Dr. S. K Stevens Chosen as Penn State Distinguished Alumni - CDT Story
7 Graduates Chosen as Distinguished Alumni
Dr. S. K Stevens
Amos F. Neyhart of Boalsburg and Dr. S. K Stevens, a former County resident, are among seven graduates of the University who will be honored as distinguished alumni on Saturday. June 25 as part of the annual Alumni Institute and Class Reunions program.
Others who will receive distinguished alumni awards are Jesse F. Core of Mt. Lebanon, vice president in charge of coal operations for United States Steel; Robert K. Hamilton of Ambridge, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representative; William D. Harkin, of Philadelphia, head of his own law firm; John W. Lindsey of Pittsburgh, vice president for purchases and member of management committee tor Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp. and vice president and director of the Gateway Coal Corp., and George S. Rose of New York City, s vice president of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
The alumni awards were begun at Penn State in 1951 “to recognize and salute the achievements of outstanding alumni whose personal life, professional activities and community service exemplify the objectives of The Pennsylvania State University.” Since then 85 graduates have been so honored.
Amos F. Neyhart, best known for his pioneer work in high school driver education, taught the nation's first driver training course at Slate College High School in 1933-34.
Today some 8,000,000 Americans are graduates of courses modeled after his.
Another first for Mr. Neyhart was the training of high school teachers in 1936 and, in 1937, of college professors to conduct driver education courses. He also set up the first fleet supervisor's training course for commercial operators at Penn State In 1939. In 1938 Penn State established the Institute of Public Safety, which Mr. Neyhart headed until his retirement two years ago.
Mr. Neyhart is a consultant on driver education to the American Automobile Association and has served four Presidents as a member and chairman of the President’s Committee for Traffic Safety.
He received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University in 1921 and returned eight years later as an instructor. In 1934 he was awarded a master’s degree in psychology and education.
Mrs. Neyhart, the former Mary Helen Leinbach, and the couple's two children Winifred (Mrs. Roger Felch) and Charles are graduates of Penn State.
Mr. Neyhart is a member of Phi Kappa fraternity, currently known at the University as Phi Kappa Theta.
As executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and an author of books on Commonwealth history Dr. Stevens has illuminated and preserved physically much of the Commonwealth's past.
He has served as director of the commission since 1956 and in this post has directed a statewide effort to preserve the remaining fragments of Pennsylvania's history, whether in the form of documents and records to reside in the new William Penn Memorial Museum and Archives Building in Harrisburg, or of actual property.
Since 1937 Dr. Stevens has furthered the cause of conservation by obtaining cooperation at the local level while serving as executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies. In that same year he was named State Historian.
In his 20 years as an author on State history, Dr. Stevens produced six volumes of works and has written and edited numerous articles, pamphlets and bulletins. He is a founder and member of the editorial hoard of "American Heritage" magazine.
Dr. Stevens holds both a bachelor's and a master’s degree from Penn Slate and taught at the University as an instructor and assistant professor of history from 1927 through 1937. He was awarded his doctorate by Columbia University in 1945. Dr. Stevens has also received three honorary doctorates for his scholarship from Lebanon Valley College, Susquehanna University and Moravian College.
He is a trustee of the Harrisburg Area College Center and of the South Central Pennsylvania Educational Television Corporation. A member of Theta Chi Fraternity, Dr. Stevens and hi, wife, the former Crescence Miller, Class of 1929.
Jesse F. Core, Vice President in charge of coal operations for United States Steel Corporation, received a bachelor of science degree in mining engineering from Penn State in 1937. He worked as a coal miner and as a mining engineer before becoming general superintendent of U.S. Steel's Frick District in Uniontown, Pa.
He assumed his present post in 1958. Mr. Core holds the Sliver Beaver Award in Scouting, the highest honor conferred by a Boy Scout Council. He serves on the executive board of the Allegheny Council and is diocesan chairman of the Catholic Committee on Scouting.
Mr. Core is chairman of the Division of the American Mining Congress and a past president of the Coal Mining Institute of America.
The Core family resides in the Mt. Lebanon district of Pittsburgh. He is a member of Triangle fraternity.
Robert K. Hamilton, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, is a 1928 graduate. Mr. Hamilton has served the voters of Beaver County in the State capitol since 1940.
He was a farmer and a member of Beaver County's Soil Conservation Committee and is an insurance agent in his home town of Ambridge. Mr. Hamilton keeps in close touch with University affairs as a director Beaver County Commonwealth Campus.
In Harrisburg he is a member of the General State Authority, the State Highway and Bridge Authority. the State Public School Building Authority and the Legislative Budget and finance Committee. His son, James W. Hamilton. Is a sophomore at the University. Mr. Hamilton is a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.
William D. Harkins, head of his own Philadelphia law firm, is a 1919 graduate. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1922.
He has served continuously as an alumni trustee since he was appointed in 1947. In 1950 he secured for the University the facilities of the present Ogontz Campus as an outright gift. Mr. Harkins is chairman of the board's committee on Commonwealth Campuses and a member of the executive committee and the committee on research.
He organized the Penn State Club of Philadelphia and is a past president and director of the organization. He is a member of Acacia fraternity.
John W. Lindsey, vice president for purchases and a member of the management committee of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation and vice president and director of Gateway Coal Company, graduated in 1931.
In 1940 he was awarded a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh. After years in government service and private practice Mr. Lindsey joined Jones and Laughlin in 1949 and was named vice president in 1957. Mr. Lindsey is active in the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and has served in the inerest of amateur athletics and the junior Olympics.
Mr. Lindsey, a member of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity, lives in Pittsburgh.
George S. Rose is familiar to steel men as vice president of the American Iron and Steel Institute. A 1923 graduate. Mr. Rose is a former member of the Council and an original member of the Alumni Fund Council.
He has been honored by being named to the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute anti the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain.
Mr. Rose, a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and his wile, the former Evelyn A. Mack, class of 1925, live in New York City.