The state Senate has confirmed Joy C. Leonard, a junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), to serve as one of three student members on the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education.
Leonard is president of the Student Government Association at IUP and a member of the Board of Student Government Presidents, which comprises the student leaders from each of the 14 state-owned universities.
A history/political science pre-law major, Leonard expects to graduate in May 2000. She is a resident of Easton and is the daughter of Thomas and Patricia Leonard.
The 20-member Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of the State System. The governors establish broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the System universities operate. The three student members on the Board have full voting rights.
“Our student board members are equal participants in all of our discussions and policy-making decisions,” said Board Chairman F. Eugene Dixon Jr. “The perspective they bring to the Board on behalf of our more than 95,000 students is essential if we are to meet fully all of our students’ needs.
“Serving students is why we exist,” Dixon added. “We need to listen to their opinions and to their ideas.”
Leonard already has displayed her leadership at IUP and, as she assumes a seat on the Board of Governors, will contribute even more significantly to serving the needs of the State System’s entire student body, said Chancellor James H. McCormick.
Student members to the Board are selected from among the university student government presidents serving at the time a vacancy occurs. Once confirmed, they may serve on the Board until their graduation.
The other student members currently serving on the Board are Jason B. Bozzone of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and Lawrence J. Flint of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.
Other members of the Board of Governors are Dixon of Lafayette Hill; Vice Chairs Kim Lyttle of Pittsburgh and R. Benjamin Wiley of Erie; and Syed R. Ali-Zaidi, Shippenville; Muriel Berman, Allentown; Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, Shippensburg; Daniel P. Elby, York; Glenn Y. Forney, Bradenton, Fla.; Charles A. Gomulka, Pittsburgh; Secretary of Education Eugene W. Hickok Jr., Harrisburg; Sen. F. Joseph Loeper, Drexel Hill; Rocco A. Ortenzio, Lemoyne; Gov. Thomas J. Ridge, Harrisburg; Rep. Jere W. Schuler, Lampeter; Sen. Patrick J. Stapleton, Indiana; John K. Thornburgh, Pittsburgh; and Christine J. Toretti, Indiana.
Leonard was elected president of IUP’s Student Government Association in April 1998. She previously served as SGA vice president and public relations chairperson.
In addition to her position as SGA president at IUP, Leonard also serves as vice chair of the Student Cooperative Association’s Board of Directors. The board oversees a multi-million dollar operating budget and the disbursements of $2.6 million in student activity fees to co-op sponsored programs and activities.
“One of my main goals as a member of the Board of Governors will be to educate students at IUP about the Board and about the State System,” Leonard said. “I also will encourage other student leaders to do the same on their campuses.”
Leonard is a resident assistant at IUP and has worked as a tutor and computer consultant in the IUP Writing Center and as an instructor and a member of the rescue staff at the sailing base at Yellow Creek State Park near Indiana. She is certified in water rescue, boat safety, CPR and first aid.
She was features editor of The Penn, IUP’s student newspaper, and also worked in the newspaper’s advertising department. Earlier this year, Leonard received the IUP Student Congress Award for Distinguished Service and served as a member of the State System of Higher Education’s Women’s Leadership Consortium.
The State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Nearly 350,000 State 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.