Three alumni were elected to the Penn State Board of Trustees on Friday, none of which had a local connection to Schuylkill County.
The alumni elected to the board, who will take office July 1, include lawyer Adam Taliaferro, who played for the late coach Joe Paterno and recovered from a spinal injury; prominent donor and board critic Anthony Lubrano; and retired Navy Capt. Ryan McCombie.
This year's election had an unprecedented 86 graduates on the ballot competing for three elected alumni spots.
Election results were announced Friday following more than three weeks of online voting that drew a record 37,000-plus votes.
Alumni board races have typically seen six to nine alumni candidates for each three-seat cluster.
Penn State's Board of Trustees is composed of 32 members.
The breakdown includes trustees serving in an ex officio capacity by virtue of their position within the university or the state, and are the president of Penn State, the governor and the state secretaries of the departments of Agriculture, Education, and Conservation and Natural Resources.
Six trustees are appointed by the governor; nine trustees are elected by the alumni; six are elected by organized agricultural societies within the state; and six are elected by the Board of Trustees representing business and industry endeavors.
Eight alumni on the ballot with a local connection to the county, who were not elected to the board, included Dona M. Davis Horst, Annapolis, Md., M.S., Class of 1981 and '83; Thomas R. Davis, Yardley, Ph.D, Class of 1982, '85 and '88; John J. Mika, Tower City, a 1985 graduate in secondary education; Andrew Tellep, Mar Lin, a 1974 graduate in math education; Kyle Heffner, Pottsville, a 2008 graduate in agribusiness management; Terry F. Rakowsky, Doylestown, a 1982 pre-med graduate; Martin R. Davis, Pottsville, a 1986 business graduate; and Gregory M. Kerwin, Lykens, a 1971 graduate and 1975 Dickinson School of Law graduate.
Many of the alumni decided to run following anger over the university trustees' handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal and Paterno's ouster in November as part of the board's response to the charges against Sandusky, a retired assistant coach.
According to The Associated Press, there were also two agricultural trustee seats up Thursday.
While Carl Shaffer, a crop farmer from Columbia County and the president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau was re-appointed to a three-year term on the board by delegates of state agricultural groups, the other incumbent, Barron L. "Boots" Hetherington, Ringtown, a fruit and vegetable farmer, opted against running.
Hetherington become an adviser to Gov. Tom Corbett last year.
Donald Cotner, the president of an egg production and packing business in Montour County, will be Hetherington's replacement.
The new trustees begin their three-year terms July 1.