Robert M. Dixon has been chosen to serve as interim provost and vice president of academic affairs at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. For the past two years, Dr. Dixon has served as interim vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He is the former provost and vice president for academic affairs at Grambling State University in Louisiana and the former dean of the School of Science at Hampton University in Virginia.
Cheyney has seen enrollments decline by 50 percent since 2009. This has resulted in serious financial problems for the university. A little more than a year ago the auditor general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued a report that concluded that “the future of historic Cheyney University is bleak and projected to worsen, unless drastic action is taken at the state level to address escalating debt, falling revenues, and declining enrollments.” With Pennsylvania operating without a budget for the past year with a Republican-controlled legislature at odds with Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, there has been no additional government assistance for Cheyney University.
Dr. Dixon stated that “I hope to increase enrollment, increase the revenue stream, and bring in new programs that will resonate with the interests and the needs of the larger society.”
Dr. Dixon is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he majored in physics and mathematics. He holds a master’s degree in nuclear physics from Rutgers University in New Jersey and a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Maryland.
