“Meet 220” is a series of posts featuring staff of the Smeal Professional Graduate Programs. “220” refers to the suite of offices within the Business Building where the team is housed.  

Carrie Marcinkevage, MBA and MOL Managing Director, CRM Strategy Lead, Professional Graduate Programs

What’s your role with the Smeal PGP office?

I’m the managing director for the MBA and MOL programs. I work with admissions, student services, career services, employer relations, and our alumni. Essentially, I try to help make everything outside the classroom experience as positive as possible, from first connections with us to sad goodbyes and calling Penn State “home” no matter where you end up.

What did you do prior to coming to Smeal?

I was in the management consulting and education industry working with a company who designed computer games for mirroring business processes and learning business acumen. It was a world of gamification before that term ever existed. It was amazing to work with Fortune 100 companies all over the world. In the end, a choice to step off the perpetual jetway led me to academia.

What’s your favorite thing about your role?

I get to see how our students develop – the amazing people they become and opportunities they create. It’s amazing what these experiences can do when a student dives in. I also love the fantastic community here from the students to my colleagues. Our Penn State Values are truly visible in everyday actions, and it’s incredibly inspiring.

What’s the most interesting thing about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone?

You’d see undercurrents in my resume: I’m a total techie. I love gadgets and new tech. Apple watch? Pre-ordered and arrived on my birthday. Airpods? Yes. Future of data? Artificial/augmented intelligence – studying it now. So tell me…what’s next in the world of tech?

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be and why?

Funny – the part I thought most about in this question was the “trade places” part. Somebody else takes my place for a week. So, I need to choose someone who would lead the programs really well, and whom my family would adore…but not so much that they don’t want me back…  I’m going to say Marvel’s Agent Peggy Carter, a character from the WWII era. She was smart, clever, tough, and started a (fictional) intelligence and crime-fighting organization far ahead of her time. It would be amazing to see things from that time and perspective. And in taking my place, surely she’d whip things into shape for me. Plus my family would love her but be intimidated enough to want me back.