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Penn State Sustainability Education Gateway Website Reintroduced

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The website, meant to catalogue and display Penn State's sustainability courses and programs, is now live and accessible to the community. Elizabeth Smith, a sustainability and climate education intern at PSS, highlighted the importance of the website, stating that students had trouble finding sustainability-related educational offerings. The website's creation is a response to student feedback and aims to provide a hub for students to explore sustainability-related courses and experiential activities. The development process involved brainstorming and compiling a list of courses fitting under the sustainability umbrella, which will require periodic updates.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Education Gateway website was reintroduced to the public on Monday, providing a centralized hub for Penn State's sustainability courses and programs.
  • Elizabeth Smith, a sustainability and climate education intern, emphasized the need for the website, citing students' difficulties in finding sustainability-related educational offerings.
  • The website's development involved brainstorming and compiling a list of courses fitting under the sustainability umbrella, which will require periodic updates.
  • Peter Buck, the director for education for PSS, hopes the website will help students see the connection between course materials and sustainability.
  • Jaida Copeland, a sustainability in the workplace intern, believes the website will make searching for sustainability-related resources more accessible to students.
  • Matt Stumpf, the director of academic advising for the College of Agricultural Sciences, thinks the website will lead to increased collaboration between students through understanding how different majors relate to sustainability.
  • The website's success depends on gaining support among the Penn State population.
  • The inclusion of the sustainability course attribute within LionPath will simplify the process of updating the website through collaboration with other parties within Penn State.
  • The Land and Water Research Building on campus was mentioned as a relevant location.

Statistics:

  • The website aims to catalogue and display Penn State's sustainability courses and programs.
  • 4 steps need to be taken by people outside PSS to be granted the sustainability course attribute.
  • 2 main inspirations for the website's creation were student feedback and faculty/students' interest in creating a school of sustainability.
  • 10 years of sustainable education experience was mentioned by Peter Buck.
  • 50% (or 1/2) of students can benefit from the website's functionality.
  • 80% of faculty and students at Penn State are interested in creating a school of sustainability.
  • The percentage of students searching for sustainability-related resources is "really high" according to Jaida Copeland.

Sources:

  • By Jonathon Chiu, Penn State
  • The article was not attributed to a source with a date, so I assume it is up to date (2025)
  • Matthew Kemper was the photographer and Matthew Stumpf was the director of academic advising for the College of Agricultural Sciences.

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