About Us:Board Biographies

Nancy L. Eaton
State College
Board Chair

Nancy L. Eaton, Dean Emeritus of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications at Pennsylvania State University, served as dean from 1997 to July, 2010. She was responsible for 38 libraries on 24 campuses, plus the Penn State University Press. Nancy was appointed to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Advisory Board, January 2012-December 2014. She served as Special Advisor to the President, OCLC , Inc., 2010-2011. Other positions included Dean of Library Services at Iowa State University, Director of Libraries and Media Services at the University of Vermont, and various positions at the Atlanta Public Library, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Texas at Austin. Nancy has served on numerous professional boards, including the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), the Research Libraries Group, the Association of Research Libraries, the Digital Library Federation and the Library and Information Technology Association. She is a frequent speaker and has published in professional venues. She has served as principal investigator on five major grant-funded projects in the area of information technology. Nancy was the recipient of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award in 1995. She received her AB from Stanford University (1965) and her MLS from the University of Texas at Austin (1968).

Ann M. Benzel
Altoona
Development Committee

Ann M. Benzel is President and owner of Benzel's Bretzel Bakery, Inc. in Altoona. She currently serves on the boards of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, the Blair County Arts Foundation, Altoona Regional Health System, First Commonwealth Bank Eastern Region, Citizens for the Arts (Harrisburg, PA), Mount Aloysius College and the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation. She also is currently serving as Chair of the Mishler Theatre Restoration Campaign in Altoona. In the past, Ann has served on the Altoona Area Public Library Board as well as the Home Nursing Agency Board, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Board, the Central PA Community Foundation and St. Francis University. She also has served as Chair for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In May of 2002, she was named by Governor Schweiker as one of Pennsylvania's Top 50 Women in Business. She lives in Hollidaysburg (Blair County).

Janice R. Black
Harrisburg
Chair, Audit Committee

Janice R. Black is the President and CEO of the Foundation for Enhancing Communities. Janice began at the FEC in 1994. It has grown to be a strong and flexible philanthropic force in the five county region of Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Perry and Lebanon counties. The FEC has funded more than 60 community projects, including partnerships dealing with AIDS, homelessness, gay and lesbian issues and math/science and early childhood education. Janice has served as a member of the Rotary Club of Harrisburg for fifteen years, serving as Club President in 2001-02, and is the Past District Governor for Rotary District 7390 for 2006-07. She is a Board Member or Advisor with the Elizabethtown College Leadership Council, Pennsylvania State University's Master of Health Administration Program Leadership Council, Council on Foundations Research Committee, Harrisburg Academy Community Advisory Board, Delta Dental of Pennsylvania and Graystone Bank Community Advisory Board. She received the 2006 Mental Health Association of Central Pennsylvania Tribute Award, the 2003 Woman of Distinction Award from the Hemlock Girl Scout Council, the 1997 Rotary Club of Harrisburg Community Service Award and the 1997 Stanley A. Miller Community Service Award for non-Rotary service. Janice holds a BS in Nursing from George Mason University and a certification in Psychiatric Nursing from the American Nurses Association. She held a number of progressively responsible positions in her nursing career, the latest being Executive Director of Edgewater Psychiatric Center.

Frank Burnside
Harveys Lake
Program Committee

Frank Burnside is a fine art photographer and Director of the Cultural Council of Luzerne County. Frank began his career in corporate management, but has since transitioned into the non-profit world. Previous positions include Managing Editor of Etruscan Press, a small literary press affiliated with Wilkes University and Vice President for WVIA Public Broadcasting. Frank has served on the Board of Directors for the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, the Tunkhannock Area School Board, the Luzerne County Historical Society, and the Wyoming Valley Art League. Frank holds a BS in Business Administration from King's College, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. He also spent two years studying architectural design concepts at Cornell University.

