Ingrid Maria Blood

1952 - 2025

Ingrid Maria Blood

March 30, 1952 - November 13, 2025

State College, Pennsylvania - Ingrid Maria Blood, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, educator, administrator and friend, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family at Mt. Nittany Medical Center.

Ingrid Maria Blood was born in Munich, Germany, the eldest of two children of Rudolph and Hildegarde Unczowsky, German and Romanian immigrants who brought their nine-month-old daughter to the United States. The family first settled in Greenwich Village, New York City, where they lived until Ingrid was eleven, before moving to Clifton, New Jersey.

As a bilingual child growing up in a Hudson River brownstone surrounded by artists and creative neighbors, Ingrid's early years were filled with adventure-stroller rides and hikes around the city, rides on the Staten Island Ferry with her friend Astrid, and waking to the sounds of the nearby fish market. When the family moved to suburban New Jersey, Ingrid's love of reading, insatiable curiosity, and sense of adventure only deepened. She joined and led school clubs, secretly attended Woodstock, and began working as a Bell Telephone operator.

Ingrid earned her undergraduate degrees in Speech and Language Therapy and Reading from Montclair State University (New Jersey), and later received her master's and doctoral degrees in Audiology from Bowling Green State University (Ohio). It was there that she met Gordon, her future husband; the two were married in December 1975 during semester break.

Throughout her distinguished academic career, Ingrid received numerous awards for her intellectual curiosity and excellence in teaching, including the Dissertation Excellence Award, a Department of Aging Gerontology Fellowship, the Lilly Endowment Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching, an Administrative Fellowship at Penn State, and participation in the Harvard Excellence in Education Summer Program.

She delivered more than 150 presentations at national and international conferences and published over 85 peer-reviewed research papers. Her work was continuously funded for more than three decades by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Education, in addition to numerous university and community grants. Her mentorship of countless graduate students always emphasized improving the quality of life for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities.

Ingrid's service to her universities and local communities was extraordinary. She was recognized with the Rosemary Schraer Service Excellence Award for her advocacy for female faculty, staff, and students, and she served on more than 150 university committees across Blacksburg, Virginia; Oxford, Ohio; and State College, Pennsylvania. She chaired the University Promotion and Tenure Committee, the Commission for Women, and the Faculty Senate at Penn State. She was honored as a Fellow of both the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the American Academy of Audiology, and served on numerous national and international panels, including the ASHA Legislative Council.

Ingrid held the distinction of being the first female full professor with tenure in the 65-year history of Penn State's Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders-paving the way for generations of female scholars, teachers, and researchers. She was also the first female Ph.D. appointed to the College of Engineering's Program in Acoustics and served for six years as Penn State's Associate Vice Provost and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Summer Programs.

Generations of students, colleagues, and friends remember Ingrid as a teacher, researcher, administrator, and mentor who created positive, nurturing environments through her gentle, calm, and optimistic spirit.

In retirement, Ingrid continued to share her talents with the community. She served as a docent at the Palmer Museum of Art, chaired the University Women's Club, mastered her knitting, became a Master Gardener, and was active in OLLI. She also remained professionally engaged, serving on the ASHA Government Liaison Committee and advocating in Washington, D.C. for individuals with communication disabilities.

Ingrid loved to travel, exploring Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, always embracing the food, culture, and music of each place she visited. She will be remembered as one of the kindest, most compassionate, and caring people-accepting everyone as they were, never judging, and always radiating optimism and warmth. She was "the mother and wife everyone wanted" and the "Best of all of Us!" She was deeply loved.

Ingrid is survived by her husband of nearly 50 years, Gordon; her sons Ryan (and wife Brandy), and Eric; and her granddaughter, Baylor. Her brother Rudy, (Shelley), and nephew Matthew Unczowsky of New Jersey also survive.

A Funeral Mass will be held at Our Lady of Victory Church, 820 Westerly Parkway, State College on Monday, November 17, 2025 at 9 a.m. A visitation will take place at Koch Funeral Home, 2401 S. Atherton Street on Sunday, November 16, 2025 from 3 to 5 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family gratefully encourages contributions in Ingrid's memory to any of the following: The Arboretum at Penn State at Arboretum.psu.edu; The Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service Johns Hopkins Medicine at https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/gynecology-obstetrics/specialty-areas/gynecologic-oncology; or the Schlow Centre Region Library at Schlowlibrary.org.