Gordon K. Davies from the Teachers College of Columbia University will offer the keynote address at the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees (PACT) Spring Conference March 26 and 27 at the Hotel Hershey.

Davies will speak after dinner Thursday evening. He will discuss university systems and systemic change. The theme of the Spring PACT conference is “The State System in Systemic Change.”

PACT comprises the 154 trustees representing the 14 state-owned universities. Each of the universities has an 11-member council of trustees.

State System of Higher Education Chancellor James H. McCormick will address the conference Friday morning, during which he will speak on the State of the System 1998 and will discuss the System’s ongoing systemic change initiatives, which are intended to help make sure the state-owned universities can achieve their mission in a cost-effective manner. McCormick also will receive the organization’s Distinguished Service Award at a dinner Friday evening.

Other featured speakers at the biannual conference will be Michael McCarthy of the Pennsylvania Business Roundtable, who will speak on “What Today’s Businesses Need from Higher Education; state Education Secretary Eugene W. Hickok and Carolyn Dumaresq, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, who will participate in a panel discussion of “The Role of the Basic Education Professional in the Change Agenda”; and Peter Tartline, deputy director of the Governor’s Policy Office, who will make a presentation on workforce development. All three sessions will be Thursday afternoon.

McCormick and PACT President Orvan Peterson, a member of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania’s Council of Trustees, will participate Thursday morning in an interactive session titled “The Trust in Trustee.” Student trustees Jennifer Adams of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and Andrew Gibbons of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania will talk Friday morning about student-led initiatives on the campuses.

Conference participants then will have the opportunity to tour the Milton S. Hershey School, Hershey Museum or William Penn Museum before the evening awards dinner.

The State System of Higher Education comprises 14 universities throughout the Commonwealth, and is the largest provider of higher education in the state. One of every 29 Pennsylvanians is attending or is a graduate of a System university. The State System is the 17^th largest employer in the state, with more than 11,700 employees.

The 14 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.