Penn State saw some of its graduate programs’ rankings improve in the U.S. News & World Report’s recently released 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings, especially in the Best Law School rankings.

Graduate workers are excited about forming a union, Jessica Rafalko, a fifth year in the graduate program in English at Penn State, said in a recent phone interview with the Centre Daily Times.

Since Penn State announced its multimillion-dollar budget deficit in 2022, the university has deeply cut the budgets to its graduate school and engineering college, a Spotlight PA analysis found.

Renata Engel, Penn State’s vice provost for online education, will serve as interim vice president for commonwealth campuses and executive chancellor effective May 19.