Dr. Katia Passerini, Ph.D., provost and senior executive vice president at Seton Hall, will be leaving the university to assume the role of president at Gonzaga University.
Dr. Passerini joined SHU in June 2020 to serve in her current role. She also assumed the university’s president role in an interim capacity from 2023 to 2024 following then-president Dr. Joseph Nyre’s resignation.
In an email to the university community sent on Wednesday, Jan. 15, SHU’s current president, Msgr. Joseph Reilly, revealed that Dr. Passerini’s last day as provost and senior EVP will be June 30 of this year.
As for who will take her place, Msgr. Reilly said that he would work with members of the executive cabinet to “ensure a smooth leadership transition in Academic Affairs and launch a comprehensive search for the next full-time provost.”
According to Msgr. Reilly, Dr. Passerini led the Seeds of Innovation administrative restructuring plan at SHU, established several degree programs and partnerships for Academic Affairs, and placed a heavy emphasis on the importance of international education.
Gonzaga’s choice to appoint Dr. Passerini as their new president is historic for the Jesuit university. Passerini will not only be the school’s 27th president but also the first woman to hold the position, according to The Spokesman-Review. She takes the reins from the retiring Thayne McCulloh, who will have served 16 years as Gonzaga’s first non-clergy president by the end of his tenure.
Dr. Passerini has also held positions at St. John’s University, where she was chair and dean of the College of Professional Studies and a professor in the Division of Computer Science, Mathematics and Science, and at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), her profile says.
Gonzaga’s website has more information and a video introducing Dr. Passerini as the university’s new president.
Jacqueline Litowinsky is the head editor for The Setonian’s News section. She can be reached at jacqueline.litowinsky@student.shu.edu.
