Dr. Tony Atwater, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, has been selected to serve as the next president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s (PASSHE) Board of Governors made the selection today at the conclusion of a national search. Dr. Atwater will begin his tenure at IUP on Feb. 1, 2005. He will replace Dr. Diane L. Reinhard, who has served as the university’s interim president for the past 11 months.

Dr. Atwater was named provost of Youngstown State University in 2001. Previously, he served as dean of the College of Professional Studies & Education at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky. He began his academic career as an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, in 1983.

“Dr. Atwater will bring to IUP a broad range of experiences in academic leadership,” said Board of Governors Chairman Charles A. Gomulka. “He has had a distinguished academic career and is a proven administrator. He is an excellent choice to lead Indiana University of Pennsylvania into the future.”

PASSHE Chancellor Dr. Judy G. Hample called Dr. Atwater “an extremely talented leader who will serve IUP and the Commonwealth well.”

"Dr. Atwater’s leadership experience and academic background are well suited to building on the outstanding successes we have enjoyed at IUP,” said Susan Delaney, chair of the university’s Council of Trustees. “I am confident he will work well with the entire community to expand upon these accomplishments and to meet future challenges faced by IUP and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.”

Dr. Atwater said he is looking forward to assuming the IUP presidency.

“I am very much looking forward to working with the chancellor, the Board of Governors and the campus community in advancing IUP to the next level of academic excellence and distinction,” Dr. Atwater said.

As provost at Youngstown State, Dr. Atwater serves as the university’s chief academic officer and is responsible for supervising the academic deans of six colleges and the graduate school, managing an annual budget of $56 million.

Dr. Atwater earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media arts with a minor in journalism from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. He also holds a master’s degree in education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg and a Ph.D. in mass media research from Michigan State.

He began his professional career as a journalist, working at various radio and television stations in Virginia, including as news director of WPVR-FM in Roanoke and as a reporter and assignment editor at WSET-TV in Lynchburg.

Dr. Atwater became an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University upon receipt of his doctoral degree. He was promoted to associate professor and was named assistant director of The Honors College, a university-wide program, in 1988. He left Michigan State in 1991 to become chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Media at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While in this position, he directed curriculum development, tenure and promotion procedures and budget management. He also directed fundraising efforts, faculty recruitment activities and faculty development initiatives.

In 1994, Dr. Atwater was named special assistant to the provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. While there he coordinated the university’s accreditation self-study and facilitated the development of a university-wide computer and information system to serve academic needs.

In 1995, Dr. Atwater was named associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of communication at the University of Toledo, in Toledo, Ohio, where he directed the university’s academic program review initiative and oversaw college accreditations and academic program development.

Dr. Atwater became dean of the College of Professional Studies & Education at Northern Kentucky University in 1999. While there he oversaw budget, hiring and personnel decisions for the college, which employed 110 full-time faculty and enrolled 3,500 students.

Dr. Atwater has been the recipient of numerous nationally competitive fellowships, including from the Poynter Institute and the Gannett Leadership Institute. He was selected in 2001 in national competition as a participant in the Management and Leadership in Education Program at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also served as national president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Dr. Atwater served on the Governor’s Expert Panel on Youth and Substance Abuse Prevention in Kentucky and as a participant in the Class of Twenty-Four, Leadership Cincinnati program, sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

He has published more than two dozen articles on a variety of media-related issues and has made numerous presentations before professional organizations. He is a member of the American Association for Higher Education, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the International Communication Association.

IUP is the largest of the 14 PASSHE universities, enrolling nearly 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students on its main campus and two branch campuses. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate majors with a variety of internship and study-abroad programs, more than 40 master's degree programs and eight doctoral programs. IUP was founded in 1875.

With nearly 106,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 400,000 PASSHE 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. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.