The Communicator (Annual Report, 2022-23)

Penn State COMMversations PODCAST

Welcome to a publication you’ve likely seen often over the years if you’re an alumnus or friend: The Communicator.

The magazine, which launched in 1996, was published twice a year until we moved it to a digital format in 2020. The digital format allowed us to embed video and interactive features. It also allowed us to create a version for mobile devices.

But — and I have feeling many of you will agree — some media are best left in the “old-fashioned” paper-and-ink format, especially if they are designed to be savored and read over days and weeks, not skimmed in seconds or finished in minutes.

Thus, you are holding the familiar, yet refreshed version of The Communicator, which serves as our “annual report” for the Bellisario College. We hope and trust the magazine is a publication you’ll enjoy coming back to again and again.

In this issue, you’ll also see another familiar name: Vivienne Bellisario. As you know, she and her husband, Don (’61), have together provided transformational support that launched the Bellisario College’s media center, allowed it to stand up new programs and helped more students attain a Penn State degree.

Viv’s commitment to Penn State has been extraordinary. Her generosity, compassion, energy, initiative and commitment to family align perfectly with what makes our community special. So it was no surprise when she was tapped to become an honorary alumna of this great University during a ceremony with President Bendapudi and the Board of Trustees in June.

I had a chance to interview Viv about her impressions of Penn State (p. 48). I think you’ll enjoy reading about her childhood in Australia, her favorite campus memory and her hopes for our students.

Of course, every day, our students exceed our hopes. They grasp opportunity and run with it. It’s inspiring! Spend some time learning about this new generation of go-getters (p. 12) and about the “best of the best” from our most recent graduating class (p. 20) in this issue.

As summer winds down, we’re preparing to welcome a group of incoming students, the Class of 2027. This will be the largest class in the history of the Bellisario College. Our world-class faculty and staff — about which there are many stories in this issue — are ready to welcome these students. It’s gratifying to know they will also arrive to your support, your interest and your hopes for their success. To all those in our Honor Roll (p. 52): Thank you.

And to all of our alumni and friends: I am confident they will continue to make you proud.

Stay in touch, Dean Marie

Hardin

The construction crew removing the iconic Heinz ketchup bottle atop Heinz Field, now Acrisure Stadium, on July 18, 2022.

PHOTO BY ALICIA CHIANG (’22)

No. 1 seed Penn State lifts the Big Ten Tournament men’s soccer trophy after defeating No. 3 seed Indiana in the final at Jeffrey Field on Nov. 14, 2021. The Nittany Lions defeated the Hoosiers 3-0 to win the tournament. The win marked the first time in 16 years that the Nittany Lions won both the regular season championship and the tournament championship.

PHOTO BY NOAH RIFFE (’23)

A student runs for cover after a heavy rain breaks out in front of Old Main on Sept. 28, 2022.

PHOTO BY WILL AGUIRRE (’23)

22

PERSISTENT SUCCESS

Bellisario College student combats stigma through openness and persistence.

By Jonathan F. McVerry (’05)

12 RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Student success in the Bellisario College results from abundant opportunity, a pinch of encouragement and a strong helping of hard work.

By Steve Sampsell (’90)

28 STATEWIDE IMPACT

Five Bellisario College faculty members drive efforts to serve people across Pennsylvania.

By Steve Sampsell (’90)

39 UNIVERSITY IMPACT

Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Gary Abdullah earns University-wide honor: the 2023 McKay Donkin Award.

48 Q&A: VIV BELLISARIO

It’s all about family for longtime benefactor Vivienne Bellisario, who was selected as an honorary alumna.

58 STEPHANIE PETULLA Alumna leads University branding efforts

EDITOR

Steve Sampsell (‘90)

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Jonathan McVerry (’05)

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Paris Palmer (’17) GRAPHIC DESIGNER Whitney Justice

All items relating to the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and its faculty, staff, students and alumni will be considered for publication.

Maymester in Manhattan offers interaction, opportunities for students

CORRESPONDENCE

The Communicator

Penn State Bellisario College of Communications

201 Carnegie Building University Park, PA 16802 bellisarioinfo@psu.edu @PSUBellisario bellisario.psu.edu

An annual whirlwind week for select Bellisario College students — allowing them to get a sense of the variety of communications-related opportunities in New York City — included seven company visits in five days as well as an off-Broadway show and several alumni networking events.

The trip included stops at: the Ad Council, BBDO, BCW Global, GALE, Google and Verizon. In addition, they saw “Sugar,” which was presented by the J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company led by alumnus Jim Jimirro (’58), and participated in an educational course and toured the Paley Center. Students, typically freshmen and sophomores, get selected for Maymester in Manhattan as part of an application process for the 12 available slots each year.

Penn State part of initial OTT streaming affiliate program

Penn State was selected as one of four colleges as a member of a University Affiliate Program, launched by OTT.X, the industry trade association supporting the OTT streaming industry. The effort is designed to support the development of students pursuing business careers in streaming media.

“We are thrilled to have four world-class institutions as affiliate members as we launch this exciting program,” said Mark Fisher, OTT.X president and CEO. The program provides access to leading-edge information, analysis and networking opportunities with executives who are shaping the course of streaming. “It’s vital that we support those with aspirations in the streaming industry who will become our next generation of innovators and leaders.”

Other schools as part of the initial cohort are Emory University, Pepperdine University and Vanderbilt University.

Penn State World Campus, which is celebrating 25 years of online education this year, first added courses from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications a decade and a half ago. Offerings include two bachelor’s degrees — 1) digital journalism and media, 2) strategic communications — as well as a master of professional studies in strategic communications.

DEAN Marie Hardin

The world doesn’t need more umpires. It needs more critical-thinking journalists.

— Todd Zwillich, deputy Washington, D.C., bureau chief for VICE News, while delivering the Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics and discussing media balance and fairness on campus in February.

Honorary Alumna Viv Bellisario visits the Hintz Family Alumni Center in June.

PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL (’84, ’92 MA)

There are as many potential success stories in the Bellisario College as there are students — more than 2,600 — and there are some common ingredients: abundant opportunity, a pinch of encouragement and a strong helping of hard work.

By Steve Sampsell (’90)

Every student brings some key ingredients, too.

rom move-in weekend each fall to commencement in the spring, hundreds of students arrive, impact and transform the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications every year.

It’s a cycle of engagement and success, growth and mastery that basically remains the same year after year on the University Park campus even as societal norms and technological impacts slightly impact everything at Penn State and beyond.

In some ways, you know the students on campus these days. They’re the same people who were on your dorm floor or were your friends and roommates. They’re the same ones embracing long hours perfecting an advertising pitch, pursuing sources for a story or working on a film set.

Penn State communications students these days share a lot in common with those who helped build the program’s reputation and tradition. At the heart of the recipe for success are opportunities — numerous activities, clubs, organizations or professional experiences, across every major — that allow students to complement classroom experiences and prepare for their careers.

It’s a proven recipe that attracts quality students year after year and leads to success with the same regularity.

Lucy Bickel Sophomore (Lebanon, Pa.) Advertising/Public Relations

Lucy Bickel was familiar with Penn State long before she became a student, and her path toward college made her arrival as a communications major seem inevitable. Among her final high school accolades was being honored as the Pennsylvania high school student journalist of the year during an on-campus event just a few months before she moved into her dorm.

With a strong background in graphic design, ample enthusiasm and a plan (she wanted to get involved early), Bickel made the most of her first year on campus. She noted ways to get engaged before she arrived and checked them out as soon as she could.

“It’s so easy to find opportunities here, especially with the Bellisario College involvement fairs they have at the start of each semester,” she says. “No matter what you want to do, there’s most likely some club or organization that does it. All you have to do is sign up.”

While investigating the Ad/PR Club, Bickel learned more about the American Advertising Federation chapter and its role in a yearlong national competition. She served as the plans book designer for that group, became an outreach chair for the Ad/ PR Club and secured a graphic design internship with Penn State Athletics.

She also made three visits to New York City — one with the Ad/PR Club, one for the Success in the City internship and job fair and one as a member of the Maymester in Manhattan class.

All that helped lead to an art direction internship this summer with Mason Inc.

Assistant Dean Bob Martin pointed Bickel toward an alum at Mason Inc. — Michael Field (’92), the agency’s vice president and executive creative director — and her personality and portfolio helped secure a summer internship.

“Penn State feels big when you’re one of 100,000-plus in Beaver Stadium, but in the Bellisario College you’re constantly seeing familiar faces and the faculty and staff are just so willing to help and support you,” Bickel says. “There’s community atmosphere by getting involved that makes the place feel much smaller.”

Leonardo Frepoli Senior (State College, Pa.) Journalism

After growing up near Pittsburgh and moving to State College for high school, Leonardo Frepoli was familiar with Penn State. It was close to home and a logical choice for his college career.

He started as an economics major before switching to journalism, did some Italian tutoring and, like many others who enrolled in 2020, endured the fits and starts of the pandemic with in-person and, more often, virtual classes.

Because his college career started online, and because his home was in town as a comfortable refuge, it took a bit to get connected, really connected.

“Honestly, I didn’t feel like a Penn State student, I didn’t feel included here, until spring of my sophomore year,” Frepoli says.

A more solid connection came for him the way it has for many other Penn Staters through the years. He joined The Daily Collegian. “I love writing, interviewing people and finding stories,” he says. “I really started feeling even more included after joining the Collegian.”

That connection led to more confidence and more connections. He has a year remaining on campus and plans to investigate options related to creative writing, film and photography.

Plus, after attending the Success in the City internship and job fair, Frepoli better appreciates how his interests and skills will lead to a career. He’s focused on journalism, but knows public relations values the same writing skillset.

Again, that has led to more confidence. As a result, he has some advice for younger students, something he wishes he could tell his younger self.

“I would tell my sophomore self to not just focus on doing well academically but to try to push yourself more and get involved with extracurricular things,” he says. “As important as it is to do well in school, it’s important to build your skills outside of it and network with people. I’ve learned just as much outside of my classes as in my classes.”

Imanie Houdhan Junior (Henrico, Va.) Telecommunications and Media Industries

For Imanie Houdhan, Penn State was basically a leap of faith. She came to campus for the first time just days before classes started, arriving sight unseen — an approach taken by a surprising number of students.

She valued the recommendation of her uncle, did a lot of online research and decided the Bellisario College was the place for her — even if it took a little bit of time for her to find her way around campus once she arrived.

“I had no idea what was happening,” she says. “I got lost a lot.” After growing up in Jamaica and moving to Virginia with her family, Houdhan was not worried about change and she brought a passion to campus. She says she’s not outgoing, even a little shy, but she has consistently asked questions, connected and sought support. Her secret to those connections and conversations has been practice. She often works through the possible directions and what-ifs of a discussion or interview before it happens so she’s better prepared.

Leaning on and learning from others opened the door to an on-campus internship with the Bellisario College’s Office of Internships and Career Services. She also secured a spot as a graphic designer for PSN-TV and its show “Culture Central.”

She strongly shapes the visuals for the student-produced show, one of nine produced by PSN-TV. It’s been great experience for Houdhan’s eventual goal of becoming an art director.

Plus, as she’s found her voice and an outlet for her skills, she has confidently expressed a desire to educate people about her culture. She’s an only child but has a big family on both sides and letting others know what it means to be from Jamaica matters to her. “There are so many stereotypes that are just wrong,” Houdhan says. “My home and family are a big part of why I’m at Penn State and sharing them, accurately, with others, is important to me.”

She also hopes any career path takes her back home because while she loves Penn State and the opportunities she’s found on campus, she’s not a fan of winter. Someplace with “eternal summer” would be her goal.

Basically, two Italian families have shaped Lucas Hydock’s college career — the Bellisarios and the Sopranos.

Hydock saw the innovation and investment happening in the Bellisario College and decided it was the place for him to pursue his career goals. With top-notch facilities, he figured his filmmaking goals would be nurtured and supported. Plus, he knew Penn State offered many resources to hone his skills.

“I realized coming to Penn State was my most realistic and practical chance at breaking into such a competitive industry. The Bellisario College offers a lot of opportunities,” he says. “It just depends on your go-getter attitude.”

He’s certainly a go-getter. Hydock has gotten involved with CommAgency, 46 LIVE and serves as director for PSN-TV’s “Nittany Talk.” He’s creating marketing videos for the Eberly College of Science this summer and was accepted as a member for the Penn State Hollywood Program next spring.

In the spring of 2020, he watched (and binged) “The Sopranos” for the first time. While he initially thought animation might be the focus of his career, that series reshaped his plans.

“That show taught me you could make a cinematic TV show, so since then a position in streaming has been the goal,” he says. Additionally, he says shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” helped rekindle his love of filmmaking.

He says the abundance of hands-on work available in the Bellisario College, along with the collegiality and crossover interests of other students, have made him happy with his decision. After struggling early in his academic career, he says getting involved on campus helped him find more success and bolstered his confidence.

“I like being busy and I don’t want to let any opportunity pass by,” he says. “That’s what’s happened. Penn State and the Bellisario College have made that possible for me.”

Sophia Montanye Senior (Pottstown, Pa.) Journalism

Sophia Montanye got involved early and has earned additional responsibility and grown personally by sticking with a core (albeit a big core) of activities.

She serves as digital managing editor of The Daily Collegian, membership coordinator for PSN-TV, news producer for PSN-TV, and as a preproduction and client executive for CommAgency. In the fall, she’ll be a member of the class that produces the award-winning “Centre County Report” newscast.

She’s completing a major in broadcast journalism with minors in political science and sustainability. While she initially thought she’d pursue an on-camera career, her experiences have altered that focus a bit. Plus, her innate ability to support others sometimes makes her more productive — and vital — behind the scenes.

She’s become an effective and quiet leader and she’s broadened her skillset because of her varied interests. She’s still happy to explore on-camera opportunities but also likes working with analytics, graphics, multimedia, podcasts and production.

This summer she’s completing a news production internship with WTAJ-TV in Altoona, Pa., while working at Irving’s Bagels on College Avenue.

Her biggest strength might be her honesty. She knows herself well.

“It’s been challenging because sometimes I bite off more than I can chew,” she says. “I always kind of find myself in leadership roles, though, and I don’t really anticipate it.”

It’s just innate for her. She’s one of five siblings, the youngest of the only set of twins in the group, so she’s squarely in the middle. It’s clear she’s been influencing (and leading) up and down her whole life. Plus, she’s wise to enough adapt.

Although she grew up knowing about Penn State, she was also certain she would not attend the University.

“I was that typical Pennsylvania kid. I wanted to go anywhere but Penn State,” Montanye says. “I knew nothing about the communications program. I went to an accepted students’ program, got to meet some of the students on the student panel and I think that’s what sealed me to come here. That’s when I could see myself here.”

Now she can’t see herself anywhere else.

Lucas Hydock Junior (Minersville, Pa.) Film Production

Andrea Prest Senior (Chicago) Advertising/Public Relations

Andrea Prest picked a college far from home in another region of the country because she wanted something different. She has not been disappointed by Penn State.

“It was the only place I felt like I’d found a home before I arrived,” she says.

She admits the “vibe” in central Pennsylvania was unusual, especially when she first heard people debating the merits of Sheetz and Wawa and had no idea what they were talking about. Still, she’s made many connections, lifelong friends and memories.

She appreciates the mountains and nature near the University Park campus that are not an option near Chicago, and she especially appreciates all the things she’s been able to try as a Penn State student. She served as a campus tour guide for Lion Scouts, found connections with a sorority in Greek Life and secured a social media internship with the Office of Student Affairs. This fall, she plans to study abroad in London before returning for the spring semester of her senior year.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m going into my senior year,” she says. “It only feels like a little while ago that we flew to Baltimore and then drove to campus for my first visit. It’s gone so fast.”

It’s gone fast in part because she’s been busy. She’s stayed rooted in Chicago by watching the Cubs religiously, completing summer internships at home and solidifying her experiences to hopefully start a career in advertising or corporate marketing in her hometown after graduation.

“I enjoy being busy. It keeps my brain engaged, and it’s nice to know there’s something going on,” Prest says. “Being busy isn’t a requirement. It just helps me manage my time and do better.”

She points to memories attending THON and experiencing “College GameDay” as things that will be with her forever. After a recent tour, a prospective family told Prest how helpful the session and her efforts were. That resonated and brought her experience full circle because she became a tour guide based on the impact of her prospective student tour. Finally, Prest appreciates the honesty and support of Bellisario College faculty members.

“It’s clear they care. I’ve gotten honest, truthful feedback,” she says. “I know that I’m going to go out and probably get hard-hitting feedback when my career starts, so getting that now is helpful.”

Davis Yoshitani Junior (West Point, N.Y.) Advertising/Public Relations

Maybe it’s being the son of two career military personnel or maybe he just likes to be prepared. Either way, Davis Yoshitani has found success by having a plan and working through it step by step.

As he gets closer to starting this third academic year at Penn State, he’s explored clubs and organizations and found a mix of opportunities that work for him. “The Bellisario College has so many options,” he says. “There are a lot of awesome experiences, and they’re also high-quality experiences.”

When he was considering his college options, Penn State moved atop the list because of the sheer number of student engagement experiences. Both his parents graduated from West Point and serve as permanent military faculty there, so that was an option — but not the best one for him.

