President Charles E. Patterson, PhD

President Charles E. Patterson has dedicated nearly two decades to the advancement of higher education. He arrived at Shippensburg University on June 30, 2021 and served as interim president until his appointment as the 18th president on May 6, 2022. 

Before coming to Shippensburg University, Patterson served as president of Mansfield University and as the senior advisor for executive outreach at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal and Student Aid. At the U.S. Department of Education, he was responsible for the development and execution of outreach and engagement efforts with higher education executives (presidents, chancellors, and CEOs) and stakeholder organizations, focusing on university and higher education finance and the protection of student borrowers across all Title IV eligible institutions.

Patterson served for nearly a decade within the University System of Georgia, including serving as the interim president of Georgia Southwestern State University from 2015 to 2017, the home institution for the internationally recognized Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving and a strong regional economic driver for Southwest Georgia. Prior to becoming the interim president, he served as an administrator at Georgia Southern University from 2008 to 2015 and rose through the ranks to serve as the university’s vice president, Research and Economic Development, chairman and executive director of the university’s Research and Service Foundation, Inc., and dean of the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies. Patterson was responsible for strategically growing the research and scholarly enterprise, identifying, and forming partnerships with federal, state, and regional entities, and advancing the university’s research aspirations.

Patterson began his career in higher education in 2003 as an instructor in the Honors College and research administrator at Baylor University. At Baylor, he led the operations and management of the university’s sponsored programs functions, including pursuit of grants/contracts, pre- and post-award administration, liaison with academic and administrative units of the university, research policy development and implementation, and the development of new collaborative opportunities with industry, academic, and government organizations.

He is a board member for the Center for Rural Pennsylvania - a bipartisan, agency of the PA General Assembly, the presidential liaison to the State System’s Board of Governors’ University Success Committee, a member of Pennsylvania’s Chamber of Commerce, and serves on several committees that aim to unite the needs of the university and the Shippensburg community.

Patterson earned a PhD in biochemistry and molecular bioscience from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2002. He graduated in 1993 from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry.

He is married to Colleen Patterson. They have a son, Aidan Patterson, who is a sophomore at Shippensburg University.