Campus Life

Things to Do at Penn State: Sept. 17-24

A selection of virtual and in-person cultural events happening at the University this weekend and next week

A detail image of plastic chains hanging from the ceiling of HUB Gallery. The exhibition "CARE. not convenience" was created using salvaged plastic. Credit: Penn State / Penn StateCreative Commons

What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — taking place at the University this weekend and next week:

Performances

"Together, Alone" Faculty Concert Series: Melody Quah — 7:30 p.m., Sept. 21, online. School of Music faculty member Melody Quah will livestream a solo piano performance. Free.

Events

"Mindful Making" creative workshop series: "I Am" — 3 p.m., Sept. 17, patio tent, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. This five-week creative workshop series shares arts-based wellness practices that can help improve overall well-being. This session focuses on mixed-media prints. Free.

"Mindful Making" creative workshop series: Self-care box decorating — 3 p.m., Sept. 24, patio tent, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. This five-week creative workshop series shares arts-based wellness practices that can help improve overall well-being. This session focuses on self-care box decorating. Free.

Lectures

De Jong Lecture in Social Demography — 9 a.m., Sept. 17, via Zoom. Doug Massey, director of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, will present "The New Reality at the Mexico-U.S. Border." Free, but pre-registration required.

Constitution Day 20202-4 p.m., Sept. 17, via Zoom. The University celebrates the centennial of the 19th Amendment and explores the Eighth Amendment in this year's virtual celebration. Free.

Matt Taibbi — 4 p.m., Sept. 17, via Zoom. Journalist and author Matt Taibbi will discuss his book "Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another" and talk about media literacy in politics and beyond. Free, but pre-registration required.

Smith Creative Writers Reading Series: Kathryn Nuernberger — 6 p.m., Sept. 17, via Zoom. Poet Kathryn Nuernberger will kick off this series by Penn State Behrend. Free.

Constitution Day — 7 p.m., Sept. 17, online. Scott G. Hoh, owner and president of Resolution Law Group, will discuss the U.S. Constitution as part of the Penn State Berks "LionSide Chat" program series. Free.

"Reflections on Organizing and Power: Anti-Black Police Brutality and the Popular Uprisings"1-4:15 p.m., Sept. 18, via Zoom. The Penn State Consortium for Social Movements and Education and the Africana Research Center present this symposium that will provide frameworks and tools for students to analyze the recent Black Lives Matter protests within the broader context of Black freedom movements, articulate demands for structural change and speak from their own experiences. Free, but registration required.

Virtual Speaker Series: Dr. Ray HohlNoon, Sept. 22, via Zoom. Dr. Ray Hohl, director of the Penn State Cancer Institute, will present "PSU in the B1G: Leveling the Playing Field for Cancer Care and Treatment" as part of the Penn State Alumni Association's Virtual Speaker Series. Free, but registration required.

Journalism Speakers Forum: Erin Clark7 p.m., Sept. 22, via Zoom. Erin Clark, staff photographer for the Boston Globe, will discuss her Pulitzer Prize-nominated project, "The Long Road Home," a story about a family and its fight for stable housing. Free.

Journalism Speakers Forum: Jason Hehir — 7 p.m., Sept. 23, via Zoom. Jason Hehir, a six-time Emmy Award-winning director and producer, will speak. He produced "The Last Dance," which chronicled the Chicago Bulls dynasty and the career of Michael Jordan, and went on to become the most watched documentary in ESPN history. Free.

Coffee Hour with Paul Clifford: John Colaneri9 a.m., Sept. 23, via Zoom. Alumnus John Colaneri, star of HGTV's "The Cousins," will join Penn State Alumni Association CEO to talk about his show, his career path and his experiences as a Penn Stater. Free, but registration required.

"The Impact of Structural Racism and Racial Discrimination on Health, Wellness and Well-Being"4 p.m., Sept. 24, via Zoom. The College of Health and Human Development's fall 2020 Dean’s Lecture Series will focus on the impact of structural racism and racial discrimination on health, wellness and well-being. After a screening of the documentary "The Skin You're In," its producer, Thomas A. LaVeist, dean and Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Health Equity at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, will host a live Q&A session with attendees. Free.

Smith Creative Writers Reading Series: Lynn Emanuel 6 p.m., Sept. 24, via Zoom. Lynn Emanuel, author of five books of poetry and founder of the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, will be featured as part of the Penn State Behrend speaker series. Free.

Art After Hours: Art, Museums and Social Justice 6-8 p.m., Sept. 24, via Zoom. The Palmer Museum of Art will kick off with the discussion "Museums and the Myth of Neutrality," followed by social justice sticker party. Free.

Exhibits and Virtual Tours

"Celebrating the ADA: The Legacy and Evolution of Disability Rights & Lived Experience at Penn State" — Online. The University Libraries explores the first 100 years of national disability rights legislation and the movement's impact on the Penn State community. Free.

"CARE. not convenience" — Through Nov. 20, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. Created entirely with salvaged plastic, this collaboration between an artist, designer and an environmental sciences researcher aspired to shed light on society's dependence on, careless overuse and thoughtless disposal of plastic. Free.

"Hostile Terrain 94" — Through Nov. 20, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. "Hostile Terrain 94" is a participatory art exhibit occurring in nearly 150 cities around the globe that highlights the lives claimed by the U.S./Mexico border since the 1990s. Free.

"African Brilliance: A Diplomat's Sixty Years of Collecting" Online Catalogue — Online. A digital catalogue of African works collected by retired U.S. ambassador Allen C. Davis, including text entries, high-resolution 360-degree images and contextual videos at the Palmer Museum of Art. Free.

"African Brilliance" Virtual Tour — Online. Explore an interactive tour created with teachers, students and families in mind. The tour includes installation images, pictures of selected works, videos for guided viewing and related art-making activity suggestions. Free.

"Drawing on a Legacy: Highlights from the John Driscoll American Drawings Collection"  Online. High-resolution images, text selections and a photo gallery of works on paper donated by Penn State alumnus John P. Driscoll, including early landscape views and botanical sketches, animal scenes and still lives, and portraits and preparatory figure studies. The works include a number of well-known 19th-century American artists. Free.

"Illuminating Illusions" — Online. The Penn State Museum Consortium presents this exhibition that explores facets of illusions in science, art, literature and nature. Free.

"Photography=Abstraction" — Online. The Palmer Museum of Art's virtual pop-up exhibition is an interactive gallery with images, text and informational videos for selected works. Free, Google Chrome browser recommended.

Snowiss Gallery of American Art — Online. Tour the Palmer Museum of Art's first-floor Snowiss Gallery. Free.

"Women in Art: Activism and Resistance" virtual tour — Online. This self-directed, interactive online tour features a selection of objects by female artists in the Palmer Museum of Art's collection. In celebration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, this tour highlights artists working in a variety of media during the 20th and 21st centuries who have contributed to political, social and cultural change. Free.

"Human Expectations" — Through Jan. 31, 2021, Display Cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. Four artists explore the form of the human head in ceramic, neon and glass. Free.

"Border Exchange" — Through Jan. 31, 2021, Display Cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The exhibition pairs two of artist Carlos Rosales-Silva's paintings with a site-responsive wall painting. Free.

"Small Planet" — Through January 2022, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The HUB-Robeson Center has commissioned a site-specific wall painting located in the first-floor eateries by artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann titled "Small Planet." Free.

Last Updated September 17, 2020