UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- C. Paola Ferreri, assistant professor of fisheries management, and Spiro Stefanou, professor of agricultural economics, have been named Harbaugh Faculty Scholars by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Penn State alumnus Earl K. Harbaugh and his wife, Kay, donated $100,000 to endow the college's Harbaugh Scholars Program for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Their aim is to help faculty develop innovative teaching and learning processes.

The college will announce the Harbaugh Faculty Scholars each spring, selecting faculty members who demonstrate a commitment to being creative and who wish to cultivate new, innovative curricula. Ferreri and Stefanou are the first recipients of the honor, which includes a $3,500 financial award.

"We are deeply grateful for the Harbaughs' generosity," says Robert D. Steele, dean of the college. "Thanks to them, Dr. Ferreri and Dr. Stefanou -- and the scholars who will follow them -- have more opportunity to pursue new educational approaches that will benefit Penn State students."

Ferreri will use her award to get the new fisheries option in the Wildlife and Fisheries Science curriculum off to a good start. The option will be introduced this fall. "I'm planning to revise two core courses, fishery management and general fisheries science, to help students think more about how science and biology meet with social and economic factors to influence how we manage fisheries," she says.

Ferreri also plans to buy several water chemistry and temperature monitoring meters for students to use in hands-on field studies. "Students will use the meters to collect data and make analyses about how habitat is likely to affect fish populations," she says. "These meters will be used in our general fisheries science course as well as a new course on wildlife and fisheries measurements." Finally, Ferreri intends to use part of the award to attend a workshop on innovative teaching techniques.

Stefanou plans to use his award to continue building and refining a case library to support teaching food product innovation management, in collaboration with Lamartine Hood, professor of agricultural sciences, and Barry Zoumas, Alan R. Warehime Professor of Agribusiness. "There is a pressing need to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills among undergraduates who will become food system professionals," Stefanou says. "To address this need, we bring the problem-solving expertise commonly found in the food industry to the classroom."

The case library project brings industry expertise into the learning environment through the use of narratives based on experts' problem-solving experiences. "Making the case library widely accessible through the Internet will promote this innovative form of teaching and learning in and outside of Penn State," Stefanou says. "The library also provides a framework for incorporating more industry expertise in the future."

Earl K. Harbaugh earned his bachelor's degree in general agriculture from Penn State in 1961. He and his wife, both Pennsylvania natives, live in St. Charles, Ill., where he is the president of Ditch Witch of Illinois and Wisconsin. Founded by Harbaugh in 1970, the company provides products, services and training for the underground construction industry.

In addition to this gift, the Harbaughs established the Earl and Kay Harbaugh Scholarship in Agricultural Sciences in 1994. He also is a member of the College of Agricultural Sciences' committee for the University's Grand Destiny Campaign.

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