Programs & Degrees

The mission of the Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Program at Penn State is to advance knowledge and improve practices regarding how adults learn in a variety of organizational and societal settings—both formally and informally, in residence and at a distance. Pursuant to its mission, the goals of the program include the following: (a) to further the disciplined inquiry of the field; (b) to prepare its future leaders; and (c) to develop educators/scholars in the practice of adult education. The program’s mission and goals are reflected throughout its curriculum and teaching, its faculty’s and students’ research, scholarship and service, and the work done through its affiliated centers and institutes. Faculty and students engage in research and development activities within the broad field of adult education and in specific areas of specialization

Welcome to the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Penn State. Our program offers a unique blend of research, teaching, and practice in LDT. Our faculty has an exceptional record of publications: books, refereed journal articles, as well as a high level of presentations, research, grant applications. Our faculty work closely with their graduate students to mentor them in research and teaching.

The Special Education program is housed in the Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education in the College of Education at Penn State. Our goal, shared with our colleagues in the Department, is an educational system in which families, communities, and educators share responsibility and commitment for preparing future citizens to live independent, responsible, productive, and personally satisfying lives to the fullest extent of their capabilities in our evolving society.

From the earliest proposals for public schooling in the U.S., researchers and practitioners have relied on comparative and international perspectives to illuminate the field of education. Today more than ever, in an era of information technology and an interconnected global economy of skills and ideas, scholars need to understand how the processes of schooling and learning vary across societies and what implications these variations have for education in the world today.

Penn State’s Higher Education program is perennially ranked among the best higher education programs in the country. Its combination of compelling academics, premier university context, verdant geographical location, culture of camaraderie and mutuality, and gifted faculty and student colleagues provides a terrific backdrop for graduate study. 

Welcome to the Educational Leadership program of The Pennsylvania State University. This program is available to those who want to exercise leadership roles in educational policy and management or engage in research about educational leadership.