Retired astronaut an Penn State alumnus Guion “Guy” Bluford Jr. will present “STEM Forward: Minorities in Engineering” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, at Penn State Harrisburg. Bluford will discuss his space shuttle flights and the future of manned space flight, as well as the difficulties he faced as a minority in a STEM field. In 1983, Bluford became the first African-American to fly in space.
Penn State student organizations and units at campuses across the Commonwealth will be holding events in honor of Black History Month. Here’s a look at some of the events taking place at the University’s campuses during the month of February.
Penn State Harrisburg will hold several events in February in honor of Black History Month, including an African-American Read-In, the traveling True Black History Museum, and a lecture by Penn State alumnus and first African-American Astronaut Guion Bluford.
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Penn State Harrisburg will hold an Idea TestLab, an intensive five-week startup course for University and community entrepreneurs at Startup Harrisburg, Feb. 21 through March 21. The non-credit program focuses on the customer discovery process, in which participants will validate the customer problems they hope to solve with their proposed business ideas.
Athan Spanos, chef at Penn State Harrisburg, represented Penn State and won an American Culinary Federation (ACF) gold medal for his signature dish at the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference Culinary Challenge, held Jan. 15 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Business strategist Martin Reeves will present “Ambidexterity: The Art of Thriving in Complex Environments,” at Penn State Harrisburg as part of the PNC Thought Leaders Lecture Series, at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 12, in the Mukund S. Kulkarni Theatre in the Student Enrichment Center.
Penn State Harrisburg will host its annual Lunar New Year Celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, in the Capital Union Building Student Center on campus. The event will feature student artists showcasing the culture through various performances, and a fashion show.
Penn State Harrisburg will welcome Canadian fiddling and step-dancing siblings The Fitzgeralds at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, in the Mukund S. Kulkarni Theatre in the college’s Student Enrichment Center.
As part of the Penn State Harrisburg Faculty Seminar Series, Sheela Pandey, assistant professor management in the School of Business Administration, will present “Textual Analysis Approaches in Social Science Research” from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13, in the Olmsted Building Gallery Lounge on campus.
The Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies at Penn State Harrisburg will present an afternoon of music and storytelling by Yiddish folk artist Susan Leviton at noon on Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Olmsted Building Gallery Lounge (Room W107). Leviton will perform historical and contemporary Yiddish songs interwoven with folk tales.
