Births on July 18

Graham Spanier, 16th President of Pennsylvania State University

Graham Basil Spanier (born July 18, 1948) is a South African-born American sociologist and university administrator who became the 16th president of Pennsylvania State University on September 1, 1995. On November 9, 2011, in the wake of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, Spanier and longtime football coach Joe Paterno were “removed from their positions” by the Penn State board of trustees.Spanier is currently president emeritus, university professor, and professor of human development and family studies; sociology, demography, and family; and community medicine. He had a one-year post-presidential sabbatical leave following his resignation as president of Penn State in November 2011.

After lengthy criminal proceedings, Spanier was convicted of one misdemeanor charge of child endangerment in March 2017 for his role in the scandal. The conviction was overturned by a federal district judge in April 2019, but reinstated by an appeals court in December 2020. He served a two-month prison sentence throughout the summer of 2021.