sustainability

The Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at Penn State has established the Social Science Acoustics Lab in Keller Building at the University Park campus. The lab is used in a variety of ways to investigate the impact natural sounds have on human health.

Jacqueline McLaughlin, associate professor of biology at Penn State Lehigh Valley, founding director of Penn State CHANCE, and chair of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Global Perspectives Committee (GPC), has orchestrated along with Missy Coyle, research technologist at Penn State Lehigh Valley, and other GPC committee members, an interactive poster and panel discussion event entitled, “Promoting Global Sustainability in the Teaching and Learning of Biology.”

In October 2013, the Sustainability Institute announced its new internal grant program, The Reinvention Fund, intended to support collaborative projects by faculty, staff and students that will improve and expand sustainability efforts at Penn State. Of the more than $700,000 allocated for investment in these projects, $102,000 has been dedicated to support proposals received by student teams. Twenty-two proposals were received from interdisciplinary student teams, and 11 were selected to be funded. The funded proposals represent innovative ideas from four of Penn State's campuses -- Abington; Berks; Erie, The Behrend College; and University Park.

Penn State Abington faculty, staff and students are invited to offer their input as the University drafts its first strategic plan for sustainability. Please join us for a town hall meeting with representatives from the University Sustainability Council on Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Penn State Abington, Room 8, Sutherland Building.