America Reads Program

Penn State Harrisburg's America Reads Program, part of the larger University-wide effort to improve the language and reading skills of preschool and primary aged children, places College students in local head start centers, day care centers, and elementary schools in the capital region. Each year, approximately 10-20 students earn their work study grants by working with young children in the area of literacy.

The Center for Community Action and Research (CCAR)

The Center for Community Action and Research provides services to contracting agencies and organizations that are committed to creating a social environment in which all citizens can function in a healthy and productive fashion. The faculty, staff and Community Psychology graduate students associated with the Center work in close collaboration with contracting groups to design projects tailored to meet their particular needs. The types of projects include, but are not limited to:

  1. conducting, analyzing and reporting needs assessments;
  2. performing and writing literature reviews focused on particular issues;
  3. designing, implementing and reporting outcome evaluations of ongoing or new projects executing field based research designed to facilitate action;
  4. constructing and delivering educational/training programs; and
  5. consulting with groups to facilitate effective functioning, problem solving and conflict resolution.

The Center for Environment and Community (CEC)

Through teaching, research, and service activities, the recently created Center for Environment and Community fosters efforts of citizens in local communities to construct positive, healthy relationships between their physical and social environments. The Center encourages collaborative learning and action research projects in which the human and technical resources of the University, civic institutions, local communities, and citizens are shared. Through these activities, faculty and staff associated with the Center will seek to: increase knowledge of the relationships between individuals, their social organization and the physical environment; develop innovative ways for improving and healing those relationships; find new spaces within which creative ideas can be aired and discussed; and develop means for implementing positive social change. The ultimate goal is to move toward a more harmonious relationship between social organization and the physical environment, (one in which, in the words of Aldo Leopold, nature is not "a commodity belonging to us," but rather "a community to which we belong.")

For more information on the Center for Environment and Community contact Center Director Dr. Stephen Couch at (570) 385-6071 or at e-mail src@psu.edu.

The Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning (CITL)

The Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning establishes research-based partnerships to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the schools of the Commonwealth, especially those located in central Pennsylvania. The Center serves as a regional clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of research on teaching and learning, and generates solutions to educational problems through collaborative, action research activities in local K-12 school sites. Faculty resources are devoted toward developing and transmitting research-based curriculum guides, journal articles, paper presentations, and training materials which are designed to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The Center promotes the sharing of resources, both human and financial, among all partners and seeks to obtain support for educational improvement efforts.

The Center staff has worked with the Capital Area Intermediate Unit #15 and 22 public school districts within the region to incorporate the standards, instructional resources, and assessment tools currently being used in these local school districts into an Internet-accessible, computerized database. As a result of these efforts, the school districts now are able to analyze a variety of issues related to their own curricula, make comparisons across neighboring school districts, and share valuable resources within the region. In another project, the Center staff are providing technical assistance to the Milton Hershey School, a residential school facility serving children at-risk at the elementary and secondary school levels. Specifically, two faculty are providing assistance in the areas of research, curriculum development, professional development, and technology. Current projects include operation of the Capital Area Institute for Mathematics and Science; assisting the Steelton-Highspire School District with their technology needs; working collaboratively with the Harrisburg, York, and Lancaster school districts on a federally funding ESL grant; and providing technical assistance to the Dauphin County Drug and Alcohol Council.

Model Student United Nations

For over 30 years, Penn State Harrisburg's Model Student United Nations, a three day gathering held each February, has attracted large numbers of high school students from over 40 schools in three states to the College. Students role play as delegates from various countries and participate in a number of activities that simulate those of the actual United Nations. The authentic learning experiences that occur within the Model U.N. framework reinforce and expand the notion of global citizenship within the social studies curriculum.

Summer Reading Program

The College's Education program sponsors a summer reading program for area children experiencing significant learning problems. In this context, teachers who are seeking the Reading Specialist certificate are supervised by our literacy faculty as they provide tutoring for the children. Through strategic teaching geared to individual children, teachers nurture important reading and writing skills in the children while encouraging them to have greater confidence in their literacy abilities.

Women's Enrichment Center (WEC)

The Women's Enrichment Center, an affiliate of the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, opened in the Penn State Harrisburg Eastgate Center in April, 1994. Originally funded by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Center offers a variety of services in the Harrisburg area. It conducts reading, reflection, and writing programs for women at the Dauphin County Prison, as well as the Program for Female Offenders on a regular basis. To forge community links, especially among nontraditional audiences, it collaborates with the arts, humanities, social services and sponsors programs and speakers at various locations on diversity-related topics.

 

For questions or concerns regarding the website, contact Ilhan Kucukaydin at
(717) 948-6175 or ilhan@psu.edu

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