Following six years of “exemplary service to Indiana University of Pennsylvania,” Vice President for Administration and Finance Debra L. Fitzsimons has accepted the position of chief financial officer at Allegheny College in Meadville, IUP President Michael Driscoll said.
Fitzsimons’s last day at IUP will be February 7.
“Dr. Fitzsimons has been a valued member of my leadership team,” President Driscoll said.
“She has worked tirelessly as a key member of university leadership to bring this university through challenging times, including recommending and implementing some very hard decisions necessary to improve the financial health of our university. I am pleased that her new position allows her to be closer to her home in Conneaut Lake and hometown of Hermitage.”
A transition plan for the position will be announced as details are finalized.
In addition to her responsibility of oversight of campus facilities, Fitzsimons has led or codirected a number of important university initiatives that have or will greatly enhance the university’s physical plant and provide state-of-the-art resources for students, faculty, and staff, including the long-range facilities master plan, the long-range building project for the Academy of Culinary Arts, and opening IUP’s $90-million Dr. John J. and Char Kopchick Hall for science and mathematics, President Driscoll said.
“Just four months after she arrived at IUP, the COVID-19 pandemic hit our nation, requiring us to significantly redesign our course delivery and retool our health and safety precautions, an extremely challenging time for us all,” President Driscoll said. “Dr. Fitzsimons led the team that ensured all the necessary equipment and staff were in place to keep our university community as safe as possible,” he said. Fitzsimons then led the team responsible for managing the financial disbursements to students during and after the pandemic.
“As part of my commitment to engage the internal and external team in realizing the vision for IUP, she has successfully communicated financial information to all members of the university community in a user-friendly, clear, transparent manner that has significantly improved campus-wide understanding of these facts and issues,” President Driscoll said.
Following President Driscoll’s goal of ensuring a sustainable, thriving future for the university, Fitzsimons has recommended and then instituted many strategic cost-savings initiatives, including the summer and winter utilities savings program, and led important work to streamline processes and procedures to eliminate silos and create efficiencies.
“Her work and financial acumen also has been instrumental in our achievement of many milestones related to our ongoing work to open a college of osteopathic medicine,” President Driscoll said.
The University Budget Advisory Committee and the Tuition Model and Pricing workgroup, which she co-led, developed important recommendations resulting in increased affordability and access for students, all in accordance with the goals of the Strategic Plan and IUP’s focus of becoming a more student-centered university.
“In everything she has done, Dr. Fitzsimons has maintained a true commitment to student success, to shared governance, and to teamwork,” President Driscoll said. “I will miss her intelligence and keen understanding of finances, careful stewardship of resources, transparent communication, and ability to forecast challenges and opportunities.”
Fitzsimons, who joined the IUP community in December 2019, has more than three decades of experience as a higher education business and finance executive officer or chief financial officer at colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, and Hawaii. The institutions where she has worked had budgets ranging from $18 to $800 million, with enrollment from 900 to 65,000-plus students.
“IUP has been a wonderful experience,” Vice President Fitzsimons said. “I’ve enjoyed my time here and working with President Driscoll and his cabinet to advance the university. The people here are truly committed to student success, and I’m proud to have been part of the work of educating tomorrow’s leaders.”
Throughout her career, Fitzsimons has focused on improving business and financial areas to support the academic mission more seamlessly and fully, including developing processes to provide better, timely, and accurate financial information.
“I have also enjoyed being back ‘home' in western Pennsylvania,” she said. “There is absolutely something very special about western Pennsylvania, and Indiana and its people have been very welcoming,” she said.
Fitzsimons came to IUP after serving as vice chancellor of business services and chief financial officer and then as interim chancellor and chief executive officer at South Orange County Community College District, Mission Viejo, California.
Prior to South Orange, Fitzsimons was the vice chancellor of administrative affairs and chief financial officer at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
She was vice president and chief business officer at Southwestern Community College District, Chula Vista, California, and was chief business officer and dean of administrative affairs at Grossmont College in El Cajon, California.
She began her professional career at Youngstown State University, where she had several different roles, including executive director-business and financial affairs.
Fitzsimons is a current or past member of many professional organizations and boards and has authored a number of professional papers on topics in her field.
Her academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, a master of science in administration degree from Slippery Rock University, and a doctorate in education in administrative policy studies at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in policy, planning, and evaluation. Her dissertation studied taxpayer inequity in Pennsylvania.
While a doctoral student, she was selected for a Lilly Foundation doctoral fellowship and worked at the Learning Research and Development Center, specializing in education finance.