UNIVERSITY PARK — President Neeli Bendapudi, along with other senior leaders, welcomed the Penn State community back for the fall semester with a livestreamed update on the state of change across the University. 

“While it has not been easy, we have made necessary, important, critical strides over the past two years, as we focused on our people, building resources for the future and achieving, sustaining and growing academic, research and operational excellence,” Bendapudi said. “Through all of this, we stayed true to our mission. We’ve strengthened our institution, and we’ve positioned ourselves to not just compete, but to thrive in the changing higher education landscape.” 

Joining Bendapudi for the conversation, which was livestreamed to more than 4,300 people, were Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Tracy Langkilde, Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read, and Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini. A recording of the conversation can be found below and at Penn State’s YouTube page.

Vision for academic and student success 

While shifting student demographics and market pressures are posing challenges across higher education, Langkilde shared examples of how Penn State is keeping at the forefront of that change. These ongoing initiatives include the Strategic Plan, Academic Portfolio and Program Review (APPR), Commonwealth Campuses Future State Integrated Design Initiative and the Research Support and Transformation Project (RTSP).

During the update, senior leaders also shared updates on steps that will be taken for each of these efforts throughout the fall semester. 

Research excellence 

Read discussed ways in which Penn State is innovating and growing its research portfolio to be well-positioned to go after grants in an increasingly competitive market, including by supporting and reducing the burdens on research faculty and staff through the Research Support Transformation Project (RSTP).  

More information about the challenges and opportunities Penn State faces in today’s research landscape, as well as the steps being taken to get closer to the goal of ranking in the top 15 nationally for research expenditures, will be shared at a town hall meeting for faculty and staff on Oct. 14, where participants can engage in a dialogue with Read. Feedback can be provided ahead of time via the RSTP transformation portal. 

Campus regionalization 

Amid the rapidly shifting higher education landscape that has seen enrollment decreases and increasing competition for a smaller pool of students, DelliCarpini shared steps that the Commonwealth Campuses have taken to increase efficiencies and reinvest in supporting the student success mission, including with the Optimized Service Teams. 

The community will have an opportunity to engage in dialogue with Bendapudi, DelliCarpini and other University leaders about the future of the Commonwealth Campuses during the next Campus Conversation on Oct. 24. More information will be forthcoming.  

“I am excited because, as we said, this is a journey from great to greater. We are already a strong university, but we can never rest on our laurels. We have to continue to be competitive,” Bendapudi said. “We're not straying from our core purpose, but we’re building in some agility to put ourselves in a position to invest in our people and operational excellence, go after bigger grants and make an increased impact in academic, research and clinical health care excellence.” 

Bendapudi invited the Penn State community to provide feedback on any of the ongoing initiatives on the Road Map website.