Two Penn graduates and a Penn professor emerita among 2022 Distinguished Daughters of Pa.

Two Penn graduates and a Penn professor emerita were among the 11 women recognized as 2022 Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania. 

Governor Tom Wolf and First Lady Frances Wolf presented the award, which was given to honor their “extraordinary service and contributions to the Commonwealth,” according to the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania website. 1972 Master’s recipient Caren Glotfelty, 2020 Graduate School of Education doctoral graduate Stacy E. Holland, and Professor Emerita of Nursing Neville Strumpf joined the group of 500 women who have received the award throughout its 73-year history. 

The honorees were nominated by civic, cultural, professional, and educational organizations in early 2022. There is no birth requirement, but all nominees had to have lived in PA and “identify” with the state. 

The nominations were reviewed by a Committee of Distinguished Daughters, and recipients were recognized at an Oct. 12 awards luncheon at the governor’s residence in Harrisburg.

“After receiving a letter from the governor in the mail, I looked up the Distinguished Daughters and saw women in all walks of life and many different fields who have all played significant roles in their communities,” Strumpf said. “I was shocked that I was being recognized alongside them.”

Past Penn-affiliated honorees include Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change For Good Initiative Angela Duckworth and Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication Kathleen Hall Jamieson.

Another 2022 recipient, Carol Tracy — who served 32 years as Executive Director of the Women’s Law Project — began her career as a secretary at Penn.

Strumpf was chosen as a Distinguished Daughter in recognition of her research and contribution to “significant changes” to elder care conducted at the Penn School of Nursing, according to the award announcement. Strumpf told The Daily Pennsylvanian that she has always found seniors “fascinating, with their lifetime of experiences and interesting stories.” 

Strumpf joined the Penn faculty as an assistant professor in 1982 after receiving her Ph.D. from NYU. She remained on the faculty until retiring in 2008, receiving an honorary doctor of sciences degree in 2019 from Penn. Strumpf is still involved with Penn, holding positions on several university boards and serving on the University’s Benefits Appeals Committee.

Strumpf filled several other roles during her time at Penn, developing and teaching undergraduate courses specific to aging. She also took on administrative roles, serving as a School of Nursing division chair and interim dean in 2000. In that same year, she founded the Center for Aging Research, where an interdisciplinary group of faculty members researched senior care-related topics in their respective fields. 

Another award recipient, Holland has spent decades "developing and implementing educational solutions for children," according to the governor's website. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Elevate 215. In this role, she works on improving the quality of education for students in order to achieve economic security. Holland has also worked with The Lenfest Foundation, Philadelphia Youth Network, and the School District of Philadelphia.

Glotfelty graduated from Penn in 1972 with a Master’s in Regional Planning. She was recognized as a Distinguished Daughter for over 50 years of conservation work and has worked for numerous Pennsylvania environmental organizations throughout her career. 

During her time with the PA Department of Environmental Resources, Glotfelty worked with legislators and agricultural and environmental groups to create a legislative package to regulate agricultural animal waste, which was contributing to the ecological decline in the Chesapeake Bay via the Susquehanna River. 

Since 2014, Glotfelty has been the Executive Director of the Allegheny Parks Foundation. She will begin her transition into retirement on Oct. 31. 

“This job has been an opportunity to bring together everything I ever learned or experienced in all of those other jobs,” Glotfelty said. “Most of my previous work focused on policy, and the way you see something come out of the ground in these more tangible, capital projects is really satisfying and fun.”

Glotfelty told the DP that learning about the Distinguished Daughter organization and receiving the recognition was an honor.

“So many of the previous Distinguished Daughters are really well known and some of them even did work that touched on my own career,” Glotfelty said. “I went from not even knowing the organization existed to understanding how significant the recognition is.”