Mary O. Garm
Scranton
Chair, Membership Committee

Mary Garm has been a practicing professional librarian for more than 30 years. After completing a graduate assistantship, she received a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. She returned to Pennsylvania after serving as Head of Technical Services at Elmira College in New York, serving first as the Administrator of the Susquehanna County Historical Society and Free Library Association, then as the Consultant Librarian for the Northeast (Scranton) District and — since 2003, as the Administrator of the Lackawanna County Library System (LCLS). Mary currently works with elected officials, board members, library staff, community organizations and the public to provide high quality library services to a county of 213,000 people. During Mary's tenure, LCLS has created strong partnerships with arts groups and cultural and heritage organizations that benefit county residents and add value to the library experience. Mary also has been very active in statewide professional organizations. She is a Past President of the Pennsylvania Library Association and has received its Distinguished Service Award. She serves as Vice Chair of the Governor's Advisory Council on Library Development. Mary is a member of Pennsylvania Citizens for Better Libraries, the Association of Pennsylvania Public Library Systems and the American Library Association.

Paul Gluck
Ardmore
Program Committee

Paul Gluck is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University. He also serves as General Manager of TUTV, Temple's 24/7 cable channel and website. Prior to joining the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media, Paul was Executive Director of The Kal & Lucille Rudman Institute at Drexel University and taught the university's graduate television courses. Paul spent over 30 years producing multi-media content, managing broadcast newsrooms, media companies, television and radio stations before transitioning to the academic world. He has served as Director of News at WCAU-TV, KYW-TV and was VP/Station Manager for WHYY TV/FM/WEB. Paul led the effort to develop more local program content for WHYY, ranging from public affairs to cultural events. He also directed all of WHYY's content staff and multi-media resources, including producers and engineers in support of this operation. In addition to consulting to major local and national media organizations, Paul also is a freelance content producer. Paul is honored to have been President of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and to have served as a national trustee of the academy. Paul also is an active Temple Alum.

Margaret J. Jerrido
Philadelphia
Chair, Program Committee

Margaret Jerrido is an Archives Consultant. She was Head of the Urban Archives in the University Libraries at Temple University. Margaret has conducted workshops on how to preserve all formats of historical materials, planned workshops and lead discussion groups on forming an archives, and put together and participated in panels on how to conduct oral histories. Since 2008, she has been the part time archivist for the Mother Bethel AME church archives. During recent years she devised and presented a workshop entitled "Archives 101" that provides basic archival information to genealogy and church groups. She has consulted for and with the keepers of historical materials of a number of organizations and churches such as St. Thomas Episcopal Church Enon Church, Briar Bush Nature Center and the City of Chester. She is a member of the Delaware Valley Archivists Group and the Mid-Atlantic Archives Conference. She was the first Chair of the former group and has been involved in the latter holding various offices and presented a number of papers on various aspects of collecting, preserving and maintaining historical records. She has been a grants reviewer for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and PHC. Margaret has contributed to or edited the Directory of African American Collections in Greater Philadelphia and Selected Suburban Areas, PACSCL Photograph Directory, The Encyclopedia of African American Cultural and History, Black Women in American: an historical encyclopedia and the Handbook of American Women's History. She received her BA in history from Temple University and a MLS from Drexel University.

Bonelyn L. Kyofski
Nelson
Membership Committee

Bonelyn (Bonnie) Kyofski is co-founder of the Northern Tier Cultural Alliance (NTCA), a grassroots non-profit corporation in north central Pennsylvania, established for the conservation of local heritage and support of regional folk artists and folklife. As a Professor in the Mansfield University Education and Special Education Department, Bonnie alternately directed NTCA and served as Board President and has remained a board member since NTCA became independent of the university and since she retired from teaching. She received her BS in English, history and theatre at Mansfield 50 years ago, earned an MA and PhD in English at Pennsylvania State University, and completed a school administration program at St. Bonaventure University. Bonnie was a public school teacher and administrator in the Northern Tioga School District, and a charter professor of English at both Harrisburg and Lehigh Community Colleges, as well as an instructor at Williamsport Area Community College and Penn State. Bonnie was Director of Public Relations and Alumni Affairs at Mansfield University and continued as Coordinator of Public Relations while teaching in the English Department at Jefferson Community College in Louisville, KY. Returning home to northern Pennsylvania to marry her tax accountant, she spent the last 18 years of her formal career teaching teachers at Mansfield. Bonnie was a PHC Commonwealth Speaker before becoming a board member six years ago. She is author and/or editor of articles on regional history and frequently serves as lay minister for regional churches. She currently serves on several boards, including the Lumber Heritage Region, Laurel Health at Wellsboro Hospital, Coates Heritage House, Mansfield University Retired Faculty and Alumni Boards, Marcellus Shale Community Education Team, and is the representative of "informal leaders" for the Tioga County/Penn State Charting Initiative.

