The new chancellor of the 110,000-student Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, John Cavanaugh, will be moving from the presidency at the 10,400-student University of West Florida.

John Cavanaugh

"It's bigger, but only in the aggregate," said Dr. Cavanaugh, who was appointed yesterday and will start his new job on July 1. "You will interact with students one student at a time. The learning occurs at the individual level. All that's different is the scale."

Dr. Cavanaugh, 54, will replace Judy Hample, who will become president of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., in July after serving for nearly seven years as chancellor.

Dr. Cavanaugh will be the third chancellor in the 25-year history of the system, which covers the 14 state-owned universities, including California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities.

His salary was not immediately determined. The system pays Dr. Hample an annual salary of $327,718.

Dr. Cavanaugh called the Pennsylvania system "one of the top public higher education systems in the country."

For the last six years, he has been president of the University of West Florida, which is part of the State University System of Florida and has campuses in Pensacola and along the Emerald Coast of Northwest Florida.