5th Anniversary of Research at Penn State Berks Magazine
Five years ago, in the spring 2008, the following statement was included in the first issue of this magazine: “Penn State Berks has done an excellent job of reaching high standards of productivity when it comes to research and creative accomplishments, and the goal of this publication is to summarize some of our intellectual contributions.” That goal is very much alive today.
In these last five years (2007-2012), I am very pleased to report that we have published 357 refereed journal publications, 16 books, 41 chapters of books, and 50 creative works that include theatre plays and poetry. That is a total of 464 items generated by an average of 117 full-time faculty members, and more specifically, by an average of 73 full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty in the period from 2007-2012. It is an average of 1.26 items per year per faculty member with research duties.
The original goal of the magazine was to reach out to our community in Berks County to present our academic accomplishments. An additional goal was to share our work with the other 23 Penn State campuses. The magazine has been received with enthusiasm by all the constituencies that were originally targeted but most importantly, our own Penn State Berks community looks forward to the new issues to learn about our research accomplishments. The magazine has become a measure of research assessment and accountability. The challenge for the future is that our researchers will showcase increasing results in terms of quality, substance, and quantity. It is a challenge that I am sure our faculty will embrace with energy and enthusiasm and our constituency will welcome with pride.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to Lisa Baldi, our Director of University Relations, and Nathan Moore, Assistant Director of Visual Communications, for doing such a fine job of maintaining this publication with such high standards. I also like to thank our Editorial Board for bringing ideas and being inclusive and collegial in selecting the content of the magazine. Our college is a great place of learning where our research informs our teaching and our teaching informs our research thus creating a circle of excellence that ultimately benefits the success of our students.
Paul D. Esqueda,
Ph.D. Professor of Engineering and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Penn State Berks