The Record

Patricia Alex

March 11, 2010

 

Kathleen M. Waldron, former president of Baruch College in New York, will take the helm at William Paterson University in August, the school announced on Thursday.

 

Trustees at the Wayne campus unanimously chose Waldron as the school's seventh president.  She will succeed Arnold Speert, who is retiring after 25 years and a period of tremendous growth that saw the school morph from a teachers college to a comprehensive university with more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

 

Waldron will come on board during a time of financial strain for public colleges and universities, as New Jersey grapples with an unprecedented budget crisis.  Yet the new president said she hoped WPU would be able to continue to increase enrollment.

 

"I have confidence in public education," said Waldron, 61.  "We will be watching the budget very carefully."

 

Waldron said she hopes to meet shortly with Governor Christie.  And she plans to ramp up private fund raising at the school, tapping into the many alumni.

Waldron was credited with significantly increasing donations at Baruch, which is also a public college and part of the City University of New York.  More than $160 million in private funds was raised during her presidency from 2004 to 2009, according to WPU.

 

Vincent Mazzola, chairman of the trustees, said Waldron stood "head and shoulders" above other candidates for the job.  "The man of the hour is a woman," Mazzola said.

 

Waldron has an extensive resume.  She was dean of the business school at Long Island University and was a senior executive at Citibank for 14 years.  She has a Ph.D. in Latin American history from Indiana University and most recently taught at the graduate center of the City University of New York.

 

Waldron is the second woman to serve as president of the school.  Marion Shea served from 1954 to 1966.

 

Waldron will be paid a base salary of $295,000 and deferred compensation of more than $40,000 annually, Mazzola said.

 

Waldron is single and will be moving from New York to the university-owned president's house in Wayne.

 

Source:  http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/031110_William_Paterson_names_a_new_president.html