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
"Haydn Discovery" — Nov. 4-12, via livestream. The St. Lawrence String Quartet has created the streamed event "Haydn Discovery," a special free discussion and performance of Joseph Haydn's seminal composition, String Quartet Op. 20, No. 3. Free.
"Really Really" — Nov. 5-8, via livestream. The Studio Theatre at Penn State Behrend will present a program about a group of college students dealing with unintended pregnancy, drinking and sexual assault.
Events
Cafe Laura Theme Dinner: The Hunger Games: Dine Through Panem — Nov. 5, Cafe 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 Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
"Football Fan Favorites" — Noon, Nov. 8, via livestream. Penn State hospitality management students have organized a virtual cooking demo with chef Brian Griffiths who has worked at the Allen Street Grill and Nittany Lion Inn to support Centre County United Way.
"Native American Food Ways: Sustainable Agriculture and Cuisines Across Cultures" — 7 p.m., Nov. 9, via Zoom. The Student Farm at Penn State and the Indigenous Peoples Student Association are co-hosting a virtual event about the connection between sustainable agriculture, seed saving, cuisine, Indigenous heritage, culture and sovereignty. Free, but registration required.
Cafe Laura Theme Dinner: Journey to Mount Olympus: Greek Cuisine fit for the Gods — Nov. 12, Cafe 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 Cafe Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Gingerbread House Decorating Event — Penn State Auxiliary and Business Services and the Penn State Bakery are hosting their third annual event to benefit THON. Participants can order kits online and pick them up at the THON Store in the HUB-Robeson Center Nov. 16-20, or at the Penn State Bakery Dec. 14-18.
Online United Way 50/50 raffle — Penn Staters are invited to take part in an online 50/50 raffle to benefit the Centre County United Way.
Lectures
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative seminar series: Daniel Walters — Noon, Nov. 6, via Zoom. Daniel Walters, assistant professor of law, will discuss Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's legal authority under which the state has started the process of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and whether carbon prices constitute an illegal tax. Free, but registration required.
EESI EarthTalks: Daniel Conway and Lee Kump — 4 p.m., Nov. 9, via Zoom. Danielle Conway, dean of Dickinson Law, and Lee Kump, the John Leone Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, will present "An environment for all: A conversation about fostering diversity in Dickinson Law and the College of EMS." Free.
2020 George McMurtry Award Lecture: Alison Murphy — Noon, Nov. 10, via Zoom. Alison Murphy, assistant professor of information sciences and technology, will discuss her experience using empathy to design systems when worked in industry as an information technology project manager. Free.
"Ambidexterity: Supporting the police while seeking reforms" — 6 p.m., Nov. 10, via Zoom. Penn State Harrisburg's School of Public Affairs will present a panel discussion on the national debate on policing and policing reforms. Free, but registration required.
Climate Dynamics Seminar Series: Xingchao Chen — 11:15 a.m., Nov. 11, via Zoom. Meteorology and atmospheric science faculty member Xingchao Chen will present "The roles of different could systems in the atmospheric overturning circulation." Free.
Palmer Museum Conversations: "So, You Want to Buy a Print?" — 4 p.m., Nov. 12, via Zoom. Patrick McGrady, the Palmer Museum's Charles V. Hallman Senior Curator, will discuss details about different printmaking techniques that experts look for when considering prints for the museum's collection. Free.
Smith Creative Writers Reading Series — 6 p.m., Nov. 12, via Zoom. The final installment of the series will feature the original work of graduating students in Penn State Behrend's B.F.A. program. 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.