UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Tina Q. Richardson, associate dean of academic affairs at Drexel University’s School of Education, has been named chancellor of the Penn State Lehigh Valley campus, effective July 15.
Richardson will succeed Ann Williams, who retires from the post after 15 years with the campus.
“I’m a firm believer that education brings about opportunity and in turn inspiration. All students should have the chance to benefit from high quality education and the inspiration that follows. Penn State Lehigh Valley is an ideal campus to address these priorities,” Richardson said. “I welcome the chance to address them in concert with President Eric Barron’s stated imperatives for the entire Penn State community that include excellence; student engagement; demographics and diversity; student career success and economic development; accessibility; and technology.”
As an associate dean at Drexel, she provided leadership related to academic program development and evaluation, faculty professional development and the promotion and tenure process.
Richardson also serves as director of the University Assisted School, an effort to improve K-12 public education in West Philadelphia’s Promise Zone.
She has worked to secure millions of dollars in funding for in- and out-of-school time programming and is the founder of Drexel’s Critical Conversations in Urban Education lecture series.
“We are extremely fortunate to attract someone with the leadership, experience and zeal for education that Dr. Richardson embodies,” said Madlyn Hanes, Penn State’s vice president for Commonwealth Campuses. “I am confident that under her leadership the campus will continue to flourish and advance its standing as a regional leader in higher education as well as an economic and cultural asset in the community.”
Richardson is a 24-year resident of the Lehigh Valley where she was a faculty member in Lehigh University’s College of Education for 20 years. Richardson was director of the counseling psychology program and a special assistant to the provost for a National Science Foundation-funded leadership initiative for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Her extensive leadership experience in education includes a fellowship with the American Council on Education; directing the Higher Education Resource Services Summer Leadership Institute at Bryn Mawr College; leading various study abroad and global citizenship programs; serving as a fellow of the State University of New York Global Center for Collaborative Online International Learning initiative; serving as a Fulbright Hayes Scholar in Ghana, West Africa; and leading short programs abroad for K-16 educators.
Richardson earned her bachelor’s in psychology and master’s and doctorate in counseling psychology, all from the University of Maryland.