About the Department
Welcome to the college’s home for applied social sciences.
We are a small, welcoming community of scholars and friends united by our passion for preparing the next generation of teachers and improving our ability to reach out to communities. The scholarship in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education is related to people, society, and economic systems grounded in theory and methods from the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. Faculty and students develop and employ rigorous approaches to discover fundamental and applied principles that advance science in their core disciplines. The department strives to improve the health, prosperity, and welfare of people in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and beyond. Our core disciplines for teaching and research are:
- Agricultural and Food Systems — focuses on the interconnections between producers, distributors, regulators, and consumers in a variety of issues related to food choices, markets, pollution, and health
- Community Development and Engagement — focuses on community resilience through civic engagement, leadership, and entrepreneurship to support sustainable communities and regional economies
- Environment and Natural Resources — addresses the human impact on fundamental natural assets, such as land, water, and air, and tackling the challenges that growing populations create for economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental sustainability
- Population Processes in Global Perspective —enhancing scholarship on migration and immigration, health, and material well-being of individuals and households across the world
The department offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees, with three thematic areas to guide our scholarship. These three themes utilize the respective strengths of each of the three core disciplines while providing an overall collaborative framework for research, scholarship, teaching, and outreach.
The Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology programs and the departmental main office are located in Armsby Building. The faculty of the Agricultural Extension Education program is in Ferguson Building. Come meet our faculty, staff, and students and discover for yourself why we are happy to call the department our home.
Latest News
June 25, 2025
Penn State College of Ag Sciences names Harbaugh Scholars for 2025
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has awarded funding to six faculty members across three teams to support the development of innovative curricula through the college's Harbaugh Faculty Scholars program.
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June 25, 2025
Penn State MANRRS students shine at national training and career expo
Eight students from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences moved forward into their futures at the 39th Annual Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences Training Conference and Career Expo, held in April in Memphis, Tennessee.
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June 25, 2025
Penn State students break down global issues through educational immersions
Future agricultural science teachers studying in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Idaho and at 1890s land-grant universities, taught in classrooms across the country as part of the fourth cohort of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-supported Global Orientation to Agricultural Learning, or GOALs, program.
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June 23, 2025
Penn State, Galway partner on empathy and engaged youth citizenship
Penn State recently held a seminar titled "Empathy and Engaged Youth Citizenship: What it Means and Why it Matters," presented by international visiting scholars Pat Dolan, professor and UNESCO Chair Emeritus at the University of Galway in Ireland, and Sean Campbell, CEO of Foroige, the largest youth development organization in Ireland. Mark Brennan, professor and UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Peace through Youth and Community Engagement at Penn State, hosted the event.
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Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education
- Office 814-865-5461
- Fax 814-865-3746