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Faculty member important addition

The presence of subject matter experts on a governing board is essential for an organization to succeed. Imagine, for example, if ExxonMobil’s board of directors included no petroleum experts or if Walmart’s board had no retail experts. These corporations simply would never allow such a situation to exist.

Although Penn State University’s core mission is education, the 30 voting members of its board of trustees include no active faculty. None of the current members has been a professor since 1981; an era where chalkboards were the main instructional technology.

One candidate for the board, Alice Pope, has been a psychology professor for 25 years. Although many academics never venture beyond the “ivory tower,” Pope has been actively pursuing reform of the Penn State board by participating in board meetings, writing op-eds calling for reform and lobbying the legislature to fix Penn State’s governance problems.

Pope was recently lauded by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for her concerns for Penn State’s students. They noted that she is a central player in a growing movement of alumni who wish to put students back at the center of education.

Trustees and alumni would do well to listen to her and address these concerns.

The board needs a professor among its ranks. And anyone who has observed Penn State’s dysfunctional board has seen that the board needs a psychologist.

By electing Alice Pope to the board, alumni can fill both of these needs.

Dave Ketchen

Opelika, Ala.

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