Academics

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New collaboration expands educational opportunities in Pennsylvania

Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses and the state’s community colleges have announced a new collaboration aimed at expanding educational opportunities in Pennsylvania and removing barriers to degree completion among college students. The collaboration builds upon long-standing relationships between the campuses and the community colleges and a shared commitment to access and affordability in higher education. 
Headshots of Sadan Kulturel-Konak and Abdullah Konak

Two Penn State Berks professors elected as INFORMS DEI Ambassadors

Penn State Berks announced has that two of its professors have been elected as 2024 INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) DEI Ambassadors. In this role, Sadan Kulturel-Konak, professor of management information systems and director of the college’s Flemming Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Center, and Abdullah Konak, distinguished professor of information sciences and technology, will complete a project titled “Innovation in Operations Research: Fostering Equity and Justice in Problem Formulation.”  
Penn State’s 2022-24 TLT Faculty Fellows (clockwise from top left) are Anna Divinsky, Cookie Redding, Zena Tredinnick-Kirby, Jeanne Marie Rose, Gregory R. Pierce and Jacqueline Bortiatynski.

2022-2024 Teaching and Learning with Technology Faculty Fellows share insights

Collaborative efforts between six Penn State instructors from two campuses and two colleges worked in teams with Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) over the past two years as part of the 2022-24 TLT Faculty Fellows program. Their goal was to enrich the student engagement experience through technology. This included addressing themes such as affordability and inclusion, physi-digital space and radical creativity. Attributes such as these foster equitable opportunities, prepare students for dynamic workplaces and cultivate essential skills for the future. 
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Penn State Berks to offer Taylor Swift course for fall 2024

Are you ready for it? Penn State Berks will offer a new course titled “Taylor Swift, Gender, and Communication” starting in the fall 2024 semester. The class will hold 100 seats with 50 spots reserved for current Berks students and the other 50 spots available for incoming first-year students.