Youngstown State University voted unanimously on Monday to name alumna and longtime professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania as its new Interim President.

Dr. Helen Lafferty graduated from YSU and is a global member of the YSU Board of Trustees and is set to serve as the university's new Interim President once current President, Jim Tressel leaves at the end of January of 2023.

"It's always nice when people have an understanding of the area where they;re going to be coming to work, the people, the culture, and so forth," said YSU Trustee Dr. John Jakubec.

Lafferty has been an administrator and faculty member at Villanova University just outside of Philadelphia PA for nearly four decades. She plans to take a period of paid leave from Villanova to assume the position of Interim President.

During her time at Villanova University, Lefferty has served as Academic Counselor in the University Counseling Center, Assistant and Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and the First University Vice President, a position she's held for 16 years.

Other leadership duties include Chair of the Academic Standing Committee, Chair of the University Council for Information Technology, Chair of the Senior Leadership Committee, Chair of the Villanova Quality Improvement Council and Chair of the Presidential Task Force for Student Engagement/Innovative Team.

Lefferty was also president of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

She's currently a professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences and is a full-time faculty member at the Department of Education and Counseling.

She will also resign her position as a national and global member of the YSU Board of Trustees, which she's been appointed to in 2020. 

Final terms of Lafferty's appointment will be approved at the board's next meeting in December. 

She will be sabbatical from her position at Villanova and return there once YSU finds a replacement as the new president of YSU.

The vote by board members present and present through the internet was unanimous.

"I think the transition will be a quick transition. She knows the issues we are facing, and so forth. She knows what our issues are in higher education, she knows ours specifically," Trustee Jakubec added.