UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Several members of the Penn State liberal arts family were honored during the College of the Liberal Arts’ annual Alumni Awards Ceremony, which took place Thursday, April 21, at the Centre Hills Country Club in State College.
“As the semester draws to a close and we approach the most ‘normal’ commencement we have had since 2019, tonight’s ceremony allows us to celebrate the value of a liberal arts education and the people who make the world a better place because of the education they received here at Penn State,” said Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. “It is truly an honor to witness the leadership and accomplishments of tonight’s awardees.”
During the ceremony, Lang paid tribute to Susan Welch, former dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, who passed away in March 2022.
“It is my privilege to follow in Susan’s footsteps and to continue building upon the foundation she helped establish,” Lang said. “I will always be grateful for the guidance she offered to help me transition to this role, and I will always be proud that the title I hold carries her name.”
The first four awards were sponsored by the Liberal Arts Alumni Society Board of Directors, while the final awards were sponsored by the college. This year’s honorees included:
— Julius Halstead, class of 2016 (Political Science and Philosophy), received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Halstead was a member of the Multicultural Undergraduate Law Association and worked as a research assistant to several of his professors while a student at Penn State. After graduation, he earned his juris doctorate at Northeastern School of Law, where he was involved in the Black Law Students Association and served as a teaching assistant for several courses. After law school, Halstead joined Goulston & Storrs PC, a Boston-based law firm, where he worked as a litigation associate, handling a range of matters spanning employment, professional liability, commercial disputes, and real estate. In 2021, Halstead began working as a law clerk for a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
— Gary Gregory, class of 1986 (Economics), received the Service to Society Award. Gregory has held leadership and executive positions across an array of Fortune 250 companies and successful startups and today is the chairman and CEO of SyncThink, a neuro-technology company supporting advanced patient care and clinical research using eye-tracking metrics and devices. Prior to joining SyncThink, Gregory was the CEO, president, and board member of Perthera, the leading therapeutic intelligence company using technology to precisely pinpoint cancer treatments on an individual level. In 2006, Gregory and his brother, Arthur, lost their sister, Ellen Gregory Robb, to domestic violence. The brothers decided to honor their sister’s memory and channel their grief by helping other victims of domestic violence. Using Ellen’s initials — EGR — they established the “Every Great Reason Foundation,” a not-for-profit organization that provides awareness campaigns, educational programs, and other support to help victims of domestic violence find a way to get out of their situations and move forward with their lives. Gregory also travels throughout the country speaking about domestic violence prevention.
— Randy Houston, class of 1991 (Political Science), received the newly renamed Christopher B. Gamble Service to Penn State Award. Houston is an intellectual property and entertainment lawyer, a musician and composer, a writer, a director, an actor, and a world traveler. After graduating from Penn State, he earned his juris doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and since then has enjoyed a venerable career, including work with The William Morris Agency, NBC Sports Group, Complex Networks, BuzzFeed, and Fortkort & Houston, the Texas law firm he co-founded that still bears his name. Houston’s volunteer service to his alma mater began 15 years ago when he served as a member of the Liberal Arts Alumni Society Board, eventually serving as its president. He has also been a dedicated mentor in the Liberal Arts Mentor Program. Houston is the immediate past president of the Penn State Alumni Association as well as a current member of the Penn State Board of Trustees.
— Casey Sennett received the inaugural Christopher B. Gamble Undergraduate Service to Penn State Award. When Sennet graduates in May 2023, she will have a master’s degree in anthropology; bachelor’s degrees in anthropology, classics and ancient Mediterranean studies, Jewish studies, and history; minors in Middle Eastern studies and global and international studies; and certificates in museum studies and Holocaust and genocide studies. Sennet serves as a Lion Ambassador, a Schreyer Honors Orientation mentor, and an ambassador for both the College of the Liberal Arts and the Schreyer Honors College. She is a member of the Paterno Fellows’ Student Advisory Board, and she works as a public speaking mentor, a research assistant in the Jewish Studies program, a student assistant in the Career Enrichment Network, and an intern with the Centre County Planning and Community Development Office.
— Mark Matteson, class of 1985 (Political Science), received the Outstanding Alumni in Business Award. Matteson earned an MBA from Georgetown University. Today, he is a founding partner of SunTx Capital Partners, a Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm. Previously, he was vice president of Spinnaker Industries, Inc., a publicly traded manufacturing company. He also served in the U.S. Department of Commerce. During his 30-year career, Matteson has led numerous investments in the manufacturing, services, and distribution industries. He is a board member of several companies and has served on and supported numerous civic and faith-based organizations including the Gladney Center for Adoption, his children’s school board, the Georgetown University admissions program, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher.
— Matt Rhule, class of 1991 (Political Science), received the Outstanding Alumni Award. Rhule is the head coach of the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers. A four-year Penn State linebacker who played at State College Area High School before coming to Penn State, Rhule was a three-time Penn State Scholar-Athlete and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. He has spent the last 25 years as a football coach, first in the college arena as a linebackers coach at Albright College and then rising through the ranks to become head coach of the Panthers in 2020. Before joining the Panthers’ organization, Rhule was the head coach at Temple University, leading the Owls to their first conference championship in almost 40 years. He later spent three seasons as head coach at Baylor University, where he helped guide the team from a one-and-eleven record in 2017 to an appearance in the Big 12 Championship and the Sugar Bowl just two years later. For his work at Baylor, Rhule was named Big 12 Coach of the Year both by the conference and the Associated Press in 2019.
— Staff members of the Career Enrichment Network — Susan Knell, Katie Wysocki, Jillian Balay, Lauren Granese, Stacey Hoffman and Brandon McCartney — received the Welch Alumni Relations Award. These staff members were recognized for being outstanding partners, resources and guides, working closely with the college’s Alumni Relations and Development team to provide opportunities for connecting liberal arts alumni to liberal arts students in meaningful ways.
—The late Susan Welch, former dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, posthumously received the Chaiken Leadership Award. Welch was one of the foremost and widely cited political scientists of her generation, with more than 170 peer-reviewed articles and eight books to her credit. As a philanthropist, she committed more than $2.5 million dollars to support students, faculty, research, and academic initiatives. As dean of the college for 28 years, she led the growth and trajectory of what has become one of the leading public liberal arts institutions in the country.