Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson

Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson is an American academic administrator who was the founding president of Pennsylvania Western University from 2022 to 2023.

Pehrsson graduated from the University at Albany, SUNY.^[1] She earned master's degrees in counseling and education and a D.Ed. in counselor education and counseling from Idaho State University.^[2] Her 1991 dissertation was titled, Representational Theory of Play Therapy: The Development of a Theoretical Framework.^[3] Virginia B. Allen was her doctoral advisor.^[3]

In 1991, Pehrsson became a clinical supervisor for counselor education at Idaho State University.^[1] She was a faculty member at Oregon State University and Sam Houston State University.^[1] She was an associate dean of the college of education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.^[2] She worked as dean of the college of education and human services at Central Michigan University.^[2] In 2018, she joined the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education as the president of Clarion University.^[2] She became the interim president of Edinboro University in December 2020 and of California University of Pennsylvania in July 2021.^[4] She served as president of the merger of three universities which unified as Pennsylvania Western University on July 1, 2022.^[2][4] On July 1, 2023, she resigned to serve as the president-in-resident and CEO of PennWest Investment with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.^[5]