As the only incumbent running in this year’s Board of Trustees alumni election, Rob Tribeck is excited by the opportunity to use what he’s learned in his first three years as a trustee to help move the board forward.

“I”m very comfortable with how the board works. Now we need to see some results,” Tribeck said. “I don’t quit very easily, at anything, and I’m not done with this yet, so that’s why I want to continue in the same position.”

Although it’s unfortunate to lose trustees Ryan McCombie and Anthony Lubrano, who Tribeck says worked exceptionally hard,  the prospect of new faces and fresh ideas on the board excites him. He’s hopeful that he’ll be elected and be able to keep some sense of continuity among the alumni trustees.

Tribeck has spent 25 years as an attorney advising Boards of Directors and representing nonprofit entities, educational institutions, colleges and universities, and private businesses. This experience has served him well on the board so far, and is something many of his endorsers mention in their support of his candidacy.

“It’s very tricky to go from being a lawyer to the client, and so that’s a learning curve, but I think my ability to help bring down the legal issues to the rest of the board I think is a big advantage as well. I’m able to communicate and assist our counsel in outlining what legal issues we face, and as you well know, our board, and frankly any entity of our size, has its share of legal issues, and we’ve certainly had to face a number of legal issues over the last three years and going forward.”

He generally supports the goals of legislation recently introduced in Pennsylvania’s state legislature, which would reduce the size of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, require trustees and some employees to file statements of financial interest under Pennsylvania’s Ethics Act, and expand the extent of public documents available under the state’s Right-to-Know law, but remains steadfast in wanting to see the actual legislation before committing.

“I need to see what the actual legislation says and weigh it altogether…I’ll look at them and determine, ‘Are these bills collectively in our best interest as a university?'” Tribeck said. “If they are, I will clearly support them. If they’re not, I won’t. I have a fiduciary duty to do what’s in the best interest of Penn State in my view.”

Tribeck has long been an advocate for affordability, and cites Penn State’s land grant mission as his motivation: “educating Pennsylvania students in a manner that is 1) world-class and 2) truly affordable.” He believes tapping into Penn State’s Commonwealth Campus system and World Campus more can be the key to graduating students quicker and with less debt.

“For me, it’s finding unique ways to graduate the 2018 students that are very different than the 1991 students, that I was, and the 1961 students,” Tribeck said. “It’s a different world that we live in, and we’re at the top of the food chain, Penn State is, and we need to evolve to stay there. That’s what I want us to do.”

As for understanding the 2018 student, Tribeck is well aware that the needs of today’s students are much different than what they were 25 years ago when he attended Penn State, or even before that when many of the current trustees were undergraduate students. He’s committed to keeping up with student life and issues, specifically through working with the student leaders who sit on Board of Trustees committees and with student trustee Mike Hoeschele.

“I tap into your student leaders, and that’s something I’m going to definitely be doing more of, if I’m lucky enough to be elected, over the next three years, because to me, that’s the most valuable piece of information I can get — not from the deans, not from alumni, the students can tell me what the issues are that they’re facing at Penn State.”

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Alumni should have received their ballots this month via email. Those who did not participate in the nomination phase can request a ballot online.

Voting will close at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 3. Results of the election will be announced at the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, May 4 at the Penn Stater.