Brian Dietz and Troy Hartsock each worked at Case New Holland, a farm equipment manufacturer, for nearly twenty years before the factory was slated to close. They decided to train for new careers as nurses at the Penn State Learning Center in Lewistown. As Brian said, “I’ve always been interested in doing something where I could make a difference. Being a nurse is what I want to do. I’m glad I made this decision.”
Craig Weidemann, Vice President of Outreach
Wayne Smutz, Executive Director of World Campus
Jeff Hand, Director of Continuing Education
Rebecca Beatty, Associate Director of Continuing Education
Tom Walker, Director of the Learning Center, Lewistown
Sue Greene, Director of the Williamsport Center
Penn State Continuing Education is part of the nation’s largest educational outreach organization — Penn State Outreach. Working collaboratively with the University’s colleges and campuses, Penn State Outreach provides leadership to respond to the economic, social, educational, and cultural issues facing individuals, communities, and organizations.
Through Outreach, Penn State mobilizes its educational resources to transform the quality of life for individuals and communities in Pennsylvania and beyond. Outreach connects the needs of individuals and organizations with the programs, research, and services of Penn State’s colleges and faculty. Penn State Continuing Education represents one of the ways that students and organizations can access University courses, conferences, degrees, and resources through Penn State Outreach.
Each year Outreach offers more than 2,000 programs and services in collaboration with the academic colleges. More than 1,500 faculty members deliver programs through the University’s Outreach units — Distance Education/World Campus, Continuing Education, Cooperative Extension, and Penn State Public Broadcasting. Penn State Outreach programs are delivered in all sixty-seven Pennsylvania counties, fifty states, and eighty countries worldwide.
Penn State will be the premier engaged university in the country, mobilizing its educational resources to transform the quality of life of individuals and communities in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Outreach serves as a catalyst, collaborator, and connector between the needs of our various constituents and stakeholders, and the programs, research, and services of Penn State’s colleges and faculty.
People: Convey respect for faculty, students, customers, clients, partners, and colleagues.
Learning: Recognize the power of learning in transforming lives and organizations. Commit to engaging the learning resources of the University with the needs of society. Learn from our work and act upon our learning.
Innovation: Empower employees and encourage individual and organizational creativity in advancing the Outreach mission.
Entrepreneurship: Pursue new directions to meet changing societal needs and institutional expectations.
Diversity: Capture the strength that derives from honoring diverse people, perspectives, and programs; think and act inclusively.
Collaboration: Value partnerships and teamwork as fundamental and enriching approaches to our work.
Flexibility: Be open to change and willing to pursue new directions to meet changing societal needs and institutional expectations.
Integrity: Demonstrate ethical and honest behavior in everything we do.
Fiscal Stewardship: Demonstrate ethical, disciplined, and creative fiscal management of central resources, and an aggressive entrepreneurial spirit, to pursue and implement revenue-producing opportunities.
Disciplined Responsiveness: Build a culture that is focused and determined, and systematically persists in achieving goals in the context of flexible thought and action.