Focus: Penn State University

A.J. Rao covers how Penn State University operates and its influence in the region and state. The university receives hundreds of millions of dollars from the state but has few disclosure requirements under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law. Rao looks past official narratives to ensure the university is transparent and answerable to the public.

A Warren County native, Rao joined Spotlight PA after serving as the county government reporter for the Erie Times-News. He previously covered local government and hurricane recovery efforts for the Virgin Islands Daily News and began his journalism career as a cops and courts reporter in Jamestown, New York.

Before picking up a reporter’s notebook, Rao spent four years serving as an officer in the U.S. Army. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and studied literature at Bangor University in the United Kingdom.