Paul E. Krueger, the Penn State professor who murdered three men in 1965, has not contacted the university with a resignation -- despite reports he accepted a teaching position in California, university spokesman Bill Mahon said.
"We haven't received any word from him yet," Mahon said. "And we will not and cannot make plans based on news reports."
Penn State has no plans to dismiss Krueger and is still investigating the circumstances surrounding the felony conviction.
Krueger is scheduled to teach four classes in the fall -- all graduate level workforce education courses. In two of these, WF ED 550 (research and workforce education) and WF ED 597G (survey research), he teaches the only section of the course listed.
Even though Krueger has not resigned, there has been a push within the College of Education to reassign his classes so graduate students are not forced to delay coursework, said Jeff Deitrich, coordinator for the College of Education relations.
Professors in the workforce education department have "rallied together" to make sure none of the classes have to be cancelled for the fall semester, Deitrich said.
"The faculty are planning to reassign the classes to other faculty," he added. "We might have to hire some adjunct professors for some of the more specialized classes."
The university did not ask Krueger if he had any prior felony convictions. However, Krueger did not offer any information, Mahon said.
"I think it's important to recognize that this is a man who the state judicial system and the governor thought was rehabilitated enough to be set free," Mahon said. "This is something that happened three decades ago."
A number of prior employers gave Krueger "spotless" recommendations, Mahon said.
The university has received a "handful" of notes and calls from Krueger's former students and from colleagues -- all praising the professor, Mahon said.
The Associated Press reported that before coming to Penn State in 1999, Krueger was a visiting professor at Idaho State University and had a tenure-track position at Augustana College in South Dakota.
Some of Krueger's previous employers were shocked when learning of his prior murder conviction.
"I'm sitting here thunderstruck. I''m virtually speechless," said Anne Oppegard, chairwoman of the business department at Augustana. "I'm practically stuttering I'm so dumbfounded."
Krueger could not be reached for comment. The Texas parole office has said Krueger is residing in Austin. In addition, the parole office said he would not be returning to Pennsylvania.
