June 16, 2003
Mechanicsburg man named to Board of Governors
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Thestate Senate has confirmed the appointment of Paul S. Dlugolecki of Mechanicsburg to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors.
Dlugolecki is minority executive director of the Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee, a position he has held since 1987. He has worked for the Senate since 1973, including eight years as director of the Democratic Research Office.
“It is a great honor for me to serve on the governing board of the State System,” said Dlugolecki, a Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania graduate. “I look forward to doing all I can to ensure my degree as well as the degrees of thousands of Pennsylvanians who are products of System universities are held in the highest regard by all.”
The 20-member Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of the State System, which comprises Pennsylvania’s 14 public universities. The governors establish broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the System universities operate.
The Board is made up of 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 her designee.
Dlugolecki, who was confirmed to a four-year term on the Board, is a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Fiscal Affairs and Legislative Oversight Committee and the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Officers, an organization he served as president in 1998. He also belongs to the Eastern States Legislative Fiscal Officers and is a member of the executive board of the Eastern Regional Conference of the Council of State Governments, which he chaired in 1999.
Dlugolecki replaces B. Michael Schaul on the Board.
Other members of the Board of Governors are Charles A. Gomulka of Pittsburgh, chair; R. Benjamin Wiley of Erie, vice chair; Kim E. Lyttle of Pittsburgh, vice chair; Rep. Matthew E. Baker, Wellsboro; Marie Conley Lammando, Steelton; Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, Shippensburg; Brandon W. Danz, Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Daniel P. Elby, York; David P. Holveck, Malvern; Sen. Vincent Hughes, Philadelphia; C.R. “Chuck” Pennoni, Bryn Mawr; 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; John K. Thornburgh, Pittsburgh; and Christine J. Olson, Indiana. There is one vacancy.
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 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.