Selected
News Stories
Tea party vision for Mont. raising
concerns
Feb 24, 2011
Democrats are resigned to losing many of the votes and in some
cases have urged Republicans to trot the ideas out for floor debates for the
public to see. And surprised residents are taking notice, especially of the
nullification push.
"It would be hard for anyone to top what is going on here in
terms of the insanity of it all," said Lawrence Pettit, a retired university
president and author living in Helena. "One could be amused by it, except it is
too dangerous."
Pettit Momoir Recounts Final Days at
IUP
Sam
Kusic, Indiana Gazette
June 27, 2010
 Looking back on red-hot
political battles
By TOM KOTYNSKI For the Tribune
Great Falls,
April 18, 2010 CHUCK JOHNSON COLUMN:
Politics, education converge in Pettit memoir
The Missoulian, April 17,
2010
Guides on Sharing Information Released
By
Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 31, 2007;
B03
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings yesterday released what
she called "user-friendly" guidelines to help educators and parents interpret
federal privacy laws in an initiative prompted by the mass shooting at Virginia
Tech...
...Lawrence K. Pettit, former president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, recently completed a report on the shootings for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities that summarizes the panel findings. He is advising university presidents to work with state attorneys general to better understand the intersection of federal educational and medical privacy laws, as well as state restrictions.
"It's become pretty complicated, and I think it's incredibly important that we come to some understanding on how to interpret these laws, and how student affairs officials and faculty and others can proceed when they suspect there's a problem," Pettit said. "What we are trying to do is get all the value we can out of hindsight."
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IUP president reflects on tenure
By
Joyce Shannon
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, August 17,
2003
He's packed.
He's moved out of his university residence. But he'll be staying in Indiana.
Former Indiana University of Pennsylvania President Lawrence K. Pettit
relinquished his post to Derek J. Hodgson Friday, letting go of a job that he
held since 1992.
And it may be the last job of the 66-year-old Pettit's
academic career.
"I'm saying no" to positions he's been offered at other
universities. "Right now I want some time to regenerate," Pettit said.
After working in higher education for 36 years, a busy occupation, even
now he has to remind himself that "I've got time," he said.
While he's
in Indiana, he plans to continue to contribute to the university. The board of
The National Environmental Education and Training Center, a partnership between
IUP, West Virginia University, and other organizations, has asked him to stay on
the board.
He also believes he may continue to assist in fund-raising
measures and help the progression of the Regional Development Center, IUP's
golden child.
"I'll stay here as long as I'm productive," Pettit said.
New leader
Pettit said he is very pleased with his replacement.
Though IUP has changed a lot, there is still a way to go, he said.
"I
think he's a perfect choice, by background, education and temperament," Pettit
said.
Hodgson arrived a week before Pettit handed him the reins.
"I'm going to keep him here as long as I can and he's going to try and
get out of here as quickly as he can," Hodgson said, joking before turning
serious. "He'll be a very valuable resource; I'm sure I'll be seeking his
input."
Hodgson and Pettit are both supporters of IUP, but their
backgrounds are very different. Pettit began his career in politics out of
college before going academic, and Hodgson spent many years as a chemistry
professor.
Hodgson wants to focus on enhancing "measurable academic
success" at IUP and improve retention and graduation rates.
"All of us
who work here need to come to the agreement that rates are everybody's
business," Hodgson said, to "make sure the students don't fall through the
cracks" during their first years at IUP.
Though the administration
during the Pettit years improved minority enrollment rates and retention rates,
Pettit also focused on programs that distinguished IUP from other State System
of Higher Education universities.
Pettit admits that pushing the SSHE to
accept and award those programs -- such as the Robert E. Cook Honors College,
the improvements in the doctoral program and research areas -- has been his
biggest challenge at IUP.
The former president believes that the SSHE
would rather see the graduation rate go up 1 percent at IUP than fund research
projects that may have a negative impact in economics and efficiency.
The fact that IUP is sometimes so distinctive from other system schools
makes it difficult for the university to keep standing out. He feels the SSHE
sometimes regards the improvements made as "insignificant add-ons."
"It's hard for IUP. The differences aren't always appreciated," Pettit
said.
At the same time, Pettit is vehement in keeping higher education
available and affordable to the public.
"It's something that I really
believe in," Pettit said. "I think it's the salvation of any society."
Challenges
Though Pettit feels he has had "enormous support"
from the community and IUP during his tenure, his time at the university hasn't
always been roses.
One of his worst memories was of the apartment in
John Sutton Hall when he first began. The presidential residence at IUP had
bats, no air conditioning, no garage and was down the hall from the campus
police, which led to some uncomfortable nights.
