News Release
posted on: Oct. 5, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Emailed: 10/5/07
Contact: Jane Kettering
563/333-6284
mediarelations@sau.edu
SISTER JOAN LESCINSKI INAUGURATED AS ST. AMBROSE UNIVERSITY’S 13TH PRESIDENT
DAVENPORT, Iowa—Today, St. Ambrose University formally inaugurated Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, as its 13th president in a ceremony in the Galvin Fine Arts Center on the St. Ambrose University campus.
St. Ambrose has installed a new president only once in the past 20 years, and Sister Lescinski assumes the leadership of St. Ambrose as its first woman president.
With the inaugural theme of “Enriching Lives: Our Heritage, Our Future,” Sister Lescinski invited the audience of nearly a thousand to accept a calling “to become more Ambrosian. … We must challenge ourselves to seek out more ways for the Catholic intellectual tradition, with its emphasis on peace, justice and the dignity of every individual, to pervade every fiber of our university life.”
Ambrosians around the world were able to experience the inauguration live via the Internet and on St. Ambrose’s television station, TV-11, and radio station, KALA.
“This is one of the most important celebrations for any college or university and a very exciting day for St. Ambrose,” says the Most Rev. Martin Amos, Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport and President of St. Ambrose’s Board of Directors. “We have a new leader, and while we celebrate our heritage, we also look forward to our future with great expectation. In Sister Joan we have found the person who will take us into that future with vision and integrity, a passion for higher education, a love for students and a desire to honor and grow our heritage of peace and social justice initiatives.”
The new president earned a doctorate in English literature from Brown University, Providence, R.I., and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in English literature from The College of Saint Rose, Albany, N.Y. Sister Lescinski holds certificates in Fund Raising Management and Educational Management from Indiana and Harvard universities, respectively. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis, Mo.
From 1998 to 2007, the 60-year-old Lescinski served as president of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, the oldest Catholic liberal arts women’s college in the country. She led the college, located in the town of the same name in Indiana, to record gains in enrollment, facilitated the development of institutional strategic and master plans, and introduced several undergraduate and two new graduate academic programs. During her tenure, the college invested $10million in campus facilities and experienced a significant increase in its number of donors. Sister Lescinski led the most ambitious capital campaign in SMWC’s history.
Among the positions Sister Lescinski held prior to assuming the SMWC presidency were vice president for academic affairs and dean at Fontbonne University, St. Louis, Mo., and associate dean of academic affairs at Avila University, Kansas City, Mo. Sister Lescinski has taught English at the college level since 1974.
Sister Lescinski is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Council of Independent Colleges Presidents’ Association, the Midwest Modern Language Association, and the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life. She has presented and published numerous papers and articles; has been an invited participant at the Oxford Roundtable and engaged in several consultations sponsored by the PEW Charitable Trusts; and currently serves on the board of trustees of the College of Saint Rose.
St. Ambrose University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport celebrating 125 years of enriching lives. Founded in 1882, St. Ambrose has a current enrollment of more than 3,800 students, offers more than 75 undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral programs, and maintains a 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio.
For more information, go to www.sau.edu/inauguration.
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