Liberal Arts Experiences

Each Liberal Arts Experience is unique

But they all share similar traits: a sense of curiosity and exploration, a desire to learn and grow, and a yearning to make the world a better place. Experience some of that “experience” yourself through the stories of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Student Experiences

Read stories about our students making a difference on campus and in the community, and their experiences inside and beyond the classroom.

These big, old, abandoned buildings are everywhere. People are anxious about them, people are afraid of them. But we don’t talk about them as memory places. People don’t know how to navigate them...And my argument is that because we don’t have formal memory structures devoted to these places, people fill them with ghosts as a way to try and understand them.

Ashleigh McDonald

Undergrad Research

Janae Sayler

Underrepresented Perspectives Lab

As a research assistant, Janae presented her findings about safety cues in health care for sexual and gender diverse populations. Her findings argued that safety cues in health care environments, such as name tags with pronouns or pride flags in offices, increased people’s sense of belonging and safety for their identity.

Grad Research

Ashleigh McDonald

Doctoral Student in Communication Arts and Sciences

Ashleigh McDonald has devoted her studies to researching the narratives and memories attached to mental institutions, prisons, hospitals and other “dark, unanalyzed places” commonly thought to be haunted.

Grad Research

Katherine Godfrey

History Post-Doc Teaching Fellow

Katherine Godfrey’s research examines how Indigenous matrilineal kinship networks shaped social and political life in early colonial Colombia. Her forthcoming book explores the critical yet often overlooked role of Indigenous women in supporting and influencing the Spanish Empire’s ambitions, challenging male-centered narratives of conquest. By centering women’s experiences, her work reveals new perspectives on identity, power, and colonial encounters in the early Americas.

Undergrad Research

Nicholas Banerjee

University of Edinburgh

Nicholas spent a summer in Scotland conducting workplace behavioral research, blending his backgrounds in psychology and labor and human resources. His work centered on fostering innovation and creativity in professional environments.

Undergrad Research

Caden Vitti

Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) Fellowship Program

The PIRE fellowship allowed Caden to travel to Puerto Rico to conduct research on how Spanish-English speakers who use both languages process the use of nonbinary pronouns.

Undergrad Research

Ena Altier

Cognitive Aging and Neuroimaging (CAN) Lab

Ena investigated how aging changes memory performance and the brain processes involved in remembering past experiences. “I do not think you necessarily need a lot of background experience,” she says about getting involved in research. “As long as you are willing to learn, focus, and help with tasks, you can set yourself up for success.”

Undergrad Research

Janae Sayler

Underrepresented Perspectives Lab

Grad Research

Ashleigh McDonald

Doctoral Student in Communication Arts and Sciences

Grad Research

Katherine Godfrey

History Post-Doc Teaching Fellow

Undergrad Research

Nicholas Banerjee

University of Edinburgh

Undergrad Research

Caden Vitti

Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) Fellowship Program

The PIRE fellowship allowed Caden to travel to Puerto Rico to conduct research on how Spanish-English speakers who use both languages process the use of nonbinary pronouns.

Undergrad Research

Ena Altier

Cognitive Aging and Neuroimaging (CAN) Lab

Undergrad Research

Janae Sayler

Underrepresented Perspectives Lab

5,500

undergraduate students

800

students participating in out-of-classroom experiences

870

graduate students

1,500

undergraduates met with a career coach

events hosted by the Career Enrichment Network

of students identity as a member of a minority group

Most diverse college at Penn State University Park

Majors of Our Students

76%

social sciences

13%

humanities

languages

area and interdisciplinary studies

Faculty and Staff Experiences

Read stories about our faculty and the amazing work they do examining the past in order to make meaningful changes in the present that lead to a promising future, and the incredible staff who are so deeply committed to student, faculty, and alumni success.

Faculty Research

James Doyle

Associate Research Professor of Anthropology

Director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology

Associate Research Professor of Anthropology

Director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology

The Matson Museum of Anthropology received a $9,333 Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions that funded a consulting conservator who examined the condition of the museum’s collection of over 800 global textiles.

Faculty AchievementFaculty Research

Peter Arnett

Penn State Distinguished Professor of Psychology

Peter Arnett received Reitan Clinical Excellence Award from he National Academy of Neuropsychology. Recipients of the award are recognized for their long-term impact in the field of clinical neuropsychology.

Faculty Research

Hil Malatino

Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy

Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute

Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy

Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute

While conducting research, Hil Malatino, came to the realization that a vast trove of archival documents devoted to trans history had yet to be unearthed and analyzed by contemporary scholars. That insight led Malatino to conceive the project, “Widening the Arc of Trans History: Archival Research for Public Storytelling,” which recently received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Faculty AchievementFaculty Research

Bradford Vivian

Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences

Bradford Vivian received two awards, the National Communication Association’s (NCA) 2024 Franklyn S. Haiman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Freedom of Expression, and the Distinguished Alumni Award in English from George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Faculty Research

Elizabeth Kadetsky

Professor of English

Elizabeth Kadetsky received a $60,000 Public Scholars grant for her current non-fiction book project chronicling her journey to trace the whereabouts of the Tanesar sculptures, a series of sixth-century stone figures, most of them mother goddesses that are also called matrikas, that were stolen from a temple in southwestern Rajasthan, India, during the early 1960s and ended up in the collections of high-profile art collectors and several prominent museums.

Faculty Research

Tawny Holm

Head of the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CAMS)

Associate Professor of CAMS and Jewish studies

Head of the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CAMS)

Associate Professor of CAMS and Jewish studies

Tawny Holm and her colleague, University of Notre Dame faculty member Dan Machiela, received a $50,000 Collaborative Research grant for their project, “The Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls at the Crossroads of Empire: Negotiating Jewish Life under Foreign Rule.”

