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
"Together, Alone" Faculty Concert Series: Christopher Guzman — 7:30 p.m., Sept. 7, online. Christopher Guzman, associate professor of music, will livestream a piano performance, as part of this series of School of Music faculty recitals. Free.
Events
"The Football Letter Live" — 8 p.m., Sept. 3, online. Paul Clifford, CEO of the Alumni Association, and John Black, longtime editor of "The Football Letter" will preview what fans can expect to see in the upcoming edition of "The Football Letter." Free, but registration required.
“What Will Be the New Normal? A Conversation with Penn State Students, Faculty and Staff of Color” -- 6 to 8 p.m., Sept. 8, online. Penn State leaders, faculty members, staff and students of color will take part in a roundtable discussion on their experiences within a predominately white university setting as the second event in a series of roundtable conversations titled “Toward Racial Equity at Penn State: Social Difference, Social Equity and Social Change.”
University Libraries Open House — Sept. 7-18, online. Participants to the virtual open house have the opportunity to earn a digital badge while learning about the Libraries' offerings and capabilities. Free.
Lectures
Virtual Speaker Series: "Searching for Jimmy Hoffa: The Disappearance of America's Most Notorious Labor Leader and Why It Still Matters Today" — Noon, Sept. 8, via Zoom. The Penn State Alumni Virtual Speaker Series presents David Witwer, the 2020-21 Penn State Laureate and professor of American studies at Penn State Harrisburg. Free, but registration required.
Journalism Speakers Forum: Regina Boone — 7 p.m., Sept. 8, via Zoom. Award-winning photojournalist Regina Boone will kick off the series. Free.
Stuckeman School fall lecture series — 6 p.m., Sept. 9, via Zoom. Juanca Cristaldo, co-founder and coordinator of the Center for Research, Development, and Innovation within the Architecture, Design, and Arts School at the National University of Asunción (Paraguay), presents the first Bracken Lecture of the academic year. Hosted by the Department of Landscape Architecture. Free, but pre-registration required.
Fall 2020 Climate Dynamics seminar series — 11:15 a.m., Sept. 9, via Zoom. Colin Zarzycki, assistant professor of meteorology and climate dynamics, will present "Recent developments in algorithmic extreme weather detection in climate data." Free.
Coffee Hour with Paul Clifford: Ajay Nair — 9 a.m., Sept. 9, online. Penn State Alumni Association CEO Paul Clifford will chat with Ajay Nair, a Penn State alumnus and president of Arcadia University. Free, but registration required.
Penn State Berks "LionSide Chats": "We Are...Successful" — 12:15 p.m., Sept. 9, via Zoom. Sonia Delaquito, Berks learning center coordinator, and Alexa Hodge, Berks student support services coordinator, will be featured. Free.
Ask the Expert: "Tips and Trends for Home Offices" — 7 p.m., Sept. 9, online. Architecture alum Lynn Gaffney, founder of Lynn Gaffney Architect, will discuss her career and share practical ideas and best practices for working and learning from home as part of the Penn State Alumni Association's "Ask the Expert" series. Free, but registration required.
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.