Lock Haven president to lead VSU starting July 1

RICHMOND, Va. -- Keith T. Miller, president of Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, will become the 13th president of Virginia State University effective July 1.

He will succeed Eddie N. Moore Jr., who will retire in June after 17 years as head of the school established in 1882 in the village of Ettrick, near Petersburg.

Miller, 55, has served as Lock Haven's president since 2005. He will earn slightly more than Moore's $346,000 salary, but specifics have not been finalized, said Earnest J. Edwards, rector of the historically black school's board of visitors.

The board officially selected Miller yesterday, at the conclusion of a national search.

"This is a wonderful institution, and I'm delighted to be a part of it," Miller said after the announcement.

Asked about immediate plans for VSU, Miller said he would leave it to those who know the school better.

"I'm going to start by listening and getting to know the people here and move forward from there," he said.

Cassandra Campbell, 21, VSU student government association president, said, "I'm very excited . . . I know he has a vision for Virginia State and it involves a very grassroots approach -- the people first -- and I definitely agree with that." A majority of Lock Haven's trustees recommended an extension of Miller's contract last month, although two of the 10 voted against the extension.

One Lock Haven trustee, Donald Houser Jr., subsequently resigned, citing concern over recent sports-related lawsuits against the school.

Landis Wright, a former Lock Haven wrestler, last month filed a suit against the university's athletic director, former wrestling coach and Miller, claiming the school tried to force him to wrestle when injured in 2008 and violated his free-speech rights by stifling his ability to speak out against the school.

Houser made a motion to approve an independent investigation by the NCAA of the wrestling program but failed to gain the backing of the board of trustees.Miller, who holds a doctorate as well as master of public administration and bachelor of science degrees from the University of Arizona, has worked at several universities in his 23-year career in education, with a focus on business and marketing.

While serving as chief academic officer at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, Miller restructured the academic affairs division to focus on faculty support, learning outcomes and curricular innovation. He also developed and expanded its online programming in business, nursing and social work.

Under his leadership, Lock Haven began requiring laptop computers, and the predominantly white school now has -- like VSU -- the largest enrollment in its history. In recent years, student community-service hours and the number of honors students have jumped dramatically.

Miller said Virginia State's history and its "reputation for being student-focused" drew him to the job.

Edwards said Miller was selected for his experience as president of a like-sized university coupled with the fact that he earned a doctorate. VSU has an enrollment of 5,366, nearly identical to Lock Haven's 5,329.

"This gentleman has a terrific background," Edwards said. "He had all the credentials and brought the mixture of education and business, which is the potent mixture that we were after."

Edwards noted that Miller was the board of visitors' unanimous selection among the five finalists.

Asked what he hoped Miller could bring, Edwards said money was an easy answer.

"We've got to raise more funds. State funds are diminishing," he said, adding that he had been impressed with Miller's eagerness to offer students real-life lessons and cross-discipline training in addition to standard academic fare.

Lock Haven, like VSU, is a public school.

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or .