He learned to appreciate the power of advertising in high school when his campaign for junior class treasurer was bolstered by a series of ads he and a friend put together on social media. The funny skits helped him connect and earn votes. He won the election.

Yoshitani served as business manager of The Daily Collegian last year and is moving into leadership roles with the Ad/PR Club and the American Advertising Federation chapter on campus this fall. This summer he’s completing an internship focused on digital yield in the ad sales department at Warner Bros. Discovery.

He’s done a lot in just two years, but he’s not done. There’s more to his plan.

“I’m very proud of where I am. At the same time, I still have room for growth,” Yoshitani says “I’m just going semester by semester, setting goals and working to accomplish them. My end goal is just to keep meeting my semester goals.”

Advertising/public relations students earn ‘first’ in national competition

A team of advertising/public relations students crafted a Penn State “first” with an honorable mention performance in the annual PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition, a nationwide effort that challenges teams of students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a public relations campaign for an actual client.

The Nittany Lion Communicators developed a campaign titled “News Better” for the News Literacy Project that was aimed at increasing news literacy among Black Gen Z and millennial news consumers by working with student organizations, employee resource groups and alumni affinity groups.

Two Penn State participants among finalists for PR Student of the Year

Two Penn State participants earned spots among five national finalists to be selected PRWeek Outstanding Student of the Year 2023.

Senior advertising/public relations major Maryrose Finn and recent graduate Samantha Preza became the latest Penn State students selected for the program. Penn State has had nine such honorees since 2020.

Three selected among AAF’s Most Promising Multicultural Students

Three students were selected from a highly competitive process and named among the nation’s Most Promising Multicultural Students, according to the American Advertising Federation. The three students — Emma Chan, Chenai Christian and Star Lawson — were all senior advertising/public relations majors.

They demonstrated academic achievement and had high GPAs to be eligible for the program. Once eligible, they provided recommendation letters, a resume and a summary of community involvement. Each nominee also wrote an essay about why diversity matters, how their skills and experience will enable them to become industry professionals, and why they chose their major.

Our unique blend of academic support services, career-focused opportunities and transformative classroom instruction makes the undergraduate experience at the Bellisario College second to none.

— Denise Bortree, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Penn State sent a “team” — 11 students — to the Super Bowl for hands-on experience with internships or mediarelated professional opportunities in February.

‘Faces of State College’ rewards students, faculty member

BY KAYLA MARRERO

A Penn State assistant teaching professor gave students a creative way to showcase their journalistic skills on the streets of State College through the “Faces of State College” project during the 2022-23 academic year.

Mila Sanina, an assistant teaching professor of journalism, brought 15 years of experience leading and innovating local, national and international newsrooms when she joined the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications in fall 2022. Until then, Sanina served as the executive director of PublicSource.org, a nonprofit newsroom delivering public-service journalism based in Pittsburgh.

Sanina taught an advanced multimedia production class, COMM 481, where students created the “Faces of State College” effort, allowing students to find ordinary people with special stories who call State College their home. “Stories live everywhere around us,” Sanina said. Of course, “Faces of State College” was inspired by Brandon Stanton’s photography project “Humans of New York” that launched in 2010 and has over 20 million followers on social media, providing a worldwide audience with daily glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets of New York City.

“I love seeing my students’ growth during this project,” Sanina said. “My students bring amazing stories and seeing them overcome discomfort amazes me.”

Four submissions win SPJ regional contest

Four entries from Penn State students were selected as regional winners in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 1 Mark of Excellence Awards.

The awards recognize the best collegiate journalism in large- and small-school divisions from schools in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, central and eastern Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Penn State’s entries competed in the large-school division against other schools with an enrollment of at least 10,000 students. Winning entries advance to the national competition against winners from a dozen other regions.

Those national winners will be recognized at the 2023 Society of Professional Journalists convention, scheduled Sept. 28-30 in Las Vegas.

Penn State’s winners were:

• Feature Photography: Call me baby (Noah Riffe, CommMedia)

• Television Breaking News Reporting: Penn State cancels controversial event over security concerns (Isabella Leahy and Matthew Noah, CommMedia)

• Best All-Around Television News Magazine: “Centre County Report in Scotland”

• Arts/Entertainment/Fashion Journalism: Lynn Hall (Alicia Chiang, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

(’24)

“

My students bring amazing stories and seeing them overcome discomfort amazes me.

– Mila Sanina

Six selected as spring student marshals

Six students who completed stellar undergraduate careers at Penn State — succeeding inside the classroom and out, on campus and far beyond — were selected to serve as student marshals during commencement exercises for the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications in May.

The group included an overall marshal for the Bellisario College and one representative for each of the five undergraduate majors.

Overall: Nicole Weber

Weber, a consistent Dean’s List student with a 4.0 grade-point average who earned a degree in advertising/public relations while completing a variety of internships and setting the foundation for her career, was the overall marshal.

“I walked into Penn State as an insecure, timid girl and can proudly say I have grown to become a confident woman who believes in herself and her goals,” Weber said. “I am so proud to be graduating from a school that cares so deeply about its students’ success. This honor isn’t just for me, but for my family as well. They worked so hard for me to be a student here.”

Weber, from Wantagh, N.Y., who completed a video internship with the Buffalo Bills last summer, joined the Cincinnati Bengals as a full-time video assistant in the coaching video department after graduation.

Weber, a member of the Association of Women in Sports Media chapter at Penn State, completed two internships with Penn State Athletics, and worked as an editor and producer for GALvanize, a nonprofit that supports women to use their civic power. She also served as a videographer and editor for “After The Whistle,” a regular sports highlights program produced by Bellisario College students, and was a package editor for 46 LIVE, which produced the livestream of the Penn State Dance Marathon (THON).

Advertising/Public Relations: Julia Feldman

Julia Feldman, a Schreyer Honors Scholar from Broadlands, Va., who made Dean’s List every semester, was the advertising/public relations marshal. She complemented her bachelor’s degree with two minors — digital media trends and analytics, information sciences and technology — and a business fundamentals cer-

tificate from the Smeal College of Business.

She completed internships with Happy Valley Communications, working as an account associate and account executive over a three-year period; Real Chemistry, as an integrated communications intern; and TrophyTracks, as a social media and marketing intern.

She also served as an event safety captain for THON and was part of that student-driven fundraising event in some capacity every year during her time at Penn State. “The most important experience I will take from my time at Penn State is being a THON captain. It was amazing to meet, work with and become friends with so many passionate, driven individuals,” she said. Feldman started her career as a member of a public relations firm after commencement.

Film Production: Catherine Cao

Catherine “Cat” Cao, from South Setauket, N.Y., was the film production marshal.

Cao, a member of Penn State’s varsity fencing team, served as a leader for several student organizations, including CommAgency (video division president); Delta Kappa Alpha Cinematic Society (cinematic affairs executive chair) and Valley Magazine (student director).

She was selected as a Bellisario College Fellow, a select group of students who participate in a transformational learning experience to help them meet and network with alumni and industry leaders while engaging them to serve as ambassadors for the Bellisario College and University.

She also completed seven different major-related internships, including positions at Paramount Pictures (feature film development), Stampede Pictures (film development) and Toluca Pictures (scripted TV development).

After graduation she traveled to France to begin an internship with American Pavilion at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. And, after that, she’s headed to Hollywood.

“While I recognize the importance of taking things one step at a time, I’m also driven by my ambitious dreams to one day take the stage at the iconic Dolby Theatre, where I can thank the Academy and my loved ones for their unwavering support,” Cao said.

Journalism: Larkin Richards

Larkin Richards, a consistent Dean’s List student who added a minor in digital media trends and analytics and a certificate from the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism to her bachelor’s degree, was the journalism marshal.

Richards, who served as a resident assistant in Pollock Halls, was busy with valuable complementary opportunities on campus and off.

On campus, she was an associate editor for Onward State, a host and social media producer for 46 LIVE, executive website

chair for the Association for Women in Sports Media, and a part-time video production employee for Penn State Athletics. She was also co-creator of “Faces of State College” on Instagram. She completed internships with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Penn State Athletics and Soccer Shots Pittsburgh. She also served as treasurer of the Jared Box Project.

“The most important lesson I’ve taken away from Penn State is that it’s up to you to create your own legacy,” said Richards, from Tarentum, Pa. “I turned into a leader at Penn State. Sure, it will be me standing up there, but I represent what the last four years meant to all the journalism students.”

After graduation, she moved to Philadelphia to enter the marketing and content management field focused on sports communications and working within minority communities to create more inclusive language.

Media Studies: Elizabeth Luyben

Elizabeth Luyben, a consistent Dean’s List student from Reading, Pa., completed dual majors in political science and media studies and was the media studies student marshal.

Luyben completed an internship with the Centre County Democratic Committee, an internship supporting the Centre Film Festival and worked as a tutor for Tutor Doctor.

She also participated in numerous service organizations and clubs, including Phi Sigma Pi National Honors Fraternity, UNICEF Penn State, College Democrats and League of Women Voters.

Initially a political science major, she found a passion in communications and made the most of mass media and international communications studies — especially appreciating the connections of classmates and faculty members.

“I learned how important it is to surround yourself with people who uplift and support you,” she said. “My amazing professors always promoted such welcoming and inspiring environments for me to explore myself and my studies.”

She began work as a production assistant for Marvel Studios in Atlanta after graduation.

Telecommunications and Media Industries: Ngozi Nwokeukwu

Ngozi Nwokeukwu, a consistent Dean’s List student from Philadelphia, was the telecommunications and media industries student marshal.

She also completed a minor in digital media trends and analytics, and a business fundamentals certificate from the Smeal College of Business.

Along with duties as a resident assistant, Nwokeukwu completed a digital marketing internship with The Art of Business and served as a video production assistant for CommAgency, the student-led production agency in the Bellisario College.

She also consistently sought engagement and opportunities, testing her time-management skills.

Nwokeukwu participated with numerous clubs and organizations, including University Choir (secretary), Writers Organized to Represent Diverse Stories (event manager), Queer and Trans People of Color (treasurer), Bellisario Alliance of Multicultural Students, Essence of Joy Choir and Her Campus. In addition, she earned acting roles in some No Refund Theatre productions.

“I am both a people person and a person who wants to get a taste of many different aspects of life,” she said. “As I come to the end of my time at Penn State, several roadmaps are ahead. No matter what, the goal is to stay passionate about education, people, professional development and life.”

Fall student marshal Preston Shoemaker with his family and faculty member John Affleck (far left).

PHOTO BY STEVE SAMPSELL (’90)

Summer Student Marshal: Lex Forge

Bellisario College student combats stigma through openness, persistence

BY JONATHAN F.

Carlee Weber opened to Page 35 of Valley, Penn State’s student-run fashion magazine, and saw her photo. It made her think of her younger self.

“If little me would have seen this, it would have changed her world,” she said. “Growing up I never saw anyone in a wheelchair modeling or anything like that. It was really amazing to see.”

Weber is a senior public relations major in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. She has a type of muscular dystrophy called spinal muscular atrophy, which consists of severe weakness of the muscles. Weber uses a wheelchair to get around and has a fully trained service dog, a chocolate lab named Magenta, for assistance. The spread in Valley was one of many times Weber shared her story. In the article, she discusses how people talk to her differently on Zoom versus in person. She also talks about how challenging it can be getting to class. She is honest and open, a natural communicator. It’s a role she has been playing for most of her life.

BECOMING A VOICE FOR A COMMUNITY

For as long as Weber can remember, she has been a “poster child” for her condition. Starting at 3 years old, she and her parents traveled Pennsylvania raising awareness and funds. By 10 years old, the Williamsport, Pa., native was holding court on stage sharing the difficult truth of her condition and explaining the challenges of her day-to-day life.

From the experience to the science, Weber knows everything about spinal muscular atrophy. She is completely open about her condition, too. She wants people to ask questions, learn and chip away at the stigma that she is different. It is an attitude her parents instilled in her from day one.

“My parents were not going to have a pity party. They wanted me to be as independent as possible,

Spinal muscular atrophy didn’t keep Carlee Weber from a college experience and it won’t stop her from working toward a career in the music industry

MCVERRY (’05)

I just want to do things that people say I can’t.

– Carlee Weber, public relations major

Carlee Weber and her service dog Magenta outside Old Main. Weber has a type of muscular dystrophy called spinal muscular atrophy, which consists of severe weakness of the muscles.

PHOTO PROVIDED

which has definitely helped me get to where I am today,” she said. “They said that this is my life and it’s going to be great.”

Weber’s parents always pushed her to try new things, like traveling. They also encouraged her to apply to Penn State. She credits her parents for her fearless approach. But there is another thing motivating Weber: “Spite.”

“For me and my community, I’d say it’s the biggest driving factor,” she said. “I just want to do things that people say I can’t.” She added, “It’s not like you’re telling a kid they can’t have a certain toy. You’re saying I can’t because no one has ever done this before … so I am going to show you that it’s possible.”

That is why Weber is committed to having a college experience just like her fellow classmates. She lives on campus and is involved with THON, Penn State Access Club, and her sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon.

A NATURAL TALENT

Whitney Chirdon, an instructor in the Bellisario College, taught Weber’s basic news writing course. She witnessed this barrier-breaking energy in Weber’s assignments and projects.

“Carlee has the natural talent and curiosity that will take her anywhere,” said Chirdon, who is also the director of communications for Penn State’s School of Public Policy. “She approaches everything with empathy and understanding. I can really see her tackle any issue.”

Chirdon said Weber was already a solid writer at the start of the semester. She arrived with a work ethic, “always the first one to class,” and boldness, “approachable, respectful and willing to talk to anyone about anything,” that will be the foundation of her future success.

“I could see it in the stories that she selected,” Chirdon said. “It makes me really happy to know she is writing and communicating about issues she wants to shed light on, because we need more people like that.”

ANOTHER DREAM

Last fall, Weber penned a list of “9 tips for vacationing with a wheelchair” for Jansport. During her time with the student-run publication Her Campus, Weber wrote columns about a range of topics, from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to a spotlight of powerful women. Recently, she has been regularly sharing her stories and thoughts on her TikTok channel.

With plans to graduate in December 2023, Weber said her public relations degree will help hone her communications skills. She hopes to use those skills to fight the stigma facing the disabled community, but she has another dream, too.

The dream started on July 7, 2018 — Weber’s “best day of my life.” It was the night she saw Taylor Swift perform. The experience was a game-changer, and she knew she wanted to be a part of it.

“I love live music and entertainment, and I want to do PR for that because seeing that stadium concert — which was at Ohio State, unfortunately — was life-changing,” she said. “I want to plan events and shows and coordinate press tours and travel the world, that would be pretty awesome.”

Weber said the Bellisario College has put her in a better position to speak about these issues. While certainly not perfect, she has enjoyed the willingness of faculty, staff and students to listen and understand.

“It’s an environment where people want to learn and they want to enrich their lives by seeing other perspectives,” she said. “It can be really hard to do that out in the real world.”

In November 2022, Weber joined the student-run campus music festival Movin’ On as a promoter. Could it be a first step toward a career in the music industry? Probably, because evidence shows that it’s unwise to doubt Carlee Weber, a young woman who is not afraid to advocate for herself. She is someone who knows that tenacity pays off in the end.

“You have to keep chipping away every single day,” she said. “Nothing is going to happen overnight. Some days it gets exhausting, but if you want big things to happen, it takes time and persistence.”

Carlee has the natural talent and curiosity that will take her anywhere.

– Whitney Chirdon, director of communications for Penn State’s School of Public Policy

WATCH Carlee Weber talk about spinal muscular atrophy, her time at the Bellisario College and her dream of working in the music industry.

National Champs Penn State wins writing title

With strong efforts in each of five monthly competitions, Penn State claimed first place in the yearlong Intercollegiate Writing Championship conducted as part of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards program, often referred to as “the Pulitzers of college journalism.”

Penn State’s top individual results included a third-place finish by Anjelica Singer in features, and second and fifth place, respectively, for Jade Campos and Rory Pelella in explanatory writing. Additional monthly competitions focused on sports, personality/profile and investigative reporting, with Jillian Wesner, Caitlyn Garrity and Max Ralph all writing stories that scored in the top 10.

Behind Penn State in the top five were North Carolina, Indiana, Florida and Missouri. The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $4,000 and $2,000, respectively.

“It’s obviously great to win in any of the major Hearst categories,” said John Affleck, head of the Department of Journalism at Penn State and the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society. “Coming in first in writing is particularly gratifying as it’s the journalism skill that acts as an anchor to all types of storytelling.”

HEARST PROGRAM INTERCOLLEGIATE WRITING

Three CommAgency videos earn Bronze Tellys in international competition

Projects for the Alumni Association, Bellisario College and Division of Undergraduate Studies honored

Three videos produced by Penn State students earned five awards in an international competition that recognizes excellence in video and television across all screens.

The Telly Awards selected videos produced by CommAgency, the student-led production agency housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, for a Bronze Telly. Videos honored were:

• Bellisario College Recruitment Video, which was honored in both the Promotional Video-Educational Institution category and Promotional Video-Student category;

• Alumni Association Spotlight, also honored for Promotional Video-Educational Institution and Promotional Video-Student; and

• Penn State DUS Overview, which was selected in the Promotional Video-Educational Institution category.

