Gonzalez and Zallie Named Alumni Fellows

I. Miley Gonzalez And James P. Zallie received the Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious award presented by the Penn State Alumni Association. The award program is designed to invite outstanding alumni and leaders to the University to share their special expertise in informal contacts with students and members of the faculty and administration.

I. Miley Gonzalez is vice provost and dean of international programs at Montana State University, where he is responsible for oversight of the Office of International Programs and advancement of the university's global engagement strategy.

Prior to joining the administration at Montana State in 2017, Gonzalez was deputy director general at the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica. He is also a professor emeritus of agricultural and extension education at New Mexico State University (NMSU), where his senior leadership roles included secretary of agriculture for the state of New Mexico.

Gonzalez was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997. He oversaw four major agencies with a total budget of $1.7 billion. Gonzalez served as under secretary until 2001, when he returned to NMSU to serve as associate dean and director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. He was subsequently appointed as vice provost for research and the federal liaison to Congress for the university.

Gonzalez earned his doctorate in agricultural education from Penn State.

James P. Zallie has served as president and chief executive officer of Ingredion Incorporated since January 2018 and was elected to its board of directors in September 2017. Ingredion is a leading global solutions provider based in Chicago's suburbs with more than 11,000 global employees.

Zallie joined Ingredion in 2010, when the company acquired National Starch LLC, a $1.2 billion leader in specialty starches, where he served as president and CEO. In his position at National Starch, he oversaw significant strategic investments in China and Thailand, restructured assets in Australia, and led the business through the acquisition by Ingredion.

Zallie earned a bachelor's degree in food science from Penn State, and master's degrees in both food science and technology and finance from Rutgers University.

--Amy Duke