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Guido M. Pichini ’74
was elected to a fifth consecutive term
as chairman of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Edu-
cation’s Board of Governors in July, 2015. He is the first state
system university alumnus to chair the board which oversees
the state system.
The 20-member Board of Governors has overall responsibility
for planning and coordinating the development and operation
of the state system, which is the largest provider of higher
education in the commonwealth, enrolling about 110,000
students. The board establishes broad fiscal, personnel and
educational policies under which the 14 state system universi-
ties operate.
Pichini is president of WSK & Associates and its related com-
panies of Wyomissing. He is a member and former chair of
the Council of Trustees at Kutztown University and the former
chair of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees,
the statewide organization that comprises the trustees from all
14 state system universities.
Pichini earned a bachelor’s degree in education/political
science, and completed graduate studies in public administra-
tion at Kutztown. He also graduated from Wilson College
with certification in the minor judiciary, attaining the highest
grade in the history of Pennsylvania. He served two terms as
a councilman in the Borough of Wyomissing Hills and four
terms as mayor. Pichini served as a member of the Pennsyl-
vania Workforce Investment Board and as a member of the
Postsecondary Education Advisory Commission.
Pichini and his wife Susan, honorary co-chairs of the KU
Sesquicentennial Celebration, reside in Wyomissing.
Dr. Jack Thomas
was named the 11th president of Western Illinois
University (WIU) in 2011, an institution that serves approximately
12,000 students through its traditional, residential four-year campus in
Macomb, Ill., and its metropolitan campus in the Quad Cities/Moline,
Ill. Previously, he served as WIU’s provost and academic vice president.
Thomas earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Alabama A&M
University, a Master of English Education from Virginia State University,
and a Ph.D. in English (Literature and Criticism) from Indiana Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure at WIU, Thomas served as senior
vice provost for Academic Affairs and interim dean at Middle Tennessee
State University. Thomas has also served in various capacities at other
universities including interim president, executive vice president, associ-
ate vice president for Academic and Student Affairs, executive assistant
to the president, chair of the Department of English and Modern Lan-
guages, coordinator of freshman English, and assistant track coach.
Thomas is a noted scholar and lecturer. He frequently appears as a key-
note speaker, presenting his research and inspirational messages locally,
nationally and internationally. His most recent publication is a book
titled, “Within These Gates: Academic Work, Academic Leadership,
University Life, and the Presidency.” His research focuses on black males
in literature. He served as the editor and founder of “Image: The Schol-
ars Release Journal, Men and Women of Color” which showcases writers,
poets, and artists.
Thomas has served as an American Council on Education Fellow, is a
graduate of the Harvard Leadership Program and the Leadership Middle
Tennessee Program, a Kellogg-NAFEO Fellow, and participated in the
Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria. He is married to the former Linda
Goldsmith and they have two sons.