FOUND HIM! We can't be sure that's actually Nemo, but the bright orange clownfish (not to mention its friend, who looks a bit like Dory) is easy enough to spot in the HUB aquarium, the 1999 Senior Class Gift and still a popular draw for passersby.

Everyday People: Bryna Brinkman

Biobehavioral health major Bryna Brinkman mixes art and academics at Penn State Harrisburg. Read the full profile by Amy Strauss Downey '04 Lib.

Then & Now

Shaver's Creek Environmental Center

Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, which serves as a field laboratory for Penn State students to gain experience teaching and learning about the natural world and is a short drive from University Park, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026 with events throughout the year honoring the center’s history and its future. 

What's Up With That?

Q: What's up with all the new street names at University Park?

A: In 2024, 32 streets at University Park were named, with corresponding signs added, as part of a project to provide every building with a 911 address so that emergency service personnel could more easily locate buildings or streets that had previously been undefined. Emergency management senior coordinator Alexandra Craige worked for more than two years with county and state officials to complete the project, and she has also helped to ensure that buildings at all of Penn State’s other campuses are 911-addressed. Craige faced some challenges in selecting names for the new streets: Many of the older streets at University Park were named after former Pennsylvania governors, but current addressing rules state that streets can’t be named after people. So she and county officials tried to match the street names with the buildings—the Nittany Lion Softball Park, for example, is on Softball Stadium Drive, and the Hintz Family Alumni Center is on Homecoming Drive. Her personal favorite is Equine Road, which is home to the horse barns. The project also assigned 911 addresses to each of the football parking lots and the blue-light phones on campus. Emergency responders have offered positive feedback about the improved accessibility. “A volunteer or part-time emergency services worker doesn’t know campus like our campus police officers do,” says Craige. “But they now have software systems that will geo-map them right to that 911 address.”

Club Hopping

Sports Business Club

Founded: 2012
Current membership: 200
Mission: To foster the growth of students’ knowledge in the sports industry through professional lectures, workshops, and other networking opportunities.

Sarah Moyer planned to join the club soccer team when she came to University Park. Instead, three years later, she’s the first general manager for the women’s varsity soccer team, one of several professional opportunities she has leveraged through her membership in the Sports Business Club. From workshops that teach members how to use LinkedIn more effectively to regular road trips to meet with alumni in the industry to pairing members with alumni mentors, the club aims to broaden students’ knowledge of the variety of career paths available to them in the sports business industry while priming the connections they’ll need to navigate it, says Moyer, the club’s president. Members also spend time preparing pitches for the university’s annual sports business conference. “A lot of students have found success from this club, which is wonderful to see, but ultimately we want them to start now and build their networks,” Moyer says.

Reminiscing

What was your favorite dining hall food?

“Oh, come on! Is this even a real question? Without a doubt it is the legendary Chicken Cosmo sandwich.It is the only cafeteria meal I can remember from my time in the mid- ’80s. I wonder how big the voting landslide will be?”
Lezley Alspach Gehman ’87 Sci

“The controversial taco dog. Love it or hate it, there was no middle ground. Sadly, the haters won—it was abolished.”
Laura Gerbstadt Dick ’82 Lib

“There is nothing like the milk at Penn State. I was hooked from the moment I poured my first glass out of the big dispensing machines at Redifer. Even to this day, no trip back to campus is complete without a stop for milk at the Creamery.”
Iris Naar Grossman ’82 Com

“My favorite dorm food was midnight cake! I can still taste it now. Very moist. I can almost replicate the cake, but not the icing. Yum! It was the best.”
Nancy C. Debranski-Ferrell ’79 H&HD 

“Believe it or not, it was French fries. My friend and I would go to Findlay [Commons] after hours. The cook in the back would immediately drop them into the fryer. At closing, there were always fries left over that they graciously let us have!”
Bob Brady ’74 Lib

Common Wealth

Highlights from four Commonwealth campuses.

FAYETTE
The Fayette County Human Service Council has named mental health professional Amanda Collins ’09 Lib Fayette its 2025 Direct Service Worker of the Year, recognizing her concern for others and commitment to promoting goodwill. The council cited her empathy, professionalism, and dedication to those she serves. Collins, who earned degrees in undergraduate psychology and political science at Penn State, joined the Fayette staff in 2018 as a mental health counselor and clinical social worker, and has served on the Human Service Council board since 2022.

YORK
The York County Economic Alliance celebrated TaTyana Abreu ’15 H&HD York as one of seven “Changemakers,” an award given to “the everyday heroes who rarely get the spotlight they deserve.” Abreu was named “The Illuminator,” someone who shines light on people and resources that aren’t necessarily well known. As financial stability manager at the York County United Way, Abreu oversees the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, which provides free tax preparation. She also established a free class that teaches participants about budgeting, asset building, debt management, and credit.

BERKS
Penn State Berks entered into an agreement with Lyft, which allows the campus to provide free, convenient, and carbon-neutral rides for students. The program is called Penn State Berks Emergency Rides 2026. The agreement, coordinated through Penn State’s Office of Transportation Services, allows Penn State Berks to tailor the program to meet student needs. The Office of Student Affairs covers the cost for students to travel to a hospital or urgent care facility and return to campus. Student Affairs also covers student rides to a pharmacy. Several offices within Student Affairs, including Health Services, Counseling, and Residence Life, have passes on hand to give to students as needed.

ABINGTON
Student case manager Mary Ellen Glick was honored by the Willow Grove chapter of the NAACP with its humanitarian award for her “dramatic, profound, and life-changing contributions to the local community—especially her work connecting with young people.” Glick’s work includes coordinating holistic services for students who have experienced foster care through the Fostering Lions program; co-chairing the Abington Care Team, which brings campus partners together to assist students facing academic concerns or nonemergency health and safety issues; and overseeing weekly fresh-food distribution through a partnership with Philabundance and managing the LionShare campus food pantry.

The Big 3

E-bikes

Since 2021, Penn State has partnered with the borough of State College on an e-bike ride-share program with SPIN, providing students and others with a hybrid mode of transport around University Park.

TOTAL NUMBER OF BIKES
300 on University Park campus

TOP SPEED
15 miles per hour with electric assist

COST PER RIDE
30 cents per minute after $1 unlocking fee

Illustrations by Joel Kimmel.