Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi to faculty, students: ‘This is where I will retire’
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi acknowledged Wednesday that when she was first approached about becoming the university’s next president, she said no. But, after 19 weeks on the job, she now can’t see herself anywhere else.
At separate virtual town halls Wednesday morning — one addressing faculty and staff, another for students and family — Bendapudi twice repeated that this is the job she wants to retire from.
“I want to tell you, this is where I will retire,” she said during her opening remarks at the second town hall. “And I feel very, very confident looking out not just in Month 5, but at Year 5 and beyond that. Penn State is a gem, a unique asset to the United States Higher Education System. I’m so proud and privileged to be your president.”
During her closing statement at the first town hall, which ended about 45 minutes before the second began, Bendapudi expressed a similar sentiment: “This is an honor, a privilege, a pleasure to be president of Penn State. And I will confidently tell you that this is the job I want to retire from.”
Bendapudi, 58, was named Penn State’s president in December 2021. And she officially took over May 9, 2022, after the retirement of her 70-year-old predecessor, Eric Barron.
The native of India, the first woman and first non-white person in the university’s 167-year history to serve from the top post, previously worked as the president at the University of Louisville. She was highly regarded there, overcoming severe financial difficulties to set a record $170 million in research funding and also attaining the highest enrollment in decades.
When officials representing Penn State first approached her, she said she rebuffed them and told them she had a lot of work left to be done at Louisville. After all, in 2018 at her introductory news conference, she told the public she intended to be there a ”long, long time.”
“I was very happy at my institution,” Bendapudi said Wednesday. “And then I’m so glad that they were pleasantly persistent and said, ‘Look again.’ Because the more I looked at Penn State, I could not agree more.
“There is no other university like Penn State in this country. And that’s what intrigued me — the complexity of it, the fact that we can impact an entire state when you look at it.”
Bendapudi said Penn State’s access and affordability mission attracted her to the land-grant university. And she also found the commonwealth campuses appealing, considering 96% of Pennsylvania’s population is located within at least 30 miles of one.
She hosted two town halls Wednesday to tackle issues related to Penn State’s budget and tuition. Although she acknowledged it would be a “tough 12 to 18 months,” she also expressed optimism for the future and gratitude for Penn State’s earlier persistence.
“I am in Month 5 on the job, and I can tell you, I’ve never worked harder on a job — and I’ve never enjoyed anything more,” she added.
