UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After four years as chair of the Penn State Board of Trustees, Matt Schuyler’s leadership term officially ends during the trustees’ meeting today (Nov. 8). Schuyler first joined the board in 2015 and will continue serving as a member of the board through the end of his term in 2026. During his four years as chair, Schuyler has led the board through the hiring of President Neeli Bendapudi, guided the University in making critical investments while simultaneously striving for — and achieving — a balanced budget, and advised Penn State’s president and senior leaders as higher education faces ongoing challenges.  

Penn State Today sat down with Schuyler to reflect on his term as chair. 

Q: Why did you want to serve on the board, not only as a trustee but as its chair? 

For me, this has always been about paying it forward. My experience as a Penn State student was life changing and made all the difference for my career and life trajectory, as is the case with so many alumni. Friends I made at Penn State remain my friends to this day. The company that I joined after I graduated was a springboard for the rest of my career, and I have Penn State to thank for that. For me, being involved with Penn State in the years since graduation has been a way of paying back all I’ve gained and achieved not only because of my undergraduate education but also for the significant and varied lived experiences that my career path has afforded me. In turn, I’ve been fortunate to apply my learnings and serve as a sounding board to guide and advise the administration as they look toward the future. Board service is, in my view, the pinnacle of paying it forward, given that trustees are charged with the ultimate responsibility of advancing the University while staying true to its mission, vision and values. 

Q: One of the board’s most important duties is hiring the Penn State president. Tell us a bit about the process and goals of the board as you sought to hire our current president, and how Neeli Bendapudi’s tenure has gone so far?  

The responsibilities of the board are many and varied, but probably nothing is more important than the selection, hiring, onboarding and managing the performance of the University president. In the shared governance model of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, we delegate the responsibilities to operate the institution to the management team — which includes the president, executive vice president and provost, and other senior leaders across the institution — and the responsibilities of pedagogy to the faculty. It is a critical responsibility to ensure we attract and retain the most exceptional talent, not only to effectively manage the University, but also to elevate it to new heights of excellence. 

During my term as chair, we had the unique opportunity to transition to a new president. We partnered with an esteemed search firm, we canvassed the University community to determine what skills and attributes were most necessary in the next president, and we spent many hours crafting a job description. We vetted that extensively with various groups of faculty, staff and students; refined the selection criteria; and applied it against the 400 initial candidates in the pool. That large candidate pool was ultimately narrowed down to a slate of world-class finalists. The decision to hire Dr. Bendapudi was a collaborative and very rigorous process. I have many decades of career experience with executive recruitment, and I can say with great confidence that this was by far the most extensive process I’ve experienced.  

The selection and hiring of Dr. Bendapudi is the ultimate outcome of a great process. She’s fantastic; I think she’s the best president of any university in the country today. Two years into her tenure, we are seeing the positive effects of her leadership across the University, and she always keeps students at the heart of every decision as she works to position Penn State for the future. At a time when higher education is facing significant challenges nationally, I’m fully confident that Dr. Bendapudi is the right person to lead this institution — and she has hired an exceptional leadership team for her administration to support this effort. 

Q: You briefly mentioned the future of higher education and the challenges institutions are facing. Can you elaborate on how Penn State is addressing these challenges? 

Reflecting on nearly nine years of service on the board and four years as chair, I believe this period represents the most profound transformation that higher education has ever experienced. As trustees, we stay informed on developments in higher education and dedicate considerable time to benchmarking against other institutions and applying best practices. The value proposition of higher education is under great scrutiny, and tectonic shifts are reshaping the landscape. With advancements in technology and the sudden shift to virtual learning during the pandemic, students are now learning things much earlier in their academic careers and there is a new hybrid approach to how they are learning. The way we learn has changed.  

Penn State has done a fantastic job of positioning itself for this change, and I credit Penn State's outstanding faculty and staff for fostering an environment that supports student success now and into the future. However, our work is far from complete; there is still further transformation required to make certain we can continue to lead and excel in the future. How faculty teach and conduct research must continue to evolve; how students learn and consume information must continue to evolve; how we use technology and platforms to convey information must continue to evolve — and we need to be ready for that. The changes that have occurred since COVID showcase the ways in which we are positioning ourselves for the future of higher education. Our vision includes the Commonwealth Campuses, which are continuing to evolve to meet the moment of this great change as well, while aligning with Penn State’s mission as a land-grant institution, which is to deliver quality education to the citizens of Pennsylvania. 

Q: Higher education in general is facing financial challenges as well. Why was balancing Penn State’s budget such a priority for the institution and the Board of Trustees over the last two years? 

Penn State, as a state-related university in Pennsylvania, relies on funding from the Commonwealth for part of its budgets. The reality is that state appropriations, which we are certainly grateful for, have remained flat while costs are rising all around us. Across the nation health care costs are going up, in some places by 40%, and food and dining services are also increasing, some by 50%. This impacts all industries, including higher education. The rising operating costs of essential services to run a $10 billion, large institution certainly impacts our ability to allocate resources effectively while minimizing the financial pressures for our students and their families.  

All universities are navigating a challenging post-pandemic budget environment, not just Penn State. It’s been a huge challenge. However, with challenges comes great opportunity. It has required us to be very strategic about how we are achieving our revenues and how we are spending our revenues. We had to simultaneously look deeply into the cost structure of the University and figure out what the right level of tuition had to be during those especially challenging recent years. Considering the significant increases in expenses, the University has done an exceptional job of managing cost structures in the midst of so much change. They have balanced sources of revenue and uses of that revenue over the last several years to the point where we’re going to achieve a balanced budget earlier than anticipated.  

