Donna Durno

Donna Durno is the Executive Director of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, a service agency that provides resources, instruction and education services for schools, families and communities through collaborative partnerships with local school districts, institutions of higher education, government agencies and foundations. Dr. Durno has over 30 years of educational experience and expertise.  After obtaining a B.S. degree at Seton Hill College with Magna Cum Laude status, she began her career as a home economics teacher and vocational advisor at Norwin School District.  Donna continued her schooling and obtained an M.Ed. in guidance and counseling from Indiana University of PA.  She was named Director of Federal Programs and designed and implemented the SOAR program for academically gifted secondary students.  During a leave from the district, Dr. Durno served as a graduate assistant and completed a Ph. D. in Educational Administration at the University of Pittsburgh.  She was appointed assistant superintendent at South Western School District in Hanover, PA and then was elected superintendent at the Mars Area School District in Mars, PA.  Her second superintendency was at the Susquehanna Township School District in Harrisburg, which she left in 1987 when she was named Commissioner for Basic Education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Prior to joining the AIU in 1999, Donna rounded out her career in K-12 education by establishing an independent consulting firm and finally accepting the position of senior vice president for Herald Colleges, Inc., a group of fifteen private, non-profit, regionally accredited junior colleges in California, Oregon and Hawaii.  In 2002, Dr. Durno received the University of Pittsburgh’s Distinguished Woman in Education Award from Tri-State Area School Study Council.