The new president of West Chester University wants you to call her Laurie, and if she needs to talk to you, she’ll probably bring snacks.

But don’t let the informality fool you.  Dr. R. Laurie Bernotsky, West Chester University’s new 16^th president, is all about getting to work exploring ideas that are good for the students and the university.

Dr. Bernotsky presented her first Welcome Back address, a West Chester University tradition, recently in the Asplundh auditorium on campus.

She replaces six-year president Dr. Chris Fiorentino, who retired at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.

The Welcome Back address is an opportunity for the university president to acknowledge university achievements and outline goals for the new school year.

Dr. Bernotsky took a different approach.

“I can’t present a full vision for our University today,” she told the audience of students, faculty, and staff. “I can’t do that because that’s not the kind of leader I am, and it’s not the kind of President I hope to be.”

The former executive vice president said she’d rather create a shared vision together than impose her vision upon the university.

“In my approach to leadership, I have always strived to recognize that everyone is someone of value and someone worthy of dignity and respect,” she said.

So to start her new role as president, Dr. Bernotsky will be initiating a “mutual listening tour,” meeting with representative groups of faculty, students, staff, administrators, and other stakeholders.

In that effort, she hopes to hear from different voices, including those that aren’t often heard.

“I want to listen to your ideas about our university. I want to listen to your thoughts about where we are, where we should be, and how we get there.”

There are some non-negotiable values that she will also bring to the table to move the university forward.

It’s important to enhance the learning and living experiences of the students, creating a university that students fall in love with.

Creating more student housing is one way to make that happen.

“It has become abundantly clear to me during my first weeks as President that we must, we absolutely must, find a way to overcome our student housing shortage,” she said.

The university must also remain affordable and accessible to students.

Dr. Bernotsky was a first-generation college student who grew up in a family of “very modest means” in rural Pennsylvania. 

She would go on to earn a master’s and doctorate degree in political science from Oxford University, and a master’s in sociology from Temple University, but it almost didn’t happen.

Her parents told her she couldn’t go because they couldn’t afford it.

“But I did go, and I was only able to go because I received an enormous amount of financial help,” she said.

Because she got help, that opportunity changed her life.

“That is what I want West Chester to be for our students—an accessible opportunity that forever changes their lives,” she said.

She pointed to West Chester University’s Moonshot for Equity Initiative as an example of an accessible opportunity.

The university has partnered with Delaware County Community College to remove systemic barriers that keep students from graduating.

She said, “The mission is about breaking down barriers to success for all students. It’s not about making classes less challenging for some students; it’s about giving all students the support they need to overcome challenges.”

The mission is showing impressive results. Over the past five years, the equity gap in West Chester’s graduation rates have dropped 45 percent for Black students and 38 percent for Latin X students, she said.

“When we give all students the support they need to graduate, then we become that educational opportunity that will forever change their lives,” she said.

Dr. Bernotsky also believes West Chester University is ready to move on to the next level.

It’s an excellent school in the Pennsylvania State system, she said, and an excellent school in the Philadelphia area.

“I want West Chester University to be thought of as an excellent school on a national level,” she said. “And I am partial to any idea that will take us to that next level.”

Dr. Bernotsky has been with West Chester University since 1996, when she joined the political science faculty. 

Fifteen years later, she was named the associate provost and dean of Graduate Studies.

In 2015, she was promoted to Provost and successfully led the university’s division of Academic Affairs.

Executive vice president was added to her role in 2017 until being named the university’s 16^th president in July 2024.

“West Chester has been at the heart of my entire career, and I can’t imagine myself anywhere else,” she said. “I am passionately committed to our university, and I am passionate about the work we do as a university.”

Dr. Bernotsky reminded everyone in the room that the purpose of their work is to change student lives in a positive way so they can change society in positive ways.

“It’s incredibly important work, and I am so looking forward to doing that work with all of you as we move our university forward.”