Stephen Kadar Jr., a 1982 alumnus and longtime Penn State supporter, visited the Stuckeman School's Hamer Center for Community Design on the University Park campus in April to speak with faculty and student researchers about their work collaborating with communities on design projects.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Stephen Kadar Jr., a 1982 alumnus and longtime Penn State supporter, has given back to the University with gifts supporting the Hamer Center for Community Design in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School and Penn State University Libraries' Commonwealth Campus Libraries.
The Stephen Kadar Jr. Fund for the Hamer Center for Community Design will support teaching, research and service activities within the center, which serves as a hub for community partnerships focused on socio-economic and environmental solutions to design and planning challenges.
Currently a senior project planner for the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) in Portsmouth, Virginia, Kadar said he became involved with the Hamer Center for Community Design several years ago because its mission closely aligns with his own academic and professional experiences, which is applying design and planning skills to improve communities and neighborhoods.
“I think the Hamer Center is doing very good work for a lot of communities, and I think that's really important,” Kadar said. “It not only matches the land-grant mission [of the University], but it also provides students with professional skills they would never get otherwise.”
Lisa Iulo, professor of architecture and director of the Hamer Center for Community Design, said that the establishment of the new fund is “inspiring fresh approaches to interrelated teaching, research and outreach efforts, enhancing the Stuckeman School while benefiting the community.”
“Steve has been supporting Hamer Center for Community Design activities for several years, including our ‘coffee hour’ presentation series. His generous support has significantly and positively impacted the research and community engagement of the Hamer Center,” she said.
Kadar said he sees his contributions to the research center as a way of giving back to the place that molded his young career, and he is happy to support a mission that expands students' perspectives in design planning.
The Stephen Kadar Jr. Fund for the Penn State University Commonwealth Campus Libraries will support the purchase of books and materials, student and staff wages, preservation supplies and equipment, new technologies, and the support of special activities at the University Libraries' Commonwealth Campus Libraries with a focus on the Mary M. and Bertil E. Lofstrom Library at Penn State Hazleton, where Kadar began his Penn State education.
“At a campus that was mostly used by commuters (at the time), we needed a place to work either alone or in groups to complete our classwork,” he said. “It would be hard to study at the commons building so the library was a quiet place for study on a small campus which, at that time, had fewer buildings and one dorm.”
He also noted that for many first-year students at the time, the Commonwealth Campus Libraries were where they started to learn and use the resources of a major university research library. Still, there were times students needed to review materials for coursework that were unavailable on their own campuses, so he wants to make sure today’s students don’t face some of the same challenges.
“This was before computers were big and the library catalogue was online, so we were using the physical card catalogue to find resources,” he explained. “Some students would take a day and drive to University Park and spend a day at Pattee for materials on projects since they were not available at the other campus libraries.”
Kadar earned his degree in man-environment relations, an interdisciplinary major (no longer offered) that combined design, planning and social sciences, and went on to earn a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Virginia Commonwealth University. He then spent 12 years of his career in design and construction in the public sector with Richmond Public Schools in Virgina before moving to the private sector.
Kadar said the foundational education he received at Penn State has made a direct impact on his life and career, and he encouraged others to give back to a cause or effort at the University or anywhere else that betters a community.
“I think there comes a point in life where you feel your ‘thing’ is to help other people to feel a sense of belonging,” he said. “I want to make a difference. I can't think of a better difference, not only in helping my university, but also supporting the libraries and a program that I believe in.”
Donors like Kadar advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.
