State College board member Jim Leous announces candidacy for borough mayor
Jim Leous — a current State College school board member — announced his intentions to run for State College Borough mayor.
Leous is the second person to announce his candidacy in the mayoral race, following former state Senate candidate Ezra Nanes. In a Wednesday release, Leous said the community is facing problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and is fraying amid a “divided” country. Local government, he said, should work to help the community recover.
“We don’t fix this on a national level. The only way we fix this is in our local communities, person-to-person and neighbor-to-neighbor,” he said in a statement. “Local government needs to provide the bridge to economic recovery for all of us and help rebuild a sense of cooperation and well-being. I believe I can be part of the solution. That’s why I’m running for mayor.”
Leous has served on the State College Area School District Board of Directors for three terms and is a former board vice president who helped plan the new district high school building. He chaired the district communications committee and helped draft the school Inclusive Excellence Policy, which described the board’s vision for diversity, equity and inclusivity.
“We must continue to make State College a welcoming community for all, for families and students of color; for our international students and professionals; and also for veterans and nontraditional students and their families,” Leous said.
Leous has lived in State College since 1986 and works for the Office of the Associate CIO for Research at Penn State.
He earned a degree in Physics from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in Astronomy from Penn State. He serves on the IT Occupational Advisory Boards for the State High Career and Technology Center and for the South Hills School of Business and Technology.
He and his wife have two college-aged children at Penn State and one in elementary school. He has also coached youth ice hockey for more than 20 years and served as the assistant coach of State High’s hockey team for the last 10 years. He volunteers with WPSU-FM, the Boy Scouts of America and the election board at Precinct 31.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 12:51 PM.
