MASTERS OF CEREMONIES
Cheyenne Oswald Cheyenne Oswald is a senior in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications studying broadcast journalism. While Cheyenne originally sought to pursue a career as a collegiate athlete, she later decided to channel these passions into her professional career. She currently works with Penn State Athletics Marketing and Promotions as an emcee and organizer of gameday initiatives. Drawing from her own experiences as an athlete, Cheyenne hopes to be an inspiration and a resource to women within the sports industry. |
Laura McKinney Laura McKinney is a junior in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications majoring in broadcast journalism and minoring in entrepreneurship and innovation. Within the college, Laura is a news anchor for Center County Report and PSNtv. Outside of the classroom, she serves as Student Body President, working with delegates to implement initiatives aimed at improving the student experience. After she graduates, Laura hopes to work in the media business and innovate the industry. |
FACULTY/COMMUNITY SPEAKERS
Charleon Jeffries Charleon graduated from Penn State with B.S. and M.Ed. degrees, and served as the University’s diversity educator in the Affirmative Action Office from 2013 - 2018 before joining the Division of Development and Alumni Relations as the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in May of 2018. Within the university, she has been active member of the President's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, the Penn State Council of College Multicultural Leadership, and the Multicultural Education Student Association. She is active in the community as well, having worked with the Center County Women's Resource Center and trained over 700 faculty, staff, and administrators in the State College Area School District on the influence and impact of unconscious bias. You can watch her talk here. |
Rob Schmidt Rob Schmidt currently serves as the Executive Director of the Downtown State College Improvement District. Having grown up in State College and attended Penn State, he is deeply passionate about the community. Before joining the Downtown Improvement district, Rob served as Publisher of Town & Gown Magazine and the Centre County Gazette Newspaper for the nine years. He has also served as a long time adjunct lecturer on marketing and sales in the Bellesario College of Communications. Rob's talk centers on the future of Downtown State College development. With a development boom, including new housing for more than 2000 additional students, and more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space, the dynamic of a small college town is in jeopardy. Rob will try to answer how can we work together to maintain a positive Town & Gown relationship while assuring a vibrant downtown for students, residents and visitors. You can watch his talk here. |
Allie Goldstein
Allie Goldstein is an Assistant Professor in Higher Education working predominantly within the M.Ed in Higher Education program offered online through World Campus. Allie obtained her PhD in Higher Education from The Pennsylvania State University, and her masters in Post-secondary Educational Leadership and Student Affairs from San Diego State University. Her research focuses on online education, examining how predominantly residential institutions can create engagement opportunities and affinity building activities for their online students.
You can watch her talk here.
STUDENT SPEAKERS
Katie Schreckengast Katie Schreckengast was adopted from South Korea in 1997 when she was just six months old. When she began her career in broadcast journalism at Penn State, she realized that adoption wasn’t talked about as openly or often as it should be. Katie started to write blog posts about adoption and realized that there was an opportunity for her story to reach an even larger audience. In January of 2017, Katie decided to compete in a local pageant in the Miss America Organization and won her first local Miss title. Six months mater she was crowned Miss Pennsylvania 2017 in Pittsburgh, and on September 10th, 2017 she was honored to compete in the top 10 at the 2018 Miss America pageant live on ABC. Katie spent her year of service sharing her adoption story through her personal platform ‘Building Families Through Adoption’. Katie's talk centers on how it important to promote inclusive family diversity. Watch her talk here. 
Jackson Fitzgerald Jackson Fitzgerald is a senior from Pittsburgh, PA double majoring in Statistics and Economics in the Schreyer Honors College. During his college career, Jackson ingrained himself in all things Greek Life. He was the President of his chapter, Sigma Chi, during the Greek Reforms in 2017 and was later elected as the Interfraternity Council Executive Vice President. As a member of the Interfraternity Council, Jackson worked with the Penn State Office of Fraternity and Sorority Compliance and the Office of Student Conduct on the newly-created organizational conduct system. In working with this office, he was able to see how certain policies were hindering students' ability to defend themselves in the conduct process. Jackson sees potential in the existing student conduct system, but hopes to illustrate a number of changes that would benefit both students and the university at large. Watch his talk here. 
