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Ron Darbeau, vice president for faculty affairs and academic operations at Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, has been named chancellor of Penn State Altoona, effective Jan. 3, the university announced Tuesday.
Darbeau succeeds outgoing Chancellor and Dean Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry, who will retire at the end of 2022 after more than 38 years of service to Penn State and 43 years in higher education. Bechtel-Wherry has led the Altoona campus since 2005.
Darbeau will draw on his career success as an administrator in higher education to shape the future of Penn State Altoona, said Kelly Austin, vice president for Commonwealth Campuses and executive chancellor. "His long standing experience as an educator, researcher and academic leader -- particularly in the areas of faculty development, academic and student affairs, and institutional effectiveness -- will positively impact Altoona's campus and community for years to come."
In a statement, Darbeau said the university's values of student success, academic excellence, diversity, sustainability and community engagement align with his own values.
"I intend to usher in a period of prosperity and strategic growth for Penn State Altoona," he stated.
Darbeau most recently served as vice president for faculty affairs and academic operations at Commonwealth University, the integrated institution of Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities that was established in July 2022. There, he served on the president's cabinet and provided leadership for faculty affairs for four campuses of approximately 13,000 students and 800 faculty. He oversaw graduate education and sponsored research, institutional effectiveness and institutional research, libraries, the Clearfield branch campus of Lock Haven University and workforce development. He joined LHU as provost and vice president for academic affairs in July 2020.
Prior to LHU, he served as interim dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Arkansas -- Fort Smith for the 2019-20 academic year and as dean of the university's former College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics and the School of Education from 2015-20.
His academic career began at McNeese State University in 1996 where he was head of the Department of Chemistry and Physics for the last 12 years of his tenure.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Darbeau holds a bachelor's degree with honors in chemistry from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, and both master's and doctoral degrees in organic chemistry from Johns Hopkins University.