The state Senate has confirmed the appointment of Jonathan B. Mack of Indiana to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors.

Mack is an attorney and partner in the firm of Marcus & Mack, P.C., of Indiana. He also is a member of Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Council of Trustees.

The 20-member Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of PASSHE, which comprises Pennsylvania’s 14 public universities. The Board establishes broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the PASSHE universities operate.

The Board comprises 11 public members and three PASSHE students, all of whom are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate; four legislators; the governor or his designee; and the Secretary of Education or his designee.

Mack is a graduate of Dickinson College, from which he earned bachelor’s degrees in both English and Spanish and a minor in geology, and the University of Toledo School of Law. He has been a practicing attorney since 1983. He also has been a local business owner and has owned and operated businesses in Boulder, Colo.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Spokane, Wash.

He holds memberships in the Pennsylvania Bar Association and Indiana County Bar Association. He is a past member of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and was elected and served as president of the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association from 2002 to 2003. He currently serves as a panel member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Judicial Evaluation Commission.

Mack was a member of the Indiana Area School District Board of School Directors from 1999 to 2005, serving as president from 2003 to 2005. He currently serves as a board member of the Seeds of Faith Christian Academy, an elder of the First Assembly of God Church and a board member of the Indiana Experiment. He has been a trustee for the J.S. Mack Foundation since 1985, serving as its president since 2006.

Mack replaces Guido Pichini on the Board of Governors. Pichini had served on the Board since June 2005.

Other members of the Board of Governors are: Chair Kenneth M. Jarin of Newtown, Vice Chairs C.R. “Chuck” Pennoni of Bryn Mawr and Aaron A. Walton of Allison Park, Rep. Matthew E. Baker of Wellsboro, Nick Barcio of Erie, Marie Conley Lammando of Harrisburg, Paul S. Dlugoleckiof Mechanicsburg, Rep. Michael K. Hanna of Lock Haven, Sen. Vincent J. Hughes of Philadelphia, Richard Kneedler of Lancaster, Jamie Lutz of Tionesta, Joseph F. McGinn of Linwood, Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola of Harrisburg, Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Harrisburg, Harold C. Shields of Allison Park, Thomas M. Sweitzer of Swarthmore, Christine J.Toretti of Indiana, Mackenzie Marie Wrobelof Bloomsburg and Gerald L. Zahorchak of Harrisburg.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 117,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Approximately 454,000 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.