Campus Life

Here's a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — open to the University and local community:

Bach's Lunch – 12:10-12:45 p.m., Oct. 15, Eisenhower Chapel, University Park campus. "Bach's Lunch" is a weekly concert series during the school year. These popular concerts are brief in order to make it possible for the University community to attend during the lunch hour. Free.

"Sister Act" – Multiple performances, Oct. 6-17, James P. and AJ Jimirro Playhouse Theatre, University Park campus. Penn State Centre Stage, the professional arm of the School of Theatre in the College of Arts and Architecture, will present "Sister Act," the tale of a nightclub singer who turns a convent's lackluster nun choir into a glitzy performing ensemble.

"The Wiz" – 7 p.m., Oct. 22, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The Tony Award-winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is back and coming to Happy Valley. The Wiz returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new tour, direct from Broadway.

John Mulaney – 7:30 p.m., Oct. 22, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Emmy Award-winning comedian John Mulaney will bring his highly anticipated new stand-up comedy tour, John Mulaney: Mister Whatever, to the Bryce Jordan Center.

National Hispanic Heritage Month events – Multiple dates and locations throughout September and October. From mid-September through the end of October, Penn State units at campuses across the commonwealth will hold events in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, observed annually from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as a time to honor and celebrate the historic background, culture, heritage and many influences of the Hispanic and Latino communities throughout the years. The unifying theme for this year’s observances is "La unidad es nuestra fuerza" — “Unity Is Our Strength."

Schuylkill Scarecrow Festival – Oct. 1-31, southern Schuylkill County, Schuylkill campus. This family-friendly festival will transform communities across southern Schuylkill County into an outdoor gallery of imaginative scarecrow displays created primarily from repurposed, reclaimed and recycled materials. Visitors can explore the displays at their own pace through a self-guided walking and driving tour.

Poetry reading — 12:05 p.m., Oct. 15, Titelman Study, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, professor of English at Penn State Altoona, will read from her newest book of poetry, which spans two decades of her work and includes all six of her previously published books of poetry.

Community Trick-or-Treat — 5:30-7 p.m., Oct. 15, Altoona campus. Student organizations, campus departments, and local nonprofit organizations will host tables and hand out candy. Free.

Café Laura Theme Dinner: An Evening in Tuscany: A Night Under The Tuscan Lights – Oct. 15, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.

Palmer Museum Creative Encounters – Oct. 15, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Centered on mindful creativity and relaxation, these gallery sessions invite participants to explore works of art through sketching, journaling and reflective observation. Connect with fellow creative thinkers, discover new ways to engage with art and develop everyday creative practices that prioritize process over product.

Haunted Valley – 7-10 p.m., Oct. 16, Hintz Family Alumni Center and University House, University Park campus. Penn State history takes a spooky turn as the community is invited to explore campus legends and lore in one of the oldest buildings at University Park. Lion Ambassadors will also lead lantern tours around campus.

Ice Cream Mile — Noon, Oct. 17, Intramural Fields, University Park campus. Since it started in 2022, the Ice Cream Mile has become a fall tradition for Campus Recreation and has grown each year. Participants run a lap, stop to eat a cup of Berkey Creamery ice cream, and repeat the sequence over the course of the mile. Final times include both running and ice cream eating.

Pumpkin Fest – Oct. 16-17, the Arboretum at Penn State, University Park campus. This annual family-friendly event is filled with autumn magic, dazzling jack-o’-lantern displays, contests, and live music. Savor seasonal bites from local food truck favorites and explore a variety of crafts and activities designed for all ages. Free.

With These Hands: A Collaborative Poetry Experience – 12:15 p.m., Oct. 19, Lehigh Valley Building, Lehigh Valley campus. Erin Murphy, 2026-27 Penn State Laureate and award-winning poet and prose writer, will read from and discuss her latest books. Attendees will have the opportunity to create their own lines of poetry as part of a collaborative project.

2026 Steven and Janice Brose Distinguished Lecture Series — Multiple lectures, Oct. 15-17, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. “Sovereignty and Strife: The Civil War Era in Indian Territory” is the theme of three lectures being delivered by Fay Yarbrough, William Gaines Twyman Professor of History and senior associate dean of the School of Humanities at Rice University. Yarbrough’s research focuses on interactions between Native peoples and people of African descent in the 19th century. She is the author of “Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country” and “Race and the Cherokee Nation: Sovereignty in the Nineteenth Century.”

Anderson Lecture Series: Jefferson Pinder — 2:30 p.m., Oct. 20, Kern Graduate Building, University Park campus. The College of Arts and Architecture’s School of Visual Arts will continue its annual Anderson Lecture Series by welcoming performance-based and multidisciplinary artist Jefferson Pinder. Pinder, self-identified as a “time agent” navigating time’s fluidity, creates interventions, videos and objects that transport audiences to a speculative space where history’s symbolism is negotiated. With his work, the body becomes a vessel for excavating the brutality and enduring traumas of the past, through performances, historic reenactments and stylized music videos.

"The Art of the Tattoo" – Through Dec. 11, Art Space, Schuylkill campus. “The Art of the Tattoo” looks beyond the finished tattoo to explore the creative process behind the work. The exhibition examines the history and evolution of tattooing, showcases the stories and artwork of clients, and highlights how different artists can approach the same idea in distinct ways.

Hidenori Ishii – Through Oct. 31, HUB Gallery, University Park campus. Hidenori Ishii's practice encompasses painting, screen-printing, and installation, focusing on the complex interplay between civilization and nature. A diverse array of paintings, mixed media pieces, and installations delve into themes of reflection and transparency, as well as the connections between inside and outside spaces.