Christine Mueseler
North Huntingdon
Chair, Development Committee

Since 1998, Christine Mueseler has served as Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Seton Hill University. In that capacity she is responsible for overseeing media relations, alumni relations and fundraising for the university. From 1998 to 2010, the university engaged in a capital campaign, with over $100 million raised to support capital projects and scholarships for Seton Hill's growing student population. From 1991 to 1995, she served as the Director of Seton Hill's Folklife Documentation Center for Gender Studies where, through extensive oral histories, she documented women's work in the glass and aluminum industries. She published two articles from her research: "Alcoa, New Kensington: It was More than a Job... It was a Way of Life," Pennsylvania Folklore (Fall, 1995) and "Documenting Occupational Folklore Among the Women Glassworkers and Aluminum Workers in Southwestern Pennsylvania," Westmoreland History Vol 60, no.1 (Fall, 1995). By request, The Smithsonian Institute is a repository for her oral history work. From 2002 to 2009, Christine was appointed by the governor to serve on the Pennsylvania Public Television Commission. She currently serves on the boards for the Westmoreland Heart Association, the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Greensburg Community Development Corporation.

Judith O'Toole
Greensburg
Secretary-Treasurer
Audit Committee

Judith O'Toole is the Director/CEO of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, a post she assumed in 1993. The museum's collections and exhibitions reflect her expertise in 19th and 20th century American art. Prior to arrival at WMAA, Judith was Director of the Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University, from 1982-1993, and was an Associate Professor in the Wilkes University Art Department from 1990-93. Judith is the author of two books on American painting and numerous exhibition catalogs. She has lectured at Sotheby's, New York; The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and the College Art Association, New York. In 1993, Judith was cited by Art News in a listing of nationally recognized American scholars. Her museum work has been recognized by The American Associations of Museums, among other organizations. She has published in the field of museum management and is an advocate of Social Enterprise in cultural organizations. Judith received her BA in Art History from the University of Minnesota and her MA in Art History from Pennsylvania State University.

Todd J. Pfannestiel
Clarion
Program Committee

Todd J. Pfannestiel is Professor of History at Clarion University, where he has taught since 1998 and currently serves as Faculty Fellow to the President for Planning, Assessment and Improvement. He has designed and taught a variety of courses related to modern American history, including ones on the Vietnam War, African-American Civil Rights, American Popular Culture, the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, America in the Sixties, among several others. Todd is the author of Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York's Crusade Against Radicalism, 1919-1923 (Routledge, 2003) and co-author of Creamed Onions for Supper: The Great Depression in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (JCHC, 2001). His current manuscript project analyzes combat diaries written by soldiers serving on the frontlines of the Vietnam War. He also is working with a group of undergraduate students to preserve the history of Clarion University — work which will soon culminate in the first, full-length written history of that institution. Todd has previously worked with PHC as a Commonwealth Speaker and has served as a consulting scholar on several PHC-funded projects in northwest Pennsylvania. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Arkansas where he graduated as a Fulbright College Scholar summa cum laude with degrees in history and economics, and later earned his PhD in history from The College of William and Mary, where he attended as an Andrew Mellon Fellow in the Humanities.

