As a first-generation college graduate, Laurie Bernotsky secured her first tenure-track position at West Chester University in 1996. Almost 30 years later, following a unanimous recommendation, Bernotsky has taken over as the institution’s president. Tying in with her March 28 inauguration, Bernotsky shares where the university currently stands and where she sees it headed.
MLT: What’s changed at WCU since 1996?
LB: As the years go by, I’m just so impressed with the quality of faculty that we continue to attract. Our degree offerings have expanded. We now have doctorates—we didn’t have those when I first started. We’ve expanded our master’s degree offerings. We now have biomedical engineering. Our reputation for excellence has increased over the years. This is a place that keeps moving and doing great things.
MLT: Coming into your presidency, what are a few of the goals you have?
LB: I don’t want to come into this job saying, “Here’s my vision as president.” I’m very interested in listening to our constituents and asking them, “What should the next chapter look like?” I think we’re well known regionally. I would love for us to be well known nationally. We’re on a path to do that.
MLT: A lot of universities are dealing with enrollment pressures. What does that look like at WCU?
LB: We’re so fortunate. We actually have a waiting list and have to turn students away because we don’t have enough housing for everybody who wants to come here. We haven’t grown, and it’s on purpose. We know this is the sweet spot for us. It puts less pressure on our community and our fiscal space here.
MLT: Speaking of housing, are there any plans to address that pressing issue?
LB: It’s really challenging, but I’m happy to say that we secured the approval to start some modular units up by the Matlack [Street] part of campus. They can only be there a maximum of five years, so the clock is ticking. But it’s going to allow us to have 128 students living there at any given time. Then we can start working on increasing some housing. To do any renovation or addition, you have to move the current students, so that just got underway.
MLT: How are you preparing students for the job market?
LB: The Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that the students we’re preparing today are going to change careers five to seven times—not jobs, careers. How do we create four-year degrees for jobs that don’t exist yet? The best we can do for our students is to make sure that, by the time they leave here, they’ve learned how to learn. If they’ve learned how to learn, they’re resilient—they’re future-proof.
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