The Board of Directors of Pennsylvania College of Technology has named Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour the interim chief operating officer of Penn College, effective immediately.
Beginning Jan. 1, 1998, Dr. Gilmour will serve as the interim president, while a search is conducted to fill the vacancy created by the announced retirement of Dr. Robert L. Breuder. Dr. Breuder's retirement is effective Dec. 31, 1997. The Board announced plans to involve faculty, staff, students and the community in the search for a new president. Prior to beginning the search, the Board will meet with consultants for advice on the most effective process.
Dr. Gilmour, who joined the faculty in 1977 and moved through the ranks of faculty and administration at Williamsport Area Community College and Penn College, has served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost since January 1996. As chief academic officer of Penn College and a member of President's Council, she has provided leadership and direction for credit and noncredit programming; supervised curriculum development, revision and evaluation, and authored and administered academic policies and procedures.
A copy of Dr. Gilmour's biography is below, for reference.
In other actions, Williamsport businessman and chairman of the Penn College Corporate Advisory Board, Birch Phillips Jr., was named to fill the vacancy on the Board created by the resignation of Chairman Alvin C. Bush. The Board accepted Bush's resignation at the close of the meeting and also named him Chairman Emeritus.
Board officers elected to serve through June 30, 1998, were: Dr. Robert Dunham, chair; William Davis, vice chair; Dr. Gilmour, secretary; Marianne Wright, assistant secretary; Gary Schultz, treasurer, and Robert Fisher, assistant treasurer.
The Board also adopted resolutions of condolence for director Kathryn Wentzel Lumley and former directors Dr. Richard Grubb and Steven Garban, and adopted resolutions honoring Dr. Breuder and Bush for their years of service to the College.
Davie Jane Gilmour
Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour has served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Pennsylvania College of Technology since January 1996. In her position, Dr. Gilmour serves as the chief academic officer of Penn College and a member of President's Council. She provides leadership and direction for all credit and noncredit programming, including distance learning and outreach education. She supervises all curriculum development, revision and evaluation; she also authors and administers all academic policies and procedures.
Dr. Gilmour has moved through the ranks of faculty and administration at the College. She joined the faculty in 1977 as an Instructor and Curriculum Developer in the Dental Hygiene program at the former Williamsport Area Community College. She was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1983. While on the faculty, she also served as Adviser to the Student Dental Hygienists Association.
In 1983, she accepted her first administrative assignment, as Interim Coordinator of the Dental Hygiene Program. In the following year, she served a dual role as Program Coordinator and Acting Division Director for the Health Sciences Division. She became Division Director in 1985, and served in that capacity until accepting another interim position in 1989. She acted as Interim Associate Dean of Instruction until she was named Dean of Instruction in July 1990. In 1993, she became the College's highest ranking academic officer, Vice President for Academic Affairs.
During her tenure, Dr. Gilmour has been responsible for facilitating the development of the College's first bachelor degrees 22 to date.
As chief academic officer, Dr. Gilmour has fiscal responsibility for over $21 million – 52 percent of the College's total operating budget – and for over $1.5 million of auxiliary funds, including those of the Technology Transfer Center and the Children's Learning Center.
Dr. Gilmour was the chief negotiator representing the administration in negotiating the 1996-99 agreement with the faculty bargaining unit, the Penn College Education Association. She also provides leadership in all faculty collective bargaining and contract compliance issues.
A number of building construction and renovation projects have been overseen by Dr. Gilmour. These include the construction of the Health Sciences wing of the Robert L. Breuder Advanced Technology and Health Sciences Center; expansion of the Library, and the expansion and renovation of Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, which serves as a working laboratory for students in the School of Hospitality. Dr. Gilmour also has provided leadership for the concept development and preparation of educational specifications for the proposed College Services Center.
Active on various campus committees, Dr. Gilmour co-advises the Phi Theta Kappa honors fraternity and chairs the Presidential Quality Commission.
Dr. Gilmour has served as an external reviewer for the Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Periodic Review Reports (1996-97) and as an evaluator for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Dental Hygiene Programs.
She has offered professional presentations on the subjects of "Contracting with Students to Improve Academic Performance: An Academic Affairs and Student Services Team Approach to Advising,"(NACADA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, 1997); "Workforce 2000, Model Partnerships to Provide Training to World-Class Business: The Benefits to All," (League for Innovation, 1996), and "Expanding the Mission: Initiating Bachelor Degrees at a Traditional Two-Year College," (Leadership 2000, 1992). She also has published articles in the field of dental hygiene.
In the local community, Dr. Gilmour serves as a community adviser for Leadership Lycoming; first vice president-elect for YWCA Board of Directors, and a Community Arts Center Board of Directors alternate.
Part of a family of educators, Dr. Gilmour is the wife of Frederick T. Gilmour III, director of instructional technology/media services at Penn College. Her mother, Patricia L. Saxton, of Enola, is a retired public school teacher. Her sister, Dana Mack, is a public school teacher in Carlisle; brother-in-law William Mack is a member of the computer science/electronics faculty at Harrisburg Area Community College. Her father, the late George R. Saxton Jr., was a director of the East Pennsboro Area School District Board for nearly 20 years.
Dr. Gilmour earned A.S. and B.S. degrees in dental hygiene from West Liberty State College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in health education from Penn State. Her 1993 dissertation was titled, "An Analysis of Needs and Perceived Barriers Related to Implementation of Health Promotion Programs in Pennsylvania Community Colleges."
Prior to beginning her career in education, she was a dental hygienist for a number of Harrisburg area dentists. She also was a past president of the Pennsylvania Dental Hygienists Association.