Colleen M. Hanycz has been selected as the 35th president of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. When she takes office on July 1, 2021, she will become the first lay president and the first woman president in Xavier University’s 190-year history.
Xavier University enrolls about 5,000 undergraduate students and nearly 2,000 graduate students, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up 54 percent of the undergraduate student body.
“I am so honored to have been chosen as Xavier’s first lay president, and will anchor my leadership in a deep commitment to the Jesuit mission of forming men and women for and with others,” Dr. Hanycz said. “Xavier is a school on the move. It has benefited from tremendous leadership, great colleagues, and a highly engaged student body, all of which are supported by a passionate alumni community in a strong region. When these elements converge around a mission to make the world better, the possibilities are endless.”
Since 2015, Dr. Hanycz has been serving as the first woman president of La Salle University in Philadephia. From 2008 to 2015, she was head of Brescia University College, a women’s college in London, Ontario, that is affiliated with the Catholic Church. From 2003 to 2008, Dr. Hanycz was assistant dean and associate professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto.
Dr. Hanycz completed her undergraduate history degree at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. She holds an LL.B degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and an LL.M degree and a Ph.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School.