Lawmakers Hanna, Killion to receive 'Friend of Penn State' awards

University Park, Pa. —  Two Pennsylvania state representatives have been chosen by the Penn State Alumni Association to receive the third annual "Friend of Penn State" legislative award for the significant role they have played in the continued improvement of Penn State.

Michael K. Hanna, D-76th District, and Thomas H. Killion, R-168th District, will receive their awards June 20 at Penn State’s University Park campus. They were named by the Legislative Education and Advocacy Committee of Alumni Council, the governing body of the Penn State Alumni Association.

Chair of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, Hanna has served in the legislature since 1991. His district includes part of Centre County and all of Clinton County. A 1977 graduate of Lock Haven University, Hanna also earned a law degree in 1980 at the University of Pittsburgh.

In naming Hanna, the committee noted his consistent support for Penn State as House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee chair and his energetic efforts on behalf of a plan that would allow Penn State to purchase about 1,200 acres of underused land from the State Correctional Institution at Rockview. Penn State hopes to use the land for agricultural and forest research purposes and to make some of it available for outdoor activities such as hiking, hunting and fishing. At the same time, Penn State will preserve the land's environmental integrity through sound land-management practices in a way that can serve as a model for the entire Commonwealth.

Les Firth, chair of Alumni Council's legislative education and advocacy committee and a longtime agricultural advocate for Penn State, said Hanna is well regarded in Harrisburg and throughout the state. "Hanna is known by his colleagues and everyone who works with him in Harrisburg as an 'honest broker' who deals fairly and honestly with people on all sides of an issue," Firth said. "This has served him, and his constituents, very well."

Killion, vice chair of the House Insurance Committee, is a 1979 graduate of Penn State. He has served in the legislature since 2003. His district includes part of Chester County and part of Delaware County.

The committee noted Killion's staunch support for Penn State's position on the state's recently adopted open records law and his consistent backing for Penn State's appropriation requests. He has lent particular support to Penn State Brandywine, serving on its campus advisory board since 1999. He also has helped raise funds for a campus scholarship program, backed grant proposals aiding the campus and supported an effort to build a new campus entryway.

"Killion has been a great friend to the University at large and the Brandywine campus as well," Firth said.

For information on Hanna, go to http://www.pahouse.com/hanna/.

For information on Killion, go to http://www.repkillion.com/.