List of Pennsylvania State University people

This is a list of famous individuals associated with the Pennsylvania State University, including graduates, former students, and professors.

Alumni

Fictional alumni

• Jake Lassiter, hero of the series of legal thrillers written by Paul Levine, played linebacker for Coach Joe Paterno before attending night law school, passing the Bar exam on his fourth try, and becoming a hard-nosed Miami trial lawyer.
• Mark Wiggum, mentioned in "The Italian Bob" episode of the television series The Simpsons, is the cousin of Chief Clancy Wiggum.
• Marvel Comics has two Penn State alumni: Bruce Banner, better known as "The Hulk," and Walter Langkowski, better known as "Sasquatch."
• Raj Comics' character Super Commando Dhruva's sister, Chandika, did her student exchange and spent two semesters at Penn State. In the comic, she dated another character, Chad Weihrauch.
• Mr. Glascott, played by Tim Meadows in the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs."
• Murray Goldberg, played by Jeff Garlin in the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs".
• Dr. Abby Lockhart, in the television series E.R. is a graduate of Penn State with a minor in English.
• Joan Campbell, who heads the Domestic Protection Division (DPD) in the USA Network show Covert Affairs. The diploma can be seen on her wall.
• Philip Mercer, fictional hero in novels by Jack Du Brul, earned his bachelor's degree and PhD from Penn State.^[156]
• Kyle McKnight, a fictional antagonist in the book Blackout Kyle ^[157]
• Daniel Zapotoczny, room mate of Kyle McKnight in the book Blackout Kyle, famous for his world record breaking neck length
• Dennis Reynolds and Dee Reynolds, fraternal twins in the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, both studied psychology at The University of Pennsylvania, not to be confused with Penn State

Notable professors and coaches

• Gregory Ain, architect, Head of the Department of Architecture, 1963–67
• Richard Alley, glaciologist and climate scientist, IPCC lead author
• Paul Amato, sociologist
• George Andrews, mathematician
• Larry Catá Backer, Cuban-American legal and international relations scholar
• John Barth, novelist and short story author
• Samuel Preston Bayard, folklorist, expert on fife and fiddle tunes
• Chrystelle Trump Bond, American dancer, choreographer, and dance historian
• Christian M. M. Brady, targumist and former Dean of Schreyer Honors College
• Stephen Barrett, psychiatrist and webmaster of Quackwatch, taught health education from 1987 to 1989
• Cynthia Brewer, professor and head of the Department of Geography, notable for her contributions to cartographic visualization and the invention of ColorBrewer.
• Velvet Brown, tuba soloist and recording artist; is associate professor of music
• O. Richard Bundy, Director of Athletic Bands, including the Penn State Blue Band
• Donald Byrne, coach of America's first varsity chess team
• John M. Carroll, human computer interaction
• Paul F. Clark, professor of labor studies and head of the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations
• Paul DeMaine, a founder of the Computer Science Department
• William K. George, fluid dynamicist
• Lee Giles, co-creator of CiteSeer, David Reese Professor of Information Sciences and Technology; former Program Manager, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
• Kathryn Gines, professor of philosophy
• Mary Godfrey, assistant professor of art education, the first African American faculty member
• Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22
• Vasant Honavar, professor, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and bioinformatics researcher and educator, former Program Director, National Science Foundation
• Ivan Illich, polymath: author, philosopher, and polemicist
• Mary Jane Irwin, computer scientist, National Academy of Science member
• Philip Jenkins, professor of religious studies and writer on modern religious controversies
• James Kasting, atmospheric chemist and astrobiologist, aka "Dr. Habitable Zone"
• Gary N. Knoppers, head of the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies; wrote a lengthy and prominent two-volume commentary on I Chronicles
• Alan MacEachren, professor of geography, notable for his contributions to geographic visualization
• Mark D. Maughmer, developed first successful winglet designs for gliding competitions; aerodynamicist; author
• Michael E. Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science, IPCC lead author, known especially for the hockey stick graph.
• John D. McCarthy, professor of sociology, notable for his contributions to social movement studies and resource mobilization theory
• Webb Miller, one of the pioneers of computational biology; co-creator of BLAST, a research tool used by geneticists worldwide
• Michael G. Moore pioneer of online learning and theory of distance education. Listed (Routledge, 2017 )as one of "most influential thinkers about education of all time"
• Erwin Wilhelm Müller, inventor of the field emission microscope, field ion microscope, and atom probe; first person to view atoms
• Robert Neffson, artist
• Masatoshi Nei, theoretical population geneticist and evolutionary biologist
• Jon Nese, lecturer in meteorology and former Weather Channel personality
• Joe Paterno, head football coach, 1966–2011, fired due to unproven allegations related to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal
• Roger Penrose
• Rene Portland, head women's basketball coach, 1980–2007
• C. R. Rao, 2002 National Medal of Science-winning statistician
• Frank Ritter
• Theodore Roethke, 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry recipient
• Mary Beth Rosson
• Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls; his novel Straight Man was drawn from his experiences teaching at Penn State Altoona
• Cael Sanderson, 2004 Olympic Gold medalist in freestyle wrestling at 84 kg; current head wrestling coach
• Jerry Sandusky, former assistant football coach 1969–1999, a period during which he committed crimes that led to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal
• Kenneth Bernard Schade, sexual offender; founder of the Singing Boys of Pennsylvania
• Lee Smolin, theoretical physicist
• William Tenn (pen name of Philip Klass), science fiction writer
• David Titley professor of meteorology, NOAA's chief operating office 2012-2013, US Navy rear admiral and chief oceanographer.
• Alan Walker, paleoanthropologist
• James Z. Wang
• Frank C. Whitmore, pioneering organic chemist who described the mechanism of carbocation reactions
• Aleksander Wolszczan, discoverer of first extrasolar planets and pulsar planets
• Qiming Zhang, distinguished professor of Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering

References