What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — taking place across the University:
Performances
"Love's Labour's Lost: The Musical" — Through April 12, Pavilion Theatre, University Park campus. This musical adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy — filled with romance, revelry, and enchanting music — brings together the language of the bard with a fresh contemporary pop-rock score.
Ivyside Dance Ensemble spring performance — 7:30 p.m., April 10-11, Wolf Kuhn Theatre, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. Penn State Altoona’s Ivyside Dance Ensemble will hold its spring performance with Allied Motion Dance Company. Free.
"Alice in Wonderland" — April 15-26, Playhouse Theatre, University Park campus. A combination of the well-known stories of Lewis Carroll, this PG-13 production looks at the indelible themes of change, growth, desire, status, societal rules, and loss of innocence, as we unravel the mystery of the human psyche through a highly physical and metaphoric trip down the rabbit hole. Adapted and directed by Jenny Lamb.
Penn State Jazz Combos — 7 p.m., April 16, Nittany Lion Inn, University Park campus. Experience an evening of jazz classics and funky fusion with five of Penn State’s jazz combos. These dynamic student ensembles will showcase a diverse selection of jazz styles in an intimate and lively setting.
Bach's Lunch — 12:10 p.m., April 17, Recital Hall, School of Music, University Park campus. Bach's Lunch is a weekly Thursday afternoon concert series during the school year, jointly sponsored by the School of Music and the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Development. Concerts are approximately thirty minutes in length in order to make it possible for the University community to attend during the lunch hour. Free.
“R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” — 7:30 p.m., April 17, Pullo Center, York campus. “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” is an electrifying tribute celebrating the music of the legendary Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. This concert experience takes audiences on a journey of love, tragedy, courage, and triumph. Starring a live band and supreme vocalists, come experience a night of music by one of the greatest artists of all time.
Events
WPSU Film Screening: Art Happens Here — 5:30-7 p.m., April 10, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Join actor John Lithgow as he goes back to school to demonstrate the transformative power of arts education. Immersing himself with teachers and students, he explores four arts disciplines: dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing, and vocal jazz ensemble. Free. Registration required.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Hell’s Kitchen: Bringing the Heat to Happy Valley — April 10, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Fair — 9 a.m.-1 p.m., April 12, Adler Athletic Complex, Altoona campus. The fair allows students to present the culmination of their work from a traditional research/creative activities experience, an internship or a course-based undergraduate research experience.
Wellness Day at Stone Valley Recreation Area — 11 a.m.-3 p.m., April 12, Stone Valley Recreation Area, University Park campus.Campus Recreation will host a day full of several nature-based and art wellness activities at Lake Perez. Students can register for free shuttles to Stone Valley.
Family Day: Art in Bloom — 1-4 p.m., April 12, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Visitors of all ages can enjoy gallery activities and art-making opportunities related to the special exhibition, “The Triumph of Nature.”
Penn State Artificial Intelligence Week 2025 — April 14-17, Multiple locations, University Park campus. The week-long event, coordinated by the Penn State AI Hub, aims to highlight ongoing AI research, development and education across the University, including work to understand the ethics and legal implications of AI.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Into the Garden - A Farm to Table Experience — April 15, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Yoga + Mindfulness at the Palmer — noon-1 p.m., April 16, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Join Latisha Franklin for a free yoga class at the Palmer. All bodies are welcome, no experience is necessary.
“LGBTQ+ in STEM Leading the Way” — 6-8 p.m., April 16, 114 McAllister Building, University Park campus. LGBTQ+ faculty, trainee scientists, and engineers will discuss having pride in their successes while navigating their careers, with a keynote from IST Dean Andrea Tapia and a panel discussion with representation from faculty, staff and students from different colleges. Dinner will be provided.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Te Fiti’s Table - A Moana Adventure — April 17, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Lectures
"From Earth to Space: Advancing Materials Technologies and Embracing Life's Mission" — 3:05 p.m., April 10, 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, University Park campus. Rose Hernandez, science program director at the International Space Station National Laboratory, will deliver the 2025 David Ford McFarland Award Lecture for Achievement in Metallurgy. Hernandez’s lecture will delve into examples from her career on the commercialization of new material technologies and their profound economic impact across various industries.
“The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment" — 4 p.m., April 10, Woksob Family Gallery, State College. Rahman Azari, associate professor of architecture in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School, will discuss the topic of embodied carbon, which refers to the emissions produced throughout the lifecycle of building, from procuring materials and building to maintaining and eventually disposing of built areas.
