What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — taking place across the University this weekend and next week:
Performances
"Cartography" — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 14, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The Center for Performing Arts presents "Cartography," a multimedia theater work that prompts audiences to consider each other's origin stories.
Lectures
Mary E. Rolling Reading Series: Alissa Nutting — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 14, via Zoom. Novelist and screenwriter Alissa Nutting, author of the novels "Tampa" and "Made for Love" will offer a reading. Free, but registration required.
Steven and Janice Brose Distinguished Lecture Series: Sarah E. Gardner — Oct. 14-16 via Zoom. Historian Sarah E. Gardner will present three virtual lectures around the theme of "Shakespeare Fights the Civil War." Free, but registration required.
John M. Anderson Endowed Lecture Series: Jacob Hashimoto — 11:30 a.m., Oct. 18, via Zoom. Jacob Hashimoto will present "Space. Object. Image." Free, but registration required.
"National Science Board Vision 2030: Making a difference for America's research ecosystem" — 4 p.m., Oct. 18, via Zoom. Victor McCray, vice chair of the U.S. National Science Board, will America's efforts in research and development. Free.
Center for Artificial Intelligence Foundations and Scientific Applications distinguished seminar: Carla Gomes — 4 p.m., Oct. 18, via livestream. Carla Gomes, the Ronald C. and Antonia V. Nielsen Professor of Computing and Information Science and the director of the Institute for Computational Sustainability at Cornell University, will discuss her work in artificial intelligence and sustainability. Free, but registration required.
Lattman Visiting Scholar of Science and Society Lecture: Melissa Lee — 5 p.m., Oct. 18, 26 Hosler Building, University Park campus. Melissa Lee, founder and CEO of the Green Project, will present "Training the Next Generation Workforce for a Sustainable Future." Free.
Penn State Behrend 2021-22 Speaker Series: Moogega "Moo" Cooper — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 18, McGarvey Commons, Penn State Behrend. NASA engineer Moogega "Moo" Cooper will discuss her work on the Mars rover "Perseverance" mission. Free.
Charlie Dent — 4 p.m., Oct. 19, Hintz Family Alumni Center, University Park campus. Charlie Dent, retired congressman and a visiting fellow with the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, will discuss the impact of that Congress' polarization may have on America democracy. Free.
Research Unplugged: Natalie Boyle — 1:30 p.m., Oct. 21, Pasto Agricultural Museum, Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, Rock Springs, Pa. Natalie Boyle, assistant research professor in entomology, will present "Thank a bee! The importance of pollination in Pennsylvania." Free.
Smith Creative Writers Reading Series — 6 p.m., Oct. 21, via livestream. Caroline Chavatel and Audrey Gradzewicz, contributing writers for Lake Effect, Behrend's international literary journal, will be the final guests for the fall reading series.
Events
Cafe Laura Theme Dinner: "A Peruvian Experience: A Trip to Lima" — Oct. 14 and Nov. 11, Cafe Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Pumpkin Festival — Oct. 15-16, the Arboretum at Penn State, University Park campus. A pumpkin-carving contest, lighted jack-o'-lantern displays, activities, games and live music mark the return of the annual festival. Free.
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live — Oct. 16-17, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Hot Wheels monster truck toys come to life in a full-sized, kid-focused, immersive Hot Wheels experience.
Homecoming 2021 — Oct. 17-23, various locations, University Park campus. Students and alumni celebrate homecoming with a variety of events throughout the week, including a free ice cream social, concerts, the annual parade, guarding the Lion Shrine and the football game versus Illinois. Most events free, and some require tickets and/or registration.
Cafe Laura Theme Dinner: "Pimento: An Elevated Southern Experience" — Oct. 20 and Nov. 17, Cafe Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Cafe Laura Theme Dinner: "When in Rome: That's Amore" — Oct. 21 and Nov. 18, Cafe Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Virtual exhibits
"African Brilliance and the Purpose of Art" — This interactive virtual tour accompanied the Palmer Museum of Art’s spring 2020 special exhibition "African Brilliance: A Diplomat’s Sixty Years of Collecting" and will remain available throughout the current academic year. Explore the exhibition installation, images of selected works, videos for guided viewing and related art-making activity suggestions. Free.
"Celebrating the ADA: The Legacy and Evolution of Disability Rights and Lived Experiences at Penn State" — The University Libraries virtual exhibit explores the first 100 years of national disability rights legislation and the movement's impact on the Penn State community. Free.
