arts hosted a visit by Bosnian police officials at University Park last March. The police officials were in the United States to examine the role of education, training and technology in the democratization of the police. The delegation included the director of the National Police Academy and three of his deputies. Penn State was the last stop on a two-week U.S. State Department-sponsored fact-finding tour that included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Virginia and Pennsylvania state police academies and the Washington, D.C., Metro Police. Penn State was the only institution of higher education included in the tour.
Exhibit highlights benefits of Penn State resources to northeast business, industry and communities Dr. Joseph Strasser, dean of Penn State’s Commonwealth College, accompanied representatives from Applied Research, Continuing Education, Distance Education, Cooperative Extension, Environmental Research, Industrial Research, Intellectual Property and PENNTAP (Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program) for a full day of networking, presentations and exhibits in the Penn State Hazleton gymnasium. The first-ever Northeast Showcase introduced area community leaders from PP&L, Leader Data Processing, Earth Conservancy and other companies to some of Penn State’s resources that can help them with business start-up, emerging technologies, global competition, workforce development and industrial research. “The purpose of this showcase was to shed considerably more light on the wealth of University resources for business and industry,” said Dr. John R. Madden, Penn State Hazleton campus executive officer. “Our capabilities were not as well known as they should be in this area, and the showcase was our effort to bridge that gap and increase University engagement within the community.” Penn State Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre and Worthington Scranton campuses sponsored the Northeast Showcase. Joining University representatives for the event were partners from the Ben Franklin Technology Center, the Economic Development Council of Northeast Pennsylvania, the Northeast Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center and Team Pennsylvania. | |||||||
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