2024 Year-End Celebration

Retirements

John Baskwill
System Administrator, Information Technology Services

John Baskwill served as the Penn State Harrisburg IT security liaison and the systems administrator of the campus server and network environment. John has a bachelor’s degree in accounting, an M.B.A. from Penn State, and a master’s in Management Information Systems from Shippensburg.

John began his career at the campus on July 1, 1998, with the Penn State Harrisburg ITS department. When John first started, we only had two Novell servers on the campus. He eventually converted those over to one Windows server. At the time, John would also build the computer labs using DVDs to build computers because we didn’t have any network switches on campus; we only had HUBS which slowed the process down. Eventually, in the early 2000s, University Park provided the campus with switches to create our current environment.

John was responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the academic and administrative network and server environment for the campus. John always enjoyed the challenge of designing and building a solution for our academic classrooms, especially the computer science labs.

During the last three years, John was also a valuable member of the University Park server hosting in the VMHosting virtual server environment, dividing his time between the Harrisburg campus and University Park.

John always put the campus and student needs first and has shared his expertise with his team. When John was not on campus managing the server environment, you could find him at some Penn State sporting event, or in his camper tailgating during every Penn State football home game. 
Contributed by Gary Barb

Mike Dideban
Assistant Teaching Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Science, Engineering, and Technology

Bio not available.

Kamini Grahame
Associate Professor Emerita of Sociology, School of Behavioral Sciences and Education

Dr. Kamini Maraj Grahame joined Penn State Harrisburg in August 2001 as an assistant professor of Community Psychology and Social Change and Sociology. Dr. Grahame earned her Ph.D. in sociology and equity studies in education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research interests include race/ethnicity, gender, and class, particularly concerning the immigrant experience, and institutional ethnography, a paradigm developed by her mentor, Dorothy E. Smith. Her research includes work on Asian immigrant women, work and family, globalization, and the impact on Indo-Trinidadian families, including the reconfiguration of masculinity and the emergence of transnational families, No Child Left Behind and the education of minority children, and institutional ethnography. Her research has been published in Human Studies, Qualitative Sociology, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Education and Society, Sociological Spectrum, and others. She presented her research at regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Grahame was awarded the Kathryn Towns Award, the Faculty Diversity Award, and the Faculty Advising Award.

During her twenty-two-year tenure, Dr. Grahame taught undergraduate and graduate courses in sociology, women’s studies, community psychology, and global studies. For several years, she served as program coordinator for majors in Sociology, Applied Behavioral Sciences, Secondary Education Social Studies, and the minor in Women’s Studies. She also served as Professor in Charge of the Community Psychology and Social Change program. She was instrumental in developing the Diversity Certificate Program. She provided extensive service to the college, her profession, and the broader community. Much of this service reflected her commitment to equity and social justice for marginalized groups. She plans to carry forward that commitment to her future endeavors.
Contributed by Dr. Raffy Luquis

Keith Herrick
Lecturer in Accounting, School of Business Administration 

Keith Herrick joined Penn State Harrisburg in 2007. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Shippensburg University and his M.B.A. from Penn State Harrisburg. He has been a CPA since 1986 and a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) since 1993. Prior to joining Penn State, Mr. Herrick gained over 25 years of accounting experience with various companies in positions from entry-level to controller and CFO. Mr. Herrick also taught financial and managerial accounting for nine years as an adjunct professor at Susquehanna University.
Contributed by Dr. John Haddad

Donna Miller
Maintenance Worker - Utility Grade 9, Office of Physical Plant 

Donna Miller started her career with Penn State Harrisburg on December 1, 2000, as a third shift custodial worker. During her time on campus, Donna was integral to keeping the buildings clean and tidy. She worked in every corner of the campus, whether cleaning or doing project work.  

Donna was always one of the most detail-oriented workers on the custodial crew. She was dedicated to always knowing what was going on and what to work on next. Donna took the initiative, whether working on a daily task or large projects. Donna's focus for most of her career was cleaning and upkeep of the Capitol Union Building. In her last few years, she made the switch to Olmsted building. Her knowledge of the campus will be missed by all. Going into retirement, Donna is looking forward to spending all her time with her grandkids. Donna will be missed by all, and we all wish her the best in retirement.  
Contributed by Seth Klugh