Faculty Research

James Doyle

Associate Research Professor of Anthropology

Director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology

Associate Research Professor of Anthropology

Director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology

Faculty AchievementFaculty Research

Peter Arnett

Penn State Distinguished Professor of Psychology

Faculty Research

Hil Malatino

Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy

Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute

Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy

Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute

Faculty AchievementFaculty Research

Bradford Vivian

Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences

Faculty Research

Elizabeth Kadetsky

Professor of English

Faculty Research

Tawny Holm

Head of the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CAMS)

Associate Professor of CAMS and Jewish studies

Head of the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CAMS)

Associate Professor of CAMS and Jewish studies

Faculty Research

James Doyle

Associate Research Professor of Anthropology

Director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology

Associate Research Professor of Anthropology

Director of the Matson Museum of Anthropology

782 full-time faculty

325

tenured faculty

tenure-track faculty

374

non-tenure track faculty (full-time)

159

non-tenure track faculty (part-time)

122 Named and Distinguished Professors

named professors

Liberal Arts professors

distinguished professors

Sparks professors

early career professors and
career development professors

University
endowed fellows

Evan Pugh University
Professors

named deans chairs
and directorships

305

full-time staff

Alumni Experiences

Read stories about the incredible impact our alumni have on their alma mater, their professions, and the communities in which they live through their leadership, engagement, and philanthropy.

Ernst and Manfred were longtime members of the German department and revered among their colleagues and students. This fund is not merely a financial contribution; it is a celebration of the passion these professors brought to their roles. We are incredibly grateful for this endowment that will help our graduate students realize a comprehensive Penn State experience.

Carrie Jackson

AlumniMentorshipRussianSchreyer ScholarSpanish

Ben Stewart

’15

Russian

Spanish

Russian

Spanish

Ben has spent the last decade in Ukraine as an educator and translator helping others better understand history. After completing his bachelor’s degree at Penn State, Ben joined the Peace Corps as a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Higher Education Volunteer in Ukraine. He continues to stay connected to Penn State as a mentor for the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program.

Giving

Mary Kay Paterno Hort

Director of Prospect Engagement and Operations for Principal Gifts in Penn State’s Office of University Development

Inspired by the work of longtime College of the Liberal Arts alumni relations and development employee, Mary Kay Paterno Hort, an anonymous donor recently presented the college with a lead gift of $25,000 to create an endowment in honor of Hort for her many years of service and leadership in Liberal Arts.

Alumni SpotlightGiving

Cassandra Matos

’11

2008 Political Science

2011 Penn State Dickinson Law

2008 Political Science

2011 Penn State Dickinson Law

Committing $34,000, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts alumna Cassandra Matos has supported a program that played a fundamental role in shaping her experience as a student and future professional. Her gift to World in Conversation (WinC) will help the program to engage the Penn State community in honest conversations on difficult topics through facilitated dialogues across the University and beyond.

Alumni SpotlightGiving

David and Joanne Kleppinger

David M. and Joanne M. Kleppinger have committed a total of $280,000 to Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts to create the David M. and Joanne M. Kleppinger Pennsylvania Government Relations Internship Program Endowment. The endowment is designed to provide paid internships to political science and other liberal arts students in Pennsylvania-based government relations firms, as well as in state, county and municipal entities.

Alumni SpotlightGivingResearch

Amelia V. Dodoo

’23

Psychology and African studies

2023 Rhea S. Schwartz Fellow

Psychology and African studies

2023 Rhea S. Schwartz Fellow

During the 2023–24 academic year, Penn State alumna and 2023 Schwartz Fellow Amelia V. Dodoo worked with the Office of the Special Prosecutor of Ghana, Amelia was driven by a desire to bridge gaps in understanding about corruption — a topic that she says is frequently considered to be a “taboo” discussion in Ghana.

Mentorship

Taylor Nelson

’17

Criminology

Information Systems and Statistical Analysis (minor)

Criminology

Information Systems and Statistical Analysis (minor)

During his time at Penn State, Taylor was involved in the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program, where he was matched with a mentor who helped him prepare for life after graduation. Taylor’s mentor was a business owner, and was able to give Taylor valuable input on his resume and networking skills. Taylor visited his mentor at his Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, company, where he talked to different employees and developed the confidence needed to pitch his background, education and professional goals.

AlumniMentorshipRussianSchreyer ScholarSpanish

Ben Stewart

’15

Russian

Spanish

Russian

Spanish

Giving

Mary Kay Paterno Hort

Director of Prospect Engagement and Operations for Principal Gifts in Penn State’s Office of University Development

Alumni SpotlightGiving

Cassandra Matos

’11

2008 Political Science

2011 Penn State Dickinson Law

2008 Political Science

2011 Penn State Dickinson Law

Alumni SpotlightGiving

David and Joanne Kleppinger

Alumni SpotlightGivingResearch

Amelia V. Dodoo

’23

Psychology and African studies

2023 Rhea S. Schwartz Fellow

Psychology and African studies

2023 Rhea S. Schwartz Fellow

Mentorship

Taylor Nelson

’17

Criminology

Information Systems and Statistical Analysis (minor)

Criminology

Information Systems and Statistical Analysis (minor)

AlumniMentorshipRussianSchreyer ScholarSpanish

Ben Stewart

’15

Russian

Spanish

Russian

Spanish

213

student/alumni mentoring relationships

100K

liberal arts alumni

760

donor-funded accounts in the college

$ 0 M+

provided in scholarships (2021–22)

$ 0 k

provided in enrichment funding last year

Liberal Arts Experiences

Each Liberal Arts Experience is unique

Student Experiences

Ashleigh McDonald

Faculty and Staff Experiences

Peter Arnett

Alumni Experiences

Mary Kay Paterno Hort

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