Applications for Presidential Leadership Academy now open
Administrators and members of the Presidential Leadership Academy, including Penn State President Eric Barron, right, visit Washington, D.C., during a field trip in 2019.Image: Courtesy of Presidential Leadership Academy
Applications for Presidential Leadership Academy now open
January 04, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Each year, 30 first-year students at Penn State s University Park campus will be selected for membership to the Presidential Leadership Academy (PLA).
Founded with a lead gift from Edward R. and Helen S. Hintz in 2009, the PLA was established to develop critical-thinking skills and educate students to understand issues broadly. A diverse pool of members promotes consideration for the complexity and variability of world matters and current events, as well as for varying decisions and life circumstances. PLA values the idea that critical thinking on issues is not black or white, but instead, somewhere in