Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

A former Penn State McKeesport staff member is returning after 14 years to serve as interim chancellor of Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Nancy Herron, associate vice president and senior associate dean for Commonwealth Campuses emeritus, began her appointment began Jan. 1. She replaces Dr. Curtiss Porter, who has retired as Penn State Greater Allegheny Chancellor.

"Despite Thomas Wolfe’s message in his 1940s posthumous novel, 'You Can’t Go Home Again,' the truth is, you really can," Herron said. "I look forward to preserving the strong tradition of academic excellence in teaching and learning forged by this campus over the last decades."

Madlyn L. Hanes, vice president for Commonwealth Campuses, said Penn State is "grateful" to Herron for her willingness to serve "at this critical juncture."

Herron began her Penn State career at Greater Allegheny, then called the McKeesport Campus, in 1984, serving as head librarian and later as director of academic affairs, a post she held for eight of her 15 years at the campus.

Herron then served as associate dean in the Office of the Dean of the Commonwealth College and subsequently the associate vice president and senior associate dean in the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses. She was also an administrative fellow in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost.

Herron has edited five books among her scholarly credits; one of her textbooks, The Social Sciences: A Cross-disciplinary Guide to the Social Sciences, is in its third edition.

She has also been honored for her effective leadership and professional achievements, receiving the university's Administrative Excellence Award in 2004 and the Commission for Women's Achieving Women Award in 2000. She chaired numerous Penn State committees and groups, including the Administrative Council on Undergraduate Education and the Commission for Women.