UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State community is invited to tune in at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30, for a livestreamed “State of State” update hosted by President Neeli Bendapudi and other senior leaders on the current higher education landscape, key strategic initiatives happening across the University, and the vision for Penn State’s future.
The “State of State” is one event in a series of town hall meetings planned on key topics this fall semester, including conversations on the research enterprise and Commonwealth Campuses. There are also activities planned on the results and next steps for the ModernThink staff survey and COACHE faculty survey.
“I value the contributions that each and every member of our community makes for Penn State. As we continue to move through a period of change, it’s important that as a community we come together to share our progress, discuss our challenges and explore opportunities to innovate,” Bendapudi said. “These upcoming conversations are one of the ways that members of the senior leadership team and I are continuing to engage with staff, faculty and students and to share updates on the many efforts underway to transform Penn State’s future in service to our students.”
State of State update: Oct. 30
The "State of State" update will take place during the fall Academic Leadership Forum meeting, and will be livestreamed beginning at 1:30 p.m. for faculty, staff and students to view online.
Joining Bendapudi for the meeting will be:
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Andrew Read, senior vice president for research
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Fotis Sotiropoulos, executive vice president and provost
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Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for finance and business and treasurer
The event will include a panel conversation in which senior leaders provide updates on a range of topics, including the current higher education environment, Penn State’s enrollment picture, federal research landscape, vision for the Commonwealth Campuses, artificial intelligence, Optimized Service Teams, and more.
Penn Staters are invited to submit questions in advance, which will help inform the topics discussed during the conversation. In addition to the update, a portion of the event will be dedicated to answering community members’ questions submitted in advance. Questions that are not addressed during the event will be catalogued to help inform future conversations this semester.
>> Join online: Via Microsoft Teams Town Hall (click to join Oct. 30 meeting)
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Registration is not required; however, only those with Penn State logins can join. Penn Staters can join via Microsoft Teams meeting.
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If you do not have Microsoft Teams, please select “Watch on the web” to be able to access the meeting.
>> Submit your questions in advance for the State of State update
Additional conversations
Stay tuned for information about upcoming conversations and activities planned this semester, including:
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ModernThink staff satisfaction survey webinar: At 2 p.m. on Oct. 9, Jennifer Wilkes, vice president for Human Resources and chief human resources officer, will host an online presentation on the results and next steps of the ModernThink staff survey.
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Research town hall: At 1 p.m. on Nov. 3, Read and other senior leaders will host a livestreamed town hall meeting on the research landscape. The event will provide an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to engage in dialogue with Read and learn more about the current federal research environment and Penn State’s ongoing planning and advocacy efforts. Stay tuned for additional event details.
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COACHE faculty job satisfaction survey activities: Following the release of the preview report of University-wide survey results, which will be shared in Penn State News in the coming weeks, the COACHE steering and unit-level committees will be setting priorities and planning next steps.
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Commonwealth Campuses: Additional information forthcoming.