President-elect Neeli Bendapudi visits Penn State Harrisburg

This spring, Penn State President-elect Neeli Bendapudi is traveling the commonwealth as part of a listening and learning tour to meet and engage in conversations with students, faculty, staff and community members at each Penn State campus.

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Penn State President-elect Neeli Bendapudi visited Penn State Harrisburg on Thursday, March 31, to meet with students, faculty and staff as part of her listening and learning tour across Penn State’s campuses. While on campus, she held talking sessions with each group and met with key stakeholders and community partners.

During her tour stop, President-elect Bendapudi discussed her overall vision for the University; her commitment to the collaboration of students, faculty and staff; as well as the importance of Commonwealth Campuses to the University’s success.

She stressed that Commonwealth Campuses are essential in Penn State's ability to fulfill its land-grant mission and highlighted the uniqueness of Penn State's Commonwealth Campus system as one of the reasons she accepted the presidency at the University.

She also shared what she called her “ABCs of success”: Ensuring Academic preparedness for students, instilling a sense of Belonging for all members of the Penn State community, and providing access and affordability by managing the Cost of education.

Bendapudi is traveling the commonwealth as part of a listening and learning tour to meet and engage in conversations with students, faculty, staff and community members at each Penn State campus.

President-elect Bendapudi will begin her tenure as Penn State’s 19th on May 9. With a nearly 30-year career in academia, she previously served as president of the University of Louisville. Among her leadership experiences, Bendapudi also has served as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas, dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas and founding director of the Initiative for Managing Services at the Ohio State University.

In addition to consulting for some of the world’s largest companies and organizations, she was the executive vice president and chief customer officer for Huntington National Bank.

With a research background in the study of consumer behavior in service contexts, she has taught marketing at a variety of higher education institutions and been recognized for her leadership, academic and teaching accomplishments. Bendapudi earned her bachelor’s degree in English and MBA from Andhra University in India and her doctorate in marketing from the University of Kansas.