Luann Sellard
Financial Assistant 4, Finance Office

Luann Sellard began her career with Penn State in 1988 in Continuing Education at Penn State Hershey. Luann’s first position was mailing coordinator for CE Publications, where she worked on the creation and distribution of many types of medical brochures. After twelve years in Continuing Education, she moved to Medical Education. Luann began her time at Penn State Harrisburg in 2002 as a Bursar assistant. In the Bursar’s office, Luann was the first point of contact for many students and their families for over twenty years. She excelled at a job that needed to have empathy with our students and their families yet follow University policies and procedures. Luann worked on both the Bursar and Finance sides of the office. Luann retired as a Financial Assistant 4 in January 2024. She is enjoying retirement with her five grandchildren, travel plans, and occasional lunches with her former Bursar family.
Contributed by Jay Spiegel

Erin Shannon Stoner
Facilities Representative, Office of Physical Plant 

Erin Shannon Stoner joined Penn State Harrisburg in 1990 and celebrated her thirty-third year of service to the University in June 2023, shortly before retiring early in 2024.
 
Erin served under eight different campus chief executives/chancellors at the college, where she was an Education Strategy and Planning Manager, with strengths in corporate engagement and continuing education. In addition, she provided leadership, management, planning, and strategic direction to a broad portfolio of educational initiatives, creating new revenue streams for the college while having a positive educational impact on both internal and external stakeholders.
 
Additionally, Erin served as a key member of the facilities team, making lasting and impactful enhancements to event planning – adeptly troubleshooting conflicting priorities for space while creating process efficiencies and improvements.  Erin was also a critical resource focused on building access and security, and worked with a broad range of units across the college to navigate the complexities of our buildings, grounds and space.
 
Erin was a significant and dedicated contributor to the college and University who always kept the best interests of the institution at the forefront of her work.
Contributed by Todd Camp

25 Year Service

John Baskwill
System Administrator, Information Technology Services

Please refer to John's bio in the Retirements section.

Julie Fetterolf
Human Resources Consultant, Office of Human Resources

Julie joined Penn State in June 1999 as a staff assistant in the Office of Human Resources, Benefits Division at the University Park campus. Her primary responsibilities were overseeing employee flexible spending accounts and assisting and counseling employees with retirement.

In June 2015, she joined the Harrisburg campus as a Human Resources Generalist and was later promoted to a Human Resources Consultant. Julie is well known as the “go-to-person” for all things HR. She has a wealth of knowledge and an extensive network of contacts and resources throughout the University. Her manager, David Beardsley, says that he “is thankful every day to have Julie on his team and is proud of her great work and accomplishments over the last 25 years.”

Julie says she “is grateful for the opportunity to have worked at both University Park and a Commonwealth campus". She says that if she had to put all the campuses in a hat and pick where she would be working, she would hope to pick Penn State Harrisburg every time.
Contributed by David Beardsley

Glenn S. McGuigan
Library Director, Madlyn L. Hanes Library

Dr. Glenn McGuigan has served as an academic librarian in the Penn State University Libraries for more than 25 years. He began his Penn State career at the Abington campus in 1998 and came to Harrisburg as the business librarian in 2000. As a faculty member in the University Libraries, he was granted tenure and promoted to Associate in 2004 and promoted to full Librarian in 2012. He has served as the library director and head librarian at Penn State Harrisburg since 2015. Glenn has a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Italian from UMass Amherst and completed coursework at the University of Siena's School for Foreigners in Siena, Italy. He has an MLS degree from the University of Pittsburgh; an M.B.A. from Penn State Harrisburg; and a Ph.D. degree in Public Administration from Penn State Harrisburg. His main research areas are scholarly publishing in public administration and network analysis of bibliometric data. He served as president of the Keystone State Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) from 2022 to 2023 and continues to serve on the Executive Board. Glenn has been married to his wife, Donna, for 27 years and they have a daughter, Ella.  Continuing the Penn State tradition, his daughter is a second-year student at the University Park campus studying political science. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, especially science fiction, and spending time with his family. 
Contributed by Dr. Vahid Motevalli

Vicki Psyck
Administrative Support Assistant, Lambert Undergraduate Advising Center

Vicki Psyck joined Penn State Harrisburg in 2000, supporting academic advising, which she has done ever since. When she arrived, Harrisburg was an upper division college and Vicki was a key part of the team supporting the college’s transition to having first year students. She also supported the logistical challenges of moving the Advising Center from Olmsted to the Student Enrichment Center in 2016. She is frequently one of the first people new students and families interact with and students who need support speak with.

