Penn State Berks students are starting the academic year by getting involved in the local community through the Penn State Berks Day of Service on Sunday, August 31, 2014.
The next Engineering, Business, and Computing (EBC) Division Speaker Series Presentation will feature Dr. Sungsup Ra, Director of the Human and Social Development Division, South Asia Development, Asian Development Bank (ADB), who will present "Opportunities and Challenges for Skills Development: Asian Perspective" on Friday, August 29, 2014, at 1 p.m. in room 121 Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building. This presentation is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Penn State Berks will welcome nearly 400 first-year members to its residential community as part of the campus' annual orientation program on Friday, August 22, 2014. Students will move into the residence halls from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. There will be a welcome reception for students and their families at the Perkins Plaza from 2:30-4:00 p.m., which will be open to students, faculty, and staff of the college.
A $1 million scholarship endowment to benefit Penn State Berks students has been made possible by a recent gift from the John E. Morgan Foundation. The gift will create The John E. Morgan Foundation Trustee Scholarship, which will help qualified students with financial need to attend Penn State Berks.
Matthew Woods, a senior Mechanical Engineering major who began his studies at Penn State Berks, is part of the Penn State Lunar Lion Team, which is attempting the first-ever university-led mission to the moon.
Woods' role in the Lunar Lions Team is the Additive Manufacturing Lead, working with 3-D printing, an innovation he discovered in the Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Center while he was a student at Penn State Berks.
While most students mark the beginning of a semester by receiving syllabi on the first day of classes, first-year students enrolled in an Outdoor Adventure Program will begin their semester early by participating in one of two different outdoor excursions: canoeing or backpacking.
Penn State Berks has chosen "This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women," edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman for its Common Reading Program for the 2014-15 academic year. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to read the book and come together for several events based on the book's philosophies and themes, including a lecture by the books' co-editor Dan Gediman on October 15, 2014.
Penn State students from Berks, Brandywine, and University Park campuses traveled to two Maryland communities to help children who are still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy as part of Camp Noah. The camps were held the week of July 28-August 1, 2014.
Penn State Berks will host the 50th annual Penn State Student Leadership Conference from August 5 -7, 2014. This conference will include some special guest speakers, including Penn State President Eric J. Barron, who will give the keynote address, and Matt Roloff of the TV show Little People, Big World.