An inspirational speaker and performing artist, Tom Varano shares personal stories and talks about civil rights movements while speed-painting custom portraits. Using his fingertips, palms and multiple brushes on a four-foot by five-foot canvas, he illustrates famous people and iconic objects to choreographed music. On Jan. 23, he created Andy Warhol for campus students and students from St. Joseph and Deer Lakes high schools.
Olivia Sribniak and Anthony Gyke, senior electro-mechanical engineering students at Penn State New Kensington, turned their EMET senior design project into a startup business. The duo created an automated roping dummy robot, formally called "Steer Logic." The concept has earned them a finalist spot in the 2018 Penn State Inc.U competition where they will pitch Steer Logic for a chance at investment funding.
The Penn State New Kensington Homework Hotline opens for its 2018-2019 year Sept. 17. The Homework Hotline is modeled after the successful program Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Indiana) implemented nearly 25 years ago. The goal of the initiative is to support local middle and high school students from partnering school districts as they build strong math and science skills. During the academic year of September through May, the supervised call center accepts calls from 6th through 12th grade students from 6 - 9 p.m Sunday through Thursday.
John Champagne, professor of English and chair of the Global Languages and Cultures program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, has been named Penn State Laureate for the 2018-19 academic year. As laureate, he will tour Pennsylvania to ask probing questions about — and offer a historical perspective on — the role of the artist in times of political turmoil.
Penn State New Kensington's Leader Launch provides student leaders from a variety of majors and recent alumni with activities on how to succeed in networking, in the job search, in their field and in the higher education classroom. With hands-on experiences, professional opportunities and high expectations, this conference will help students succeed in their future endeavors. Leader Launch 2019 is scheduled for February 8, 2019.