Please read the biographies of Alvernia President John R. Loyack and President-Elect Glynis A. Fitzgerald below.
John R. Loyack
John R. Loyack joined the Alvernia community as its seventh president in July 2019, bringing with him a powerful mix of business acumen and higher education leadership. His successful and diversified career provides Alvernia with an unequaled, strategic approach and personal commitment to the student experience.
During his three years as President, Loyack has led a successful effort to restructure the institution, develop and implement a five-year, student-centric, strategic plan, attract the university’s three largest incoming student classes, and secure the highest government grants and individual philanthropic gift in Alvernia’s history.
President Loyack’s vision for the university’s CollegeTowne initiative has led the way in expanding the university in center-city Reading and downtown Pottsville with the purchase, renovation and opening of the John R. Post Center at Reading CollegeTowne and the univeristy’s new Schuylkill-County location at 500 Progress Avenue in downtown Pottsville. The multi-faceted initiative has created new academic programs, including three new engineering tracks, and student living opportunities. The partnership-seeking strategy has also resulted in new community programming, expanding experiential learning for students, and the spark economic redevelopment and new business creation in the city, resulting in over 1,500,000 square feet of renovation projects along the Penn Street corridor in downtown Reading.
In June 2021, the Alvernia University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to extend Loyack’s contract through 2027.
Before arriving at Alvernia, President Loyack served as executive vice president for business and administration at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre. At King’s College, he was known for his skills in team building, financial management, community engagement and an intense focus on student success. His efforts led to program expansion and revenue growth at King’s.
Prior to his tenure at King’s, he spent decades as a corporate executive in the energy, transportation and manufacturing sectors, leading many businesses, including serving as president and chief executive officer of Optim Energy/EnergyCo in Irving, Texas, President and CEO of CPG International in Scranton, Pennsylvania and senior vice president and chief financial officer of PNM Resources in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In addition to earning an MBA from Lehigh University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from King’s College, the Pennsylvania native is a certified public accountant with a long history of building relationships in the community. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Berks Alliance, Luzerne Foundation, Wyoming Seminary, Berks Business Education Coalition, the Greater Pittston Historical Society, AMCON Distributing (DIT:NYSE) and Inperium Inc.
Glynis A. Fitzgerald, Ph.D.
In February 2023, the Alvernia University Board of Trustees appointed Glynis A. Fitzgerald, Ph.D. as the university's eighth president and first female president in over 30 years. Ftizgerald will begin her post, succeeding President John R. Loyack, on July 1, 2023. During this transition, Fitzgerald serves as President-Elect while Dr. Mary Ellen Wells serves as the university's Interim Provost.
Fitzgerald arrived at Alvernia in 2019 with over 20 years of higher education experience as the senior vice president and provost. In her role as the university's chief academic officer, she sharpened the focus of faculty work and student success through the creation of four colleges. She oversaw several other important administrative areas, including information technology, institutional research, and Alvernia's two centers for excellence, the Holleran Center for Community and Global Engagement and the O'Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship. Even in the most difficult economic times, she successfully recruited world-class faculty talent. In addition, she played a major role in the university's strategic efforts to improve student success through transformed pedagogy. Working closely with faculty, staff, and academic advisors, she successfully applied policy and process changes, course redesign, and intrusive advising to significantly impact progression rates, graduation, and employment.
Before joining Alvernia, Fitzgerald served as associate vice president of Academic Affairs and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Central Connecticut State University. She developed her expertise in undergraduate and graduate program development, expansion of online learning options, and community and corporate partnerships. As a seasoned faculty member, she rose through the ranks to full professor in the department of communication at Central Connecticut State, where she also served as department chair.
Fitzgerald earned a doctoral degree in organizational/interpersonal communication and a master's in organizational communication from SUNY Buffalo, and a bachelor's degree in speech communication from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