*Jeanne H. Schmedlen
Lemoyne
Membership Committee

Jeanne H. Schmedlen is the former Director of Special Projects and Chief of Protocol for the Pennsylvania Speaker of the House of Representatives. She was also Chief of Staff to First Lady of Pennsylvania, Ellen Casey, and Deputy Press Secretary to Governor Dick Thornburgh. She also held positions as press secretary and legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and was a newspaper reporter and editor. Jeanne was part of Carnegie Mellon University's Living Legacy Project featuring 100 individuals who made significant contributions to the Harrisburg community in the past 100 years. In 2005 she was selected as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania by Governor Ed Rendell. Jeanne's special events experience includes Pennsylvania's Arts in Education Day, of which she is the founder and director; and the Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts in Pennsylvania, for which she was the executive producer and director, organizing awards ceremonies for James Stewart, John Updike, Bill Cosby, Andrew Wyeth and other distinguished Pennsylvania artists. Jeanne is a former member of the boards of the Art Association of Harrisburg and the Susquehanna Art Museum and is a former member of Harrisburg's Sesquicentennial Commission. She was President of the Civic Club of Harrisburg Affiliates. Jeanne currently serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. Jeanne is the writer-producer of several videotapes on Pennsylvania government and is the author of various publications, including: the books Speakers of the Pennsylvania House: A Biographical History of the Speakers of the Provincial Assembly and the House of Representatives, 1682-1998, Women in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and 103 Years of Leadership: Officers in the House of Representatives from 1900 until Today. Originally from Delaware County, she lives in Lemoyne (Cumberland County).

Susan Sherwood
Dillsburg
Vice Chair
Development Committee

Susan Sherwood is President of e'lan Media, LLC which produces historical documentaries for museums and a wide range of multi-media programs, provides executive media/speech training and offers consulting services to media and nonprofit organizations. She is an award-winning executive producer/manager with 33 years of experience in broadcasting, communications and state government. She retired from the Pennsylvania Public Television Network where she managed collaborative statewide technology, programming and education initiatives among the state's eight public television stations. Prior to that, Susan served with four gubernatorial administrations overseeing the production of documentaries, satellite news, video, radio and multimedia/interactive programs that won 36 mostly national awards, including two Mid Atlantic Emmys. She also provided media and speech training to dozens of top Pennsylvania officials and legislators. In addition to holding several public relations jobs, Susan is a former radio and television reporter who covered the historic Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, politics, law enforcement and government. She is a former board member of the National Civil War Museum, a member of the National Press Club and Pennsylvania Society and a past/current member of numerous professional and community organizations.

David Shumway
Pittsburgh
Program Committee

David Shumway is the Director of the Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University. Previously, he has served as a PHC Read About It! Discussion Leader four times and recently was an award panelist for PHC's Commonwealth Speakers program. As founding Director of the Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University, David has worked to create and develop programs that bring together campus and community. The Center has conducted a public lecture series annually since its inception in 2004, and some talks, such as one by Benjamin Barber in 2006, have attracted a larger audience from off campus. David has taught English and Literary Studies at Carnegie Mellon since 1985 and previously taught at the University of Chicago. David is the author of many publications, including the books John Sayles, Modern Love: Romance, Intimacy and the Marriage Crisis and Creating American Civilization: A Genealogy of American Literature as an Academic Discipline. He has edited several collections of essays on American Culture studies. David holds a PhD from Indiana University in American Studies and English.

Marica Tacconi
State College
Membership Committee

Marica Tacconi is Professor of Musicology at Pennsylvania State University. At Penn State since 1998, she is a 2001 recipient of a Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching from the College of Arts and Architecture. Specializing in music history and manuscript studies, her interdisciplinary research interests also include the art, culture and history of late medieval and Renaissance Italy. She holds a BA in Music from Williams College and an MA and PhD in Musicology from Yale University. Her scholarly contributions have appeared in numerous journals, collections of essays and exhibition catalogues. She is the author of I Libri del Duomo di Firenze (with Lorenzo Fabbri; Florence, Centro Di, 1997) and of Cathedral and Civic Ritual in Late Medieval and Renaissance Florence: The Service Books of Santa Maria del Fiore (Cambridge University Press, 2005). Marica is a member of the National Humanities Alliance and serves as the Penn State institutional representative to the American Academy in Rome and to Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life — a national consortium of over 75 universities, colleges and art institutes committed to civic engagement in the arts, humanities and design. As the former Director of the Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities, she has worked closely with other institutional partners and with PHC in fostering campus-community projects and in promoting the value of the arts and humanities in civic life. From January to July 2011, she was the Robert Lehman Visiting Research Professor in Residence at Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence, Italy.

*Indicates gubernatorial appointee