UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State leaders are continuing their series of Town Hall meetings for faculty and staff with the next event planned for Oct. 26 in the Freeman Auditorium of the HUB-Robeson Center on the University Park campus. Again, the meeting will be live streamed to campuses across the Commonwealth for their participation: https://youtu.be/4BqF8jAVWEA.
Faculty and staff are invited to ask questions on a wide range of topics at the meeting, or can send their questions in advance to questions@psu.edu.
This Town Hall, scheduled from 3:30-5 p.m., will have a special focus on diversity, inclusion and the climate on Penn State campuses. Penn State Provost and Executive Vice President Nicholas Jones and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business David Gray will be joined by Marcus Whitehurst, vice provost for Educational Equity. All of them will field questions from the audience, both in person and online, and will concentrate on concerns of the community related to creating a welcoming climate on every campus. They will address the challenges Penn State faces in fostering a safe and open-minded environment, and the importance of diversity for the University as a whole. The trio also will field general questions on a broad spectrum of topics, including health care, performance reviews, budget issues and more.
Faculty and staff are invited to ask questions at the meeting, or can send their questions in advance to questions@psu.edu or through Twitter using the hashtag #PSUstrong. Members of the audience also can submit questions anonymously on site at the HUB auditorium as the event unfolds. The names of people submitting questions through email, on site or via Twitter will not be shared.
The meeting is being sponsored by Penn State Today and the University Staff Advisory Council. This Town Hall meeting also is part of Penn State's year-long focus on diversity and inclusion that launched on Oct. 6 with an event on Old Main Lawn. “All In at Penn State: A Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion.” 'All In' supports Penn State's commitment to a diverse climate, and to fostering a safe and open-minded environment. Penn State has made progress when it comes to building supportive, welcoming learning communities — from providing programs that embrace diversity and promote broad acceptance of differences to ensuring equitable access to our facilities, programs, resources, and services — but there is still work to be done, according to leaders.
The Town Hall meetings, which began last year, are opportunities for members of the Penn State community to receive informational updates on University initiatives, hear from administrative leaders about key issues, discover how decisions are made, ask questions and provide feedback. They are sponsored by Penn State Today and the University Staff Advisory Council
Anyone who missed the most recent Penn State Town Hall, held on Sept. 28, can find it archived online in its entirety at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUdLttAgf-A.