Trevor Hale doesn’t necessarily think he’s more qualified to be the newest member of Penn State’s Board of Trustees than anyone else running. What he does have, he says, is his passion.

Hale, a retired professor who taught at Houston-Downtown, Texas A&M, Colorado State, Ohio University, and more, grew up as the son of a Penn State professor in State College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Penn State, his master’s degree in engineering management from Northeastern, and his doctorate in operations research from Texas A&M.

Hale is advocating for institutional change at Penn State and says he’s comfortable playing a Barry Fenchak-esque rabble-rouser role. At the heart of his campaign, Hale feels Penn State has wandered from its mission.

What may be most important to Hale is the return on investment (ROI) that Penn State students receive from their education. Hale qualified the ROI as among the lowest in the Big Ten, though he didn’t provide metrics to measure Penn State’s ROI.

As Penn State fights a budget deficit, Hale wants to find other ways to find money than raising tuition for students. Hale expressed concerns with the $700 million renovations to Beaver Stadium, even though those funds are coming from Penn State Athletics and not students’ tuition funds. He added that well-off alumni could offset the costs of the stadium and tuition.

Hale also advocated for increased funding for Penn State from the state government, noting the economic benefits to the whole state, not just the university.

“We have to leverage the Harrisburg… Let’s have Harrisburg help us out instead of hindering us,” Hale said. “For every dollar that Harrisburg kicks in, it comes back as $3.18 in economic advance. Now, you can’t measure that. It doesn’t come back to Penn State, but it comes back to Pennsylvania.”

Hale also wants to change the way the board runs, which includes fundamental restructuring, starting with how many seats are allotted to each constituency.

Hale wants alumni to elect 27 of their own to the board instead of the nine seats currently allotted to alumni-elected positions. He feels the other seats on the board, which are often appointed by Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, are simply “yes men” for Bendapudi.

“Where’s the decision making?” Hale said. “They just ram through whatever they want because they have people that vote.”

Hale doesn’t feel he’s better than the other candidates running for the board, though he’s still running, thinking he’s the best man for the job. With few exceptions, he feels he’s more of a Penn Stater than most other candidates and has more passion than anyone.

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Editor’s note: Hale’s interview is one of a multi-part series aiming to feature alumni running for open seats on the Board of Trustees. Onward State does not, and will not, endorse any candidate(s) in this election. Check out our site to read more about the remaining candidates vying for spots on the board throughout this year’s election cycle.