Christopher Fiorentino will retire from the position of president of West Chester University next summer, and the school may have already found his successor in R. Lorraine “Laurie” Bernotsky, its current executive vice president and provost, writes Susan Snyder for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

West Chester’s Council of Trustees approved a resolution last week that would initially make Bernotsky the sole candidate to be considered by the search committee for the position. The move, even if somewhat unusual, was approved by Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Chancellor Daniel Greenstein and the executive committee of its board of governors. 

“We know her to be a very competent leader and a very exemplary individual,” said council vice chair Barry C. Dozor, a Common Pleas Court judge. “She brings an understanding of our university and the state system that is unparalleled.” 

Bernotsky, who earned her master’s and doctorate in politics at the University of Oxford and a master’s in sociology at Temple, worked at West Chester for nearly three decades and is currently “on loan” serving as interim president of Pennsylvania Western University. 

At West Chester, she oversees the academic affairs division and is second-in-charge under Fiorentino. 

Read more about Lorraine Bernotsky as the potential president of WCU in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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