Gift supports visual design partnership in Pattee Library Collaboration Commons
Penn State graphic design students Makenna Seidel and Peyton Harris observe as a seated interview subject completes responses to their questionnaire. Behind them, Arts and Architecture Librarian Henry Pisciotta views content on an eight-panel digital screen. Peer subjects’ responses will inform how design students approach future installations of art and design work on the digital screen in Pattee Library’s ground floor Collaboration Commons.
Image: Binky Lush for Penn State University Libraries
Gift supports visual design partnership in Pattee Library Collaboration Commons
May 05, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Penn State University Libraries’ new Michael and Cynthia Evanisko Collaboration Grant is funding a three-year partnership with the College of Arts and Architecture’s Department of Graphic Design to feature student artwork in a prominent public place. Through art, the Evaniskos hope to
Ag Sciences receives donor support for Millennium Scholars Program
Susan Bedsworth
May 06, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The Penn State Millennium Scholars Program in the College of Agricultural Sciences has received a generous increase in support thanks to philanthropic gifts from two of the college’s alumni.
Paul Heffner pledged an estimated $1 million estate gift to benefit the Paul Heffner Scholarship in the College of Agricultural Sciences, which he created in 2010. First preference for the scholarship has been denoted for Millennium Scholars students. Duane Norman and his wife, Roslyn W. Norman, endowed the H. Duane and Roslyn W. Norman Millennium Scholars Scholarship through a $100,000 gift through the University’s now concluded Educational Equity Matching Program, securing a 1:1 match through the program.
IMAGE: Patrick Mansell
The Smith Endowed Directorship of The Arboretum at Penn State will enable the University to recruit a full-time director to lead the Arboretum’s current operations and plan for future stages of growth and development, roles that Steiner has filled in addition to his position as a professor of forest biology. “We are very pleased and grateful to Skip for this gift,” said Steiner. “This has been a part-time job for me in addition to regular faculty responsibilities. Skip’s gift secures the future of the Arboretum by enabling a transition to a full-time director chosen through a national search, and I hope and expect to see the Arboretum continue to grow and improve as an institution under this new leadership.”
The Lonstein family from left to right: Sam, Julie, Wayne and Ari.Image: Bill Wallace
Alumnus creates scholarship for World Campus students on Smart Track to Success
April 23, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Wayne Lonstein, founder and chief executive officer of VFT Solutions Inc., and recipient of the Penn State World Campus Outstanding Alumnus Award, is lifting up incoming students by creating the VFT Solutions, Inc. Annual Scholarship for Smart Track to Success Students in the Penn State World Campus. Smart Track to Success is a program designed to help students who are new to higher education or returning after an extended period of time away get acclimated to the online learning environment. Lonstein has committed a total of $12,500 over the next five years to support scholarships for students enrolled in the Smart Track to Success program, with preference going to first-generation college students.
IMAGE: Penn State I am thrilled that the Rob Pangborn Honorary Fund will be available to help us advance student success across Penn State, said Denise Poole, director of student success initiatives. Our ultimate goal is to grow the culture of care that exists for students across the University, and this funding will help us to achieve this vision.
As vice president and dean for Undergraduate Education for nearly 15 years, Pangborn played a critical role in Penn State s educational mission by providing vision and leadership in the many areas of undergraduate education across the University. Pangborn worked as associate dean for undergraduate studies and international programs in the College of Engineering for more than 10 years prior to his post in Undergraduate Education and as Penn State s interim executive vice president and provost from November 2011 to June 2013. He began his Penn State career in 1979 as an assistant professor of engineering mechanics and was named a full