Inauguration set for Jon Anderson as 2nd PennWest University president

Jon Anderson will be formally installed as Pennsylvania Western University’s second president in a Dec. 6 ceremony on the university’s California campus.

The inauguration ceremony is set for 2 p.m. in Steele Hall’s Mainstage Theatre. The event will be livestreamed at pennwest.edu/inauguration, with watch parties planned in the Gemmell Student Center on the university’s Clarion campus and in the Pogue Student Center on the Edinboro campus.

A reception will follow at 3:30 p.m. in the Elmo Natali Student Center’s Gail Artyth George Lese Heritage Lounge, located on the California campus.

Anderson began his tenure as president July 1.

His challenges have included declining enrollment. For the current fall semester, student numbers were down 471, or 4.1%, to 10,834 across PennWest’s three campuses.

Still, that enrollment loss by percentage was less than half the previous year’s 11.5% decline. New graduate and online enrollment increased by 9.4% and 9.5%, respectively, while retention of first-year to second-year students improved for a second year, to nearly 72%.

Anderson hosts “The Power of PennWest” podcast. Under his watch, the university secured a $3.2 million gift for early childhood education and launched the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies.

He previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Southern Utah University and held administrative posts at Middle Georgia State University and the University of West Georgia.

He succeeds PennWest’s founding president, Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, who relinquished the job in February 2023. R. Lorraine “Laurie” Bernotsky served as interim president before returning to West Chester University as its leader.