Each year, Penn State honors several students for the highest levels of academic excellence, outstanding leadership and meritorious service. The 2020 student award recipients exemplify best practices and achievements among Penn State students, reflecting the University's mission of teaching, research and service.
Celeste Makay, a senior majoring in environmental science at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, has been named recipient of the 2020 Ralph Dorn Hetzel Memorial Award.
Floor tape and drawer labels have made the materials lab at Penn State Behrend safer for the students and faculty members who work there. The lab was reconfigured during a three-day "Kaizen" program in late 2019.
A new endowment named for Dave Niland, the longtime coach of the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team, will support student-athletes for generations to come.
Jay Amicangelo, a professor of chemistry at Penn State Behrend, adopted several new teaching techniques when Penn State moved to a remote-learning environment. He plans to continue using the new tools when face-to-face classes resume at the college.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact communities throughout Pennsylvania, Penn State staff members are fighting food insecurity by donating to food banks and organizations across the state.
In response to the growing coronavirus pandemic, orders from the state government and recommendations from global public health organizations, Penn State will hold its spring 2020 commencement ceremony via livestream on May 9. The virtual ceremony will recognize all Penn State undergraduate students and all graduate students in the Penn State Graduate School.
Penn State Behrend faculty member Jason Williams partnered with Case Western Reserve to redesign a COVID-19 face shield for mass production. Three Erie companies are positioned to assemble 240,000 of the shields, which are a critical need in hospitals and other medical settings where the virus is present.
Denise Bortree, associate professor in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications; and Charles Brown, associate professor of accounting at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, are the recipients of the 2020 Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Each year, Penn State recognizes outstanding faculty and staff with annual awards in teaching and excellence. These awards highlight many of the faculty and staff who go above and beyond.