UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday, Nov. 1 to officially dedicate the newest space in the Penn State College of Education — the Krause Pedagogical Innovation Laboratory (PIL).

The ceremony included remarks from Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, College of Education Dean Kimberly Lawless, Interim Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Dave Lieb, PIL Director Clayton Gardner and the namesakes of the new space — Gay and Bill Krause.

“Thanks to both of you for investing in innovation and pedagogy,” Bendapudi said during the ceremony. “It means so much because it means whatever’s coming up, the people who shape young minds — and young-at-heart minds — whoever that is, you’re showing us the way to be bold, to experiment, to innovate and make the world better, and that’s why it fits so well with Penn State’s mission.”

The space was made possible by a $1.2 million gift from the Krauses and is the third space on the second floor of Chambers Building to bear their name, their previous philanthropy having made possible the original Krause Studios for Innovation and the Krause Learning Space.

Gay, a former teacher and school administrator, received her bachelor of science degree in K-12 elementary and special education from Penn State. She is director of the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California.

Bill, a graduate of The Citadel, has been a Silicon Valley executive since the early 1970s. As president and CEO of 3Com, Bill guided the data networking company from a venture capital-funded start-up to a publicly-traded, multinational enterprise with assets in excess of $1 billion when he retired. He now is president of the private investment firm LWK Ventures.

“Educators frequently don’t have the luxurious spaces in which to work,” said Gay Krause. “It’s wonderful to have this space that is so, in a way, luxurious for educators to work and learn in and create in and creativity is such an important value to us.”

The PIL will lay the groundwork for new research on the integration of makerspaces into K–12 and higher education, new opportunities for partnerships between the College of Education and like-minded organizations, and new hands-on experiences that will shape the ways in which students imagine the pedagogical possibilities of makerspaces — and how they ultimately realize those possibilities with their own students.

“If you haven’t taken a deep dive into who Gay and Bill are, they are the most incredible and ardent advocates for the power of education,” Lawless said. “They are leaders who have shared just about everything with us. They’ve shared their time. They’ve shared their knowledge, and they’ve been extraordinarily generous with their resources to help us so that we have the opportunity to make sure the work that we do with the students in this college leaves them to be the most contemporary, cutting-edge and compassionate educators that they can be. You’ve set us forward on a path to be able to reach our mission of changing education by educating for change.”

The lab includes the kinds of equipment common to makerspaces, such as 3D printers, a laser cutter and woodworking equipment that will allow students to design and build real objects, taking an idea from concept to physical reality all in one space. A one-button podcast studio will provide students with the means to create within the audio and video realm. The PIL also will include several elements to facilitate classroom teaching, presentations and collaboration, such as a dry erase board, wall-mounted touch-screen monitors, and a retractable stage for spoken-word and other performance-based presentations.

“I want to say how much I deeply appreciate the opportunity to be able to work with teachers through the philanthropy and generosity and your core beliefs on the importance of education,” Lawless said.

The PIL has been in use since the beginning of the fall semester, hosting several classes and other events.

Following the ceremony, attendees were able to enjoy refreshments and an opportunity to explore the new space.