Dr. Angelo Armenti, Jr.
In June of 2012, Dr. Angelo Armenti, Jr. founded PASCU,
Inc., the Pennsylvania Association of State Colleges and universities, a
non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving the statutory purpose of public
higher education in Pennsylvania as specified by Act 188 of 1982: “High quality
education at the lowest possible cost to the students.” See: http://www.pascu.net/.
Twenty years earlier, on May 19, 1992, Dr. Armenti was
appointed by the Board of Governors (BOG) of the Pennsylvania State System of
Higher Education (PASSHE) as the 6th president of California
University of Pennsylvania. He served
with distinction in that position for the next twenty years.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from
Villanova University, and MA and Ph.D. degrees from Temple University in
special and general relativity, respectively.
He also enjoyed a distinguished 20-year career at Villanova University
prior to becoming president of California University. At Villanova, between 1972 and 1992, he
served as professor of physics, chair of the department of physics, Dean of
University College, and Director of Planning for the University.
In addition to publications in scientific journals, cited in
Appendix I, Dr. Armenti received the Lindback Foundation Award for
Distinguished Teaching in 1978, and was named an American Council on Education
(ACE) Fellow in 1992, one of only thirty-two individuals selected nationally
for this important recognition. His
book, The Physics of Sports, remains
in print since its initial publication in 1992.
During Dr. Armenti’s tenure as Cal U’s president, the
University witnessed the introduction of numerous high-tech amenities such as: the
Cal Card ID and vending system; a fiber-optic backbone connecting all
classrooms, offices, and laboratories in every Cal U building; a robust WiFi
system capable of supporting 10,000+ students, faculty, staff and visitors; and
the transformation of seventy (70) regular classrooms into world-class, state-of-the-art
“smart classrooms.”
His list of presidential accomplishments also includes: the
development and promulgation of an ambitious new University mission statement; the
production of regular, three-to-five-year Strategic Plans, coordinated with and
supported by, frequently updated Master Facility Plans; the successful launching
and completion of the first two capital campaigns in the University’s 160-year
history, a first for $13 million, and a second for $35 million; a 25-fold
increase in endowment funds; the adoption by the University of its Core Values
of Integrity, Civility, and Responsibility; the adoption of the University Bill
of Rights and Responsibilities; the creation of the University Forum—a shared
governance system in which students, faculty and administrators each have an
equal voice in terms of representation; and the adoption, after a 30-year philosophical
impasse, of a new general education curriculum.
During his 20-year tenure as president, applications for
admission increased by 83%; average SATs increased by over 100 points; FTE
enrollments increased by 52%; four-year graduation rates for all students increased
by 90%; the percentage of female faculty doubled (from 25% to 50%); and the six-year
graduation rates for African-American students showed the largest percent increase
in America!
Many new academic programs were initiated during Dr. Armenti’s
tenure as president, including: Master of Social Work (MSW); Master of Arts in
Teaching (MAT); Master of Science in Multi-Media Technology; Physical Therapy
Assistant; Sports Management; Professional Golf Management (PGM); Graphic
Design; BFA in Art; Computer Engineering Technology; Criminal Justice; Legal
Studies; Music Technology; Nursing Administration (MSN); and Mechatronics
Engineering Technology.
In addition to the many new academic programs that were
introduced at Cal U to serve the evolving needs of the American workforce, the
University also undertook a new initiative, under Dr. Armenti’s leadership, to secure
national accreditation for each one of the University’s professional programs,
an effort that has already achieved 80% of that goal by 2012.
Between 1992 and 2012, Dr. Armenti oversaw the planning and
implementation of a $250 million Master Facilities Plan for the campus which
included such highlights as the building of: the Eberly Science and Technology Center;
the Kara Alumni House; the New Duda Building and Booker Towers; six modern new
residence halls (1,500 beds) on the main campus; new residence halls (800 beds)
at Vulcan Village on the South Campus; the Vulcan Parking Garage; the new 6,000-seat
Convocation Center; the renovation and/or expansion of Dixon Hall, Vulcan Hall,
Noss Hall and Steel Hall, and the demolition of nineteen (19) other structures
in the process of implementing this very ambitious Master Facilities Plan.
During his time at Cal U, Dr. Armenti chaired numerous
accreditation visits in colleges and universities in the Middle States region
on behalf of the Higher Education Commission of the Middle States Association of
Colleges and Schools. He also served for
two years as Campaign Chair and later President of the Mon Valley United
Way. In 2001 he was certified a Covey
Trainer on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and taught the 7-Habits and
related subjects to students, faculty and staff for the next eleven years.
Cal U athletics, with its great tradition and history over
many years, blossomed during Dr. Armenti’s tenure which saw several impressive Cal
U breakthroughs, including: winning the Dixon Trophy for the first time, and
winning three NCAA Division II National Championships, two in women’s softball,
and one in women’s basketball. There
were also various final four appearances by several different team sports.
Dr. Armenti also served multi-year terms as: a member of the
board of directors of Mon Valley Hospital; a member of the board of directors
of the Redevelopment Authority of Washington County; a member of the board of
directors of the Greater Pittsburgh council of Boy Scouts of America; and Chair
of the Commission of Presidents of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher
Education (PASSHE).
He is married to the former Barbara Malinowski and, together
they have five grown children and nine grandchildren. His avocations include piano, photography,
reading, surf-fishing and sailing.
Dr. Armenti’s educational history and list of scholarly
publications are found in Appendix I below.
Appendix
I
EDUCATION:
Institution Field of Concentration Dates Degrees
Temple Univ. General Relativity
1965-70
Ph.D.
Dissertation: "A Study of the Motion
of a Particle in a Gravitational
Monopole-Quadrupole Field in Newtonian
Mechanics and the General Theory of Relativity"
Temple Univ. Special Relativity 1963-65
M.A.
Thesis: "The Lorentz Transformation
and the Thomas Precession"
Villanova
Univ. Physics Major 1957-61; 1962-63 B.S
PUBLICATIONS: "A Class of exact solutions for the
motion of a particle in a monopole-
quadrupole field," in C.G.
Kuper and A. Peres (Eds.) Relativity and Gravitation,
(Gordon and Breach, London, 1971), (with P. Havas).
"A Classification of particle motions
in the
equatorial plane of a gravitational monopole-quadrupole field in Newtonian mechanics and general
relativity," Celestial Mechanics 6, 383 (1972).
"Static multiparticle systems in
general relativity,"
Nuovo Cimento 7B, 71 (1972).
(With R. Gautreau and R.B. Hoffman.)
"Physics and Sport: A New Course for Nonscience Majors,"
The Physics Teacher 12, 349 (1974)
"Existence and stability criteria for circular geodesics in the vicinity of a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole," Il Nuovo Cimento
25B, 442 (1975).
"On a class of exact geodesics of the Erez-Rosen
metric," International Journal of Theoretical Physics 16, 813 (1978).
"Hawthorne effect and quality
teaching: Training graduate teaching assistants to teach," AJP 47, 121 (1978).
(With G.F. Wheeler.)
"Terminal velocity of a shuttlecock in
vertical
fall," American Journal of Physics 48, 511 (1980). (With M. Peastrel and R. Lynch.)
"Could an athlete run a 3-m radius
"loop-the-loop?" TPT 19, 624 (1981).
"How can a downhill skier move faster
than a sky
diver?" TPT 22, 109 (1984).
"Why is it harder to paddle a canoe
in shallow
water?" TPT 23, 310 (1985).
The Physics of Sports, Volume I, American Institute of Physics, New York (1992).
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