Alumnus, former Blue Band director Bundy to receive Distinguished Alumni Award

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State alumnus and former Blue Band member and director O. Richard Bundy Jr. has been named by the Penn State Board of Trustees as one of 2025’s eight recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award, the University’s highest honor presented to alumni.

“I am very humbled and gratified, and I know that sounds trite to say that, but when you look at the list of other people and their accomplishments, I feel a bit of imposter syndrome,” Bundy said. “I owe a lot to the kids and the staff of the band over the years, because I'm sure this would not have come my direction were it not for the efforts that those kids put in representing Penn State, and that it was done in a positive way that reflected well on them, and in turn reflected on me.”

Bundy, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in music education from the College of Education in 1970 and later earned a doctor of education degree from the College of Arts and Architecture, became professor emeritus of music at Penn State after retiring in 2015. Bundy first played trombone in the Blue Band as an undergraduate, one of many music-related activities he enjoyed in his first stint at Penn State.

“Penn State football came into an era of great success at that time in the late ’60s, and so the Blue Band was riding along on those coat tails at that time, but I also had an opportunity that when I came in, I came in with a fairly limited awareness of how many different kinds of music there are because I hadn’t been exposed,” Bundy said. “So, one of the things that really was very meaningful to me at that time was being exposed to a lot of different types of music.”

Bundy and some of his fellow music students formed a jazz band called The Penn Statesmen. He also became involved playing in the pit orchestra for some thespian productions and even participated in a vocal group on campus.

“All of us who were instrumentalists were required to participate in a vocal group,” Bundy explained. “While I will not call myself a singer, I had a good experience attempting to sing.”

After completing his bachelor’s degree in 1970, Bundy was drafted into the U.S. Army and reported for basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey before being assigned to the Continental Command Band stationed at Fort Monroe in Virginia for three years.

Once his military service was complete, Bundy became a music teacher and band director in the Iroquois School District just outside of Erie.

He earned a master’s degree at the University of Michigan in 1978 before returning to Centre County with his family in 1980 to begin his work as a graduate assistant with the Blue Band while pursuing his doctorate at Penn State.

In 1983, Bundy began serving as acting assistant director of the Blue Band and an instructor in the music education program. He completed his doctorate in 1987 and that year earned a tenure track faculty position.

Bundy was named director of the Blue Band in 1996, a position he held until his 2015 retirement.

“I used to tell the kids in the band, ‘This may not be a perfect place, but it sure is an awfully good place to be associated with, and an awfully good place to learn to grow,’” Bundy said of Penn State. “It's a great place to be at, and it's a great place to represent to the world, and, for me, it was great just to have an opportunity to represent Penn State, which is a place that I think, by and large, has had an immensely positive impact on this region, on people, on the state and on the nation.”

Bundy is the 32nd College of Education graduate to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award.

Established by the Board of Trustees in 1951, the Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor that Penn State bestows upon an outstanding alumna or alumnus. The award salutes the achievements of outstanding alumni whose “personal lives, professional achievements, and community service exemplify the objectives of their alma mater.” The award is commemorated by the presentation of both an inscribed certificate and an engraved bronze medallion displayed in a box handcrafted from the wood of the historic Penn State American Elm trees that once flourished on the University Park campus.