UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Five longtime Penn State champions and benefactors will be recognized by the Penn State Alumni Association and receive the Honorary Alumni Award.
The Alumni Association has given the Honorary Alumni Award since 1973 to recognize individuals who, while not graduates of Penn State, have significantly worked toward bettering the University.
Three of the five recipients -- C. Max Lang, Rachel L. Levine, and Albert E. Matyasovsky -- will be recognized during an award ceremony on Friday, May 31, on the University Park campus. The ceremony also will feature the presentation of the 2019 Distinguished Alumni and Philanthropist of the Year awards.
Brook Lenfest and Cael Sanderson will receive their awards in ceremonies later this year.
Visit the Alumni Association awards section for more information on the Honorary Alumni Award, and click here for this year’s honoree’s full bios.
The 2019 Honorary Alumni Award recipients:
C. Max Lang, George T. Harrell Professor Emeritus for Penn State College of Medicine, is one of Penn State College of Medicine’s founding fathers and a national leader in laboratory animal medicine. He was the first faculty member recruited by the founding dean in 1966, and he served as chair of the Department of Comparative Medicine and director of the Animal Resource Facility for 40 years until his retirement in 2006.
Brook Lenfest serves as the chairman of NetCarrier, Inc., a leading integrated communications service provider. Lenfest is also an accomplished real estate investor and developer with projects in Pennsylvania, Florida, Wyoming, and Barbados. He is also a venture capital investor and serves on the board of multiple companies.
Rachel L. Levine is the secretary of health for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine. She is an accomplished regional and international speaker, and author on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders, and LGBT medicine. She is recognized as a physician leader among her peers, and an innovative and passionate educator among our students.
Albert E. Matyasovsky is the owner and chief executive officer of Sustainable Development Solutions and former manager of central support services for Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant (OPP). He is known for developing far-reaching recycling solutions at the University and sharing these solutions with many other organizations.
Cael Sanderson is the head coach of Penn State wrestling and an accomplished former student-athlete at Iowa State University. In his 10th year as head coach, Sanderson has led the Nittany Lions to six Big Ten Championships, eight NCAA Championships, and dozens of individual All-Americans and National Champions.