The state Senate has confirmed the president of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania’s Student Government Board to serve on the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors.

Regina M. Donato joins student representatives from Lock Haven and Millersville Universities of Pennsylvania on the 20-member board. Donato is a junior elementary education major, with additional emphasis on early childhood and urban education.

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 valuable input and 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 104,000 students is essential to our ability to meet fully all of our students’ needs.”

Donato has been a member of the Student Government Board at Kutztown since her freshman year, serving initially as a new resident representative. She also served for a year as SGB secretary before being elected president for the 2003-04 academic year. She is a graduate of Upper Merion Area High School.

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.

The governor appoints the majority of the other Board members, who also must be confirmed by the Senate. The Board also includes the governor or his designee, the secretary of education or his designee and four legislators.

Other members of the Board of Governors are Gomulka of Pittsburgh; R. Benjamin Wiley of Erie, vice chair; C.R. “Chuck” Pennoni, Bryn Mawr, vice chair; Rep. Matthew E. Baker, Wellsboro; Marie Conley Lammando, Steelton; Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, Shippensburg; Brandon W. Danz, Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Paul S. Dlugolecki, Mechanicsburg; Daniel P. Elby, York; David P. Holveck, Malvern; Sen. Vincent Hughes, Philadelphia; Kim E. Lyttle, Pittsburgh; Christine J. Olson, Indiana; Secretary of Education Vicki L. Phillips; Gov. Edward G. Rendell; Sen. James J. Rhoades, Mahanoy City; David M. Sanko, Harrisburg; Ronald L. Strickler Jr., Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania; and John K. Thornburgh, Pittsburgh.

With more than 104,000 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 370,000 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.