Dr. Ron W. Darbeau came to Penn State Altoona and assumed the role of chancellor in January. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, he graduated with a bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, and then went on to graduate form Johns Hopkins University with a master’s and doctoral in organic chemistry. He has worked at multiple universities, the previous one being Commonwealth University where he was the Vice President of faculty affairs and academic operations. He has succeed Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry, who was chancellor for 17 years. Staff writer Conor Walters had the opportunity to sit down with the chancellor earlier this month for a Q&A, where they talked about a range of topics.

What are your plans for the campus?

I would break my plans out into immediate, short-term, and long-term. The immediate plans are to get an understanding of the lay of the land. What I have been doing so far is engaging in what I’ve been calling “listening tours,” so meeting with groups of staff, groups of faculty, groups of students and trying to get their perspectives. I’ve also met the alumni society, I’m meeting with the advisory board, had several meetings with the Blair County chamber of commerce, several business leaders, trying to get and understanding of where Penn state Altoona is, where it fits into the community, so I can understand better where the baseline is.

We’re also looking in the short-term to become somewhat more efficient in terms of the academic array, personal, space, and our use of money. I think there is a large swath of the population that needs the services of higher-ed, that higher-ed has traditionally Ignored. These are adult learners looking to re-skill and up-skill, so I think we need to be looking to serve them better, while also serving the traditional students.

I’ve talked about leveraging athletics more affectively so that we can grow our enrollment that way while also providing more opportunities for our students. I’d like us to have deeper relationships with the community, particularly with the business industry-healthcare, to kind of get a sense of what do they need, what are their priorities, and how we can reconfigure ourselves to serve them while also having a pipeline to students that we can pass them through.

The other thing I’m trying to make sure we build here is a mechanism for crowd sourcing. I’m a firm believer that the opinions of people who are impacted by decisions and who are going to be asked to implement decisions need to be considered when decisions are being made. So I’m trying to put together sort of a virtual suggestion box and just collect ideas from folks who are concerned enough to care about the campus and where the campus is heading.

One of the things we are hoping to get in place in the short-term is moving the campus to mobile-digital technology. So you can imagine every faculty, staff member, student has a iPad and a pencil. It transforms the teaching and learning space, the experience is richer, the way you communicate, what you can do, how you can do it, and where it can be done changes.

We are also going to be trying to move people in the direction of e-books and open education resources. You could imagine a scenario where I’m the student, and instead of spending $1,000 a year on books, I’m spending zero, to me that is major. If we could reduce the cost of attendance, that could go a long way.

I wouldn’t have chosen this position if I didn’t see the vast amount of potential. I think even next year we will look different than how we look now. In three years we will be significantly different. I don’t think you’ll recognize this place in five years.

Why did you want to come here?

For context, I grew up really poor, I was one of seven kids. My dad had his first year of high school, nothing more because he had to leave to take care of his mother and siblings. My mother never attended high school. So we grew up really poor, and I always credited high-education for getting me to where I am.

I think Penn State Altoona is just ripe to be taken to the next level. I’ve commissioned what I’m calling it Chancellors Student Advisory Council that has students who have 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.2 grade point averages, student athletes, lion ambassadors, ect. as broad a cross section I could muster. They would meet with me once a month so I can hear directly and get a pulse of where students are because we exist for you, and if we don’t have your voice in the process then we run the risk of spending a ton of time and energy constructing something that misses the mark, and to me that is inefficient.

Penn State’s president Neeli Bendapudi has been signaling, and almost directing, the importance of the growth of Penn State, penetration of its brand, the fulfillment of the land grant mission in terms of affordability and access, a lot of that is going to happen at the commonwealth campuses. This is the moment for the commonwealth campuses.

What do you like about Penn State?

In terms of Penn State and the ecosystem is there are a tremendous amount of resources at Penn State. The name Penn State as tremendous gravitas. It is very aspirational in terms of its vision and mission. The quality of research and teaching is industry leading.

Also Penn State looks different depending on where you are, and it’s interesting because its all Penn State. It doesn’t matter which campus you are on, your degree is from Penn State. It gives students the option of sampling if they want to be on a campus that is 48,000 or do I want to be on a campus that’s 500, or do I want to be on one that is 3,000. The students have the ability to determine what suites them, and its all Penn State.

What’s your initial impression of the student body?

It is bimodal. There is a swath of the student body that is very engaged, very keen on Altoona, and are just just very keen to see growth and development and more. There is also the other side which is far less engaged, which is a little unusual. For context I haven’t met every student on campus, and essential I’ve been here for a hot minute, so my initial impress may not be what the reality is. What crosses my mind is how do we get the students who are less engaged to be more excited about Penn State Altoona, so that they help drive the change that will in turn benefit them.

About two or three weeks ago I was in the cafeteria, having a very nice salad, and there was a table near by where I sat that had three students next to me. One of the students said to me “That’s a nice suite” so I said to him “I’d let you borrow it if you’d like.” The convo went back and forth and he asked if I wanted to come over, so I pick up my stuff and go over. His name is Jack, he was sitting with his cousin Brad and their friend Yao, they’re all in the EMET program. About fifteen minutes into the conversation Jack asks who I am. I tell them I’m the new chancellor, and you could almost hear a pin drop. I share that because they didn’t know who I was, I was sitting alone in the cafeteria and they were kind enough to offer company. That says a lot, it’s a little thing, but at the same time it’s a really big thing. If that’s a representation of the student body, then we have a very bright future ahead of us.

What’s your daily life on campus like as the chancellor?

I get to work at 6:45, I’m rarely out of the office before 8:00. There are lots of meetings, many in person, few are zoom. Lots of emails, reports to be read and written. There is some time for planning, some of the planning happens in the meetings. I also try to make it a point to attend as many of the home athletic events as I can. I try to be a face on campus and walk around as best I can. There are often meetings that happens off campus as well. My dad used to say all the time that the definition of a good day is that you wake up excited to go to work, and you come home exhausted, so I’ve been here 40 days, and would say that I’ve had about 40 good days.

Where does your strong work ethic come from?

My dad was a very hard worker. I have six siblings and all of us have inherited his work ethic. When I was in elementary school, there was a poem that we would recite. Every morning we would assemble, and one of the poems was “good, better, best, never let us rest until we make our good better, and our better best.” I don’t believe in doing something half way, if I commit to it I am all in. Talent is great, but it is never enough. The world is filled with talented people who never rose to their potential because they didn’t work hard.

Why did you choose to study chemistry?  

I’ve pondered that question for many years, and I will answer that question this way: why doesn’t everyone study chemistry? There is such beauty in chemistry. When I was in the classroom, which I was for 20 years, I used to start my classes by sharing with students why I became a chemist and what they have to look forward to. I would say chemistry is awesome, and not in the way we use that word now, but in the original meaning of the word, it is literally filled with awe.

What is your greatest achievement?

My wife and I have raised four spectacular young persons who are not just bright, but they are good people. I have every confidence that they will be lights in the world, that they will bring courage and strength, comfort and solace, wisdom and grace, and blessings to people around them. I would say that is my greatest accomplishment.

Flash Questions

What is your favorite food?

Roti, its an Indian construction, the closet thing is like a burrito. It’s filled with curry, meats, and vegetables.

Do you have any hobbies?

I listen to music, read, write, run, hike, walk, and binge sci-fi.

What is your favorite animal?

Dolphin.

What is your favorite TV show or Movie?

I am a huge star-trek fan.