Recently retired West Chester University president is in line to become interim chancellor of PASSHE
PASSHE board chair Cindy Shapira said she will recommend Christopher Fiorentino to the board, but he will not be a candidate for the permanent post.
Christopher M. Fiorentino, recently retired president of West Chester University, is in line to become the interim chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Cindy Shapira, chair of the system’s board of governors, said in a message to students, faculty, and staff Thursday that she would recommend Fiorentino, who led West Chester for seven and a half years before retiring in June, to the board at its October meeting.
He would replace Daniel Greenstein, who announced in July that he would be leaving the job after six years. Greenstein has said he was leaving for “a compelling opportunity … to work nationally,” but hasn’t disclosed the job. He has said he will release details next month.
» READ MORE: West Chester University’s president is retiring next year
Shapira cited Fiorentino’s strengths.
“He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role, and I am so pleased he has agreed to serve in this capacity,” Shapira said.
She noted that Fiorentino, who had worked for West Chester — the largest of the system’s 10 schools with about 17,100 students — for more than 40 years, does not intend to apply for the permanent position.
Reached through a spokesperson, Fiorentino declined comment.
Fiorentino has spent his entire career at West Chester, starting in 1983 as an assistant professor of economics and serving as the dean of the College of Business and Public Affairs, now the College of Business and Public Management, for about two decades. He then became vice president for external operations and subsequently interim president for nine months in 2016 before getting the permanent job.
» READ MORE: The chancellor of Pa.’ s state school system is leaving ‘to work nationally’
West Chester has remained one of the strongest colleges in the state system, growing for many years while other system schools lost enrollment, maintaining the largest budgetary reserve, and posting the highest graduation and retention rates.
Shapira also said the system would launch a national search, expected to continue into 2025, for Greenstein’s permanent replacement, and will seek input from students, faculty, staff, alumni and others.
The search committee includes the board’s executive committee, in addition to R. Lorraine (Laurie) Bernotsky, new president of West Chester, who has worked at the school for 28 years; Abigail Hancox, a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and Christina Chiarelli-Helminiak, a professor of social work at West Chester.