ENGEL APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF THE SCHREYER INSTITUTE

University Park, Pa. -- Renata S. Engel, associate professor of engineering design and graphics and engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, has been appointed director of the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning. She will assume her new position on July 1.

Supported in part by a gift from William and Joan Schreyer, the Institute was established in 1995 as a laboratory for experiments that create new classrooms, new instructional designs, and other new ventures in learning and teaching.

In her role as director, Engel will serve as the principal academic leader of the Institute, reporting to the executive vice president and provost of the University.

Engel has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1990. She has been an active member in the department’s graduate and undergraduate curriculum committees, and department and college search committees. She also holds a University Faculty Senate term through this year.

Author or co-author of more than 90 works for professional publication and presentation, Engel has received Penn State’s 1999 George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1997 Penn State Engineering Society Award for Outstanding Teaching. She was a member of the winning team for the 1998 Boeing Outstanding Educator Award.

Engel earned a B.S. degree in engineering science from Penn State in 1982 and a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from the University of South Florida in 1988.

Engel replaces Larry Spence, who will step down as director of the Institute on June 30.

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Contact: Alan Janesch (814) 865-7517 or e-mail at