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The Texas State University System Board of Regents confirmed the choice of Joseph Rallo ’71 earlier this month to be the fourth president of Angelo State University. Rallo, who was provost and academic vice president at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill., will assume presidential duties June 1.
Located in San Angelo, Texas, Angelo State is home to approximately 5,700 undergraduates, who can choose from over 100 majors in 41 academic programs. The university also offers 21 graduate programs and has about 450 graduate students.
“After eight years as a dean of business and four as provost and academic vice president, it is the logical next step to seek a presidency,” says Rallo, a history graduate. “At the same time, being the most ‘visible’ face of the institution is both exciting and humbling.”
Rallo has cultivated a lifelong passion for higher education and looks forward to steering an institution into the future.
“Clearly, public higher education faces challenges which start with funding but quickly move into questions such as how to best prepare our graduates for a global and ever-changing world,” he says. “My B.A. in history, combined with my J.D., M.A., and Ph.D., have allowed me to value the liberal arts, while also bringing a focus on professional training into the mix. I describe myself as being ‘inquisitive’ and ‘entrepreneurial,’ both traits which I believe will help me in my new position.”
Rallo earned his law degree in 1976 from Western New England College. He received both his M.A. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1978 and 1980, respectively. His academic interests include the politics of international trade and technology policy in the European Union.
He has 27 years of experience in higher education. Rallo was director of the Colorado Institute for Technology Transfer and Implementation from 2001-03; dean of the College and Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs from 1999-2003; and dean of business at Ferris State University in Michigan from 1995-99.
He recalls his undergraduate years as a time of great personal change and growth. His experience laid the foundation for a career in higher education.
“My time at Lafayette was probably a unique one,” Rallo says. “It provided a wonderful exposure to the world of ideas, and also made me feel that I was able to accomplish any dream for the future. When I started in 1967, we still dressed for dinner and reflected the very conservative approach of the entire nation. By junior year in 1969 – I attended Woodstock that summer – the world had changed quite dramatically. In looking back, it was not a particular experience which had an impact but rather the transformations during that entire four-year period.”
Rallo still believes in the mission of colleges and universities like Lafayette to impact their students in positive and productive ways.
“Institutions such as Lafayette College are intellectual gems, which prepare their graduates to be civically engaged, socially aware, and leaders in their chosen fields,” he says. “The opportunity to transform a student is nowhere more evident than in public higher education. We have the best job in the world – we are paid to think and to be around young people.”