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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gonzaga picks Seton Hall provost to be next president

Gonzaga University’s next president will be Katia Passerini as the school continues to break with decades of leadership precedent.

Her selection following a national search continues the 137-year-old Jesuit university’s recent direction of hiring non-clergy members to lead. She will be the university’s first woman president when she takes over in July for the retiring Thayne McCulloh, who for 16 years has led Gonzaga as its first president who isn’t a Jesuit Catholic priest.

“I am very excited to join the Gonzaga University family this coming summer,” Passerini said in a prepared statement. “Gonzaga is clearly a very special place: a dynamic university with a national reputation for quality, dedicated to the holistic education of students. Coming to know this community and discovering together how it will continue its success is going to be a wonderful journey. I am deeply grateful to the Board of Trustees for its confidence in me and look forward to coming to know the university and region.”

Passerini was in Spokane visiting the school Wednesday. University spokesman Jamie Aitken said neither Passerini nor Gonzaga leadership would be made available for interviews Wednesday.

Passerini will leave her post as provost and executive vice president at Seton Hall, a Catholic university about 15 miles from New York City in South Orange, New Jersey. She had been Seton Hall’s interim president starting in 2023 until the university selected its own new president.

Nathaniel Knight, faculty senate chairman and history professor at Seton Hall, spoke highly of Passerini, saying she was a “calming presence” who helped maintain stability and focus on the school’s mission amid leadership turmoil.

“I would say she was at her best in her role as interim president,” Knight said.

He called her personable, a good listener and someone who brought people together as she managed the various duties of a president, including working with faculty, students, parents, alumni and other donors.

“I think she’s been a positive presence here, and I think we’ll miss having her, but I understand why she would want a position as president at a school like Gonzaga,” Knight said. “I think she did very well in handling all of those relations and remaining well-liked at the end of it.”

Seton Hall’s past president, Joseph Nyre, resigned after four years leading the university. He has since sued Seton Hall.

Passerini’s role as interim president ended when Seton Hall hired the Rev. Joseph Reilly to take over last July. His appointment marked the return of a clergyman as president, reinstating what the school called a “hallmark of the University for 146 years of its 168-year-old history.”

During her tenure at Seton Hall, Passerini’s focus has been in innovation, and she put forth a number of initiatives, like the Academies Initiative, to foster it.

The Academies, which Knight called an internal grant program, is focused on fostering interdisciplinary innovation. Faculty members are invited to apply as teams across different disciplines to come up with topics around larger interdisciplinary themes, Knight said.

Gonzaga selected Passerini following a national search by the university’s Presidential Search Committee, led by previous Board of Trustees Chair Christy Larsen, and comprised of student, faculty, staff, university administrators and members of the Board of Trustees and Regents, Gonzaga said in a news release.

“Her current role as Provost and Senior Executive Vice President at Seton Hall University, together with her previous academic and administrative appointments, have prepared her well for this next stage in a stellar higher education career,” said D. Michael Reilly, chairman of the Gonzaga Board of Trustees.

Prior to joining Seton Hall in 2020, Passerini was chair and dean of the College of Professional Studies at St. John’s University. She was also a professor in the Division of Computer Science, Mathematics and Science.

Passerini has a political science degree from LUISS University and an economics degree from University of Rome Tor Vergata, both in Italy. She also has master’s and doctorate degrees from George Washington University and a certificate in business project management from New York University.

Passerini and her husband, Arturo Pagan, have three sons. The family plans to relocate to Spokane this summer.