Throughout her time at Harrisburg, Vicki has been dedicated to creating a welcoming and safe atmosphere to enhance student success. Colleagues praise her institutional memory, work ethic, dry humor, and baked goods.

Prior to her time at Harrisburg, Vicki worked at the Penn State Eastgate Center, in sales at the Harrisburg Marriot, and ran a travel agency with her husband. She is a graduate of Northeastern High School in York County and Central Penn College. In 2013, Vicki earned her bachelor's degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences at Penn State Harrisburg.

When asked to reflect on her 25 years at Penn State, Vicki said “I work on the best team and in the best office on campus. That’s why I’ve been here so long!”
Outside of work, Vicki enjoys exercising, gardening, reading, and spending time with her grandkids, family, and friends.
Contributed by Daniel Mercado

Sharon Siegfried
Visual Communications Manager, Office of Marketing and Communications 

Sharon Siegfried has tirelessly served the college in the office of Marketing and Communications since September 2000, though she has been part of the Penn State family since 1998, having worked in Biomedical Communications at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center for two years. Before joining Penn State, she worked in the marketing department at The Hershey Company for 13 years.

Sharon brought a wealth of design knowledge and experience to the campus, but over the years, her work expanded from solely graphic design and production of print pieces. As visual communications manager, she oversees all elements of design for print and digital media, and ensures we tell our story within the scope of the Penn State brand guidelines. In these efforts, Sharon is not just a “logo cop,” but rather she infuses a design for a printed piece, a web graphic, or a digital signage panel with brand sensibilities and creative and engaging visuals.

Sharon is gifted not only behind the monitor and mouse but behind the lens as well; her photography skills complement her graphic design efforts. Her keen and creative eye behind the camera shutter has produced thousands of photos that adorn the college website, viewbooks, Currents magazine, and social media channels; her images have even been used as gifts to dignitaries and recognitions for award winners.

Sharon shares her warmth, energy, wry humor, and ever-current creativity with our unit on a daily basis, influencing and informing her colleagues and pushing us to stay on top of our respective creative outputs. She comes in early and works late  ̶  and often even on weekends  ̶  without complaint, for the betterment of the college and the University.

Sharon is an essential member of our unit, a colleague, and a friend; all of Marketing and Communications thanks her for being part of our team  ̶  our family  ̶  for over two decades of tremendous, dedicated service.
Contributed by Chris Weaver 

Awards

Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement

Ronda Stump
Sr. Academic Adviser, School of Behavioral Sciences and Education/College of Nursing
Academic Adviser, Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Ronda’s career at Penn State Harrisburg began roughly 35 years ago as she worked her way through undergraduate and graduate studies, ultimately holding several senior staff positions.  In her role as Academic Adviser within the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education and the College of Nursing, Ronda recruits students for the competitive Second Degree Nursing Program. In her tenure at Penn State, she has significantly contributed to the well-being and education of our nursing students by not only becoming a facilitator and adamant supporter of the Mindstrong/MindBodyStrong program across the system, but also by innovating a Health Option in collaboration with the Sociology program. Additionally, Ronda has been instrumental in focusing recruitment efforts on a new career path in nursing for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in Nursing, expanding its reach and fostering inclusivity in healthcare. Ronda’s leadership as chair of the DEEC has resulted in the participation of over 100 faculty, staff, and students from Penn State Harrisburg while launching an extensive catalog of successful events. With Ronda mobilizing new voices and perspectives and energizing the DEEC’s membership, the DEEC had significantly increased attendance at events like National Coming Out Day, neurodiversity and LGBTQ+ workshops, and various programs to celebrate MLK Day and Black History Month. More recently, Ronda began the process of reviving the Staff Advisory Committee. In a short period of time, Ronda recruited and assembled staff members to rebuild SAC given its reemerging role at the University level. In addition to designating subcommittees for staff-serving initiatives, she also recruited leaders to be successful in this reinvigoration. Furthermore, she was able to advocate for funding to support these important efforts. While the full list of her lasting contributions are too numerous to list, one thing that will resonate with anyone that knows Ronda is that she is one of the most positive and enthusiastic people on campus and she works tirelessly, and passionately, to advocate for her colleagues and our students every day.

