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Margo DelliCarpini, chancellor and dean of Penn State Abington, has been named vice president for Commonwealth Campuses and executive chancellor, effective Oct. 1.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Margo DelliCarpini, chancellor and dean of Penn State Abington, has been named vice president for Commonwealth Campuses and executive chancellor, effective Oct. 1. DelliCarpini will replace David M. Callejo Pérez, who has served in an interim position since July following the departure of Kelly Austin. Callejo Pérez will resume his duties as associate vice president and senior associate dean for academic programs for the Commonwealth Campuses.
Andrew August, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at Penn State Abington, has been named interim chancellor, and a national search will commence to identify a new leader at the Abington campus.
“Coming from Abington, which is a large, diverse campus in an urban area, Dr. DelliCarpini understands the mission and unique needs of a Commonwealth Campus, the priorities of the University, and how to effectively blend the two for the benefit of students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said Justin Schwartz, executive vice president and provost. “She brings great energy and excitement to her role as chancellor, and I am thrilled to have her extend that enthusiasm in her new role leading Penn State campuses across the commonwealth. I also would like to offer sincere thanks to Dr. Pérez, who stepped up to provide strong leadership to the Commonwealth Campuses for the past few months.”
DelliCarpini has led Penn State Abington since January 2021, where she has compiled an accomplished record of strategic leadership and a commitment to student access and success, academic scholarship, community outreach and diversity, equity and inclusion. Key achievements during DelliCarpini’s tenure as chancellor and dean include gaining township approval for rezoning the Abington campus to clear the way for building the first new academic space on campus since 1973; appointing the campus’ first cabinet-level diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging director; and developing a mini cluster hire initiative to increase diversity of faculty demographics, scholarly activities and course offerings, resulting in 12 of the 14 faculty hired this year identifying as faculty of color or from underrepresented populations.
In her new role, DelliCarpini will report to the executive vice president and provost and provide administrative leadership for Penn State’s 20 Commonwealth Campuses, which include Abington, Altoona, Beaver, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Great Valley, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Scranton, Shenango, Schuylkill, Wilkes-Barre and York. These campuses annually enroll approximately 24,000 students in associate, bachelor’s and graduate degree programs, in addition to 4,300 students enrolled in World Campus academic programs delivered by the Commonwealth Campuses. Forty-six percent of first-year residential students begin their Penn State experience at a Commonwealth Campus, where they either finish all four years of their degree or transition to another Penn State campus to complete their degree through the University’s 2+2 plan.
DelliCarpini will provide leadership to the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and oversee the Commonwealth Campuses’ academic and administrative programs and operations, including strategic and facilities planning; integrating diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging into student recruitment, retention and the student experience; faculty recruitment and development; program and curriculum development; and select institutional student aid programs. Campus chancellors will report directly to DelliCarpini, who will serve as the budget executive for the Commonwealth Campuses.
"The Commonwealth campuses truly fulfill the land grant mission of Penn State. They are the cultural and intellectual hubs of their communities and serve as engines of economic development, bringing Penn State to communities across Pennsylvania,” DelliCarpini said. “I believe that we are at an inflection point as an institution of higher education and that we have the opportunity to redefine how Commonwealth Campuses support the overall land-grant mission of Penn State, and how they serve as anchor institutions in their communities, building on strengths and history while looking to the future and positioning campuses for the next exciting and successful era of the University.
She also will sit on the University Senate Council and work closely with the University Faculty Senate leadership and the Commonwealth Caucus; work in partnership with the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research to advance Penn State, including the Commonwealth Campuses’ 20 innovation hubs located in University communities across Pennsylvania. She will work in collaboration with the offices of Undergraduate Education, Penn State Global, the Graduate School, Online Education and Student Affairs to advance academic programs and support student engagement, and with the Vice President for Enrollment Management to oversee an enrollment strategy for the Commonwealth Campuses.
As chancellor and dean of Penn State Abington, DelliCarpini has been responsible for the quality of academic programs in teaching, research and service; strategic planning; budgeting; philanthropy; faculty and staff development; outreach; and community and alumni relations. As chancellor, DelliCarpini oversees more than 3,000 students, more than 320 faculty, 25 bachelor’s degree programs, an MBA partnership with Penn State Great Valley, an NCAA Division III athletics program, and numerous outreach initiatives and partnerships that benefit the region and beyond.
Located near Philadelphia, Abington is one of Penn State’s most diverse campuses, with 53% of students identifying as being from underrepresented groups, 44% as first-generation college students and 10% as adult learners.
“As a first-generation, non-traditional college student and proud recipient of public higher education degrees, the opportunity that Penn State and the Commonwealth Campuses provide for students, the role as cultural and intellectual hubs that the campuses play in their communities, and Penn State’s impact on the economic mobility of its graduates are benefits that I have experienced firsthand,” DelliCarpini said.
Prior to her arrival at Penn State, DelliCarpini was vice provost for strategic educational partnerships and dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She previously served as professor and dean of the College of Education at Morehead State University in Kentucky, and as professor at Lehman College, part of the City University of New York, where she also served as chair of the Department of Middle and High School Education.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and a doctorate in linguistics from Stony Brook University. She is a licensed English as a Second Language educator and school district administrator through the New York State Education Department.
DelliCarpini was editor of the TESOL Journal from 2009 to 2015 and has authored numerous book chapters and refereed articles on English language acquisition, focusing on teacher preparation and development in English language arts. Among her many projects, she served as journal editor for an award-winning, 14-volume reference series, the “TESOL Encyclopedia of English.”
LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
