2 presidential candidates recommended for PennWest University

By Bill Schackner

Trib Total Media

PennWest University trustees Monday forwarded the names of two presidential hopefuls – one from Utah and the other from Tennessee – to the State System of Higher Education, which will pick the institution’s next president later this month.

They are:

• Jon Anderson, provost and vice president for academic affairs/professor at Southern Utah University (Cedar City, Utah).

• Philip Cavalier, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he was interim chancellor for six months last year.

They are the remaining contenders among 35 candidates reviewed by the search committee, 11 of them interviewed. A third person, Wade Weast, founding dean, College of the Arts at Georgia State University (Atlanta), also came to campus as a finalist for interviews.

The names now go to State System Chancellor Daniel Greenstein and ultimately to the system’s board of governors, which are expected to make a decision in the next couple weeks, said PennWest trustees Chair Kathy Pape.

Monday’s special meeting of the PennWest council of trustees took approximately 10 minutes. There was no discussion prior to the unanimous vote.

“After receiving extensive stakeholder input over several months, the Council of Trustees is pleased to advance the names of two highly qualified candidates to the Chancellor and Board of Governors,” said Pape.

At Southern Utah, Anderson oversees a $85 million budget, 550 full-time staff, and more than 400 adjunct instructors, according to search officials. Previously, he was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Middle Georgia State University and the University of West Georgia. He also has held administrative positions at the University of West Georgia and the University of Kentucky.

Anderson has a doctoral degree in Business Administration from the University of Kentucky, a master’s in education from the University of West Georgia, and a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University

Cavalier’s campus is a primary regional university in the University of Tennessee System with about 6,800 students, according to search officials. It includes a main campus, five regional centers, and an online division.

Previously, he was Provost and Vice President of Academic Services at Lyon College, Provost and Dean of the College at Eureka College, and Dean of General Education at Catawba College.

He has a doctoral degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo; a master’s degree in English at Northeastern University; and a bachelor’s in Economics at Swarthmore College.

Officials hope by June 30 to have a successor for Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, who stepped away from the job in February 2023. The school, in the months since, has had an interim president, R. Lorraine “Laurie” Bernotsky, who will become West Chester University’s next president in July.

PennWest is nearly two years old. It was established in July 2022 by the mergers of what had been separate State System universities at California, Clarion and Edinboro.

As of last fall, PennWest enrolled 11,305 students. That’s 22%, or 3,172 students, smaller than the 14,477 students that California, Clarion and Edinboro universities attracted in 2021 before they were merged.

Pape, during Monday’s special trustees meeting called to select both names, noted that 40% of the candidates came from underrepresented groups.

In addition to PennWest and West Chester, the 10 State System universities include Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University in the west, and Cheyney, Commonwealth University (Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Mansfield), East Stroudsburg University, Kutztown University, Millersville University and Shippensburg University.