LehighWeek Volume 12, Issue 22

              A passion for France
Engineering program
offers dream ticket
See page 3
Volume 12, Issue 22
LehighWeek
The campus digest for innovation, news and events with SouthMountaineer
Men's basketball team
startles Navy in playoffs
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March 3,1999
Stenger
"Devoted" dean
steps down
Harvey G. Stenger, who became Lehigh's youngest-
ever academic dean
when he assumed leadership of the College of
Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) in
1993, will return to the
chemical engineering
faculty on June 30.
Stenger, 41, made his
announcement on Feb.
23, triggering a chorus of
praise from colleagues
who cited his relish for
his job, his devotion to students,
and his ability to bring out the
best in coworkers.
"Harvey is a first-class individual and
he has been
an outstanding dean of
engineering," said
B o b b
Carson,
dean of the
College of
Arts and Sciences. "He has truly been a delight to work with."
"Harvey was at the top of his
job," said Arup K. SenGupta,
chairman of civil and environmental engineering. "He was always very courteous, very
prompt in responding to any
concern you might have, and
very pleasant. Perhaps most importantly, he was fair, no matter what. He treated people with
respect."
Bruce Haines '67, vice
president for technology management of U.S. Steel and a
CEAS Advisory Council member, said Stenger's departure
was "a huge loss for Lehigh and
the Lehigh family.
"This event is very disturbing to me personally," said
Haines. "As an Alumni Association Outreach member, it made
me proud that Harvey would
meet with prospective students
and their parents, and stay in
contact with students after they
enrolled. There is a warmth
about Harvey that made parents feel like he was a surrogate
father to their student."
Provost Nelson Markley
said Stenger had moved the
CEAS "forward energetically on
many fronts," playing a major
role in convincing Peter C.
Rossin '48 last year to donate
$25 million to the college. The
P.C. Rossin College will be dedicated April 30.
Markley said Stenger had led
the six engineering departments
through a successful accreditation by ABET, launched "innovative" teaching programs,
started the Dean's Scholar program, which has been copied in
other colleges, and recruited
"outstanding" faculty members.
Stenger joined the faculty in
Please see Stenger on page 6
Elizabeth Keegin Colley
John Kish IV
At last week's Lyceum, Dr. Ira Lieberman '64 (above, left), U.S. senior manager of the World
Bank, talked about how he had helped South Korea recover from its financial crisis, while
Chrstine Economou '99 (right) discussed AIDS in the Middle East.
Through the Lyceum's lens
"Women have it better than men in Latin America,"
said Christine Klunk '01, one of four women to
speak about life in their countries at the fourth annual Lehigh International Lyceum. The presentations, titled "Life For Women in a Developing
World," were the idea of Peter Beidler, professor
of English, who met the students in classes and
through Phi Beta Delta, an international honor society.
"The reason I think women have it better than
men in Latin America is that women can stay home
if they choose to be mothers and housewives, while
men cannot. Men would be looked down upon if they
wanted to stay home. Men must work, and competition among them in the workforce is intense," said
Klunk, a native of Costa Rica who has also lived in
Guatemala and Mexico.
Erangee Kumarage, a Ph.D. candidate in English, said opportunities for men and women in Sri
Lanka were equal.
"There is equal opportunity to get a good job for
women in Sri Lanka. We had the first female head
of state in the world and there are lots of women in
the government. In fact, although education is very
competitive, more women are in college than men,"
said Kumarage.
The negative part of life for women in Sri Lanka,
said Kumarage, is that the country is very conservative and sexual issues are rarely discussed. "Premarital sex is discouraged in Sri Lanka, as is abortion for unmarried women. Because there is virtually no discussion about sexual issues, there is no
network for women who have been raped or abused,"
said Kumarage.
Lamping Yue, a post-doctoral researcher in materials science and engineering, said the global
economy is changing women's lives in China.
"Women in the cities must work today and
must have a good education to find work," said
Yue, who added that Western consumer culture,
including fashion, is becoming popular in China.
"Fashion is reaching many people in China,
whereas, not that long ago, individuality in dress
was discouraged. Today, there is a growing sense
of individualism in the cities," said Yue.
Christine Economou '99, who grew up in
the Middle East, said religious fundamentalism
in that region often results in a denial of AIDS
and a hostility to AIDS patients.
"Sex is taboo in these countries, so a disease
that is spread largely through sexual contact is
also taboo. They don't even want to test blood to
see whether it has been contaminated because
they don't want to deal with the problem," said
Economou.
Beidler praised the students' presentations.
"I think the four young women did a really
good job at explaining what life is like for women
in their countries. They spoke with great dignity and aplomb. I was delighted with the session," said Beidler.
The Lyceum also hosted discussions on "Conversation Styles of the American, Chinese, Korean and Thai Cultures," "The Displacement of
Indigenous Groups by Petroleum Companies in
the Ecuadorian Amazon," and "Chilean Overtures to NAFTAand Their Future of Free Trade."
The Lyceum was held in the University Center on Feb. 26 . A banquet at which President
Gregory Farrington spoke followed the presentations.
-Phil Repash '97, '99G
During the Lyceum,
students discussed
the research they
had done during a
16-day course in
Costa Rica over winter break, titled
"Sustainable Development: The Costa
Rican Experience."
Four groups of students spoke about
"Ecotourism and
Sustainable Development," "Forestry
Products," "Sustainable Energy" and
"Sustainable Agriculture."
John Kish IV
ESI
Stillwater discussed
More than 30 faculty and 140
staff attended one of two brown
bag lunches this past week to dis-
cuss   the   report   by
Stillwater Associates on
Lehigh's administrative
structure.
"I have been receiving many thoughtful
comments by e-mail,"
said President Gregory
Farrington, "and replying personally to
each one. We cannot debate Stillwater's findings. That is their opinion. What we can debate
are the recommendations" based on the
consultant's report.
"It would be simpler
to just implement
Stillwater's recommendations. But we sent out the draft
to get thoughts on what makes
sense. I am more interested in
(reaching) the goal, not the
mechanism (to the goal)."
A proposal to re-establish a
vice provost for graduate studies
and research drew discussion.
"Research has had a steep
downward slope" since the elimination of the vice president for
research, said Farrington. "How
can we expect to thrive as a research institution without an advocate for research?"
Other issues raised included
the new vice provost for enrollment management and educational innovation, transfering
the chaplain's office from student
affairs to the provost, and moving international programs, career planning, English as a Second Language and the Learning
Center to student affairs.
Farrington said faculty have
expressed frustration in making
curricular changes. "A vice provost (for educational innovation)
will be an ally to promote education innovation, particularly
across colleges."
On the issue of moving some
areas into student affairs,
Farrington said, "Student affairs
are faculty affairs. Faculty
should be concerned and
thoughtful about student issues."
On his vision for Lehigh,
Farrington said, "Teaching grows
stale if not refreshed by research
and scholarship." He added
Lehigh is not solely a research
institution, and has never lost its
focus on undergraduates.
A summary of the report is on
the web at www.lehigh.edu/
- i n p r v I stillwaterl
execsum.html. It is followed by a
statement of changes the administration proposes to make to the
offices of the provost and president.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to comment on the
Stillwater report by sending
e-mail to gfarring@lehigh
.edu by March 5. Farrington
and Provost Nelson Markley
will read all comments.
-Rita Malone-Sorensen ■
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