January 03, 2003
Lock Haven student government president named to Board of Governors
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania Student Cooperative Council President Ronald L. Strickler Jr. has been named to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors.
Strickler of York is a junior at Lock Haven, majoring in recreation management. He joins student representatives from Millersville and Shippensburg Universities of Pennsylvania on the State System’s 20-member governing board.
The Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of the State System. It establishes broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the System universities operate.The three student members on the Board have full voting rights.
“Our student members provide invaluable insight into all of our discussions and policy-making decisions,” said Board Chairman Charles A. Gomulka. “The perspective they bring to the Board on behalf of our more than 101,000 students is essential to our ability to meet fully all of our students’ needs.”
Student members of the Board of Governors are selected from among the university student government presidents serving at the time a vacancy occurs. Once nominated and confirmed, they may serve on the Board until their graduation. Strickler expects to graduate in summer 2004.
The governor appoints the majority of the other Board members, who also must be confirmed by the Senate and serve for four years or until a new member is named. The Board also includes the governor or his designee, the secretary of education or his designee and four legislators.
Strickler, a 2000 graduate of Central York High School, was elected president of Lock Haven’s Student Cooperative Council in May. He previously served as the organization’s recording secretary.
As SCC president, Strickler is responsible for representing the organization in all corporate matters, selecting the executive committee and Haven Activities Committee members, and serving as chair of the executive and student choice Award committees. He also has served on the university’s commencement speaker committee, university curriculum committee and student trustee selection committee.
Other members of the Board of Governors are Gomulka of Pittsburgh; Kim E. Lyttle of Pittsburgh and R. Benjamin Wiley of Erie, vice chairs; Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, Shippensburg; Brandon W. Danz, Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Daniel P. Elby, York; David P. Holveck, Malvern; Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, Philadelphia; Marie A. Conley Lammando of Steelton; Patricia K. Poprik, Langhorne; Sen. James J. Rhoades, Mahanoy City; Gov. Mark S. Schweiker, Harrisburg; David M. Sanko, Harrisburg; B. Michael Schaul, Mechanicsburg; John K. Thornburgh, Pittsburgh; Christine J. Toretti, Indiana; Kara L. Wealand, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania; and Acting Secretary of Education Thomas Winters, Harrisburg.
With more than 101,000 students, the Pennsylvania 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. More than 360,000 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. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.