Jolie Elder said it herself — she knows she is an unorthodox choice for an alumni-elected representative to Penn State’s Board of Trustees. Nevertheless, she brings with her 15 years of non-profit governance experience and a fire for truth.

Growing up in York County, Pennsylvania, Elder’s father was a part of the United 533 flight crew that crashed in the Chicago area, leaving her mother widowed in December 1972 with three children to care for. As her mother worked to finish her college degree and provide the best life possible for her children, she also instilled the values of grit and passion into them.

After her graduation from Dallastown High School, Edler began her journey at Penn State. In an effort to save money for her siblings attending close behind her, Elder worked hard to finish college in three short years.

Elder graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art history before moving into the college’s art history graduate program, where she produced a thesis on women in art and their representation in artistic texts. She then went on to receive a graduate certificate from Michigan.

In her time at Michigan, Elder had a realization about what she wanted to do with her life. Sensing miserable emotions and seeing the large sacrifices from those around her, she decided to make a change.

“When I left Michigan, I really stumbled for a while. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I felt like I had this path, and then I didn’t anymore,” Elder said.

Tracing back to her roots, Elder dug into her passion for cross-stitching and knitting. With her teaching background from six years of graduate school, she began teaching knitting professionally in 2002.

She has taught in a variety of local knitting shops, guilds, and festivals and is dedicated to creating new techniques in a respected craft. In her teachings at Maryland Sheep and Wool, New York State Sheep and Wool (Rhinebeck), and John C. Campbell Folk School, to name a few, she has grown her craft and empowered those around her.

Elder has also found a way to take her talents and teachings into a non-profit service.

Elder is a past president, past vice-president, and current programs chair of the Atlanta Knitting Guild.
She is also a founding member, past president, and past programs chair of North Georgia Knitting Guild. She is a founding member of both the Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance and the Center for Knit and Crochet. Elder also volunteers as of member of Mensa in Georgia’s regional gathering committee.

While not the prestigious career she originally envisioned, Elder said she’s respected in her field and is proud of the advancements she has made in the knitting community. She cited her non-profit endeavors as being some of the most impactful experiences of her life.

Her journey onto the campaign ballot, while not conventional, is a testament to the beauty of democracy and drive. After having lunch with an old professor of her husband’s during a summer trip to Penn State, he urged her to consider becoming a trustee.

As time passed, and Elder talked to more people from Penn State, she found herself at an Anglican knitting and quilting retreat in North Carolina this past January.

“I’m doing a lot of reflection the whole time I’m there. I kept saying that if I was supposed to do this, I needed a sign. Late in the weekend, I sit down in the cafeteria for breakfast, and I’m sitting across from two ladies I haven’t had a meal with yet. I explained to them that I was trying to figure out my Penn State campaign, and they mentioned they had a Penn State connection. Their dad was Harry Eberly. So 800 miles from Penn State’s University Park campus, I said, ‘OK, I guess I’m doing this!'” Elder said.

Once her name made it on the ballot, Elder had yet another lucky moment when she asked for a sign from the universe during the name drawing. As two numbers got pulled and a redraw was necessary, it was Elder’s name that made it out.

Since then, she has been researching avidly to position herself as the best candidate she can be. Watching Board of Trustees’ meetings, reading Graham Spanier’s book, and following Spotlight PA and the Wall Street Journal have helped to inform Elder’s vision of the difference she wants to make within the Penn State community.

“I do not know why I am on this journey or what I am doing. I simply know that every time I am, the universe says, ‘Yes, you are supposed to do something here,'” Elder said.

Elder believes she brings a beacon of trust to the table, stemming from her experience on previous non-profit boards. In her mind, trust between the board and its constituents is the only way to make a lasting change.

Another focus she wants to prioritize is allocating resources and funding. Coming from a small department like art history, Elder understands how it can feel to have limited resources. She is committed to looking for unconventional solutions that might end up being the clever ones.

In further terms of funding, Elder sees college funding from an outside perspective as a resident of Georgia. In Georgia, the HOPE scholarship provides opportunities for middle-class families to send their children off to college with ease. Elder is impressed by Governor Josh Shapiro’s passion for education and is hopeful to see better funding for public education.

In terms of Commonwealth Campus funding and closings, Elder believes this should be done in a way that values Penn State’s core values: integrity, respect, responsibility, discovery, excellence, and community. She believes the board and the Penn State administration need to be working collaboratively on these decisions and work with communities before shutting down campuses.

Elder is committed to developing a specific set of criteria by which each campus is evaluated and showing a full thought process from the leadership.

Elder’s position on Joe Paterno lies in her respect for art history and comes from a cultural perspective. She believes a decision must be made about the Joe Paterno statue that was taken down. Whether that is putting it back on display in several suggested locations so that the people who want access to it can have it or divesting of it, she believes keeping it in a storage unit is disrespectful.

She is committed to transparency and is not afraid to ask questions, a trait she believes is unique to the current board. She is also confident that her core value of courage, even further built upon after the unexpected death of he mother in 2023, would be an asset to the board.

When Elder’s mother passed away the day after Christmas, she learned what it was like to put things above herself and preserve the prosperity of her family. As she placed her life on hold and secured a future for her sister, the toil taught her the balance of life.

“If my mother’s grandchildren can live in that house without a mortgage and my sister can raise her children in a really good school district, that’s far more important than $175,000 in my bank account. That’s a way more important legacy. If people want to know who I am, that’s what I am,” Elder said.

Also an avid blogger, Elder has been writing about her campaign journey on Substack. She believes that voters should have the ability and information in their hands to educate themselves on the candidates, and wants to publish valuable information.

At the end of the day, Elder acknowledged that while she may be late to the game and not someone you would typically envision on the board, her unique perspectives might be just what the university needs right now.

“The 14 of us who don’t become trustees, some of us still have great ideas, so that’s also something we need to work on. Making sure we are collaborative, that no matter who is on the Board of Trustees, we have to work with each other and make sure those good ideas get advanced,” Elder said.

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Editor’s note: Elder’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.