UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State recently completed a series of 23 community engagement sessions focused on University-wide strategic change, gathering insights from faculty, staff, students and other community stakeholders to inform the next phase of Penn State’s Road Map workstreams.
More than 1,100 Penn Staters from across the University participated in the engagement sessions, held in-person and virtually between Oct. 12 and Oct. 29. The approach to this work was built on the foundation of community involvement, with the goal of designing the future of Penn State, by Penn Staters.
Participants valued the opportunity to contribute, offering many ideas and sharing perspectives as workstream leaders identify ways to strengthen operations, support Penn State’s academic mission, and position the University for long-term success.
One of the community members who participated in an engagement session was Kerry Hair, a research technologist in the Genomics Core Facility, part of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. Hair, who took part in the Student Success Workstream, talked about the value of community engagement in helping to solve challenges, noting that “University leaders recognize that we cannot afford to leave ideas unheard or creativity untapped.”
“What struck me most was the passion every participant brought to the conversation,” Hair said. “Most of us are here in these positions because we care deeply about university research and education. Penn State is home to such creative and committed people who are excited to be part of drafting Penn State's future.”
Hair said she felt motivated to get involved in the Student Success Workstream after seeing the positive benefits of working with undergraduate students through Huck’s summer internships and wanted to bring her perspective on experiential learning opportunities to the conversation.
“As the University expands requirements for experiential learning, the dozens of core facilities across campus and across disciplines can be leveraged to the mutual benefit of students and core facility staff,” Hair said. “As core facilities face changing funding streams and F&A (facilities and administration) reimbursement, thinking about diversifying our value to the University will help us thrive, too.”
Jay Martin, associate research professor in the College of Engineering and the Applied Research Laboratory, and a member of the University Faculty Senate, took part in sessions for both the World Campus and Research & Development workstreams. He shared ideas for enhancing the online student experience, including improving the application process and credit transfer system while maintaining high-quality course content and instruction. He also brought a researcher’s perspective to the R&D sessions, highlighting ways to expand industrial research outreach by strengthening connections among campuses, communities and industry partners across Pennsylvania.
Martin emphasized the importance of drawing on faculty members’ institutional knowledge and feedback to inform decisions and build the grassroots support needed for successful implementation.
“By getting the faculty involved, you're hopefully getting a much better read on a solution that will work for Penn State,” Martin said. “I think coming out of these workstreams we're talking about the potential for some significant structural changes in the university, and you're going to need buy-in from all stakeholders for that to be successful. It's not going to work from a top-down push — it has to be a grassroots approach.”
The path so far
Penn State completed a University-wide organizational assessment earlier this year to identify opportunities to build on the institution’s strengths and address areas for improvement. The assessment drew on institutional data, peer benchmarking, and input from more than 200 Penn State community members.
The findings informed the development of the 11 Road Map workstreams, announced during a Sept. 24 State of State community update with Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi and members of her leadership team. The workstreams are intended to help Penn State pursue mission-based growth; improve how it operates; and create capacity for additional investment in students, faculty, staff, facilities and academic programs.
Planning and decisions ahead
Following the engagement sessions, workstream teams will next review the ideas shared by the Penn State community and assemble a portfolio of potential initiatives. Workstream sponsors and leads will work on prioritizing the ideas into a set of initiatives for which business plans will then be developed. Prioritization criteria will include a range of parameters, including mission impact, FY30 financial impact potential, relative ease of implementation, estimated investments needed, and strategic importance to Penn State. High-level summaries of the emerging themes from the engagement sessions are available on each workstream’s landing page at roadmap.psu.edu. Each initiative will have an assigned Penn State owner, who will be responsible for developing a detailed implementation plan.
For most workstreams, planning is expected to continue through January 2027, when proposed plans will be submitted to Penn State leadership for review. The Academic Operations Workstream will follow a separate timeline aligned with established shared governance processes, with planning continuing through May 2027.
The University’s executive team will then review each workstream’s plan and determine which proposed initiatives will be considered for implementation. Penn State leadership will assess potential initiatives based on their anticipated impact, feasibility and alignment with the institution’s priorities.
The University expects to share additional information in February 2027, following leadership decisions about which initiatives will move forward.
Community participation will remain central to this work. Updates will be shared as workstreams progress and priorities emerge. Faculty and staff serving on workstreams will continue to contribute throughout the planning process.
Workstreams complement existing initiatives
The workstreams build on and complement other priority initiatives already underway across Penn State to position the University for a sustainable, successful future.
For updates on the Road Map, and for information about opportunities to participate, visit roadmap.psu.edu.