Hawkinson Announces Upcoming Retirement as KU President
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The President of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Kenneth S. Hawkinson, announced his upcoming retirement at the university’s 2024 Faculty and Staff Convocation and Celebration, Friday morning, Aug. 23. Hawkinson, the 12th president of KU, said he would step down next summer (2025, date to be determined). He will have completed 10 years as president at that time.
According to Hawkinson:
“Being president of Kutztown University has been an amazing gift … a gift totally unexpected … perhaps this is why it has been so sweet. I came filled with idealism and a desire to share a lifetime of experience and knowledge with this institution and community – that idealism still stands strong, though tempered a bit, through the harsh realities we have suffered through… particularly in recent years… but I like to think that much good has been accomplished in the last nine years… but, there is a time for every season… and, as I am now going into my 10th year … and I will turn 69-years-old next June … it is time to pass this wonderful gift to someone else… and so I am announcing my intent to retire as president of Kutztown University next summer. It will give the university a full year to conduct a national search to allow a smooth transition to a new president.”
Hawkinson began his tenure at KU in 2015 and can list numerous accomplishments during his time in office. He presided over seven years of a balanced budget, six years of a tuition freeze, partnered with the KU Foundation on its $47 million comprehensive campaign and a doubling of its endowment to more than $40 million, the establishment of a new strategic plan and general education program and numerous construction projects across campus. This included the renovation of the former campus Professional Building into the DeLight E. Breidegam Building: headquarters of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center; the addition of the new Wells-Rapp Center for Mallet Percussion Research; the renovation of the de Francesco Building, home to the KU College of Business; the creation of the Nancy Jean Stump Seiger ’54 Botanical Research Center; the renovation and installation of Keystone Field, home to Golden Bear women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse and KU intramural and club sports; and the installation of the Keith Haring Fitness Court. The new Admissions Welcome Center, at the old Poplar House location, is currently under construction and will be dedicated in spring 2025.
Working with his leadership team, Hawkinson established a merit-based scholarship program by increasing institutional aid from about 2% in 2015 to about 14% in 2023. New student enrollment increased the last three years with a 1.7% increase in full-time enrollment (FTE) this past year. Retention increased from 72% five years ago to 79%. The academic profile of new students also increased.
Hawkinson also developed programs and initiatives to recruit underrepresented faculty to diversify academic departments and other units throughout the university. Since 2015, enrollment of minority students has increased from 15% to 26%.
Hawkinson began his tenure as 12th president of Kutztown University July 1, 2015. Before coming to KU, he spent 27 years at Western Illinois University, where he served as a faculty member, department chair, associate dean, associate provost and finally provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. Hawkinson began his academic career at Western Illinois as an assistant professor of communication, and later was promoted to associate, then full professor. He also was an adjunct professor in African American Studies and an instructor in the Honors Program. During his time on the faculty, he served as leader of both the Faculty Senate and the faculty union. He has published numerous articles and dozens of professional papers. His research interests and creative pursuits include storytelling, oral tradition and performance of literature.
After earning his associates degree at Elgin Community College in 1976, Hawkinson went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in history from Western Illinois. He also has a Master of Arts in speech communication from the institution and a Ph.D. in speech communication/performance studies from Southern Illinois University. He was a Fulbright Scholar from 1990-91, during which he taught American studies at the University of Ouagadougou (Waa-ga-doo-goo), Burkina Faso, West Africa, and conducted research in African folklore and oral tradition. Hawkinson also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa, from 1986-88.
Hawkinson proudly served on active duty as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army for three years. He served in Germany as a platoon leader, a weapons platoon leader and as a public affairs officer. He also served as a field artillery officer in the Illinois National Guard, and in the Army Reserve. He has been a member of the American Legion in Illinois for nearly 30 years.
President Hawkinson’s full public announcement of his retirement will be posted in the near future.
Below are links that outline the policies regarding the search process for president of a university at an institution within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, of which KU is a member. Additional information and a timeline will be forthcoming.
2021-50 Process for Recommending Presidential Appointment.pdf (passhe.edu)
Full text of President Hawkinson's retirement announcement
“Now, on a personal note…
I recently lost a mentor and very close friend… Dr. Tom Pace, who passed away at the age of 94… he was the graduate director at the school where I received my doctorate degree. Tom was the epitome of the word “teacher.” Henry James said a teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. And so, it was for Tom Pace who taught and changed the lives of so many over the years. I have always thought that it is not so much what we know that makes us great teachers, but who we are.
