Posthumous Degree To Be Awarded For Shellie Smarowsky

December 12, 2001
University Park, Pa.--Penn State will award a posthumous bachelor of arts degree this week for Shellie Smarowsky, the West Chester advertising/public relations senior who died Dec. 3 in a pedestrian-bus accident in downtown State College.

Smarowsky, 21 and an only child, was considered an outstanding student who would have completed the College of Communications’ courses for her major this semester.

“Shellie was a peer mentor in the college and was described by one of her professors as always willing to help out her fellow students,” said Robert D. Richards, associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Communications. “Her teachers and the students who knew her understandably are upset by this tragic loss, and we know that her mother was very proud that she was attending Penn State.

“Her professors reported that she would have earned an ‘A’ in each of her courses this semester.”

Steve Manuel, a senior lecturer in communications who taught Smarowsky in several courses, said she was a notable presence even in a large lecture hall.

“Of all the hundreds of students I’ve taught, there’s just a handful like Shellie, who was always smiling when I walked into the room,” Manuel said. “I could tell you exactly where she sat in a class I had with her a year-and-a-half ago. She was an excellent, dedicated student--a real pleasure to work with--and I’ll miss her.”

**gwc**

Contact: Gary W. Cramer, Penn State Department of Public Information, at 814-865-7517 or gwc104@psu.edu