From the Dean

Moving toward our destiny

For much of the world, the past year will be remembered as one of standing still. Travel screeched to a halt. Public spaces went quiet. We became homebound. In many ways, we literally stopped moving.

That is not the story for the Bellisario College.

For us, the 2020-21 academic year — not without its challenges — was perhaps one of the most consequential in our history, as we continued our work on multiple fronts and collectively laid the groundwork for the months and years ahead.

In fact, the Bellisario College has been a pacesetter for Penn State. For the second year in a row, our faculty and staff led the University in awards that recognized their outreach, administrative work, and service. We’re proud of the fact that we were able to excel at our day-to-day work while also making big plans for 2021 and beyond.

Much of our work focused on a new, five-year strategic plan. The plan, drafted with input from across all departments and programs, supports the University’s strategic plan and its land-grant mission. Our plan also outlines aspirations for the unique impact we can make through our new media center, a 30,000-square-foot space that will — for the first time in our 25-year history as a college — provide us with a place where we can collectively work with our students and invite collaboration from across Penn State.

It’s a bold plan, and you can read about it in the cover story. It leverages every square inch of our media center and challenges us to innovate and connect our enterprises (such as our Innovation Lab, Media Effects Research Lab, CommAgency and newsroom) in new ways while protecting our core mission. Our plan requires us to ensure our graduation rates are among the best at the University; deliver powerful co-curricular opportunities to all of our students; provide reliable news and information to communities; and use our expertise to increase “news literacy” across the University and the Commonwealth. It also outlines our strategy to infuse “ethicsacross-the-curriculum” for all majors and to become a national leader for the professions on issues of ethics and integrity. But it also calls for us to push storytelling and creative production in exciting new directions, leveraging the support of alumni through our CommVentures fund and other programs.

Elements of the plan are well underway. We’ve recruited an outstanding incoming class of faculty to join us this fall and launched a vibrant new mentorship program that connects alumni with our students. We also launched a new Maymester program connecting top students with our Manhattanbased employers; hosted the second annual Centre Film Festival (virtual this past year) that featured more than 40 films and filmmakers from across the country; and laid the groundwork for an international internship program to launch next summer.

As you read this report, I hope you’ll note how we’ve charged ahead (safely!) even as much of the world stood still during this most unusual and challenging year. We’re “Bellisario Proud” – and hope you are, too.

Dean Marie Hardin