Through his own search as a young man, Tom found within himself, as all great teachers find, the ability to bypass one’s own ego and to let compassion and goodness flow outward to their students and to all with whom they come in contact.
Tom contributed so much to who I became as a teacher, administrator, and person.
But, how does such self-knowledge come? For some it starts as an itch that you can’t quite scratch, or a thought that you can’t quite remember, and it builds and builds, and gnaws at you and drives you crazy until you do something like “throw a book against a wall” or some other final gesture of frustration . . . some teachers will give up and find some other path . . . but for those of us who remain teachers… we have to keep at it until we can scratch that itch. Until we can free our voice.
This is how it was for me, anyway. I wanted to be a teacher, and eventually a college administrator, but I first had to find myself and to be confident that the knowledge I gained and the person who I became was worthy to share.
It is said that adversity introduces a person to him or herself. I sought out adversity in other places around the world and in various challenging experiences – you all know my story. . . It is said that the only thing in life achieved without effort is failure, and that failure is the path of least persistence.
So, I put forth great effort, was persistent, and gradually developed a voice.
In Africa, I learned from the great Griots, or storytellers, who spend 50 years learning their vocation, that what they learn from outside themselves is incidental. . . true knowledge comes from freeing the talent and words from within oneself. It is all there – you just have to find it and let it flow. . .
This is expressed in a wonderful poem by James Kirkup who describes the work of a poet.
The Poet
Each instant of his life, a task, he never rests,
And works most when he appears to be doing nothing.
The least of it is putting down in words
What usually remains unwritten and unspoken,
And would so often be much better left
Unsaid, for it is really the unspeakable
That he must try to give an ordinary tongue to.
And if, by art and accident,
He utters the unutterable, then
It must appear as natural as a breath,
Yet be an inspiration. And he must go,
The lonelier for his unwanted miracle,
His singular way, a gentle lunatic at large
In the societies of cross and reasonable men.
As teachers, we too are poets. We try to put into the spoken word the unutterable, the unwritten, and the unspoken. We teach our students to give an ordinary tongue to their ideas, to speak as if it is as natural as a breath, yet to inspire.
But I posit to you that it is not just teachers who are poets… all those, in all occupations who seek greater self-knowledge and to do good in the world… are poets. All those who strive to do the best they can in their work… and in their lives… are poets. YOU are all poets.
May we all have that itch, that gnawing, that desire to know ourselves and our world a little better. May we find the ability to bypass our own egos and let the compassion and goodness flow. As you have heard me quote so often…It is said that some people dream of worthy achievement, while others stay awake and experience it. As I tell our students … I will say to you to also, stay awake, be engaged, and celebrate the wonder and beauty that comes from greater self-knowledge and the joy derived from sharing this wonder and beauty with others.
Being president of Kutztown University has been an amazing gift … a gift totally unexpected … perhaps this is why it has been so sweet. I came filled with idealism and a desire to share a life-time of experience and knowledge with this institution and community – that idealism still stands strong …though, tempered a bit through the harsh realities we have suffered through… particularly in recent years… but I like to think that much good has been accomplished in the last nine years… but, there is a time for every season… and, as I am now going into my tenth year … and I will turn 69-years-old next June … it is time to pass this wonderful gift to someone else… and so, I am announcing my intent to retire as president of Kutztown University next summer. It will give the university a year to conduct a national search to allow a smooth transition to a new president.
I can’t thank enough the many people who have helped and supported me over the last decade… my vice presidents and other administrators and staff, my wonderful office team, our faculty, the chancellor and State System personnel, my fellow presidents, our council of trustees and the board of governors, the mayor and local community members, the amazing and generous alumni and friends of the university, legislators and civic leaders, and our students … it has been all about the students.
And my thanks to my wife and best friend… Ann Marie – I will note that she gave up her career to follow me into this position and has worked tirelessly to serve the Kutztown University community in numerous capacities. It was largely through her encouragement that I even applied for a presidency. Thank you, Ann Marie.
There will be plenty of time for goodbyes and more will be discussed in the coming weeks and months. Let me just say how grateful I am for being given this wonderful opportunity to be president of Kutztown University.”