New Senior Academic Officer Named

Dr. Scott E. Miller is selected as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs for the integrated university.

Dr. Scott E. Miller has been selected as senior vice president of Academic Affairs and provost for the western integrated university, effective July 1, 2022. 

In this role, he will lead the integrated institution – comprising California, Clarion and Edinboro – from an academic affairs perspective, including budgeting, personnel and institutional planning. He will direct all academic programs and lead the development of new programs that support the mission of the integrated university and Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. As a core member of the strategic leadership team, he will be responsible for providing direction for other members of the academic leadership team across all campuses, and he will partner with other divisions to ensure quality academic support systems for students.

“I am pleased that Dr. Miller has accepted this position,” said Dr. Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, president of Clarion University and interim president of California and Edinboro universities. “His record of leadership, commitment and professional experience will be an essential part of our success as our three universities come together to serve our students, employees and region.”

Miller has been dean of Edinboro University’s School of Business since 2012 and its College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences since 2015. This year, he also took on the interim leadership of the College of Science and Health Professions. 

In planning for the integrated university, Miller co-led the team that developed the academic program array for the integrated university, and remains an active member of the Academic Affairs Functional Implementation Team, addressing all aspects of the transition of academic programming and functions to the new integrated university.

“I have a strong interest in the success of the new, four-campus (including online) university and will do whatever I can to assist in its success,” Miller said. “Having worked closely with the deans and academic leadership at California and Clarion over the past year, and with the leadership at Edinboro for over nine years, I firmly believe integration has the potential not only to revitalize our three physical campuses, but to provide real benefit, not only in higher education, through economic and cultural impacts to western Pennsylvania.”

As dean, he supervises approximately 220 full-time and 60 part-time faculty and staff, along with 150 work-study employees and 50 graduate assistants, and oversees budgets of nearly $70 million. He is experienced in strategic planning, budgeting, curriculum development, program accreditation and community and business relations.

“I have worked with Dean Miller for more than a decade and am very happy that he has accepted this critical leadership position for our new university,” said Dr. Michael J. Hannan, Edinboro’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Dean Miller is a good fit for this position. He examines multiple perspectives in making decisions and always considers what is in the best interest of our students.”

“I am told that I am viewed as a contemplative decision-maker who is willing to make the difficult decisions while considering all of the points of view presented,” Miller said. “My leadership style is similar to a shared governance model in which different points of view must be taken into consideration and addressed with courtesy and respect.”

Under the leadership of Miller, a proven innovator, Edinboro developed an Intelligent Enterprise program which teaches students to use technology to improve business performance, resulting in them graduating with competencies and certifications that add value. He collaborated to create a program that encourages parental involvement in the first years of college students, particularly first-generation students, and he led development of 4+1 initiatives for the Master of Business Administration and Master of Communication Studies programs.

Miller has worked extensively to develop and align programs with regional workforce needs. He has spearheaded efforts to increase efficiency and productivity in university offices and to train staff for student recruitment and retention. He has been successful in fundraising and stewardship.

He is a member of the President’s Diversity Committee and has served on the Martin Luther King Jr. Awards and Luncheon planning committee since 2015. In his involvement with nonprofit boards, Miller worked with the CEO of a large, national nonprofit to appoint a vice president for health, equity, diversity and inclusion, resulting in the organization having a unique focus on health equity. He previously served on the President’s LGBTQIA Commission and partnered with a prior director of social equity to strategize ways to increase diversity and inclusion on campuses.

Miller holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Anderson University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Gannon University, and is a certified public accountant, attorney and Governance Fellow.

He is associate editor of the Journal of Applied Business Research and is a member of the editorial review boards for Atlantic Law Journal and American Business Law Journal. He is an invited reviewer for Corporate Governance.

In 2014, he was the recipient of the Robert W. MacVittie Emerging Leader Award from the American Association of University Administrators.

A lifelong resident of western Pennsylvania, Miller’s community involvement includes Erie Philharmonic, National Hemophilia Foundation and Tom Ridge Environmental Center.