January 16, 2002
Michael Becker named Executive Deputy Chancellor
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Michael K. Becker, director of human resources at Western Washington University, has been appointed Executive Deputy Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Becker will serve as the State System’s chief negotiator during faculty contract negotiations and will provide strategic leadership and administrative support in the development and implementation of special projects as identified by Chancellor Judy G. Hample and the Board of Governors.
“Dr. Becker has more than 25 years’ experience in labor relations, having spent time on both sides of the bargaining table,” Hample said. “His knowledge of and experience in labor relations and negotiations at both the campus and system levels, as well as his experience as a tenured professor, will make him an outstanding addition to the Office of the Chancellor and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.”
Becker was reared in Pennsylvania and earned the B.A. degree in history from Swarthmore College. He also holds both the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California-Berkeley in Early Modern European History.
He began his career as a contract negotiator for the Oakland Naval Supply Center, where he prepared and negotiated multi-million dollar Department of Defense contracts after graduating second from the Department of Defense Procurement School.
From there, Becker joined the faculty of Central Connecticut State University, where he spent more than two decades as a tenured professor and administrator. While on the Central Connecticut faculty, he developed 10 different courses while writing his doctoral dissertation, designed and implemented a part-time adult education advising system for 150 history students and served on all major academic policy curriculum committees. He also spent two years as Secretary of the Faculty Senate before being named the university’s Dean of Personnel Administration.
Becker then moved to system level administration, serving for three years as Director of Employee Relations for the Southern Illinois University System. In 1992, he was appointed Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs-Faculty Relations at the University of Toledo, where he negotiated and implemented the university’s first faculty collective bargaining agreement.
As director of human resources at Western Washington, Becker has been responsible for planning and directing all personnel, benefits, labor relations and training functions from classification and employment through benefits administration and contract negotiation. He has administered five collective bargaining agreements and has served as a grievance officer and representative in arbitration cases. Becker is also a certified mediator.