I’m taking this opportunity to share with the entire college community the initiatives we have singled out for special emphasis in the upcoming fundraising campaign for the University. I have been working closely with Simon Corby, our director of Development and Alumni Relations, to develop these ideas. He and I have been consulting with many constituencies, including the college’s Faculty Council, the Administrative Leadership Team in the college, the Dean’s Development Council of Volunteers who help us with our fundraising efforts, and our Alumni Society Board of Directors.

This is an ongoing process and we welcome your input as well. As you review the annotated list, please keep several points in mind: 

• The eight themes that have been identified and that are listed below in no particular order come to us from the University and may change as the University tests the viability of the themes with key constituents. Indeed, it is sounding like the University will be refining the themes so that they will be smaller in number and broader in focus. 
• The initiatives/centers we have identified are driven by our assessment of donor interest and compatibility with the college’s strategic plan. In other words, there may be a good idea in our plan for an initiative, but if we have not been able to identify one or more prospective donors who we think would have interest, the idea, despite its goodness, is not on the list.
• The campaign for us as well as for all other parts of the University will be focused on the building blocks of academic programs: scholarships, assistantships and fellowships for students; and support for faculty and staff. The initiatives listed below are intended to complement rather than to substitute for these building-block types of gifts.
• The University is placing great emphasis on developing “big” cross-cutting ideas that involve multiple colleges and campuses. We are in active communication with colleagues across the University to refine these initiatives and to achieve true collaboration.
• The process is very fluid and will continue to evolve throughout the campaign.

Again, Simon and I welcome your input now as well as throughout what we expect will be a five-year campaign beginning July 1, 2016.

What follows is a brief synopsis of the initiatives.

1. INVESTING IN A GLOBAL FUTURE

Student Global Travel Fund

Program endowment as well as annual support for covering travel costs of College of Education students seeking study abroad opportunities, including the student teaching abroad program, partnership programs with international universities, summer and Maymester study abroad opportunities, and opportunities with the College of Health and Human Development Global Health Minor.

2. ADVANCING THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

The Penn State Center for the Story

Narrative has played an important role in human affairs since antiquity, beginning with oral narrative and continuing more recently with print and electronic means of communication. Narrative gives rise to stories that take many forms (personal accounts, folk tales, histories, parables, reflections, and non-fiction or journalistic accounts) that have been ubiquitous in human affairs. The rise of digital storytelling platforms (such as YouTube) highlights the attraction and the power of narrative as a way of organizing and understanding the world.

However, that power to advance leadership, pedagogy and advocacy/pro-social agendas is only partially understood and appreciated. Great leaders throughout history have been masters of “getting the story right” and communicating it effectively to share meaning and to build support. Great teachers also have understood and harnessed the power of story as a means of helping learners understand both themselves and the larger world. Indeed, strides in the human condition, such as those around civil rights in the U.S., have been driven by the use of stories that move people to action.

The premise of the center is that the effective use of narrative lies at the heart of effective leadership, pedagogy and socio-cultural advancement. The goals of the center focus on how leaders, teachers, advocates and social entrepreneurs can use the power of story, through multiple platforms, to improve lives, classrooms, communities and the world.

3. ENHANCING HUMAN HEALTH

The Penn State Center for the Promotion of Mentally Healthy Learning Environments

The focus of this center will be on research, applications in practice, and promotion of findings that directly impact learners experiencing all phases of life transitions. This includes learners in Pre-K-12 schools, higher education, career transitions and various life transition stages, as well as the various traumatic situations that impact people in any stage of life. While national centers that focus on schools and centers that focus on clinical issues exist, to our knowledge no major centers focus on the interaction of mental health and the learning environment from a broader perspective. Many faculty members in Counselor Education and School Psychology are already working in these areas. The center would help expand their efforts.

The Penn State Center for the Support of College Students with Disabilities

The mission of a Center for the Support of College Students with Disabilities housed within the College of Education is to support research and practice initiatives that improve access, retention and graduation of college students with disabilities. The basic goal is to create an accessible and shared database of disability services programs affiliated with the Big Ten that can inform professional practice. Preliminary conversations with Big Ten program directors indicate support for the center and, at this point, we are developing a list of shared needs.