But this is a never-ending type of endeavor, in that you’re never done managing your revenues or expenses. As I mentioned earlier, the way education is delivered is going to have to evolve and that will require sensible investments. Also, the distribution of that education is going to require tradeoffs over time, and I think the University is well positioned to consider those as time goes on.  

Q: You mentioned “sensible investments.” That’s a good segue into strategic spending in areas of priority, including new or renovated facilities over the last several years. How do you balance investments in facilities that support Penn State’s academic and research mission while simultaneously managing the budget? 

I look at it as a fairly simple equation: In order to attract and retain exceptional faculty and staff committed to providing our students with a world-class education, it is essential to create an optimal environment in which to teach, work and learn. Central to this is fostering a top-tier research enterprise and providing access to state-of-the-art facilities that empower our renowned faculty to excel in their fields and drive innovation. Additionally, it’s about providing our students with a unique and transformative experience inside and outside the classroom.  

I’m proud to say we’ve been focused on making critical investments relative to having the best facilities for our students, faculty and staff. There are no better examples of that than some of the recent ribbon cuttings I’ve had the honor of attending — for example the West Campus expansion at University Park. Our engineering buildings were becoming outdated — and that’s putting it mildly for some of them. This significant investment in the platform for research and teaching in engineering will continue to help Penn State deliver a world-class engineering pedagogy, a world-class engineering faculty and a world-class engineering program for students. That’s just one example of many. You can go down the roster of investments that the University has made over the last 10 years and point directly to a correlation of having the best so that we can attract and retain the best.  

That’s true not only in academics, but as it relates to investments in facilities for athletics, research, housing and common areas. Penn State is a world-class education and research institution, and I think we can point to our facilities investments and say that we intend to maintain that status for decades to come.  

Q: You touched on athletics. During your tenure as chair, the board approved investments to revitalize Beaver Stadium and to expand other athletic facilities. Tell us about the lens the board uses when investing in athletics in general, and particularly its facilities.  

We use the same lens that we do for research, academic and residential facilities. We have some of the best student-athletes in the nation, more than 800 of them. They deserve to have the best facilities to train and compete. Simply put, some of our facilities are very dated and need either a refresh or total reconstruction. We use the same approach that we apply when considering the University’s nonathletic facilities: To attract the best and retain the best, you must have the best environment.  

Penn State has one of the best and largest intercollegiate athletic programs in the nation, and it has one of the best fan bases. However, some of our athletics facilities are subpar. Soccer is one example — currently both men's and women's programs are housed in Rec Hall and are transported by bus to Jeffrey Field on game day. But we are committing to investing in a new soccer operations facility with onsite locker rooms, stadium renovation, parking and an entry plaza to enhance the student-athlete and fan experience. Athletics has a strong history of smart investments, both through philanthropy and the self-sustaining model of Intercollegiate Athletics — meaning the athletic department does not receive any state or University funding for its annual operating expenses. The program invests in itself to maintain the best facilities, which can be seen in the recent past with the Pegula Ice Arena and Panzer Stadium and newer investments in the Greenberg Indoor Sports Center to add a training table and wellness center that will serve all student-athletes. And the modernization of Beaver Stadium, which is in many ways the central revenue-generating engine for all of our athletic endeavors, will pay dividends for decades to come as it will continue to fuel all of Penn State’s athletic programs. Investment in our intercollegiate athletic programs has proven to provide a great return – collectively they  transform the fan and community experience, drive local and state economies, and serve as a place to bring Penn Staters together — from attracting prospective students and their families  to being a place where fans and alumni can gather in the shared experience of cheering on our student-athletes. It is a banner of “We Are!” 

Q: As you look at the board operations, can you describe why the board recently revised its structure and bylaws as a result of its recent self-assessment? How those changes designed to position the board for the future? 

That’s the bottom line: The idea was to position the board for the future and support our administration as we collectively work to position the institution to be as successful as possible. We closely examined our existing bylaws and determined they were outdated. The process started two years ago with a self-assessment during our annual board retreat, after which a working group was formed. In consultation with an outside expert, the group studied best practices for boards and took on the challenge of reviewing our governance and committee structure and our bylaws to see where refinements could be made. The needed changes were in some ways tactical, in terms of updating language used or evolving protocols for how we govern to make our meetings more effective and efficient, and in some ways strategic, removing details that weren’t necessary for governance so that we, as a self-governing board, can focus even more on the areas that matter most. That working group spent the bulk of a year reviewing and discussing the board structure and bylaws. They ultimately recommended to modernize the board’s committee structure to enhance those committees — including putting more focus on student success and research and technology, which previously weren’t a focus of board governance, as well as retaining a subcommittee on risk that is designated to identify, understand and mitigate risks to the institution. The streamlined board structure and updated bylaws were the outcome of cross-board collaboration to reshape how the board continues its focus on strategic support for and oversight of the University.  

Q: As you reflect back on your time as board chair, what makes you the proudest? 

So many areas, but I will focus on two specifically. One is absolutely hiring Neeli Bendapudi, who is just a dynamo and will take Penn State to places that we’ve only dreamed of in terms of next-level performance. She’s building off all the past progress the University has made and it’s a joy to watch that unfold as she builds a team around her to do what we ultimately aim to do as a board: ensure that Penn State is the best it can be.  

The other is the increased engagement that trustees have had with students. We've had many opportunities to interact with students and learn about their success as a result of their Penn State education and experience. We learn from them. We get energy from them. We are humbled by their examples. In many ways, their success is what drives us, inspires us and motivates us as trustees in our work to preserve Penn State’s status as a world-class institution for generations to come.