Rodney Allen Erickson (born 1946) is an American academic administrator who served as the 17th president of Pennsylvania State University from 2011 to 2014.
He has been part of the Penn State administration since 1995, when he was promoted to dean of the graduate school; in 1997 he was named vice president for research.
However, on November 17, 2011, the Board of Trustees removed the "interim" tag from Erickson's title and formally named him as Penn State's president.
Additionally, University of Virginia economist David Breneman believed it unlikely "anybody worth getting" would even consider the post if Penn State mounted a national search.
Terry Hartles of the American Council of Education believed that the move was necessary as the institution needed "stable, effective leadership" and not a year-long search for a successor.