UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Board of Trustees Committee on Governance and Long-Range Planning today (Jan. 15) recommended to the full board a one-time accommodation in order to complete the membership of the Selection Group on Board Membership for At-Large Trustees. By a vote of 6 to 1, the committee recommended that Board Chairman Keith Masser fill one of the five positions on the selection group in the absence of student, academic, at-large and Alumni Association trustees, all of whom will be elected in May 2015.
Among the changes to board composition adopted in November was the addition of three at-large trustee seats, providing the board with the flexibility to augment the experience of current membership to meet its needs over time. According to the board’s Standing Order VI, the at-large trustee selection group, which is charged with nominating at-large trustee candidates for election by the full board, will include:
- one agricultural trustee;
- one alumni trustee;
- one business and industry trustee;
- one gubernatorial trustee, and;
- one trustee from among the group of the student trustee, the academic trustee, the at-large trustees, and the trustee serving by virtue of their role as past president of the Penn State Alumni Association.
Because none of the seats in the latter category (student, academic, at-large and Alumni Association) will be filled until inaugural elections are held at the May 2015 meeting of the full board, the committee recommended that the board adopt a resolution naming the board chairman to the at-large selection committee for the 2015 election only.
The recommendation will be considered during the full board meeting, to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 16 in Dean’s Hall at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.