A Special Message from the PASSHE Board Chair

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, and Friends,

Please let me offer everyone best wishes for a great year ahead as the fall semester gets underway all across the PASSHE universities. All of us across PASSHE share a common mission for our students: providing a great education and experience for a lifetime of career and personal success.

While you rightfully are focused on life at your university, I want to update you about a few developments here at the system level.

As you know, Chancellor Dan Greenstein announced in July that he would be completing his service to the system this fall. We are launching a national search for our next system chancellor — a process that will take us well into the spring semester. Along the way, we will seek input from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other friends to help guide our search. You can follow the search process HERE.

We thank Dan so much for his dedication and leadership over the past six years, which has resulted in improved financial stability for the system, increased new-student enrollment, restored legislative relationships, and increased state investment. PASSHE is on a solid upward trajectory that will make searching for our next chancellor a great experience.

Dan will continue his important work over the next few months and will complete his service as chancellor after our October Board of Governors meeting. During that meeting, he will present the system’s 2024-25 priorities, recommend an appropriations request for next year, and tee up a conversation about our role in the evolving higher education landscape in Pennsylvania. It will be a busy time!

At our October board meeting, we will appoint an interim chancellor to whom Dan will pass the baton (couldn’t pass up an Olympics reference). This will ensure continuity of leadership and system operations while we complete our national search for the permanent chancellor.

I will recommend to the Board the appointment of Dr. Chris Fiorentino to serve as interim chancellor. Chris just retired from the presidency at West Chester University after serving there for more than 40 years there — first as a faculty member, dean, and vice president before becoming president in 2017. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role, and I am so pleased he has agreed to serve in this capacity. Chris does not intend to apply for the permanent position. Chris and Dan have worked together for more than six years.

We will keep you posted as this process unfolds. In the meantime do everything you can to make it the best year ever at your university.

Sincerely,

Dr. Cindy Shapira
Chair
Board of Governors