Campus Life

Ralph Stengler to deliver Penn State Harrisburg commencement keynote address

Ralph Stengler, president of Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany, will deliver the keynote address at Penn State Harrisburg's fall 2016 commencement ceremony in Hershey. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Penn State Harrisburg will hold its fall commencement at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17, at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. More than 700 degrees will be conferred at the ceremony.

Ralph Stengler, president of Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany, will deliver the keynote address at the ceremony. 

Stengler was first elected president of Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in 2009 and re-elected in 2015. Since he became president, the student numbers and course offerings have increased significantly. The university was also able to acquire a large funding program from the German Academic Exchange Service to work with its partners in the U.S. — which includes Penn State Harrisburg.

In addition to his duties as president, Stengler still teaches one course on quality management at the university, as he enjoys working with students and wants to keep in touch with the student population. Before being elected president, Stengler held positions as dean and vice dean of the Department of Mechanical and Plastics Engineering.

Stengler joined Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in 1991 as a professor for testing and quality management. From 2001 to 2010, he was academic coordinator for China relations at the university and had a key role in strengthening the partnerships with Chinese universities. Since 2013, he has been an honorary professor at Ulyanovsk State Technical University in Russia.

He is a graduate of the University of Mainz, where he also completed his doctoral studies in molecular physics. He and his wife Ruth live in Stockstadt am Main, Germany, and have three children and two grandchildren.

For more commencement information, visit http://harrisburg.psu.edu/commencement/

Last Updated December 1, 2016