The president of West Chester University of Pennsylvania’s Student Government Association has been named to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors.

Leonard B. Altieri III of Newtown Square joins student leaders from Edinboro and Millersville Universities of Pennsylvania on the 20-member board, which has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of PASSHE. Altieri is a junior at West Chester, where he is a political science major.

The student members of the Board of Governors are selected from among the sitting student government presidents at the 14 PASSHE universities. Once appointed a student member may serve until he or she is graduated. The three student members participate in all discussions of the Board and have the same voting rights as all other members.

The two other students currently serving on the Board of Governors are Jamie Lutz, president of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania’s Student Government Association, and Mackenzie Marie Wrobel, former president of Millersville University of Pennsylvania’s Student Senate.

Altieri was elected president of WCU’s Student Government Association in the spring. He previously served as co-chair of the organization’s Legislative Affairs Committee and as a senator.

He is a member of the Middle States Re-Accreditation Self-Study Committee and was the recipient of the 2010 Madeleine Wing Adler Emerging Leader Award. He was Southeast Caucus Director of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans and a member of the Newtown Township Environmental Advisory Council.

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.