Education Secretary Leaving To Assume PA College Presidency

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania's Education Secretary is resigning and will be new president of Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster starting in October.

The current Deputy Secretary of Postsecondary and Higher Education will step into Pedro Rivera's position on Oct. 1.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced this week he would nominate Noe Ortega to replace Rivera, who will continue to serve as education secretary until October.

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology approved Rivera's appointment as president on Aug. 4. Outgoing president William Griscom retired in January after serving 23 years in the position.

Gov. Tom Wolf said it was under Rivera's tenure that Pennsylvania adopted the basic education funding formula, the Future Ready PA Index, an innovative school measuring tool for communities to evaluate how their schools are performing, and implemented a school improvement strategy to provide struggling schools with resources and guidance to help them develop plans responsive to local conditions and needs.

Wolf said Rivera's leadership has been critical during the commonwealth’s response to COVID-19.

"The relationships he cultivated with education stakeholders during his tenure have strengthened the ties between state and local partners and allowed local schools to inform state education policy.”

Incoming education secretary Ortega has a record of advocating for equity and access for all students. Before joining PDE in 2017, Ortega spent eight years at the University of Michigan (U-M), where he was the Assistant Director and Senior Research Associate at the National Center for Institutional Diversity and the Managing Director for the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good.