Riley continues family involvement with PSU

By PATRICIA K. COLE
Collegian Staff Writer

As Anne Riley sits on the porch of the house her father built, admiring the view of Mount Nittany, she muses about one possible problem with the University.

"It's true that it is hard to get to," she said. "But where would we be if we were at the edge of a city? We would not be able to see this mountain."

Born and raised in State College, Riley, who is a member of the University Board of Trustees and an English teacher at State College Area High School, has spent most of her life in the area.

Dedication to the University runs in the family. Her grandfather worked for the University, both her parents and her two siblings graduated from the University and her father made his career at Penn State, eventually building the two-story house in Boalsburg where she now lives.

Although the Penn State bug has bitten Riley, the president of the Penn State Alumni Association, she said she needed to leave the State College community for a while to find her way home. Growing up as a self-proclaimed 'faculty brat,' a daughter of a University employee, Riley said she, like many of her classmates, could not wait to leave the area.

She spent two years traveling around the United States and Canada as the field secretary for her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and then one year in the business world. She returned to the University to receive her graduate degree in English and began teaching -- a profession she said she knew she would love.

Although it took her another few years to become actively involved with the University community, Riley said she has always been involved with her community.

"The more you're involved, the more you begin to see the value in something bigger than yourself," she said. "If I want to be here and take advantage of all the things in the area, I should give something back."

In her position as high school teacher, she has found the community has a lot to offer her students and her teaching. For more than 25 years, Riley has taken her classes to see an on-campus theater production to enhance their classwork.

"I don't remember a single time that that didn't work," she said.

Riley's commitment to the University extends beyond an appreciation of the arts and sports it offers. She sees her position on the board as an opportunity to work with the students and further many of their interests and concerns. Because many of her students attend the University, Riley is able to understand and relate well to the University students.

"It's not true that a teacher loses touch with her students," she said. "I've always been aware that I have friends of all ages."

Because the University charter does not allow faculty members to sit on the board, Riley also brings with the her the unique perspective of an educator to a group of diverse careers, including lawyers, businessmen, a judge and a psychologist. Although she is relatively new to the board since her election last June, Riley said she has already found the value in the position.

"It's in so many ways just how I thought it would be to be a trustee and in so ways it's different," she said. "It's not just the meetings. It's walking around the campus and working with the students."