The state Senate has confirmed B. Michael Schaul of Mechanicsburg as a member of the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education.

Schaul, who will serve a four-year term on the Board, also was confirmed to a seat on the Council of Trustees at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, from which he holds two degrees.

The president and managing director of The ESCEM Group, Ltd., and Wetlands Habitat Management, Inc., Schaul previously served under former Govs. Dick Thornburgh and Robert P. Casey. He replaces Glenn Y. Forney of Bradenton, Fla., and formerly of Shavertown, on the State System’s 20-member governing board.

The Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of the System. The governors establish broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the 14 state-owned universities operate.

The Board comprises the governor or his designee; the state secretary of education or his designee; four state legislators appointed by the respective House and Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses; 11 members appointed by the governor, at least five of whom must be members of university councils of trustees; and three student leaders from System universities.

House and Senate leaders appoint the four legislative members to the Board at the beginning of each legislative session. Each of the 11 members named by the governor is appointed to a four-year term and must be confirmed by the state Senate before assuming his or her seat on the Board.

The student Board members are selected from among the university student government presidents serving at the time a vacancy occurs. They also are nominated by the governor and must be confirmed by the Senate. The student members may serve until their graduation.

The other members of the Board are Chairman F. Eugene Dixon Jr. of Lafayette Hill and Vice Chairs Kim Lyttle of Pittsburgh and R. Benjamin Wiley of Erie. Also, Syed R. Ali-Zaidi of Shippenville; Muriel Berman, Allentown; Zachary I. Catell, West Chester University of Pennsylvania; Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, Shippensburg; Daniel P. Elby, York; Charles A. Gomulka, Pittsburgh; Secretary of Education Eugene W. Hickok Jr., Harrisburg; Joy C. Leonard, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Shelby A. Linton, Millersville University of Pennsylvania; 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.

“We are pleased to have someone with Michael Schaul’s background and experience on the Board,” said Dixon. “He will be a tremendous asset to our deliberations. It is especially gratifying to have an alumnus of one of our universities join us, someone who understands and appreciates our mission and our role in the Commonwealth.”

“I am looking forward to being able to make a contribution back to the System from which I proudly graduated,” said Schaul.

He said he would like to utilize his experience in economic development to help promote greater working relationships among the universities and businesses in the Commonwealth. Schaul said he also will seek creative ways of encouraging public/private partnerships to help more fully develop the System’s facilities and infrastructure.

Schaul worked in the state Department of Commerce from 1974 to 1989. He was deputy secretary for development and the first director of the Governor’s Action Team. He also served as special assistant to the secretary, director of legislative affairs and assistant director of the department’s Appalachian Bureau.

Previously, he was assistant director of marketing and research at the Pennsylvania Research Institute and regional program planner and project coordinator for the Southern Alleghenies Commission. He also was a member of the U.S. Army, serving a tour of duty in Vietnam and receiving an honorable discharge.

After leaving the military, Schaul enrolled at Shippensburg, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in education/social science, with an emphasis in government and finance; and a master’s in public administration degree, with an emphasis in public opinion, systems and procedures of management, intergovernmental relations, economics and finance.

Schaul said another of his goals while serving on the Board will be to “offer some creative ways of expanding the amount of scholarship funds available for less affluent students who are qualified academically, but who may not be able to afford to attend college.”

Schaul is a member of various boards, including the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, Pennsylvania Wetlands Protection Advisory Committee and the Industrial Development

Congress. He is a member of the advocacy committee of the American Heart Association and belongs to the Pennsylvania Society.

The State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, offering more than 215 undergraduate degree and more than 100 graduate degree programs. The 14 universities that comprise the System enroll a combined 95,000 students. 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, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh.