Biography
Tina Q. Richardson joined Penn State in July 2015 as chancellor of the Lehigh Valley campus and has focused on strategic priorities related to the academic portfolio, enrollment growth and retention, and campus infrastructure. She has been a passionate champion of innovative initiatives including LaunchBox, Invent Penn State and diverse, inclusive, and equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems both locally and University-wide. She founded Lehigh Valley LaunchBox Ladies Council which engages, empowers and supports women entrepreneurs through programming, mentoring and networking. Her most notable achievements in this role are spearheading DEIB initiatives, a $16 million campus expansion, and collective impact partnerships resulting in significant fundraising opportunities.
Richardson came to Penn State Lehigh Valley from Drexel University, where she served as associate dean of academic affairs for the School of Education. She also served as director of the University’s Assisted School Initiative to improve K-12 public education in West Philadelphia’s Promise Zone which included multi-millions fundraising for in- and -out-of-school time programming. During her tenure, she founded the lecture series Critical Conversations in Urban Education.
Prior to Drexel, Dr. Richardson was a professor at Lehigh University’s College of Education for 20 years. She was a director of Lehigh’s counseling psychology Ph.D. program and special assistant to the provost for a National Science Foundation-funded leadership initiative for women faculty in STEM disciplines.
She completed several fellowships and leadership programs including the Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship, the American Council on Education Fellowship and their Institute for New Presidents, and the Black Executive Leadership Program. She has completed and directed the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Institute, was a fellow at the SUNY Global Center for Collaborative Online International Learning initiative, and a Fulbright Hayes Scholar in Ghana, West Africa.
She serves on numerous community boards and has received multiple awards including the 2020 Circle of Excellence award from Lehigh Valley Business, named to the Lehigh Valley’s Power 30 Higher Ed List in April 2022, and a 2023 Vision and Leadership award from Drexel University for her establishment of CCUE: Critical Conversations in Urban Education.
Richardson earned her bachelor’s in psychology, and master’s and doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland.
Richardson’s personal interests include basketball, golf, matting and framing art, racquetball, and Tai chi.