In 2021, Tammy published her debut novel, which follows an immigrant family through the steel mills and coal mines of Western Pennsylvania in the early 1900s during the “golden age of steel.” 

“I kind of fell into labor studies. My dad’s background and my own working experiences definitely influenced my decision, but I also loved the liberal arts: writing, history, and political science. I chose a major that had all those subjects.” 

Dionne R. Wiggins has had a successful career working in human resources and is currently the vice president for people and culture at the American Jewish World Service in New York City. 

But she didn’t start her professional career in human resources. She was a lawyer, and when she earned a degree online through Penn State World Campus in 2013, she changed her career trajectory. 

Tara is the global chair of communications for Women in Music, a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 working to educate, empower, and advance women in the music industry. Previously, she held marketing positions at Spotify and Sony Music Entertainment.  

“I don't think you’ll find too many people with a shared passion for employment law and music marketing, but that just happens to be me,” she said. “I came to realize I was very creative and wanted to help better the ecosystem for artists to connect with fans, tell their stories and live off their art.” 

Angelica is an HR manager at Estée Lauder. As an undergraduate, she participated in research, education abroad, an internship, and student organizations related to her major. Through these out-of-classroom experiences in the College of the Liberal Arts, she was able to find her passion, explore multiple disciplines, and line up a full-time job offer—all before the start of her fourth year. 

Gabe represented Mexico on the men's swimming team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics. The athlete fell in love with Penn State and found it was the best option for him to continue swimming. 

Nicholas spent a summer working as a research assistant at the University of Edinburgh. The Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar was able to combine his backgrounds in psychology and labor and human resources to complete workplace behavioral research in Scotland.

Nicholas was a human resources intern at Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. He was able to participate in the internship because of the funding he received through the Virginia Todd Chapel Executive Internship Program in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Dan secured a full-time position at Southwest Airlines after completing a leadership training program internship with the company. Dan explained that the duality of his degrees benefitted him greatly in his internship role. He said, “I attribute all my success to the College of the Liberal Arts.”

Scott was selected as the 2020 Best Undergraduate Speaker at Purdue University’s annual HR Case Competition.  

“This was an incredibly beneficial event; I learned so much. I thought it would be a good way for me to determine if HR is the right fit for me, and it also helped me build skills that I can talk about in interviews and with future employers,” he said. 

As a student, Scott interned with Adobe, and after graduating, he started working for the company full-time as an HR associate. 

Hannah started her Penn State career with Political Science but was looking for a second major to round out her education.  

“I took the introductory LER course and ended up really liking it. I’m interested in unions, but there are so many more parts of our lives that LER touches on. Work, how we work, and the conditions we work under impact everyone. Being able to study that more in depth from different perspectives like business or political science appealed to me.” 

Twins Julie and Becky Jenkins are pursuing the same major and minor and participate in several shared extracurriculars, but they’re pursuing different paths within their educations and future plans. Julie intends to focus on talent acquisition and recruiting, while Becky wants to work on the financial and payroll side.