Excellence in Diversity: IDEAL Leadership Award

Angela Larks 
Administrative Support Coordinator, Chancellor's Office

Angela has earned the Excellence in Diversity—IDEAL Leadership Award for her exceptional dedication to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) during her 18-year career at Penn State Harrisburg. She has been central to the creation of the DE&I office with Dr. Wanda Knight and has been vital in organizing and sustaining various inclusive programs and events, notably the increasingly popular annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Banquet. Angela's work behind the scenes with the DEEC, her leadership without ego, and her promotion of educational and cultural initiatives like “Read 365” highlight her embodiment of the award's values.

Student Impact Award

Kelly Weaber
Assistant Director, Student Affairs

Dr. Kelly Weaber has consistently gone above and beyond to provide services and guidance to students. During the past year, she worked diligently to find housing for dozens of students, many of whom were international students. She contacted a many landlords and housing complexes and left no stones unturned to help these students. Additionally, she elevated the presence of the food pantry on campus by creating a new full-time position with an aim to better serve our students.  The pantry served more students in the fall semester than in the entirety of the year before.  Kelly is diligent and hard-working and is always willing to advocate for our students. She is the embodiment of “We are Penn State.”

Community Impact Award

A. Patricia Aguilera-Hermida
Associate Teaching Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
School of Behavioral Sciences and Education

Dr. Patty Aguilera-Hermida works tirelessly to support children and adults in the community to succeed in all they do. Patty continues to devote herself in ways that go well above the requirements of her job. She does this because she has a passion for impacting and improving the lives of others. Patty has done cognitive training/workshops for older adults at Messiah Village and the Mechanicsburg Senior Center. Participants that attend her workshops learn about the concept of neuroplasticity and the activities they can do to maintain their cognitive abilities and their independence. Further, Patty helped organize the Health Fair in Middletown, which was co-hosted by the Communities That Care. She believes that if we can reach families and have educational activities for them and their children, we can have better outcomes for the whole society. She helped in the training of life coaches about sexual abuse and also in the creation of a program related to educating women about domestic abuse. In addition, Patty participates yearly in the career fair at Mechanicsburg Middle School as a way to show that women can have professional careers and to motivate young girls to follow their dreams. Finally, as an ombudsperson (state representative), she visits residents to help them solve issues that they encounter in the nursing home/retirement community where they live. Her active participation in the Pennsylvania Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Network (PAIRWN) is another great way Patty supports the community. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Aging for the Cumberland County Area Agency of Aging, where she was vice president. Patty was just elected President of the Latino Hispanic Professionals Association in Harrisburg. This year, she was honored for significant contribution to the “Reading 365” program from the American Literacy Organization. Bridging her on- and off-campus work, Patty promotes intergenerational relationships among young and older adults. Loneliness and isolation among the older population can contribute to depression in later life. Creating connections between college students and older adults offers new perspectives to both groups. Patty has partnered with Penn State York’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) and the Pennsylvania Department of Aging to further enrich students’ experiences through programming. She launched a video podcast via Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic entitled “Let’s Grow Old Together” where students in her class shared research on how to live healthier and happier lives. Patty is kind, compassionate, and cares about our community, consistently putting others before herself.

Outstanding Performance Award

Gina Brelsford
Professor of Psychology, School of Behavioral Sciences and Education
Director of Honors Program

Dr. Gina Brelsford has adopted leadership and service roles at an exponential pace since joining Penn State in 2006, all while maintaining a notable record of academic scholarship. Dr. Brelsford is frequently called to serve on high impact committees and in leadership, illustrating that her colleagues see her as dependable and high performing. Dr. Brelsford is successful in teaching and mentorship, research, and service, because she maintains authentic, effective relationships with colleagues and students. She is currently the director of the Honors Program, after serving as assistant director for two years. She also served as Professor-in-Charge of the Applied Clinical Psychology M.A. program from 2016 – 2022, a notably long tenure in such a position, and as program coordinator of the undergraduate psychology program in 2013. Dr. Brelsford is a representative to the Board of Advisers on health-related activities and scholarship. She chairs the Faculty Affairs Senate Committee, and recently joined the Behavior Threat Management Team, an appointment that emphasizes her professional expertise as a psychologist and her decision-making skills as a campus leader. Dr. Brelsford was also recently appointed to lead a Rural Health Initiative Task force, emphasizing her leadership and content expertise.
Dr. Brelsford’s consistent commitment to students is clear in her teaching and research. In addition to teaching 18 different courses, she has chaired more than 50 master’s papers and served on an additional 40 master’s paper committees in the Applied Clinical Psychology program. She has also served on over ten dissertation committees. Dr. Brelsford includes undergraduate and graduate students in her high-level scholarship, and has co-authored peer reviewed articles with students in reputable journals. Dr. Brelsford has been appointed and elected to serve on several high-impact committees, including three current committees: the chancellor search committee, chair of the BSED Promotion and Tenure Committee, and an Assistant Teaching Professor of Psychology search committee. She has mentored several junior colleagues, and her commitment to colleagues extends beyond Penn State – she has been awarded for service to national, professional organizations on three separate occasions and serves on five journal editorial boards. Dr. Brelsford’s scholarship focuses on community impact. Since 2011, she has worked to assist parents in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Penn State Children’s Hospital. She has secured three grants and published and presented this work multiple times, all with the goal to understand parents’ coping with a baby in the NCIU, and its impact on their mental health and parenting relationship. She is currently extending this work to men and women facing complex pregnancies. Dr. Brelsford plans to implement prevention and intervention programming to support these families in the future, all of which will have local and national impacts. 

