May 31, 2017

Board of Governors appoints interim president for Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Harrisburg – The Board of Governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education today appointed Philip K. Way, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, to serve as the university’s interim president effective July 21.

Way will assume the duties of interim president upon the retirement of Cheryl Norton, who has served as Slippery Rock’s president since June 2012.

“Philip Way has served Slippery Rock for four years in his current position as the university’s chief academic officer. Overall, he has more than 30 years’ experience as a faculty member and administrator in higher education. We are confident he will provide the university steady leadership while the search for the university’s next president continues,” said Board Chair Cynthia K. Shapira.

A national search for Norton’s permanent successor began earlier this year.

“It is important a university have strong, consistent leadership during any period of transition,” said State System Chancellor Frank T. Brogan. “I look forward to working with Philip Way on behalf of the university and especially the students as he assumes this new role, and to help keep Slippery Rock moving forward as it has under Cheryl Norton’s outstanding leadership over the last five years.”

Way was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Slippery Rock University in February 2013. In that role, he has been responsible for much of the university’s strategic planning efforts, chairing the University Strategic Planning Committee and authoring the strategic sections of the university’s annual action plans for the State System. He also worked with the president to realign departments and colleges as part of a restructuring of the university and has had a variety of other administrative responsibilities, including in the areas of budgeting, curricular and pedagogical enhancement, diversity and inclusion, fundraising, and enrollment management and student success.

Prior to coming to Slippery Rock, Way was associate provost for undergraduate programs for more than six years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also was senior associate dean of arts and sciences for a year while at UAB. He spent more than 20 years at the University of Cincinnati, mostly as a member of the Department of Economics faculty, where he began as an assistant professor. While at Cincinnati, he also served as director of graduate studies within the Center for Organizational Leadership and director of the University Honors Scholars Program. He began his academic career as a research assistant at Nuffield College of Oxford University in England.

Way has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Cambridge University and both a Master of Arts degree in industrial relations and a Ph.D. in industrial and business studies from the University of Warwick. He also served as a visiting fellow at both Harvard University and the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

The Board of Governors is responsible for hiring university presidents within the State System. When the need for temporary leadership at a university occurs, the chancellor, after consultation with the chair of the Council of Trustees, makes a recommendation to the Board of Governors, which then meets to ratify the selection. An interim president serves as the university’s chief executive officer, with the same responsibilities and authority as a permanent president.

Way will serve as interim president at Slippery Rock University until the successful conclusion of the search for a permanent president.

The State System 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 universities also operate branch campuses in Oil City (Clarion), Freeport and Punxsutawney (IUP), and Clearfield (Lock Haven), and offer classes and programs at several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and in Center City in Philadelphia.