Steve Wagman’s Penn State story is a classic tale of “it’s not how you start but how you finish.”

Wagman grew up in Philadelphia and always wanted to be a Penn State student. He completed one year at the Abington campus, where he played baseball and saved up money to transfer to University Park for the next three years.

Wagman admits that he thought high school and college would go hand-in-hand and that he could do the bare minimum to be successful. However, that did not turn out to be the case for Wagman as he was told by his baseball coach that his time on the team was over after the first term because of his lackluster grades.

Wagman knew he had to play “catch up” and began taking his college education more seriously as he transferred to University Park to complete his degree in health planning, now known as health policy and administration.

Right when he stepped foot onto main campus, Wagman dove right into his major and saw steady improvement in his academic performance, later making the dean’s list while holding a strong GPA.

Despite holding a vice president position with the HPA club, Wagman wasn’t able to take full advantage of the school’s extracurriculars because of the academic hole he had dug himself in his first term. According to Wagman, the advisors who helped him toward his degree made all the difference in his educational experience.

“Penn State afforded me the opportunity with people that took an interest in me, afforded me the opportunity to have a wonderful life and career,” Wagman said.

After graduating, Wagman pursued a master’s degree in health administration at Pitt. Despite going to a different university for graduate school, Penn State has always been home to Wagman. He has stayed involved with the university, constantly volunteering to talk with classes and serve as a mentor to current and graduated students. He also holds multiple roles within the university as an alumnus.

Wagman served as the chair of the Corporate Engagement Advisory Committee for eight years. He then served on the Alumni Society Board for the College of Health and Human Development before running for a seat on the Alumni Council, where he connected with other alumni and learned the ins and outs of Penn State’s operations.

After a year on the Alumni Council, Wagman then ran for the Alumni Council executive board. After a few years, Wagman was elected as vice president of the Penn State Alumni Association, serving for six years. As vice president, Wagman would serve a two-year term, followed by a two-year term as president and then a two-year term on the Penn State Board of Trustees.

After serving on the Board of Trustees for two years, Wagman ran for his seat again in 2021, where he was re-elected for a three-year term. After missing out on last year’s Board of Trustees election, Wagman is back in the fold, in hopes of continuing his work with Penn State at the highest level.

In this year’s election, Wagman has three pillars at the epicenter of his campaign, the first being a focus on an affordable, world-class education for every student. Wagman harped on the need for a controlled increase in tuition and maintaining a balance within the university.

“We didn’t do increases for Commonwealth Campus students. We minimized increases as best as we could for our Pennsylvania students, and out-of-state students went up a little bit higher [in tuition],” Wagman said.

Wagman is heavily focused on the safety and well-being of students, as he has the most experience and passion for the topic. The second pillar of Wagman’s campaign is to make the physical and mental well-being of students a priority. A major issue for Wagman is the number of students in need of simple living necessities, such as affordable nutrition.

“I’m very concerned that we have students that will go an entire day without eating,” Wagman said. “I give the students a ton of credit in terms of the Lion Pantry activities, but having students not be able to eat or have to work ungodly hours so that they can afford to eat, go to school, etc. — it’s tough.”

In his term on the Board of Trustees, Wagman is proud to have helped bring live-on grants to those students who may need additional help. He admits that there are more students in need than grants available to give, making his plan of bringing more momentum to the cause a paramount topic of discussion.

His campaign’s third pillar is to be more fiscally responsible in the modernization and replacement of campus facilities. Wagman finds it important to give students up-to-date and industry-standard equipment that will best help the student body grow into prepared professionals. Additionally, Wagman discussed the cost-effective decisions of investing in new buildings rather than updating old ones.

“We have across the university, $2 billion in deferred maintenance for the 950+ buildings that we have. To me, that’s deferred debt,” Wagman said. “Inefficient buildings use more energy, which drives up our utility costs. If you’ve got a building that has mechanical systems… That is old, not replaced, and breaks. It’s three times the cost to replace something that breaks than if you had maintained it and replaced it at the appropriate time.”

Wagman mentioned how the Engineering Collaborative Research and Education Building received a facelift in 2024, saying the renovations took out $70 million in deferred maintenance. Because of the state’s need for engineers in the future, the Department of General Services contributed almost three-quarters of the cost toward the new buildings.

Wagman also voted for the $700 million Beaver Stadium renovations. According to Wagman, the stadium was not ADA compliant and was in need of $200 million worth of deferred maintenance. He noted that there will be no tuition or state money going into the project as it relies solely on donations that have been rolling in nicely.

Wagman believes his service and experience in healthcare make him the most qualified candidate for this year’s Board of Trustees election.

“I have 40-plus years of Global Fortune 200 business experience. I’ve got 40-plus years in healthcare across not only the U.S. but also international healthcare, and I sit on the board at Penn State Health,” Wagman said. “I have 40-plus years of experience across the university, Commonwealth Campuses, Alumni Association, Board of Trustees, Penn State Health Board, endowment campaigns, and student mentoring…I’ve got a pretty well-rounded education on everything Penn State…I think I am the most qualified candidate for what Penn State does now and for the future.”

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Editor’s note: Wagman’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.