MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – The Penn State Harrisburg Alumni Society recently announced the winners of its People to Watch Awards, graduates from each of the college’s schools who have made a significant contribution to the betterment of society through their personal and professional endeavors.
2022 People to Watch (l to r): Guy Suter, Douglas Downing, Chelsey Hall, and Rafael Fulton Fernandes (Not pictured: Lori Ezzedine).
Honorees included:
Lori Ezzedine, ‘18g master of arts in applied clinical psychology, School of Behavioral Sciences and Education
Ezzedine attended Penn State Brandywine where she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, while also participating as an undergraduate researcher, studying the relationship between language learning and music perception.
Ezzedine then attended Penn State Harrisburg where she earned her master’s degree in applied clinical psychology. During the program, she worked as a teacher's assistant and collaborated with multiple professors in the psychology department.
After graduation in 2018, she attended the APA conference in San Francisco, California, where she presented her research “Sex, Booze, and Spirituality: Alcohol Use and Intrinsic Spirituality in Relation to Hypersexuality” and “Perceived Discrimination and Race-Related Stress: Contributions of Coping Styles.” She began working as an adjunct professor at Penn State Harrisburg and Penn State Abington, where she taught a variety of psychology courses, while also working at a non-profit company in Media, Pennsylvania where she gained experience as a mental health counselor.
In December 2021, Ezzedine joined the PRIME clinic at Yale University, working with adolescents who experienced symptoms of schizophrenia.
After becoming a licensed professional counselor in fall 2021, she launched a private practice in March 2022, where she continues helping clients with their mental health. Ezzedine has plans to pursue a doctoral degree in the future as she continues to grow her practice.
Rafael Fulton Fernandes, ’17 bachelor of science in project and supply chain management, School of Business Administration
Fernandes was born in Brazil and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in project and supply chain management from Penn State Harrisburg in 2017. He puts his education to work in his commitment to driving change, providing equal opportunities to diverse and underrepresented populations, and working with other leaders to achieve organizational and financial success. Having lived in multiple countries, Fernandes has developed global and multicultural relationships, achieving professional and academic success.
Currently, he works as a senior global project manager for the project management office at Lenovo and serves as chairperson of the Hispanics/LatinX of Lenovo Association and as part of the leadership board of Latinas in Tech for the Carolinas.
He serves as a volunteer tennis coach and a volunteer mentor at the Close the Gap Foundation, where he helps to mentor first generation and low-income students to help them reach their full potential. He also volunteers for Athena of the Triangle, which helps to create innovative programming in leadership development and entrepreneurial skill building for women leaders in the triangle region of North Carolina.
Chelsey Hall, ’15 bachelor of arts in communications, School of Humanities
Hall is a 2015 Penn State Harrisburg graduate with a degree in communications. Despite having a difficult childhood, she has always defied the odds and strived for success. For the past three years, Hall has been serving as a campaign development manager for the Central Pennsylvania Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. During this time, she has helped raise over $1 million to help fight blood cancer. She is an active member of the Penn State Harrisburg Humanities advisory board.
From building homes with Habitat for Humanity, and feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving, to founding an animal rescue, Hall has always been a determined individual.
Guy Suter, ’21 bachelor of science in public policy, School of Public Affairs
Suter has been starting and leading technology companies for over 20 years. Some of his career highlights include inventing the fastest selling data backup appliance, founding Nutshell — a popular sales and marketing software company, and creating apps used by millions of people.
Today, he is focused on helping distributed and remote teams work better together as the CEO of software startup, Ampll. Suter also co-founded Cahoots, a 25,000-square-foot tech hub and co-working facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he brings his passion for helping and learning to his fellow startup peers.
Outside of work, Suter volunteers his time by serving on the education committee for the Autism Alliance of Michigan and as a member of the Michigan Parent, Advocate and Attorney Coalition. He is also part of a grass roots team advocating to pass new legislation in Michigan aimed at providing better screening and educational support to students with dyslexia, like both of his children. As an undiagnosed dyslexic student, his academic journey has endured peaks and valleys since kindergarten. While working full-time, Guy transferred to Penn State Harrisburg in 2001 to pursue his personal passion for public service through a major in public policy.
Twenty years after he enrolled, Guy recently returned to Penn State Harrisburg to complete his bachelor of science degree in public policy, graduating magna cum laude.
Douglas Downing, ’10 bachelor of science in electrical engineering, School of Science, Engineering and Technology
Downing attended Penn State after high school. While there, he enrolled in the U.S. Army Reserves as a motor transport operator. During his junior year, he was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While there, his now wife, encouraged him to pursue his real passion, electrical engineering. He took her advice, switched his major, and finished his bachelor’s degree at Penn State Harrisburg.
After graduating, he worked for a variety of companies as an electrical engineer. He then enrolled in Penn State World Campus for his master of engineering management, graduating in 2017. He is currently an electronics engineering manager at Lockheed Martin and works on the Minuteman III program, a strategic weapon system using ballistic missiles of intercontinental range. Downing and his team help to refurbish some of the components to maintain the missile fleet.
