Dr. Elizabeth Zona, a Penn State graduate, will present “Beyond the Buzz: Understanding Alcohol’s Impact on Students” Oct. 16 in the Penn State Beaver Auditorium.
MONACA, Pa. — As far as Elizabeth Zona was concerned, Penn State was the only choice, she said.
Zona was a first-generation college student whose older sister went to Penn State.
“Both of my parents, but my dad especially, were just beaming from ear-to-ear that she was at Penn State. I looked up to her. I wanted that look in his eyes about me. To me there was no other school,” Zona said.
When it was her turn to apply to colleges, Penn State was the Moon Area High-schooler’s only application.
She began Penn State education at Beaver campus and graduated from University Park in 2002 with a bachelor of science in pre-medicine with honors in chemistry. She went on to earn her degree as a doctor of osteopathic medicine from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2006. She is now double-board-certified in anesthesiology and addiction medicine.
Now, Zona will be returning to Penn State Beaver as the fall commencement speaker on Dec. 20.
“I had a great experience at Penn State Beaver … It felt like you had all the benefits of the large university name and resources with a hometown feeling where everyone knew your name,” Zona said.
Even after she transferred to University Park, Zona said, she continued to conduct research at Beaver campus with the late John Simpson, an alumnus and associate professor of chemistry at Penn State Beaver.
Zona said Simpson created a lot of opportunities for students, funding projects with stipends and grants, to allow her and other students to conduct research during holiday and summer breaks. Their research on quantifying deoxidant activity in wine led to them winning an award in the physical sciences division of a competition at University Park. She said that experience was also her introduction to the Schreyer Honors College.
“Dr. Simpson was very proud of that, that his hometown Beaver kids could compete at that level and win,” Zona said. “Dr. Simpson was representative of the kind of people at the (Beaver) campus, top-notch quality.”
Zona, who was also the spring commencement speaker at Beaver campus in 2014, was on campus in October to talk to the students and the public about the impact alcohol has on the body. Her appearance was part of an ongoing educational program funded through the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s "Reducing Underage Drinking and Dangerous Drinking" grant.
For more information about the fall commencement ceremony, visit the Beaver commencement site.
