Researchers aim to create thriving agricultural systems in urbanizing landscapes

July 29, 2020

A team led by Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences researchers is almost a year into a five-year study aimed at creating economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural systems in the face of development pressures and other challenges of urbanization.

Bridging divides: Penn State, Delta program partnership inspires youth activism

July 20, 2020

Penn State graduate students in an advanced course, titled “Applied Youth, Family and Community Education 535: Youth Civic Development,” served as civic engagement mentors to middle- and high-school students in “Bridging Divides: Exploring Diversity and Social Justice,” a class offered through the State College Area School District's Delta program.

College of Ag Sciences alumnus receives Diana Award for humanitarian work

July 8, 2020

Shah Rafayat Chowdhury, a 2018 graduate of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has received the Diana Award, one of the highest accolades a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian effort.

From research to outreach: Tool tests students' readiness for public engagement

June 23, 2020

A new online resource developed by faculty at Penn State can help educators better identify students who need additional support in honing the communication skills they need when interacting with the communities they hope to improve.

Students develop resources for immigrant communities during COVID-19

June 1, 2020

The Penn State Center Philadelphia, Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, and faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education at Penn State worked with students in Penn State Law on a project designed to address the needs of immigrant communities in the context of COVID-19.

Researchers examine climate change perception among specialty-crop producers

May 26, 2020

Farmers whose operations have been impacted negatively by changing precipitation patterns — either too much or not enough water — are more likely to acknowledge the link between extreme weather conditions and climate change. That is one of the findings of a study examining farmers’ perceptions of resource availability and climate change, published recently in Organization and the Environment.

StoryMap project shines light on Pennsylvania's vulnerable communities

May 18, 2020

Researchers in the Center for Economic and Community Development in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have developed an online StoryMap, titled "Vulnerable Pennsylvanians in the Context of a Pandemic," that they hope will facilitate engagement and help communities become stronger in the wake of COVID-19.

Ag Sciences' CED major adds 'social and environmental responsibility' option

May 14, 2020

Students majoring in community, environment, and development in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences can add a new option to reflect a growing interest in corporate responsibility. The social and environmental responsibility option takes effect in the fall 2020 semester.

'Feed the Future' grant to support women's empowerment research project in Ghana

May 1, 2020

A $450,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut Research will aid researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences as they explore the potential to empower women farmers in northern Ghana through peanut production.

Randell receives Roy C. Buck Faculty Award in College of Agricultural Sciences

April 13, 2020

Heather Randell, assistant professor of rural sociology and demography in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named the recipient of the 2019 Roy C. Buck Faculty Award.

Teaching excellence recognized in College of Agricultural Sciences

March 5, 2020

Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has recognized nine faculty members for outstanding teaching in 2019.

New book examines how environment can foster intergenerational connections

February 28, 2020

Ways of thinking about, planning and designing intergenerationally enriched environments are explored in a new book co-edited by Matt Kaplan, professor of intergenerational programs and aging in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Study suggests U.S. households waste nearly a third of the food they acquire

January 23, 2020

American households waste, on average, almost a third of the food they acquire, according to economists, who say this wasted food has an estimated aggregate value of $240 billion annually. Divided among the nearly 128.6 million U.S. households, this waste could be costing the average household about $1,866 per year.

Agricultural science student pursues pollinator knowledge through internship

December 13, 2019

Xavier Mack, a student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, spent his summer in the rolling hills of Nebraska. As part of his journey toward a future career in science communications, Mack, a sophomore majoring in agricultural science, participated in an internship program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Penn State sophomore finds a future in agricultural education

November 22, 2019

Justin Kurtz’s first encounter with the FFA transformed the way he thought about agriculture, the world and, most importantly, himself. Kurtz, an agricultural and extension education major in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, first began working on a farm at the age of 10 in Kent County, Maryland.

Photovoice project shares strengths and struggles of women in urban agriculture

October 16, 2019

A unique thesis project in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences showcases the stories of women in urban agriculture through photographs captured by the participants themselves.

27th Annual National Symposium on Family Issues will take place Oct. 21-22

October 9, 2019

The 2019 National Symposium on Family Issues will provide an overview of the many interconnections between families and food on Oct. 21-22 at the Nittany Lion Inn.

AESE Rural Sociology Program Representation at RSS Annual Meeting

August 30, 2019

The rural sociology program had a strong representation at the RSS annual meeting in Richmond. Thomas Mueller and Matt Brooks won both the Olaf Larson Graduate Student Paper Award and the student paper award of the Natural Resources Research Interest Group for their paper “Who Bears the Burden of Renewable Energy: A Multi-scalar Analysis of Distributional Injustice and Wind Energy.” Maria Vivanco Salazar won a doctoral dissertation award for "Neglected and Underutilized by Whom? Neo-colonialism in the Definition of Crops from the Andean Region" and Effie Smith won a master’s thesis award for "Livelihoods in the Balance: Haitians, Haitian-Dominicans, and Precarious Work in Rural Dominican Republic." Katrina Alford won the student paper award of the Population Research Interest Group. Altogether, 14 rural sociology graduate students and 13 faculty were on the program with presentations, and others as panelists. In addition, 13 rural sociology graduate program alumni were on the program, so in total Penn State had a 40-person contingent, the strongest of all universities.

