Academics

More than 700 students earned a place on the Penn State Berks spring 2025 dean’s list, ending the semester with a 3.5 grade-point average or higher.

The 2025–26 faculty development program Privacy Pedagogy for Open Inquiry and Student Expression Project, led by a University Libraries team, seeks instructor applicants across the University who wish to emphasize student privacy in learning design and enhance civil, robust discussion in the classroom.

Six Penn State Commonwealth Campuses recently named faculty members as Open Champions, recognizing their work with open education in the fourth year of Penn State’s Open and Affordable Educational Resources Champion Awards. 

Two Penn State Berks students will conduct research related to drug exposure and ovarian cancer treatment as part of their U.S. National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates this summer. Daniel Abramov and Lauren Conrad, biochemistry and molecular biology majors who have conducted research at Penn State Berks, are also Schreyer Scholars and Penn State Berks Cohen-Hammel Fellows.   

Five Division of Undergraduate Studies students earned scholarships this year for demonstrating a commitment to academic exploration. 

The Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program in 2025-26 will include five new fellows from Penn State.

Five faculty members were honored with awards at the end of the spring semester – three given by the University College for research, teaching and service, and two from the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses in recognition of innovative teaching practices to enhance student learning.

This gallery of photos shows the variety of ways Penn State students enriched their education in faraway places or participated in service projects in communities around the world during spring break. From providing hurricane relief in North Carolina to gaining hands-on international reporting experience in Kazakhstan, students took advantage of numerous experiential learning and service opportunities offered through the University.

Penn State University Libraries presented the 2025 Undergraduate Research Awards: Excellence in Information Literacy honors to 104 students at 20 undergraduate Penn State campuses this spring.

Penn State's AI Week, held April 14-17 across Penn State campuses, showcased faculty and student research and excellence through panels, research showcases, immersive workshops and a poster session. The weeklong event is coordinated by the Penn State AI Hub, which is housed under the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.