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After several years of high turnover and a 17-month search, Suffolk University appointed Marisa Kelly president, according to The Boston Globe.
Kelly became interim president of Suffolk in 2016 when former president Margaret McKenna was controversially ousted after about 12 months in the role.
Although Kelly was widely considered to be an effective interim, she was initially cut from the search process. Kelly was then reintroduced at the last minute and, despite some dissension, was approved first by a narrow margin and then a significant majority of board members, according to the Globe.
Suffolk is going through a difficult period, partially because it is a four-year private college that charges $55,000 for tuition and board, in Boston -- a city saturated with universities. Also, numbers of high school graduates are falling in the Northeast and families are struggling to pay for private postsecondary education, the Globe reported.
Before Kelly was reinstated as a candidate and then the new president, the board was considering two finalists: Patrick F. Leahy, president of Wilkes University; and H. Keith Moo-Young, former chancellor of Washington State University Tri-Cities.
In an interview with the Globe, Kelly said her plans for the college include advertising across the country, using Boston as a point of attraction. In addition, Kelly said she hopes to receive more financial support from alumni. During her 20-month tenure as interim, Kelly focused on fund-raising, accepting one alumni donation of $10 million -- the largest the college has received. Kelly also plans to improve the law school.
“We were coming out of a time of a lot of turmoil, and it was wonderful to see how much, irrespective of that, the entire community really just focused on our students,” Kelly told the Globe.
