HAZLETON, Pa. — The Penn State Hazleton Council, the community leadership board of Penn State Hazleton, recently installed new officers and members.
New executive board officers for the 2018-20 term are: Lisa Schugardt, president; Sharon Rohrbach, first vice president; John Beltrami, second vice president; Betty Corcoran, secretary; Anthony Cusatis, treasurer; and Gordon Bigelow, immediate past president.
The Penn State Hazleton Council offers guidance, counsel and fundraising support to the campus and its leadership. Members are involved in the community and at the campus, serving as ambassadors for Penn State Hazleton and its students. The council assists with events such as Community Day, when the campus hosts a variety of activities and events open to the public.
New voting members include Neal DeAngelo III, Tri-Mountain Ventures; Fermin Diaz, Ace Construction; Brian Harman, Harman Funeral Homes; and David Seamon, Hazleton Standard-Speaker. New ex-officio members are Dixie McCoy and Brittany Major.
Additional voting members of the group include Donna Barna; Matthew Bayzick; Robert Caccese; Joseph Clifford; Joseph Donato; Rocco Formica; Terry Jones; Megan Kennedy; Mary Celeste Kosko; Gary Lamont; Linda Lease; Joseph Lettiere; Zena-Marie Lewoc; Ben Medina; John Meier Jr.; Donald Pachence; and Pasco Schiavo.
Other members include emeritus members William Flood, Eugene Gallagher, C. Jeffrey Mason and Joseph Rudawski, and ex-officio members Denise Corcoran, president-elect, Penn State Hazleton Alumni Society; Luci Kulish, first vice president, Hazleton Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association; Gary Lawler, chancellor, Penn State Hazleton; Charmaine Tetkoskie, president, Penn State Hazleton Alumni Society; Tarah Toohil, Pennsylvania state representative; Brian Uplinger, superintendent, Hazleton Area School District; Elizabeth Wright, director of academic affairs, Penn State Hazleton; and John Yudichak, Pennsylvania state senator.
The group’s original name, the Hazleton Educational Council, was changed to Penn State Hazleton Council in 2010. It was incorporated in 1944 “to support, promote, encourage, sponsor and cultivate educational institutions in the city of Hazleton … and to acquire and hold personal and/or real estate necessary to such an end,” according to the group’s certificate of incorporation.
The council was instrumental in securing the gift and purchase of Alvan Markle Sr.’s 66-acre estate, where Penn State Hazleton relocated to its permanent home in 1948. Penn State Hazleton was previously housed in several locations in downtown Hazleton since its founding as the Hazleton Undergraduate Center in 1934. Through the following years, the campus has expanded to 125 acres. Penn State Hazleton now offers 10 bachelor’s degrees and five associate degrees right from its campus, in addition to the pathway to more than 275 Penn State majors, with the first two years of study available at the campus. The campus also offers a variety of health care and professional development programs through its Department of Continuing Education.