Nagel Takes Helm of Campus During Time of Consistency and Change

Classes are now back in session and, sometimes, things change with the start of a new semester. That includes Penn State Greater Allegheny’s (PSUGA) new Interim Chancellor, Dr. Megan Nagel, associate chief academic officer and associate professor of chemistry. She was appointed to the role in May, following the departure of Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Jacqueline Edmonson, who left Penn State and moved to Portland to take on the presidency at the
University of Southern Maine.

Nagel will remain as interim chancellor for one year, until June 2023, when it is expected that the University will name a permanent chancellor and chief academic officer.

“I truly love Penn State Greater Allegheny,” Nagel said. “The more that I’m here, the more I want to be involved in making changes and improving the lives of students and our community and this position gives a bigger stage to fulfill that vision.” Nagel said that with these excitements, there are also some setbacks.

Unfortunately, Nagel said she will not be able to teach chemistry to PSUGA students like she did in previous years, as she will not have the time due to the responsibilities of the interim chancellor role. “I’m really invested in the students and the gap grows between your day-to-day interactions with students and your job duties,” she said.

However, Nagel intends to keep up with and expand her student interaction as she will provide several opportunities for students to meet with her. She will have interim chancellor walk-n-talks throughout the campus every Wednesday from 8:15 to 8:45 a.m.

She also plans to visit the Café Metro when it’s busy to meet and talk with students and she wants to volunteer for guest lectures in other faculty classes when she has the chance, saying that by guest lecturing, it gives her “a chance to get back in the classroom and connect with students.”

Nagel also established an interim chancellor Instagram account @psugainterimchancellor where she plans to connect with students, post announcements of “stuff happening on campus” and highlight student and faculty stories.

Another thing that has changed with the start of this semester is the COVID-19 masking policy. “We are no longer tracking with the Allegheny County level,” Nagel said. “Penn State, as a university, is now following the guidance of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) where masks are recommended, but not required.” She added that anyone with an office, however, can ask anyone to wear a mask in that office, so Nagel advised that everyone should always keep one mask with them, just in case.

A highlight to the fall semester is that PSUGA is introducing a brand-new social work degree, the first ever by any Penn State campus. Nagel said from the initial reaction, it appears that students and community members are very excited this is being offered in the Mon Valley.

“Social work is a really broad field that can do a lot of things,” she said. “This degree is going to be taught by two full-time faculty members: Dr. Christopher Robinson, assistant professor of social work, who is also the program’s director, and Ms. Kiera Mallet, a new addition to the full-time faculty, who will serve as field director in social work.”

Nagel mentioned that they are excellent at what they do and she believes students will be drawn to them.

Some unfortunate news happened to the PSUGA campus recently when the old YWCA building in downtown McKeesport—the building on 9th Street where the campus’ Mon Valley Launch Box was housed–was destroyed by a natural gas line explosion. The Launch Box—part of the Innovate Penn State program—officially opened in 2019 and it encourages economic development to improve the quality of lifse throughout the Mon Valley.

While no PSUGA employees or clients of the location were injured in the blast, Nagel said that the search is on for a new location for the Launch Box, “but nothing is set stone yet.” PSUGA is using campus space to temporarily relocate some of the clients while it looks for other community spaces for them to use.

“The mission of the Launch Box has not stopped, despite this huge setback,” Nagel added.

Also, the topic of Crossing Bridges has been on Nagel’s mind recently. Crossing Bridges started in 2017 and it was a multi-faceted program that featured internationally-acclaimed speakers and local community advocates, paired with campus unity talks and discussions on topics from police reform, social justice and health.

Nagel said that the program will continue, although it is going to be a little different from here on out.

“There’s a life cycle to any program,” Nagel said. “Crossing Bridges is at a point where it needs to rebrand.” Compared to previous years, it will now focus more on action, community engagement and trying to weave the program’s work into Penn State’s curriculum.

As far as renovations to the campus go, Nagel stated that “things are looking good on campus, both inside and out.”

Within the last five years, most of the classrooms have been renovated and there will be more renovations soon, including the first floor (lower level) of the Student Community Center (SCC), as well as the sport court, both of which are paid for by the students’ activity fees.

Nagel is very excited for the fall semester. “I have been telling people that I am a chemist…and this is a year of experiments, so I want to try things that have been on my mind and interesting to me.”

Story by: Carlin Whalen (cjw6426@psu.edu)