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Lawrence Young to retire

Lawrence W. Young Jr., director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, will retire on July 1 after 22 years of service at Penn State.

Young says he will always treasure the positive impact he has had on the lives of students and that serving as a mentor has been one of the most rewarding aspects of his position.

“ The education of individuals who came through the cultural center had added value above and beyond those with no interaction with the center,” adds Young. “It’s been a long opportunity to learn and to serve. The positive influence on students has carried forward to all aspects of their lives. Students not only learn to do things but also how to think and understand.”

In 1982 Young joined the University as the center’s director. He remembers appreciating the fact that the center was named after actor Paul Robeson, a personal hero of Young’s since childhood. Over the years he has helped broaden the center’s mission to include educational as well as cultural programming. He also oversaw the construction of the center’s new location as part of the HUB-Robeson center complex in 1999, a change that he says enhanced the center’s profile and visibility in many ways.

“Now our facility is considered one of the top five cultural centers in the country,” Young notes. “The move has in many ways increased our visibility and relationship to the University. It has increased the level of respect given to us.”

Prior to joining the center, Young served in several administrative positions at Miami University, including director of minority student affairs, director of the educational opportunity program, and assistant to the director of the office of black student affairs. He also taught high school reading and English for the Cleveland public school system.

Young received his master of education and bachelor of science degrees from Miami University in 1974 and 1965 respectively.

Penn State honored Young in 1989 with an award for improving cross-cultural relations. Other honors include membership in Phi Delta Kappa (1994), Skull and Bones (1992) and induction into the Golden Key Honor Society (1992).

Young has written about and lectured on such topics as educating the disadvantaged, the psychology of racism, equal opportunity, and inter-cultural communication. Beginning in 1992 he served for ten years as an instructor in African and African American Studies. His courses included Introduction to Black Studies, the Life and Thought of Malcolm X, the Philosophy and Life of Martin Luther King Jr., and the Reclamation of the African American Male.

Young has participated in numerous civic activities, including serving on the boards of directors for the Centre County United Way, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, the Easter Seals Society, and the Miami University Alumni Council.

The Paul Robeson Cultural Center, a unit of Student Affairs, includes a full-service facility and a variety of programmatic responsibilities in the area of African-American culture.

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