April 04, 2001
SENATE CONFIRMS SANKO TO BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
The state Senate has confirmed the reappointment of David M. Sanko of Harrisburg to a new term on the Board of Governors.
Sanko is chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker and a member of the senior staff for Gov. Tom Ridge.
His new term on the Board runs through December 2004.
The Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of the State System of Higher Education. The governors establish broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the System universities operate.
The Board comprises 11 members who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, four legislators, three students, the governor or his designee and the secretary of education or his designee. The 11 appointed members serve four-year terms. Student members are selected from among the university student government presidents serving at the time a vacancy occurs and also must be confirmed by the Senate. Once nominated and confirmed, the student members may serve until their graduation.
Sanko is a graduate of East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, with a degree in political science. He also attended both Pennsylvania State University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is a past chairman of East Stroudsburg’s Council of Trustees and president of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees.
A member of several environmental and community service groups, Sanko previously served as chief of staff to then Senate Majority Leader Robert Jubelirer and as a deputy auditor general. He was political director of the Republican State Committee and executive director of the Bucks County Republican Committee.
Sanko also was president for more than 15 years of a political, management, marketing and consulting firm that offered public policy guidance to elected officials as well as to aspirants to public office.
He serves on the U.S. Selective Service System, having been recommended by both Govs. Robert P. Casey and Tom Ridge, and appointed by Presidents George Bush and William Clinton.
Other members of the Board of Governors are Charles A. Gomulka of Pittsburgh, chairman; Kim E. Lyttle of Pittsburgh and R. Benjamin Wiley of Erie, vice chairs; Syed R. Ali-Zaidi, Shippenville; Angela M. Ambrose, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, Shippensburg; Daniel P. Elby, York; David P. Holveck, Malvern; Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, Philadelphia; James V. Manser IV, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania; Sen. James J. Rhoades, Mahanoy City; Gov. Tom Ridge, Harrisburg; B. Michael Schaul, Mechanicsburg; Rep. Jere W. Schuler, Lampeter; John K. Thornburgh, Pittsburgh; Christine J. Toretti, Indiana; Amy M. Yozviak, West Chester University of Pennsylvania; and acting Secretary of Education Charles B. Zogby, Harrisburg. There is one vacancy.
The State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 350,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.