Three former Penn State trustees are up for the distinction of emeritus status.
On Thursday, the governance and long-range planning committee of the Penn State Board of Trustees approved Marianne Alexander, Carl Shaffer and Linda Strumpf for consideration by the full board to be named emeriti trustees.
The three former trustees were selected for consideration because each had served at least six year and displayed outstanding dedication in the work as trustees, according to committee chairman Keith Eckel.
Marianne Alexander, the longtime leader of the Public Leadership Education Network and a former president of the Penn State Alumni Association, served on the board for six years starting in 2005.
Linda Strumpf, the retired Chief Investment Officer of Helmsley Charitable Trust, served as a trustee from 2003 to 2011, winning two elections to the board after being appointed to fill a partial term. She also worked on the Penn State College of Liberal Arts Development Council.
Carl Shaffer, a recent retiree from the board, served from 1997 until last year. He is the current president of the Pennsylvania Friends of Ag Foundation and the former president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
Trustee Anthony Lubrano was the sole dissenting vote against nominating the three former trustees for emeritus status.
Although Lubrano worked as part of the group that selected Alexander, Shaffer and Strumpf from a list of over 20 former trustees, Lubrano noted that he was categorically opposed to the emeritus classification and said “in retrospect” another trustee should have helped select potential emeriti trustees instead of him.
However, Eckel said he felt Lubrano provided an important perspective in the selection process and thanked him for agreeing to serve.
Shaffer, Alexander and Strumpf are the first three former trustees to be nominated for emeritus status since the board of trustees went through a lengthy debate to update qualifications and criteria for emeriti trustees.
Under the new guidelines, trustees need only serve for six years instead of 12 to be considered for emeritus status, but have more limited access to executive sessions and privileged legal information than under previous guidelines. Emeritus status now also only lasts for six years, where it was previously a lifetime designation.
