August 10, 2005
Purdue names interim director of Discovery Learning Center
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Beverly Davenport Sypher, an associate provost and professor of communication, has been appointed interim director of Purdue's Discovery Learning Center, the education-based research component of the university's Discovery Park.
Sypher succeeds co-directors Margaret M. Rowe and Jonathan M. Harbor. Rowe, who is a former vice provost, will return to the Department of English faculty after a fall semester sabbatical. Harbor, professor and head of earth and atmospheric sciences, is co-director of ENVISION, a National Science Foundation-funded teacher enhancement project.
"This is a critical stage for the growth of the learning center, so we're fortunate to be able to call on Beverly's 10 years of administrative experience to sustain the momentum of the center's activities and to provide the leadership for its continued success," said Provost Sally Mason. "With more than 300 faculty involved in the center, her background in organizational communication and assessment will no doubt be helpful in directing the interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts of the center."
The learning center is devoted to examining and enhancing the understanding of the processes by which people learn. Sypher said she wants to continue the focus on learning in K-12 and college classrooms and expand it to include the various arenas in which lifelong learning is demanded, including the workplace.
"The learning center is well known for research on K-12 and math education, so it's both a gift and a challenge to follow the strong leadership of Peggy Rowe and Jon Harbor," Sypher said. "The classroom is extremely important to the future of our country, and part of our challenge will be to take that knowledge we produce at Purdue and translate it into information that will make a difference."
Sypher will be partnering with other Discovery Park centers to develop methods for translating and evaluating knowledge about new technologies in math and science.
"Research at Purdue is growing at an explosive rate, and Beverly will help us build relationships among the centers," said Alan H. Rebar, who was recently named interim executive director of Discovery Park. "She will help us avoid growing pains and keep on track to become the premier research facility in the country."
The learning center will continue to facilitate internships and research programs for Purdue undergraduates. One such program, Interns for Indiana, is designed to increase interest in entrepreneurship by providing students with work experience at startup companies throughout the state. Another program, the Undergraduate Research Internship Program, helps students learn the scientific process by pairing them with faculty mentors to work on interdisciplinary research projects at Discovery Park. Both programs are funded with part of a $25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.
Sypher said she also wants to expand the assessment component of the learning center by partnering with other centers in Discovery Park to help shape and evaluate the effectiveness of outreach and education projects aimed at a wide range of ages and diverse cultures.
"Discovery Park, and particularly the learning center, is evidence of a national trend toward renewed social responsibility on the part of universities," Sypher said. "At Discovery Learning Center, we also want to concentrate on the learning adults must engage in throughout their lives. Issues of health, workplace productivity, computer literacy and a whole host of lifestyle choices depend upon translating scientific discoveries into usable information."
Sypher has been on the Purdue faculty since 2002. She previously was a senior fellow in the office of the provost at Virginia Tech University, divisional dean for the social sciences at the University of Kansas and chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky.
She has been recognized for excellence in teaching at both the university and national level, and is the author of numerous articles and books on organizational and health-related communication. She also is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for some $6 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education to enhance college student learning and numerous corporate and government contracts to examine a variety of work-life and health issues.
She earned her bachelor's degree in communication and journalism from Western Kentucky University in 1976 and her doctorate in communication from the University of Michigan in 1981. Sypher will continue as professor in the Department of Communication, where she teaches classes in organizational communication and organizational assessment.
"Teaching is what drew me into this line of work," Sypher said. "It keeps me focused on our most important work and is a reminder of what I came to the university to do."
The Discovery Learning Center has funded projects and facilitated partnerships on campus since March 2003. A groundbreaking ceremony for the center's new facility in Discovery Park is scheduled for Oct. 6.
Discovery Park is a $100 million interdisciplinary research hub that brings the university's scientists, researchers, engineers and management experts together on a project-based basis to make basic discoveries available to advance the Indiana economy and solve societal problems by inventing new products and processes. The park has been a critical factor in forming eight startup companies and in at least 40 patent filings.
In addition to the Discovery Learning Center, the park includes the Birck Nanotechnology Center, Bindley Bioscience Center, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Center for Advanced Manufacturing and the e-Enterprise Center, which houses the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and the Purdue Homeland Security Institute. Three new centers announced this summer include the Energy Center, Oncology Center and Center for the Environment. An additional new center will be announced this month. Also under construction at Discovery Park is a biomedical engineering building.
Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu
Sources: Sally Mason, (765) 494-9709, sfmason@purdue.edu
Beverly Davenport Sypher, (765) 494-6969, bdsypher@purdue.edu
Alan Rebar: (765) 494-7608, rebar@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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