“I’m excited for the students,” said Catie Grant, director of CommAgency and an assistant teaching professor in the Bellisario College. “It’s great to have

a high-level, professional award recognition for their work. Plus, their work was up against submissions from professional agencies and production companies in the Promotional Video-Educational Institution category. It’s just a testament to the quality of work our students produce.”

The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after. With the recent evolution and rise of digital video (web series, VR, 360 and beyond), the awards also reflect and celebrate this exciting new era of the moving image on and offline.

The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens. This year more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents were considered. Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world.

Handful of Trunks

A photo by Alicia Chiang — capturing a moment when Alayah Schulz, 11, of Beechview, tries to grab her little brother, Nova Schulz, 3, at the Moore Swimming Pool in Pittsburgh on June 18, 2022 — won first place in the News Photo Division of the Student Keystone Media Awards.

1. PENN STATE

2. North Carolina

3. Indiana

4. Florida

5. Missouri

Alumni and Students collaborate at Short Doc Workshop

WATCH this year’s documentaries

Another Success in the City

The annual internship and job fair specifically for Bellisario College students in New York City attracted more than 375 students and over 170 recruiters from 70-plus companies in March. The successful session was the culmination of three such opportunities for Bellisario College students.

more than 200,000 views

in 80 countries

The Penn State Dance Marathon (THON) livestream was produced by communications students as part of 46 LIVE. The average watch time was 30 minutes, and there were 14,000 unique viewers for the fundraising reveal — which was a record $15,006,123.46.

The Office of Internships and Career services annually conducts three job fairs — Comm Careers in the Capital in Washington, D.C., JobExpo. Comm on the University Park campus and Success in the City.

The annual Short Doc Workshop each spring semester brings together alumni mentors and students who work together on documentaries — collaborating and honing a variety of skills — before debuting the finished pieces at the end of the three-day session on campus. Eleven documentaries resulted from this year’s session.

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES

VINCE SADUSKY (’87) Commencement Speaker

Commencement Celebrations

As Bellisario College students, faculty, family members — and President Neeli Bendapudi (above) — proved during and after commencement exercises in May, the culmination of a college career leads to heartfelt celebrations.

Christopher Ali joined the Penn State faculty as the Pioneers Chair of Telecommunications at the start of the 2022-23 academic year

PHOTO BY SARAH CRAMER SHIELDS

Bellisario College faculty members drive efforts to serve people across Pennsylvania

BY STEVE SAMPSELL (’90)

Christopher Ali understood the challenge before he accepted the job — and he both anticipated the opportunity and was a little anxious.

Ali, who joined the Penn State faculty as the Pioneers Chair of Telecommunications at the start of the 2022-23 academic year, brought stellar credentials to the tradition-rich position. He also knew he was joining a program with a long history of faculty members finding practical applications for their expertise and research to benefit the people of Pennsylvania.

The roots of such scholarship in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications date back more than 50 years to cable television pioneers and practitioners. While technologies have changed through the years and Pennsylvania politics have ebbed and flowed, the commitment of Bellisario College faculty members to practical policy and technology matters has been unwavering.

“Coming to Penn State and the Bellisario College was intimidating in some ways. There’s an accomplished and respected group of experts who are committed to their research, and to serving the community,” Ali says. “It’s clearly the place to be for my interests and research, though, so it’s been gratifying to collaborate, get engaged and work to make a difference.

“Plus, I feel right at home. There’s a responsibility with being part of this group and I do not take that lightly.”

Ali’s research interests include media and telecommunications policy and regulation, broadband policy, critical political economy, critical geography, comparative media systems, qualitative research methods, media localism and local news. His current research focuses on broadband policy in the United States, specifically in rural areas — and Pennsylvania provides the perfect 46,000-square-mile laboratory for that interest.

He has already connected across the state by meeting with bureaucrats, community leaders, elected officials and oth-

er thought leaders to get a better sense of that laboratory. In many ways the landscape remains the same as it was five decades ago when a nascent cable industry worked to overcome hills and valleys and provide television access to thousands of rural residents.

Ali also brings a personal passion for the layers of work required to succeed.

“Broadband was always the phantom, the bogeyperson in the back of my work,” Ali says. “One of the things I’ve learned is that Pennsylvania could use some help. We’re a little behind when it comes to using state funds resourcefully and impactfully with these challenges.”

Well on his way to becoming a vital voice on the topic, Ali appreciates the challenges that exist. Plus, he’s driven both by abundant curiosity and a keep-up-with-mycolleagues mindset.

COLLEGIAL COLLABORATION

Ali need not go far to collaborate. His office on the first floor of Carnegie Building sits just across the street from that of Sascha Meinrath on the ground floor of the Bellisario Media Center.

Meinrath, the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications, is a renowned technology policy expert internationally recognized for his work over the past two decades as a community internet pioneer, social entrepreneur and an informed and strong-minded champion of broadband policy in Pennsylvania and nationally.

I’m still optimistic. We’ve gone from an era when broadband was declared a luxury good to an appreciation that it’s a necessity.

– Sascha Meinrath

PHOTO BY SARAH CRAMER SHIELDS

He’s neither a cartographer nor an engineer, but Meinrath’s work spans many disciplines and has helped Pennsylvania elected officials, policymakers and concerned citizens better understand the availability (or not) of broadband internet access across the commonwealth. More importantly, and practically, he has consistently framed that availability in terms of impact and opportunity in fields such as agriculture, health care and more. Meinrath’s collaborations with organizations like the Center for Rural Pennsylvania have provided a clear picture of the issue. In addition, thanks to his longstanding connections and work in the nation’s capital, he has a sense of Pennsylvania close up, as well as how it fits in the national conversation around issues such as broadband access and implementation.

With all those connections and all of his experience, he wavers between optimistic and pessimistic. He’s spoken to state legislators individually and in groups, champions engagement by municipal officials and residents, and regularly responds to media requests or writes opinion pieces for a variety of outlets.

He’s always informed and vigilant — and more so with a billion and a half dollars in federal funding for broadband recently delivered to Pennsylvania. “That’s new funding that’s never been available before,” Meinrath says. “At the same time, there’s very little state matching money or statewide efforts to take up the challenge.”

He believes it goes beyond money, though. A combination of factors — from elected officials obviously unable to be experts on every topic that crosses their desk to a rinse-and-repeat approach to policy challenges in general — potentially hamper successful implementation of any policies. Plus, he thinks those factors sometimes prevent efficient and strategic use of funding streams to best benefit Pennsylvania’s residents.

“I would say that the main problem is you have these digital divides that have been driven by business practices that have discriminated against rural and minority constituents, and to address the problems you’d have to acknowledge them,” Meinrath says. “But that would mean acknowledging the influence of business interests — and it’s not a political reality.”

Meinrath shares strong opinions because he believes it’s his responsibility.

“I am of the opinion that the knowledgeable have a responsibility to share that information,” he says. “A public land-grant institution should be full of people who are sharing their expertise to the benefit of society.”

He works to do that every day — in the classroom and far beyond. He’s sometimes bemused, sometimes frustrated. At the same time, he remains generally optimistic about what can happen in Pennsylvania. Plus, he’s committed to helping make progress.

“I’m still optimistic. We’ve gone from an era when broadband was declared a luxury good to an appreciation that it’s a necessity. We’ve acknowledged the na-

PUBLIC INTEREST VS. ‘PUNCH IN NOSE’

For people to see a light shining on a topic, they first must pay attention. They need to know where to find quality information, and in an economically fraught and politically divided media marketplace it gets more difficult every day to find reliable and trusted news sources.

Plus, there’s the seemingly never-ending challenge of knowing what’s news and what’s not.

For the past 18 months, Matt Jordan, an associate professor of media studies and head of the Department of Film Production and Media Studies, has led the News Literacy Initiative — an effort to slow the growing trend of news avoidance and empower people to cultivate a healthy relationship with the news so they can shape society through choices and voices as informed individuals.

The United States has built one of the world’s largest news avoidance rates, 42%, in part because people believe news is biased, because they’re tired of trying to find accurate information or because the onslaught of information makes them feel bad. So, some people choose to check out and not consume much news at all.

The News Literacy Initiative launched last fall with a podcast series (“News Over Noise,” which aired 10 episodes online and on radio stations across Pennsylvania), webinars for K-12 educators in Pennsylvania, and a group of News Literacy Ambassadors on the University Park campus. As the initiative continues, plans include increased resources online (newsliteracy. psu.edu), workshops, and a partnership providing Ambassadors at Commonwealth Campus locations while encouraging peer-topeer interaction.

Jordan says the initial collaborators — including the Bellisario College, Penn State Harrisburg, Student Affairs and WPSU — have been instrumental

in the initiative’s success. With the success of the first year, he’s hoping for a bigger impact and a more widespread audience moving forward. He sees the issue as straightforward and envisions it having an impact across the commonwealth.

“I think this is fundamental for the land-grant mission of the University. I believe the free press is the cornerstone of democracy,” Jordan says. “If people can’t tell the difference between public-interest journalism and a punch in the nose, that’s not good. It’s not an academic mission. This is for the public — helping people to make informed choices and decisions and make their communities and the commonwealth better.”

As part of spreading the word, the Initiative, with the support of the News Lab, will soon launch a newsletter focused on news literacy. One aspect of those newsletters will curate news stories and show how different media outlets presented them — providing some context on how and why the media does its job and, ideally, helping enhance news literacy.

The News Lab, housed in the Bellisario College and led by Maggie Messitt, is designed to function as a “teaching newsroom” with an emphasis on foundational skills as much at is on innovation and experimentation. At its core, Messitt believes the News Lab can serve students and the state of Pennsylvania simultaneously.

Messitt, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice, came to Penn State after serving as the founding national director of Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms across the country to report on issue-based and geographic coverage gaps.

Part of the News Lab’s work follows a similar model— seeking to partner with news organizations and address critical coverage gaps in central and western Pennsylvania. For example, during the 2022 midterm elections News Lab students covered six counties in western Pennsylvania as part of a reporting team from SpotlightPA and Votebeat. This required weeks of studying

The United States has built one of the world’s largest news avoidance rates 42%

the candidates in those races and issues important in those communities. Without the News Lab, the larger team would not have had the bandwidth to cover those rural counties.

These News Lab students have otherwise focused on in-depth and narrative-driven reportage throughout the year, including investigative work on the environmental impacts of the Mariner East II pipeline, the impacts of tranq — fentanyl laced with xylazine — on rural counties, and the impacts of inflation on families and businesses in Blair County. Messitt has emphasized the importance of door-to-door legwork and visiting communities and people over and over to build trust and get the story right.

The News Lab has also partnered with City Bureau in Chicago to launch a Documenters program, harnessing students and community members to attend and

Podcast features 10 episodes in first season

A podcast series focused on news literacy and hosted by a Bellisario College faculty member and postdoctoral scholar completed its first season with 10 episodes on a range of topics.

“News Over Noise” can be heard online and the series was broadcast on a handful of radio stations across Pennsylvania as well. The series was envisioned as a way to help people cut through the chaos of daily news,

document uncovered public meetings across Centre County. The News Lab is one of four newsrooms in the first rural cohort of Documenters in the nation-wide network that started in 2018.

“We have a lot of growth ahead of us,” Messitt said. “I’m so proud of the students so far. I’m not coddling them. They’re being asked to work hard and we’re holding them accountable.”

Student work has broadcast or been published by more than 20 newsrooms across Pennsylvania in its first year from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Clinton County Record to WPSU. But, the work of the News Lab is not only field reporting. In its first year, the News Lab hosted skills-based trainings for students on topics like public records requests and building the investigative mindset that attracted more than 700 participants.

“The News Lab is a combination of professional and educational while serving the state of Pennsylvania,” Messitt said. “There are a lot of really cool things we could do that don’t serve students and vice versa, but that’s not our mission. We’re here to serve students and the Commonwealth.”

battle a growing trend of news avoidance and discuss some hows and whys regarding the news media industry.

Faculty member Matt Jordan, head of the Department of Film Production and Media Studies and director of the News Literacy Initiative at Penn State, serves as a co-host of the series along with Leah Dajches, a postdoctoral scholar in the Bellisario College. The podcast is produced as a collaboration between the Bellisario College and WPSU.

Penn State launched the News Literacy Initiative in 2022 in an effort to provide students — as well as residents across the commonwealth — with resources and support as they attempt to avoid misinformation and find quality news sources. Initial collaborators included University Libraries, Student Affairs, Penn State Harrisburg, Penn State Outreach, the Bellisario College, the College of Education and WPSU.

PHOTO BY PAPER PHOTOGRAPHS, MEINRATH: MARIESA BENEVETANO (’19)

We Are... Bellisario Proud

As the Bellisario College graduate education program has grown, the results have included increased research productivity and more of our doctoral students earning full-time placements in higher education.

Here are some students from this year’s cohort and where they have been hired to become faculty members:

• Christen Buckley, University of Florida

• Jin Chen, Grand Valley State University

• Matt Cikovic, University of Minnesota

• Nicholas Eng, University of Georgia

• Rachel Peng, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Yuan Sun, University of Florida

• Ryan Tan, University of Nebraska

• Ryan Wang, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Wanying (Lola) Xie, Hong Kong Baptist University

• Bingbing Zhang, University of Iowa

Faculty among ‘most influential authors’

Two Bellisario College faculty members were cited as authors as the “most influential articles” in 2021.

Heather Shoenberger, associate professor of advertising/ public relations, and Shyam Sundar, the James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects, were cited for papers published in the Journal of Advertising.

Authors get cited as “most influential” based on the number of times papers have been viewed and cited by other scholars. In addition, the honor recognizes the impact of articles on social media and other online mentions.

Conference showcases area of strength in media ethics

Free public keynotes by two internationally respected experts highlighted a two-day symposium that focused on media and technology ethics in October 2022 at Penn State.

“Media Challenges to Digital Flourishing” featured keynote addresses by David Gunkel of Northern Illinois University and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza of the University of Genoa. The two-day symposium also included seven separate presentations by scholars — some 40 in all — focused on topics such as big data, emotion regulation, local digital news, and media ethics theory.

“By hosting a symposium of this scope, Penn State is also helping to move digital ethics scholarship forward,” said Patrick Lee Plaisance, the Don Davis Professor in Ethics in the Bellisario College, who coordinated and planned the symposium. The event was an exciting way to bring some of the top thinkers in digital media effects together.

Dean Marie Hardin said the event was a showcase of an area of strength for the Bellisario College.

“It was a highlight of the year,” Hardin said. “The Bellisario College is home to some of the foremost experts on the planet in ethical leadership.”

The balance of our graduate program and the collegiality of our faculty are key factors that make the Bellisario College an especially strong home for graduate education and for productive and internationally respected researchers in a variety of disciplines.

— Anthony Olorunnisola, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research

Practical and Professional

Professors’ interests prompt real-life opportunities for students

For Bellisario College advertising/public relations students in capstone, 400-level courses the best in-class experiences often happen outside of the classroom — thanks to assignments and partnerships that put a premium on real-life experiences.

Those challenges abound in COMM 473. In her section of the campaigns course, Holly Overton, an associate professor, partners with Target Corp., challenging students to create a campaign.

Renea Nichols, an associate teaching professor, divides her class into several small groups each working with a different client.

During the spring semester, those clients included Bellefonte Cemetery Association, Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, and Way Fruit Farm, among others.

Every faculty member has a slightly different approach with the same goal in mind — preparing students for professional success, and the reality that not every student’s career path will take them to the same place. So, across course sections faculty members strive to provide realistic variety.

“It’s something that’s important to me, but really it’s important because it helps better prepare the students,” Nichols said.

“Many of them think they’re going to go out and have an audience that’s mostly a group of 18- to 24-year-old college-educated people.

“What students aren’t experiencing are ‘real’ audiences — audiences that are seniors, children, a variety of different ages. It’s often audiences they might be unfamiliar with, so they’re going to have to do some work.”

For Nichols, who previously earned the University’s Barash Award for Human Service and volunteers regularly with the cemetery association, the spring clients were familiar. They were not familiar for the students, though, and the challenge was valuable.

Likewise for Overton, who has partnered with Target Corp. for years, the partnership provides a meaningful challenge.

“By definition we’re essentially taking all their skills they’ve amassed here at Penn State and having them showcase it,” Overton said. “So what better experience than to partner with a

client and develop it into a professional-grade campaign, much like they would in a real world? That experience provides much more than we could with a textbook, or even something they just created to show me. By working with a client they get to experience the highs and lows, and everything that goes along with that.”

Her long list of “wins” for the approach includes the development of business acumen and soft skills, ranging from collaboration and handling feedback to developing interpersonal communications.

She’s been a Penn State faculty member for two years but has taught the course at three different institutions across multiple disciplines with a variety of partners. Target Corp. has been her exclusive partner at the University though, thanks to the company’s engaged campus outreach efforts. Some corporations and nonprofits are not always as cooperative or supportive, she said.

“It’s such a priority for Target that the students get a wonderful experience,” she said.

Her time working with Target has engaged students in many different aspects of the company’s commu nications efforts, so no two semesters are the same. Plus, different cohorts of students invariably lead to different results.

