One response to “Who made the biggest difference to you at Mont Alto (a professor, staff member, friend)?”

1. 

   Michael Paquet

   September 25, 2025 at 4:19 pm

   Although the prompt of “Who made the biggest difference to you at Mont Alto?” is presumably directed at students and alumni, I would like to respond with my perspective as a former faculty member.

   While reading the announcement about closing the campus certainly prompted deep disappointment, it also induced a warm wave of nostalgic memories. Although only the first four of my more than 50 years in higher education were spent there, Mont Alto has always held a special place in my heart and memory.

   When I joined the Mont Alto faculty in the English Department in 1972, I was fresh out of Penn State graduate school, and my wife and I were only into the second year of our 75 years of marriage. In my third year at Mont Alto, our first child Michele, who turned 50 in August, was born.

   During my formative years of learning to become a professional at Mont Alto, the strong support and encouragement of fellow faculty, staff, and campus administrators taught me the enduring values of collegiality and administrative leadership. These values served me well from when I transitioned in 1976 to an entry-level administrative position in Thomas Jefferson University’s Medical College through my retirement as Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs in 2015.

   To this day, I remain grateful for the welcoming and supportive Mont Alto Campus administrators Vernon Shockley and George Payette, and my good fortune to have worked with several talented and friendly colleagues—Jerome (Jerry) Curry, Richard (Dick) Kane, Joan Hocking, and Martha Fisher—to name a few. I am especially happy to know that Martha’s teaching legacy has lived on through the Excellence in Teaching Award established in her name. She was not only an outstanding and dedicated teacher but, like other Mont Alto colleagues and friends, Martha had a wonderful sense of humor.

   Unfortunately, the strong advocacy for keeping Mont Alto open and support from Pennsylvania legislators has not been successful in dissuading the Board from its seemingly a priori decision to include Mont Alto with the six other campuses it plans to close. Campuses like Mont Alto that have served vital roles in the bloodstream of the Penn State system deserve to be given the opportunity for innovative strategies and infusion of resources to optimize their contributions rather than be summarily closed. While recognizing the problems of declining enrollment and other serious challenges facing higher education broadly, the value of campuses like Mont Alto cannot be measured by mere metrics alone. Moreover, during its history Mont Alto has demonstrably broadened its legacy for its renowned forestry program to include other programs of excellence in nursing and other disciplines that prepare graduates to provide vital services.

   Like many others, I am deeply saddened by the closure of a campus with such a rich legacy of excellence. If the decision to close cannot be reversed, at the very least, Penn State should take all steps necessary to support and actively assist in the successful repurposing of this vital resource to the local community and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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