Debra Fitzsimons
Hometown
Hermitage, Mercer County, PA
Education
Penn State (bachelor’s degree), Slippery Rock (master’s), Pitt (doctorate)
Family
Husband, Shawn; daughters, Lindsay and Lauren
Hobbies
I am an HGTV guru, and I love to do home improvements and projects. I am always planning another home project and figuring out how to do it. Right now, it’s my home office. I also love to garden and do outside projects, and I’m a water baby. My husband and I love being at the beach or in a lake, going canoeing, boating, etc.
Favorite food
Anything Italian
Favorite TV show
I’m binge-watching Only Murders in the Building on Hulu at the moment. But I love murder mysteries, especially British murder mysteries like Agatha Christie.
Person who has the biggest influence on you
My grandma. She never went to college, but she was very supportive of me going to college and getting a higher education. I’m the first in my family to do it.
Her personality was always so positive, and her approach to life was very “can do.” Throughout her life, she figured out a way to solve problems creatively. I also had a couple of other mentors who have been important in my life, including Dr. James Stewart, an economics professor at Penn State, and a couple of previous bosses of mine who taught me the ropes.
After two decades living out west, Debra Fitzsimons returned to her western Pennsylvania roots when she was hired as IUP’s vice president for Administration and Finance.
A native of Mercer County, she left the Keystone State in 2001 for a job in California, which led to a position in 2007 on Hawaii’s “Big Island.” At the University of Hawaii at Hilo, part of her role as the vice chancellor of Administrative Affairs was to serve as an incident commander for emergencies. She didn’t get much time to get her feet wet in her new surroundings.
“My first week there we had an earthquake, a hurricane, and then a tsunami and major, major storms,” she said. “It was crazy.”
That experience prepared her well for her arrival at IUP, which came in December 2019. About three months after she began her new role, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and Fitzsimons had to help guide the university’s transition to online courses while simultaneously keeping the daily business going.
But that’s one of many roles she handles. She’s in charge of several facets of IUP, including human resources, facilities, police, and the budget. She enjoys the work, but during Pennsylvania winters she probably wishes she was back in Hawaii with her toes in the sand.
“I loved Hawaii,” she said. “The coffee was awesome, and the chocolate, too. I still miss the people there; it was just an outstanding experience and adventure.”
Get to know more about Debra Fitzsimons in this Q&A.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Did you ever see the 1960s TV show That Girl with Marlo Thomas? I always thought I’d be like her, working in the big city someday, among all the skyscrapers. I didn’t know what I’d be doing, but I wanted to be in the city. Later on, I knew I wanted to work in public administration in some way so I could make a difference, maybe for a nonprofit or in the government. In college, I majored in economics and then got my master’s in public administration, and that got my career going.
In a nutshell, what does the vice president for Administration and Finance at IUP do?
Basically, we ensure that IUP is financially healthy, that we operate effectively and efficiently, and that we provide good customer service to our students and to the rest of campus. We support all other areas on campus, in all aspects. If we do our jobs, people don’t know we are around.
What does a “normal day” look like for you?
There is never a normal day, and there never will be. But that’s what makes it so interesting. We’re putting out fires every day. Right now, we are preparing for weather changes and things like that, because our students are moving back this week. There is just a lot going on every single day, and we make sure things are moving along well.
What was it like living and working in Hawaii?
It was a wonderful experience. The University of Hawaii at Hilo is the fourth-most diverse university in the United States. That, by itself, was fantastic, because I got to work with all the different cultures and meet people from all backgrounds.
At our university, we had a focus on STEM. We had a research park. We had an astronomy center with a large telescope on top of Mauna Kea (an inactive volcano). There was also an aquaculture center, an education and research center, and an agriculture farm. For the students, the entire island was a living laboratory.
But it’s just so different working on an island. You can’t just travel to go somewhere. You’re on an island, surrounded by the ocean. In some ways, it was like living in another country.
If you could give students one piece of personal financial advice, what would it be?
For students at IUP, just take advantage of places like the Student Billing office and the Financial Aid office. They’re all there to help you, and the staff who work in those offices are wonderful, caring professionals.
But in general, time does pass quickly, so put money into a 401(k) or an annuity and keep your debt down. That’s easy to say, and sometimes taking out loans is the only way you can afford school, but do your best to try not to build up debt, because it can be hard to pay that off when you’re starting out after college.
What’s the best advice that anyone has ever given you?
One of my first supervisors in my career was a vice president at Youngstown State University. He taught me that you have to understand that in this type of work, problems come up all day long, and you have to just take a moment, take a breath, and find solutions. You can’t get stressed out, and you can’t make rash decisions. You have to be able to look at all options and solve problems in the best way possible. That’s something I tell myself even today.
My favorite quote is, “It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it, that matters.”