Point Park University president steps down

Point Park University President Donald Green is stepping down after 18 months on the job.

The 58-year-old notified the university’s board of trustees that his decision “is for private, personal and family reasons,” officials said in a statement Friday. Green’s resignation was effective immediately.

Green follows at least three other Central and Western Pennsylvania campus presidents since last January to serve for less than five years and announced departures either immediately or months earlier than expected. They pointed to personal and professional reasons, including demands of the covid-19 pandemic.

The others were at Allegheny College, Slippery Rock University and Elizabethtown College.

Green took office in July 2021 after the retirement of Paul Hennigan, who was president for 16 years.

Lou Corsaro, a Point Park spokesman, said Green informed the board earlier this week and it accepted his resignation Friday.

“We cannot elaborate on Don’s reasons, as he has chosen to maintain privacy,” Corsaro said. “All I can say is this: the reasons are his alone.”

Point Park officials said they had no comment beyond a statement they released Friday.

“Of course, we support his decision and wish Don the very best,” it quoted Joe Greco, chairman of the board of trustees, as saying. “The board thanks Don for his boundless energy toward advancing the mission of the university and, in particular, his service to students during his time here.”

Officials said that Michael Soto, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, will take over as president “until further notice.”

Soto earlier joined Point Park from Trinity University in San Antonio, where he was vice president for Academic Affairs: Student Academic Issues and Retention, as well as a professor of English.

The statement Friday said the board’s executive committee members “are reviewing options for presidential succession and will be meeting with leaders of the various campus constituencies to discuss these options.”

“As we work through this unexpected transition, I have full confidence that our entire leadership team, faculty and staff will remain focused on the excellent work they do in delivering on the mission of providing an outstanding higher education to our students,” Greco said.

J. Dwight Hines, chair of the full-time faculty unit of TNG/CWA Local 38061, declined comment on the resignation.

Green came to Point Park from the presidency of Georgia Highlands College in Rome, Ga., a six-site state college with the University System of Georgia offering both associate and baccalaureate degrees.

In announcing his hiring, Point Park officials cited Green’s 25 years’ experience in leading public and private colleges and universities. They noted that at Georgia, he led an institutional turnaround including enrollment, retention, employee compensation and an improvement in the college’s financial condition.

Point Park, a private university, enrolls about 3,300 students on its Downtown campus.

On Jan. 3, 2022, Elizabethtown College in Central Pennsylvania announced that president Cecilia McCormick had left effective four days earlier. At the helm since July 2019, she noted the pandemic prominently in her decision.

The next month, Slippery Rock University’s president William Behre also cited the pandemic in announcing his departure. In office since July 2018, said he would retire in summer of 2023 — 16 months early to provide time to find a successor.

Another immediate resignation came in September when Allegheny College president Hilary Link, who took office in 2019, said she was leaving for personal and professional reasons.

At Point Park, the news comes less than two weeks into the spring semester and eventually will likely mean another presidential search coming not long after the one that brought Green to campus.

” I know that many of you will have questions as you process this news,” Greco said in a note to campus. “We will have more information for you on our direction moving forward when it is appropriate.”