In a 6-2 vote, the Haverford Township Board of School Directors selected college administrator Kimberly Allen-Stuck as the newest member of the school board on Thursday night.

Allen-Stuck, the director of student success at St. Joseph’s University, will replace Maxine Murdoch, who last month submitted her resignation, effective July 10, 2012, because she was moving to Kentucky.

School board members are normally chosen through a public election, but because it is not an election year for the board, the board was charged with appointing a candidate to fill Murdoch’s seat.

Township residents who were interested in serving on the board were invited to submit their resumes to the board for review.

School Board President Denis Gray said the board received resumes from five people.

“Everyone is a quality candidate,” Gray said.

The five candidates were Allen-Stuck, who holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Pennsylvania; Stella Thorogood, who holds a Ph.D. in biology; John Bogan, an attorney; Robert Stokes, a college professor who holds a Ph.D. in planning and public policy; and Jack Stollsteimer, an attorney, Gray told the Haverford-Havertown Patch after the meeting.

When Gray called for nominations, school board member Patricia Giambuzzi nominated Allen-Stuck and James E. Goldschmidt nominated Bogan.

After nominations, the board voted.

Allen-Stuck won the appointment with six votes from board members Coleen Bennett, Russell Bilotta, Larry Feinberg, Giambuzzi, Philip Hopkins, and Gray.

Bogan received two votes from board members Goldschmidt and
Joseph Martin.

“I want to thank and congratulate Dr. Stuck,” Gray said.

Allen-Stuck has spent the past 13 years working at St. Joseph’s University and currently serves as the school’s director of student success, Gray told Patch.

A mother of two children at Lynnewood Elementary School in Havertown, Allen-Stuck is active in Lynnewood’s PTO, coaches soccer and softball in Haverford Township, and teaches Sunday school at St. Faith Episcopal Church in Havertown, Gray explained to Patch.