Meals
Friday supper, and Saturday breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks and hot beverages are included with all conference registrations. Friday supper will be a collaborative cooking event that we will prepare together, and all meals on Saturday are being provided by Webster’s Cafe and Catering, and will feature produce from the Student Farm at Penn State and other local farms.
Overnight Accommodations
We are excited to be able to offer FREE overnight accommodations for those who are planning to stay overnight on Friday, April 5. A coffeehouse located in State College, called Abba Java, will be housing students who need lodging. Students will need to bring their own sleeping bags/blankets, pillows, towel, shower items, and anything else they think they will need to sleep. Check out must be before 8:50 am on Saturday morning.
For advisors, there are opportunities to stay with a community member, if that is preferred. Advisors are also welcome to stay in Abba Java!
If you need overnight lodging and have not yet confirmed this with conference planners, please contact Sarah Kadrie at smk7184@psu.edu to sign up for lodging by Sunday, March 24!
Parking Information
Public parking is available on campus for $1 per hour. The closest parking area to the conference is the HUB parking deck. Overnight parking is also available in the HUB parking deck on the University Park campus, and is $16 maximum per vehicle per 24 hour period.
A local shopping center offers free parking but would require a ~$2 bus ride or an Uber ride to campus.
Rundown of Travel Throughout the Conference
Friday April 5:
We will be offering a Farm Tour and a workday on the Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm. We will also be hosting the Penn State Blooms and Shrooms Club for a Mushroom Cultivation 101. There will be two sessions on the Farm during our workday, one from 3:15 pm to 4:00 pm and another from 4:15 pm to 5:00 pm.
Transportation to and from the farm will be handled by an event bus, so don’t worry about getting there on your own! The bus pickup location is also noted on the conference map.
From 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, attendees will be directed to showers in the South Residence Halls if they would like. More information on which halls will be open to us will be given on Friday. Attendees will also be able to check-in to Abba Java at 5:00 pm if they are staying overnight.
From 6:00 pm to 9:00 there will be a Cooking Collab at Abba Java Coffeehouse.
Saturday April 6:
The Conference will begin in the bridge of the Huck Life Science Building. Check-in and breakfast will occur between 8:00 am and 9:00 am with our first round of Roundtable Discussions beginning at 9:30 am.
For conference attendees who could not make it out to the farm Friday afternoon, there will be an additional farm tour from 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm. Event buses will be running to transport attendees to and from the farm if driving is not an option.
Addresses:
Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm:
328-340 Big Hollow Rd
State College, PA 16802
Huck Life Sciences Building:
201 Huck Life Sciences Building
University Park, PA 16802
Abba Java Coffeehouse (where the overnight accommodations and Cooking Collab will be hosted):
250 E College Ave
State College, PA 16801
Berkey Creamery (where the shuttle to the farm will be near):
119 Rodney A. Erickson Food Science Building
University Park, PA 16802
