THIRSTY FOR KNOWLEDGE: Midtown Manhattan institution Rosie O’Grady’s hosted the New York stop of the Alumni Association’s “Raise the Bar” series, which brought Penn State faculty and alumni together in nine cities in May for insights and good cheer.
Class Acts
The 2026 Teaching Fellows, recognized by the Alumni Association, are dedicated to student success.
GRANT RISHA
Class Notes: Grant Risha is chair of Penn State Altoona’s Mechanical Engineering program and director of the Advanced Combustion and Energetics Lab. He says educators can shape students in ways that last a lifetime, and lets honesty, humanity, and compassion guide his interactions.
“When an instructor exhibits humanity and passion in the classroom, students respond,” Risha says. “Challenging a student is not the enemy of learning, and discipline is not the enemy of development.”
Risha is also an academic adviser and has trained and supervised more than 75 undergraduate researchers.
Student Praise: “I witnessed firsthand the impact of Dr. Risha’s teaching. Students of all levels, including those that historically surrendered to course rigor, became excited and engaged for a class that demanded their greatest devotion of time and critical thought. The students experienced this transformation because they knew that Dr. Risha’s priority was to make their time productive and enjoyable.”
MARIA TRUGLIO
Class Notes: Maria Truglio is professor of Italian and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in the College of the Liberal Arts at University Park. She began teaching in 2001 and earned tenure in 2009. Her research interests include Italian literature from the 19th century to the present; children’s literature; women’s writing; and critical methodologies, especially psychoanalysis and poststructuralism.
While serving in several senior administrative roles, she opted to continue teaching because she felt committed to her students and wanted to stay connected to teaching and the student experience.
Student Praise: “To be a good teacher, one must connect with students and provide expert information in a meaningful way. To be a great teacher, however, one must take it a step further. Truly impactful educators create a fiery passion within students by engaging their minds and hearts on the subject matter. Professor Maria Truglio is, in every sense of the word, a great teacher.”
BONI WOZOLEK
Class Notes: Boni Wozolek is interim associate dean of faculty development for the commonwealth campuses and is associate professor of Early Childhood/Elementary Education at Penn State Abington. She began teaching there in 2019 and earned tenure in 2023. Her work considers qualitative research methods and teaching practices that focus on access, justice, and care for schools and student communities. She has received two book awards, an article-of-the-year award, and an early-career award.
Student Praise: “Dr. Wozolek cares deeply that we go into a career field in which we will thrive and ensure we know every detail about being a teacher. She is a professor who not only teaches the curriculum, but who teaches what the students need. If we are anxious about a topic, she’ll make the time to understand our specific fears. This approach helps ease our fears rather than dismissing them.”
Save the Date
July 10–11: Hintzpiration
This year’s Arts Fest companion event at Hintz features “Simplism: Finding Creativity in Chaos,” an exhibit and presentation by artist Brian Kappel ’98 A&A, along with the popular Arts Fest poster gallery and select student art.
Sept. 25–26: Homecoming
Has your alumni chapter or affiliate group signed up for the Homecoming Parade? Gather your group at the alumni Ice Cream Social at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on Sept. 25 before lining up with thousands of other Penn Staters for the parade that evening. The Nittany Lions take on Wisconsin the next day!
Oct. 2–4: BAR
Black Alumni Reunion returns to University Park Oct. 2–4, giving alumni of color an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones while helping current students cultivate a greater sense of belonging
at Dear Old State.
From the Archives
Mount Nittany-sized Scoops
Ice cream titans such as Borden, Sealtest, Ben & Jerry’s, and Hershey all learned the art of making the sweet frozen treat at Penn State, thanks to the university’s ice cream short course, which has been offered to outsiders annually since 1924. Our May/June 1976 issue dishes out a helping of ice cream history and how Penn State factors into its popularity. Read the full story.
Chapters & Groups
Great Valley Alumni Society
The Great Valley Alumni Society’s 16th annual benefit tailgate is set for Nov. 7 at The Conference Center at Penn State Great Valley, where alumni, friends, and community members can watch the Nittany Lions take on the Washington Huskies and partake in a buffet meal, drinks, Berkey Creamery ice cream, and a silent auction. Last year, the tailgate—which earned the Tracy and Rick Riegel Pinnacle Event Excellence Award in 2024—drew 200 supporters and raised more than $11,000 for the Great Valley Alumni Achievement Scholarship. Michael Koch ’01 Bus, president of the Great Valley Alumni Society, says the event has greatly evolved over the years, but its mission remains the same: “It’s essentially being able to draw the alumni in and have them raise money for student scholarships.”
