Our Difference
Learning That Makes a Difference at Work
Build practical skills and capabilities you can put to work—for yourself, your team, or your organization.
Learning Designed for the Work You Do
Professional development is most valuable when it connects directly to the work you or your people need to do.
For more than 70 years, Penn State Smeal Executive & Professional Programs has helped professionals build capabilities they can put to work. Today, we bring together Penn State Smeal expertise, industry perspective, and practical learning grounded in the challenges professionals and organizations face.
Whether you’re building your own expertise or developing a team, you’ll learn from faculty and experienced practitioners who connect new ideas to real business challenges—helping you put learning to work beyond the program.
Our Advantage: Faculty Who Teach. Practitioners Who’ve Done It.
Our Faculty and Instructors
Penn State Smeal faculty bring research, business expertise, and fresh perspectives to the learning experience. They help you examine challenges from new angles and connect what you learn to the decisions and opportunities you encounter at work.
Our Industry Experts
Experienced practitioners bring firsthand knowledge of today’s business realities into the learning experience. They share practical perspectives shaped by experience, helping you see how ideas and approaches work in real-world settings.
Proven Leadership & Global Reach
70+
Years of Executive Education
40,000
Executives and Professionals Who've Learned with Us
43
Nations Represented
6
Gold Awards for Excellence in Academic Partnerships
What Makes the Penn State Executive & Professional Programs Experience Different
Built Around Real Business Challenges
Learning is most useful when it connects to the work you do. Our programs bring business challenges into the learning experience, helping you build knowledge and capabilities you can apply to decisions, teams, and problems at work.
Expertise With Practical Perspective
Learn from Penn State faculty and experienced practitioners who connect research and business insight to the realities of work. You’ll explore ideas in context, gaining perspectives you can use to make more informed decisions and approach challenges differently.
Learning You Can Put to Work
Professional development should extend beyond the learning experience itself. Our programs connect new knowledge to the decisions and challenges you face, giving you ideas, tools, and approaches you can put into practice.
Connected to Expertise Across Penn State
Center for Supply Chain Research®
The Center for Supply Chain Research® connects academic expertise with industry insight to advance thinking and practice in supply chain management.
Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship
The Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship advances expertise in innovation, entrepreneurship, and the development of new business opportunities.
Sustainable Business Center
The Smeal Sustainable Business Center brings together expertise focused on the business challenges and opportunities associated with creating more sustainable organizations and practices.
Penn State reaches outside of their campus to invite other business experts and the best University faculty to meet our specific needs. Also, they demonstrate a willingness to modify the program to meet evolving needs and continue an ongoing process of seeking new knowledge."
Nabeel Sarwani, M.D.