As a complement to grades and even serving the individual clients, both Nichols and Overton encourage students to get involved in their communities. Such engagement offers an opportunity to hone skills and network, both valuable in terms of professional development. They believe being a professional means more than professional development, though.

Nichols said she’s aiming for a bit of personal development as well. “Most important, when you do good things, good things come back to you,” Nichols said.

“The idea of embracing social responsibility and giving back to the community is important,” Overton said. “I think it teaches them what it feels like and the rewards of being a good steward in a community.”

Boaz Dvir

Boaz Dvir is an award-winning filmmaker and faculty member in the Bellisario College. A few years ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Education asked if it could add two of Dvir’s postHolocaust documentaries to its statewide offerings for educators. He “immediately agreed.” That first interaction led to a partnership that would create a program to help K-12 educators teach difficult topics effectively.

It became clear to Dvir that teachers lacked the support and training to teach a wide variety of challenging topics. The Holocaust was just one example of many. He also learned it was a problem that affected classrooms nationwide.

Today, Dvir directs the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State. It is an interdisciplinary program — part of the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative, which Dvir also directs — that aims to solve this issue through evidenced-based training and listening.

Q: Can you talk about how this program was built and what it means for teaching difficult topics in the classroom?

A: Like most of their colleagues around the country, Pennsylvania K-12 educators must address a range of difficult topics — slavery, the Civil War, evolution, I can go on. They often know what to teach, but not how to teach these often-controversial subjects. To foster the effective instruction of difficult topics, we created an initiative that, instead of providing educators with curriculum or content, offers the pedagogical support and teaching tools they need.

We encourage educators to shift from being a sage on the stage who delivers answers to being a facilitator who sets the stage for students’ learning and helps students come up with their own compelling questions.

This means giving students agency. Imagine a 12-year-old saying, “Instead of lecturing and asking me to memorize information for a test, my teacher lets me figure out what I want to explore. She’s helping me come up with a compelling question that matters to me. She’s giving me the tools to investigate this for myself and navigate fake news to find credible sources. I’m putting all of that together and drawing my own conclusions.” That kind of a learning experience can help transform a child. If we do this right, we have a real shot at creating a new generation that handles polarizing topics in a much more respectful, open-minded and productive way.

Q: That style of teaching is called inquiry, which is a major part of this program. Can you discuss what inquiry is all about and how it helps address the challenges of teaching difficult topics?

A: I’ll give a couple of examples. So, if you lecture students and hope they retain information, the most you’re going to get is awareness, right? Now, awareness is fine. I’m the grandchild of Holocaust survivors. Do I personally want to raise awareness about the Nazis’ murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims? Of course. Do I want my family members who perished to be forgotten? No. I’m also a journalist. So, I’m a big believer in the spreading of knowledge and facts.

But through the effective instruction of difficult topics, educators can aim higher. They can instill insight in their students about the human condition and enable them to develop critical thinking, active listening and empathy.

So, let’s say you are a teacher, and you’re teaching social studies or geography in high school, and the lesson is Ukraine because it’s in the news. Well, if you did it the old way, students might remember some of it or they might not. But if you empower your students to figure out the truth for themselves, to explore this topic on their own, to focus more on questions than answers, then they might take action. For instance, a Ukraine lesson could lead a student to create an anti-bullying club in

their school. Now that’s an example I came up with, which means it’s not that creative. Students come up with much better projects than I do.

Q: The pilot program saw incredible retention. Out of the 20 teachers who voluntarily signed up for the yearlong program, all 20 completed it. How do you explain that?

A: I think there are three reasons for it.

Number 1, there’s a tremendous need among educators for high-quality training and pedagogical support. These teachers have difficult topics that they need to teach. They often know what to teach but may struggle with how to teach. In some cases, they’re unaware that there is a support mechanism, and they’re delighted to hear about it.

Number 2, teachers in Pennsylvania and across the country must go through professional development (PD) to keep their jobs and progress in their careers. It’s a big part of their professional lives. I have spoken with hundreds of teachers about PD. Not a single one has ever told me it was great. PD tends to range from mediocre to a waste of time. Now, the teachers may look at our intensive, sustained, professional learning and say, “Oh, that’s a lot of work.” But no one denies that the program is research-based, built on best practices, and is of the highest quality.

Number 3 may sound less important than the first two, but I believe it’s equally important. We are there for the teachers. We’re on their team. We respect them. We love them. We want to see them succeed. In this day and age, when teachers are underappreciated and overburdened, they need this kind of support. At the same time, we always tell them the truth. We do not sugarcoat it. If you go through a yearlong or semester-long program with us, it is challenging. No question about it. But it’s also rewarding.

Q: Can you expand? What makes it challenging?

A: It’s intense work for the participating educators. It’s a lot. You’re doing a lot of work. It’s active, not passive, professional learning. It’s action planning. You’re holding yourself accountable. We are there to support you, and part of that is for us to provide accountability. And we work with the participants on holding themselves accountable. So, it’s a mindset shift. It’s a lot of work mentally and physically … and it begins in the summer. The first half of the program is an uphill climb, but it becomes a downhill run in the second half. Participating educators say, “I know how to do it now. This is exciting.”

Q: What do you hope to see from the students [whose teachers completed this program] after they graduate, get jobs, start families, go to college?

A: We hope that during their K-12 years, the students of our program participants gain useful life skills and the ability to contextualize the insight they obtain to their here and now. We hope they sharpen their perspectives and strengthen their identities while growing to embrace other perspectives and respect other identities. We hope they engage in civil, productive civic discourse. We hope they understand they can often put what they’re learning in difficult-topic instruction to immediate use, improving their lives, and contributing to a thriving community. We hope they become agents of positive change.

We believe that what will happen beyond K-12 will depend on our program’s scalability. As adults, if the students of our participants find themselves in a world where most children had had a teacher who’d gone through this program, they’d be part of a better society. A society where people with varied perspectives join forces to solve problems. They’d welcome and seek out a wide variety of backgrounds and points of view. They’d advance societal and even personal solutions more efficiently and with greater, wider impact. They’d not just judge and dismiss, but really listen to other people. They’d transform society.

WATCH Boaz Dvir share stories about teachers who were transformed after participating in the program.

Sanchez earns 2023 Dr. James Robinson Equal Opportunity Award

John Sanchez, an associate professor in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, received the 2023 Dr. James Robinson Equal Opportunity Award.

The award, sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association, was established in 1988 and renamed in 1998 to honor the late James Robinson, a distinguished alumnus and former member of the Alumni Council. It recognizes a full-time faculty or staff member with at least two years of active service who has promoted equal opportunity through affirmative action and/or contributes to enhancing the educational environment of the University through improving cross-cultural understanding.

Nominators said Sanchez is a truly transformative teacher and leader at Penn State through his outreach and education efforts.

“For many years, Sanchez has demonstrated leadership in the elimination of discrimination through encouragement of understanding between persons of different races, sexes, ages, ethnicity or religious heritage; and he has demonstrated commitment to meeting the special needs of students, faculty or staff who are members of truly underrepresented groups,” a nominator said.

Sanchez, who began teaching at Penn State in 1997, brings an understanding

and appreciation of cultural and ethnic differences to his classroom, nominators said. He educates the next generation of journalists and public communicators about critical elements of inclusion, respect and diversity.

Students said Sanchez is an educator who encourages them to think deeply and with empathy for others. They leave not just educated, but better informed.

“As a Black female pastor in the Lutheran Church, I engage daily with the challenges of racism, and how to communicate with the people in my congregation who are made up of different races, sexes, ages, groups and religious heritages,” a former student said. “I continuously go back to the lessons that he taught me.”

Sanchez, a member of the Apache Nation, also is widely known for his outreach event known as the Penn State Powwow, which he has run and opened up to the general public for almost 20 years. Sanchez raises funds and organizes the two-day event that brings in about 150 American Indian dancers from across the nation to educate thousands of visitors about American Indian culture, crafts, dance, food and traditions.

“Volunteers and visitors to the powwow say they are transformed by the experience,” a nominator said. “It gives them a chance to interact with a group that has been marginalized and to learn about its people, its values and its culture. The experience has challenged their own stereotypes.”

Sergeant earns Advising Award

Mary Sergeant, lead academic adviser in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, received the 2023 Penn State Excellence in Advising Award. The award, established by the former Undergraduate Student Government’s Academic Assembly and sponsored by each college, annually honors one full-time professional adviser from any Penn State location who has at least two years of advising experience. Selection criteria are based on excellence in general advising, academic and career guidance, enthusiasm and assistance in decision-making, and goal setting.

Sergeant has been an academic adviser for 21 of her 26 years at Penn State and was nominated by several of her students.

“Her supportive words and true empathy she shows is unmatched,” a student said. “The way I felt when I walked out of her office for the first time was unlike my experiences with any other faculty.”

Nominators were impressed with Sergeant’s dedication to her students and formulating her advising philosophy on the “belief that every student comes to college with a unique set of skills, talents and desires; and the role of an academic adviser is to help guide students to find their strengths to achieve their shortand long-term goals, both academic and otherwise.”

Nominators said Sergeant has a keen understanding of the momentous impact an adviser can have on their students, and is on a constant quest to create a safe place for students to thrive. She forms lasting relationships with her students that make them feel comfortable and able to ask for help when they need it.

Sergeant views herself as an advocate for her students. She knows how stressful college can be, and she wants to see her students succeed. Witnessing their successes, she said, is one of the great perks of the job.

John Sanchez serves as the driving force behind the annual Penn State Powwow.

Gary Abdullah, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, earned the 2023 McKay Donkin Award.

Established in 1969 in honor of the late McKay Donkin, who served as vice president and treasurer of the University from 1957 to 1968, the award is presented to a full-time member of the Penn State faculty or staff or to a retiree who has contributed most to the “economic, physical, mental or social welfare of the faculty” of the University. The contribution should be for duties or services above and beyond the recipient’s regularly assigned duties.

Nominators called Abdullah the heart and soul of the Bellisario College. They said he makes it a welcoming place and is a constant advocate for students, faculty and staff.

Abdullah advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), nominators said, but he knows he can’t do it alone. That’s

Abdullah honored with 2023 McKay Donkin Award

why he works tirelessly to increase buyin for his objectives. Nominators said his door is always open, and he’s always reaching out with conversations and collaborations to advance the college’s DEI strategic plan.

His efforts are paying off: The Bellisario College increased recruitment and retention of historically underrepresented students since Abdullah took the helm in 2018.

“Abdullah’s intellect and passion for his work, his professional experience, his accommodating personality and his compassion for our students is always on display,” a nominator said. “Students are always talking about his ways of making them feel welcoming. As once an underrepresented student at Penn State himself, he relies on his own experiences as a source of empathy.”

Abdullah also maintains contacts with underrepresented alumni, enhancing the quality of engagement.

“Abdullah is an efficient DEI executive who knows how to bring his network

of faculty, staff, alumni and colleagues across the global reaches of this University to the service of our students,” a nominator said. “His conscientious and strategic approach to work demonstrates how he goes beyond his job description to show a deeper level of understanding and to garner a level of cross-sectional support for this vital work that can sustain accomplishments and strategic goals in the near and distant future.”

One nominator said Abdullah stepped in to help a transfer student who was struggling to find her place at University Park and was in danger of withdrawing due to financial woes.

“I saw immense talent and curiosity in this student, and I was concerned these distractions weren’t allowing her to do her best,” the nominator said. “Abdullah not only listened to my concerns but gave me effective language and strategies to help her navigate her challenges. He also reached out to this student. This student is still enrolled and making tremendous progress.”

Abdullah’s intellect and passion for his work, his professional experience, his accommodating personality and his compassion for our students is always on display.

Deans’ Excellence Awards honor faculty, staff in Bellisario College

Gil de Zúñiga selected as Distinguished Professor

Penn State’s Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs named a Bellisario College faculty member among seven distinguished professors for 2023.

The distinguished title recognizes outstanding academic contribution to the University. This special academic title is bestowed upon a limited number of professors who are leaders in their fields of research or creative activity and who have demonstrated significant leadership with respect to teaching, research or creative activity, and service.

Homero Gil de Zúñiga, professor of film-video and media studies, was honored from the Bellisario College.

Seven faculty members, two staff members and two graduate students earned individual honors for their accomplishments and excellence during the past year at an awards ceremony in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

The annual Deans’ Excellence Awards recognize success for faculty and staff while the Djung Yune Tchoi Graduate Teaching Award recognizes graduate students.

In addition, the Centre Film Festival earned the inaugural Inclusive Excellence Award created by the Bellisario College to recognize individuals and programs that have evidenced extraordinary commitment to enhancing an environment of mutual respect for differing backgrounds and points of view.

Individual award winners were:

Djung Yune Tchoi Graduate

Teaching Award: Christen Buckley and Olivia Reed.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Staff: Nikki DiOrio, academic adviser, and Paris Palmer, coordinator of strategic communication.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Affiliate Faculty: Carmina Perez, adjunct lecturer of advertising/public relations.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Teaching: Kevin Hagopian, teaching professor of media studies.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Service: Matt Jackson, associate teaching professor of telecommunications and media industries.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Research & Creative Accomplishments: Sara Liao, assistant professor of media studies.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Integrated Scholarship: Holly Overton, associate professor of advertising/public relations.

Deans’ Excellence Award, Integrated Scholarship: Patrick Plaisance, the Don W. Davis Professor of Ethics.

Three members of the Bellisario College community were honored for their 25 years of service at Penn State. That trio includes two faculty members — Rod Bingaman, associate teaching professor of film production, and John Sanchez, associate professor of journalism — and one staff member, Steve Reighard, a production and technical coordinator who also serves as a part-time lecturer.

Gil de Zúñiga has conducted research around the world on the effects of online media on politics and culture. In addition to his outstanding scholarship, Gil de Zúñiga has contributed to the Bellisario College in many service roles. This year he was again honored as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivite.

Gil de Zuñiga joined the Penn State faculty in 2020. Along with his duties as a professor at Penn State, he is a distinguished research professor in political science at University of Salamanca, where he directs the Democracy Research Unit, and a senior research fellow at Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. Prior to these appointments he was the Medienwandel Professor at University of Vienna, an associate professor at the University of Texas and a research fellow at several institutions.

Bellisario faculty member earns

ICA award

Sara Liao selected for 2023

Helen Award for Emerging Feminist Scholarship

A Penn State faculty member earned an award from the International Communication Association (ICA) that honors her research and scholarship.

Sara Liao, an assistant professor in the Department of Film Production and Media Studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, was named as winner of the 2023 Helen Award for Emerging Feminist Scholarship. Liao’s research and writing focus on the feminist movement in China and activism against sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny.

She was honored at the ICA Conference in May.

Liao’s research examines how media technologies, the state, consumerism and gender dynamics overlap in the production of culture and the various forms of identities in a transnational setting, with a focus on broader Chinese societies. Her 2020 book, “Fashioning China: Precarious Creativity of Women Designers in Shanzhai Culture,” focuses on the creativity and precarity of a group of women fashion designers, whose experience encapsulates the shifting cultural terrain in China.

Liao also has various publications in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals. She earned her doctorate in media studies from the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas. She worked at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) as an assistant professor before joining the Bellisario College.

What’s that sound? Faculty member’s book focuses on legendary horn

A new book by Bellisario College faculty member Matt Jordan chronicles the rise and fall of the Klaxon automobile horn, one of the first great electrical consumer technologies of the 20th century.

Jordan’s book, “Danger Sound Klaxon! The Horn That Changed History,” shares how the metallic shriek of the horn first shocked pedestrians, improving safety, and how savvy advertising strategies convinced consumers across the United States and western Europe to adopt the horn as the safest signaling technology available in the 1910s.

While the shrill-sounding horn improved early automobile safety and provided a positive impact for a communications technology, the book chronicles how the technology went awry because of world events.

The widespread use of Klaxons in the trenches of World War I transformed how the public heard the car horn, according to Jordan, and its traumatic association with gas attacks ultimately doomed this once ubiquitous consumer

By charting the meteoric rise and eventual fall of the Klax on, “Danger Sound Klaxon!” highlights how perceptions of sound-producing technologies are guided by, manip ulated and transformed through advertising strategies, public debate, consumer reactions and governmental regulations. Jordan’s book demonstrates how consum ers are led toward technological solutions for problems themselves created by technology.

Jordan is a critical media scholar who works on the role of media in everyday culture and its impact on society. He teaches courses in film studies and media studies. His writing engages with how different popular media forms and technologies change the way that people see themselves and the world. Along with various academic publications on sound, technology and the impact of media on democracy, he writes essays for the popular press on his research topics as they relate to news of the day.

The fifth feature film by faculty filmmakers Rod Bingaman and Maura Shea, the husband-and-wife team know as Ma & Pa Pictures, made it’s debut in February. “Spooky Action,” a time-traveling sci-fi that runs 104 minutes, is a “story about love, destiny and quantim entanglement.”

Award-winning researcher named Bellisario Professor of Health Communication

An award-winning researcher whose work aims to provide insights on how popular forms of media can shape health attitudes, behaviors and policy support has been named the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Health Communication.

Jessica Gall Myrick, a professor of media studies in the Bellisario College, investigates the ways in which audience emotions can draw people to or push them away from health-related messages. Then, her research tests how these emotions, as well as a mix of emotions and cognitions, shape audience health-related outcomes of media use such as attitudes and behaviors. Since graduating with her doctoral degree in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013, Myrick has published more than 80 journal articles and a solo-authored book in these research areas.

