Karen Whitney Named to PSAC Committee

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the league's board of directors (presidents) has announced that Clarion University President Karen M. Whitney has been named an at-large representative to the PSAC's Executive Committee, starting with the spring 2012 semester.

Whitney replaces Dr. Maravene Loeschke, who recently resigned from Mansfield University to accept the presidency of Towson University.

"I look forward to serving Clarion University and our Pennsylvania conference to ensure that collegiate sport supports our university values of student learning, service, inclusion and good sportsmanship," Whitney said.
The PSAC Executive Committee, made up of five of the league's university presidents, has Dr. David L. Soltz, Bloomsburg as chairman; Dr. F. Javier Cevallos, Kutztown, as vice-chair; Dr. Gregory Weisenstein, West Chester, as treasurer; and Dr. Thomas J. Gamble, Mercyhurst, and Whitney as at-large members.

PSAC is governed by the board of directors, who are the presidents of the 16 full-time, member universities. The Executive Committee is authorized to act on behalf of the board between its regular meetings.

Originating in 1951 to administer and promote men's athletics, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference has evolved into one of the NCAA's most heralded intercollegiate conferences.

The first major step came in 1977, when, based on a growing interest, the league reorganized to provide a structure for its women's programs. Three years later, lacking a standard competitive division, they voted to reclassify the entire conference to the NCAA Division II.

PSAC is currently made up of 16 full-time members and two associate members. That number began in its early days with 14 members including Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, Edinboro, East Stroudsburg, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities.

Among its recent enhancements, PSAC has expanded its membership twice in four years. The first expansion occurred during the 2008-09 academic year with the addition of full-time members Gannon University and Mercyhurst College, and associate member Long Island University-C.W. Post. Over the past year, PSAC's board of directors agreed to welcome Seton Hill University as an associate member to begin play in field hockey during the 2011-12 campaign.

All of the league's full-time members are located in Pennsylvania, which makes PSAC the largest one-state conference in the NCAA. The league has also grown to share the distinctions of largest conference in Division II, the largest football-playing conference in the NCAA, and, with 23, the conference that sponsors the most championships at the Division II level.

Highly competitive on a regional and national level, PSAC schools annually combine to send nearly one-third of its teams into NCAA postseason play. Ultimately, the membership's success has yielded 43 NCAA team and 246 individual title winners.

While proud of its athletic accomplishments, the league also has evolved into one of Division II's finest from an academic standpoint. Today, nearly one-third of PSAC's estimated 6,300 participants are honored each year as scholar-athletes for maintaining a grade point average of 3.25 or better - a total that has nearly doubled since PSAC scholar-athletes were first recognized in the mid-1990s.

Although all 16 current institutions are members of Division II, seven league schools also compete at the Division I level in select sports. PSAC schools enroll more than 127,000 students and claim more than 710,000 alumni, including 483,000 who live in Pennsylvania.

PSAC employs a commissioner, an associate and an assistant commissioner, and a director of media relations at its headquarters in Lock Haven.

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