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LOCK HAVEN -- The process to integrate Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield Universities continued to gain support and momentum through three virtual meetings held this month.
The state System of Higher Education's chancellor, Dan Greenstein, joined by university presidents Bashar Hanna of Bloomsburg, Robert Pignatello of Lock Haven and Charles Patterson of Mansfield, gathered with more than 200 government, business and community leaders to discuss the state system's integration plan.
The plan, set to be voted on in July, is focused on expanding learning opportunities and making college more affordable and accessible for students while maintaining university identity, traditions and community connections.
The discussions resulted in positive feedback and a shared mission for all stakeholders to work together to help support students and the various university communities, according to a press release from Lock Haven University.
"Making sure our children, and our children's children, have an opportunity for a State System-quality education without having to leave the community is paramount," said Mansfield Borough Council member, Mansfield University alumnus and retired MU employee Steve McCloskey. "Mansfield University has done a great job and President Patterson is leading us through this. We are committed as a Borough Council and as a community to supporting this integration because it gives us the opportunity to thrive. We're going to be better because of this."
University integration is focused on accessibility and student success and aims to retain the unique and personal on-campus experiences, services and faculty-student interactions that have historically reinforced our campus identities, brands and value propositions. Integration includes pursuing of a path with the NCAA, where all three campuses would retain their current complement of athletic teams. This effort also will build upon an existing foundation of collaboration and partnership to expand and deliver undergraduate and graduate programs across the region and beyond.
As envisioned, university integration also would enhance responsiveness to workforce-aligned, nondegree, certificate and stackable credentialing programs to meet regional and statewide economic and workforce demands, reinforcing the role that these anchor institutions serve in their communities and the region.
More than 1,000 faculty and staff are collaboratively building the integration plan through working groups and sub-groups, focusing on specific areas of institutional operations such as academics, enrollment, finance and more. Input and feedback from all constituents, including community leaders, like those in attendance for the town halls and other recent virtual meetings, are critical to the process.
"This is an ambitious undertaking aimed at preserving our legacies while sustainably building a new institution that will serve the commonwealth's students for generations to come," said Bashar Hanna, northeast integration lead-president.
"Within each institution's community will remain the advantage of a thriving university that continues to have strong partnerships with school districts and area employers with whom we can partner to prepare our students for the region's workforce and beyond," he said. "This is yet another evolution for our institutions, which began as Normal Schools and a Seminary over 150 years ago. Together, we will take charge of our future and boldly build the next chapter of our rich histories."