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 12, 2025
Penn State Ag Sciences doctoral student awarded competitive national fellowship
Hazel Velasco Palacios, a doctoral candidate in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded a writing fellowship to help support her research on health care access for Pennsylvania farmworkers in the mushroom and dairy industries.
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June 6, 2025
The silent struggles of post-9/11 veterans
Veterans may carry a sense of isolation and the painful belief that their presence is a burden to those around them. When these thoughts persist over time, they could contribute to an increased risk of suicide, according to a new study by researchers at the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State.
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May 30, 2025
Penn State’s Youth Food Lab attends UN Science, Technology, Innovation forum
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences was represented on the global stage as faculty and students participated in the United Nations’ 10th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, held at U.N. headquarters in New York City earlier this month.
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May 29, 2025
La Plazuela: Using music to combat ageism
What started as free tickets to see a flamenco fusion band in Spain turned into an unexpected research opportunity for a team of researchers at Penn State, who discovered a unique example of the power of music to bridge generational divides.
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Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education
- Office 814-865-5461
- Fax 814-865-3746