"When the day came to administer the first test I had designed," writes Brandon Lewis, "my heart sank."

Group projects founder when students don't work well together. Here's the latest thinking on evaluating students on both content mastery and collaboration skills.

The arts, geography, economics, and foreign languages will lose their place in the testing line-up as the National Assessment of Educational Progress is being streamlined to cut costs.

Penn State New Kensington will honor its fall 2023 and spring 2024 graduates on May 6 with an in-person ceremony at 10 a.m. The ceremony will also be livestreamed. Adis Juklo, alumnus and current meteorologist at WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker.

Jacob Guerrini, a junior electro-mechanical engineering technology student at the New Kensington campus, was named the 2024 Berger Scholarship recipient.

Robert Howard and John DeRiggi inducted to the New Kensington Athletics Hall of Fame on April 17. 

Penn State campuses across Pennsylvania were sites of celebration and recognition May 3-5 as the University awarded more than 14,000 degrees during 2024 spring commencement ceremonies held statewide. Revisit the excitement of commencement with this gallery of photos from Penn State's Commonwealth Campuses.

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 14 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   

Kevin Snider, who became chancellor of the New Kensington campus in 2008, will leave behind a legacy of innovation, fostering partnerships and community development when he retires from Penn State on Dec. 31.

Five Penn State Commonwealth Campus leaders will be retiring from the University in the coming weeks and months, Penn State Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini has announced.

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 13 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 14 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.  

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 14 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 15 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   

Penn State students are experiencing a transformative way of learning thanks to a collaboration between Teaching and Learning with Technology Media Commons and Maker Commons, part of University Libraries, and College of the Liberal Arts faculty in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Together, they have developed project-based assignments that incorporate hands-on maker technologies, giving students a unique opportunity to enhance their technical and creative skills while promoting social justice and community values.

Erin Kitt-Lewis, associate director of education for the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing’s Tressa Nese and Helen Diskevich Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, has been named a 2024 Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing by the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence. 

The science major in the Penn State Eberly College of Science has been renamed integrative science as part of a modern refresh to reflect its interdisciplinary nature.

Dr. Mary Catherine Santos, pediatric surgeon and professor of surgery and pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine, is among an elite group of surgeon educators to be inducted membership into the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2024.

Pamela Pologruto has received the F.A. Davis Award for Outstanding Physical Therapist Assistant Educator. The American Physical Therapy Association recognized her achievement with this national award, only given to one recipient annually, at their honors and awards reception ceremony in Kansas City, Missouri.

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus is dedicating September to raising awareness about suicide prevention through a series of events and activities. This initiative follows the official proclamation by the Fayette County Commissioners, recognizing September as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 13 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus will host the 52nd annual Shakespeare Festival on Oct. 22-23. This event will feature an 80-minute production of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" by The Linny Fowler WillPower Tour, followed by a Q&A session with the cast. The festival, free and open to the public, will be held in the Maggie Hardy Magerko Auditorium, located in the Community Center.

Penn State Fayette students are invited to meet Estelle Belko, student aid coordinator, from 9-10 a.m. on Oct. 16 inside the Williams Building Student Success Center.

Eric Wicklund, co-author of "Through a Convict’s Eyes: An Overlooked View of the Criminal Justice System," will visit Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus at 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 29 to discuss his insights on criminal rehabilitation. He will be joined by his co-author, Lavarr McBride, who has worked in the criminal justice field for 39 years and serves as a professor of criminal justice at Penn State Fayette.

Virtual reality goggles with a choice of soothing environments or guided meditations, a color-changing bubble wall, a prayer area, Zen garden and massage chair: These are all options provided by Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s Counseling Services to help students relax and stay calm.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s Friedman Art Gallery is preparing to open a new exhibit. “Photography of Protest” by photographer Michael Mirabito will open on Oct. 31 and continue until Dec. 3. The gallery is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Students at Penn State Wilkes-Barre are invited to take part in the annual Mental Health Awareness Day, set for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 18. The event is designed to promote mental health awareness and self-care, reduce stigma, and provide students with an opportunity to engage in self-care activities. 

Penn State Wilkes-Barre is hosting an open house for prospective students and their families from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 19.

They first met in kindergarten, and now they’re in college together. Caleb Balas, Nikolas Kistner and Alexis McGrady were educated at Hanover Area schools throughout elementary, middle and high school. Coming from a graduating class of 111 students, they frequently saw each other throughout school. Since they each made their college choice individually, they didn’t know they would continue to see each other at Penn State Wilkes-Barre — and all three said it’s nice seeing familiar faces.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre will host a popular community craft show coordinated by Arts at Hayfield on Nov. 3.

Penn State Law in University Park welcomed 131 first-year juris doctor students to the Lewis Katz Building on Aug. 21-22 for J.D. Orientation.

The Penn State Law Minority Mentor Program held its 10th annual kickoff reception on Sept. 6 at Toftrees Golf Resort in State College.

Michael Helbing, executive director of the Center for Energy Law and Policy and adjunct professor of law at Penn State, will give the talk, “Flying into the future: sustainable aviation fuel and the policies impacting its development,” at 4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, in 112 Walker Building at Penn State University Park.

The Penn State School of Music will host internationally acclaimed classical guitarist Julia Trintschuk for a two-day residency, Nov. 15-16, featuring a masterclass and recital that are free and open to the public.

Roebuck will discuss his past and future projects, many of which were filmed in the Lehigh Valley.

The Emily Dickinson Lecture featuring acclaimed poet Ilya Kaminsky will now take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in Paterno Library's Foster Auditorium.  The event — rescheduled from an earlier date — is free and open to the public.

Penn State Military Appreciation Week, the 6th annual Centre Film Festival and "A Night of One-Acts" at the Altoona campus are some of the cultural events taking place across the University this weekend and next week.

Penn State students, staff and faculty are invited to a screening of the award-winning documentary film “This is Not Financial Advice” from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Westgate Building 2nd Floor West Atrium. 

The Penn State Berks theatre department will present “8 at Eight” — a collection of eight light-hearted, eight-minute plays at 8 p.m. Nov. 13-16 in the Perkins Student Center Auditorium.

The following is a collection of events happening around Penn State Harrisburg next week.

Three-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Samara Joy will perform her third annual “A Joyful Holiday” featuring the McLendon Family in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

The Woskob Family Gallery will host “Hands-on History: The Experience of Braiding a Lost Inca Rope” from Nov. 15-17, where participants will learn ancient braiding techniques and contribute to the reconstruction of a centuries-old Incan rope. The workshop will be open to the public each day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and participants are encouraged to dedicate at least one hour to the workshop.

The Penn State School of Music's annual "Mosaic" concert will return to Eisenhower Auditorium on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. 

Voice assistants (VAs) like Alexa and Siri continue to gain popularity in households and on personal devices. According to digital trends research company Emarketer, the number of VA users will surpass 150 million in 2025. Despite the ubiquity, companies haven’t been able to work around users’ strong negative reactions to advertising on these applications. A research team, including scholars from Penn State, may have a solution.

The News Lab at Penn State has earned a grant to complete two election-related projects as part of a nationwide effort supported by the American Press Institute and the Knight Election Hub.