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Marymount hires new president

Zoey Maraist | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

Irma Becerra will serve as the seventh president of Marymount University in Arlington. COURTESY

CROP_Dr-Irma-Becerra_Horizontal.jpg

This story has been updated.

After a monthslong search, Marymount University in Arlington has named
Irma Becerra to be its seventh president.

“I take this opportunity to congratulate Dr.
Irma Becerra on being selected to serve as the seventh president of Marymount
University,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge in a statement released May 3. “This
is an exciting and historic announcement in the history of Marymount University
and Dr. Becerra will surely build upon the great work and incredible progress
made under the leadership of Dr. Matthew Shank.

 

“In my time as Bishop of the Diocese of
Arlington, I have continued to learn about and appreciate Marymount’s
commitment to educating the whole person, which Marymount appropriately
recognizes in their mission as being the ‘intellectual, ethical and spiritual’
needs of the individual,” Bishop Burbidge said. “I look forward to working with
Dr. Becerra to ensure a stable foundation for the university’s Catholic
identity and fidelity to the Magisterium, as these are hallmarks of every
authentically Catholic university and learning environment. Rooted in Our
Lord’s mercy, love and compassion, may Dr. Becerra and all of the students,
faculty and staff of Marymount University enjoy a prosperous future now, and
always.” 

“The university warmly welcomes Dr. Irma Becerra,” said Matthew
Shank, the school’s current president, who announced his retirement in
November. “Marymount has such a historically important role in higher
education, particularly as the first Catholic college established in Virginia.
The university will be in good hands.”

Becerra currently serves as the provost and chief academic
officer at St. Thomas University, a Catholic college in Miami, and will take
over as Marymount’s president this summer.

“In all measures, Dr. Becerra rose to the top in our national
search for the next president to lead Marymount,” said Edward Bersoff, chairman
of the board of trustees and head of the search committee.

“She understands the need for Catholic higher education, she is
committed to it and will ensure that the mission of our founding order, the
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, advances from Arlington across the
world,” said Bersoff.

Becerra is a Cuban-born American. She earned her bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Miami and
went on to become the first woman to earn a doctorate in engineering from Florida
International University in Miami. She then worked as a professor there and
later led the school’s Entrepreneurship Center.

After many years at Florida International, she was recruited by
St. Thomas to help boast enrollment and strengthen student retention. While
there, she helped create a program called the Catholic Education Continuum, which
allows students at local Catholic high schools to dual enroll, earning college credit
while in their high school courses.

“We wanted to create a more seamless path for those students to
consider St. Thomas,” she said. “They could (potentially) graduate in three
years and use the fourth year for graduate school. (The program is) a way to
offset the perceived high cost of private education and it really resonated
with families.”

Becerra hopes to implement a similar program at Marymount. She and
her two grown children are graduates of Catholic schools.

“I’m delighted to be the first lay woman to be selected to do
this job,” said Becerra. “I will be a dedicated and tireless advocate for
Marymount University and the ways in which it transforms the lives of its
students, much like education changed my life.”

 

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