On Saturday, Dec. 4, Penn State Berks will host the National Collegiate Rugby East Coast Semifinal Championship for the Chesapeake Conference. Games will be held at 1 and 3 p.m. Both games will be held on the college’s athletic turf field, directly behind the Beaver Athletics and Wellness Center. The games will also be livestreamed by National Collegiate Rugby. Visit ncrugby.org for more information.
Erin Horack, a first-year biotechnology major at Penn State Berks, recently won two first place awards for her research studying the spotted lanternfly. She was named a 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar and she also took first place honors at the National FFA Agriscience competition for her research.
Penn State Berks graduates from the classes of 2020 and 2021 will be recognized during the college’s fall 2021 commencement ceremony, to be held 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, at the Santander Arena. Graduates from the class of 2021 will receive their baccalaureate and associate degrees while graduates from the Class of 2020 will be honored for their achievement. In total, 287 students will be recognized.
For the final installment of the 2021 "Global Oscars Comes to Berks" series, Penn State Berks will present the film "Another Round" at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 7, in room 5 of the Luerssen Building. The presentation is free and open to the public.
Berks LaunchBox powered by Penn State recently announced the winners of its Idea TestLab accelerator final pitch competition. The competition concluded a six-week-long virtual business idea accelerator in which seven selected startups received coaching and training to identify viable business models through intensive customer discovery.
The Flemming CEED Center faculty members and faculty members from Penn State recently received funding from the Penn State Social Science Research Institute’s (SSRI) "Reducing Social Disparities" initiative.
Penn State Berks will present its fall mainstage theater production, "Proof," at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, to Sunday Dec. 5, in the Perkins Student Center Auditorium. Admission is $5 for Penn State students, faculty and staff with a Penn State ID, and $10 for general admission.
Penn State Berks alumni Cory Dahlia Varona Corniel and Nicol Varona Cancelmo participated in an entrepreneurship panel discussion titled “Leveraging Entrepreneurial Experience to Maximize Professional Success,” a virtual event, on Nov. 10.
Belén Rodríguez Mourelo, division head for humanities, arts, and social sciences, speaks during the memorial ceremony held for the late David Bender at Penn State Berks on Friday, Nov. 5. Bender worked at Penn State Berks for 43 years, most recently as associate professor of educational psychology and registrar. The mosaic installation, depicting Bender at his whiteboard working on class schedules, was created by local artist Beverly Leviner and it can be viewed in the Franco Building on campus.
The key to understanding people is to understand their perspective. What Sharon Pitterson-Ogaldez brings to her role as the coordinator of diversity and international programs at Penn State Berks is not only a passion for the work, but that necessary understanding.