4. ENSURING WATER, FOOD AND ENERGY

STEM Science Wing Renovation

One of the College of Education’s goals is to complete a renovation of the entire science wing of Chambers building before the completion of the next fundraising campaign. An exciting new design for the 5,077 square feet of space in the wing has been developed by APArchitects. The space will be configured to prepare the next generation of science teachers at the elementary, middle- and high-school levels to address a wide range of issues surrounding water, food, and energy going into the 21st century. In addition to these areas of application, the space will facilitate training in basic science principles.

5. DRIVING ECONOMIC SUCCESS

The WorkLink Initiative – Career Success and Disabilities

Penn State is exploring the possibility of becoming part of a network of colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, through the D.R.E.A.M. Partnership, to provide educational opportunities for college-aged students with intellectual disabilities. The proposed two-year certificate program, WorkLink, would increase employment, community integration and independent living for students with intellectual disabilities. This is part of a larger national initiative to provide academic and social inclusion in all aspects of higher education. 

6. INSPIRING DIGITAL INNOVATION

The Krause Innovation Studio - Phase II

The Krause Innovation Studio now seeks to embark on a new phase of development, one that is built around experimentation with learning spaces designed to be flexible and to integrate technology in unprecedented ways into teaching and learning. This is the purpose of the new learning space we are designing, which reflects commitments to flexibility and diversity in the use of space, in addition to taking full advantage of emerging technologies to support innovative teaching.

The College of Education has identified 3,800 square feet of space directly across the atrium from the existing space for the Krause Innovation Studio that can be made available for the new learning space initiative. Penn State has identified partial funding to cover the one-time cost of the necessary renovation and now seeks philanthropic support to complete the project.

The Penn State Learning Sciences Initiative

The college is strengthening its position within the rapidly developing field known as the Learning Sciences. In the past two years, three new tenure-line faculty members with interests in the Learning Sciences have been added to complement the existing faculty in the college’s Learning, Design and Technology program. In addition, the college is working to build ties between those interested in the Learning Sciences within the LDT program with those faculty members with related interests in Science Education and Educational Psychology. There has been some discussion about a possible co-hire with Penn State’s Institute of CyberScience and there is interest in connecting with faculty members with similar interests in other areas of the University such as the College of IST and its data science initiatives. A comprehensive approach to data science will include highlighting opportunities to study at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as research engaging undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.

7. ENABLING ACCESS TO EDUCATION

The Penn State Center for Ensuring Student Success in Higher Education

Significant progress has been made in recent years toward opening the doors of postsecondary education for underserved populations of high school students from racial and ethnic minority groups. However, these students sometimes struggle to succeed academically once they leave the familiar surroundings of their high schools and families. The goal of this initiative is to create and test the properties of a new comprehensive and coordinated approach to a chronic and increasingly serious set of missed opportunities for these students. Penn State is remarkably well-positioned to provide leadership for creating, refining and evaluating a new comprehensive and coordinated approach that will significantly increase the percentage of underserved students from racial and ethnic minority groups who excel in higher education and who realize their educational and career dreams.

The Penn State Center for Civil Rights and Education

Equity and access to education are important issues for the betterment of society and are central to the mission of the University in general and the College of Education in particular. The new center will research and advance policies in K-12 and higher education to address inequality in society. Erica Frankenberg and Liliana Garces are serving as the inaugural co-directors.

The center will host a bi-annual Education and Civil Rights conference, coordinate a speaker series, create a support network for research across Penn State, and build connections to school districts and institutions of higher education. The prospects for external funding to support the center are good given the salience of the issues and the interest of major potential funding agencies like the Ford Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, and the Open Society Institute, among others.

The Penn State-University of Pittsburgh Partnership for Re-inventing Schools

This partnership between Penn State and Pitt seeks to strengthen connections between research and practice as well as across the various service delivery systems (education, health and social services) to better equip young men and women for economic and social success in life. An invitation only summit will take place on the Penn State campus in June 2016 that will involve researchers from both universities and leaders of state and local agencies and NGO’s in a collaborative effort to function more effectively as team and to make better use of the emerging research. The Heinz Endowments has shown some interest in supporting this effort

8. LEADING WITH EXCELLENCE

A Dean’s Chair for the College of Education

A transformative gift to provide discretionary resources for the dean of the College of Education to achieve college priorities. The dean’s chair will provide an attractive incentive for candidates in future dean searches for the college.

— David H. Monk,
Dean, College of Education