Topic: “Penn State University As Seen Through A Lens: A 30-Year Retrospective”
Location: President’s Hall, The Penn Stater
Introduction / Moderator: Rodney Erickson / Patty Satalia
Bio: Steve G. Manuel is a Senior Lecturer of Communications in the College of Communications, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
He was born Aug. 18, 1951, in Lancaster, Pa., and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in January 1969. Manuel served as an enlisted photojournalist and as a commissioned officer for the U.S. Marine Corps for nearly 28 years, retiring from active duty as a Major in September 1996.
He earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Penn State University in 1984 and 1992 respectively and has been teaching public relations, crisis communications, and photojournalism at Penn State since he retired in October 1996. He also teaches two first year seminars in War Reporting and the Embedding Process and Ethics in Photojournalism.
Manuel is an active photographer with the university where he photographs many of the University’s Division I sports teams. His photographs have been published in more than 115 publications. They include USA TODAY, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Athlon Sports, Volleyball Magazine, Blue/White Illustrated, Navy Times, Spectrum Sports Magazine, and many university and Penn State Alumni Association publications, calendars, posters, and brochures. He also photographs for Associated Press wire services. He has participated as a photographer in major USO Show tours to the Balkans, Okinawa/South Korea, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq with comedian/actor Dane Cook in June 2008, seven PGA golfers for Thanksgiving 2008, and Stephen Colbert in June 2009.
From 1992-1996, he served as a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. He was responsible for the Western Pacific region, which included China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, the National Security Agency, and POW/MIA Affairs. Notable accomplishments during this period included: the North Korean Nuclear Agreed Framework; the brutal rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by two Marines and a sailor on Okinawa; the downing by North Korea of a U.S. Army helicopter and capture of its crews; and the 1996 Chinese missile exercises off the coast of Taiwan.
When not behind a camera, he spends time scuba diving, creating stained glass windows and lamps, and playing tennis.
Manuel resides with his wife Jaylene in State College, Pa. They have four children and four grandchildren.