The board of trustees of Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, has chosen Irma Becerra as the next president of the university. She will become the university’s seventh president on July 1.
Marymount University, founded in 1950, is affiliated with the Roman Catholic church. It enrolls more than 2,300 undergraduate students and slightly more than 1,000 graduate students, according to the latest statistics on file at the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up 64 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Becerra currently serves as provost and chief academic officer at St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida. Before becoming provost in 2014, Dr. Becerra worked at Florida International University for nearly 30 years. There she was a tenured full professor of management information systems and served as vice president and vice provost.
Dr. Becerra was born in Cuba and was raised in Puerto Rico. She earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Miami. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in engineering at Florida International University.