Alumni couple endows scholarship for future educators at Penn State Harrisburg

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - An alumni couple have pledged an estate gift to endow the scholarship they established at Penn State Harrisburg in 2020 for future urban educators.

Steve Hevner, who enrolled at the University as a returning adult student, is a 1993 graduate of Penn State Harrisburg, as well as a retiree of the college, having worked as manager of public information and publications. Ricki (Krebs) Hevner is a 1966 graduate of Penn State College of Education and a retired teacher.

"Penn State Harrisburg provided both a life-changing and career-altering opportunity for me in my 40s," said Steve Hevner. "For that, I felt a need to express my gratitude. I came up with the desire to honor Ricki at the same time for her commitment to public school teaching."

The couple began giving to the college in 2012 when they established an annual student award, then increased their giving in 2020 to make the award into a scholarship: the Ricki and Steve Hevner Urban Educator Scholarship, which aims to support students in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education.

"As the college's public information officer, I saw firsthand the excellent teaching and research emanating from the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education and decided on the Urban Educator Scholarship," Steve said.

They have continued supporting the scholarship each year with annual gifts, and they plan to do so into the future. In 2025, they decided to commit an estate gift to endow the scholarship, ensuring it will be available in perpetuity.

"My career as a teacher in an urban public school was rewarding, satisfying and at the same time challenging," Ricki said. "Steve and I are ever grateful that our financial commitment assisting education majors in experiencing the joy and gratification of teaching will continue long after we are gone."

Steve said that Penn State Harrisburg changed his life on more than one occasion.

After graduating from high school, he completed two years of college in New Jersey but decided not to go back. Instead, he took a sportswriter job that led to a 24-year journalism career, during which he advanced through the ranks to become assistant managing editor of the York Dispatch for 10 years and later editor of a weekly in southern York County.

Ricki worked as a teacher in York City School District. She had been teaching for about 10 years when she and Steve had a son, and she temporarily stopped working full-time.

When Steve's newspaper career ended in 1991, Ricki suggested it was time for him to finish his degree.

"She's the one who said, 'You always wanted to go back to college and finish,'" he said.

Steve explored programs and found a fit with Penn State Harrisburg's communications program. He worked part-time jobs while studying full-time, and Ricki returned to full-time teaching at the same York school where she had previously taught.

Steve earned his bachelor's degree with high distinction from Penn State Harrisburg in 1993 and was working part-time communications jobs when he said a connection from the college let him know about an opening in media relations.

He was hired and spent the remainder of his career at Penn State Harrisburg, retiring in 2010 as manager of public information and publications.

Ricki retired from teaching in 2007, after 28 years with York City schools.

Giving back

After retiring, the Hevners felt a pull to give back to the college that had given so much to them, they said.

Steve said he was always impressed with the education faculty he encountered when he was working at the college, and both have been impressed with the students who have received their scholarship.

"I saw the work they did, I saw the quality of the students, and now we're seeing the quality of the graduates, whom we really didn't come in contact with until we established this award and scholarship," he added.

He said he feels strongly that those who have been impacted by Penn State Harrisburg give back somehow, if they are able.

"We've been fortunate that we can do this," he said. "I'm positive that the student annually who receives this feels really good about it. I hope they do. They can't feel any better than we do."

Donors like Steve and Ricki Hevner 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.