UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ryan Newman’s experience at the Penn State Smeal College of Business and Schreyer Honors College helped set him on a path to becoming a managing director with one of the world’s largest investment banks, Goldman Sachs. Recently, he made a gift to help current and future Schreyer Scholars enjoy similar opportunities to carve out their own paths in the business world.
Newman’s gift, including a partial corporate match from Goldman Sachs, totals $250,000 and endows three scholarships: two that are available exclusively to Schreyer Scholars in Penn State Smeal — named for a staff and faculty member in the college, respectively — and one that is open to Scholars from any discipline.
Two of the scholarships — the Robin L. Stevens Wall Street Boot Camp Honors Scholarship and the Associate Teaching Professor Gregory R. Pierce Scholarship — for Schreyer Scholars majoring in finance. The third — the Newman Family Breakthrough Honors Scholarship — will go to a Scholar pursuing a major or minor with an entrepreneurial focus.
Stevens and Pierce played integral roles in Newman’s successes as a Scholar, which led him to make the gifts that created the scholarships in their respective names.
“Robin and Greg exemplify a concept that I refer to as ‘radical generosity,’” said Newman. “There comes a point where generosity extends beyond pragmatism and becomes truly radical. I was blessed to receive countless doses of generosity from both of them.”
Stevens, Penn State’s director of Wall Street initiatives, met Newman during Smeal’s orientation at Schwab Auditorium. As the story goes, according to Newman, he ran onto the stage to introduce himself after the program and exclaimed that he wanted to be president of the Penn State student body someday. While he didn’t get that position, Newman said that Stevens embraced his enthusiasm and guided him well through the next four years.
When she was asked for her reaction to having a scholarship named after her, Stevens said that she was “stunned, overcome with emotion and very honored to be recognized by Ryan.”
“It’s one of my greatest joys to follow the personal and professional success of people like Ryan,” she added. “I’m proud, humbled and grateful for Ryan’s generosity, and am so happy that it will help another Smeal student find their way.”
Among Newman’s memories of Pierce, an associate teaching professor in finance, is a goal-setting assignment that “created a mutiny” among he and his honors classmates because everyone was given Bs. The lesson for the students was to be very specific about setting goals, and it is one that Newman carries with him today.
“It amazes me every day that such a simple, written goal-setting exercise that I assign every semester can have such an enormous positive impact on one of our students and his family,” said Pierce. “I am honored, still shocked and very grateful for Ryan’s and his wife, Meredith’s, own ‘radical generosity.’”
Regarding the Breakthrough Scholarship, Newman noted that he and his family are “eager to support Schreyer Scholars who want to identify and solve problems while making their communities and the world a better place” through entrepreneurship.
Full-time undergraduate Schreyer Scholars who are pursuing degrees from Smeal and who have a demonstrated financial need are eligible for the Stevens Scholarship or Pierce Scholarship. Each scholarship awarded will cover one academic year and can be renewed for subsequent years provided eligibility requirements continue to be met.
Full-time undergraduate Schreyer Scholars who are pursuing a degree with a focus on entrepreneurship from any academic college at Penn State and who have a demonstrated financial need are eligible for the Breakthrough Scholarship. The awarded scholarship will cover one academic year and can be renewed for subsequent years provided eligibility requirements continue to be met.
“All of us within Smeal are incredibly grateful for this gift from Ryan and his family,” said Charles H. Whiteman, dean of Smeal College of Business. “Support like theirs makes it possible for our students to continue to pursue experiences, both in and out of the classroom, that prepare them to succeed in their pursuits beyond Penn State.”
A 2001 Scholar alumnus, Newman graduated from Penn State with a bachelor of science degree in economics and minored in philosophy. He was among the first class of Scholars who entered the Honors College when it was founded in 1997. Since beginning his career at Goldman Sachs, where he currently works as a managing director in asset and wealth management, he has received Penn State’s Alumni Achievement Award (2011) and was named an Alumni Fellow (2023).
“When Ryan was a Scholar, he received one of the first travel research thesis grants which allowed him to work at a United Nations-sponsored demography institute in Cameroon,” noted Patrick Mather, dean of Schreyer Honors College. “His philanthropic work will help ensure that current and future Scholars have access to the same types of transformative experiences, and we appreciate that deeply.”
Anyone who wishes to make a gift in support of the Robin L. Stevens Wall Street Boot Camp Honors Scholarship or the Associate Teaching Professor Gregory R. Pierce Scholarship can do so via either fund’s webpage.
“It is my sincere hope that these gifts are just the beginning of community support in honor of the amazing contributions that Robin and Greg have made to the Penn State family, spanning decades of service to the university,” Newman added.
Donors like the Newmans advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients, and communities across the Commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting the Raise Penn State website.