After 25 years at Penn State, Keith Aronson, associate director of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), director of the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State (Clearinghouse) and research professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health, will retire at the end of the year.
Aronson began his career as assistant director of the Children, Youth, and Families Consortium (CYFC), working with then-director Karen Bierman, Evan Pugh Professor in the Department of Psychology. Several years later, CYFC merged with SSRI to increase the impact and visibility of the social sciences at the university. Over the past 25 years, SSRI has experienced substantial growth in co-funded faculty positions, investments in pilot research, and both research and service units contributing to new externally funded interdisciplinary research and rising rankings.
“For many years, Keith has been the ‘institutional memory’ of the SSRI, and we have relied upon him to provide rich contextual insights and knowledge to inform many of our strategic plans and institute priorities,” said Deborah Ehrenthal, director of SSRI. “He spent a lot of effort focused on understanding how well we were executing our strategies and programs, and by professionalizing the way in which the SSRI collected and analyzed data to better measure our impacts on Penn State’s interdisciplinary social and behavioral sciences research portfolio.”
Involved with the Clearinghouse at its inception, Aronson helped to build relationships with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and each U.S. military service branch. Within one year, the Defense Department and USDA through Purdue University awarded a $1 million grant to establish the Clearinghouse.
Initially conceived as a service center to help the military identify and use evidence-based programs, the Clearinghouse soon expanded its work to include applied research, evaluation and implementation projects with the military. In 2013, the Clearinghouse was named a Penn State Applied Research Center.
The Clearinghouse received the Penn State Outreach Engaged Scholarship Award and was one of four universities to receive the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award in 2016. It was also one of four finalists for the 2016 C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.
In 2025, the Defense Department-USDA federal partnership named the Clearinghouse a “Legacy Project” in recognition of its subject matter expertise, historical knowledge and innovative and impactful applied research. The designation also recognized the Clearinghouse’s role in the Defense Department’s Military Family Readiness Strategy and its contributions to the National Defense Strategy.
>Aronson also played a critical role in the Clearinghouse’s suicide prevention efforts, including the implementation of the Zero Suicide Framework with the Air Force that was associated with population level declines in suicide rates. This work resulted in the adoption of comprehensive suicide screening across the Air Force.
“It has been an immense honor to be with the SSRI and the Clearinghouse,” said Aronson. “Being able to work with, and be mentored by four amazing SSRI directors, Karen Bierman, Nan Crouter, Susan McHale, and Deb Ehrenthal, was a real gift. My colleagues made working at the Clearinghouse the highlight of my professional career.”
After graduating from Rutgers University, Aronson spent 11 years in corporate sales and marketing before attending graduate school and earning a doctorate in clinical psychology from Penn State. He then completed a clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University.
Upon retirement, Aronson will receive emeritus status within the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research. He will continue to work periodically with the Clearinghouse, including publishing journal articles and contributing to other projects.
SSRI is forming a search committee to identify Aronson’s successor through an internal Penn State search. The role will be a 20% appointment, and a job announcement is expected to be posted soon.