Dr.Derek J. Hodgson, vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, has been selected to serve as the next president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“We welcome the experience and skills Dr. Hodgson brings to IUP,” said Susan Delaney, chair of IUP’s Council of Trustees. “His leadership experience and academic background are well suited to building on the outstanding successes we have enjoyed during Dr. Pettit’s tenure as president. I am confident that Dr. Hodgson will work well with the entire community to expand upon these accomplishments and to meet future challenges faced by IUP and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.”

Dr. Hodgson said he looks forward to assuming the IUP presidency.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to lead this wonderful institution,” Hodgson said. “IUP is an outstanding, well-respected university. I will do all that I can to help it to continue to thrive academically.”

Since coming to Nebraska-Omaha, Dr. Hodgson has had overall responsibility for all aspects of the university’s academic programs, managing an annual budget of approximately $60 million. He has been involved in student recruitment, retention and enrollment; academic planning; enhancement of faculty diversity; fund raising; and assessment of academic programs. He also serves as the university’s chief research officer and dean of graduate studies.

Dr. Hodgson earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University and both a master’s degree in chemistry and a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry from Northwestern University.

He taught for 18 years at the University of North Carolina, earning promotion to associate professor in 1974 and to full professor in 1977. In 1980 he was named director of graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry, where he was responsible for recruitment, retention and development of the graduate students in one of the largest chemistry departments in the country. He was named department vice chairman in 1985.

Two years later, Dr. Hodgson was named chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wyoming. While there, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Western Research Institute and Wyoming Economic Development and Stabilization Board, which oversees the state’s economic development activities.

He served as vice president for research at the University of Wyoming from 1990 to 1994, helping the university to receive record levels of research funding every year, including grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Defense, among others.

Dr. Hodgson was named provost at Mississippi State in 1994, where he was involved in academic planning and fund raising, as well as the university’s developmental education program and post-tenure review of faculty.

During his career, Dr. Hodgson also has served as a distinguished visiting professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan, a visiting scholar at the National Science Council of Taiwan and as a visiting professor at both the University of Auckland and the University of Copenhagen. He was a visiting scientist in the Department of Molecular Biophysics at the University of Oxford.

He has served on various advisory panels for the National Science Foundation, as well as numerous professional boards and committees. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 publications in the areas of structural and inorganic chemistry and has received research funding from numerous federal and private agencies, including NSF, HIH, the American Heart Association and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Dr. Hodgson and his wife, Hazel, have one grown daughter, Julie.

IUP is the largest of the 14 universities that make up the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. It enrolls 13,671 full-time and part-time students and has nearly 800 full- and part-time faculty.

Dr. Pettit, who last year announced his intention to retire, praised the choice of his successor.

“I am very pleased to have a person of Dr. Hodgson’s caliber be selected as the new president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania,” Dr. Pettit said. “His extensive experience in academic programs and successes in student recruitment and retention at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, along with his impressive scholarship and standing in the scientific community, will serve IUP well.

“I am confident that he will be well received by the community, and I congratulate the Presidential Search Committee and the Board of Governors for a job well done.”

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.