ESU Names Joanne Zakartha Bruno, J.D., Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

Joanne Zakartha Bruno, J.D., has been named vice president of academic affairs and provost at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. The announcement was made by University President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D.

“East Stroudsburg University is fortunate to have someone of Ms. Bruno’s experience and academic background,” said Ms. Welsh. “We welcome her to our university and we look forward to her fresh, innovative methods.”

Effective in early March, 2015, Ms. Bruno will replace Van Reidhead, Ph.D., who has served ESU as the chief academic officer for all educational activities related to undergraduate and graduate programs since August 2010. Reidhead tendered his resignation from this post in August 2014, citing a personal desire to return to the classroom and increase his interaction with students. Reidhead will begin his new role as a professor of sociology at ESU later this month.

Ms. Bruno comes to the university after working in the office of academic affairs at New Jersey City University for close to 20 years, including nine years as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and most recently having served as the Vice President of Academic Initiatives and Services. In her time at the university she had the opportunity to lead two successful Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) self-studies; coordinate three Periodic Review Reports; support grant initiatives through federal and state grants; recruit and hire faculty with an increased emphasis on research backgrounds; and lead the most recent strategic plan initiative — 2015 and Beyond – Transforming Lives.

Ms. Bruno’s journey to a position as vice president of academic affairs and provost is not the frequent path of faculty to dean to provost. Academic affairs sparked her interest while preparing for an academic paper, focusing on sociology of law in simpler societies, as a graduate student at Columbia University. For Ms. Bruno, her background in law afforded her “the learning landscape to truly spot issues, analyze facts and legal principles, support a position and come to a conclusion or solution that could arguably be the best option given a particular set of circumstances.”

Ms. Bruno earned her J.D. from Rutgers University Law School in Newark, N.J. in 1987. Shortly after that, she served as the Vice President for the New Jersey State Federation of Teachers /American Federation of Teachers (NJSFT-AFT), American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL/CIO)  representing the faculty and professional staff of the A. Harry Moore Laboratory School, a program of New Jersey City University, then known as Jersey City State College.  During her tenure, she was responsible for chairing and conducting grievances on behalf of the school’s faculty and professional staff as well as maintaining general communications among  union leadership, unit members, and college administration on a local level.

She began her career in academic affairs as acting assistant vice president for academic affairs after being asked to develop and implement New Jersey City University’s first full-time office for specialized services for students with disabilities. Following a national search, she was named assistant vice president. Ms. Bruno admits that she entered the academy with some apprehension due to having a Juris Doctorate as opposed to a Ph.D. She ended up finding great acceptance in the academy and was able to “appreciate, recruit and retain highly qualified faculty over the years.”

Ms. Bruno looks forward to serving as the university’s vice president of academic affairs and provost and “sustaining the momentum at ESU to meet the President’s vision to make it the best university in the Pennsylvania State System.”

Dr. Peter Hawkes, dean of the college of arts and sciences at ESU, will serve as interim vice president of academic affairs and provost starting January 20 until Ms. Bruno comes on board in March.

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