While traditional research on the role of

emotions in health communication focused largely on fear appeals, Myrick’s work has added to the field by expanding the range of emotions that researchers test to better understand audience responses to health messages. This work has looked at emotions ranging from hope and curiosity to schadenfreude and inspiration. In particular, Myrick’s work seeks to reveal how popular forms of media, often overlooked by researchers in the past, can affect different types of audiences’ feelings, thoughts and behaviors regarding health issues.

Myrick’s work has shown that audience responses to health messages are important not just for individual behavior change, but also for changing social norms, public stigma, and even policy support for topics ranging from cancer and nutrition to mental health and child abuse.

Others have recognized the importance of Myrick’s work, too. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At Penn State, she has been a Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar with the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, a Faculty

Fellow with the Social Science Research Institute, and a member of the health messaging team of the interdisciplinary Data4Action initiative. In 2022, Myrick was named the Lewis Donohew Outstanding Health Communication Scholar by the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, an award that goes to the scholar deemed to have had the most impact on the field in the previous two years.

“Dr. Myrick’s work is important as we consider the ways public-health campaigns can reach and impact individual behavior,” said Dean Marie Hardin. “The recent COVID pandemic made it clear that Dr. Myrick’s work is essential if we are to tackle large-scale public-health issues that require attitude and behavior change.”

Myrick regularly gives public talks, speaks with journalists, and writes for public-facing outlets about social science and media effects. Her 2022 publication with Robin Nabi and Nicholas Eng on the effects of COVID-19-related memes on stress received more media attention than any of the other 20,000 articles published in the field of communication that year.

Walter Middlebrook, the Foster Professor of Practice, was selected as a 2023 inductee into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. He was honored as an editor, recruiter and professor in the latest six-member class. Middlebrook joined the Department of Journalism at Penn State during the 2020-21 academic year. He previously served as a professional-in-residence in 2018. His journalism career culminated as the supervisor of an award-winning investigations team, while producing weekly entertainment and opinion stand-alone sections, at The Detroit News. Before that, he managed the paper’s award-winning department that included the metro desk, state house, and Washington, D.C., bureaus. He worked for The Detroit News as assistant managing editor for 11 years.

Juliet Pinto, an associate professor of journalism, was one of three faculty and staff members at Penn State to be selected as an administrative fellow for the 2023-24 academic year. The Administrative Fellows Program offers Penn State faculty and staff the opportunity to work with senior University officers to gain knowledge and experiences pertaining to leadership in the academic community. Pinto’s mentor will be Kelly Austin, vice president for Commonwealth Campuses and executive chancellor.

Yu-Tai Chung, director of IT for the Bellisario College, received the 2023 Staff Leadership Award from the University Staff Advisory Council. This award recognizes a staff person who embodies the University values of integrity, respect, responsibility, discovery, excellence, and community. The recipient of this award demonstrates excellence in leadership and serves as a positive role model for others.

ICE CREAM FLAVOR EFFORT A SUCCESS

ICE CREAM FLAVOR EFFORT A SUCCESS

A Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream flavor was renamed during the months of May and June to celebrate graduates and recognize the successes of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

The temporarily renamed “Bellisario College Chocolate Pretzel Crunch” was available for commencement in early May, when nearly 800 students earned their undergraduate and graduate degrees, and for the Alumni Association’s honorary alumni activities in June, when Vivienne Bellisario was recognized as an honorary alumnus of the University.

The flavor was available for scooping in the Berkey Creamery’s retail store for two months — the longest temporary renaming effort the Creamery has conducted. Half-gallons featuring a label with Bellisario College branding were available for purchase in the store or online.

Additional Bellisario College activities and celebrations during the two-month period when the ice cream was renamed included “Maymester in Manhattan,” when a small group of students spent a week in New York City networking with prominent alumni, and the presentation of the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, conducted by the Bellisario College at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Bellisario College Chocolate Pretzel Crunch was also available at on-campus activities for prospective students and for celebrations such as Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and Father’s Day as well.

For the Bellisario College, the endeavor was a fun, and tasty, bit of awareness and marketing.

The Bellisario College was established in April 2017 when the Penn State Board of Trustees expressed its appreciation for a transformative $30 million gift from Donald P. Bellisario, a 1961 Penn State graduate, and his wife, Vivienne. The couple previously endowed the Donald P. Bellisario Trustee Scholarship with a $1 million commitment in 2006.

Penn State’s history of communications education started with the University’s first journalism course in 1911. The first radio course was added in 1941, followed by the first public relations course in 1952. An initial motion-picture course was added in 1957 and a television course in 1958.

The Berkey Creamery has worked with many partners on temporary renaming efforts the past couple of years. This was the first such effort to last two months.

“It’s always exciting to do something new,” said Jim Brown, assistant manager of the creamery. “We’re pleased with the partnership and happy to make Bellisario College Chocolate Pretzel Crunch available.”

Bellisario College Chocolate Pretzel Crunch was served at several events, including the Bart Richards Award presentation.

Centre Film Festival continues its impact and success

Centr e Film

Dean Marie Hardin calls the annual Centre Film Festival “one of the highlights of the year in the Bellisario College” and the fourth year of the festival provided many highlights.

Festival

Some of the most important and most talked-about films of the year were screened during the festival, which featured movies in every genre — documentaries, fictional shorts, features, experimental narratives and more — screening at the State Theatre in State College and the historic Rowland Theatre in Philipsburg.

Highlights of the seven-day festival included Denmark-based Iranian director Ali Abassi’s crime thriller “Holy Spider,” a contender for Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards, and the drama “Klondike,” Ukraine’s submission for an Oscar and winner of the Cinema Dramatic Competition for directing at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

In addition, the festival included numerous films with Centre County connections. For example, “Of Medicine and Miracles” chronicled the story of Philipsburg’s Emily Whitehead, the first child in the world to have her immune cells activated to fight cancer. The treatment approach, known as CAR T-cell therapy, has helped many others and she has lived more than a decade cancer-free. Plus, films like “The Molok” and “Watching the Wilds” were shot in Centre Hall and Philipsburg, respectively.

For festival co-founder and Penn State faculty member Pearl Gluck, the quality and variety of films made the weeklong event special. Since its inception in 2019, the Centre Film Festival has sought to showcase global films with local relevance and local films with global relevance.

“We want films with global themes that are also local, that will spark conversations among central Pennsylvania’s intergenerational, multidimensional audiences,” said Gluck, the Donald P. Bellisario Career Advancement Professor in the Department of Film Production. “This year’s films spoke to us about what’s going on in the world.

“The films address important issues like women’s rights, climate change, migration, incarceration, race, gender and sexual orientation. Seeing the impact of those issues through a filmmaker’s lens makes them more immediate.”

Screenings, giveaways, support events and nightly celebrations were all part of the festival. Along with the in-person screenings,

all of which included post-screening question-and-answer sessions, the hybrid festival also supported online screenings.

In addition, the closing night celebration at the State Theatre included the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Penn State alumnus Stan Lathan, a visionary director and producer whose career spans five-plus decades.

Lathan, who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University in 1967, has created and directed groundbreaking public affairs programming as well as top-ranked network sitcoms. He created “Def Comedy Jam” for HBO, which remains one of the most influential artistic projects ever on TV, and perhaps culture in general.

The festival annually includes local and visiting artists offering master classes to high school students in the area. Plus, college and high school students served as members of the diverse jury selected to determine festival awards.

Several films in the festival were made by Penn State alumni and students. Plus, many Penn State students have helped support the festival with creative, organizational and marketing efforts.

The festival is supported by local partners and sponsors who are committed to showcasing Centre County’s growing appeal as a hub for the arts and to building the local economy through the arts.

“Clearly, we have a lot to offer here in Centre County. These great filmmakers want their work to be shown here. With so much talent coming to campus and our community, we can glean from them, and they can glean from us,” Gluck said.

Mary Barra, Lester Holt, Jon Iwata

headline annual Page Center Awards

Honorees received a Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication, named after the distinguished Penn State and Bellisario College alumnus

The 2023 Larry Foster Award honorees may represent leadership roles in different areas of public communication, but their appearance at the annual Page Center Awards displayed their shared value of integrity in all that they do.

This year’s honorees were Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors; Lester Holt, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and anchor of “Dateline NBC;” and Jon Iwata, former senior vice president and chief brand officer at IBM. Each honoree received a Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication and 450 people registered for the virtual event in February.

The three honorees join 19 past recipients in a group of remarkable leaders representing business, journalism, public relations, and other areas. Hosts Bill Nielsen, Page Center advisory board chair, and Marie Hardin, dean of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, opened the night with an overview of the Page Center and the purpose of the awards.

“Not only are Mary, Lester and Jon shining examples of integrity, they are steady voices who lead by example and impact the world with well-deserved authority,” said Nielsen.

First to be honored was Iwata. Page Center board member Aedhmar Hynes, who is board director of IP Group Plc and Jackson Family Wines, led the conversation. The two discussed the role of integrity in communication amidst quickly evolving AI technology.

“I believe integrity in every form of public communication, media, business, and education and public discourse is needed now more than ever,” said Iwata, who is also the founding executive director of the Data & Trust Alliance. “It has never been more at risk.”

Barra participated in a fascinating conversation with Page Center board member Roger Bolton, president of Page. They discussed topics like advice for young professionals, the importance of safety vehicles and the need to always be truthful.

“I tell the entire team your integrity is everything,” Barra said. “It takes years to build it, and it can crumble in a moment, and once it has gone it is almost impossible to get it back.”

The evening’s final honoree was Holt. Nielsen led the conversation with the NBC News anchor who shared his thoughts on the need to uplift marginalized voices and recognize the importance of honest, truthful communication.

Holt said that “NBC Nightly News” has been successful because its leaders and journalists acknowledge the “importance of listening to people.”

“Nightly News has been a program where for over 70 years we have kept the tradition of integrity and honesty,” Holt said.

This was the seventh installment of the annual event. Past honorees include Dr. Anthony Fauci, Christiane Amanpour, Ginger Hardage, Ken Chenault and 18 others. Learn more about past events and honorees on the awards page.

Housed in Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, the Arthur W. Page Center is a research center that advances integrity in all forms of public communication. It was founded by public relations legend Larry Foster, a Penn State alumnus and the namesake of the Page Center’s integrity award.

The purpose of the Page Center Awards is to celebrate icons of ethics, integrity and truth in public communication. The event supports innovative research by Page Center scholars who represent universities all over the world. The Center’s research projects aim to build the scholarly and public understanding of ethics in communication. To date, the Page Center has funded more than 300 scholars and awarded more than $1 million in research funding.

Areas of focus include corporate social responsibility, digital ethics, sustainability communication, advocacy, fake news and more. Other Center initiatives focus on educational opportunities like regular speaker series, oral history archiving and online educational modules.

Page Center launches directory to track research success

The Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication has launched an online research directory to chronicle the innovative work conducted by its scholars and record the significant outcomes of their work. The database highlights the wide range of expertise among Center scholars and showcases the breadth of research the Center has funded over nearly two decades.

The Page Center is a research center in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications focused on promoting ethics and integrity in public communication. Since 2004, the Center has supported more than 300 scholars from colleges, universities and organizations around the world with more than $1 million in research funding. The new Scholar Research Directory will be a comprehensive database of the hundreds of articles, publications, presentations and research awards these projects produced.

“This initiative was important to us because funding the projects is one thing but understanding and learning from the results is ultimately what’s important,” said Denise Bortree, Page Center director and associate dean for academic affairs at the Bellisario College. “This database is a step forward in organizing those results so they can guide future work by our scholars.”

Users can browse by research topic or search by author or keyword. Studies are ordered by research call. Each project will feature information about the study and, when applicable, include links to the scholars’ published work.

More than 100 funded projects are currently in the database, and Center organizers know there are many more. Page Center research is awarded, presented, published and recognized often. Scholars can help keep the database updated by submitting their work to the Center.

“The format makes it easy for scholars to view their work,” said Holly Overton, Page Center research director and associate professor of advertising and public relations. “We can even bookmark our names to see what publications are featured and what needs to be added. It’s a wonderful way to organize and showcase the great research our scholars produce.”

Each outcome represents an important piece of the Page Center’s mission, which is to advance ethics and integrity in all forms of public communication.

Funding ethics research is a primary objective of the Page Center and, through the work of its scholars, the results collected in this directory are evidence of the Center’s success.

Funding the projects is one thing, but understanding and learning from the results is ultimately what’s important.

– Denise Bortree, Page Center director

A Family Affair

Vivienne “Viv” Bellisario received an Honorary Alumni Award from the Penn State Alumni Association in early June for recognition as a longtime benefactor and champion for the University.

The Alumni Association has given the Honorary Alumni Award since 1973 to recognize individuals who, while not graduates of Penn State, have significantly worked toward bettering the University.

Viv and her husband Don have supported the Bellisario College with transformational gifts that have supported students, faculty development, facilities and more. In the past quarter century, Viv, who greatly values family, has developed strong connections with Penn State.

Dean Marie Hardin of the Bellisario College recently talked with Viv about the award, her relationship with the University, her family and much more.

Marie Hardin: First, congratulations on your designation as Penn State’s newest honorary alumna. You have become a beloved part of our community.

Vivienne Bellisario: We are so proud.

Marie: Don has been honored by the University as a distinguished alumnus. You’ve been with him on his campus visits for many years, and you have been a great booster and supporter of our faculty, staff and students. Tell us how you and Don met. What connected you?

Viv: We had two boys in high school that were best friends, and they set us up. Don was supposed to come and pick up Michael, his son, who was pretty much living at my house at that time. Don honked the horn and said, ‘Come on, I’m in a hurry.’ Michael gave him the gesture to come in. He waved for Don to come in, and he turned around and walked back into the house. So, you know, he had to come in. He came in, and he left about four hours later. It’s pretty cool when the kids set you up.

These kids are now in their mid-40s. We’re actually a great family, a blended family. And we all love each other, and we’re all together quite often. It’s an important part of Don’s and my life.

Marie: Tell us about your family, and the role of family.

Viv: I’m the youngest of five. We are still very, very close. It’s all about family, and that’s the thing I love about Don, who has a big family. We have a terrific relationship with every one of them, and all of them together. I was at a func-

PHOTO BY STEVE TRESSLER

tion the other night when Troian was up speaking in front of a crowd. And during one part, she said, ‘… and my brother, Chad, …. My brother did this.’ Chad [Murray] is my son. I love the fact that she calls him her brother.

Marie: Tell us about the interests and the joys that you and Don share.

Viv: Well, what comes to my mind is golf. He taught me how to play golf. Now I beat him. We go as much as possible. And we love movies and television. My son [Sean Murray] was and still is an actor. Of course, when I met Don, I had no clue who he was. When I met him, actually, Michael said to me, ‘You should meet my dad. He’s a producer.’ And I went, ‘Oh, my God, Michael! Every other man in town is a producer.’

Marie: That’s a fun story! Another common interest is, of course, Penn State. You’ve been visiting for many years — do you remember your first impressions?

Viv: It was much bigger than I had imagined. Coming from a different country [Australia], it was all totally different for me. I was kind of overwhelmed.

Marie: I understand. Penn State is like a little city.

Viv: It is, for sure.

Marie: So, had you ever been to a college football game before visiting Penn State?

Viv: I had no idea about the rules of football at all. As a matter of fact, my favorite story to tell is that we were down on the field with these huge guys, just, you know — massive

guys. And Joe Paterno was there. I jokingly said to Joe, ‘So, Joe, I don’t see the yellow lines,’ because all I’d seen was on television.

Marie: You’ve obviously made friends in the Penn State community over the years, including Joe and Sue Paterno, Graham Spanier and others. Can you talk a little bit about the friendships that you’ve made?

Viv: There are so many people that I’ve met. I’ve really enjoyed being with faculty. So wonderful. Always ready to help and do whatever they can for you. And [former Dean] Doug Anderson, a very special man. And Kevin Musick, who worked with the Bellisario College. And the lovely Marie Hardin. We’ve become, I think, more than just acquaintances and friends. It’s like family.

Marie: Agreed! The Penn State family. You’ve brought friends and family with you on your visits. I love it because I’ve met so many fascinating people! What do you want them to know about Penn State?

Viv: They see the love that’s put into everything — every aspect of teaching these kids. My brother was absolutely blown away when he was visiting.

Marie: I’m sure that until they see it themselves, it’s hard to even describe to them.

Viv: Yes. Like you said, it’s like a little city. I came from a town [near Wollagong, Australia]. When I grew up, there were only 800 people where I lived. It was a big deal when we got a stop sign put in.

PHOTOS BY STEVE MANUEL (’84, ’92 MA)

Marie: Talk about your childhood, and what was formative for you growing up there.

Viv: I just had a wonderful childhood.

Marie: How would you describe yourself as a student growing up?

Viv: You don’t want to hear this. I was very lazy and didn’t pay attention until one day my English teacher threw a book at me. Really, he did, and I kind of smartened up a bit. I was good in school, but I was lazy. I just wanted to be outside.

Marie: You were an athlete!

