LOCK HAVEN — Former Lock Haven University president Dr. Robert Pignatello is one of five finalists for the presidency at a Massachusetts university.

Pignatello left his position at LHU in February, taking on a role of Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Integration Strategy with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

PASSHE Chancellor Daniel Greenstein proposed the integration of Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield universities last year, a move that has been contested by multiple members of the LHU community as well as Lock Haven City Council and the Clinton County Commissioners.

PASSHE’s board of governors is expected to vote on the proposed integration later this month.

Pignatello is being considered for the presidency at Westfield State University. He and four others took part in two-day interviews with the campus’s community from April 5 to 21.

Other finalists are Kristin Esterberg, Ph.D., president, SUNY College at Potsdam; Darrell Kruger, Ph.D., professor of geography and former provost, Appalachian State University; Dione Somerville, Ed.D., executive vice president, Hawkeye Community College, Iowa; and Linda Thompson, DrPH, dean, College of Nursing and Health Science, University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Pignatello served as LHU’s president for three years, first taking on the role in 2018. He was later replaced by interim president Dr. Bashar Hanna. Hanna serves as president of Bloomsburg University.

Meanwhile, Westfield State will announce the appointment of its president in May.