State system chancellor makes sales pitch to high school counselors
LOCK HAVEN, PA – Dan Greenstein, chancellor for Pennsylvania’s state system of higher education, addressed 95 high school counselors from across the state on a visit to Lock Haven University on Friday and told them why they should encourage students to attend the state system’s 14 universities.
Greenstein noted the ongoing integration of six schools within the system, including Lock Haven’s consolidation with Bloomsburg and Mansfield universities. Citing the declining size of prospective students from which to draw, Greenstein extolled the virtues of expanded program offerings through integration. Based on Lock Haven’s current enrollment, the chancellor said programs would number 30 to 35; integrated, that number will be 100, stating “Students have more choice.”
He emphasized the integrated schools will maintain their identities, that “everything is still there,” citing clubs, activities, sports teams, face-to-face instruction, everything associated with a residential experience for the students. He noted there will be some level of online instruction, offering “opportunities to have greater program breadth, greater access to courses, quicker times to degrees.”
Greenstein noted the traditional pool from which the state system schools draw their students, those “not born with a silver spoon in their mouth,” but rather from hard-working families. He had many good things to say about public education, about its positive impact on low income students and the return on “the investment” on their attending a university. He cited high graduation rates from the state system and told the counselors, “We’re good; it works.”
He talked of the “strong” health profession programs at Lock Haven University and how students at the local school will have access to additional choices not otherwise available without integration.
The Greenstein talk came during lunchtime at the Durrwachter Alumni Conference Center as the visiting counselors took a break from a “Counselor Information Day” in which state system representatives offered information about its member schools and the ongoing integration.
