As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 14 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   

Penn State students are experiencing a transformative way of learning thanks to a collaboration between Teaching and Learning with Technology Media Commons and Maker Commons, part of University Libraries, and College of the Liberal Arts faculty in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Together, they have developed project-based assignments that incorporate hands-on maker technologies, giving students a unique opportunity to enhance their technical and creative skills while promoting social justice and community values.

Sarah Stein, a Penn State College of the Liberal Arts student with three majors, completed an internship with Amazon as one of 28 Liberal Arts students in the Chapel Executive Internship Program this summer.

The science major in the Penn State Eberly College of Science has been renamed integrative science as part of a modern refresh to reflect its interdisciplinary nature.

Dr. Mary Catherine Santos, pediatric surgeon and professor of surgery and pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine, is among an elite group of surgeon educators to be inducted membership into the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2024.

Jennifer Jewell, teaching professor in the physical therapist assistant program at Penn State Shenango; Pamela Pologruto, teaching professor of physical therapist assistant at Penn State Fayette; Laura Cruz, research professor at Penn State's Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence; and faculty members from Penn State Lehigh Valley presented at the 2024 Lilly Conference in Austin, Texas.

Eric Wicklund, co-author of "Through a Convict’s Eyes: An Overlooked View of the Criminal Justice System," will visit Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus at 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 29 to discuss his insights on criminal rehabilitation. He will be joined by his co-author, Lavarr McBride, who has worked in the criminal justice field for 39 years and serves as a professor of criminal justice at Penn State Fayette.

Accomplished writer and Penn State alum Jami Nakamura Lin will read from her works at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14, in Foster Auditorium as part of the 2024-25 Mary E. Rolling Reading Series.

Penn State School of Music announces the inaugural performance of its Opera Workshop, led by new faculty members Dawn Pierce and Parker Konkle. The performance, titled "Seasons of Love," will take place on Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the School of Music’s Recital Hall. This unique presentation will explore a range of lyric repertoire, offering an avant-garde experience that merges music, movement, and storytelling. 

Three-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Samara Joy will perform her third annual “A Joyful Holiday” featuring the McLendon Family in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Voice assistants (VAs) like Alexa and Siri continue to gain popularity in households and on personal devices. According to digital trends research company Emarketer, the number of VA users will surpass 150 million in 2025. Despite the ubiquity, companies haven’t been able to work around users’ strong negative reactions to advertising on these applications. A research team, including scholars from Penn State, may have a solution.

Patients like it more when "AI doctors" recall their social information and offer privacy control, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.

Two social media efforts created by CommAgency for clients at Penn State were recognized with Education Digital Marketing Awards.

Offices in need of digital communications assistance for the spring 2025 semester can receive support from CommAgency, Penn State’s student-run media production agency. Clients for spring 2025 should inquire by Nov. 17, 2024.

Like in the Parable of the Sower, many people play an important role in Andrea’s life as she as she comes to faith in Christ.

OM in Buenos Aires journeys to the indigenous Mapuche people to serve, develop relationships, disciple local believers and minister in the community.

Pia desperately wanted to work but was always confronted with her background. OM gives her a sewing machine and, with it, a new beginning.

The Penn State DuBois Office of Student Engagement will welcome students and members of the public to Hiller Auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 17, when paranormal investigator John Zaffis visits campus.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live, work and be a light in Oman?

A newly married couple in the Arabian Peninsula finds fresh opportunity to share their story with local friends.

Senior leader shares valuable insights about tent making in the Arab world, learned from 14 years of experience working cross culturally.

Workers on two continents team up to share God’s love with an Arab woman struggling to conceive, telling her she is valuable to God.

A long-term worker shares how learning Arabic has impacted her life and friendships in the Arabian Peninsula.

OM workers in the Arabian Peninsula testify to healing and deliverance miracles amongst Muslims.

Of the three commercial property segments, the industrial market is the strongest performer in terms of activity, an FNB Commercial Property Broker Survey found.

The Kwena Square will cost R210 million. It will have 23 stores, a drive-thru RocoMamas and 407 parking bays.

Accelerate Property Fund owns Fourways Mall, along with other smaller shopping centres and other properties in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Western Cape MEC for local government, environmental affairs and development Anton Bredell has filed an application for leave to appeal a high court order suspending construction of a R4.5 billion project that will house Amazon’s Africa headquarters.

Four of Fotress's properties were affected by floods. But the company said only minor flood damage and no significant structural damage has been identified so far.

Vukile Property Fund plans to build more solar farms to power its malls and reduce its reliance on Eskom's power by another 5% by the end of March 2023.

The number of "ghost town" malls that were ubiquitous throughout South Africa in the past two years is declining as the demand for retail space strengthens.

Nicholas Palermo, a secondary social studies education major from Wexford, Pennsylvania, has been named the Penn State College of Education student marshal for the fall 2024 commencement ceremony.

ICTSI said it will use all legal channels to make sure that a Maersk subsidiary, "is not successful in holding the Durban port, and indeed the South African economy hostage to their interests".

Blue Ribbon and Snowflake owner Premier's interim earnings rose by almost a third on Tuesday as the group benefited from a focus on margin management, cost savings and continued investment in its assets.

SA's financial regulator is investigating allegations that agents of online brokerage Banxso, whose licence has been suspended, contacted clients claiming it has been "cleared".

An overview of the biggest business developments in SA and beyond.

Elon Musk surfaced once more in a round of phone calls US President-elect Donald Trump is making with world leaders, driving home the billionaire's outsized influence in the next administration.

Six OMers spent two weeks in the south of France sharing God's love with children as part of a large music festival.

God prompts a worker to take along a Farsi Bible during his day manning the literature stand so that a Farsi-speaking man can find the Truth.

An OM France couple works among trafficked women and fights for justice before government officials.

Although Harris clashed with Biden over his record on school desegregation, some of her education proposals might dovetail well with his.

Thinking logs incorporate both literacy and math skills by asking students to write complete sentences explaining how they solved an equation and arrived at a solution.

Ryan Reilly, a 1st grade teacher at White Center Heights Elementary School in Seattle, shares how he uses related equations so students can identify similarities and differences in numbers and symbols. By noticing patterns, they learn to justify their reasons and can then solve similar problems.

Jeanne Wright creatively introduces her 1st grade students to a variety of strategies for solving addition problems.

A 5th grade teacher uses fractions to promote both language and math skills in her dual-language classroom.

This elementary routine encourages students to make sense of a math problem by listing what they both notice and wonder about the given information.

See how one preschool teacher helps her students learn how to count collections of objects.

A math specialist shares how she uses dots to allow students to see the connections between mathematical operations, like addition and multiplication.

Students in cities around the country are organizing petition drives that are generating thousands of signatures to demand that their schools offer anti-racist curricula and instruction.