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October 2001 In This Issue In Every Issue
IUP Has Teach-In,
Programs in Commemoration of 9/11 Attacks IUP Competes in
National Category in US News Rankings US News collapses the eight Carnegie Classifications into four categories: national universities, doctoral and research; liberal arts colleges, bachelor’s; universities-master’s-regional; comprehensive colleges-bachelor's regional. Factors used in the rankings include academic reputation; retention; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate. While these factors are used for ranking universities in all categories, the weight assigned or percentages used may differ. IUP’s ranking in Tier 3 is an excellent ranking among National Doctoral institutions. IUP is compared with doctoral universities such as Princeton, Harvard and Yale. There are four tier levels for National Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges. Master’s and Comprehensive Colleges are ranked within four regions and then four tiers within each regional area. IUP is the only university in the State System of Higher Education ranked as a national university, compared with Drexel, Oregon State, Temple, University of Maine-Orono, University of Rhode Island. The other 13 institutions are all ranked in the northern universities-master’s regional category, ranging from tier 1 (Millersville and Shippensburg) to tier 2, 3 and 4. Since 1995, there has been confusion over IUP’s ranking. Prior to that year, US News included IUP among the northeast regional universities, along with all the other state system universities. When the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching jumped IUP two ranks, from Master's I to Doctoral I in 1994, US News automatically placed IUP in the major leagues, "National Universities," which places IUP in competition with universities like Harvard and Stanford. Jim Cahalan to Sign
Copies of Edward Abbey Biography on Oct. 25 and 27 in
Indiana This illustrated biography of the Indiana county native who became famous as the author of the environmentalist books Desert Solitaire (1968), The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), and more than 20 other books has just been published by the University of Arizona Press. Among those who praise Edward Abbey: A Life on its book jacket is the film actor and director Robert Redford, who writes, "Cahalan tells the whole story and he tells it exceedingly well. From Abbey's unforgettable boyhood in the Appalachian East to his rambunctious adulthood in the Southwest, this legendary character comes to life in a way not often seen." In 1995 Redford, who knew Abbey, wrote a letter in support of the state historical marker for Abbey that was approved by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and dedicated in September 1996 in the village of Home, PA, by Cahalan. Also praising Edward Abbey: A Life on its jacket is folk singer and composer Pete Seeger, who writes, "Ed Abbey was one of the extraordinary people of the 20th century, trying to figure out ways for this planet to survive. This book will help you know him." The novelist Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove, adds, "James Cahalan has written a lucid, impressive biography of that singular American, Edward Abbey. Those who love Abbey's books will find much to interest them here." Both Seeger and McMurtry also knew Abbey. Edward Abbey was born in Indiana in 1927, and grew up at various locations in Indiana, Saltsburg, and northern Indiana County near Home, Tanoma, and Chambersville. After graduating from Indiana High School in 1945, serving in the U.S. Army in Italy during 1945-47, and attending Indiana State Teachers College in 1947, he moved to Albuquerque in 1948, earning his B.A. at the University of New Mexico in 1951 and his M.A. there in 1960. He spent most of the rest of his life in New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, celebrating the canyon country of southeastern Utah in Desert Solitaire and inspiring radical environmentalist activists with his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang. Abbey eventually settled in Tucson, where he became a professor of English at the University of Arizona in the 1980s. He died near Tucson on March 14, 1989, and was buried at a remote, secret, illegal site in the Arizona desert. Large memorial events were held for him at Saguaro National Park near Tucson and Arches National Park in Utah. His national and international fame continues. "Abbey’s Web," a Web site dedicated to him, is hosted in Stockholm, Sweden. Edward Abbey: A Life is the first comprehensive biography of Abbey. "I began in 1995 by researching Abbey’s background in Indiana County," explains Cahalan. "I thought I was working only on a couple of articles about the local aspect of his career, which I published in Pittsburgh History and Western American Literature. But then I got hooked. "One of the best parts of this project was interviewing so many interesting people—ranging from Abbey’s surviving brothers here in Indiana County, to other writers who knew him such as the novelists Leslie Marmon Silko and Larry McMurtry, the poet Gary Snyder, and the essayist Wendell Berry. And then there was the Sherlock Holmes aspect of my research, trying to keep track of Abbey, who was continually on the move, lived and worked in so many different places, and was married five times." During the first two weeks of November, Cahalan will travel to the southwest twice to sign books in several cities in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. On Nov. 17, he will sign books back in western Pennsylvania at two Barnes and Noble stores—on Route 30 in Greensburg from noon to 2 p.m., and on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill from 3 to 5 p.m. Technology Showcase Full Professor
Promotions (picture forthcoming!) |
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