2003 

Daniel Perlongo, for Creative Arts
Terry Peard, for Research
Mary Sadler, for Service
Linda McPherson, for Teaching
 

For Creative Arts, Daniel Perlongo
Ever since 1968, when he joined IUP’s Department of Music, Daniel Perlongo and his music compositions have received international recognition and acclaim. For his continuing contributions to IUP and to the arts, he is the recipient of this year’s University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for the Creative Arts.

Every year, Professor Perlongo strives to grow as a creative musician and composer, and this is demonstrated by the long list of awards bestowed upon him, including the American Prix de Rome, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Academy-National Institute of Arts and Letters, and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been resident composer at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy, and at the Montalvo Center for the Arts in Saratoga, California.

Professor Perlongo’s orchestral music, noted for its sensitive lyricism and unique instrumental combinations, has earned him international recognition. His works have been performed by such orchestras as the Italian Radio, Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber, Nebraska Sinfonia, and Warsaw Philharmonic and by such artists as pianist Donna Coleman and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Although his works are in demand around the globe, Professor Perlongo also generously shares his talents locally. In 2000, he was commissioned by IUP to compose a work for the university’s 125th anniversary celebration. Millennium Overture was performed by the IUP Symphany Orchestra, conducted by IUP’s own Doug Bish, at the anniversary program in Gorell Recital Hall. He also continues to compose and collaborate on a regular basis with the fine musicians of IUP’s Music Department.

With his gifts and talents, Professor Perlongo has done much to bring high culture to the IUP community, and we are all the better for it.

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For Research, Terry Peard
While the enduring debate over the dilemma of scholarship versus teaching rages on, for Terry Peard, there is no dilemma. Dr. Peard’s innovative research on the freshwater jellyfish has brought honor and distinction not only to himself but also to IUP and the students he works with. As he puts it, “No matter what my research focus at the time, my efforts and primary emphasis always has been on providing learning and research opportunities for students.” Dr. Peard is this year’s recipient of the University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Research.

Dr. Peard has secured a number of grants to fund not only his own research (including, for example, a grant in 2001 from the National Science Foundation for $200,000), but has secured funding that has benefited the IUP community and the entire State System. As principal investigator, he coordinated the grant writing efforts that secured an NSF grant of three million dollars to create the Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation in Pennsylvania. This systemic reform initiative focuses on the science and math teacher preparation programs of the State System’s fourteen campuses.

During the past five years, five graduate students have had several unique research and travel opportunities as results of Dr. Peard’s efforts. All of their activities have been fully funded by either internal or external grants.

Dr. Peard is currently involved in two research projects, one to isolate and characterize jellyfish venom, and a second involving a new protocol for successfully extracting and amplifying the DNA from an organism.

In short, Dr. Peard’s expansive and progressive vision of scholarship, synthesizing research and teaching activities, exemplifies the highest ideals. His student-centered approach to research and scholarly growth has brought honor and distinction not only to himself, but to his students and to the IUP community.

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For Service, Mary Sadler
To say that Mary Sadler goes above and beyond the call of duty would be an understatement. Since joining IUP in 1981, Dr. Sadler, a professor in the Department of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, has clearly demonstrated her commitment to service at all levels of the university and to the broader community. Not only has she served on numerous department, college, and university-wide committees, but she has often assumed leadership roles, even in situations in which she did not formally chair the committee. For her tireless efforts to serve the university and the community, this year’s University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Service is given to Dr. Sadler.

At the university level, Dr. Sadler served on the Liberal Studies Committee as an active member from 1991 to 1995. In 1998, she was appointed director of Liberal Studies and still serves in that capacity. As director, she has given extensive assistance to departments in the process of program revision to ensure that liberal studies and accreditation requirements were met.

In addition to her substantial contributions to IUP, Dr. Sadler also involves herself in the Indiana community in numerous ways, with an emphasis on activities and organizations that benefit children. She shares her expertise in maternity nursing by service on the board of Birthright of Indiana County and has been instrumental in designing and implementing the Children’s Health Outreach program, which represents a partnership between Somerset Hospital and IUP. Dr. Sadler coauthored the initial grant proposal, was sole author of the renewal proposal, and serves as project director at IUP.

Through quiet dedication and countless hours of hard work, individuals such as Dr. Mary Sadler afford our institution the opportunity to better serve our students and the community. For her innumerable contributions, the IUP community is deeply grateful.

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For Teaching, Linda McPherson
As a teacher, Linda McPherson is never satisfied. For the last sixteen years, as an instructor in the English Department at IUP, she is always searching for new ways to improve her teaching as she works to help her students become active, responsible learners who are excited about their own abilities and potentials as writers and as interpreters of literature. For her innovations in the classroom and for the inexhaustible energy and care she bestows on each and every student, she is being presented with the University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching.

Viewing herself as a classroom coach, Professor McPherson designs classroom activities that deemphasize her role as knowledge-giver while maximizing her students’ involvement as independent, accountable learners. Throughout the semester, Professor McPherson provides ample opportunity for students to develop the ability to assess their own work.

In addition to fostering independent thinking, Professor McPherson incorporates collaborative learning into her courses. In her Humanities Literature courses, for example, students share their journals and respond to each other in writing, take turns leading class discussions, and interact with each other in a myriad of ways as they attempt to unfold the meaning of the literature they are reading and relate it to their own lives. As they work together, Professor McPherson’s students learn the necessity of looking closely at the texts in order to fend off classmates’ challenges to their interpretation.

For Professor McPherson, the enormous amount of time and energy devoted to her students is a labor of love. “I enjoy interacting with my students and watching them interact with each other as they grow as learners,” she says. “For me, teaching is constantly challenging, sometimes frustrating, never dull, and always rewarding. It is what I do best.”

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