Chancellor named for Pa. system of higher education
The board overseeing Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities has put its hopes for a system turnaround in the hands of a former University of California system administrator and Gates Foundation official, naming him Monday as chancellor of the State System of Higher Education.
Daniel Greenstein until earlier this year led the Postsecondary Success strategy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a position he held for six years. Previously, he was a senior administrator in the University of California system.
He succeeds Frank Brogan, who led Pennsylvania’s stateowned universities from October 2013 until Sept. 1. Mr. Greenstein, 57, will earn a salary of $380,000. He takes over Sept. 4.
Shortly before the board of governors’ unanimous vote, Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira called the recommendation of the search committee a gamechanger, “one that I truly
believe will set the course for the State System for the future. [It’s] a bold and historic statement on behalf of our students.”
“I am deeply honored by the trust you put in me,” Mr. Greenstein said moments after the board voted. “I can’t wait to get started.”
Gov. Tom Wolf, in a statement, praised Mr. Greenstein’s 30-plus years in higher education.
“Dr. Greenstein will focus the efforts of all involved in the State System on student success while creating a sustainable financial path forward for our 14 universities,” Mr. Wolf said.
The Gates Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world, system officials noted. It is a key supporter of public higher education endeavors, providing upward of $125 million in grants and contracts annually.
Mr. Greenstein will take the reins of a higher educational system with 102,000 students at 14 member universities, among them California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock in Western Pennsylvania. It has 12,000 employees.
But the system he takes over has 17,000 fewer students than it had eight years ago. It is facing financial, admissions and leadership challenges greater than at any previous time, including two recent consultant reports with competing visions and starkly different recommendations for how to keep the campuses viable. Some of those campuses have lost 30 percent or more of their enrollment.
One set of recommendations came in July from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, a Colorado consultant hired by the system. It recommended no university mergers or closures but said the weakest campuses should be reconfigured, the system’s governance structure overhauled and its current board of governors be replaced with a lay panel.
Even as system leaders began implementing those recommendations, a study by Rand Corp. that was commissioned by a state legislative committee and released in April went further, suggesting the State System’s best hope rests in some combination of merging with, or being brought under management of, one or more state-related universities like the University of Pittsburgh or Penn State.
Whichever consultant’s plan prevails, the new chancellor will have as a chief responsibility securing dollars from a state government that ranks near the bottom in support of higher education — 47th per capita out of 50 states, according to the Illinois State University Grapevine report.
In a mid-afternoon conference call with reporters, Mr. Greenstein said that any plans to reshape the system must flow from a fundamental question about the sort of education students should be getting. “What does that student need and why, and how can we get that to the student in the most effective way?” he said.
Mr. Greenstein said it’s premature for him to opine on either the NCHEMS or Rand reports, but he is pleased neither recommended closing entire universities. “I was really impressed with this idea that you can’t just eliminate educational opportunity from whole regions,” he said
Reacting to a provocative part of the Rand study, Mr. Greenstein said he would need to see more detail to imagine how blending of the State System with state-related schools like Penn State or Pitt could be viable.
Though he has never headed a university system or campus, Mr. Greenstein said the challenges facing the 14 schools require unconventional approaches. Asked if the search drew others who had led universities, Ms. Shapira said it did, but that Mr. Greenstein nevertheless stood out.
This chancellor search, like the one that brought Mr. Brogan to Pennsylvania, produced no public shortlist of contenders or even a count of the applicants. The State System’s board in 2013 imposed a secrecy order, concerned that the top-paying job in state government would be less attractive to leading candidates if their job hunt was exposed.
As director of the Gates Foundation’s Postsecondary Success strategy, Mr. Greenstein worked with other higher education leaders nationwide on initiatives intended to boost educationalattainment, in particular among low-income and minority students, system officials said.
Before joining Gates in 2012, he held leadership posts in the University of California system for almost a decade, including serving as vice provost of strategic planning, programs and accountability in the Office of the President.
Kenneth Mash, an East Stroudsburg University professor and head of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, welcomed the appointment.
“He comes to the State System armed with experience as a faculty member, an administrator and as a nationally recognized advocate for innovative and proven approaches to public higher education.”
But Senate Education Committee Chair John Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, a harsh system critic, was less upbeat, saying the system won’t last long without drastic change.
“I don’t know anything about this individual. I wish him well,” he said. “I think he’s jumping on the Titanic right before it goes down.”
Mr. Greenstein has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Pennsylvania, according to the system. He studied at the London School of Economics, receiving a doctoral degree in social studies from Oxford University.