David Benjamin Hellar of Doylestown will serve as the student marshal for the Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at the University's August 14 commencement ceremony in the Bryce Jordan Center.
The son of David and Nadia Hellar of Doylestown, Hellar has distinguished himself academically in his career at University Park. He was selected for the Schreyer Honors College in fall 2002. A dean's list student every semester, Hellar was awarded a Lockheed Martin IST Scholarship as a junior and PNC Technology Scholarships in his junior and senior years.
For his Schreyer Honors College thesis, Hellar is investigating methods and instruments for evaluating student performance in teams.
Hellar has held several leadership positions, including secretary of IST Student Government in 2002. He also was a member of the University's Web Strategies Implementation Team which was charged with analyzing, reviewing and determining the direction of Penn State's Web initiatives.
In addition to the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Hellar has interned with Lockheed Martin Corp., Data and Management Systems. He has worked as an instructional technologist with The IST Solutions Institute for the past two years. In that position, he developed the Web site for IST's internship program and helped with the design of online course-management tools for faculty. The latter was for Edison Services, the Solution Institute's instructional design arm.
After graduation, Hellar will enter graduate school at Penn State to study information sciences and technology.
Hellar is a 2000 graduate of Central Bucks East High School in Doylestown.
The faculty marshal is Keith Bailey, an assistant professor of information sciences and technology and manager, Instructional Technology Solutions, the IST Solutions Institute. He also serves as Hellar's thesis adviser.
