Correction appended: Feb. 24, 2012.
Three alumni will be elected to the Board of Trustees in the upcoming May election, which could end with the replacement of Vice Chair of the Board Stephanie Deviney.
Trustee Anthony Lubrano said Deviney, along with Trustee Paul Suhey, are incumbent alumni-elected trustees whose terms expire this year.
Deviney was unanimously elected to the position of vice chair in January and ran unopposed.
“With the increasing dissatisfaction in the alumni community with the manner in which the events of the past 14 months have been handled, I believe the incumbents will face an uphill battle in their efforts to get re-elected,” Lubrano said via email.
He said if Deviney were to be replaced on the board, a new vice chair would need to be elected by the board seated after the upcoming election.
Lubrano said more than 40 candidates have already expressed an interest in running for the board, but said a person needs 50 nominations in order to be eligible.
He said the alumni will elect three people. Also, two people will be elected by the Agricultural Societies, and two will be appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett. The Board of Trustees will also elect two as Business and Industry Trustees.
Jeff Goldsmith, Class of 1982, announced two weeks ago that he would be running for the board. He said this will be the first board election he’s participating in.
Goldsmith said his desire to be on the board dates back to his time as a student at Penn State. He said while he was a student, he thought that the way the board was organized was in conflict with educational opportunities for students.
“Because of the tragedy that has taken place, now the alumni are engaged and understand the conflicts that can exist on the board,” Goldsmith said. “We have our best opportunity since 1951 to have a positive impact on reforming the board and making it more representative of the true constituencies of the university.”
He said it was important to continue electing people to the board who were reform-minded and committed to making sure the board is concentrated on what it should be — providing a quality education for students.
Barbara Doran, Class of 1975, has also announced she’s running for the Board of Trustees, after running and not being elected during the 2012 election.
“I am running for the Board of Trustees again because those responsible for the crisis of the last year still govern and continue to fail us, and because I am passionate about this great university and the people who make it so,” Doran said via email.
She said that the needs of the university have changed dramatically since the structure of the board was first put in place. She said the charter is long overdue to be updated.
