April 02, 2001
SENATE CONFIRMS TORETTI TO BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
The state Senate has confirmed the reappointment of Christine J. Toretti of Indiana to a new term on the Board of Governors.
Toretti is chairman and CEO of both the S.W. Jack Drilling Company and The Jack Company, and is a managing partner of C&N Company, all based in Indiana.
Her new term on the Board runs through December 2002.
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.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Toretti has served as president of the Foundation for Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). The University's Nell and Sam
Jack Distinguished American Lecture Series was established by the Jack family in 1984.
A member of the S&T Bank Board of Directors, Toretti chairs the Audit Committee and serves on the Executive Committee. She also sits on boards for the Lockhart Company; C-COR,net; Colonial Williamsburg; NCAA Foundation; and the Carnegie Warhol Museum. Her professional affiliations and community service activities include the Independent Oil and Gas Associations of Pennsylvania, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the Indiana Hospital Board and the McIntire School of Commerce Advisory Board of the University of Virginia.
She recently was honored as one of the Best 50 Women in Business by the Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Commission for Women.
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; Secretary of Education Eugene W. Hickok Jr., Harrisburg; 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. Thomas J. Ridge, Harrisburg; David M. Sanko, Harrisburg; B. Michael Schaul, Mechanicsburg; Rep. Jere W. Schuler, Lampeter; John K. Thornburgh of Pittsburgh; and Amy M. Yozviak, West Chester University of Pennsylvania. 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.