Three Brandywine professors honored with prestigious appointments

During his visit to Penn State Brandywine at the end of October, Penn State Executive Vice President and Provost Nicholas P. Jones honored three campus professors with prestigious appointments.

Associate Professor of Biology Elizabeth Dudkin and Associate Professor of Physics and Astrophysics Timothy Lawlor were both awarded the three-year Cooper Memorial Faculty Fellowship, effective January 1, 2014, and July 1, 2014, respectively.

Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies Jennifer Zosh was awarded the three-year David and Marjorie Rosenberg Career Development Professorship for Leadership and Innovation, effective July 1, 2014.

Elizabeth Dudkin, Tim Lawlor, Jenn Zosh

(left to right) Associate Professor of Biology Elizabeth Dudkin, Associate Professor of Physics and Astrophysics Timothy Lawlor, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies Jennifer Zosh

The purpose of the Cooper fellowship is to provide supplementary funds to outstanding members of the Penn State Brandywine faculty to assist them in continuing and furthering their contributions in teaching, research and public service. The funds were donated by the late Jane E. Cooper, who taught biology at the campus when it was first founded in 1967.

As Cooper Fellows, Dudkin and Lawlor will be provided with financial assistance for research expenses, new equipment, opportunities to travel for professional development and more.

In addition to the fellowship, Cooper bestowed three campus scholarships for students: the Jane E. Cooper Endowed Scholarship for Adult Students, the Jane E. Cooper Part-time Adult Student Scholarship Fund and the Jane E. Cooper Endowed Scholarship for Students in the Campus Honors Program. The Jane E. Cooper Honors Program on campus is available to incoming freshmen who meet certain criteria, such as high SAT scores, very good high school averages or high scores on Penn State placement tests.

The purpose of the Rosenberg professorship, which designates Zosh as the Rosenberg Career Development Professor, is to supplement departmental support for outstanding faculty at the campus and to provide critical financial support and encouragement for faculty starting an academic career. In addition to recognizing current achievement, this career development professorship demonstrates a belief in potential and allows young faculty to direct initial energies to the classroom, establishing a commitment to teaching, provides start-up funds for new areas of research and teaching and laboratories and offers early recognition for outstanding accomplishments.

Since joining the campus in 2009, Zosh has established the Brandywine Child Development Lab, a research laboratory on campus that explores how infants and toddlers learn about the world around them, and was awarded the Distinguished Teacher Award in 2011.

In 2012, David ('74) and Marjorie Rosenberg established the Penn State Brandywine Laboratory for Civic Engagement to encourage leadership among students and develop scholarship in the community while promoting citizenship on a local-to-global level. The Rosenbergs also established the David and Marjorie Rosenberg Trustee Scholarship and the Rosenberg Family Trustee Scholarship.