UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Roger Williams, associate vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association, has been honored with the 2013 Award for Administrative Excellence.
The award, established in 1970, is given to a faculty or staff member whose performance, methods and achievements exemplify the highest standards of administrative excellence.
Since 2003, Williams has been responsible for the Alumni Association’s 70-member staff, $12 million annual operating budget, 86-member volunteer Alumni Council, 270-plus affiliate groups and services to more than 169,000 members. During his tenure, the world’s largest dues-paying alumni association has grown its membership each year, increased organizational philanthropy (including a $2.1 million gift to support student scholarships), broadened services and programming, and enhanced student engagement, alumni career services offerings and diversity initiatives.
“His focus on connecting alumni to each other and to the University is remarkable, heartwarming and incredibly effective,” one nominator wrote. Another nominator said, “Under Roger’s direction, the association is run in a very businesslike, professional manner. The association’s effectiveness and accomplishments would match any corporate or nonprofit organization its size.”
In fiscal 2011-12, the association grew by 4,000 members. According to one nominator, this growth came not only at a time when most university alumni associations are losing members but “even more impressively,” during a “year of unprecedented challenge and controversy” as the Sandusky child-abuse scandal broke. “With Roger at the helm, the Association was able to prevail in carrying out its ‘normal’ activities in addition to an entirely new workload imposed on it by the scandal and its aftermath.”
Williams is a three-time Penn State alumnus, holding a bachelor’s degree in history (1973), master’s in journalism (1975) and doctorate in higher education (1988).