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Thursday, February 23, 2006

On the state of Jesuit Education

Rockhurst University, a Jesuit university in Kansas City, is in the process of looking for a new president. Here are their candidates according to e-mails sent out:

Richard H. Owens, Ph.D., professor of history, West Liberty State College, West Liberty, W.V.: Dr. Owens earned a B.A. in history from Manhattan College, an M.A. in U.S. history from Old Dominion University and a Ph.D. in U.S. diplomacy from the University of Maryland. Dr. Owens served as president of West Liberty State College from 2001 to 2005 and as president of Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, from 1996 to 2001.

Ronald A. Slepitza, Ph.D., vice president for student development and special counsel to the president for strategic planning, Xavier University: Dr. Slepitza earned a B.A. in psychology from St. Vincent's College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in counseling and student personnel administration from the University of Maryland. Prior to joining Xavier, Dr. Slepitza served as associate vice president for student services at Creighton University.

Rev. Thomas B. Curran, O.S.F.S. Fr. Curran is associate vice president for university relations and assistant to the president at Regis University, Denver. Fr. Curran is an ordained Roman Catholic priest and is a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, known as the Salesian order. He earned a B.A. in politics from DeSales University, an M.A. in theology from DeSales School of Theology, an M.A. in liberal studies, public policy and government from Georgetown University, a J.D. from the Catholic University of America and an M.B.A. from St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia. Before joining Regis, Fr. Curran served as founder and executive director of Nativity Preparatory School in Wilmington, Del.; president of Salesianum School in Wilmington; and president of Northeast Catholic High School for Boys, Philadelphia.


Not one is a Jesuit and one of the candidates doesn't appear to have any connections at all to Jesuit education. Is this another sign that the Jesuits are having trouble finding qualified members of their order to run their universities? Apparently it is -

The search garnered 60 applications. Nine were chosen as candidates, and two of them were Jesuits.

“We all knew going in that there is a limited list of Jesuits available,” said Thomas McCullough, president of the Rockhurst board of trustees.

According to the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, there often is not a Jesuit available who has the experience to lead a college.[source]

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps they should choose a T.O.R? Just a thought...

12:43 PM  
Blogger Jasper John R. said...

Thanks for bringing news of a fellow Jasper to our attention. I'll cite him in my alumni ezine with a link back to you of course. (In case, it's wrong.) I'm sure that he'll do a fine job even if he is not of the right ilk. Isnt' sucess more important than "breeding"? IMHO

9:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For Rockhurst's sake, they'd better not select Owens. His track record (fired from two college presidencies for incompetence) is not impressive.

3:17 PM  

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