"The Magician's Daughter" – Through Nov. 6, Sheetz Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A body of work by Ivyside Juried exhibition winner Lisa Co invites visitors to reflect on care, emotional comfort and the unseen experiences that shape our lives. Using printmaking, bookmaking and collage, Co creates layered works featuring repeated imagery, dreamlike spaces and ethereal figures. The exhibition explores themes of longing, vulnerability and the quiet acts of care that connect us to ourselves and others.

"Outside Over There" – Through Nov. 6, McLanahan Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A body of work by Ivyside Juried exhibition winner Celine Browning presents a powerful series of blind contour drawings that explore the experience of witnessing today's rapidly unfolding news. Created using a drawing method in which the artist looks only at the subject and never at the page, the works began as a response to images of ICE raids in Minneapolis in early 2026 and have since expanded to include photographs from news sources and the artist's own documentation.

"Walk With Us" – Through Nov. 19, Multiple locations, Berks campus. A community-based art exhibition that relates the firsthand experiences of people and families impacted by incarceration and asks the viewer to consider the future of justice in Berks County.

“Dreaming American Futures: Invitational 250” – Through Nov. 29, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, the Palmer invited artists to submit works that address the following themes: Activating Change, Bridging the Divide, Pursuit of Happiness and A More Perfect Union. The works on view include paintings, sculpture, ceramics, mixed-media assemblages, photographs and works on paper.

“Telling Stories: Rethinking American Art at the Palmer” – Through Nov. 29, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. This installation experiments with thematic approaches to the Palmer Museum of Art’s American art collection, grouping works of various genres, styles and periods together under the themes “Follow the Money” and “American Places" and exploring multiple interpretations of individual artworks.

“Out of the Shadows: Drawings and Watercolors by American Women” – Through Dec. 6, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Brought literally and figuratively out of the shadows, these works by American women artists from the 1820s to the 1950s illuminate an often overlooked yet fundamental history of American art. The audience is invited to consider the relationships between access, medium, and gender that this exhibition brings to light.

"The Art of the Tattoo" — Through Dec. 11, Art Space, Schuylkill campus. An exhibition presented by Altered Ego Tattoos that explores tattooing as an art form and the creative relationship between artist and client.

“LIGHT” – Through Dec. 11, Ronald K. De Long Gallery, Lehigh Valley campus. This group of artists examines the layered definitions of a single concept, LIGHT. Through a deliberate juxtaposition of contrasting materials and conceptual frameworks, the exhibition fosters dynamic, unexpected visual relationships.

"Kith & Kin: A Rewilding of Sound and Form" — Through Dec. 13, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. An exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Melissa Hyatt Foss traces her path from her academic and artistic training in Argentina, where she reconstructed, performed and composed with pre-Columbian instruments, to a new body of work rooted in her own memories and her relationships with what she calls "more-than-human kin." The exhibition also features a selection of ancient instruments on loan from Penn State's Matson Museum of Anthropology, which have informed and inspired Foss's practice.

“America Works: Building and Sustaining the Nation” – Through Dec. 13, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. “America Works: Building and Sustaining the Nation” traces the deep connections among work, power and nation-building in the United States. While exploring the culture and politics of working people, America Works addresses how changes in technology, law and policy, and activism on the part of workers have impacted labor dynamics throughout history.

“Through Different Eyes: Industrial Worlds by Women Artists” – Through December, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, University Park campus. This exhibit explores the lives of women artists in 20th-century industrial Pennsylvania through their artwork and premiers the curatorial work of undergraduate students Alexis Woodring, a public relations major, and Gabriella Heidorn, an art history major with a minor in French and Francophone studies, who both have special interests in American art.

"Recipes" – Through Jan. 8, 2027, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Working in encaustic — a process that uses molten paint made from beeswax, pigment and damar resin — artist Christine Sajecki grinds pigments harvested from her environment and incorporates recycled commercial pigments saved from years of studio practice. Her work explores ways to use waste and culinary byproducts in painting.

"Black Geographies in Circulation" – Through Feb. 26, 2027, Pattee Library, University Park campus. This exhibit highlights a selection of archival stamps and postcards from the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora that help trace the movement of African-descended people, their experiences, ideas and collective memory across geographic and cultural boundaries.

“Hybrid Zones” – Through March 4, 2027, HUB Gallery, University Park campus. “Hybrid Zones” is an immersive exploration of the post-industrial landscape of Eastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region. Through drawing, photography, and video installation, the artists trace the environmental and psychological imprint of centuries of resource extraction. In this powerful new body of work, Rachel Bacon and Meredith Davenport confront the entanglement of human and nonhuman systems, reflecting on how deeply industrial history is inscribed into the land—and into us.

"The Way I Saw It: A Photography Retrospective" – Through Aug. 1, 2027, Penn State All-Sports Museum, University Park campus. “The Way I Saw It” celebrates the work of Penn State alumnus Pat Little, who started out with the Daily Collegian and spent over three decades as a photojournalist with the Centre Daily Times, Associated Press and Reuters. Starting from a million photo negatives then narrowed down to a set of 5,000 photographs, the exhibit presents a final curated collection of 100 unique and powerful images of Penn State athletes, coaches, venues and fans, shot by Little between 1977 and 2005.

In addition to in-person events, a number of virtual exhibits and online resources are available through University departments. The Palmer Museum of Art and Penn State University Libraries offer a rotating selection of historical and artistic collections to view via their websites, as well as other online resources.