Menah Pratt has been appointed regional chancellor of Pennsylvania State University’s campuses in Hazelton, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre, effective August 1. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Penn State enrolls some 1,600 undergraduates across these three campuses.
For the past decade, Dr. Pratt has served as vice president for strategic affairs at Virginia Tech. Earlier in her tenure there, she was vice provost for inclusion and diversity. Before joining the Virginia Tech faculty, Dr. Pratt served as associate chancellor for strategic affairs and associate provost for diversity at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has also served in leadership and legal affairs roles at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. As a scholar, Dr. Pratt centers her work on higher education, leadership, and social change.
“I am honored to join Penn State and to serve the Hazleton, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre communities,” said Dr. Pratt. “These campuses have longstanding traditions of student-centered education, community engagement and regional impact. I look forward to building on the conversations I began during the interview process and working alongside students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners to deepen and enhance the campuses’ impact throughout northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Dr. Pratt received her bachelor’s degree in English and her master’s degree in literary studies from the University of Iowa. She earned a law degree and both a master’s degree and doctorate in sociology from Vanderbilt University.