Elizabethtown College Names Transitional President, Betty Rider, to Lead Institution

Rider is a longtime administrator and academic of the institution; Gerald Silberman promoted to Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance

On Jan. 18, the Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees announced Betty Rider as Transitional President of the institution. Rider, who most recently served as the College’s Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs (SVPAA), will assume responsibilities and duties of moving the institution forward through the end of the 2022-23 academic year, effective immediately.

“President Betty Rider is an experienced leader in higher education and well respected by the Elizabethtown College faculty, staff, students, alumni, and surrounding community,” Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees Chairman Ed Lovelidge ’82 said. “We are confident in her tenured success and abilities to continue to advance the institution’s exceptional academic model, implement the College’s new five-year Strategic Plan, and expand the institution’s commitment to Educate for Service. We chose the term “Transitional” President to communicate President Rider’s role over the next 18-months as furthering the momentum and outstanding accomplishments we’ve already achieved at Etown over the last three years. The Board of Trustees is confident President Rider and her strong Senior Leadership Team will provide the stability and leadership needed to continue these successes.”

“I look forward to leading Elizabethtown College as its president through this unique transitional period,” Elizabethtown College President Rider said. “I am excited to work closely with the Senior Leadership Team, the Board, the faculty, students, and staff to continue to elevate the mission of the College and its academic excellence. We are reaching a pivotal moment at the institution as we celebrate tremendous growth and success and launch our new five-year Strategic Plan with its focus on dynamic and relevant education for all learners, inclusive excellence, and sustainable growth.”

President Rider is a graduate of Gettysburg College, has masters and doctoral degrees in psychology from Vanderbilt University, and completed Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management. She has spent the majority of her career at Elizabethtown College teaching Psychology and serving in various administrative roles including and most recently, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs.

For the past two years, President Rider and the institution’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) have achieved record enrollment for two consecutive years, successfully offered in-person class instruction for students during the global pandemic since fall 2020, exceeded fundraising goals and reached a record endowment of more than $100 million, transformed the School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS) with a wide variety of academic offerings and online platforms, launched the region’s first public Human Performance Laboratory, and most recently, finalized a new five-year community Strategic Plan that prioritizes dynamic academic programming as well as diversity, equity, and belonging, and strategic partnerships to continue to elevate the College.

As Provost and SVPAA, President Rider specifically restructured academic programs, formed the creation of Schools at the institution, established new five-year programs in Physician Assistant (PA) Studies, Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN), and expanded the College’s renowned Occupational Therapy (OT) program.

In addition, the Board of Trustees named Gerald Silberman as Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance. Silberman has served as Vice President of Finance and Strategy at Etown since 2019 vastly improving the College’s overall budget and financial management sustainability. A veteran in higher education, Silberman previously worked at Kutztown University since 1991 and has brought his extensive background and knowledge in the areas of finance, information technology, human resources, operations, public safety, and security to the institution.

Over the past nine months, Silberman has led the College’s strategic planning efforts working closely with faculty and staff leadership to develop a dynamic and innovative five-year plan. Silberman holds a Master of Science in Computer and Information Science from Kutztown University, a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Muhlenberg College and completed Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management. He is a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Certified Public Account (CPA), a Board of Director for the Shared Services Health Plan, and serves as a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Silberman’s new role is effective immediately.

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