Tucson Chapter
Members of the Tucson Chapter celebrated spring in Southern Arizona and enjoyed the local food scene at the annual Tucson Walking Food Tour (left). Led by Tucson Food Tours, alums tasted their way through Tucson, America’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
Annapolis Chapter
The Annapolis Chapter celebrated its 30th anniversary with a ’90s-themed celebration at Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge in mid-May. Members dressed in ’90s attire, listened to ’90s music, and were entertained by the music and poetry of Jefferson Holland ’76 Com, poet laureate of Annapolis.
Have news to share from your chapter, AIG, or alumni society? Send it to rsr3@psu.edu.
Volunteer Spotlight
Donovin Lindsay, Alumni Council member
Donovin Lindsay ’14 WB, ’21 MPS Lib WC participated in 16 student organizations while attending Penn State Wilkes-Barre. In a single year.
“I definitely bleed blue and white,” says Lindsay, who is in the second year of a three-year term on the Alumni Association’s all-volunteer Alumni Council. He works full time as a corporate recruiter and has started a handful of businesses as well as a nonprofit, College Knowledge Foundation, which provides college access resources to underserved students.
Donovin earned the Alumni Association’s 2025 Martin R. Cepeda Jr. Award for Alumni Career Advancement and Development, which recognizes professionals who have given their time and talents in service to Penn State students and alumni. He regularly uses Nittany Lion Careers and Lion Link to recruit students for internships and experiential learning projects. He especially enjoys mentoring students, and gave the spring 2026 commencement address at Penn State Wilkes-Barre.
Support PSAA
ELMS COLLECTION MAKES GREAT GIFTS
It’s not too soon to start your holiday shopping—and items from the Penn State Elms Collection make unique and meaningful gifts for any Penn Stater on your list. When you purchase an heirloom-quality item from the collection, a portion is donated toward planting trees at University Park. So, not only are you giving a second life to the majestic elms that once stood on campus, you’re helping to ensure that future Penn Staters can make memories on a campus as picturesque as it was in your day. pennstateelmscollection.com
LEAVE YOUR MARK ON CAMPUS
Since the fall of 2021, almost 1,700 Penn State alumni and loved ones have added their names and messages of pride to the Alumni Plaza outside the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Proceeds from the pavers, available in three sizes, fund the Alumni Association’s student groups—Blue & White Society and Lion Ambassadors—and support FastStart, a mentoring program for first-year students. Adding your personal paver to the Alumni Plaza is a great way to commemorate your time at Dear Old State and pay it forward to the next generation of Nittany Lions. alumni.psu.edu/alumniplaza
Three Named Honorary Alums
Three longtime Penn State champions and benefactors were recognized this spring with the Alumni Association’s 2026 Honorary Alumni Award.
Jainendra K. Jain is Evan Pugh University Professor and Eberly Family Chair in Physics in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, and the Director of the Penn State Center for Theory of Emergent Quantum Matter. He is a theoretical physicist best known for predicting a new class of particles that he named composite fermions, and for explaining the phenomenon of the fractional quantum Hall effect as the integral quantum Hall effect of composite fermions. In 2025 he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics, one of the highest honors in the world of science. In 2026 he was selected as the founding director of the Lodha Theoretical Physics Institute (LTPI), established by the Lodha Foundation, a leading philanthropic organization in India.
Jain was elected a foreign fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 2024, appointed as Eberly Family Chair in Physics in 2023, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021, and was named an Evan Pugh University Professor in 2012.
Michele “Mitch” Kirsch retired as the associate dean for student affairs in the Schreyer Honors College, a role she held from 2005 through 2019. She oversaw student life, marketing, admissions, financial aid, and operational functions, with a focus on elevating the student experience.
Kirsch previously worked as director of MBA admissions in the Smeal College of Business and as assistant director of admissions and customer service for Undergraduate Admissions.
She and her husband, Rod, have supported many areas of the university, including the Schreyer Honors College, Counseling and Psychological Services, Blue Band, Athletics, and THON. She helped to establish the Schreyer Scholar Involvement Award and was recognized with the naming of the Dr. Michele “Mitch” Kirsch Fund in Support of Health and Wellness Initiatives in the Schreyer Honors College.
Ted H. McCourtney is a general partner of Saw Mill Partners, a private investment partnership in Katonah, N.Y. He was previously managing general partner of Venrock Associates, a venture capital firm. A 1960 graduate of Notre Dame with a degree in mechanical engineering, he earned an MBA from Harvard. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy and worked at McKinsey & Company before joining Venrock in 1970, where he served until his retirement in 2000.
McCourtney’s wife, Tracy Winfree McCourtney '65 Lib, is a proud alum of Penn State, where she and Ted serve on the President’s Council. In addition to supporting Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy, they have supported undergraduate scholarships that have helped more than 350 liberal arts students; fellowships and scholarships for grad students in social sciences and humanities; and faculty professorships in psychology, sociology, and American history. —Penn State Alumni Association
