The search to find Marywood’s 13th president is officially underway. Last semester, Sister Mary Persico IHM, ED.D announced she would be retiring effective June 2024.

The search process includes an outside search firm, Hyatt-Fennell, and a Marywood search committee including the board of trustees, faculty senate president Dr. Ann Cerminaro-Constanzi, two other faculty members and Student Government Association President Ian Kovatch

The committee will meet on Feb. 15 to begin looking over candidates. The committee hopes to conduct over-the-phone interviews around the first week of March, with campus interviews following for the finalists between the end of March and early April.

Constanzi said the committee seeks candidates with strong leadership, creativity, innovation and also inspirational impact to the community.

In addition to inspiration, another very valuable quality to the committee is care for the mission of Marywood.

“Someone who really understands the mission of Marywood, I think also is an extremely important quality, someone that embraces that mission, that understands the mission, that doesn’t want to see the university stray too far from or stray far at all from the mission of the university since its founding.” Costanzi said.

When asked about a possible IHM successor, Constanzi explained how the search is open to anyone in higher education and also to the IHM sisters as well. To uphold the confidentiality of the candidates, she could not disclose whether any IHM sisters have applied.

The search profile from the outside search firm Hyatt-Fennell does not include any mention of prioritizing an IHM candidate but does state, “The new President will be a Catholic who has respect for the charism and mission of the University’s founders and sponsors, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton PA, and will embrace the vision and core values of Marywood University.”

President of the Student Government Association Ian Kovatch was not authorized to provide details about the search process but acknowledged the weight of the search committee’s decision.

“It is surely a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure to choose not only the president of a university, but also somebody to fill such big shoes that Sister Mary will be leaving behind. I am honored to be the student representative that speaks on behalf of the student body, and it makes me so proud to do so.” said Kovatch.

Although there is only one student sitting on the search committee, Constanzi encourages all students to be as involved as they can in this process.

“Their views matter and their voice matters, and they would have a chance to ask questions, to talk about what they feel is an important aspect of a candidate for president of the university because you all are invested just as much as we are.” emphasized Constanzi.

The search committee is considered a recommending body, meaning that they will recommend finalists to the board of trustees for final approval.

Contact the writer: [email protected]