The board of governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has selected women to serve as president of two of the 14 universities in the state system.
Cheryl J. Norton was appointed president of Slippery Rock University. She has been serving as a senior fellow of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Previously, she was the 10th president of Southern Connecticut State University. She was the first woman to hold the position. Before becoming president of SCSU, she was provost at Metropolitan State College in Denver.
Dr. Norton is a graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in applied physiology from Columbia University.
Marcia G. Welsh was named president of East Stroudsburg University. She is the first woman to lead the university. She has been serving as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Towson University in Maryland. She served as interim president of the university in 2011. Prior to coming to Towson in 2009, Dr. Welsh was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Adelphi University in New York.
Dr. Welsh holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
Most recently, Dr. Van Vlerah served as vice president for student success and institutional strategy at Manchester University in Indiana. She is slated to become the fifteenth president of Notre Dame of Maryland University on July 6.
Dr. Egan comes to her new role as president of Bennington College from Connecticut College, where she has been serving as the Fuller-Maathai Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies, dean of the faculty, and chief academic officer.
Dr. Pfluger has spent the past year as Bakersfield College's interim president. She previously served as vice chancellor of educational services and student success at the Kern Community College District.
Dr. Geneco comes to her new role from Tufts University in Massachusetts, where she has served as provost for the past four years. She is slated become the University at Buffalo's first woman president on August 10.
The new presidents are Laurie A. Boeding at the Technical College of the Lowcountry and Melissa Frank-Alston at Northeastern Technical College. Both women are expected to begin their presidencies on July 1.