University President Joab Thomas unveiled several teaching incentives to help integrate teaching and research and improve undergraduate education in his speech yesterday in Eisenhower Auditorium.

In his first major address to the entire University, Thomas told about 700 faculty members, administrators and students that teaching and research are "intimately related" at Penn State.

Thomas set forth five initiatives to improve teaching and bolster undergraduate education. The initiatives include:

-- Increasing the monetary amount of University teaching awards.

-- Establishing a grant program for proposals to improve teaching at the University.

-- Providing research funds for faculty who carry heavy teaching loads.

-- Encouraging undergraduate research.

-- Encouraging more students to participate in Truman, Marshall and Rhodes scholarship programs.

The financial additions to the teaching awards and the grant programs will begin immediately, Thomas said, but addded that other incentive programs will start when budget constraints are lifted.

Maintaining and improving the academic quality at Penn State is Thomas' primary goal for the University, he said. The faculty must help achieve this goal, Thomas said.

"The job of administrators is to support the faculty . . . and reward their good work," Thomas said.

Thomas stressed the need for a strong liberal arts education program. Liberal arts provide students with communication skills as well as sensitivity to a wide range of human values, he said.

"The liberalization of the mind is so essential in the development of the leader," Thomas said.

To increase the academic integrity, the faculty must expect more from the students, Thomas said. He said that in a 1989 survey of University faculty 60 percent said they had to teach at a high school level to reach students. Fifty-five percent said students only do enough to get by and 75 percent of those surveyed said students are less willing to work now than in the past.

"We must raise the expectations of our students," Thomas said.

But Thomas said students should also make faculty members accountable for their education. Some students have already started to evaluate faculty, he said, citing the Undergraduate Student Government's Academic Assembly program to evaluate advisers and publish the course selector guide.

Thomas also warned that the University still must overcome many obstacles before it can expand. The University's lack of space and state funding slows potential progress, he said.

"I promise you I will approach this problem with energy, determination and vigor," Thomas said.

Both the research park, for which construction should begin this fall, and the new academic and athletic convocation center may help alleviate some of the space problems on campus, Thomas said. The University is still vying for state funding for a new engineering building, an addition to Pattee and a new Health and Human Development facility, he said.

Thomas said he also hopes to get matching funds for a new Paul Robeson Cultural Center and for the HUB expansion.

During his seven months as president, Thomas said he has realized that the Commonwealth and the state legislature do not appreciate the University's importance to the state.

"As we all know, Pennsylvania is at the bottom of the barrel," Thomas said.

The University and other public universities must deliver a strong message to the general assembly and the Commonwealth that higher education is important to the state's economic integrity, he said.

Thomas used the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center as an example of how the state ignores the University's contribution. The center is the largest employer in Hershey, Thomas said, yet it ranks last among 75 public medical schools in the state in state funding.

Anna Griswold, assistant vice president for financial aid, said Thomas' speech covered many important areas. "I thought it was excellent," Griswold said.

Thomas seems to have a sense of what Penn State is about, said Kelly Bair, administrative assistant for the associate dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Thomas also has experience in the type of financial problems the University is experiencing, she said.

Fred Loomis, Planning Analyst for the Commonwealth Educational System, called Thomas' speech "very inspirational."