African-American President of Indiana University of Pennsylvania to Step Down

Tony Atwater, who has served as president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania for the past five years, has announced that he will step down at the end of this month. The university, one of 14 colleges that make up the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, is located 45 miles east of the city of Pittsburgh. About 11 percent of the university’s 12,000 undergraduate students are black.

Dr. Atwater has accepted a position as a senior fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Atwater’s resignation comes six months after the faculty senate overwhelmingly supported a resolution of no confidence in his leadership. The no-confidence resolution contained a list of 31 complaints that faculty members had compiled that were critical of Dr. Atwater’s management.

In announcing his resignation Dr. Atwater noted that he had been successful in increasing enrollments at the university. Atwater also noted that annual giving to the university had doubled during his tenure.

Dr. Atwater is a 1973 graduate of Hampton University, the historically black educational institution in Virginia. He holds a Ph.D. in communication research from Michigan State University. Prior to assuming the presidency of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Atwater was provost and vice president of academic affairs at Youngstown State University in Ohio.

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