UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The community, environment and development (CED) major in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has redesigned its curriculum, building off a legacy of educating future leaders and difference-makers by revising courses and adding new offerings focused on the skills employers want and society needs.
Timothy Kelsey, program coordinator for the major, said the changes will help the major better emphasize practical skills students can apply in careers related to community and economic development; environmental, sustainability and quality of life issues; and corporate social responsibility.
“It's not just learning about trends that are affecting community, sustainability and the environment, but also mastering the career-related skills you need to bring about effective change,” he said. “The renewed emphasis is on applied skills that our students will need if they, for example, work for a nonprofit organization, or a municipal planning department, or for a business incorporating social responsibility work.”
CED is a multidisciplinary major, blending economics, sociology, policy and sustainability with practical problem-solving to build stronger communities and responsible organizations and protect the environment.
As part of the curriculum redesign, several new courses have been developed.
Exploring careers in social good
CED 110: Your Future in Social Good: Exploring Pathways and Possibilities is an introductory course designed to help students discover the wide range of careers in community and economic development and corporate social responsibility.
Kelsey said the course is open to all students, regardless of major, and is intended to help students who are interested in sustainability, development or social responsibility but aren’t sure what careers are available in those fields.
“It will help students identify the different directions they could go and what really resonates with them when thinking about their future careers,” he said. “It will be offered for the first time in spring 2027 and then every semester from that point on.”
Learning to lead groups and navigate disagreement
CED 265: Facilitation and Participatory Engagement: Leading Groups and Building Consensus will give students experience working with groups and constructively engaging the public — skills that are critical for developing solutions to sustainability, environment and development issues, Kelsey noted. This course is designed to help students build strong facilitation skills, such as brainstorming, meeting management and conflict resolution, along with participatory engagement methods like strategic planning and deliberative dialogue.
“It’s a lab-style class where students will practice how to design and run effective meetings and deal with conflict situations with different techniques and methods,” Kelsey said. “For example, if you’re trying to bring the community together to agree on what should be done with a proposed AI data center, what are the methods you use to bring people together?”
Building nonprofit and organizational skills
CED 466: Grant-writing, Non-Profit and Small Organization Management will focus on fostering strong grant writing, financial stewardship and organizational management skills, which are the backbone of effective nonprofit and development work. Students will learn how organizations can secure funding, operate efficiently and remain accountable to both funders and the communities they serve.
Turning data into decisions
The major also will feature three new hands-on “Data for Impact” courses focused on applied skills and analysis commonly done in sustainability, development and corporate social responsibility work. Students will use tools such as Excel, ArcGIS and Tableau to analyze real-world cases, uncover insights and communicate findings for real decision-making. Projects could include analyzing workforce trends, mapping local economic shifts or performing greenhouse gas accounting.
Kelsey said that in the process of redesigning and restructuring the major, the team performed in-depth data analysis on future job openings and prospects, as well as analysis of select career paths.
The team also examined resources from professional associations and industry and consulted with CED alumni working in these fields to identify the specific skills and competencies used in their careers.
“We wanted to be thorough in identifying what our graduates need to be successful, based on a concrete analysis of what those who work in the field say,” Kelsey said. “We then structured the curricula to allow our students to build those skills.”
The result, he added, is a curriculum intended to give students both an understanding of the forces shaping communities, economies, and the environment and experience with the tools they will likely be asked to use after graduation.
For more information, visit the community, environment and development major website.