PSU Presidential Candidates

CANDIDATE A: LORRIE CLEMO

Reed Hall, PSU --- Tues. April 7th marked the first day of presidential candidate open campus forum agenda. Students and staff members from various departments and organizations filled half the --- in Reed Hall to welcome Plymouth’s first candidate, Lorrie Clemo.

Clemo greeted the audience and thanked committee members for their assistance and time through the process thus far. Clemo is currently the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs for the State University of New York at Oswego and has been recognized for her work in program development. She has worked toward building co-op partnerships and increasing internships opportunities. 

'Lorrie Clemo' by Terry Downs

The forum was open to the students for questions and Student Body President, Alex Herbst, started the questioning process. “My first question I guess goes to something that we’ve really been noticing a lot more on campus and that’s about communication and transparency with our students,” said, Herbst. “There have been times when there have been questions by students about whether or not things that are going on on this campus are being completely transparent from the higher levels of administration all the way down through faculty, staff and students. Often times students almost feel like they’re being left out of the communication loop. How do you feel about being able to keep students in the loop and how would you successfully achieve that on a campus like this?”

Clemo said, “Communication is critical and important to me and transparency is equally as important to me.” She then went into her experience at SUNY Oswego, where she is serving as Provost, and explained her engagement and interactions with students, as well as her open door policy. “I meet on a monthly basis with our student government president…Right now in my current role, as Provost, I meet directly with the Academic Affairs Student Representative that meets biweekly with me.”

In terms of transparency and addressing University issues as a community, Clemo described her plans for the University. “Open communication on a regular basis with students is important and the best way to do that is to be visible on campus, to have an open door policy so that students can come in and share their issues and concerns.” She plans on having an email at which students can reach her as well as keeping hours open in her schedule for students to pop in. 

She also plans to engages with the students informally through the campus by attending and participating in their events, but she also invites them to events at which she represents on behalf of the University, whether it community meetings, board meetings, international trips to represent the University.
Program building and increasing enrollment are also some of her top priorities. “One of the things that I did to help students bridge the gap between classroom learning and the real world was to set up an internship program and then most recently, in my current role, to set up a co-op program for our students so that they could gain real world working experience while they were students and be paid for that experience while they’re still students on campus.”

To end the forum, Clemo concluded by expressing student support. “Student success is reason why I’m in the job that I’m in…that’s why I’ve been in it for twenty-seven years and made a career out of being engagement with higher education is because I know the transformational impact on students and what it can mean to their lives.”

CANDIDATE B: ROBERT WEYGARD

On April 9, Robert A. Weygand, Director of the graduate program in Public Administration at the University of Rhode Island, spoke at the open forum held on campus. Weygand, a former U.S. Congressman, state representative, and Rhode Island lieutenant governor, spoke of his diverse work experience and contributions to higher education to begin the forum. 

''Robert Weygard' by Terry Downs

“I am a landscape architect by profession. I started off with no intention ever of being in politics." He started his career working for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in landscape architect design for recreational facilities, found a path in politics, became the President and CEO of the New England Board of Higher Education, and is now in his current position at URI. Following his introduction, the forum was open to students for questions.

Student Body President, Alex Herbst, asked the first question. “My question to you would be about connection with students. What has your experience been like working with students, whether that’s in or out of the classroom, at URI and how would you bring that here to Plymouth State?” To which Weygand said, “My experience working intimately with those groups is very minimal except for when it comes to programming facilities that they may require as part of the program.” 

He explained how important students’ feedback and input and is the experience he has had in that process. At the institution that he works for currently, he has looked to student input in regards to residential hall renovations and redesign. Students became the design team. He had a similar process within faculty departments and the redesigning of those systems as well. 

“ I did have a lot of experience helping formulate student groups, and working with them, in terms of their day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month operations.”

Miranda Casey, Co-President of the Marketing Association at Plymouth State said, “I would like to know your opinion on the importance of student organizations. I know we have a great athletics systems and in-class professor to student relationships, but we have a lot of student organizations here, who all do amazing things, but I think there’s been a bit of loss in how important they really are and the real world that they get. I would just like to know your opinion on that.”

He explained that the University will always look at how to can best include, keep in place and retain.  Weygand also expressed how important retention and graduation rates are and said, “Having students engaged…whether it’s a club sport, whether it’s an organization, or whether it’s some kind of Greek life, is a key element to maintaining and keeping students in school, because we know that when their engaged in whatever activity it may be that they are more likely to stay in school and succeed at Plymouth State University.” We value our performance as a University.

He expressed his passion for engagement with students and said that he looks forward to being able to work so closely with students. The forum ended with many thank you’s and a big, “hope to see you soon.”

CANDIDATE C: DONALD BIRX

Dr. Donald Birx, informerly known to students by the name “Candidate C” visited the university on April 15. Currently, Dr. Birx serves as the Chancellor of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Dr. Birx has vast experience in areas such as fundraising, strategic planning and intercollegiate athletics.

'Donald Birx' by Terry Downs

Before serving at Behrend, Dr. Birx studied at the University California, Berkeley where he received his bachelors in Engineering Physics. From here he received his masters degree in Bio-physics and an MBA in finance from Miami University of Ohio. Finally Dr. Brix  received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Dayton.

Dr. Birx faced many question from the student body regarding topics ranging from why he came to Plymouth to what he will do for minority groups on campus. 

Sophomore, Ryan Wimble asked Dr. Birx “What makes you qualified to be our President?” To which the candidate responded, “First, for five years, I’ve done what this president will need to do for five years. I have experience in dealing with declining enrollment which is what we se here at Plymouth State. At Behrend we worked on that, we are the fastest growing school in the Penn State system, we’ve created new programs that the students really love and we have broken the record for the largest entering class three times consecutively.”

After this Senior Everette Moye asked “Why do you want to come to Plymouth, what draws you here?” Dr Brix responded “I’ve made a lot of progress, and We’ve done a lot there, but when you talk about Penn State it’s a system. And that system is now decinling and even though Behrend is successful we are now helping support the other 14 declining campuses. It’s hard to have funds taken from our campus to support others where there is very little plan. I like Plymouth because of its independence and location. Its beautiful here and the possibilities are endless.”

Finally Junior Connor Brown asked “What are some challenges that you see here that you want to fix right off the bat?” In response Dr. Birx replied “I think your biggest challenge right now is to develop the programs and recruit the people so that you are able to achieve critical mass. I think you’ve fallen below that for a bit here. The second challenge here is the vision of what Plymouth is going to become, what is going to be Plymouth’s five points of excellence that you can talk about to future employers and prospective students alike.”

To end his presentation Dr. Birx explained the three reasons he loves Plymouth.  “First off your location is beautiful, the mountains and landscape is breathtaking. Secondly the small classrooms are perfect. I like the ability to get to know students and faculty on a name to name basis and that’s something unique to Plymouth. Being known and having an active working relationship with your professor is paramount to scholarly success and the class size here at Plymouth is perfect for that. Third I think that the programs offered here are unique and intriguing for many prospective and active students alike. The first step to being successful at any institution is finding something that you have a passion to study. Plymouth has the unique majors and minors that kids are going to look for in the coming future.”