On Jan. 21, attorney Dallas W. Hartman, along with his wife, Kristina, were special guests at a noon celebration in the Penn State Shenango Lartz Memorial Library, where the couple were recognized for their most recent philanthropy to the campus’ Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) and Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) programs. The event included a heartfelt presentation by Dallas Hartman to current OTA students and recent OTA graduates as well as the naming of the campus’ occupational therapy lab classroom as the Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. and Dallas W. & Kristina Hartman Occupational Therapy Lab. The OT lab classroom is located in the Chadderton Lab on Shenango Avenue in Sharon.Although the Hartmans have been strong supporters of the Shenango campus for many years, it is their most recent gift of $150,000 for which they were recognized. Of the $150,000, $50,000 was given to establish a Trustee Scholarship for occupational therapy students, $50,000 was given to establish a Trustee Scholarship for physical therapist assistant students and $50,000 was designated to support capital campus improvements, including the occupational therapy lab.

“We are thrilled to have our state-of-the-art occupational therapy lab classroom named after Dallas and Kristina Hartman,” said senior instructor and Occupational Therapy Program Director Marge Pendzik. “When Mr. Hartman met with me last year and candidly discussed his medical issues, which included a complex aortic dissection and then a series of strokes, and how the support he received from the occupational therapy and physical therapy professionals helped immensely with his recovery, I was truly touched. As Mr. Hartman explained, when you are in pain and are so reliable on others to help you, a health care provider can set the whole tone of the day for a patient by his or her attitude."Prior gifts from the Hartmans to the Shenango campus total more than $200,000, of which $50,000 was given to create the Dallas W. and Kristina Hartman Trustee Scholarship, a major gift established the Fredric Leeds Trustee Scholarship and a generous gift was given for capital improvements during the renovation of the Sharon and Lecture Hall buildings.

Hartman is a 1984 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law. He attended Penn State Shenango in the late 1970s and completed his undergraduate degree at Youngstown State University.

The couple has four children. Their son Dallas, who also attended the event, recently was accepted to Penn State Law at University Park, and their daughter, Nancy, will graduate from Penn State this spring. The couple’s oldest child, Logan, is completing a master’s in education degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while their youngest child, Mac, is studying at Case Western University in Ohio.

Penn State’s alumni and friends are invaluable partners in fulfilling the University’s land-grant mission of education, research and service. Private gifts from alumni and friends enrich the experiences of students both in and out of the classroom; expand the research and teaching capacity of our faculty; enhance the University’s ability to recruit and retain top students and faculty; and help to ensure that students from every economic background have access to a Penn State education. The University’s colleges and campuses are now enlisting the support of alumni and friends to advance a range of unit-specific initiatives.

The Trustee Matching Scholarship Program maximizes the impact of private giving while directing funds to students as quickly as possible, meeting the urgent need for scholarship support. Created in 2002, the program has raised more than $135 million in new need-based aid for undergraduates who might not otherwise be able to afford a Penn State degree. To learn more, visit http://giveto.psu.edu/trustee.