UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- April Ripka will serve as the student marshal for the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State’s summer 2018 commencement. Ripka will graduate from Penn State with a degree in organizational leadership and minors in dispute management and resolution, labor studies and employment relations, psychology, and sociology.
As college marshal, Ripka will represent all students graduating from the College of the Liberal Arts at commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Aug. 11, in the Bryce Jordan Center. She will participate in the academic processional representing her classmates, along with the faculty marshal, Charles Lumpkins, assistant teaching professor of labor and employment relations.
Ripka is a member of the Penn State chapter of the national adult learner honor society Alpha Sigma Lambda. She is currently a business process analyst in the Office of Research Information Systems at Penn State. In this role, she partners with Penn State researchers, research compliance subject matter experts, and software development team members to improve the efficiency and transparency of the processes and supporting electronic systems employed to ensure that Penn State research is conducted in compliance with federal, state and local regulations; Penn State policies; and accreditation standards. She facilitates the review of processes and electronic systems with stakeholders; identifies and prioritizes changes; and manages successful change adoption.
“The courses I completed in pursuit of my degree and minors enhanced my communication, facilitation and leadership skills, enabling me to move into this position a few years ago and continue improving my performance,” said Ripka. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in how families, workplaces, communities and nations can be as productive, positive and inclusive as possible. This degree provided me with a solid foundation of knowledge (and more questions, as education tends to do) in those areas and a good platform from which to continue working on and studying (hint: graduate school) process improvements and change management at Penn State and beyond.”
Penn State will be livestreaming the summer commencement ceremonies at https://www.commencement.psu.edu/media/live/.