Building named in honor of founding dean

Hershey, Pa. -- Penn State's former Business Administration Building at the University Park campus has been named for Donald H. Ford, founding dean of the College of Human Development, in a vote today (March 23) by the University's Board of Trustees.

The Donald H. Ford Building, formerly home of the Smeal College of Business and situated at the southeast intersection of Park Avenue and Allen Road, is undergoing renovation to house three of the nine academic units of the College of Health and Human Development.

Ford served as founding dean of the College of Human Development from 1967 to 1977 during a Penn State career of nearly four decades. Prior to his deanship, Ford was director of the Division of Counseling from 1958 to 1967, and during that time his role expanded to include what is now the director of Placement Services and director of the Office of International Students. He retired from the University in 1991 as professor emeritus and dean emeritus of human development.

"Dean Ford's conceptualization of a College of Human Development was innovative and often imitated by major universities across the country," said Fred W. Vondracek, interim dean of Penn State's College of Health & Human Development, the name of the college adopted in 1987. "It represented one of the first serious efforts by a major research university to create an academic organization to explicitly address the changing needs of a society through interdisciplinary programs in biological health, community development, man-environment relations and individual and family studies."

The Ford Building will be occupied by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the Department of Health Policy and Administration and the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management. All three departments are scheduled to move in to the renovated facility by the end of July 2007.