Penn State will be a leader in the transformation of education, fulfilling its land-grant mission in a 21st-century context and continuing to drive discovery-focused research across disciplines. Areas of focus include:
- Advancing the frontiers of knowledge.
- Fostering a curriculum that integrates multiple modes of delivery, while leveraging online capabilities and enhanced and emerging digital learning options.
- Supporting and empowering our outstanding faculty and staff.
- Preparing students for success in their careers and in life.
- Collaborating with pre-college educators.
Transforming Education in Pennsylvania and Beyond
Outreach is furthering the transforming education strategic initiative through collaboration, innovation, and community and student engagement include programs and projects such as:
- Readiness Institute Summer Program — a six-week paid experience for rising high school seniors that helps them become community and future ready
- City Semester Pittsburgh — a unique opportunity for Penn State students to spend a semester learning about Pittsburgh’s urban dynamics
- Consortium for Social Movement and Education — a speaker series featuring Penn State faulty and community partners that covers social movement research and practice through an education lens
- Nyansapo literacy bootcamp — an innovative AI–based literacy boot camp conducted in Kenya in August 2020 by the winners of the 2020 Nittany AI Challenge
These examples honor the spirit of Penn State’s land-grant mission by creating collaborative opportunities that cross colleges, campuses, and the Commonwealth to provide out-of-the-classroom experiences in real-world situations for learners of all ages.
Outreach is dedicated to fostering an environment that allows the entire Penn State community to further their student engagement efforts. The Navigate Education in Pennsylvania database helps the University community identify potential Commonwealth education agencies to partner with, using geographic and demographic filters. With the creation of this database, Outreach is helping all of Penn State support the strategic initiative to transform education.