President Wollman discusses future plans, Edinboro memories

University Director of Communications, Jeff Hileman added there will be a search committee comprised of the campus community and wider community that will determine what exactly the university needs and the kind of person needed to move forward.

He added that Wollman’s leadership will continue on and hopes to find a new president who desires openness to the campus and community.

And while Hileman stated that it wasn’t up to him to determine what is needed in the next president, he reflected on some of Wollman’s outstanding qualities.

“I think that her openness to students is a model that I hope will continue. Her emphasis on putting students first for all of us, even for people who work on campus in roles that don’t directly affect students, I think that she has made them more aware of how they are here for the students and the students are first. I think that’s a very important quality in the university president,” Hileman said.

“I have been fortunate enough to work with a university president who very much believes in communicating with the campus community and speaking with media,” Hileman continued. “She’s never said no to an interview if she could possibly fit it into her schedule and so I think that openness is quality that I would want and hope we can find in another president.”

President Wollman appeared saddened by the sudden move, but a smile was on her face when she talked about some of her fondest memories at Edinboro.

“Time with students. Having students at our home. Being honorary captain for different athletic teams. Attending student senior concerts. Other events on campus. My listening hours where students have come and really honestly said things that concerned them and I was able to do something about it. The great thing is if you listen, you can do something about it. If you don’t know about problems, you can’t do anything,” Wollman said.

She continued, “I think those would be my fondest memories — times that I’ve spent with students and teaching my freshman seminar, my first year experience class. I’ve really loved that, as well as taking the class on beginning bagpiping, which I wouldn’t have said I loved it at the time because it was really hard, but I got a lot out of that.”

“I just really hope that it is clear to the university community that Wollman did an excellent job and she is going to be greatly missed, but we are in a great position to move forward and we will be moving forward in a very positive way,” Hileman said. 

Karlee Dies is the News Editor for The Spectator. She can be reached at eupnews.spectator@gmail.com