Marissa Works Marissa Works is a senior in the Schreyer Honors College studying Music Education and Public Relations. She is also pursuing the Smeal College of Business Fundamentals Certificate. She is active on campus as a performer in the Penn State Concert Choir, Pennharmonics, and Penn State Opera Theatre. Marissa now focuses her efforts as the president of the Performing Arts Council where she combines her love for the arts with her love for business. In this role, she has started many initiatives, most notably, the PACalendar App. Marissa's passion for the arts and community engagement began with her internship at the Center for the Performing Arts, which then led her to an internship program at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. In the Fall, Marissa will be a student teacher in the high school choir program at State High. Watch her talk here. 
Catherine Okafor Catherine Okafor is a first year master’s student in the higher education program.Prior to graduate school, Catherine worked as a college counselor in San Francisco supporting high school students with the college admissions process.She is an active member of the Student Affairs Student Organization (SASO) and the First Gen Advocates. Watch her talk here. 
Nick Pazuchanics Nick Pazuchanics will be graduating this coming May as a senior studying Labor and Employment Relations. Serving for two years on the Lion Ambassador Executive Board, and this past year as the President, Nick has found a home at Penn State working through the student branch of the Penn State Alumni Association. Since becoming the President of the organization last spring, Nick and his executive board have continued to make improvements to the nearly 40 yera old Lion Ambassador organization. One of his biggest goals since attaining the position was to imbue each of the organization's actions with a sense of purpose. In his speech Nick hopes to lay out a roadmap for other student organizations to follow that cautions against antiquated thinking and the insistence of tradition. Watch his talk here. |
Bhavin Shah Bhavin Shah is a senior majoring in Industrial Engineering from Livingston, New Jersey. He currently serves as the Speaker of the Assembly for the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA). In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the legislative body of UPUA. In his time in student government he has also served as UPUA’s first Chair of Outreach. Throughout his four years at Penn State and in UPUA, he has focused on advocating on behalf of international students to ensure all individuals at Penn State are truly welcomed in State College. After graduation, he will be working for PepsiCo as a part of a Supply Chain Rotational Program. You can watch his talk here. 
John Lord John Lord served as IFC VP for Community Relations in 2017 and then as IFC President in 2018. His talk centers on the reforms the Greek community has implemented in the past two years. He offers both his first-hand insights into the efforts the IFC has taken to restructure and reform its operations and illuminates certain areas in the Greek community that still require improvements. John charges the Greek general membership to change how they perceive new member recruitment, asserting that recruiting the right people for Greek organizations is an effective and sustainable way forward. Watch his talk here. 
Amanda Nelson Amanda Nelson is a sophomore at Penn State World Campus, majoring in Human Development and Family Studies. Amanda spent 17 years in drug and alcohol addiction, and after hitting multiple rock bottoms, she found the strength to build a new life for herself and her daughter. She forged her own path to a clean and sober life and she is now three and a half years free from addiction. Amanda is a published author, a World Campus Ambassador, and a delegate of the HDFS World Campus Student Advisory & Engagement Council. In her talk, Amanda wants to remind you that you have the power to impact others by speaking words of encouragement and love. Watch her talk here. 
Dani Marks Dani Marks graduated in May '18, majoring in Political Science and he is now a Graduate student in the Smeal College of Business, studying Business Management. During his time at Penn State, Dani captained the Varsity Men’s Soccer team for 3 years and capped over 70 appearances. Born in London, raised in Israel, attending high school in Switzerland, serving in the Israeli military, Dani has a diverse background that offers him a unique perspective on life. He believes it is important to speak about about the experiences of student-athletes at Penn State, the glory and the pressure that comes with it, and what could be done in order to better support athletes. Watch his talk here. 
Divine Lipscomb Divine Lipscomb is a junior at Penn State majoring in Rehabilitation and Human Services. After graduating from Penn State, he plans on attending law school. As a non-traditional adult learner, Divine approaches the University Park experience through all of his intersectionalities. In his role as the Special Projects Coordinator, for the Restorative Justice Initiative at Penn State, he has keen insight for the Prison Education component of RJI. Divine is also the Executive Director for Corrective Gentlemen, INC., a non-profit program that highlights the importance of mentorship, entrepreneurship, and advocacy for young men. Watch his talk here. |
