UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Courtney Gallagher, daughter of Paul and Elizabeth Gallagher of Wayne, Pennsylvania, will serve as student marshal for the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State’s fall commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 16. 

Gallagher will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders, and minors in human development and family studies and French and Francophone studies.

Gallagher served as a leader in the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, holding positions including service and philanthropy chair, merchandise chair, and public relations chair. She was also a College of Health and Human Development Ambassador, and a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and the spring 2023 Health and Human Development Leadership Initiative.

Gallagher was an undergraduate research assistant in the Child Language Development Laboratory, which seeks to understand how language develops in typical and non-typical ways in young children, adolescents and adults. She was also a teaching assistant for the courses CSD 311: Clinical Phonetics and CSD 442: Introduction to Disorders of Articulation and Phonology.

Gallagher received the Alumni Recognition for Student Excellence Award for Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2023, the Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award in 2022, the President Sparks Award in 2021 and the President’s Freshman Award in 2020.

Upon graduating, Gallagher will pursue a master’s degree in speech-language pathology and aspires to work in a medical setting.