Clarion University, California University and Edinboro University all announced a new affiliation as part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) redesign, which was originally announced over the summer.
When the initial plans for the redesign were announced on July 16, one of the original integrations was Slippery Rock and Edinboro. The two universities would have combined two educational programs into one, allowing for more academic opportunities and decreasing costs, according to the PASSHE press release.
William Behre, president of Slippery Rock University, originally announced that PASSHE was pivoting away from the Slippery Rock-Edinboro affiliation in an email to SRU stakeholders on Friday, Sept. 11.
“Finally, while a potential affiliation with Edinboro has dominated much of our recent conversation, the System will be pivoting away from this model,” Behre said in his email, which will serve as his remarks for the upcoming State of the University address. “As such, SRU will not be affiliating with another university at this time. We will continue to offer help to the System in other ways.”
Behre will address the PASSHE redesign further at the virtual State of the University address on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
Under the PASSHE system redesign plan, Clarion, California and Edinboro universities will affiliate and build their institutional strengths to expand high-quality educational opportunities for students, position themselves for growth and create greater efficiencies, according to the three universities’ press releases on Monday.
According to system officials, early results of the original integrations suggested that a three-school affiliation could hold greater promise while continuing the local identity and traditional face-to-face programming of each institution.
California University and Clarion University is another integration included in the initial PASSHE redesign plans. The two schools would have introduced a low-cost, high quality online undergraduate degree and degree-completion program for students.
The three universities have previously collaborated on a number of academic programs. They say that they are excited about the possibilities presented by this partnership and what they are able to achieve together.
“This combination will be a good fit for all three universities, given their histories of serving students with diverse economic backgrounds and offering them transformative experiences that lead them to places they may never have imagined,” said Edinboro University President Guiyou Huang in the schools’ press releases.
