The Penn State Board of Trustees on Sept. 18 approved the final plans for construction of the Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness at Penn State Behrend, advancing a project that will strengthen the Erie region’s metal-casting industry, expand workforce training and provide access to specialized manufacturing equipment and expertise.
Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT), part of Penn State University Libraries, has named 21 recipients of the 2026 Faculty Engagement Awards with this year’s theme, “Teaching with AI Glasses: Augmented Reality for Real-Time Learning.”
Penn State graduate students in a research-based degree program are invited to participate in Penn State's annual Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT), hosted by the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School. 3MT helps graduate students improve their research communication and presentation skills, permitting just three minutes and one static presentation slide to effectively communicate their research and its impact to an audience outside their field.
To support graduate student success across the University, the Fox Graduate School released a new set of mentoring resources, including the Mentoring Blueprint, a guide for faculty mentors and graduate student mentees. The materials include discussion guides, case studies, the theory of mentoring, a list of University mentoring resources, and assessment approaches.
The Penn State Behrend women’s volleyball team was undefeated at the two-day Behrend Invitational. The team defeated Houghton, Thiel, Utica and Westminster.
The Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Community Outreach, Research, and Evaluation at Penn State Behrend and the Social Science Research Institute at Penn State have formalized a collaboration to better support research across the University.
As director of marketing for Erie Events, Penn State Behrend communications graduate Erica Pavlov oversees strategy for five distinct entertainment venues, including UPMC Park, the Warner Theatre and Erie Insurance Arena. “I wanted a career where I could be creative, but I’m also interested in the business side of things,” she said. “With a communication degree, the sky’s the limit.”
Mary Behrend’s art studio has been repurposed over the last 80 years, serving as a bunkhouse, a library and a student lounge. Today, students are again using the space to express themselves through art.
