PCLA welcomes Two New Presidents, Williams joins Exec. Committee
The PCLA welcomes Margee Ensign, PhD and John Knapp, PhD to the PCLA Board of Presidents. Dr. Ensign assumed office at Dickinson College on July 1, while Dr. Knapp will take over leadership of Washington & Jefferson College on August 1. Both are entering their second presidencies, with Dr. Ensign coming to Pennsylvania from the American University of Nigeria, and Dr. Knapp joining us from Hope College in Michigan.
The Executive Committee of the Board also was announced at the June PCLA Board Meeting. John I. Williams, Jr., JD, president of Muhlenberg College, was chosen to fill a vacancy on the Committee, joining Janet Morgan Riggs, PhD, president of Gettysburg College and chair of the PCLA Board, Kimberly W. Cassidy, PhD, president of Bryn Mawr College and vice-chair of the PCLA Board, and James A. Troha, PhD, president of Juniata College.
With these transitions, we say thank you to Dickinson College’s provost and dean of the College, Neil Weissman, PhD, for his yearlong service as interim president and a member of the PCLA Board. We must also say thank you to Tori Haring-Smith, PhD, whose retirement from the presidency of Washington & Jefferson College marked the end of twelve years of service to W&J and nearly three years of service to the PCLA Board.
The Pennsylvania Consortium for the Liberal Arts (PCLA), founded in 2014, is a consortium of eleven small liberal arts colleges across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, Juniata, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Swarthmore, Ursinus, and Washington & Jefferson Colleges.) We strive to find areas of collaboration across our members that enhance the core principles of the liberal arts experience provided to the ~20,000 students that our institutions serve.
The PCLA is governed by the eleven member Board of Presidents, which is in turn led by a four person executive committee. The daily administration of PCLA activities is guided by the executive director, assisted by the program coordinator. The PCLA office is hosted by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA with employment and financial services provided by Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA.