Penn State will introduce a new special living option beginning with the fall 2019 semester for students interested in gaining enhanced global experiences.

Special living options (SLOs) are on-campus student living communities that group students on the same floor of a residence hall and encourage them to participate in activities around a common interest. 

The new SLO will be called the Global Engagement Community and will house a mix of 75 international and domestic students in Beaver Hall. Both freshmen and upperclassmen are invited to join the SLO.

“I want the Global Engagement Community to be a welcoming, visible, and purposeful multicultural residential option that assists international and domestic students with forming meaningful, sustained relationships with each other,” said Nikki Mattson, one of the upcoming SLO’s co-leaders and an associate teaching professor of applied linguistics.

The living experience will emphasize building connections among peers from different backgrounds and engaging in globally focused service projects both at Penn State and in the surrounding community.  

“I believe this new on-campus living option will be a catalyst for engaging international and domestic students in co-imagining and co-creating what it means to be a global citizen at Penn State and around the world,” Mattson added.

Prospective and returning students interested in applying to the Global Engagement Community can email Mattson for more information about joining. First-year students are required to complete the secondary application, which can be found on the Penn State Housing website when they accept their offers of admission to Penn State.