Retired chancellor pledges estate gift to support Penn State Abington students
Penn State Abington Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini, left, and Karen Wiley Sandler, who served as chancellor from 1994 to 2016, talk in the Sutherland Building solarium.
Image: Penn State
Retired chancellor pledges estate gift to support Penn State Abington students
February 12, 2021
ABINGTON, Pa. Karen Wiley Sandler, retired Penn State Abington chancellor, has pledged an estate gift that will be split between the existing Karen Wiley Sandler Student Success Fund and the Penn State Abington College Endowment. Her gift will benefit students and the campus in perpetuity.
“Karen’s priority at Penn State Abington was student success, and for many students the biggest barrier to success is financial. I m very grateful to Karen for her deep commitment to Penn State and her passion for Abington,” current Abington Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini said.
IMAGE: Contributed photo
Those experiences shaped his childhood, his career in forest and timber management, and a new gift to the college: The Jeff and Pam Kochel Undergraduate Research Fund for Biology, an endowed fund that will expand the undergraduate research opportunities for students in Behrend’s biology major.
“My love for the outdoors came from my mother, and my support for the student body came from my dad,” he said. “Put those together, and it results in a grant in biology.”
The endowment will defray the costs of undergraduate student research, including equipment, supplies and travel to academic conferences.
IMAGE: Provided
A native of Pennsylvania and 1983 graduate of the College of Agricultural Sciences, Conrad said his gift to the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity was inspired by his lifetime journey as a gay man and by his dedication to supporting the LGBTQ+ community. As a first-generation student coming from a small, rural community, Conrad faced many challenges in his undergraduate experience, compounded by his experiences struggling with his sexuality and negative stigmas about the LGBTQ+ community in the early 1980s. Conrad endured a lack of support and resources for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as sometimes outright hostility, while earning his degree in agricultural business. Those same experiences persisted as he began a career in business where, if revealed, disclosure of his sexuality at that time could have resulted in a loss of employment or derail his career.
IMAGE: Michael T. Davis Photography
His appointment is possible due to the generosity of longtime Penn State philanthropist Catherine Rein, a 1964 alumna of the College of the Liberal Arts. Rein is a former member of the Penn State Alumni Association Council and current member of the Liberal Arts Development Council. She has received both the Penn State Distinguished Alumni and Penn State Alumni Fellow awards. The endowment was established last fall with a $400,000 gift from Rein and a $100,000 match from the University’s Faculty Endowment Challenge.
Rein, who has made significant philanthropic contributions to Penn State for many years most of which have been undergraduate scholarships said this endowment is different from the others in that it focuses on the people who will teach undergraduate students.
Alumni couple creates endowment for School of Labor and Employment Relations
Penn State alumni Beth and Scott Albright, along with their children, Eric and Heather, display their Penn State pride after reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2019. The Albrights recently established a $50,000 fund in the School of Labor and Employment Relations.Image: Trent Seaman
Alumni couple creates endowment for School of Labor and Employment Relations
Susan Burlingame
February 01, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Penn State alumni Beth and Scott Albright have been together even when jobs and states separated them for more than 30 years. Because of a new philanthropic gift, their long Penn State story has a new chapter that will continue far into the future.