University of Nebraska administrator will be next president at Indiana (Pa.)

HARRISBURG (AP) -- A University of Nebraska administrator was chosen Tuesday to become the next president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education officials said.
Derek J. Hodgson, vice chancellor for academic affairs at the university in Omaha, was selected by the executive committee of the system's governing board, and his appointment is effective Aug 15.
He will succeed Lawrence K. Pettit, who is retiring after serving 11 years as president.
Hodgson began his academic career in 1969 as an assistant chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he taught for 18 years.
He was named vice chancellor at Nebraska in 1998, after serving for four years as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Mississippi State University.
Hodgson was one of three finalists for the job. One of the others, University of North Dakota President Charles Kupchella, withdrew from consideration Monday.
The other finalist was Aaron Podolefsky, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
Hodgson earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Harvard University, as well as a master's degree in chemistry and a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry from Northwestern University.
Indiana is the largest of the 14 universities that make up the state system, with more than 13,000 full-time and part-time students.