By Gary A. Sojka
President and Professor Emeritus at Bucknell University, has held a number of leadership positions in the world of higher education. He was Chairman of Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington and was later Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at that school. While serving as President at Bucknell he headed what was at the time the largest successful fund-raising campaign, was one of the co-founders of the Patriot Athletic League, served on the President’s Commission of the NCAA, served three terms as a commissioner of the Middle States Accrediting organization, and was a commissioner of the Institute for European and Asian Studies. Following the presidency at Bucknell he led the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities through a complex transition serving as Interim President for 2 years. In 2006 he received a legislative appointment to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board which he served for three terms.
He has been President of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and President of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture. He has served on the boards of the Geisinger Health Foundation, PennFuture, the Susquehanna Valley Choral, the Snyder County PA Planning Commission and Commonwealth Bank. He is the recipient of the Sheepskin Award from the Penn. Assoc. of Colleges and Universities, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Coe College and the Adam Smith Award from Economics Pennsylvania. He is a member of both the Coe College and the Bucknell University Athletic Halls of Fame and he holds Honorary Doctorates from Lycomming College, Purdue University and Bucknell University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Nu Faraternity.
