Julie Sullivan, former executive vice president and provost of the University of San Diego, was named as the new president of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)
The University of St. Thomas broke from more than a century of tradition Thursday, Feb. 14, with the selection of the first woman and lay leader to be its president.
Julie Sullivan, 55, executive vice president and provost at the University of San Diego, will take the helm of the St. Paul-based Roman Catholic school this summer.
She was appointed by a unanimous vote of the university's 49-member Board of Trustees to replace the Rev. Dennis Dease.
Dease will retire in June after leading the school for nearly 22 years.
Sullivan comes to Minnesota's largest private higher education institution on the heels of a record-setting fundraising campaign and almost 25 percent student enrollment growth in a dozen years.
She is expected to face growing pressure to keep St. Thomas accessible to students, who now graduate with an average school debt of $30,000.
Sullivan said she will work to raise St. Thomas' profile as a locally and globally engaged institution true to both its Catholic identity and its strong liberal arts focus. Making the school more affordable will be on top of her to-do list.
Sullivan and university leaders played down the double departure from tradition her appointment represents. These days, most Catholic higher education institutions are led by laypeople, and more than a third have female presidents.
"Our charge was to find the best person for the job, and that's what we did," said John Morrison, a trustee and the head of the
presidential search committee. "She came up head and shoulders above everybody else."But others said the move was significant for St. Thomas, which serves 10,300 students on its campuses in the Twin Cities and Owatonna, Minn., as well as Rome.
"They are making the switch from a cleric to a layperson and the switch to a female president," said MaryAnn Baenninger, the Minnesota Private College Council board chairwoman who has led the Catholic College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph since 2004. "It's a historic moment for the University of St. Thomas."
Morrison said Sullivan's candidacy stood out among more than 50 total applications and 14 candidates the committee interviewed.
Sullivan has served as second-in-command at the University of San Diego, a Catholic institution, since 2005. She oversees all educational programs, technology, admissions, financial aid and more.
A graduate of the University of Florida, she taught at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. She is a well-known scholar and educator in accounting and taxation. She is also a mother of four grown children, including two adopted from Ethiopia.
"I have called Julie a star, and I have meant that very sincerely,"
Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Harry Flynn, left, greets the University of St. Thomas' new president Julie Sullivan, former executive vice president and provost of the University of San Diego, on Thursday, February 14, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)
said Dease as he introduced Sullivan at a Thursday press conference. "Her spirit, her authenticity and her mission-driven leadership will be an asset to the University of St. Thomas."In her application, Sullivan touted a slew of accomplishments that offer a glimpse at her priorities. On her watch, the San Diego school doubled the size of the faculty research grant program, added dozens of tenured faculty, launched an engineering school and increased minority enrollment.
But she said she was especially proud of the school's recent designation as a Changemaker Campus by the Arlington, Va., based nonprofit Ashoka, which supports social entrepreneurship around the world.
In a statement, University of San Diego President Mary Lyons praised Sullivan, including her work guiding the school through "the great fiscal crisis of 2008."
Sullivan pledged to be a leader attuned to the input of faculty, staff and students at the university.
"My aspiration for the University of St. Thomas is to be recognized regionally, nationally and internationally as the model Catholic university of our time," she said.
Sullivan takes over at a time of growing enrollment, the addition of several degree programs and the recent wrap-up of a capital campaign that brought in $515 million, a five-state record for a private college.
St. Thomas changed its bylaws in 2011 to allow a Roman Catholic layperson to assume the presidency. University leaders said they took the step in anticipation of Dease's retirement and in hopes of expanding the pool of strong candidates for his job.
Baenninger said lay leaders have been replacing clergy as top administrators of Catholic universities in Minnesota and beyond. Of the 17 members of the Minnesota Council of Private Colleges, three are led by women, and two of those are Catholic institutions.
According to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, such institutions are ahead of the curve nationally when it comes to female top leadership, as well. Among the 194 members of the association, almost 35 percent have female presidents, compared with about 26 percent of all colleges and universities.
Morrison said the committee liked that Sullivan comes from a Catholic college that's similar to St. Thomas in many ways.
With just more than 8,000 students, the University of San Diego is smaller than St. Thomas. It's also more diverse. Almost a third of students at the University of San Diego are minorities compared with about 14 percent of the St. Thomas student body.
The University of San Diego was thrust into the national spotlight late last year amid controversy over President Mary Lyons' decision to cancel an honorary visiting fellowship for a renowned British theologian. The theologian, Tina Beattie, had signed a statement in support of gay marriage.
Faculty members took a vote of no confidence in the president, arguing her decision infringed upon academic freedom.
As a nonvoting member of the faculty's University Senate, Sullivan found herself in the delicate position of mediating between the two sides.
Morrison said the controversy was a "minor disruption" that did not really factor in the committee's appraisal of Sullivan's candidacy.
Rose D'Acquisto, who graduated from St. Thomas in 1984 with one of its first coeducational classes, said she was thrilled to hear of Sullivan's appointment.
She said the university has come a long way since her time there. Back then, there was scarcely room in campus dorms for female students. A professor started his class by warning he wouldn't tolerate giggling and "silly business " -- a message clearly directed to the new female arrivals.
"I am really proud the university is taking this step in recognizing the value women have brought to the school," she said. "I believe she will inspire women who go to this college and hopefully men as well."
Mila Koumpilova can be reached at 651-228-2171. Follow her at twitter.com/MilaPiPress.
ABOUT JULIE SULLIVAN
Age: 55
Family: Husband Robert Sullivan is founding dean of the Rady School of Management at the University of California-San Diego; four grown children.
Hometown: Gainesville, Fla.
Alma mater: The University of Florida in Gainesville, where she got her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees
First job: Assistant professor of taxation at the University of Oklahoma
Most recent job: Executive vice president and provost at the University of San Diego
In her spare time: Exercise, travel, spending time with her family and their two puppies.
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