On February 14, 2013, the University of St. Thomas Board of Trustees accepted the unanimous nomination of the presidential search committee and elected Dr. Julie Sullivan to become the 15^th president of the University of St. Thomas.

As I have said before, the search committee took very seriously its charge to identify and recommend the best qualified person to lead this great university. I am confident that we fulfilled our duty. The search we conducted was active, extensive and thorough. Together with our executive search consultants, we conducted substantial outreach, due diligence and numerous interviews before narrowing the pool. We took the additional step of interviewing the best-qualified candidates twice. We carefully considered each candidate against the president’s leadership profile, and we did not rush our deliberations.  

Through our many hours of work, Dr. Sullivan stood out. She is an accomplished academic and a seasoned and successful administrator with strong business acumen. She is personable and collaborative. Her Roman Catholic faith is central to her life. She clearly understands and is determined to further the distinctive mission of St. Thomas as a Catholic university and to maintain the university’s vital and robust Catholic character.

We brought Dr. Sullivan to St. Paul earlier this month to meet in a confidential interview process with trustees, administrators, deans, faculty from every division of the university, and students. The feedback from these meetings was overwhelmingly positive and reaffirmed the search committee’s assessment of Dr. Sullivan. The search committee unanimously and enthusiastically recommended the election of Dr. Sullivan to the board.

The search committee appreciates the engagement and support of the St. Thomas community – students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, donors and other friends of the university – throughout this search and selection process. We hope you all will join us in welcoming Dr. Sullivan and will work closely with her to build an even stronger and more vital University of St. Thomas.

Sincerely,

Dr. John Morrison

Chair, Presidential Search Committee