Appointments
Penn State Intercom......June
21 , 2001
Librarian named to endowed
position in literature, humanities
William Brockman has been appointed to the endowed position of Paterno Family Librarian in the Literature, Arts and Humanities Library on the University Park campus.
A tenured librarian, Brockman was the coordinator of the Arts and Humanities Division at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he held the title of English librarian. He is a bibliographer and James Joyce scholar.
Brockman earned a bachelor of arts in English literature from Earlham College, a master of arts in English literature from Drew University and a master of library science degree from Rutgers Graduate School of Library Service.
John Powell, Jeff Nelson to
assume new duties for athletics
John Powell and Jeff Nelson
will assume
additional responsibilities within the athletic administration.
The University's director of athletic development since April 1999, Powell has been named associate athletic director for marketing and development. Nelson, the Nittany Lions' sports information director since October 1993, has been named assistant athletic director for communications. Both appointments are effective Aug. 1.
In addition to their
current duties, Powell and Nelson will assume the responsibilities of
Budd Thalman, associate athletic director for communications, who is retiring
July 31 after 15 years with the University. (See story on page 4 of the
June 7 Intercom.)
Powell's new responsibilities will include oversight and workingwith the marketingand promotions staff on department initiatives. He also will serve as a department liaison with Nike and on the University's licensing committee. His current duties include planning, supervising and implementing the fund-raising program for the athletic department, including major gift solicitation, corporate giving and annual giving programs. He also supervises the athletic component of the University's Grand Destiny campaign and is responsible for the marketing and operations of the Beaver Stadium suites and club seats.
A 1965 graduate of Penn State with a bachelor's degree in communications, Powell earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He began his business career with AT&T in 1967 as a customer service representative. In 1984, he was promoted to consumer marketing director and two years later became director of consumer services and telemarketing.
Powell was appointed sales vice president for public markets in 1987, serving in that capacity until 1990 when he became vice president for local marketing, directing AT&T's marketing and sales programs and activities at local fairs, festivals, shows, events and exhibits.
Before returning to his alma mater, Powell had been sales vice president for AT&T's Consumer Services unit. In that role, he became a key player in the development of a corporate relationship between AT&T and Penn State.
Powell has been an active alumnus of Penn State, serving on the Board of Visitors of The Smeal College of Business Administration and on the executive board of the Penn State Alumni Council. He also was a board member and Signature Club designee of the United Way.
Nelson's new responsibilities will include supervision of the Nittany Lions' sports information and publications operations and the Athletics Web site, http://www.GoPSUsports.com/. His current responsibilities include oversight of the sports information/media relations operation for the University's 29 varsity sports and serving as the primary media contact for the Nittany Lion football team.
A 1983 graduate of Indiana University with a bachelor's degree in journalism, Nelson joined the University after six years as the sports information director at the College of the Holy Cross. He previously served as the assistant sports information director at Holy Cross from 1985-87 and was a sportswriter at the Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune for one year .
At Holy Cross, his 1991 football game programs were honored as "Best in the Nation" by the College Sports Information Directors of America, while the Crusaders' football media guide annually placed among the nation's five-best.
Nelson has been a national coordinator with the Verizon Academic All-America program since 1986, ranking second on the 80-person committee in longevity. He also has served as a member of the NCAA Final Four Media Coordination Committee since 1995.
Development director named
for Outreach, Cooperative Extension
Sophie W. Penney, director
of corporate and foundation relations at Bucknell University, has been
appointed director of development for Penn State Outreach and Cooperative
Extension. 
Penney will provide leadership for developing and directing fund-raising activities in support of Outreach andCooperative Extension programs. The unit is composed of Cooperative Extension, Continuing Education, Distance Education/World Campus and Public Broadcasting, which includes the University's public television and radio stations. She also will be instrumental in providing leadership for Penn State Public Broadcasting's campaign to support conversion from analog to digital television.
Since August 1999, she has served as director of corporate and foundation relations at Bucknell University. From 1997 to 1999, she was regional manager of major gifts at Bucknell. She also has held positions as director of major gifts at Shippensburg University Foundation and director of corporate and foundation relations at Hanover College.
Previously, Penney had a 13-year career in student affairs, including service as coordinator of campus residential life at Penn State Beaver. Before entering the higher education doctoral degree program at Bowling Green State University, she was associate dean of students at the College of Wooster.
She has made numerous presentations at regional and national conferences and has served as a consultant to several institutions. She also co-authored the book Dollars for Dreams: Student Affairs Staff at Fundraisers, released by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators in April.
Penney is a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and helped plan the Foundation Track for the council's recent Corporate and Foundation Relations Conference. She also is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and has served on several community organizations.
She earned a bachelor of science degree in music education in 1979 and a master of arts in student personnel services in 1980 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a doctoral degree in higher education administration in 1998 from Bowling Green State University.