Though Pettit said he
got over the state of the residence, his wife never did.
"It took its
toll on her and consequently on our marriage," Pettit said. The couple divorced
in 2000.
After the state system allocated money to the university to
build a new residence, there was some controversy over the new home.
Pettit said some didn't realize the money to build the house came from a
system fund specifically for presidential residences. The money never came from
student tuition, he said.
He also said most would comment negatively
about the home's construction when they ran out of arguments against the
president. It became a "trash issue," he said.
Complaints surrounding
Pettit came to a head in the fall of 2001, when the university faculty approved
a vote of no confidence against him. But Pettit shook it off and ignored it, he
said, labeling the vote an "anomaly."
"I just had to keep going. I
didn't want to get dragged into assessing the motives" behind it, Pettit said.
Mostly, he felt it was just a way for critics to complain.
He highly
enjoys working with the faculty, in particular the IUP chapter president of the
Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, John
Steelman.
He said IUP was moving forward at a rapid rate, so rapid that
perhaps not everyone's input was received.
"When you're moving that
fast, maybe you don't consult with everyone as much as you could. There's just
so much going on," Pettit said.
But the positives have outweighed the
negatives during his time in Indiana. Perhaps that's why he's chosen to stay for
a while.
IUP's first football game this season will be against the
university where Hodgson was vice chancellor for academic affairs: The
University of Nebraska at Omaha. Hodgson has vowed to his friends in Omaha that
IUP will win.
"We always have a winning team," said Pettit.
Most
of all, Pettit enjoys seeing new students come to the campus to get their first
taste of higher education.
"I can't think of any other part of life that
has that renewal," he said.
The changes
Many things at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania have changed during the tenure of former
President Lawrence K. Pettit. Here are a few differences made in those years,
from 1992 to 2003, according to information from the university.
After establishing a capital campaign early in Pettit's tenure, IUP
received its first seven-figure gift that established the Robert E. Cook Honors
College in the refurbished Whitmyre Hall.
Students in the college's history
have received awards, scholarships and fellowships such as the Phi Kappa Phi
Graduate Fellowship, Fulbright Scholarships, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship,
the National Science Foundation Fellowship, and the Freeman-Asia Scholarship.
Honors College students have been finalists for both the Marshall and Truman
scholarships and have studied at Oxford and Cambridge.
The
university has enhanced the academic experience for students. During Pettit's
tenure, 13 academic and service-learning special interest floors were
established in the undergraduate dorms. A December graduation ceremony was also
offered.
Students also achieved numerous academic, cultural and athletic
accomplishments. IUP doctoral students in English won an award two years in a
row for best dissertation, in 2001 and 2002.
The administration has
attempted to increase student recruiting efforts and retention rates. Numerous
programs helped IUP improve the persistence-to-second-year retention rate by 5
percent over the past three years and increased minority student enrollment.
The university continued to improve the doctoral program. Pettit
recognized that the program must permeate and enrich all levels of the
university, and the administration implemented programs to do so. Pettit also
persuaded the SSHE to alter the funding formula to reflect the full costs of the
doctoral program and bring its funding closer to national standards.
The
doctoral push has also led to IUP becoming a national leader in several federal
areas, particularly homeland security. The creation of IUP's Weapons of Mass
Destruction program, the National Emergency and Disaster Information Center, The
National Institute for Corrections Education, the IUP Research Institute and The
John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security are a few examples.
IUP has also changed from a "technologically backward" institution
to one at the forefront. The administration accomplished this by making
improvements in connectivity, network services, computer organization, and
academic and administrative computing.
Numerous improvements to the
campus have been the most noticeable of the changes during the Pettit years. The
acquisition of 137 acres, creating the South Campus, gave a home to new athletic
fields, a presidential residence, and proposed graduate housing. The
administration also resolved problems with the cogeneration plant and began a
campus beautification program, which created a living museum and restored native
flora to the campus.
Several buildings on campus were constructed and
renovated during the Pettit years. The Eberly College of Business, the campus
parking garage, new athletic fields and three welcoming archways were built; and
renovations and/or refurbishings included McElhaney, Uhler, Whitmyre, Clark and
Sutton halls. The Hadley Union Building also got an addition and renovation, and
Miller Stadium received astroturf and lighting.
Several changes
within the administration were also made. Pettit encouraged the capital
campaigns to be bigger and encouraged better planning measures. Pettit has also
helped improve relations with the community, particularly by helping land a
property deal with a local landowner for placement of the Regional Development
Center.
