Penn State Is Losing a Top Administrator and Champion of Women’s Higher Education

Louise Sandmeyer, executive director of the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment at Pennsylvania State University, is retiring. After coming to Penn State in 1974, Sandmeyer chaired a study group more than 30 years ago that recommended the establishment of a women’s center on campus. She was the co-founder of a group called Campus Colleagues where women would meet with the university’s top administrators. The group evolved into what is today called the Women’s Alliance.

Sandmeyer left Penn State in 1984 and taught in the women’s studies program at the University of Utah. She returned to Penn State in 1990 as director of the Human Resources Development Center. She took her current position in 2003.

Sandmeyer earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Penn State. She also holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Denver.