Research Excellence Award

Daniel Mallinson
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration, School of Public Affairs

Over the course of Dr. Mallinson’s career, he has published 59 peer reviewed journal articles, in addition to four books with two more on the way. His published work has already been cited over 825 times according to Google Scholar, a respectable impact as a recently-tenured associate professor in a social science discipline. But diving deeper than metrics, his work makes a significant impact, most deeply in the area of policy diffusion research. His research seeks to move beyond prevalent single policy diffusion studies to test previously untestable aspects of diffusion theory using large pooled datasets. For this work he recently received the prestigious Theodore Lowi Award for best article in Policy Studies Journal. Some of his recent work was also recognized by Penn State President Bendapudi at the February 2024 Board of Trustees meeting as well, speaking to its importance and impact. Daniel has also served as a mentor for undergraduate and graduate students through his research, and constantly creates opportunities for students within his labs and research endeavors. Daniel has demonstrated a strong record of research, pedagogical integration, student mentorship in research, and service to his profession.

External Awards

Significant honors and recognitions received from the University and other external entities

Distinguished Professors

Senel Poyrazli
Professor of Counseling Psychology, School of Behavioral Sciences and Education

David Witwer
Professor of American Studies and History, School of Humanities

Please refer to the Penn State News story on Drs. Poyrazli and Witwer.

Faculty Scholar Medal

Established in 1980, the award recognizes scholarly or creative excellence represented by a single contribution or a series of contributions around a coherent theme. A committee of peers reviews nominations and selects candidates.

Shaun Gabbidon
Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice, School of Public Affairs

Please refer to the Penn State News story on Dr. Gabbidon's honor.

Advancing a Global Penn State: The Early Career Faculty Award

Emily Reed
Reference and Instruction Librarian

Please refer to the Penn State News story on Ms. Reed's award.

2023 Student Success Teambuilders Award, Office of the Vice-President for Commonwealth Campuses

To recognize an individual or teams of individuals who contribute to the success of students through collaborative approaches, and who lead by inspiring others to make positive differences in the lives of students established in 2022 by The Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and nominated by their peers and selected by the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses.  

Eric Holmes 
Assistant Director, Counseling and Psychological Services 
  
Athletics Department, accepted by: 
Ross Patrick 
Head Women’s Basketball Coach  
 
Donald Friday 
Head Men’s Basketball Coach

Eric Holmes serves as the assistant director of CAPS as well as the liaison to the athletics department. The purpose of the liaison role is to provide intentional support and outreach to our student athletes, while working collaboratively with the CAPS team, athletics leadership, and coaching staff. Eric identified that only 3% of student athletes were utilizing CAPS services per academic year. The athletics department made efforts to enhance mental health support internally and designated track and field and cross-country head coach Kadine Crowder-Johnson as the athletics liaison to CAPS to prioritize these efforts. Together, the CAPS team and athletics worked diligently and collaboratively to increase utilization, team outreach, and mental health awareness by presenting and engaging with the entire athletics division at the start of the next two academic years. 

The first annual Embrace Mental Health Men and Women’s basketball games showcased the strength of “team” unifying CAPS and athletics with our student athletes. Accepting this award on behalf of athletics is the dedicated Head Women’s basketball coach, Ross Patrick and Head Men’s basketball coach, Don Friday. Coach Friday and Coach Patrick have truly embraced the team spirit of the importance of mental health among their student athletes and represent our equally dedicated coaching team. These collective efforts not only led to our second annual mental health matters basketball games with hundreds of students in attendance, this event has become a staple outreach collaboration between CAPS and athletics. Currently, other varsity teams are designing similar mental health-themed games and outreach, consultation and interaction with coaches and teams continues to increase, and overall student athlete utilization at CAPS has risen from 3% to an impressive 12% in 2023, which is significantly above the national average. 