Joyce Shannon can be reached at jshannon@tribweb.com or (724)
463-8742.
| 
Agony on Campus: What is Rape? - A Special
Report,;Students Trying to Draw Line Between Sex and Assault
By
William Celis
The New York Times
January 2, 1991
Ms. Brownmiller agreed, saying women needed to react more quickly "and not
expect the law to come fighting for them after the fact."
"When things start moving quickly," she said, "that's the time to get out,
move fast, kick up a fuss."
Kim Wible, the chief of San Francisco State University's police department
and a member of the university task force on rape, went a step further. "Women
need to take the responsibility in educating themselves," she said. "They are
calling it a man's problem, but I think it's all of our problem." Men When Does
'No' Mean 'No'?
..."College-age kids nowadays have a
different attitude toward sex," said Lawrence K. Pettit, chancellor of Southern
Illinois University in Carbondale. "They regard it almost as an entitlement,
certainly as an expectation."
Click here for complete story
A Week in the
Life of a University President
By Lawrence K. Pettit
IUP
Magazine
Summer 2002
It occurs to me that one way to project what IUP
is all about, what it stands for, is to examine some highlights from one week of
the president’s calendar and to see what the events signify about the
university. I chose the week just ended as I began to write this—the week of
April 1, 2002...
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for complete story
IUP Institute for Homeland Security
named in honor of Congressman
Murtha
INSIDE, IUP
May 2003
Volume X, Issue
11
IUP dedicated its Institute for
Homeland
Security in honor of U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha on
April 24.The
Institute was named in honor of the
Congressman in recognition of his
foresight and
commitment to homeland security initiatives and
his
confidence in IUP’s homeland security initiatives,
according to IUP
President Dr. Lawrence K. Pettit...
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here for complete story
State pledges $5 million
to help buy Kovalchick property
By Randy Wells
Indiana
Gazette
May 17,
2003
Sen. Don White said it will
"literally change the face of Indiana County for years to come." Indiana
University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Lawrence Pettit called it "the biggest
thing to happen in the county in many years." County Commissioner Bernie Smith
said it was a "re-defining moment in the future of Indiana County." And Gov. Ed
Rendell termed it a "symbol of a new Indiana County." All four men Friday
afternoon were describing a commitment of $5 million from the state to help
purchase the Kovalchick Salvage Co. property along Wayne Avenue...
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for complete story
IUP has Eye on Kovalchick Site
If deal reached, salvage yard
could be site for new complex
By Chauncey Ross
Indiana
Gazette
March 15, 2003
Quietly and resolutely, Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been
negotiating to purchase property from the Kovalchick Salvage Co. in White
Township for the site of a regional development complex, university President
Dr. Lawrence Pettit said Friday.
The 30-acre-plus salvage yard located along
Wayne Avenue is regarded as an alternative location for the planned $40 million
center...
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for complete story
Pettit Proud of Tenure
IUP President Turns Over Reins Aug.
15
By Randy Wells
Indiana Gazette
July 31, 2003
One
of Dr. Lawrence Pettit's earliest memories of Indiana University of Pennsylvania
was of one of his interviews for the job of university president. He was seated
on a stage in Gorell Auditorium during the questioning. "I had a favorable
impression because of the courtesies that were extended," Pettit recalled this
week. "It was a well-conducted search," and he sensed from the interview that
IUP was "a pretty solid place."
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story
Retiring IUP President Dr. Lawrence Pettit considers these to be the
university's major accomplishments during his administration.
By Randy Wells
Indiana Gazette
July 31, 2003
1. Establishment of the Robert E. Cook Honors College, attraction of the
national honor societies Phi Kappa Phi and Mortar Board chapters to IUP, a 400
percent increase in scholarship funds, inclusion in Princeton Review's "The 345
Best Colleges and Universities," and a marked increase in student academic
achievements, including five Fulbright awards...
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complete story
In 11 years, Dr. Lawrence Pettit's presidency has touched many people
in many constituencies, on and off campus.
By Randy
Wells
Indiana Gazette
July 31, 2003
Dr. Mark Staszkiewicz, IUP's provost, considers Pettit's development of a
campus physical plant plan to be an important accomplishment of his tenure. "It
gave the campus a sense of where it needed to be physically," Staszkiewicz said.
The plan included proposals for the expansion of IUP onto the South Campus,
creation of the arboretum and a beautification plan with new arches at the
entrances to the university. And, Staszkiewicz said, Pettit coined a mantra on
campus: "Achievement over entitlement."
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story
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