The Committee on Institutional Cooperation's (CIC) Academic Leadership Program has gained five additional Fellows from the Penn State ranks. The CIC is the academic consortium of the Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago. Through its leadership program, participants who have demonstrated exceptional ability and administrative promise are aided in further developing their leadership and managerial skills. (more)
Penn State's Information Technology Services (ITS) is warning members of the University community to be alert for a new email phishing scam designed to coerce faculty, staff and students into revealing their Penn State WebAccess login IDs and passwords. The scam email directs readers to a website that looks nearly identical to the University's "thumbprint" WebAccess login page. (more)
The Hybrid and Hydrogen Vehicle Research Laboratory at Penn State's Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute is holding the 21st Century Automotive Challenge on the University Park campus May 17-20. Featured vehicles will represent a broad range of automotive power choices, such as electric, solar electric, hybrid, pluggable hybrid and biodiesel. (more)
Investment in agricultural research doesn't benefit just the 2 percent of the population involved in farming. It's a matter of national security, job creation, energy independence and human health. That's according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who visited Penn State this week (May 16) to tour College of Agricultural Sciences research facilities and commemorate this year's 150th anniversaries of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Morrill Act of 1862, which created the land-grant university system. (more)
"It's never been a better time to be a learner. Active engagement with the resources that are available -- free and very low-cost open content -- that's what is required to see this as a great opportunity. Adult learners have a lot more choices today. That means higher education institutions have to make choices, as well. You need to figure out your [institution's] strengths and focus on personalized learning plans. Help people figure out their goals and interests and map out a plan to get there. Institutions that get this right will have an advantage."
-- Anya Kamenetz, educational gamechanger and senior writer for Fast Company Magazine, keynote speaker on May 14 at the Hendrick Best Practices for Adult Learners Conference. An educational futurist, Kamenetz is author of the book "DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education," which focuses on how technology is disrupting the higher education industry. The Hendrick Conference brings together Penn State administrators, faculty and staff to share their best practices for working with and improving the educational experiences of adult learners University-wide. (more)
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit Penn State on Wednesday, May 16, to deliver an address commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and highlighting the groundbreaking research and innovation that takes place at land-grant universities, such as Penn State. Vilsack's address will take place at 11 a.m. in Berg Auditorium (Room 100) in the Life Sciences Building on the University Park campus. The event is free and open to the public. (more)
Emergency personnel from Penn State and municipalities throughout the Centre Region will participate in a full-scale emergency response exercise at the University Park Airport from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 23. The airport will be open and operating under a normal schedule during this drill. Traffic may be heavier than normal, however, so travelers should allow extra time to get to the airport. (more)
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant of $143,000 to Penn State to investigate how faculty create and manage personal information collections. Led by Associate Librarian Ellysa Stern Cahoy and Associate Professor of Science Education Scott McDonald, the 15-month ethnographic study will examine in detail how faculty save, share, cite and archive scholarly information. (more)
Registration is now open for technology workshops offered throughout the summer on topics including Access, Excel, Dreamweaver, ANGEL, InDesign, Photoshop, Blogs at Penn State, a variety of Penn State's administrative computing topics and more. Many sessions are offered online through Meeting@PennState (powered by Adobe Connect) for the convenience of those who are unable to attend the face-to-face session. Visit the website for more information and to register for training at http://its.psu.edu/training/. (more)
Tuition scholarships are available for high school and college students, including Penn State students from campuses across the commonwealth, to learn Arabic, through a $105,000 federal grant received by the Penn State Department of Comparative Literature, in the School of Languages and Literatures. Students can earn Penn State credits in a special four-week intensive Arabic course, called the STARTALK Arabic Academy, to be offered June 11 - July 6 on the University Park campus. In addition, scholarships from other sources also are available for high school students who wish to study Turkish, Chinese, or Russian through this summer's Language Institute. These scholarships cover up to 90 percent of in-state tuition. Further information can be found at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/language-institute/index.html. (more)