At Penn State Harrisburg, this teambuilder award reflects every student athlete, coach, athletic trainer, team doctor, CAPS counselor, administrative support assistant, student worker, and volunteer that helps athletics and CAPS champion mental wellness and reduce the stigma of mental health.  

Contributed by Rahsaan Carlton, Todd Clark, Eileen Haase, and credit to the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses 2023 Student Success Team Builders Award selection committee.

2024 Penn State University Staff Advisory Council Staff Morale Award

Dawn Hamaty
Human Resources Consultant, Human Resources

This award recognizes a staff person who embodies the University Values of integrity, respect, responsibility, discovery, excellence, and community. The recipient of this award leads with enthusiasm and fosters a respectful, cooperative work environment.  They are considered trustworthy by their peers and work with others in an honest, ethical manner. The nominee for this award recognizes potential in those around them and encourages creativity, active listening, and a culture that is safe and inclusive.   
 
Dawn has dedicated over 32 years of outstanding service to Penn State Harrisburg. She first joined the college family in 1991 as an administrative professional in the School of Business Administration. Then, in 2017, Dawn was promoted to her current position as a Human Resources Consultant. 
 
Throughout Dawn's tenure with the college, her unwavering commitment to boosting staff morale has been evident in every interaction and initiative she undertakes. Whether it's organizing employee professional development group activities, serving as a mentor to other staff, volunteering for various committees focused on improving the well-being of employees, supporting and leading various diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging activities, or simply being a consistent, supporting presence for our college community, Dawn is constantly looking for ways to promote employee happiness and success. 
 
Dawn is a very modest, humble and highly professional leader who has an uncanny ability to make us all feel motivated, respected and valued as employees and human beings. One of her nominators shared the following: 
 
“Many people think of a morale booster as someone a little over the top, who is overflowing with energy and vitality. Personally, I view it a little differently. I think Dawn is the epitome of everything you would want as a staff morale leader, which is why I am strongly supporting her nomination for this award. Dawn is a subtle, gentle, calming morale booster. She helps the boat stay steady and intentionally navigates us toward tranquil, more peaceful waters. She encourages, motivates, inspires, and celebrates her colleagues and makes us all feel appreciated. When people leave her office, we feel listened to, respected, and valued. Dawn has enriched the culture at Penn State Harrisburg and made it a better place to work for her colleagues.”

Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Presidential Service Award 

Dinesh Pai
Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management, School of Business Administration

Dr. Pai completed his Ph.D. in supply chain management at Rutgers University prior to joining Penn State Lehigh. He joined Penn State Harrisburg in the fall of 2011. He served as the president of the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute (NEDSI) from 2022 to 2023. Dr. Pai also brings to the classroom corporate experience, having worked in various project management and operations-type positions. His research has appeared in well-regarded journals, such as the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Business Process Management Journal, Health Care Management Science, Health Systems, International Journal of Production Economics, Information Technology and Management, Internal and Emergency Medicine, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Rural Health, and Marketing Intelligence and Planning, among others. Additionally, he has presented his research at prominent regional and international conferences.

2024 The Gustafson Award, State Data Center Network

The Gustafson Award was established in 2012 to memorialize a State Data Center (SDC) program colleague, Randy Gustafson from the Tennessee SDC who also served on the SDC Steering Committee. The Gustafson Award was created in his memory to annually honor an individual of the SDC network for their outstanding contributions to the SDC program. Census State Data Centers are statistical agencies, state demographers, and data-providing organizations from 56 states and U.S. territories. They partner with the Census Bureau to provide expert analysis, training, and extension of Census products and data in their respective states. A memorandum of agreement between the Bureau and the states and territories defines the partnership.

Jennifer Shultz
Director of the PA State Data Center at ISRA

Please refer to the Penn State News story on Ms. Shultz's award. 

Celebration of Life

• Kimberly Jorich 
  Administrative Support Coordinator, Institute of State and Regional Affairs, passed away on May 1, 2023.
• Dr. Frank Swetz 
  Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Education, passed away on June 6, 2023.   
• Dr. Sheela Pandey 
  Associate Professor of Management in the School of Business Administration, passed away on March 25, 2024.