Viv: Absolutely. I did fencing. I was a national fencing champion. I did track and swimming. I was always competitive, and in all sports, including javelin and shot put. I was tall and I was strong. I should have gone to the Olympics. I was chosen for fencing. But I discovered boys, and I got lazy and didn’t. That was my bad.

Marie: You mentioned golf earlier. You’re very good at it! You play when you visit Penn State each year.

Viv: The thing with golf is that you can never get to the end. You play brilliantly one day, and you go out the next, and somebody else is in your body who has never played golf before. So, it’s a constant challenge, a different challenge every day.

Marie: Was there a moment on a visit when you thought, ‘I’m a Penn Stater’?

Viv: Yes. It was when President Barron took us down onto the field [at the halftime of a 2017 home game with Michigan] with you and announced to the stadium the commitment we made, and the stadium went wild.

Marie: Wasn’t that amazing?

Viv: Yes, amazing.

Marie: That was a gift that you and Don both gave me, letting me accompany you onto the field. I will never forget that sea of white in front of us. So, thank you for that.

Viv: You’re welcome. That was special.

Marie: Viv, you’ve seen many football games. You’ve visited classes. You’ve spent time with students in the Bellisario Media Center. What’s been most impressive to you? What do you cherish the most?

Viv: What first comes to mind is the students and the faculty, the love of the school and how excited they are to be there. And scholarships that are given out every year: Amazing! The letters the students write us every year brings tears to your eyes. They’re in situations that are very difficult for them to attend Penn State, and when they get there, oh, my gosh, it’s their life. It’s just been amazing.

Marie: For you it’s about the students, and helping the students, and I just want to tell you that it is so admirable.

Viv: Thank you. It brings tears to my eyes. And I just tell a story about one of the letters. A young man wrote and said, ‘My family was so excited that I received a scholarship that we all went out to dinner at TGI Friday’s, and I was even allowed to have dessert.’ It gets me every time I think about it.

Marie: What are your hopes for students who have received support from you and Don?

Viv: That they achieve their dreams for their lives and families. Take it to the highest level and just go for it. They’re very, very fortunate to attend Penn State.

Marie: Tell us what it means to become an honorary alumna.

Viv: Honestly, it’s a little confusing to me. You know, I never went to college. We couldn’t afford to go. I went to work to help pay the rent.

Marie: That must be part of the reason you feel so strongly about the students having this opportunity, right?

Viv: Yes. I wasn’t given it. They have to make the best of it.

Our alumni and friends made 1,403 gifts totaling $10,609,281 during the period from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, to support the Bellisario College’s people and programs. The Honor Roll recognizes those who made gifts of at least $100 during the fiscal year.

DEAN’S CIRCLE

(Minimum $2,500)

Gerald W. Abrams

John R. Affleck

Mahfuz and Saima Ahmed

Abraham and Leslie Amoros

Douglas A. and Claudia Anderson

Lisa M. Banco

Neal Batra

Roger Bolton

Todd J. and Anita A. Brightman

Benjamin A. Bronstein

Jack Broscious

Marc A. and Amy L. Brownstein

Richard E. Flynn and Catherine Cipolla Flynn

Judson E. Burch

Cory Castle

Thomas M. and Gwyneth N. Chobot

Steven M. and Julie Schlanger Clemens

David N. and Jane Lendvay Conley

John J. and Ann C. Curley

Robin A. Deacle

Stanley E. and Ann H. Degler

John A. and Janet M. Dillon

Grace Drewes

Douglas M. Eroh

Elizabeth A. Fetter and Donald Durbin

Judith E. Davidson

Leon H. Fie and Beth N.Garber-Fie

Jennifer A. Gottlieb

Victor H. and Dena Lipson Hammel

Jerry Kammer and Marie Hardin

Jonathan S. and Joanne M. Harmelin

Mark S. Hoerr

Bridget D Hughes

Jeffrey W. and Nancy S. Hunt

Jennifer P. Irvin

Jay R. Jackson

Tyler Jackson

Bill A. and Honey F. Jaffe

James P. Jimirro and Ajchara

Kaewthep

David R. and Mary Lee Lauffer Jones

Stevens J. and Diane Kohn

Kasselman

Bradley J. Korman and Pamela Cowan Korman

Paul Jacob Levine and Marcia Silvers

Steve Lipin

Michael R. and Amanda L. Lockwood

Lawrence H. Lokman

Anne M. Lusk

Maril MacDonald

Ann Marie Major

Joseph W. and Mary M. Meder

Graceann Migliaccio

Willard D. and Doris H. Nielsen

Paul R. Olliver and Jeaneen M. Olliver

Thomas G. and Edith Riggins

Ortenberg

Jennifer Prosek

Eric W. and Luisa M. Rabe

Richard M. and Rayna K. Ravitz

Jordan H. and Elizabeth Schneider

Rednor

Terry Rhadigan

Raymond and Deborah Rubinow Rosen

Steve J. and Eleanore Coutin Rosen

Richard C. and Sarah Russo

Jane-Perry Shoemaker

David W. Skidmore

Abigail Smith

Daniel L. and Tara L. Smith

Steven J. Szafara and Jacqueline

Jamieson-Szafara

Paula J. Todd

Thomas M. and Kirsten Verducci

Alexander S. and Nancy N. Williams

Ward

Carolyn Y. Xu

Claude P. Madrazo and Linda Yaccarino-Madrazo

Randolph S. Yanoshak

DEAN’S ASSOCIATES ($1,000 to $2,499)

Robert P. Barbarowicz

John Q. Beauge

Ralph T. and Paulette Berner

Kevin and Jeanne Tremblay

Chapkovich

Paul J. and Jennefer L. Clifford

Jourdan P. Cole

W. Peter and Maria Bodine

Desautelle

Gene C. and JoAnn Foreman

Brian and Kellie Smith Friel

Thomas A. and Ellen Vesey Gailey

Xueyong Guan

Gregory W. and Deborah J. Guise

William J. Hackett

Seth and Tara Dugan Haplea

Brian M. and Dale Healy

Michael and Kathy De Grandi

Heasley

Mark A. Illfelder

Marjorie Schenck Jeney

Michel Khalaf

Ronald R. Kolb

George C. and Nancy Akeley Lewis

Jose H. Lugaro

Robert P. and Marylou Miller Martin

Woodene Bell Merriman

Norman C. and Mollie Miller

David J. and Jodie L. Morris

Colette M. Rodger

Jarred L. and Sarah Romesburg

Karen L. Rubinow

Lorraine A. Ryan

Robin Ward Savage

Stacey Werner

Seth A. Silverstein

Susan Tague

Barry C. and Marylouise M. Uhlig

COMMUNICATIONS PARTNERS

($500 to $999)

Mark Ashenfelter

Ronald Balasco

Linda Belfus

Mark and Diane Bomberger

Robert Boulware

Jane Braus

Teresa Villa Cook

Susan and Stanley Ellis

Carole Feldman

Colleen A. Finnegan and John R. Woerner

Robert B. and Norma J. Franklin

Robert Gavazzi and Kathleen

McKinney-Gavazzi

James and Kristen Gill

Anne Hoag

Karen Hockstein

Robert and Shelia D. Hull

Steve and Pamela Kraycik

Steven and Doreen Lampert

Cheryl A. Levkoff

Christopher and Lisa Lydon

Arthur and Marjorie Miller

Joseph and Lillian Mittleman

Linda Murphy

Anthony and Moradeyo Olorunnisola

Michael Poorman

Douglas C. Pratt

Betty Ramos

Mark Cutkosky and Pamela Reasner

Justin and Tonya Rideout

Dyann Roth

Ernie Sadashige

Paul A. Seltman

Lesley Troan

Christopher Wheeler

James Wiggins and Christine

Fleming

David and Jamie Yadgaroff

Patrice Bradley Zdeb

CARNEGIE CLUB

($250 to $499)

COL and Mrs. Conrad H. Busch Jr.

Amy Andryszak Campbell

Matthew and Mollie Colavita

Clifton W. Colmon

Pamela Cook

Monica J. Cooney

Bradley M. Cox

Wesley C. Ellis

Stephen and Carol Gosser

Norman and Kelly Hainer

Talondria Hodges

Scott F. and Laura K. Horner

Marilyn R. Jennerjohn

Robert Junas

Jeffrey and Kimberly S. Klein

Janet Klinefelter

Wendy Lichtenstein

Michael J. and Stephanie J.

Liebowitz

Janice and Steven Livingston

Mary MacLaren

Michael and April Malkowski

Kasey Mandalblatt

Ebony Martin

Abby Mayer

Walter T. Middlebrook, Jr.

Megan E. Myers

Louis and Ellen Pagano

Tim J. Panaccio and Carla

Tolino-Panaccio

Patrick L. Plaisance

Maureen Quinn

Cynthia Ramirez

J. Ford and Mary Risley

Nicole Rosen

Benjamin Rupp

Jeffrey and Debra Shupp

Ronald G. Smith

Joanne Borrelli Steller

Steven and Lori Trapani

CENTURY CLUB

($100 to $249)

Eric Adelmann and Patricia Alleger

Adelmann

David L. Alderfer and Erin M. Alderfer

Michael and Johanna L. Altland

James J. and Michelle A. Antonelli

Stewart Ashkenazy

Eugene A. and Alison Aucott

Robert E. and Martha Gingras Baisch

Rishav Banerjee

George L. and Deandra F. Barron

Nancy H. Berman

Karen M. Bernardo

Kathryn E. Blitz

Sandra Bloom

James J. Boddy and Joyce M. Boddy

David P. and Kimberly Brown

Brannon

G. Robert and Maryann Bucknum

Brinley

Patricia M. Brown

Dennis A. and Donna M. Bucciarelli

Christine J. Burke

Anthony Calvello

Lcdr Michael J. Carey and Elizabeth

Francis Carey

Chelsea Carter

Stuart H. Chamberlain

Lee F. and Susan E. Chappell

Eric M. and Gladys W. Charity

Erik and Robyn Richmond Chotiner

Hal D. and Erica B. Coffey

Ashley N. Conklin

John J. and Vicki Schneider Cousley

Christopher W. Crider

Guy and Amy Shuster Crosswait

Michael J. and Hillary Delone

Kristine A. Dopera

Bettina Drews

Jens K. and Colleen P. Duerr

Dalia S. Doneson

William G. and Patricia J. Evans

Mark J. and Mary Horwath Faller

Chuck Chapek and Angela M.

Flannery

John M. and Susan N. Flannery

Andre M. and Kimberly Hancharik

Floyd

Vito A. Forlenza

Monica L. Miller

Amy M. Freed Stalzer

Mark A. and Stephanie French

Kim C. Friedman

Samuel R. and Curwin McFarland Gett

Herman J. and Judith Jones Gibb

Michael G. and Michelle Gibbons

Joseph R. and Eileen Gidez

Helene Gillingham

Stephanie Girouard

Mehretab Berhe and Sherri D.

Godwin Berhe

Emma T. Goodson

Richard and Michelle M. Griggs

Marie Grimmer

Todd L. and Jennifer Fuller Hall

Thomas A. and Joy A. Harvey

Sally A. Heffentreyer

Nicole Henninger

Matthew J. Herb and Lori M. Shontz

Jeffrey B. and Elizabeth M. Hershey

Leonard F. Herzog

Lori M. Holva

Jeffrey P. and Jessica Heyman

Joseph and Michelle Hickey

Jeffrey C. Hills

Amanda Hofmockel

Thomas V. and Cheryl Platt Huet

Carl Hull and Kathleen Lyon Hull

Vicki L. Humphreys

Meredith Hyland

Matt Jackson

Ellen Jentz

Gregory P. John and Donna M. Cronenwett-John

Amy Johns

Richard W. and Ann M. Jones

Robert E. and Mary Bolich Joyce

Glenn N. Kaup

Brenda A. Kelly

Shannon Kennan

Matthew S. Kincak

Jeffrey J. and Maryann Annadio

Klick

Deborah M. Klink

Jeffrey A. and Roberta L. Knapp

Derek W. Koffel

Peter A. Kowalski and Sandra A. Miller

David B. Krasne

Michelle Kwait

Brian P. and Stacy Toy Kweder

Adriana Lacy

Richard C. and Carole Lechthaler

Rinaldo P. and Susan Leonardi

Donald Lewis and Michelle

Borzilleri-Lewis

Todd C. and Michelle Mc Cowan

Lighty

Christopher J. and Sabrina Landis Liller

Amy Takehara Lilly

Jonathan and Andrea W. Liss

Vincent A. and Heather Loss

Christopher P. Loughner and Marianne Tropp

James C. and Donna M. Mansfield

Joseph Maraziti

Sara E. Matulonis

Warren L. and Carole Lawrence Maurer

John J. McGonagle

Bernard L. McNelis

William D. and Karen L. Milheim

Michael G. Missanelli

Michael J. and Julia Cipolla Mullen

Gordon Pang

Patricia A. Panzera

Elena R. Parks

Kathleen A. Pavelko

George G. and Sara Carson Peck

Brenda A. Penderville

Robert H. and Jean Allen Petersen

Martin M. McNeeley and Susan J. Petix-McNeeley

AN Name

William I. Price

Richard J. and Stephanie Vuto Rapp

Patrick J. Raring

Tom J. Resau

Renee Rhoads

Andrew H. Richards

Albert C. and Kim L. Richardson

Aaron A. Rill

Barbara A. Ritchey

Samuel V. and Mary F. Rogers

Terrence and Karen Tucci Rooney

Neil S. Rudel

Jacob and Jacqueline S. Ruth

Joseph T. and Kathleen D. Ruyak

Steve and Susan Sampsell

Mila Sanina

Jay Friedman and Jane Schley

Michael Schmierbach

Jeffrey J. and Donna Getchen

Schwoebel

Michael J. and Malinda McCurdy

Sever

William S. and Michelle L. Shipley

Scott E. Shirley

Stuart R. and Linda Kaplan Silver

Martin J. and Judith Johnson Smith

Eric S. and Dianna L. Snyder

Daniel T. Spence and Kimberly Bower Spence

Jennifer Gresack Spitzer

Robert D. and Edith Ferguson Sponeybarger

Thomas J. and Donna M. Stewart

Katie S. Stoltz

Christopher M. and Julie A. Stroz

Penny L. Suwak

Stephen and Maria Franziska Svab

Stephanie N. Taormina

Robert R. and Helen M. Toothman

Michael K. Trobich

Bjorn Trowery

Tony Varnon

Marc D. Wagman

Holly A. Semanchick

Jeanne M. Yocum

Denise Beth Zaraya

Michael Zarcone

Ralph E. Zeigler

A. Phillip and Mary Ann Zimmer

$1.4 MILLION of scholarships awarded to 263 Bellisario College students in 2022-23

Alumni brothers hope their gift propels Penn State initiative battling hatred

Two brothers experienced enough to know change does not happen overnight have made a gift hoping to spark a long-term impact by supporting the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State, part of the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative.

Raymond and Stephen Rosen grew up in Scranton, Pa., with parents who survived the Holocaust and emigrated to the United States to escape hatred and find a better life. The brothers have established the Sam and Olga Rosen Fund, named in honor of their parents, in support of the initiative with a combined $40,000 endowed gift.

They hope it’s the beginning of something that produces ongoing results.

“Stephen and I are typical representatives of the children of Holocaust survivors who didn’t hear very much about the Holocaust from our parents. They were just quiet about things,” Raymond Rosen said. “Then, when [filmmaker] Steven Spielberg started sending out teams to record survivors’ experiences, that seemed to unleash something in my father. Suddenly he was talking to anyone who would listen — and we were hearing things we’d never heard before. He was telling his story to people he didn’t even know.” Their father had lost over 250 members of his family who were murdered in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

“I think that Dad was maybe a little bit ahead of his time when it came to talking to high school kids about his experiences. Boaz is doing exactly what my dad was trying to do in Scranton, but on a much bigger, potentially national, scale,” Stephen Rosen said. “Plus, the best part about the initiative is that it’s at Penn State.”

The brothers earned their bachelor’s degrees from the University’s College of Health and Human Development — Ray in 1972 and Stephen in 1977. They are retired after careers as the chief operating officer of Wellspan York Hospital and as the director of the FBI Field Office program, respectively. Ray remains in York, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Deborah Rubinow Rosen, who graduated from Penn State from the College of the Liberal Arts in 1973, and Stephen lives in California with his wife, Eleanore Coutin-Rosen.

The Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State uses education to address the issue — providing research-based professional development to help K-12 teachers succeed when presenting difficult topics in the classroom. Led by founding director Boaz Dvir, an associate professor of journalism in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, the initiative offers a sustained and customized professional learning program, online modules and instructional materials. Educators work directly with inquiry experts with backgrounds rooted in classroom experience.

“We’re extremely grateful for Ray, Stephen and the Rosen family’s support for our mission,” said Dvir, an award-winning filmmaker. “We’re driven by the belief that the effective instruction of difficult topics such as the Holocaust and racism can provide K-12 students with relevant insight into the human condition and enable them to gain valuable life skills such as empathy, active listening and critical thinking.”

To the Rosen brothers, the approach felt familiar.

Their fund was created to support educational programming, teacher training and outreach; the creation of documentary films, books and other materials; and salary support for the initiative’s director, staff and teacher trainers.

