Purpose of Award: The award shall be to recognize and reward one outstanding Penn State young Political Science alumna/alumnus for his or her success and influence as a leader.
Eligibility for Award: Any person may be nominated who is a graduate of the College of the Liberal Arts and majored in Political Science or any other major currently or previously administered by the Department of Political Science. Eligibility for the award is limited to individuals who have graduated from the University within the last fifteen years. Current members of the University faculty or staff are not eligible.
Eligible candidates should have a record of significant career achievements and be outstanding young role models for current Liberal Arts students.
Nature of the Award: The title Outstanding Political Science Department Young Alumni Award shall be conferred upon the recipient by the Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. The recipient will be invited to campus to receive the award in the spring of each year, coinciding with the department’s annual award ceremony. So that recipients may be appropriately recognized and to enable us to inform others about their accomplishments, awards will be presented to recipients who are able to attend the ceremony. Recipients, who are unable to attend the ceremony in the year nominated, will be invited to participate in a subsequent year.
Selection Process: Nominations will be solicited from the faculty, staff and from the English Board of Alumni Visitors. Nominators will be responsible for preparing a nomination dossier for each candidate(s), to include a resume and a letter detailing why this person is being nominated.
The Directors of Development and Alumni Relations, in conjunction with the English Board of Visitors awards committee and the head of the English department, will narrow the nomination list to no more than five candidates. The Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts will then make the final selection. Please note a "runner-up" selection may be needed in case the first choice is not able to attend the spring awards banquet. This selection process should be completed by the end of the preceding year.
Winners:
Winners of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award
2007/08: Christian Marrone, B.A., 1997
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Christian Marrone is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense. He served previously as Director of the Office of Legislative Counsel of the Department of Defense, a position he was appointed to in April 2006 by the White House. He has served as legal counsel to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, with responsibility for the Department’s legislative program. This has included managing the entire process of creating and submitting the most complex piece of legislation in the Federal Government – the National Defense Authorization Act. He has also conducted policy and legal review of all Department legislation and of Congressional requests for official policy views of pending legislation.
Prior to that appointment, Christian served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs. He was legal counsel to both the 55th Presidential Inaugural Committee for President George W. Bush and the Pennsylvania State Republican Committee for Victory ’04 Bush/Cheney Campaign.
Before becoming involved in national government, Chris was an Assistant District Attorney in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and served five years as Special Assistant to the Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee, where he spearheaded a number of successful economic development and law enforcement initiatives.
Christian earned his degree from Penn State in 1997. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Football Team and earned the Scholar Athlete Award for Academic Excellence. He also was named to the Phi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society.
In 2002, he earned both a masters degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Temple University Law School. He is a member of Phi Delta Phi International Legal Fraternity, the Republican National Lawyers Association, and the Federalist Society. In 2002, Philadelphia Business Journal named him the recipient of the 40 Under 40 Award.
Christian has also served his alma mater as a member of the Political Science Mentorship and Advising Program.
2006/07: Kathleen L. Casey, B.A., 1988
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Kathleen L. Casey was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and sworn in on July 17, 2006. Her term expires in 2011.
Prior to being appointed Commissioner, Ms. Casey spent 13 years on Capitol Hill. Before her appointment as Commissioner, she served as Staff Director and Counsel of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Ms. Casey was primarily responsible for guiding the Chairman’s and Committee’s consideration of, and action on, issues affecting economic and monetary policy, international trade and finance, banking, securities and insurance regulation, transit and housing policy, money laundering and terror finance. Significant issues the Committee considered under Ms. Casey’s direction include: reform of Government Sponsored Enterprises, reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, Deposit Insurance Reform, insurance regulation, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Sarbanes-Oxley implementation, and credit rating agencies.
From 1996-2003, Commissioner Casey served as Legislative Director and Chief of Staff, respectively, for Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). As Legislative Director, Commissioner Casey was instrumental in the drafting and passage of several laws. She developed, managed, and coordinated all aspects of legislative operations with a key focus on the appropriations process. In her capacity as Chief of Staff, Ms. Casey acted as key advisor on all policy and political matters.
From 1994-1996, Ms. Casey served as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Regulatory Relief, Senate Banking Committee. She was responsible for advising and staffing the Senator on all committee issues, including Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, Whitewater special investigation, and financial services regulatory relief legislation. Commissioner Casey also served Senator Shelby as Legislative Assistant from 1993-1994, during which she was responsible for handling all tax, budget, and finance policy matters.
Ms. Casey was born in Tripoli, Libya. A member of the State of Virginia and District of Columbia bars, Commissioner Casey received her J.D. from George Mason University School of Law in 1993. She received her B.A. in International Politics from Pennsylvania State University in 1988.
2005/06: Rudy Glocker, B.A., M.A.
Rudy Glocker earned his bachelor’s degree in 1991 and a master’s degree in 1993, with a focus on international and American politics. A year later, he did an internship at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden. In addition to his academic responsibilities, he was also the head football coach for the Division Champion Karlskrona Seahawks in Karlskrona, Sweden.
In 1994, Mr. Glocker was hired to be a financial analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston. Two years later he went to Minsk, Belarus, as the manager for new business development for Byelocorp International, a sporting goods wholesaler in the former Soviet Union. In 1997, he was accepted into Harvard’s MBA Program with a focus on finance and investment management. Since 1998, he has been working at Goldman Sachs. His first position was as a salesman as part of the North American EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) sales force; two years later he was made head of EMEA sales. Based in Boston, Mr. Glocker has since 1998 been Vice President of the Equity Products Group at Goldman Sachs. In that position, he is responsible for selling U.S. equity products to hedge fund clients of the company.