New senior director for Office of Student Conduct begins Aug. 9

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Katy Larkin has been named the senior director for the Office of Student Conduct in Penn State Student Affairs, effective Aug. 9. She will be transitioning to this role after spending more than seven years building a robust and transformative student conduct program at the University of Oregon.

"I am excited to be joining the Student Conduct team at Penn State,” said Larkin. “I look forward to supporting their ongoing efforts to infuse restorative practices into the office’s work and to ensure an inclusive and equitable process."

The senior director for the Office of Student Conduct is responsible for overseeing the University’s Code of Conduct and the student and student organizational conduct processes at the University Park campus as well as at the 23 additional campuses across the commonwealth and online. In this role, Larkin will have the opportunity to build upon the recently concluded work of the University’s Task Force on the Code of Conduct as well as focus attention on collaborating with cross-University partners to formalize and institutionalize restorative justice practices and ethics in the work of the office.

"The education of our students at all Penn State locations includes helping them to learn and live with others in diverse communities guided by standards and values we all must share. The Office of Student Conduct is central to that effort, and Katy Larkin is just the right person to lead it at such a complicated time,” said Damon Sims, vice president for Student Affairs. “I am eager to join with her and others in our collective pursuit of this important work."

Larkin has more than 10 years of experience in student conduct and crisis management, prior to coming to Penn State she served as the assistant dean of students and director of Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Oregon. At the University of Oregon, Larkin led the creation and implementation of a new student conduct code and co-wrote new standard operating procedures for discriminatory misconduct, including Title IX sexual harassment. Larkin served as a member of the University of Oregon’s 24-hour crisis response team, Student Care Team, and Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment Team.

Before her work at the University of Oregon, Larkin worked in residence life as an area coordinator at Eastern Oregon University and before that, as a resident director at the University of Nevada. Larkin received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Oregon and her master’s degree in higher education leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Larkin will succeed Karen Feldbaum, who has provided leadership as interim senior director for the office since July 2017. Feldbaum will continue with the Office of Student Conduct in the role of senior associate director.

"Karen Feldbaum is a true professional, whose dedication to our students and her colleagues is exemplified by her exceptional service in the interim role leading Student Conduct the past four years,” said Sims. “I could not be more appreciative for Karen's insight, dedication, and student-centered approach to all she has done and continues to do in service to Penn State."