The Penn State Beaver Advisory Board elected five new members at its meeting in March. The board meets five times a year.
Ptoshia Burnett is the Monaca Site Director for the BASF Corp., which produces products for coatings, adhesives, paints, construction chemicals and other materials. She has 30 years of experience in the petrochemical and refining industries, and holds several patents related to low sulfur petroleum fuel processing. Previously she held managerial positions with Sunoco Inc., BP and predecessor Amoco Oil Corp., and Mobil Oil Co. Burnett holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with a minor in business management from the Illinois Institute of Technology.Thomas J. Day is CEO of West Point Products, a U.S. based manufacturer and distributor of consumable supplies for the printing and imaging industry. In 1998 he acquired the company, which currently has 550 employees. Previously he worked in the financial audit department of Coopers & Lybrand, Pittsburgh. He also worked for Washington Steel Corp., where he held several management positions in finance, budgeting, operations and production control. In addition, he was financial controller for North American Refractories Co. Day holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Penn State.MarianneLeDonne has been director of the Regional Choice Initiative (RCI) with the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit (BVIU) for six years. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the RCI is a unique consortium of 15 school districts providing public school students with school choice, including Beaver campus courses. She has served in local public education for more than 25 years as a secondary English teacher, a Title I reading specialist, a district federal program coordinator and a middle school principal. LeDonne holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, and a bachelor’s degree in secondary education-English from Penn State.Donna Nugent has been superintendent of the Big Beaver Falls Area School District since 2005. During her tenure, the district has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Wired Schools in AP magazine and was ranked as the No. 1 “overachiever” school district by the Pittsburgh Business Times for improving academic success for the educationally disadvantaged. Her school district’s technology initiatives were showcased at the National School Board Conference and it was recently recognized as a bronze medal winner in the America’s Best High Schools listing by U.S. News & World Report. Nugent earned a doctorate from Youngstown State University and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Gannon University.James Stewart was the inaugural Vice Provost for Educational Equity at Penn State and produced the University’s first Diversity Strategic Plan. Upon retiring in 2009, he was named professor emeritus with the rank and title of professor of labor studies and employment relations, African and African-American studies, and management and organization. In addition, he is co-author of the widely-used text, “Introduction to African American Studies: Transdisciplinary Approaches and Implications” and co-editor of “Message in the Music: Hip Hop History & Pedagogy.” Stewart has served as president of the National Economic Association, the National Council for Black Studies, and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Notre Dame. For information about the Beaver campus Advisory Board or its members, contact the Chancellor’s Office at rxm70@psu.edu or 724-773-3553.