 Five Minutes with President Graham Spanier
If you're not a Penn State student taking courses at the University Park campus, you may never have the opportunity to meet President Graham Spanier or to see him showcase his magician skills or make a guest appearance as the Nittany Lion. You may also never hear him discuss his steadfast commitment to making Penn State an environment in which adult learners can thrive—whether they're studying on campus or across the globe.
We recently had the opportunity to ask President Spanier for his thoughts about adult learners at Penn State, particularly those studying online through the World Campus. Here is what he said:
"Penn State is growing its commitment to serve adult learners. The World Campus is a key part of this initiative. We are seeking to increase dramatically our enrollments and degree offerings to meet the needs of adults—the most rapidly growing sector within higher education.
"I encourage adult learners to be ambitious in thinking about opportunities to advance their education through the World Campus, to seek advice from our academic advisers, and to stay in touch with Penn State's offerings. Adult learners are an increasingly important constituency for Penn State.
"For adults, education today is about balancing one's academic pursuits with work, family, and other aspects of life. With my demanding schedule, I look for lots of ways to balance my own work with fun. I play racquetball a couple of times a week, I play the washboard with different bands, including on Saturday nights, and I do magic shows regularly. I try to integrate these hobbies and interests with my job, and one would be surprised at how often this is possible!"
At http://president.psu.edu/ you can now access selected State-of-the-University addresses by President Spanier, in addition to editorial columns, policy statements, and video/audio clips from his television and radio shows.
To contact the President's office, e-mail president@psu.edu. President Spanier will reply to you, or a member of his staff will make sure that your e-mail is forwarded to the person at the University who can best help.
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