Graham Spanier

His father had previously escaped Nazi Germany in 1936; much of his father's extended family perished during the Holocaust.

Graham Basil Spanier (born July 18, 1948) is a South African-born American sociologist and university administrator who became the 16th president of Pennsylvania State University on September 1, 1995.

The family moved to a working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, living there until 1956.

Spanier's father worked in a nuts, bolts and screws warehouse loading and unloading trucks; his mother worked in a clerical position.

His father became postmaster of Highland Park in 1962 and retired from that position in 1975.

Spanier has revealed that his father was physically violent with all three of his children.

His sister Anita told The New York Times that Graham received the most violent beatings, leaving him with lifelong complications.

"I've had to have four operations to correct serious deformities inside my head from beatings my father gave me," Spanier said.

"They had to rebuild me from the inside out."

As a teenager, Spanier largely supported himself financially, working part-time jobs at a radio station, a children's clothing store, a legal office, and saving for college by mowing lawns and baby-sitting.

He was president of J&A Radio Productions, a Junior Achievement company that produced a weekly show called "Variety" targeted to Chicago-area youth.

The family moved to the suburb of Highland Park, where Spanier graduated from Highland Park High School in 1966.

Along with Brian Ross, he co-founded a radio news service that covered the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

He attended Iowa State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in three years (in 1969) and continued his education to earn a master's degree (1971).

As a graduate student, he taught undergraduate classes in marriage and family sociology while on an assistantship.

During college, Spanier served as a head resident in the residence halls and worked in radio and television at WEEF (Chicago), KASI (Ames, Iowa) and WOI-TV (Ames, Iowa).

He had summer jobs as a radio announcer, news director, pizza maker, bank teller and public relations officer.

He received numerous honors while a university student for his leadership in student government and campus activities, including the Gold Key of the Cardinal Key Honor Society.

Following his graduation from Iowa State, Spanier attended Northwestern University, where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and earned his Ph.D. in sociology in 1973.

Prior to his tenure as president of Penn State, Spanier served as:

During his presidency, Spanier set goals to make Penn State the "top student-centered research university in America" and for the university to lead the nation in "the integration of teaching, research, and service."

Spanier created the Penn State World Campus, the Schreyer Honors College, the Presidential Leadership Academy, the College of Information Sciences and Technology, the School of International Affairs, and programs in forensic sciences and security and risk analysis.

He oversaw the merger with the Dickinson School of Law, creating an accredited and acclaimed two-campus law school.

Iowa State later honored him with the Distinguished Achievement Citation and an honorary doctorate (2004).

He was recognized by the American Institute of Architects for "Outstanding Contribution to the Profession by a Non-Architect" (2006) and with the Elizabeth Holtzman Award for his improvements to campus landscaping, master planning, and community relations.

During his tenure, applications exceeded 120,000 per year, enrollment grew to 97,000, and the academic standing of dozens of programs rose in national and international rankings.

As president, Spanier made a commitment to spend time with students.

He performed with Penn State's Musical Theatre students and occasionally with Penn State's marching band, the Glee Club, and the Chamber Orchestra.

He and his racquetball partner were 11-time Penn State co-ed intramural racquetball champions.

On November 9, 2011, in the wake of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, Spanier and longtime football coach Joe Paterno were “removed from their positions” by the Penn State board of trustees.

Spanier is currently president emeritus and university professor emeritus.

He previously held appointments as professor of human development and family studies; sociology, demography, and family and community medicine.

He had a one-year post-presidential sabbatical leave following his resignation as president of Penn State in November 2011.

After lengthy criminal proceedings, Spanier was convicted of one misdemeanor charge of child endangerment in March 2017 for his role in the scandal.

The conviction was overturned by a federal district judge in April 2019, but reinstated by an appeals court in December 2020.

He served a two-month prison sentence throughout the summer of 2021.

Spanier has written a book recounting the Penn State scandal from his perspective, the criminal proceedings which followed and his resulting incarceration.

“In the Lions’ Den: The Penn State Scandal and a Rush to Judgment” was released by Gryphon Eagle Press in September 2022.

Spanier is currently a consultant in national and international security, intelligence and risk management.

Graham Basil Spanier was born to Rosadele Lurie and Fritz Otto Spanier in Cape Town, South Africa and came to Chicago as an infant when his parents immigrated, concerned by parallels they saw between apartheid in South Africa and fascism in Germany.