Barnes and Noble College — a Barnes and Noble Education company that operates the Penn State Bookstore — has continued its longtime partnership with the University and the Penn State Corporate Engagement Center to award a 2024-25 round of grants supporting a range of programs and initiatives across the commonwealth.
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 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.
Every summer, the Division of Development and Alumni Relations brings on a cohort of interns to tap into their talents and introduce a new generation of young professionals to careers in institutional advancement. Many of these interns find motivation and satisfaction in building the kinds of philanthropic support that made their own educational journeys possible.
Hundreds of students have benefited to date from scholarships created by alumni and friends during the University’s recently concluded campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence.” Structured around the three key imperatives of a modern land-grant institution, the campaign’s top priority was opening the doors of higher education to students from every background, and Penn State donors rose to the challenge, creating a total of 2,045 new scholarship endowments — an increase of more than 35% over the course of the six-year effort.
On March 24, Penn State honored recently retired Senior Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Madlyn Hanes at a naming ceremony for the Madlyn L. Hanes Library at Penn State Harrisburg.
