Guido Pichini, a trustee at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, has been elected president of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees (PACT), a group that comprises the members of the Councils of Trustees of the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) universities.
Pichini, who also is a member of PASSHE’s Board of Governors, will serve a one-year term as PACT president beginning July 1. He was elected during PACT’s spring conference held at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.
Others elected to serve during the 2008-09 year are Leo Krantz, who is chair of the Council of Trustees at California University of Pennsylvania, first vice president; Chris Dwyer, a trustee at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, second vice president; Susanne Burns, a trustee at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, secretary; and William B. McIlwaine, a trustee at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, treasurer.
PACT provides professional development opportunities for its members by holding workshops and conferences throughout the year. Each of the 14 PASSHE Universities is governed by an 11-member Council of Trustees. All trustees are automatically members of PACT.
Trustees have a wide range of duties and responsibilities at their universities, all of which are set forth in the state law that created PASSHE. Those duties include making recommendations to PASSHE for hiring and evaluating the university president, setting the university’s annual budget, approving academic programs and setting room and board rates and other student fees.
An alumnus of Kutztown University, Mr. Pichini has served on his alma mater’s Council of Trustees since 1997, including as chairman from 2002 to 2004. He was appointed to the Board of Governors, which has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of PASSHE, in May 2005.
Mr. Krantz has been a member of California University’s Council of Trustees since 1999. He was reappointed to a second six-year term in April 2005. He previously served as PACT’s second vice president.
Mr. Dwyer, a Lock Haven University alumnus, was appointed to the Council of Trustees at his alma mater in May 2001 and is now in his second six-year term. He previously served as PACT secretary.
Ms. Burns is in her second term as a member of Clarion University’s Council of Trustees, having first been appointed in 1997. She previously was an at-large member of PACT’s executive board.
Dr. McIlwaine is a retired science professor at Millersville University. He has served on the university’s Council of Trustees since 1995 and has served as PACT treasurer since 2005.
With more than 110,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Approximately 405,000 PASSHE 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. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.