"Global Asias: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundations" — This web-based, interactive program from the Palmer Museum of Art features guided video tours of selected exhibition artists in addition to an introductory overview by the curator. Learn about the “Global Asias” concept of personal and cultural identity in a contemporary world. Artists featured include: Jacob Hashimoto, Dinh Q. Lê, Hung Liu, Takashi Murakami, Roger Shimomura, Do Ho Suh, and Rirkrit Tiranvanija. Free.
"Pandemic Spaces (1918 Edition)" — The University Libraries virtual display explores architecture related to the devastating influenza epidemic of 1918. Free.
"Who Am I? Art and Identity" — This self-directed, interactive, online tour features a selection of objects from diverse areas of the Palmer Museum of Art’s collection, related through a common exploration of personal or cultural identity. Free.
"Women in Art: Activism + Resistance" — This self-directed, interactive, Palmer Museum of Art online tour is intended for college-level courses and features a selection of objects by female artists in the museum’s collection. In celebration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, this tour highlights artists working in a variety of mediums during the 20th and 21st centuries who have contributed to political, social and cultural change. Free.
In-person exhibits
"Wind Spirits" — Through Nov. 20, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. “Wind Spirits” is an exhibition of artists Tatiana Arocha, Deirdre Murphy and Rachel Sydlowski, considering the power and delicacy of Earth’s avian creatures and the larger implications that duality poses for human roles in the natural world. Free.
"Ukiyo-e: Images of the Floating World, Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Permanent Collection" — Through Dec. 5, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. The art of ukiyo-e flourished in Japan during the Edo period (1615-1867). Period artists specializing in genre scenes, portraits of actors and courtesans, and later, landscape, in a manner that reflected the most contemporary fashions and attitudes, their work became known as ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world.” Free.
"Blackout Poetry" — Through Dec. 10, campus library, Penn State Fayette. “Blackout Poetry” is a creative way to bring new meaning to any written text and make it your own. Redact words in order to create a one-of-a-kind piece. All entries will be displayed in the campus library. Free.
"Patchwork Voices Community Collection" — Through Dec. 10, Coal and Coke Heritage Center, campus library, Penn State Fayette. The Patchwork Voices Community Collection is one of the Coal and Coke Heritage Center's unprocessed collections. Unprocessed means that a traditional finding aid has not been created for researchers to access materials. The collection consists of smaller, family collections. Visitors will find materials such as photographs, letters, recipes, mining certificates, newspapers, magazines, Union materials, clothing and mining tools. Free.
"Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II" — Through Dec. 10, campus library, Penn State Fayette. The exhibit examines the complicated history and impact of Executive Order 9066 that led to the incarceration of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Free.
"Celebration of Trees" — Through Dec. 12, Henry Gallery, Penn State Great Valley. The presentation hosts photographs, prints, paintings and mixed media works. All of the artists are inspired by the architecture of trees themselves, formative memories, the experience of being in nature, and environmentalism. To support improved environmental policies and draw attention to climate change, they manifest a connection to the earth and an understanding of the importance of forests. Free.
"Global Asias: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation" — Through Dec. 12, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. This web-based, interactive program features guided video tours of selected exhibition artists in addition to an introductory overview by the curator. Learn about the “Global Asias” concept of personal and cultural identity in a contemporary world. Free.
"Place to Place: Recent Gifts of American Drawings and Watercolors, 1900-1950" — Through Dec. 12, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. "Place to Place" offers a jaunt around America in the first half of the 20th century. From New York to New Mexico to New Orleans, a range of sites in several different media are gathered to explore notions of place. International locales represented include Belgium, England, France, Germany and Morocco. Free.
"Documenting the Moment: A Visual Journal" — Through Dec. 31, Ronald K. DeLong Gallery, Penn State Lehigh Valley. The exhibit features a collection of artist Jason Travers’ ink and graphite drawings that capture what he’s seeing in real time at a particular moment. The gallery also is showcasing student works depicting significant moments shown from various perspectives. Free.
"Lost Bird Project" — Through Jan. 26, 2022, exhibition cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The "Lost Bird Project" consists of five sculptural monuments to extinct bird species. Conceived by artist Todd McGrain, the "Lost Bird Project" recognizes the tragedy of modern extinction by immortalizing the five most recently extinct North American birds. Free.
"Why Biodiversity Matters" — Through Jan. 26, 2022, exhibition cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. "Why Biodiversity Matters" includes avian research and educational materials from Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center and Penn State’s Wildlife and Fisheries program. Free.
"Altar" — Through Jan. 30, 2022, exhibition cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. Kiana Honarmand’s installation in the exhibition cases utilizes text from the poem “Gift” by Iranian feminist poet Forough Farrokhzad to pay homage to the history of hiding critical commentary in Persian poetry and visual arts.