Penn State Altoona Chancellor Ron W. Darbeau sits on a bench near the Harry E. Slep Student Center. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Chancellor Ron Darbeau has been on the Penn State Altoona campus for nine months striving to make a difference in the lives of students, the community and his family like he has throughout his life.

Darbeau hails from the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and is the only one in his family to go to college.

He grew up poor, in a home that, for some time, didn’t have running water, indoor plumbing or electricity.

But, he did have a very determined mother who made sure education was a priority and all of her children went to high school.

“There was a lot of love in the house,” Darbeau said of growing up.

Trinidad and Tobago is a great place with wonderful weather, he said.

“It is a real cultural melting pot, which was a great experience for someone growing up, ” Darbeau said.

All religious holidays are celebrated together as national holidays, he said, noting “Tolerance was not something you were taught, it was something you lived.”

Fortunately, in Trinidad and Tobago, college is free — once a student gets good grades in high school, the government pays for college, he said.

Darbeau said he could not have asked for better undergraduate preparation and had great mentors at the University of The West Indies, St. Augustine, where he got his degree in chemistry in 1984.

One of his mentors strongly recommended he go abroad to get a masters and PhD, and his girlfriend Nyla, who is now his wife, received a scholarship to attend Morgan State University in Baltimore to study chemistry.

“I figured she was the one, so I was not going to let her go,” Darbeau said.

He eventually got into Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

“It worked out — we celebrated our 30th anniversary back in June and we have four beautiful children,” Darbeau said.

Nyla Darbeau describes her husband as a gifted teacher, orator and the smartest, and yet humblest person she knows.

“He is the yin to my yang, a source of love, kindness, patience, strength and compassion — a true partner in every way,” she said.

As a father, Nyla said he is the best role-model to their children, demonstrating qualities of unconditional love, empathy, trustworthiness, responsibility and overall steadiness.

“He is the rock of our family for sure,” she said.

After finishing his PhD, he went to McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., starting out as an assistant professor.

Darbeau became the chemistry department head after the person who hired him left suddenly and the person who replaced him became ill.

At the time, the department was struggling and was on probation with the American Chemical Society.

The department was in danger of losing its masters program, enrollment was dropping and industries in the area would not hire their graduates because the program quality had slipped, Darbeau said.

After taking the leadership position, the chemistry department went from being one of the worst to one of the best at McNeese. It became the research hub on campus, and enrollment numbers went through the roof.

In 2015, Darbeau moved on to the University of Arkansas: Fort Smith, which he chose because it was in a key point of its transition from a two-year to four-year university.

During Darbeau’s time at the university, the retention rate increased from 65% to 85%, and 20 points higher than the rest of the colleges in the system, and enrollment also went up.

Then, he was hired as the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lock Haven University in November 2019.

When Lock Haven integrated with Bloomsburg and Mansfield universities to become the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, Darbeau’s role changed because he was the most junior provost of the three.

While Darbeau enjoyed the profile at the new university, he didn’t turn down the chance to have a conversation about the chancellor position at Penn State Altoona.

He liked what they had to offer, he said.

Darbeau was already familiar with Altoona, coming to the area to shop at the Comics Vault in the downtown, and to get Popeye’s Chicken.

One of the first assignments he gave himself when he started at PSU Altoona In January was to talk to faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors and community members to get a sense of their hopes for the campus.

His approach and work at the campus is energizing, said Shari Routch, director of enrollment.

“He’s certainly ignited a spark here,” she said.

Peter Moran, associate dean of policy and planning, said Darbeau’s honesty, gratitude and the appreciation he expresses toward everyone on campus is appealing.

“I believe that a culture of recognition helps employees feel valued and reaffirms their commitment to the mission of our institution,” he said.

Nyla said she is proud of all her husband has accomplished and the trajectory of his life.

“The fact that someone from an island that is literally a dot in the Caribbean Sea can achieve all he has is proof that talent cannot hide and if you honor your talent, it honors you,” she said.

During his downtime, Darbeau likes to read, is a big sci-fi fan, and his favorite series are “Star Trek,” “Lord of the Rings” and anything Marvel, which is pretty evident from the memorabilia on display throughout his office.

Darbeau even admits that three of his four children are named after “Star Trek” characters.

His son is Jean-Luc after Jean-Luc Picard from the “Next Generation,” his second daughter is Narisse after a character in “Deep Space Nine,” and his youngest daughter’s middle name is Kes, a character in “Voyager.”

“Fortunately, my wife is also a ‘Star Trek’ fan and was onboard with it,” Darbeau said.

Thanks to his mother’s push for education and his work ethic to always be pushing for more knowledge, Darbeau said his children did not know poverty as they strive to be doctors and veterinarians.

“Their children will also not know what poverty is and they will have an impact on people,” Darbeau said.

Being able to provide those same opportunities to other people through higher education has been the driving force of his career.

“Ron is a living testament to the importance and transformative power of education, and his commitment to seeing students be successful in their educational pursuits, ” Moran said.

Mirror staff writer Cati Keith is at 814-946-7535.