Alumni honor former professor with graduate award endowment

August 28, 2019

For many students, there is a class or subject they are nervous to take. Sometimes, however, it is in those classes that a student finds an inspirational teacher — a teacher who makes learning what may be a difficult subject a joy to learn. For alumni Louis Swanson and Carol Gertsch, that subject was statistics, and the teacher was Fern “Bunny” Willits, professor emerita in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education.

College of Agricultural Sciences recognizes outstanding students for 2019

August 20, 2019

Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences recently recognized recipients of the Outstanding Senior Award and Outstanding Student Awards for the 2018-19 academic year.

Location, Location, Location: Where and How do Food Hubs Flourish?

July 19, 2019

For a new food hub to succeed, it should be located in a community with a population sufficient to sustain it, according to a team of economists, who found that a county seeking to establish its first food hub needs roughly 182,000 residents for that food hub to break even.

Penn State professor part of team receiving United Nations Public Service Award

July 10, 2019

Ted Alter, professor of agricultural, environmental and regional economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, is among an international group of community, industry, government and academic leaders who are being lauded for their work to help manage an invasive and destructive species in Australia.

Strategic plan seed grant supports green stormwater infrastructure research

June 24, 2019

A proposal that will support the development of a living laboratory for green stormwater infrastructure research, education and innovation at Penn State is among the latest initiatives to receive funding through the University’s Strategic Plan Seed Grant program.

Student finds perfect place for her many interests in College of Ag Sciences

June 18, 2019

Gillian Warner, a rising junior in community, environment, and development, is passionate about animals, food security and learning. She found a place for all these interests -- and more -- in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Report: Pa. employment strong, but job growth leaves regions, industries behind

June 13, 2019

With the U.S. economy on track for potentially the longest expansion on record after the Great Recession of 2008-09, employment in Pennsylvania overall is strong. But the rosy statewide job numbers can mask persistent decline in various industries and regions across the state, according to economists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Students receive 2019 Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Student Research Awards

June 4, 2019

The Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) has selected the winners of its 2019 Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Student Research Awards, funded by the M. G. Whiting Endowment for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledge. Applicants must be Penn State students planning to conduct research related to an approved topic for an undergraduate capstone course, honors thesis topic, master’s or doctoral thesis, or similar. The 2019 Whiting Award winners are: — Richard Caneba, a doctoral candidate in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, for “Power, Knowledge, and Indigenous Ways-of-Knowing in the Information Age: A Postcolonial Perspective on Indigenous IT and STEM Educational Outreach in Canada”; — Christian Kelly Scott, a doctoral candidate studying rural sociology and international agriculture and development, for “The Pasture, the Village, and the People: Food Security Endowments and Abatements in the Southern Kyrgyz Highlands”; and — Ryan Naylor, a master’s degree candidate studying recreation, park and tourism management, for “Tribes, Timber, and Tourism in the Nation's Largest National Forest: Emic Perspectives of Indigenous Alaskans on the Tourism Development unfolding in Tongass National Forest.”

College of Agricultural Sciences students chosen for Fulbright Awards

June 4, 2019

Tessa Sontheimer and Geoff Merz, graduates of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, have been named recipients of Fulbright Study Awards.

College of Agricultural Sciences students chosen for Fulbright Awards

May 31, 2019

Tessa Sontheimer and Geoff Merz, graduates of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, have been named recipients of Fulbright Study Awards.

Institutes of Energy and the Environment announces seed grant recipients

May 21, 2019

The 2018–19 Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) seed grant recipients have been awarded to 18 groups of interdisciplinary researchers at Penn State. IEE established a Seed Grant Program in 2013 to foster basic and applied research addressing IEE’s research themes. Over the previous rounds, IEE has awarded over $2.7 million to 104 interdisciplinary projects with investigators from at least 15 Penn State colleges and campuses. This year, seed grants were awarded to proposals focusing on three of IEE’s five strategic research themes — Climate and Ecosystem Change, Future Energy Supply, and Human Health and the Environment — as well as three strategic crosscutting topics -- Food-Energy-Water Systems, High-Performance Building Systems, and Energy and Environmental Resilience.

10 Penn State students and alumni receive Fulbright awards

May 21, 2019

Penn State students and alumni will travel to all corners of the globe for the 2019-2020 school year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Including: Tessa Sontheimer, undergraduate; Community, Environment, and Development, College of Agricultural Sciences, and Global and International Studies, College of the Liberal Arts; Indonesia