Michael Bezilla papers

Michael Bezilla was born in Osceola Mills on 8 March 1950. He graduated with a B.S. from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1972. Michael Bezilla earned his M.A. from Pennsylvania State University in 1975 and his Ph.D in 1978. Dr. Bezilla served as a research assistant for WPSX-TV (1975-1978), then as author of histories of Penn State engineering (1978-1979), the university (1979-1983), and the agriculture program (1983). His first book, Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad (1980), stemmed from the subject of his doctoral thesis and was supported by the Association of American Railroads and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institution. In his first book, he addressed the dilemma of 'how to please the historian without alienating the rail buff, or vice versa' by synthesizing 'the diverse technological, economic, political, social, and, yes, romantic elements of railway electrification into a coherent, readable narrative.' His second publication, Engineering Education at Penn State (1981), looked beyond the university's early agricultural curriculum to follow the history of the engineering program in the context of state and national events. He also detailed how government land grants helped Penn State requisition public land for further technological developments. In 1985, Penn State President John Oswald commissioned Bezilla to write Penn State: An Illustrated History. Bezilla's objective was to update and continue Wayland Dunaway's history of the university, published in 1946. In the book, Bezilla notes that his work was meant 'to guide and to inform, rather than to commemorate.'

Bezilla is a member of the Organization of American Historians, the Society for the History of Technology, the Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Historical Association, the Central Pennsylvania Society to Promote Animal Welfare and Safety (serving as a member of the board of directors, 1980-1982), the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, and a member of Pennsylvania History's editorial board. He currently is the director of the Advancement Projects and Communications Department, in the Office of University Relations, at the Pennsylvania State University. This office is responsible for increasing public awareness and reputation of Penn State, including supporting the university's private funding-raising program, managing various brochures and other publications, and maintaining the historical markers on campus.