Staff

Ashley Rippey is the Managing Director of the Career & Corporate Connections Office. A Penn State graduate (Public Relations ’07), Ashley went on to obtain her Master’s in School Counseling from the University of Scranton (’10) before beginning various roles in university admissions. In her current role, she executes strategic oversight for a career services team of 10 that serves 5,500+ undergraduate business students at Smeal, researches and implements professional development and corporate engagement initiatives to expand offerings to students, and explores and evaluates cutting edge career development tools. Her favorite parts of her role are building relationships with students and celebrating their successes. Although she is originally from New Jersey, Ashley always knew she wanted to attend Penn State. She now finds it very rewarding to be able to help the next generation of the Penn State family.

In her spare time, Ashley loves Penn State and NFL football, crafting and home improvement projects, attending dance and theatre performances, and spending time with her husband, baby boy, and two dogs.

Ashley Stark is the  Director for Corporate Relations with Career & Corporate Connections at the Smeal College of Business.  Ashley graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and later graduated from La Roche College with her Master of Science in Human Resource Management.  Ashley spent the first few years of her career in financial services as a campus recruiter before returning to Happy Valley.

Sherry Rice is the Assistant Director for Professional Development within the Career and Corporate Connections office. In her role, Sherry is responsible for creating, delivering, and assessing an expanded professional development curriculum in collaboration with internal and external units, faculty, and corporate partners. These programs and workshops help enhance students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities to be career ready, including leadership development, job and internship search strategies and the job and internship search process. In addition, Sherry provides career coaching to the Smeal undergraduate student body and oversees the marketing and internal PR efforts for the office.

Sherry Rice graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2007 and then obtained her Master of Education in Counselor Education with her certification in Secondary School Counseling from Lehigh University in 2009. After earning her Master’s degree, Sherry spent 3 years as a high school and middle school counselor before transitioning to higher education. As a school counselor, Sherry provided career, academic, and personal/social counseling to all students to help them be prepared for their post-secondary plans.

Before coming to the Career and Corporate Connections office, Sherry worked in the Career Services office at Penn State as the Career Fair Coordinator. In that role, she managed numerous career fairs and career development programs for students. She also assisted with Drop-In career appointments and presented workshops on various career related topics.

Lauren Watson has been with the Smeal Business Career Center since May 2015.  Lauren offers additional career development support to Smeal students transitioning from the Commonwealth campuses to University Park while also serving the general undergraduate Smeal student population.  Lauren completed her B.S. in Spanish Education K-12 at Penn State in 2009 and earned her M.A. in Student Affairs in Higher Education from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2015.

As the Student Organization Manager for the Smeal College of Business, Doug McAcy oversees the daily activities, event planning, as well as leadership and professional development of the 40 Smeal Student Organizations. Doug hails from the great state of Nebraska where he completed his B.A. in Political Science at Creighton University. He also holds a M.Ed. in Student Development Administration from Seattle University. While at SU, he served as the Graduate Coordinator for Student Clubs and Government overseeing 110 student clubs on campus and the Seattle University Student Government in the Office of Student Activities. Doug is passionate about student engagement and loves football, politics, and Netflix.

Emily is the Marketing Communications Specialist for the Business Career Center. In her role, she promotes opportunities and events for students through several channels including print, email, and social media. Emily graduated in May 2018 from Rowan University with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing.

Krista manages the Smeal College of Business Internship/Co-op job positions and the on campus interviewing for the Career and Corporate Connections office.  Krista has worked at Penn State for over 15 years, during that time she has worked in several Career Services offices at Penn State.

Jadine Reese and the front office student staff serve as first point of contact for all Smeal students and corporate visitors. In addition to directing students and visitors to the appropriate staff, Jadine manages the career adviser scheduling system and budget transactions for the Career and Corporate Connection office. She joined the Career and Corporate Connection office in The Smeal College of Business as Office Manager in February of 2013. Previously, she was a development assistant for Development and Alumni Relations for The College of Liberal Arts.

Andrew Artz is the Corporate Relations and Events Manager in Career & Corporate Connections.  Andrew serves as the initial point of contact for recruiters seeking to host recruiting events with Smeal’s undergraduate business students.  Andrew also acts as the liaison to other university units, including Risk Management and the Research Instruction & Information Technology (RIIT) Group.

Before earning a B.S. in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Management at Penn State Andrew served as an engineer in the United States Army.  He continues his service in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and is working to complete a Master’s in Geospatial Information Systems.

In his spare time, Andrew stays engaged with his community in projects related to active transportation and community recreation.  He is also the chair of the Centre Region Bicycle Advisory Committee and the CentreBike Action Subcommittee.