Posts tagged ‘Rod Kirsch’
Inside Our May/June 2016 Issue
The May/June 2016 issue of The Penn Stater is hitting mailboxes soon. In the cover story, “The Mayor of 16802,” we celebrate the career of Mike Herr, who has been the friendly face of the campus post office for nearly 50 years. He retired in April, but before his last day on the job we were able to photograph him at work and, of course, at play. You’ll find his story and some wonderful shots captured by photographer Bill Cardoni starting on p. 36. After the photoshoot, Herr and his wife Mary ’84 (pictured below), insisted on serving coconut cream pie to our staff in their Boalsburg home.
In another feature, titled “What’s the Big Idea?” you’ll learn about three alums who have successfully built one of the hottest tech companies in Silicon Valley. Their company, Weebly, makes it easy to build a website—and, ultimately, is giving other entrepreneurs a web platform to grow their own businesses.
“World Travelers” shares the stories of alumni who studied abroad. Here, you’ll read about the places they went, the people they met, and the languages—and lessons—they learned.
Also in the magazine: A look at this year’s Alumni Teaching Fellows; a recap of the unstoppable Nittany Lion wrestlers who notched another NCAA team title this spring; and a nod to Rod Kirsch, longtime senior vice president for development and alumni relations, who will be leaving his position in August.
Let us know what you think about the new issue. Comment below or email heypennstater@psu.edu.
Photo by CARDONI
Amy Downey, senior editor
Jim Zarroli Leads a Roundtable for Us
We held the roundtable in Robb Hall of the Hintz Family Alumni Center. (Click to see bigger version.)
A project I’ve been working on for the last several months finally came to fruition today, when a group of key campus leaders came to the alumni center to talk about college costs and affordability.
Penn State has long prided itself on providing an affordable education to the sons and daughters of the working class—that’s what a land-grant school is supposed to do, after all—but that mission is a tough one to uphold in the face of shrinking state appropriations, a nationwide recession, and other challenges.
NPR's Jim Zarroli ’79 moderated the discussion.
So we brought together some major players to discuss these issues in Robb Hall at the Hintz Family Alumni Center, and we were especially happy to have NPR business correspondent Jim Zarroli ’79 drive in from New York to moderate the discussion.
The panelists were Anna Griswold, executive director of student aid at Penn State; Don Heller, a faculty member in the College of Education and director of Penn State’s Center for the Study of Higher Education; Gavin Keirans, president of the University Park Undergraduate Association; Rod Kirsch, senior vice president for development and alumni relations; and Rob Pangborn, vice president for undergraduate education.
Don Heller and Anna Griswold were among the five panelists.
What did they talk about? I don’t know—I was too busy running around with a camera and periodically stopping back to make sure the audio recorder was working. I did catch some bits of conversation about how facilities construction and upgrades at Penn State are funded … about the role of the University’s capital campaign in raising money for more scholarships … and about the latest news out of Harrisburg about Penn State’s appropriation and how it may hinge on casinos adding table games.
I’ve already shipped the recording off to a transcriptionist, who will return it to us as a text document; from there we’ll edit it down and print it as a feature in our January-February issue.
Tina Hay, editor