Raymond, 73, says he feels more threatened as a Jew in the U.S. now than at any time in his entire life. Still, Dvir’s approach and passion make Raymond optimistic about what the gift can do.

“It took thousands of years to hone this hatred against Jews. It’s not going to change overnight,” he said. “So you start with the children and maybe they can go home and teach their parents. It would be nice for the school systems of this country to teach students to embrace people, regardless of their race or religion.”

Stephen, 68, said he and his brother grew up in a home that truly valued diversity. After learning about the program, getting to know Dvir and watching how the educational effort that started in Red Lion Area School District in south central Pennsylvania has grown, he’s optimistic about the future — and proud to be a supporter.

Alumni Raymond and Stephen Rosen established the Sam and Olga Rosen Fund in honor of their parents and to support the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State.

We’re extremely grateful for Ray, Stephen and the Rosen family’s support for our mission.

– Boaz Dvir

Skidmore selected as Alumni Fellow

Alumnus David Skidmore (’79) was honored as a Penn State Alumni Fellow.

Skidmore works as a writing and editing consultant to the Economic Studies program of The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. He retired in January 2020 from the Federal Reserve Board, where he served as a media relations officer and speech editor under four Board chairs, from Alan Greenspan to Jerome H. Powell. He joined the Board staff in 1999 after a 20-year career in journalism.

Before joining the Federal Reserve Board, Skidmore worked for The Associated Press in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., covering economics and banking. He graduated from Penn State with a degree in history and journalism. After graduation, Skidmore was a reporter for The Globe-Times of Bethlehem, Pa.

At Penn State, Skidmore joined the staff of The Daily Collegian as a freshman and served as editor-in-chief in 1978-79. In 2021, he established the David Skidmore Journalism Scholarship in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. It supports journalism students, particularly those participating in the Stanley E. Degler Washington Program.

The Alumni Fellow program is administered by the Penn State Alumni Association in cooperation with the University’s academic colleges, campuses and the Office of the President, and is the highest honor presented by the Alumni Association.

Alumni are nominated by a college or campus as leaders in their professional fields and accept an invitation from the president of the University to return to campus to share their expertise with students, faculty and administrators.

Shirley selected for Alumni Achievement Award

Alumna Stephanie Shirley (’09) was a recipient of a 2023 Alumni Achievement Award, presented by the Penn State Alumni Association.

Shirley is the owner of Bennis Public Relations Inc., a firm she founded as a 23-year-old entrepreneur and has grown to serve hundreds of clients across the nation. As a public relations consultant, she serves as a strategic communications partner across various industries like marketing, advertising, government affairs, graphic design, information technology and nonprofit organizations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she directed the public relations efforts of CATE, Pennsylvania’s first COVID-19 mobile testing that has toured the Commonwealth since August 2020. The overall initiative is led by Harrisburg-based Latino Connection, and focuses on Black and brown communities, with a current emphasis on providing vaccinations to underserved communities.

Shirley is a board member and special events co-chair of the Pennsylvania Public Relations Society, and a former board member of the Central Penn Networking Group. For a dozen years, she has authored a weekly blog, “The Comm Entrepreneur,” and has been featured on the front page of WordPress, garnering worldwide attention.

Shirley is a longtime active leader of the Alumni Society Board in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. She has served as chair of the board’s student engagement committee, as well as chair of its outreach committee. She has served as a guest lecturer in Dean Marie Hardin’s “Building Your Media Brand” class and has served as a student mentor.

She is a life member of the Penn State Alumni Association. Her husband Scott Shirley (’03, ’04g Eng) was an Alumni Achievement Award recipient in 2016. They live with their sons, Bennis and Holden, in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

PHOTOS BY STEVE TRESSLER

PHOTO BY STEVE TRESSLER

Promoting (and Protecting) the Brand

Alumna Stephanie Petulla (’99) serves as director of licensing and visual identity for Penn State. In that wide-ranging role, she puts her strategic and tactical skills to use daily, helping with University-wide branding efforts and working with colleagues in each academic unit and at every Commonwealth Campus.

In the simplest terms, her small team’s duties range from establishing brand guidelines and evaluating licensing requests to partnering on implementations and enforcing rules that protect the Penn State brand. But it’s so much more than that.

Here are five things you need to know about her job and the Penn State brand.

1

Penn State is the proud partner of more than 400 licensees.

2

More than 16,000 retail artwork submissions came through the system last year.

3

1 2 3

Penn State licenses everything from T-shirts to mugs, puzzles to picture frames, sweatshirts to stuffed animals, tailgate games to tabletop games and much more.

4

Penn State takes corporate responsibility seriously, partnering with the Fair Labor Association and the Workers Rights Consortium, helping support the growth of small business in that area.

5

5 4

Penn State started a Community Connect program this year that supports crafters and small businesses, giving them the ability to bring unique products to Penn State fans in an affordable and compliant way for their business.

MIKE ABRAMS (’94 Journ) Director of Journalism Practices and Principles, The New York Times

How did Penn State prepare you for your career?

Between working at The Daily Collegian and taking journalism classes, I quickly discovered as a professional that Penn State had fully prepared me for a career in this business. The classes gave me a grounding in the fundamentals, from ethics and the law to clear communication skills and tools for alert media criticism. The professors were engaging and thoughtful. The coursework was practical and creative. The Collegian, meanwhile, allowed me to put that academic work into practice. It also helped me find my “people.” I met my future wife there and developed lifelong friendships. We spent way too many hours in the newsroom back then.

What advice do you have for current college students?

Enjoy the moment. College life is about exploring yourself, expanding boundaries, meeting new people and challenging yourself. It can also be really stressful. Just try to find opportunities to appreciate where you are in life.

What motivates you?

It’s a fire in the gut. It’s great to hear praise from loved ones or colleagues. But it’s mostly an internal drive to learn, to do better.

What work-related accomplishment or initiative makes you most proud?

Being a part of community-changing and award-winning work at three pub lications as both a reporter and editor.

What artists show up most in your playlist?

Mumford & Sons, Bruce Springsteen and the random artists on the Spotify folk and roots lists.

PAT BUNTING (’13 Telecomm) Vice President/Corporate Communications, NBCUniversal

What are you most proud of from your Penn State experience?

Ten years later my entire friend group still keeps in touch. Over 30 of us just had a reunion in State College in April. It was so great to be back.

What advice do you have for current college students?

If you’re looking for a career in business, search for an industry where you are interested in the product and would be proud of the company that creates it. I’m as excited now about our television content, films and park experiences as I was when I first started at NBCU.

Who were some of your most important personal or professional influences?

Personally, my parents are always there for me with sound advice. Professionally, I’ve had the privilege of working for, and with, some incredible executives in media, including fellow Penn State alumnus Linda Yaccarino. Another person who had a huge influence on how I show up professionally is Amanda Collins, EVP and global head of corporate communications at Sony Music.

What work-related accomplishment or initiative makes you most proud?

I was accepted into the NBCUniversal Page Program out of Penn State and since then have worked across multiple businesses at NBCUniversal: news; ad sales; content distribution; diversity, equity and inclusion; TV and streaming.

What three things are always in your fridge?

Diet Coke, Hummus and a lot of frozen Trader Joe’s items.

How did Penn State prepare you for your career?

I work in franchise and marketing for Marvel Studios under The Walt Disney Company umbrella. I also work in production for a live television show called “Skip & Shannon: Undisputed” on FS1. I honestly can’t put into words what Penn State as a community has done to prepare me for my career.

What motivates you? God. Family. And unwavering curiosity.

What are you most proud of from your Penn State experience?

The relationships. Some of the people you see on campus will go on to do amazing things. And it’s not so much what they go on to do, it’s the manner in which they do it. High, high character alumni. Nothing tops that on the other side of undergrad.

Who were some of your most important personal or professional influences?

Countless teachers, mentors and coaches. It would be unfair to single any of them out. It takes a village.

DAQUAN DAVIS (’20 Journ)

Franchising and Marketing, Marvel Studios

TARA SMITH (’06 Ad/PR)

Faculty member and program director for the master of arts in strategic communication, University of Delaware

How did Penn State prepare you for your career?

The Bellisario College of Communications prepared me for my career by blending rigorous academic preparation with experiential learning opportunities, and the encouragement to pursue professional internship experiences. I credit Jamey Perry for encouraging me to consider public relations as a major, Steve Manuel for inspiring me to enter the field, and Bob Martin for supporting me through my internships and beyond.

What do you know now that you wish you knew during your time as a college student?

In college, it’s easy to feel like you have to focus so much on your future and getting ready for your career. While it’s good to make that a priority, the time you get in college to truly explore who you are and learn about life outside of the classroom is so invaluable. Making memories that will last a lifetime is just as important as being prepared for the next step in your life.

Who were some of your most important personal or professional influences?

My mom is now a retired elementary school teacher, and her passion for education inspired me to become a professor. My dad spent most of his career as an athletics director for school districts, as well as working in sales for Pepsi earlier in his career. His understanding of business and leadership prepared me for what it was like to work in the corporate world.

What work-related accomplishment or initiative makes you most proud?

How I navigated a diverse career path in public relations, from working in a nonprofit organization to PR agencies, to later working in media and entertainment, and then transitioning into academia. I’m also very proud to serve as president for the Delaware chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), where I earned my Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).

What three things are always in your fridge?

La Croix, GoGo Squeeze yogurt pouches for my kids and, in my pantry, popcorn! I live for fresh popcorn.

Alumna, honored among Forbes 30 Under 30, credits support as key to her success

A Penn State alumna who helped contribute to the journalism community through her mentoring organization was selected for the latest Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Adriana Lacy, who graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and African American studies, is a freelance product management and audience strategist, digital and audience engagement editor at Harvard, and a journalism professor at Brandeis University. She co-founded Journalism Mentors alongside Caitlin Ostroff. Journalism Mentors is a networking organization dedicated to advancing early career journalists through mentoring and paid media opportunities.

“It was great to be recognized for something that me and my co-founder put time into and helped a lot of people,” Lacy said. Lacy’s overarching motivation is to help journalism become accessible for everyone, regardless of gender and race. She wants to make the media industry more diverse and inclusive.

What advice do you have for current college students?

Empty the tank. Take more shots. Swing for the fence … whichever analogy works for you. Those four to five years are an amazing opportunity to take as many chances as possible professionally with the least amount of risk. Collaborate with classmates. Write that book/blog. Intern at that company. As you put in the hours, you’ll begin to callus your “instrument” in whatever your passion may be.

How do you know you’ve had a good day? Perspective. We’d kill for each other’s “bad days,” so each day is a good day if you allow it to be.

“Success is bringing other people with you when you achieve,” said Lacy. Lacy puts her words into action by mentoring students and bringing them into the industry. She remains involved at Penn State by participating in mentorship programs, speaking at events and volunteering. Lacy gives a lot of credit for her education, involvement and success on campus to the support she received in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

Her future goal is to become the dean of a journalism college and teach full time.

CURRENT BELLISARIO COLLEGE ALUMNI BY STATE

2.9% increase from 2022 for Current Bellisario College Alumni in the United States

ALUMNI BOARDS

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Here’s your chance to join the Bellisario College’s Ad/PR Alumni Networking Board! The group serves as a resource for faculty, students and alumni with class visits, mentoring, events, and more!

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2.4% increase from 2022 for Current Bellisario College Alumni in PA

Suzanne Schulner (’08), vice president

Tara L. Smith (’06)

Rachel Steinberg (’14)

Robert Strang (’16)

Allison Wulfhorst (’20)

Holly Semanchick Xhema (’15)

Student Representatives

Emily Eng (’24)

Isabella Granada (’24)

CURRENT BELLISARIO COLLEGE ALUMNI BY COUNTRY

Australia 7

Austria 1

Bahrain 1

Bangladesh 1

Bolivia 2

Brazil 3

Brunei 1

Canada 24

Cayman Islands 1

China 376

Colombia 1

Cyprus 5

Dominican Republic 2

Ecuador 4

Egypt 1

England 1

Fiji 1

Finland 1

Germany 5

Ghana 1

Greece 2

Grenada 1

Guatemala 2

Hong Kong 20

Hungary 1

Iceland 1

India 23

Indonesia 2

Iran 1

Ireland 2

Israel 1

Italy 4

Japan 17

Jordan 2

5% of Bellisario College Alumni are International

Kazakhstan 9

Kuwait 2

Malaysia 11

Mexico 3

Netherlands 4

New Zealand 2

Nigeria 2

North Korea 3

Pakistan 1

Panama 2

Philippines 2

Poland 2

Qatar 1

Romania 1

Russia 1

Saudi Arabia 2

Singapore 5

South Korea 118

Spain 4

Sweden 1

Switzerland 5

Taiwan 44

Thailand 8

Turkey 1

Uganda 1

Ukraine 1

United Arab Emirates 6

United Kingdom 26

United States 27,778

Venezuela 4

Zimbabwe 2

Military Abroad 20

Alumni Society Board

Ron Balasco (’81 GNAS)

Hannah Biondi (’14 Ad/PR)

Patrick Bunting (’13 Telecomm)

Kevin Flintosh (’06 Journ), president

Carol Gosser (’87 Journ)

Katherine Hansen (’05 Media), secretary

Pam Hervey (’94 Journ), past president

Ali Ingersoll (’12 Journ)

Ebony Martin (’14 Journ), president-elect

Maddy Pryor (’13 Ad/PR)

Linsey Shea (’08 Ad/PR)

Stephanie Shirley (’09 Ad/PR)

Daniel Solomon (’04 Ad/PR)

Halle Stockton (’08 Journ)

Erin Stranges (’10 Journ)

Ron Wagner (’89 Adv)

Young Alumni Council

Nancy Berman (’19 Ad/PR)

Carly Fried (’20 Ad/PR)

Alex Gilliland (’14 Journ)

Caroline Goggin (’14 Journ)

Madeliene Maggs (’16 Journ)

Bellisario Media Center Equipment Fund

EXAMPLES OF RECOGNITION

$250, with gifts recognized by a digital brick

SUPPORTING STUDENTS

Alumni and friends who support the Bellisario Media Center Equipment Fund with gifts at various levels starting at $250 will have an ongoing presence on the center’s digital donor wall — consistently reminding students they are part of a community invested in their future.

MAKE your gift today!

$500, with gifts recognized by a digital plaque with a personalized message

INTERNSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, TRAVEL AND MORE

Check out the options to support the Bellisario College and its students.

$1,000, with gifts recognized by a digital portrait with a personalized message and photo

Podcast focused on talk radio earns Bart Richards Award

A podcast series focused on U.S. talk radio and how it has become dominated by voices from one side of the political spectrum, with one company becoming a powerful political influence, earned the 2022 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism.

“The Divided Dial,” a five-episode series from “On The Media,” earned the award that annually honors work that evaluates news media coverage of significant subjects or issues. The series, hosted by reporter Katie Thornton and edited by executive producer Katya Rogers, was the result of more than a year’s worth of reporting.

The award was presented during a public event at the National Press Club in May.

Faculty screeners from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State reviewed entries for the respected national award and then forwarded finalists to external judges. Those judges — Russ Eshleman, associate teaching professor emeritus at Penn State and an award-winning journalist who covered Pennsylvania politics for The Philadelphia Inquirer; Jackie Jones, dean of the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University; and Dan Shelley, president and CEO of the Radio Television Digital News Association — were unanimous in their selection of “The Divided Dial.”

Judges said the podcast series was complete and well-researched, sharing information that engaged casual radio listeners as well as people who understand the changes to the talk radio landscape and marketplace through the years.

“The Divided Dial” focuses on Salem Media Group, its approach to content and its growth and impact. Additionally, the podcast series traces the history of U.S. talk radio by addressing governmental and societal influences on content creation and marketplace success.

Newsday Series Earns Award for Excellence in Youth Sports

A series of stories about a child who grew up in the Congo and was attacked and disfigured by chimpanzees before moving to the United States to undergo a series of reconstructive surgeries and eventually earn a state wrestling championship was selected for a national award presented annually by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

The stories and an accompanying seven-minute documentary, which appeared over a period of six months, told the story of Dunia Sibomana, who provided a compelling focal point for the series.

Longtime Newsday sportswriter Gregg Sarra wrote the stories and led the effort on the series. His work was selected for the annual Award for Excellence in Coverage of Youth Sports presented by the Curley Center, which is housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

Thornton is an award-winning freelance audio and print journalist. She has published with the BBC, Bloomberg, Minnesota Public Radio, National Geographic, NPR, WNYC, 99% Invisible, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Washington Post and many others, and received a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship for her storytelling work.

Rogers is the executive producer of “On The Media,” which is produced by WNYC and aired nationwide on 450 stations with an audience of more than a million weekly listeners. During Rogers’ tenure at the helm of the show, it has won multiple awards, including The Peabody, multiple Mirrors, The Front Page Award. “On the Media” previously earned the Bart Richards Award in back-to-back years, 2011 and 2012.

The Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, presented by the Bellisario College, annually considers constructively critical articles, books, and electronic and online media reports; academic and other research; and reports by media ombudsmen and journalism watchdog groups.

The award, presented annually by the Curley Center, recognizes creative, in-depth and innovative coverage of youth and high school sports by broadcast, print and online journalists. Along with the award itself, Sarra will receive an honorarium and be invited to campus in the fall for an in-person discussion of the work and the official award presentation.

