Kathryn Salzer named Paterno Fellows Program director

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kathryn Salzer, associate professor of history and Gorman-McCourtney Early Career Professor in Medieval History, has been named Rick and Sue Barry Director of Penn State’s Paterno Fellows Program.

Salzer will officially start her new position July 1. The program’s interim director, associate teaching professor of philosophy Joshua Wretzel, will stay on as associate director.

Offered jointly by the College of the Liberal Arts and the Schreyer Honors College, the Paterno Fellows Program gives undergraduates the chance to challenge and distinguish themselves in areas traditionally associated with the liberal arts, from ethics and service to leadership, communication and intercultural awareness. Fellows also are eligible to receive financial support to engage in research, internship and study abroad opportunities.

Salzer said the opportunity to lead the program was one she couldn’t pass up.

“It’s such a nice surprise, and given my past administrative experience, taking on this position was a no-brainer for me,” said Salzer, who had been serving as the Department of History’s director of undergraduate education. “Once I talked to people about it, it was a very appealing position for me to take on. And because I do so much work with undergraduates, I have a strong view that the only reason we’re here at Penn State is because of our undergraduate students.”

Mark Morrisson, Liberal Arts associate dean for undergraduate studies, said he’s “delighted” that Salzer is taking on this critical role in the college.

“Kathy brings a wealth of experience in honors education and a strong track record of excellent teaching, innovative curricular initiatives and student programming, and dedication to a holistic vision of student success both inside and outside the classroom,” Morrisson said. “The Paterno Fellows will be fortunate to have such an energetic, creative and thoughtful director in the coming years. I also thank Josh Wretzel for his able service as interim director and for his long dedication to the program. I look forward to this next chapter in our flagship honors education program.”

A specialist in medieval European history, Salzer comes to the position with significant relevant experience. While a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she served as the associate director of its Haslam Leadership Scholars honors program.

Since joining the faculty at Penn State, Salzer has served as the thesis director for seven previous Paterno Fellows. Seeing the program from that vantage point gave her a deep appreciation for its mission.

“It’s a great program; the students are just phenomenal,” Salzer said. “They’re so smart, and they’re often carrying multiple majors and minors. I honestly don’t know how they do it. When I compare them to where I was as an undergraduate, they blow me away.”

Salzer said she particularly likes the program’s ethics and education abroad components. She thinks back to her own experiences traveling the world as an undergrad and the ways it shaped her worldview and career path.

And the program’s commitment to the humanities and the social sciences is more essential than ever, she said, given the many current challenges facing them.

“Any way we can foster them and promote them, that has a very strong appeal to me,” Salzer said. “I want to help our students be as broad-minded and multifaceted as possible, both during their time at Penn State and in the next phase of their life.”

Salzer said she’ll work closely with Wretzel to develop some new themes for the program. Among other things, she’d like to put more of a focus on sustainability and artificial intelligence, noting the latter will be especially important to students as they go into the workplace.

Another idea she’s interested in pursuing proved to be a success during her years at Tennessee — a regularly scheduled “current events table” where students and affiliated faculty can come together and discuss the news cycle and topics related to their specific interests.

“To be able to speak your mind, to give your opinion in a safe space, I think is a really good thing,” Salzer said. “What I also want to do is ask the students, ‘What are you interested in?’ After all, there’s a generation gap between them and me, and their concerns will be different from mine. And I would like them to mentor each other, because I think it’ll allow them to become more invested in the Paterno Fellows community.” 

In addition, Salzer plans to pursue more scholarship opportunities for students. And she fully intends to work closely with other units within the college, including the Career Enrichment Network, the Chaiken Center for Student Success and the Rock Ethics Institute.

“In that regard, the goal isn’t to create a bunch of wheels, but to better utilize the resources that are already here,” she said. “For me, it’s so important that we protect the humanities and the social sciences in any way that we can. And I have a lot of ideas for what that involves.”