UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State College of Education alumnus Robert Longwell-Grice understands the benefits of advanced education and would like to help current and future graduate students with achieving their goals. He and his wife, Hope Longwell-Grice, have supported the College of Education for many years with gifts totaling $80,000.
The couple recently made an estate commitment to establish the Longwell-Grice Graduate Student Professional Development Fund in the College of Education with a gift of $50,000 to help students pursue critical professional opportunities while earning their graduate degrees in counselor education at Penn State. The Longwell-Grice endowment is one of only two endowments committed to helping students in the counselor education program.
“As a former graduate student, I know firsthand how difficult it is to find funding to access the myriad of professional opportunities offered to graduate students,” Robert Longwell-Grice said. “We hope this funding will allow students to take advantage of them as they occur.”
Robert, who grew up in Elmira, New York, earned an associate in arts degree from Corning Community College in 1975. He then moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where, in 1978, he earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Dubuque. He spent time working with teens who were placed in foster care and group homes on Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The work was fulfilling, but not necessarily what Robert wanted to do long term, he said, so he moved back to his hometown where he reconnected with a friend who was attending Penn State. The friend recommended to Robert that he also continue his education at Penn State.
“I went and proudly earned my master’s degree,” Robert said. “That started my wonderful 40-year career in higher education.”
After achieving his master’s degree in counselor education from Penn State in 1983, Robert held leadership and student affairs positions at the University of New Hampshire, New England College and the University of Delaware, before moving to Kentucky and earning his doctorate in educational and counseling psychology from the University of Louisville. His dissertation on first-generation college students led to a book that was published in 2021, “At the Intersection.” The book, which was co-edited by Robert and Hope, is intended to challenge the reader to explore what it means to be a first-generation college student in higher education.
“We really feel we’re expanding the field’s vision of first-generation college students,” Robert said.
Robert was a first-generation college student and his dissertation was a case study of working class, first-generation white males. The study looked at the interplay of social class and first-generation status. The experiences of first-generation college students are not monolithic, he explained, and the nexus of identities — LGBTQ+, low-income, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, etc. — matter. The book is intended to “challenge the reader to explore what it means to be a first-generation college student in higher education,” he said.
According to Robert, his experience at Penn State set him up for success in numerous ways, notably through faculty mentoring that helped him develop confidence in his abilities. His master’s thesis focused on how educators can instill in students the ethic of caring for the environment. In 2011, his thesis, “Every Day is Earth Day: Using a Latent Curriculum to Develop an Ethic of Sustainability Among College Students,” was published as an article updated with more current references published in New Journal of Student Affairs.
“There is no question that everything I learned at Penn State gave me the grounding and confidence for a well-rounded career in higher education,” he said.
Robert completed the master’s program in 15 months, even though it was intended as a two-year program. Despite the short time in the area, Hope said they still found a sense of community in Happy Valley.
“You could be engaged with the community, and there were always things going on,” she said. “Opportunities for learning outside the classroom are huge there. Penn State’s history is without comparison. The support of the alumni and the students and the community of Happy Valley make for a very unique learning experience.”
Robert had an opportunity to display his Penn State pride shortly after he and Hope moved to Milwaukee to work and study at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
“When we moved here, Wisconsin was the only state that didn’t have a Penn State Alumni Association chapter. I was happy, lucky, proud to be one of the founding members of the Penn State alumni club here in Wisconsin,” he said.
Hope has also had a long, distinguished career in education. Having worked in K-12 education as a Montessori teacher, she received a doctorate in social studies/social justice education from UVM, where she recently ended her career as UWM School of Education’s associate dean and head of the school.
Two years ago, Robert retired as recruitment and scholarship coordinator in the UWM School of Education’s Office of Student Services. One of the ways he is occupying himself during retirement is by joining a dance team comprised of people age 55 and older that performs at home games of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. Out of 200 people that auditioned last summer, Robert was one of 20 that made the cut. The dance team started in September and just finished for the season.
“There’s nothing wilder than running out onto the basketball court in front of 18,000 people and hearing them screaming and applauding you,” he said. “It’s a little unnerving but really, really gives you goosebumps every time.”
Donors like Robert and Hope advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients, and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.