ONE COOL CAT: The Lion in winter—well into his ninth decade, the symbol of our best remains stoic, ever watchful, and unbothered by a seasonal dusting.
EVERYDAY PEOPLE
Trailblazing drum major Ellie Sheehan savors a historic senior season. Read the full profile by Jeff Rice '03 Com.
Club Hopping
Gluten Avoidant Society
Founded: 2024
Current membership: 70
Mission: To give gluten-avoidant students a welcoming environment to increase their knowledge of gluten-free food on and off campus.
Kyra Mayer knows there are a lot of student organizations at Penn State, and that a lot of them provide food for their members. When you have dietary restrictions, as Mayer and her roommate and club co-founder Danielle Missey do—both are gluten intolerant—that can make for some social and physical discomfort. At the suggestion of Mayer’s mother, the pair started the group last year, and since have held informational meetings with registered dietitians, visited local restaurants that feature gluten-free options, and held baking nights where they can prepare snacks for members or donate proceeds from bake sales to the Celiac Disease Foundation. Mostly, the duo hopes to provide an additional social option for what Mayer calls “like-gutted” individuals. “I really want it to be a fun environment for students to just not have to worry about their condition or their dietary restrictions for a little bit,” she says.
What's Up With That?
Q: Do students really live in the Meats Lab?
A: Yes. There are currently two student employees living in rooms in the College of Agricultural Sciences’ 16,000-square-foot facility, which is used for research, teaching, and outreach. It’s a practice that has existed since the Meats Lab opened at University Park in 1958, says manager Glenn Myers ’90 Agr, who lived and worked at the lab as an undergrad himself in the late 1980s. The living space includes a bedroom, bathroom with shower, and kitchenette area.
Besides the benefit to students—free room and board—the arrangement is also beneficial to the day-to-day operations of the lab. “A lot of times the smokehouses run past work hours, so we have someone here that can say, ‘OK, at 9 o’clock tonight I’ve got to go up to the smokehouse and take meat out of the smokehouse and put it in the cooler,’” Myers says. Being on-site, the student employees are also able to respond more quickly to the alarms in the smokehouse should something go wrong. Sometimes three students live at the facility; Myers offers the spots to students who were employees at the lab the previous year. “We’ve never had a year where it was vacant,” he says.
Got a campus mystery you want solved? Email us at heypennstater@psu.edu.
Reminiscing
What was your favorite snow day memory?
“I remember a snowstorm that might have not been so bad, but it was enough to cover our cars in Lot 80. I think I was the only one who had a shovel and brush and scraper in my trunk. A few strangers cleaned my car and dug it out for me in exchange for borrowing my shovel. That shovel probably was used to dig out a dozen cars. Thank you to my parents, who made sure I was prepared.”
Julie Rosenberg ’92 Edu
“Snow angels in Pollock.”
Mikayla McDonnell ’25 Edu
“My freshman year during MLK weekend, we went sledding with baskets and cardboard boxes on the HUB lawn. There were so many people out there enjoying the snow. We had snowball fights, played games, and someone even brought a canoe to sled with. Everyone on the lawn took turns going down in it.”
Kerriann Menges ’25 Nur
“When I was a freshman, we learned there would be a horrible snowstorm coming our way. My professors assured us that the campus would not close and we should proceed to class as normal. Surprisingly, classes were canceled for the majority of the day, and once the snow stopped we had a snowball fight in East Halls.”
Rochele Haynes ’03 H&HD
“Sledding down HUB lawn.”
Conor Kelley ’24 Lib
Then & Now
Alumni Association
The university’s first informal alumni association meeting—with 12 attendees, all men—was held in Old Main in 1870, and the association’s offices were located in the building’s east wing until 2001, when staff moved into the newly opened Hintz Family Alumni Center and the adjoining University House.
Common Wealth
Highlights from four Commonwealth campuses.
SHENANGO
The campus marked its 60th anniversary in October with events celebrating the contributions of alumni, friends, and staff, including live music (above), refreshments, yearbook and memorabilia displays, and self-guided campus tours. Alumni, donors, community members, and former staff were recognized with the inaugural Time, Talent, and Treasure Awards.
BEHREND
Three teams from Penn State Behrend swept the Student Design Division at the annual Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Blow Molding Conference in Pittsburgh. Their projects were judged on novelty, feasibility, and the quality of documentation. Andrew Pfister, Kaitlyn Ezzone, and Drew Tracy took first place and the $1,000 top prize for a rifle stock; Payton McKee, Michael Quinn, and Keegan Watkins placed second for their reflective pavement markers; and Landon Douvlos, Shawn Snatchko, and Michael Carrarini placed third for their floating hydroponic garden bed. A Behrend team has won the competition every year since 2006.
HARRISBURG
Shirley Clark and Vahid Motevalli were honored at the 2025 Women in Technology Awards hosted by the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania in October. Clark, acting director of the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, and professor of environmental engineering, received the Moxie Award, which recognizes a pioneer who has blazed the trail for other women in tech. Motevalli, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs and the Quentin Berg Chair and Professor of mechanical engineering, received the Women in Tech Ally Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements or contributions as an ally to women in the tech field.
ABINGTON
Celebrations of the campus’s 75th anniversary in October included a philanthropy and alumni awards dinner, an induction of the first 10 members of the Abington Athletics Hall of Fame, and open houses at the Abington LaunchBox and MakerSpace collaborative workspace. “We reflect and honor eight decades of alumni whose generosity continues to reverberate,” Chancellor Gary Ligouri (above) said. “When our students succeed, their families and communities benefit.”
The Big 3
The Blue Loop
The Blue Loop is a free CATA bus line that University Park students and others use to get around an expanding campus. Below, a few fun facts about the Loop.
16 STOPS
that traverse the campus perimeter
4.3 MILES
distance covered, clockwise, each time around the loop
825,536 RIDERS
climbed aboard the Blue Loop in 2024
Illustrations by Joel Kimmel.
