40k Alumni Spotlight: Teri Spence

Three-time Penn State graduate Teri Spence was a voracious reader as a child. Growing up in extreme poverty in Southwest Missouri, she made her way through the entire set of Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias — not because anyone told her to, but because she was hungry for a world she couldn’t yet reach. She always…

From online degree to global impact: This alum is an entrepreneur leading two sustainability-based companies

Carmen Paredes credits her time studying with Penn State World Campus as the foundation that shaped her leadership and problem-solving approaches — skills that have helped her start and lead two businesses. An entrepreneur from Paraguay, Paredes serves as the CEO of Ruruka, a company that transforms industrial waste into sustainable solutions, and Marajá, an…

40k Alumni Spotlight: Shelley Haffner

Shelley Haffner spent her Penn State career turning public health preparedness into real-world protection for thousands of students. Years before a global pandemic reshaped campus life, Haffner recognized the need for a coordinated, community-level strategy to manage infectious disease threats. As the infectious disease manager for Penn State’s University Health Services, she used her graduate…