Philip Ellefson |
President-elect Fr. Mark Poorman already has a long list of plans for his presidency. He wants to raise money for more student scholarships, build more academic facilities and deepen UP’s Catholic identity. And he wants to keep teaching.
At a welcome reception for Poorman on Monday, he said he would was committed to improving the University as UP’s 20th president.
“I’m honored by the trust and the confidence of the Board of Regents,” Poorman said. “I will work my very hardest to give everything I have to this place, to bring it, as they say, to the next level.”
President Fr. Bill Beauchamp said Poorman has what it takes to tackle all his ambitions.
“One thing I know about Fr. Poorman is he has the energy of three people,” Beauchamp said.
Poorman was elected during a Board of Regents retreat last weekend at an undisclosed location in southern California. The Presidential Search Committee, which was made up of faculty, staff, Holy Cross clergy and regents, recommended that the Board of Regents elect Poorman.
In addition to the Presidential Search Committee’s recommendation, the Board of Regents received evaluation sheets for both candidates filled out by administrators, Holy Cross priests, faculty, staff and a selection of students.
For the past two years, Poorman has served as executive vice president. Before that, he was vice president of Student Affairs at Notre Dame for 11 years. Provost Tom Greene said Poorman is equipped with necessary skills for the job.
“He understands a comprehensive University very well,” Greene said. “He is first of all an academic, but he’s also spent time in other capacities, both here and at Notre Dame.”
Residents of Schoenfeldt Hall, where Poorman serves as a pastoral resident, praised his ability to make people in his community feel welcome.
“This is a person that invests himself 100 percent. If I needed advice, he’s the one person I could go to,” said Schoenfeldt Hall Director Joe Coulter. “Even if he’s extremely busy, he can make time for the simplest things.”
Sophomore Cameron Trostle, a Schoenfeldt resident, said Poorman occasionally takes time to go on outings with students.
“One time, me and a couple of my friends and him went to brunch at Podnah’s,” Trostle said. “He likes to joke around and have fun.”
Poorman said living in dorms and interacting with students is one of his favorite parts of being at a university.
“I absolutely love student life. I’ve lived in the dorms for 28 years, and I think those experiences are some of the most rewarding ministerial experiences I’ve had,” he said.
Poorman hopes to continue teaching ethics after he takes office. During his time at UP, Poorman has helped to create the Dundon-Berchtold Initiative, which includes a class of 40 students called The Character Project and gives faculty-student teams the opportunity to do in-depth research on ethics in their fields of study.
Poorman has spent much of his life in academia, having earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois, a master of divinity from Notre Dame and a doctorate in Christian ethics from the Graduate Theological Union.
Interim Vice President for University Relations Laurie Kelley said Poorman’s academic background makes him committed to building up the academic side of the University.
“He knows we’re strong, and he wants to make sure we have the resources to get stronger,” Kelley said. “Over the course of the (RISE) campaign we’ve put a lot of energy into building out the campus and made a lot of campus improvements. He wants to be able to do the same thing for the faculty, in terms of a new faculty building.”
Poorman wants to raise money to build new academic facilities that would house classroom space, faculty offices and meeting spaces for events and lectures. He also wants to look into building a new student center.
He also plans to spend energy building up UP’s endowment so the University can offer more and greater endowed scholarships to students in need, as well as endowed faculty chairs and directorships.
Because Poorman has so many hopes for improving campus, he said continuing to raise funds with the vigor of the RISE Campaign is essential.
“I’ve said to the people in University Relations, for example, that we’re going to have the close of the campaign and we’re going to have a great celebration in May, and the next day we’re going to get up and raise money,” Poorman said. “It’s really important that we do not allow any gap in momentum.”
Another one of Poorman’s aims for his presidency is to “broaden and deepen” the Catholic identity of the University. He said one way to do that is to join in with the discussions happening in the Church globally.
“We’ve got a great moment now, especially with this new pope, who has really, I think, invigorated or reinvigorated a sense of how important the Catholic Church can be in discussions of social ethics and discussions of how we can change the world,” Poorman said. “I think they’re very inclusive, I think those conversations are very Christ-centered, and I think that’s the future of the influence of the Church.”
Poorman hopes to build on the successes of Beauchamp’s time as University president and move forward.
“I’m keenly aware that I’m going to be standing on the shoulders of others,” he said. “There are so many people who have really been the team that put all of those successes together.”
Poorman will take office July 1 after Beauchamp steps down. There will be a campus-wide celebration for his inauguration on Sept. 26.
