UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Tracey DeBlase Huston, vice president for outreach at Penn State, will retire in June after a 37-year career in higher education, including more than 27 years at the University.
Huston has led Penn State’s outreach enterprise since January 2017 — initially as interim vice president — before being named to the role permanently in July 2018. Under Huston’s leadership, Penn State Outreach has flourished, the program portfolio has expanded and philanthropic support for Outreach programs and units has grown.
Huston serves as the principal administrative officer for the Office of the Vice President for Outreach, which advances and facilitates a full breadth of Penn State’s outreach and engagement activities across the institution and commonwealth — including Conferences and Institutes; the Justice and Safety Institute; Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes at University Park and Penn State York; the Penn State Center Pittsburgh; the Penn State Center Philadelphia; Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, the Musser Gap to Valleylands Project; Community and K-12 Engagement; the Nittany AI Alliance; WPSU TV, FM, Digital (PBS/NPR affiliates); the Readiness Institute at Penn State; and the Arboretum at Penn State.
In 2021, the University was selected by the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) to receive the Ryan, Moser, Reilly Excellence in Community Engagement Institutional Leadership Award. Penn State received the award for "exemplary leadership in advancing the field of community-engaged scholarship."
All of Huston’s Penn State service has been in the outreach and/or online education portfolios. She started her career as a marketing specialist in Continuing and Distance Education. In 1997, she was appointed to the role of director of communications for Outreach and Cooperative Extension. In 2004, Huston was named executive director of marketing and communications where she built a high-performing team that contributed to the enrollment growth of the Penn State World Campus. In 2016, she was promoted to associate vice president for Outreach and Online Education for her expanded responsibilities overseeing World Campus marketing, admissions and enrollment, and Outreach marketing and communications. She has served as the vice president for Outreach for the past five years.
“As I reflect on my 37 years of service in higher education, I am most grateful for the extraordinary colleagues with whom I have worked over the years and the impact my units have had on the stakeholders whom they have served,” said Huston.
During her long tenure as the executive director and then associate vice president for marketing and enrollment services for Outreach and Online Education, Huston was able to coalesce an extraordinary team of strategic, data-driven, innovative unit leaders to pilot initiatives such as a customer relationship management system for student recruitment; financial literacy for World Campus students; and new ways of strategically researching, marketing and recruiting prospects and learners for the World Campus. Many of these pilot initiatives have now been institutionalized within the University’s core.
“Within the Outreach portfolio, thanks to a stellar leadership team, an outstanding employee base, and generous support from our donors and foundation partners, we continue to launch compelling content that reaches the top 50 media markets nationally through our Emmy Award-winning WPSU station,” said Huston. “We have served the commonwealth’s rural and urban communities, K-12 audiences, citizens aged 50 years and better, educators, niche audiences, law enforcement personnel, Penn State students and University partners in both traditional and innovative ways. We have also supercharged our efforts to bring more outreach programming into the portfolio that emphasizes diversity, access, inclusion and belonging.”
“Penn State has a rich tradition as one of the nation’s top community-engaged institutions and also continues to be a leader in online education,” said Penn State President Eric J. Barron. “Tracey has contributed immensely to the University’s success and stature in both of those portfolios during her 27 years of service and leadership.”
“While Tracey’s enthusiasm, strategic leadership and collaborative spirit will be missed, I wish her and her husband the very best as they enter this new chapter in their lives,” he said.
Prior to her arrival at Penn State, Huston worked for Juniata College for almost 10 years. In her first professional higher education role in 1985, Huston was one of the first female sports information directors for the Division III Mid-Atlantic Conference, responsible for all men’s and women’s athletic programs at Juniata College. She also served as assistant director of public relations at Juniata from 1985 to 1994.
Throughout her career, Huston has participated on numerous university and national committees and task force teams. In 2017, Huston was appointed treasurer of the executive board of the national Engaged Scholarship Consortium. She previously served on the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, Marketing and Communications Task Force from 2006 to 2012; and as vice chair for communications for the University Professional and Continuing Education Association Engagement and Outreach Community of Practice in 2008. Her work has been recognized nationally with awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the University Professional and Continuing Education Association and the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America. She also served as the 2021 chair of Penn State’s United Way campaign.
“I especially enjoyed my work on national and university committees because it gave me the opportunity to work with trustees, deans, faculty senators, department heads, vice presidents and staff from many disciplines and content areas here at Penn State and nationally. I am appreciative for that service because it enlarged my scope and enabled me to be a more well-rounded administrator,” Huston said.
In 2017, Huston and her husband, William, established the DeBlase-Huston Family Open Doors Scholarship for World Campus Students — part of a University-wide program designed to financially assist students within two semesters of finishing their degrees to successfully cross the finish line.
“Penn State is a very special place to me and to my husband (who retired in 2014). We will continue to support the work of the institution, our former colleagues and our new president because we are both so grateful to have had the honor to work at this outstanding land-grant institution,” Huston said.