Mercyhurst University announced Tuesday, May 11, 2021, that the Board of Trustees has voted to name Kathleen A. Getz, Ph.D., the university’s 13th president. She will begin her tenure July 12, 2021.

Getz is a mission-driven servant leader with 18 years of senior experience in major business schools, including 10 years at Catholic universities. Since 2015, she has served as dean of the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University Maryland, a Jesuit Catholic institution whose business school is home to nearly 2,000 students, 55 full-time faculty, and 13 full-time staff. From 2011 to 2014, she was dean of the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago, one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States.

Previously, she was senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Kogod School of Business at American University from 2006 to 2011 and chair of the Department of Management from 1999 to 2002. She also served as a professor of management at all three institutions.

Getz is the recipient of many awards, including being named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women for 2018.

“After a robust national search that yielded a diverse and talented pool of candidates, Dr. Getz emerged as a passionate and accessible leader who we believe is ideally suited to lead Mercyhurst into the future,” said Interim President Joseph G. NeCastro. “Dr. Getz brings extensive experience in values-based education, business acumen, interdisciplinary collaboration, new program development, community engagement, innovation and entrepreneurship, fundraising, and diversity and inclusion.”

This marks the first time a woman has led Mercyhurst in nearly 50 years – since the 1963-1972 tenure of Sister Carolyn Herrmann, RSM, Ph.D., who was preceded in that role by six Sisters of Mercy, starting with Mother Borgia Egan, RSM, in the year of the university’s founding, 1926.

An enthusiastic and successful fundraiser, Getz raised nearly $80 million over 10 years at two different universities. She is experienced with capital campaigns, annual and planned giving, cultivation, stewardship, special projects, and other development/advancement efforts.

She has expertise in identifying new revenue streams, reducing overall costs, and redirecting resources to achieve better results. She is also known for her influence in bringing together diverse efforts and populations toward common goals, such as accreditation and implementing new curricula.

In terms of community engagement, Getz has been actively involved with the Results Baltimore Impact Network, a group of 150 Baltimore-area leaders committed to developing and implementing an effective response to Baltimore’s social and economic challenges. She also serves or has served on the boards of Conscious Ventures Lab, the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, Junior Achievement of Central Maryland, and St. Mary’s Seminary and University.

Getz earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from Gannon University, and a doctorate in Business Environment and Public Policy from the University of Pittsburgh.

She is quite familiar with Erie, where she and her husband, Gary, lived for several years. She worked as an assistant manager and retail lending officer at Mellon Bank from 1981 to 1986. She was also a member of the St. Patrick Parish Choir, and volunteered at St. Patrick’s Haven from 1989 to 1990.

Upon returning to Erie, she and her husband will be taking up residence at The Kern House on upper State St., which marks the first time the recently acquired presidential residence will actually be home to a Mercyhurst president. They are the parents of one grown son, Dietrich, who lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, with his wife, Dr. Christen Laughorn.

Getz’s selection was the result of an extensive search conducted over the past five months by an 18-member committee under the leadership of Trustees and co-chairs Stephen J. Fiedler and B. Scott Kern.  The committee included representation from the Sisters of Mercy, Trustees, alumni, students, faculty and staff, with guidance from nationally recognized search firm RH Perry & Associates.

Getz succeeds Michael T. Victor, who served as university president from 2015 until early 2021.

“I am confident that we have selected a strong new leader for the university, one who will preserve the tradition of excellence at Mercyhurst while advancing our efforts to innovate and thrive in today’s highly competitive higher education marketplace,” NeCastro said.

NeCastro will continue to serve as interim president until Getz begins her tenure. At that time, NeCastro will resume his position as chair of the university’s Board of Trustees.

ST. PAUL, Minn., April 21, 2021 – The Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities has named Sandra Kiddoo to serve as the next president of Northland Community and Technical College. The appointment will become effective July 1, 2021.

“Dr. Kiddoo’s leadership style is inclusive, transparent, and collaborative,” said Devinder Malhotra, chancellor of Minnesota Stat

e. “She has a strong track record of exploring new initiatives to provide the services and programs students and industry need for today and tomorrow. I am confident that Northland Community and Technical College will thrive under her leadership.”

Kiddoo is a senior level higher education professional with a record of success in college and state agency settings. She has advocated for the mission of community colleges, both as cost effective and high-quality options for students, and as integral to economic and workforce vitality.

Since 2018, she has served Hazard Community and Technical College (HCTC), a comprehensive community college offering both technical and transfer degree programs with an annual enrollment of over 3,000 students across three campuses and three additional locations. As the chief academic officer, her responsibilities include providing leadership for academic programming and developing and implementing a strategic academic master plan to ensure high quality programming and student success. Her accomplishments at HCTC include creating a long-term facility plan, obtaining $9 million in grant funding for a Manufacturing and Construction Center of Excellence, implementing the K-Tech competency-based youth apprenticeship model, and adding programs in manufacturing that will help diversify the regional economy.

Before joining HCTC, Kiddoo served from 2015 to 2018 as vice president of academics at Mid-State Technical College (WI), a member of the Wisconsin Technical College System with an annual enrollment of over 2,600 students across three campuses and one center. In this capacity, she led the academic programming, adult basic education, workforce and continued education, institutional research, accreditation, and grants functions of the college. Her accomplishments included developing and implementing strategic and educational master plans, increasing access for students through online delivery technologies, engaging innovative instructional technologies, increasing workforce development initiatives, and developing and implementing new associate degree programs.

Previously, she served the Wisconsin Technical College System from 2007 to 2015 initially as education director for transportation and electronics, and later as associate vice president of instruction, providing academic leadership throughout the system of 16 technical colleges.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a master’s from Capella University, and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kiddoo succeeds Dennis Bona who served as president of Northland from 2015 to 2020 and retired December 2020.

About Northland Community and Technical College
Northland Community and Technical College (Northland) is a comprehensive college with campuses in Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Northland also has an aerospace site in Thief River Falls and a satellite site in Roseau. The college offers certificates, diplomas, transfer courses, two-year degrees (A.A.S., A.S., A.A.) in more than 80 areas of study, workforce training, and education programs.

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Minnesota State includes 30 community and technical colleges and seven state universities serving approximately 340,000 students. It is the third-largest system of two-year colleges and four-year universities in the United States.