Millersville University’s council of trustees on Monday picked Philip K. Way and Daniel A. Wubah from a field of five finalists to lead the public university, part of the State System of Higher Education.
Way is the interim president of Slippery Rock University, while Wubah is the senior advisor to the president at Washington and Lee University.
The council of trustees’ decision was unanimous, and was based on a unanimous recommendation of the presidential search committee, university spokeswoman Janet Kacskos said.
The two men’s names now go to the State System’s board of governors, which is expected to make the final selection in April.
That person will take over from John Anderson, Millerville’s president since 2013. Anderson announced his retirement last spring, subsequently delaying the date from March 1 to June 29 to avoid the need for an interim leader.
Way and Wubah both have enjoyed lengthy careers in higher education. Way, a professor of business who hails from the United Kingdom, worked at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Alabama at Birmingham before becoming provost and vice president for academic affairs at Slippery Rock University in 2013. He was named its interim president last July.
Slippery Rock, like Millersville, is a State System school.
Wubah’s career includes positions at Towson University, James Madison University, the University of Florida and Virginia Tech. A biology, professor, he became provost at Washington and Lee, a private liberal-arts university in Virginia, in 2013.
In 2016, he became senior advisor to the president, assisting with the transition between presidents Kenneth Ruscio and William Dudley.
Way and Wubah advanced over three other finalists: Mary Gowan, dean of and professor at the college of business at James Madison University; Brian Rose, vice president for student affairs, State University of New York at Binghamton; and Dione Somerville, vice president for student affairs at Bloomsburg University.
All five visited Millersville’s campus and took questions at forums open to the university community.