Behre retiring from SRU next year
Slippery Rock University President William J. Behre has announced that he will retire effective June 30, 2023.
Behre, who took office July 1, 2018, notified SRU’s council of trustees and the State System of High Education, which oversees SRU and the 13 other state-owned universities, last week, according to the university.
The remainder of his tenure will mark five years at SRU, a position he calls his "proudest professional accomplishment."
"It has truly been an honor to serve as the president of this institution," said Behre, who is from New York. "From the moment my wife, Leah, and I stepped on campus, the community greeted us warmly and welcomed us in as one of their own. That feeling of family and belonging is something we will carry with us well beyond our days at The Rock."
Behre set a list of goals when he was hired as SRU’s 17th president and accomplished many including adding resources to financial aid and other student services, but he had to shift his focus to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That shift included moving in-person classes to remote instruction during an extended spring break period, March 8 to 29, 2020, as SRU's Center for Teaching and Learning provided faculty with support for instructional design, educational technology and professional development for teaching strategies prior to students’ return March 30.
Most of the 8,800 students had computer and internet access at home, but some did not. Behre implemented an initiative that led to online exclusive classes called "Connectivity." Through the initiative, SRU loaned more than 30 laptop computers to students and nearly a dozen more received technical and financial assistance with their internet connectivity.
SRU continued predominantly with remote instruction for both the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters before returning to regular in-person instruction for the fall 2021 semester.
"The pandemic has been the greatest single disruption to higher education, and life in general, in my lifetime," Behre said. "I imagine that the Great Depression or World War II would be the closest relatively recent comparators to the level of disruption that we experienced. And, just as our campus community came together during those crises, we came together during this one. Our faculty and staff worked to make sure that our students got what they needed to advance their education, albeit in a manner that we never anticipated."
Behre also spearheaded SRU's community involvement in the pandemic.
Among those efforts were the donation and distribution of personal protective equipment — which were slated to be used in SRU laboratories, simulations and classroom instruction — to local first responders. Allegheny Health Network, Grove City Hospital, Butler Health System's Butler Memorial Hospital and the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company and Rescue Team all received the donations.
"That was a great example of SRU helping to address an important community challenge," Behre said. "We were fortunate to have these supplies and to be able put them to good use by delivering them to local health care providers."
In all, SRU delivered thousands of items, including surgical masks, eye shields, sterile gloves, gowns and respirators to local organizations that were in desperate need of supplies.
"I remain humbled by the way our community rallied to sustain itself during the darkest days of fear and loss," Behre said. "I am particularly proud that we were able to avoid mass layoffs by nimbly redesigning jobs in order to sustain our students. What we did was important and necessary. Certainly, the pandemic was not what any of us had planned for, but as the saying goes, sometimes you must play the cards that you have been dealt.“
Behre emphasized that it is time to refocus priorities and begin planning for a post-pandemic SRU.
"This is challenging work and we must prepare to effectively hand off the mantle to the next president,“ he said, adding the extended time until his retirement will allow Chancellor Daniel Greenstein and the trustees to plan a smooth transition.
"Slippery Rock University has benefited from the leadership of Dr. Behre over the last several years," said Matthew Lautman, trustees chairman. "He humbly came to SRU and acknowledged all our successes and was then methodical in evaluating all aspects of the university, and only after understanding this institution did he go to work to make it better. He was that steady hand on the wheel and, in my opinion, SRU will undoubtedly be in a better place when Dr. Behre leaves us next summer than when he arrived here several years ago."
Behre said his goals for the rest of his tenure include stabilizing the near-term budgetary outlook to emerging from the pandemic on strong financial footing; continuing to build the physical and organizational infrastructure to meet SRU’s commitments including continuing to invest in the work of its recently hired chief diversity officer; and completing the strategic plan.
"We will put an emphasis on developing a strategic plan that is built around a shared vision," Behre said. "Given the uncertainty of the higher education landscape, that plan must look different than a typical plan, even one from just five years ago. While it must clearly articulate our values, it must also be flexible enough to account for multiple contextual scenarios.“
Following his retirement, Behre and his wife will move to Kennebunk, Maine.
