Committees, Events, and Programming

HEPAC Committees, Events, and Programming

Executive Committee

Kris Otto, President

Chris Dougherty, Vice President

Jim Trainer, Secretary

Susan Richardson, Immediate Past President

Alumni Relations Committee

Jim Trainer, Chair

Chris Dougherty

Miguel Escala

Christine Pacifico

Carlo Salerno

Communications Committee

Vacant, Chair

Christian Anderson

Lorenzo Baber

Dot Finnegan

Cori Myers

David Tandberg

Development Committee

Chris Dougherty

Larry Nespoli

Kris Otto

Susan Richardson

Nominating Committee

Jason Lane, Chair

Students Committee

Larry Nespoli, Chair

Jim Broomall

Mary Anne Fedrick

Lisa Weaver

Ying Zhou

Events

HEPAC holds occasional events at University Park for Higher Education Program alumni, current students, faculty, and staff.  These events have been co-sponsored with the Higher Education Program, the Higher Education Student Association (HESA), the College of Education, and the Penn State Alumni Association.  Past events include:

October 12, 2012

Change and Continuity in the Higher Education Program: A Panel Discussion

Retirement Reception honoring Dr. Robert M. Hendrickson

March 30, 2012

Crossing Boundaries: An Education Policy Studies Graduate Student Research Symposium

Higher Education Program Reception

September 30, 2011

Networking Mixer / Career Roundtables

April 15, 2011

Higher Education in Review Symposium

July 2010

Celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Higher Education Program and the 40th anniversary of the Center for the Study of Higher Education

June 2008

Penn State's Higher Education Program:  Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - An Alumni Reunion Symposium

Career Mentoring and Networking

HEPAC facilitates interaction between Higher Education Program alumni and current Higher Education students to provide career mentoring for students and assist them with networking.  This interaction occurs during academic and social events in which HEPAC is involved and through the Alumni Profiles page of this website.

Annual Fund Campaign

One important way you can help HEPAC fulfill its purpose is by providing philanthropic support to the Program’s students and faculty. Over the years, the following funds have been established to support the Higher Education Program:

• General Program Support—Unrestricted funds directed toward the needs of the Higher Education Program, including, but not limited to, student travel, outside speakers, or student research (Robert E. Sweitzer Higher Education Program Fund).

• Student Dissertation Support—This endowed fund supports doctoral degree candidates in the Higher Education Program who are in the dissertation stage of their studies (Martorana Family Award).

• Student Internship Support—This endowed fund supports advanced doctoral students in the Higher Education Program who undertake internships in Central Administration or College-level administrative offices at the University (Ostar Internship Endowment in Higher Education).

• Library Support—This fund is used to purchase books related to the history of higher education for the Higher Education Program library (Hans Flexner Memorial Award).

Each of these funds supports an important need of the Program. If you are interested in discussing other gift options, please contact the College of Education’s Office of Development and Alumni Programs at (814) 863-2146.

Future Programs

Additional programming ideas, such as developing ways in which Higher Education alumni can become involved in aspects of the Center for the Study of Higher Education’s (CSHE's) research, and soliciting volunteers to serve as Alumni-Admissions volunteers on behalf of the Program for students from those regions considering the Higher Education Program at Penn State, are in progress. Please let us know if you have ideas of how HEPAC can serve the Higher Education Program and its alumni!

For more information about HEPAC, contact the College of Education Office of Alumni Relations at (814) 863-2216 or HEPAC President Kris Otto.