University President Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., will step down at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year. Father Quinn stated that he came to the decision to resign as Scranton’s 25th president after careful thought and prayer, discerning that “both for the University and for me the time is right for a change.”
“In making this decision, I am filled with gratitude to the Scranton community — trustees, faculty, administrators, staff, parents, friends, alumni and students — for all that we have accomplished to advance our mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education in the 21st century,” he said in a campus communication.
Over the past five years of Father Quinn’s presidency, Scranton enjoyed national recognition for the value and quality of the education it provides to students, saw its applications grow to record numbers and enrolled some of the largest classes in its history. Academic programs expanded to include a second doctoral program — the Doctor of Nursing Practice — and new five-year bachelor’s and master’s programs. Campus improvements included the acquisition and renovation of Louis Stanley Brown Hall, the completion of the Loyola Science Center, the construction of Edward R. Leahy Jr. Hall, and, through a unique collaboration with outside partners, the renovation of the historic Madison School into an early childhood learning center and graduate housing.
Lawrence R. Lynch ’81, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, said in a letter to the campus community that the Board had accepted Father Quinn’s resignation “with gratitude for his many accomplishments and devoted service.” In addition to noting many academic, philanthropic, administrative and strategic accomplishments, such as the development and adoption of Scranton’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan “that is uniquely focused on the student experience,” Lynch cited some of the social justice and spiritual initiatives begun by Father Quinn.
The Board will form a committee to conduct a national search for a new president and will make the “search process as inclusive as possible, within the necessary limits of confidentiality.”
Read the full article, here.