Entries from across the country were submitted for the award. Sarra joined Newsday in 1985 and has consistently focused on high school sports. He also enjoys delving into inspirational stories and stories of athletes overcoming adversity.

In fact, one of his stories has a strong Penn State connection. He wrote about wrestler Rohan Murphy, who had no legs and advanced to his county championship in 2001. Murphy later attended Penn State as a wrestler and was instrumental in the awareness and growth for the Penn State Ability Athletics program.

LISTEN to the award winning podcast

Gerry Abrams (’61), film producer

Alexander Andreades (’18), lead designer, Jesse Itzler Companies

David Arroyo (’19), production assistant, ESPN

Hannah Arroyo, community relations coordinator, New England Patriots

Jeff Ballou (’90), producer, ABC News

Meaghan Birnie, co-founder, Morgan’s Message

Matthew Bischoff, regional director, Target Corp.

Austin Boley (’21), assignment editor, WGAL-TV

Arlene Braulio (’20), senior account executive/digital health, BCW Global

Nicole Breon, store director, Target Corp. (State College)

Nicholas Browning, associate professor of public relations, Indiana University

Tori Bookwalter (’21), social media coordinator, Florida Panthers

E.J. Borghetti, executive associate athletic director, Pitt

Coor Borgelt, newscast director, WGAL-TV

Jamelle Bouie, columnist, The New York Times

Judson Burch (’82), senior coordinating producer, ESPN

Jim Buzinski (’80), copy editor, Los Angeles Times, and co-founder, Outsports

Max Campbell (’18), account supervisor, McCann New York

Charlotte Casey, filmmaker

Stephanie Chasi (’17), senior account executive, Ketchum

Zachary Chester (’20), production assistant, NFL Films

Andrew Colwell (’11), freelance photojournalist

Pablo Contreras, store director, Target Corp. (Pittsburgh)

Cindy DeLuca, president and general manager, WGAL-TV

Aby Donovan, senior account executive, InkHouse Media + Marketing

Sarah Doyle (’15), technical director, Virtual Services

Zach Dugan (’13), PR manager/games, media and entertainment, AWS

Luis Miguel Echegaray, ESPN

Ryan Ehrie (’08), director of Commonwealth Campus Athletics, Penn State

Michael Elavsky, professor, Masaryk University

Laura Finley (’12), senior manager/business communications, NASCAR

Ellyn Fisher (’99), vice president, The Ad Council

Matt Ford (’05), co-founder, Vignette Interactive

Jere Gish (’97), news anchor, WGAL-TV

Katie Guerci, campus recruiting and program manager, Prosek Partners

David Gunkel, Northern Illinois University

John Hanna, associate director of strategic communications, Penn State Athletics

Virginia Harrison (’08, ’14 MA), assistant professor, Clemson University

Nicole Haubner, senior account manager, Dada Goldberg

Mark Hernandez, creative services director, WGAL-TV

Emily Hulbert (’20), account coordinator, Rubenstein

Yan Jin, professor, University of Georgia

Joe Jones, visiting assistant professor, West Virginia University

Kevin Kalia (’04), director of engineering, WGAL-TV

Kristin Kay, news director, WGAL-TV

Erica Ciszek, associate professor, University of Texas

Gary Cohen, producer

Aynne Kokas, associate professor, University of Virginia

Pete Kowalski (’82), president, Kowalski Sports & PR

Dani Kraycik, brand manager, Danone

Jacqueline Larma, photojournalist, The Associated Press

Adam Lash, producer, streaming/TV

Stan Lathan (’67), director and producer

Donald Lawson, regional director, Target Corp.

Kat Lebo (’17), PR and communications manager, Carrier Refrigeration

Nneka Logan, associate professor, Virginia Tech

Cole Majernik (’21), publicity assistant, Viewpoint PR

Megan Mansell (’13), marketing specialist, EdTech

Brooke McKeever, professor, University of South Carolina

Hannah Mears (’20), on-air talent, Pittsburgh Pirates

Rita Men, professor, University of Florida

Juan Meng, associate professor, University of Georgia

Laura Nava, writer, streaming

Joey Niedziejko (’18), senior account executive, Maven Communications

Marlene Neill, associate professor, Baylor University

Folashade Olasimbo (’12), senior producer, HubSpot

Janelle Panebianco, head of external communications, Papa John’s

Kris Petersen, senior associate AD for communications and content, Penn State

Adam Pietrala (’04), partner/global business development, FleishmanHillard

Alexandra Piscitelli (’13), assistant vice president, Coyne PR

Eric Robinson, associate professor, University of South Carolina

Shelly Poe, assistant athletic director/communications, Auburn University

Tayah Price (’18), senior media strategist, QVC

Grace Puy (’22), premium ticketing manager, AEG Presents

Lauren Pyle (’19), recruiter, Oracle Corp.

Marina Ruiz, media strategist, Superior PR

Ralph Russo, college football writer, The Associated Press

Kelley Scheirer, human resources executive team leader, Target Corp.

Morgan Sheedy (’22), account coordinator, Lippe Taylor

Stephanie Shirley (’09), owner, Bennis Public Relations

Maria Silvia, associate professor of ethics, University of Genoa

David Skidmore (’79), writing and editing consultant, The Brookings Institution

Chris Smith (’94), principal/chief creative officer, Plot Twist Creativity

Rachael Swan-Krasnoff (’13), senior marketing director, iHeartMedia

Al Tompkins, senior faculty, Poynter Institute

Nina Trach (’21), marketing coordinator, The Ad Council

Jim Trdinch, team historian, Pittsburgh Pirates

Cori Uchida, producer, streaming/TV

Audrey Wanamaker (18), account manager, Wunderman Thompson

Ben Warntz (’95), local sales manager, WGAL-TV

Yasemin Yilmaz, co-executive producer, “NCIS”

Michael Young (’11), senior communications specialist, GEICO

Lauren Zelasko (’19), senior account executive, WE Communications

Todd Zwillich, deputy bureau chief, VICE News

Alumnus Michael Robinson (right) of NFL Network, the former All-Big Ten quarterback for the Nittany Lions, completed his on-air duties for “NFL Total Access” during his campus visit by using a studio in the Bellisario Media Center. Robinson (’04, ’05) worked with Paris Palmer (’17), coordinator of strategic communications for the Bellisario College.

Successful alumnus embraces opportunities to mentor, support others

As the deputy chief of information for the Navy, Patrick Evans knows about chain of command and lives it every day while working with more than 2,000 communicators in a variety of roles across the world.

Evans (’90) also knows about the power of a chain — a combination of connections and relationships, actions and support that can provide a valuable impact for someone personally and professionally.

As Evans works within his chain of command, he knows he’s been a beneficiary of that other chain thanks to mentorship from colleagues, family and friends who provided inspiration and opportunities that supported his growth and success.

As he advances to senior leadership positions in his career, he hopes he can do the same for others.

“It is great to work hard, but you have to bring others with you to open doors that might not be always open,” Evans said. “They may be closed overtly or covertly. Either way, you need that team to help you get to the next level. Because so many people have helped me, I want to make sure I’m doing the same.”

Evans has taken a nontraditional path during his career, and even his time at Penn State was not typical.

He started college hoping to play basketball at LaSalle University, but that was interrupted by an injury. He matriculated to Penn State York and, eventually, the University Park campus. He learned that getting involved and interacting with others was important in terms of getting comfortable and connected on campus.

Evans started his military career in the Air Force Reserve, became a Navy reservist and worked as a television reporter and anchor in New Orleans. He was called up in 2007 during the Iraq War.

“About midway through, I decided I wanted to make a career change. I saw a higher purpose in the military,” Evans said. “It sounds cliché, but I found a calling.”

He moved to active duty in December 2008. With a father who served in the Army and several family members who served in the military, the big move seemed normal to Evans — especially because of the support he received from family and friends.

“I actually call it my ‘monk moment,’” Evans said. “I made my decision when I was in a foreign country, focused on a mission that was bigger than me. It was a different way to see international relations, and it really started to fascinate and intrigue me.

“Journalism and my broadcasting career were great, and I still call New Orleans home, but making the career change seemed to lead to something else that I really wanted to check out. I had gone through a divorce, and I talked to my kids and they got it, too.”

Evans said he’s proud of what he’s accomplished and especially proud of the way his wife, Cheryl, has encouraged him.

“Sometimes I’ll just stay in my little black-and-white world, but she adds color to it,” Evans said. “She might not verbalize something, but she’ll remind me that ‘We don’t coast.’”

He got busy, working on campus and for radio stations in State College and Harrisburg while gaining more experience and leadership opportunities. He worked for WPSU as well. “I thought I knew a lot and could do a lot,” Evans said. “My time at Penn State was a profound learning experience that set me on a course for greater success.”

Evans’ wife often reminds him people are watching, and that being watched comes with a responsibility. It’s advice that has resonated and led to action, including his commitment to mentoring others.

“I hope people say I’m a good teammate who coordinates, networks and will learn from others,” he said. “We have to create an environment to have teamwork, so everyone can move forward.”

It is great to work hard, but you have to bring others with you to open doors that might not be always open.

– Patrick Evans

1980s

Susan Sheaffer Rickens (’83 Brcab) retired as the director of marketing for Commonwealth Media Services after 31 years of service in state government.

Kathy DeGrandi Heasley (’83 Ad/PR) is the founder and president of HEASLEY & PARTNERS Inc.

Bernard A. Oravec (’85 MassComm) was named general sales manager at Seven Mountains Media.

Linda Yaccarino (’85 Telecomm) was named CEO of Twitter. She was previously at NBCUniversal as chairman, global advertising and partnerships.

John Shaffer (’88 Brcab) works as a nationwide anchor for USA News (USAMediaGroup.com).

1990s

Jeff Ballou (’90 Journ) joined ABC News as a producer based in Washington, D.C.

Lauren Connolly (’97 Lib) is the global chief creative and experience officer for Mercedes Benz Team X.

John Curley (’99 Honorary) was named as the 2022 recipient of Omicron Delta Kappa’s Pillars of Leadership Award in Communications.

Tom Resau (’99 Ad/PR) is a director of communications for security, compliance, identity, management and privacy for Microsoft.

Laurie Alicia Roth (’99 Journ) was re-appointed as borough administrator for the Borough of Allentown (Monmouth County, New Jersey) in March 2023. She was initially hired in 2015 and obtained tenure as municipal clerk in 2019.

2000s

2010s

Jason Fagone (’01 Journ) was awarded first place in this year’s Best American Newspaper Narrative contest.

Jeanine (Noce) Larson (’04 Journ) was hired as director of public relations & team development at Heritage Homes and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties, located in Fargo, N.D.

Emily Mahler (Evans) (’04 Journ) was appointed to the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners for a term of three years, commencing on April 1, 2023.

Dan Victor (’06 Journ) was named senior live editor for The New York Times. He has been with The Times since 2012 in a variety of roles that took him from New York to Hong Kong and London through the years.

Amanda Oey (’07 Ad/PR) has been promoted to director of strategic communications and operations at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Becky Kitlan (’07 AD/PR) is the vice president and creative director at GALE Agency.

Suzanne Schulner (’08 Ad/PR) is the account executive for Game Show Network.

Summer Lee (’09 Journ) was elected to represent the 12th District in the House of Representatives, becoming the first Black woman from Pennsylvania elected to Congress. A native of North Braddock, Pa., she earned a graduate degree from the Howard University School of Law.

Alexandra E. Petri (’09 Journ) covers trends and breaking news for the Los Angeles Times.

Lyndsay Green (’10 Journ) of the Detroit Free Press was selected as a finalist for a 2023 Pulitzer Prize and earned the James Beard Award for Emerging Voices in Journalism.

Jocelyn Brumbaugh (’12 Journ) was promoted to senior digital curator on Hearst Television’s national desk, which is based at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.

Lynn Schoof (’12 Journ) is the communications manager at Via of the Lehigh Valley, marking her second job in the nonprofit sector since 2016.

Rachel Steinberg (’14 Ad/PR) is the marketing manager for league and team partnerships at FanDuel.

Robert Strang (’16 Ad/PR) is the strategist for Google.

Scott Nulty (’16 Ad/PR) is the government relations manager for Shield AI.

Katie Blitz (’16 Ad/PR) is an account director for BerlinRosen.

Maria Canales (’17 Journ) is now the director of digital engagement and social media at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.

Kathleen Ritter (’17 Brcab) was hired as the player and media relations coordinator for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Gabriela (Gabi) Stevenson (’19 Journ) was recently hired as a junior reporter on the Insider! She will be covering lifestyle, entertainment and digital culture news and trends on Insider’s life weekend team.

2020s

Allison Wulfhorst (’20 Ad/PR) is an event coordinator at the Centre Foundation.

Lauren Meyer (’20 Ad/PR) has accepted a new role as an art director for The Wonderful Company. She will be working within their in-house advertising agency, The Wonderful Agency.

Dale Ostrander (’22 Journ) has joined WSTM, WSTQ and WTVH in Syracuse, New York, as a multimedia journalist.

Penn State mourns the passing of longtime volunteer Jane Zimmerman

Penn State lost a dedicated volunteer and tireless advocate for students on March 2, 2023. Jane W. Zimmerman, an Honorary Alumna whose gifts spanned dozens of University initiatives, leaves behind both a legacy of personal generosity and a decades-long record of inspiring philanthropic support.

Zimmerman and her late husband, Robert K. Zimmerman, created permanent endowments that provide ongoing support to WPSU through the production and broadcast of digital content and that fund internships with Penn State Public Broadcasting. Together, the gifts were designed to accelerate the transition to new modes of information delivery and create pathways for undergraduates to gain a foothold in the broadcast industry.

“Jane was a truly dedicated volunteer with a prescient vision for the kinds of mentoring and resources undergraduates would need to break into the rapidly evolving world of broadcasting,” said Marie Hardin, dean of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. “Her steady leadership and passion touched the lives of countless students. As we grieve her passing, we are grateful that the endowments she established will propel our graduates to success for generations.”

Creek Environmental Center, Pennsylvania 4-H, the Center for the Performing Arts, Blue Band, THON and numerous Renaissance Fund scholarships.

“My mom bled blue and white,” said Zimmerman’s daughter, Laura Sogor. “She had boundless energy for making phone calls, convening meetings, showing up to functions — anything to drum up support for Penn State’s priorities. And because she and my father owned several radio stations in the region, she had a particular enthusiasm for helping students get their start in broadcasting. Her heart was so big, and she made a huge difference to so many Penn Staters.”

Her steady leadership and passion touched the lives of countless students. As we grieve her passing, we are grateful that the endowments she established will propel our graduates to success for generations.

As the impact of her service grew, Zimmerman garnered numerous awards. In 2003, she was named an Honorary Alumna of Penn State in recognition of her significant contributions to the University’s welfare, reputation and prestige. Two years later, she earned the Charles Lupton Volunteer Award from Development and Alumni Relations for her outstanding volunteer service, followed in 2008 by her selection as the Penn State Fundraising Volunteer of the Year. Finally, for her efforts to deepen the University’s impact on the world, she received the Fischer Award of Distinction in 2010.

graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, then rose through the ranks to become director of the YWCA in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she met Bob, her future husband of 45 years until his death in 2007. The couple eventually relocated with their two children, Andrew and Laura, to State College. She soon fell in love with Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics — especially men’s basketball and football — and was selected to serve as parade chairperson for the 1982 and 1986 national championship football teams.

In addition to her leadership at Penn State, Zimmerman served her broader community. She held the post of treasurer for the State College YMCA Million Dollar campaign, sat on the YMCA Advisory Committee, and served on the board of the Centre Foundation and as a trustee of Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust, in the community where the couple owned a vacation home.

In addition to establishing named endowments, Zimmerman gave to a wide variety of areas throughout the University, including Intercollegiate Athletics, the Palmer Museum of Art, Shaver’s

Zimmerman was born in North Charleroi, Pennsylvania, in 1939, the daughter of a steel mill foreman, and grew up several miles east across the Monongahela River in Monessen, Pennsylvania. She

In addition to her two children, Zimmerman is survived by her sister and her brother-in-law, Suzy and Jim Broadhurst, Penn State alumni and leading volunteers and philanthropists.

Patricia Cole (’99 Journ), a veteran copy editor whose sharp eye, quick wit and kind heart made her a cherished colleague at NPR and other news outlets, died on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, at age 46.

“Patricia loved editing, and she really loved politics,” said Dana Farrington, deputy editor at the Washington Desk for NPR. “She saved me by catching mistakes no one else would, more than I can count. I’m grateful for her collaboration, her enthusiasm and her commitment to journalism, even when it was very hard.”

Thomas William Huntley (’52 Journ), a devoted husband and father, passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 1, 2023, doing what was his latest passion, his usual daily walk around Foxdale Village. Cold wind, snow, rain, sleet, hail would never deter him.

Huntley earned his bachelor’s degree then served as a sergeant in the Korean conflict for two years, followed by another bachelor’s in industrial engineering (1957) and finally a master’s in operations research (1967), all from Penn State. He was a longtime Penn State employee as a systems analyst.

– Dean Marie Hardin

Penn State volunteer Jane Zimmerman, who spent decades advocating for philanthropic causes, died on March 2.

PHOTO BY LAURA SOGOR

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