The Penn State Alumni Association (PSAA) has announced a $20,000 matching commitment that will grow the scholarship endowment recently established in honor of 2024 Renaissance Fund honorees Roger Williams, retired PSAA executive director, and his wife, Karen Magnuson, retired assistant director of University marketing. In recognition of the Renaissance Fund’s 55th anniversary, the PSAA will match gifts of $550 or more to any named Renaissance Fund with an equal contribution to the Roger L. Williams and Karen L. Magnuson Renaissance Fund.
At the Student Startup Showcase, the final event of the Truist Empowering Entrepreneurs Executive Seminar Series hosted by Harrisburg LaunchBox powered by Penn State, students had 90 seconds to pitch their startup ideas for a chance to win funds and help make their business dreams come true.
An alumnus of Penn State Harrisburg’s American studies program has established a scholarship to honor the professors who impacted him and to benefit future graduate students in the program.
Student Faaiq Rizwan's internship was unpaid, but through Penn State Harrisburg’s Career Center Internship Endowment, Rizwan received financial support — assistance that made the internship possible for him. The Career Center Internship Endowment comes from a gift from the John Crain Kunkel Foundation in 2019, which helped expand the college’s career services office.
At an event held on Oct. 31, leaders from the Student Philanthropy Network announced that the class of 2024 has voted to create the University Park Undergraduate Association Basic Needs Endowment as their class gift. The fund will provide sustained support for students facing hardships in pursuit of their degree.
Penn State has named Richard M. Barger, a 1971 graduate in business from Penn State Harrisburg, and William C. Lane, a 1975 graduate of the Smeal College of Business, as the 2023 Fundraising Volunteers of the Year.
Jeffrey P. Merritt, a 1985 architectural engineering graduate, and his wife, Jean P. Merritt, have established two gifts at Penn State Harrisburg to support teacher education, including a $100,000 gift to establish the Merritt Program Fund for Teacher Education.