Exploration of our Solar System: Lu Chou — 4 p.m., April 10, 112 Walker Building, University Park campus. Are we alone in the universe? That question has perplexed humanity throughout the centuries and spurred many of our modern space exploration programs. Lu Chou, a postdoctoral research associate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, will present an overview of NASA’s search for extraterrestrial life.
Gallery Talk: Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection — 4 p.m., April 10, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Enjoy an in-depth engagement on special exhibition Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection with the theme “Vulnerable Environments and Protection” with Professor Karen Keifer-Boyd.
Mary E. Rolling Reading Series: Jamil Jan Kochai — 6 p.m., April 10, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. Nationally renowned fiction writer Jamil Jan Kochai will offer a free, public reading April 10. Kochai is the author of “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories,” which was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award and a winner of the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize and the 2023 Clark Fiction Prize.
"To Boldly Go Where Others Have Gone Before: Music, Memory, and Nostalgia in 'Star Trek'" — 4-5 p.m., April 11, School of Music, University Park campus. As part of the Music Theory & History Colloquium Series, Paul Sommerfeld, senior music specialist for the Library of Congress, will analyze the soundscapes of "Star Trek" in its first two filmic adaptations to illustrate the franchise’s relationships with current events and the politics of memory, yearning, and loss that infuse them.
“How Did We Get Hooked on Plastic?” — 2:30 p.m., April 14, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus and via Zoom. Award-winning author and journalist Susan Freinkel will give a virtual talk that describes some of the key moments of discovery and innovation that helped make plastic the central — and defining — medium of our age and explores whether it’s possible to break the plastic habit. Free.
Poetry Reading: Sheila Carter-Jones — 12:10 p.m., April 15, Titelman Study, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. Carter-Jones was born and raised in a small coal mining town in Western Pennsylvania, the site and muse for many of her poems. She is a fellow of Cave Canem, the home for African American poets.
Jeff Sharlet — 5 p.m., April 15, 114 Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building, University Park campus. In the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, journalist and scholar Jeff Sharlet set out to uncover the forces behind the rise of antidemocratic extremism in the United States. Shartlet will present a lecture on what he found and his resulting book, “The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War."
TLT Dreamery Speaker Series: C. Edward Watson — Multiple events, April 15, University Park campus. C. Edward Watson, vice president for digital innovation at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and founding director of AAC&U’s Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum, will lead sessions focused on teaching with artificial intelligence.
“From Engineering to Physiology to Nutritional Biochemistry: Applying Mathematics and Computer Modeling to Vitamin A Metabolism and the Assessment of Vitamin A Status in Community Settings” — 2:30-4 p.m. April 15, Foster Auditorium, Pattee Library and Paterno Library, University Park or via Zoom. Professor Emeritus Michael Green will discuss research done in his lab and with collaborators on whole-body vitamin A metabolism, including a discussion of how complex mathematical approaches have led to improvements in the use of predictive equations to assess vitamin A status in community settings worldwide.
2025 Friedman Lectures in Astronomy and Astrophysics — Multiple events, April 15-16, University Park campus. Alessandro Morbidelli, astronomer and planetary scientist at the Collège de France, will present a lecture intended for a general audience, titled “The Diversity of Planetary Systems: How Singular Is Our Own?”, as well as a more-specialized lecture, titled “Formation and Evolution of a Protoplanetary Disk: Combining Observations, Simulations, and Cosmochemical Constraints."
Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in the Book Arts: "Document, Celebrate, Testify, Resist: Queer History through Book Arts" — 4-5:15 p.m., April 17, via Zoom. Book artists gino romero, Rowan Renee, Sky Syzygy and Emilee Taxman will participate in an artists’ panel discussion exploring the themes and subjects that inspire them. The discussion will explore how book arts practices contribute to the documentation and celebration of queer and trans identities and how the act of creation resists the erasures of queer and trans existence. Free.
In-person exhibits
"felt, yet unseen" — Through April 11, Zoller Gallery, University Park campus. Debra Fleury’s solo exhibition invites viewers into an introspective journey through abstract and immersive works that explore the emotional and psychological landscapes of identity, memory, and connection using unconventional materials such as fabric, wax, and wire.
"The Global Majority" — Through April 13, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. The exhibition brings together a selection of photographs and contemporary works on paper to explore representation and the role it plays in fostering a sense of belonging, especially among communities that have been historically disempowered and excluded from museums, asking visitors to think about what it means to feel seen, to be pictured, or to have power over your own image.
"This too, shall pass" — Through April 17, The Gallery, Penn College. Large graphite drawings that intertwine the influences of traditional Japanese calligraphy with the techniques and aesthetics of Western drawing are on display in Mayuko Ono Gray’s exhibition. The showing of “This too, shall pass” is its Pennsylvania debut. The exhibition has been displayed in nine other states and Canada.
