Strategic Plan Highlights - Year 1

Highlights from Strategic Plan Year 1

• HHD has joined the Millennium Scholars program and now has two first year students who joined the college as scholars and three Scholars who have transferred over to HHD from other colleges.
• The college has full approval to move ahead with an innovative “blended model” graduate program (an MPS in Hospitality Management) that combines online classes, with traditional and executive-model classes – an approach likely to gain momentum across the University
• HHD has launched a college-level undergraduate emergency financial support initiative that coordinates with the University’s Complete Penn State program and provides students with special circumstances emergency funding, with some priority placed on students nearing degree completion who are carrying outstanding balances.
• Despite budget concerns and controls on hiring, HHD is now proceeding with tenure line faculty recruitments in two priority areas environmental health sciences and health equity.
• A new set of standardized guidelines for college-level research centers were introduced this year, providing the college’s centers with a more predictable budget and more ability to innovate.
• The awarding of University Graduate Fellowships has transitioned to a holistic review process.
• College programing geared toward alumni has capitalized on the pandemic experience and leaned into web-based programming that is more robust and better-attended.
• College Sustainability Council developed and began implementing a charter and three-year plan to more fully integrate sustainability into teaching and research and to develop strategies to reduce operational impact on greenhouse gas emissions.