University Park, Pa. – Carlos Wiley has been hired as the new director of Penn State’s Paul Robeson Cultural Center, effective Sept. 7. Wiley replaces Tony Keith, who held the director position on an interim basis after Toby Jenkins left Penn State in 2009.
"We're delighted to have Carlos as the new leader of Penn State's Cultural Center," said Joe Puzycki, assistant vice president of Student Affairs. "His extensive work and service experience in higher education, student affairs and multicultural education are perfect for this position. Through the interview process it became clear to everyone on the search committee, that with his work at Wisconsin-Platteville, Carlos had established invaluable relationships with students and maintained a strong focus on student education, which is a critical requirement for this position. I anticipate that, with his leadership, Student Affairs and Penn State in general, will continue to provide cross-cultural education within our community and forward our goal of enhancing diversity on campus."
Before joining Penn State, Wiley served as director of the Multicultural Educational Resource Center (MERC) and as director of University Diversity at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. During his time in Wisconsin, Wiley worked to improve retention and graduation rates of students of color and improve cross-cultural relationships at the university. He also revived their football team as a linebacker coach.
As the director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Wiley will work with the staff to make Penn State more aware of the many dimensions of diversity. In his role, he will address the campus climate in regard to student support and retention, while leading many programmatic efforts that focus on student learning related to issues of diversity. Wiley’s work also will focus on meeting Penn State’s goal of maintaining access and affordability to all students.
Wiley said it will be an exciting and challenging charge.
Wiley has a master of science degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Quincy University in Illinois.