“Monstrum” — Through April 19, McLanahan Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A body of work by visual art studies student Kai Deline will use acrylic, graphite and digital design to explore the experience of being neurodivergent and queer through unrealistic, alien and inhuman characters.
"Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection" — Through April 20, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. The exhibition considers how perceived vulnerabilities — shaped by gender, racial, economic and other inequities — can become strengths that spark action and collective movement to change the course of injustice toward safe, peaceful and joyous living.
"A Fly on the Wall, A Story Untold: Objects Imbued with the Human Soul" — Through April 26, Ronald K. De Long Gallery, Lehigh Valley campus. The soulful, down-home spirit of American folk art will be on display, featuring pieces from the private collection of Vincent DiCicco, a passionate collector of Americana and American Folk Art. The items featured portray the likeness of people in paintings, photographs and objects that were used in human interaction.
"Empty and Full: Series & Introduction to Self-Painted Korean Traditional Art Pieces" — Through April 30, Friedman Art Gallery, Wilkes-Barre campus. The artist, Tae Hee Kim ("Ajin") was born in 1978 in Seoul, South Korea and now lives and studies in State College while teaching an art course and pursuing a doctorate in art education at Penn State's University Park campus. Ajin’s artistic practice focuses on creating photographs, paintings and installations that explore the philosophical theme of “Empty is Full; Full is Empty.”
"Apprentice" — Through May 9, Freyberger Gallery, Berks campus. Visiting artist Abbey Muza uses artwork to share her archival research on the history of the textile industry in northeastern Pennsylvania and the history of Penn State Berks, whose forerunner was Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute, a training school established by the owners of Textile Machine Works to provide training its workers.
"The Triumph of Nature: Art Nouveau from the Chrysler Museum of Art" — Through May 11, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Drawn from the rich holdings of the Chrysler Museum of Art’s Walter P. and Jean Chrysler collection, this exhibit showcases more than 120 glittering Art Nouveau objects — including furniture, paintings, sculpture, mosaics, posters, Japanese prints, lamps, jewelry and glass — that introduce the exuberant, radical, international Art Nouveau style and its celebration of beauty, nature and innovation.
"Capacities of Care" — Through June 1, HUB Gallery and Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. “Capacities of Care,” a group exhibition curated by Aaron Knochel, associate professor of art education in Penn State’s School of Visual Arts, is a concept framework to understand and explore how care relationships manifest in our lives in distinct and interconnected ways.
"nosegay" — Through June 1, Exhibition cases, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. “nosegay,” curated by Philadelphia-based artist Caitlin McCormack, features sculpture work that explores the complexities of crochet to straddle the line between fine art and craft, and its cultural ubiquity. The heavily embellished sculptures assume the form of domestic and sartorial objects laden with text, as well as silent, observational beings.
“Biomachine” — Through Spring 2025, Hite Lobby, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A collaboration between Daryl Branford and Talley Fisher of Huck SciArts offers a glimpse into the microscopic world of viruses and is a reaction to how humanity must learn to coexist with them.
"I Am a Penn Stater: Nittany Lions in World War II" — Through June 2025, Penn State All-Sports Museum, Beaver Stadium, University Park campus. Timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the conflict, "I Am a Penn Stater" chronicles the contributions of Nittany Lion varsity lettermen and Women’s Recreation Association athletes during the conflict and follows their service from training in the United States, to fighting on battlefields around the globe, to their postwar occupations. Free.
"Sustainable Narratives: Visualizing Data, Design and Community" — Through July 25, Henry Art Gallery, Great Valley campus. The exhibition, led by Huiwon Lim, assistant professor of graphic design at Penn State, showcases his solo works as a graphic designer and design educator, as well as collaborative projects with students, offering diverse perspectives on how data can be transformed into powerful narratives. The projects reflect on pressing global issues — climate change, social equity and community resilience — while exploring creative solutions through design.
“Give us also the right to our existence: Collecting and Surfacing Queer Narratives” — Through Sept. 12, Eberly Family Special Collections Library, University Park campus. Gathering together a selection of materials that illustrate the varied formats and expansive time periods of queer history, “Give us also the right to our existence: Collecting and Surfacing Queer Narratives” explores the many facets of gender and sexuality. The exhibition — inspired by the Penn State motto “We Are” — provides context for how we collect, describe and represent our shared humanity in the library. Free.
Virtual exhibits and online resources
In addition to in-person events, a number of virtual exhibits and online resources are available through University departments. The Palmer Museum of Art and Penn State University Libraries offer a rotating selection of historical and artistic collections to view via their websites, as well as other online resources.