Dr. Robert Light, the college’s Senior Associate Dean for Research and Outreach & Chief Operating Officer (COO), has spent three decades establishing his own legacy at Penn State Behrend. Dr. Light started at Behrend in 1984 as an assistant professor in biology and then served as the associate provost and dean prior to being named COO in 2010. He also spent 18 years as the Master of Ceremonies for the Behrend Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Within the college, Dr. Light has led the development of several major projects: establishment of Pennsylvania Sea Grant, development of Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, and establishment and expansion of an undergraduate research program. 

Within the community, he serves as vice chair of Environment Erie and the Northwest PA Industrial Resource Center Board of Directors, Commissioner of the Great Lakes Commission, and is a member of the Lake Erie Research Institute Board of Directors, Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Community Outreach, Research and Evaluation (CORE), Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, and Sea Grant Association. In 2008, he was named the inaugural John C. Oliver Environmental Leadership Award recipient. 

Prior to joining Penn State Behrend, Dr. Light served as a postdoctoral research associate for the College of Agriculture at Penn State. He has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Delaware, a master’s degree in Biology from Millersville University, and Ph.D. in Ecology from Penn State. In 1982, he earned special recognition from Sigma Xi for graduate research and received a National Wildlife Federation Graduate Research Fellowship. Upon graduation, he became President of the Northwest Pennsylvania Club of Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society, and in 1989, he was honored with the Pennsylvania Inventors Association Special Service Award. 

Dr. Light was also a two-sport student-athlete at Delaware. As a member of the club volleyball team, Tom Tait, long-time Penn State men’s volleyball head coach, was quoted when asked about Light “he was possibly the best player in the East.” The strong middle hitter earned First Team All-Eastern United States recognition twice and led Delaware to a pair of second-place finishes in the Eastern Collegiate Volleyball League. He was invited to pre-Olympic Volleyball Training Camp in 1975. 

In addition to volleyball, Dr. Light was a member of the football team that won back-to-back national championships (1971-72). 

Dr. Light was previously elected a member of the Central Chapter of Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. 

Dr. Light and his wife, Judy, have four adult children and live in Erie.