UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Noah Unger, the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) student marshal for the Fall 2017 semester, is not only graduating Summa Cum Laude but also has earned the admiration and respect of an esteemed faculty member.
“He’s phenomenal,” said Ed Glantz, IST assistant teaching professor. “He is very self-motivated and he just embraces problems and runs with them.”
A native of Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, Unger began his academic career at Penn State Berks. Upon moving to the University Park campus, one of the first classes Unger attended was a senior-level risk analysis class with Glantz.
“I really enjoyed it,” Unger said of the class.
Their collaboration began during Unger’s junior year, when he approached Glantz about becoming his learning assistant, a program where IST undergraduates who have excelled in certain courses can assist instructors and tutor their peers in future offerings.
After two semesters of assisting in the class, Unger says he was inspired to ask Glantz to serve as his faculty escort for the December commencement ceremony.
“Dr. Glantz helped me a lot throughout my career, so I wanted to honor him as well,” he said.
Beyond acting as a learning assistant, Unger facilitated the transfer of Glantz’s larger classes from ANGEL to the new online course management system, Canvas. In taking this on, the senior security and risk analysis (SRA) major showed how seriously he took his work, even outside of the classroom.
“To do that shift, he became a subject expert on Canvas all on his own,” Glantz said. “That’s just one example of his initiative. He has very advanced skills and really takes on leadership opportunities.”
Leadership and mentoring are two skills Unger cultivated long before he arrived at University Park. While attending IST classes at Penn State Berks as a sophomore, he helped to teach a cybersecurity summer camp for high school students.
“I was basically an instructor to these kids, some who had been already learning cybersecurity and coding and others who this was their first exposure,” he explained. “That was one of my strengths, being able to help everyone on opposite ends.”
Honing these mentoring abilities, he also completed three internships with UGI Utilities, AMCS, and Air Products and Chemicals.
“In my internships, before I left, I taught the intern coming in after me because I was going back to school. It worked out well because I already knew how to approach mentoring,” he said.
After graduation, Unger will be starting his professional career with Air Products and Chemicals, where he will participate in a rotational program. In his new role, Glantz is sure he’s going to make a positive impact.
“[Unger] is exactly the type of person who should go to a leadership development program,” Glantz said. “He’s extremely talented and he’s always thinking of the next big idea. I am sorry to see him go but obviously very happy for him!”